#That's another reason I pick him

[vilevexedvixen]

Why I usually choose Mr. House

I find it very bizarre that a faction I would oppose if only taking my political views into account is the faction I agree with the most in the context of New Vegas. On principle, I wouldn't choose to side with an autocratic libertarian, but New Vegas is the exception.

NCR:

When people argue in favor of the NCR they seem to be overly focused on the NCR's principles above the NCR's actions as a whole and because it's not as disagreeable as The Legion (though The Legion lowered the bar beneath the floorboards frankly). Even putting the NCR's attempted eradication of The Khans, theft of territory and resources from westside and other Mojave settlements, and the unpaid labor using its prison population aside. Only framing the NCR's occupation as a protective and beneficial one, the NCR is exhausted. It is overstretched, understaffed and underfunded. Even if the NCR did take the dam, the core territory of the NCR is barely able to supply and maintain the current occupation so it wouldn't be a viable long-term faction for the Mojave specifically.

The entire reason the NCR is expanding is to obtain more resources for its core territory. The expansion itself requires resources the NCR doesn't really have, so once they extract all the resources they need from the Mojave, great now their territory and population are larger so now they need to expand even MORE to get MORE resources until it eventually cannot sustain its current size, let alone further expansion. The troops' training may kid them into thinking its about protecting the Mojave or spreading democracy across the wasteland, but it's always been about extracting resources for the NCR and the NCR alone.

For the benefit of both the NCR and the Mojave, the NCR should pull out before it births something it cannot support.

Caesar's Legion:

Again, putting aside the political reasons I disagree with this faction (evil playthroughs be damned lol) such as the explicit slavery, cultural assimilation and annihilation of the tribes it conquers, The Legion can only last as long as it has tribes to consume. The extreme end of what the NCR is doing but much more purely extractive with no actual attempts to replenish the food stocks and other resources the way the NCR does with sharecropper farms to at least sustain its occupation somewhat. Sure, it has some capacity for trade, because it acts as an effective deterrent to various raider factions which otherwise would terrorise non-legion (but legion-allied) traders and settlers (groups too small for The Legion to benefit from absorbing them rather than just trading with them). In a way, The Legion is a more effective bringer of peace and order than the NCR, especially against factions that are causing genuine harm to peaceful settlements such as The Fiends, The Vipers, and The Jackals, which consistently overwhelm NCR troops.

That aside, I agree with House that in-fighting and collapse are likely after Caesar's death. Even without his death, The Legion is just as over-extended as the NCR and so would still implode for similar reasons, though their tunnel-vision on conquest and relatively small population compared to the myriad settlements the NCR tried to maintain on top of its military affairs means its collapse may take a little longer / The Legion is more likely to disband for political reasons before implosion from resource scarcity and overextension are a major issue.

Independent route (Yes Man):

Freeside, Westside and The Sewers (technically still Westside) are my favourite sections of New Vegas. I wish there was a quest which allowed the courier to actually try and let Freesiders back into The Strip once Mr. House is eliminated, or otherwise just more directly allow the courier to help these areas establish their own sovereignty / protect them from invading forces. Without this, I just headcanon that the courier helps do this after the game ends. I like to think that the courier doesn't become an autocrat, and steps down once the NCR and The Legion are pushed out. Effectively allowing existing smaller factions to function autonomously in relative anarchy and mutual inter-dependence. Basically functioning the way Andrewism puts in this video ->

I always got the vibe that Yes Man doesn't especially like the courier, or anyone he takes orders from really since he is incapable of disobeying them. Apparently his reprogramming to become more assertive at the end of the game is so that he only follows the courier's orders, which only makes sense if Yes Man genuinely agrees with and/or likes the courier. That's not quite how I read it, Yes Man is still the key force the player relies on to actualise Vegas' independence and him then becoming autonomous leaves the courier vulnerable to be undermined (Yes Man is the one most directly in control of the securitron army, not the courier). I don't trust Yes Man to impose his own authority on the Mojave after the courier steps down or dies, rather than Yes Man sticking to a role as the functional military to push out any invading forces or group that seeks to undermine the anarchy and sovereignty of the Mojave.

Overall, I'm actually kind of split between the independent route and Mr. House, but since the independent route is left pretty open the player can insert any number of intended outcomes from it. Anywhere from the courier crowning themselves the "rightful ruler" of Vegas and becoming its dictator, to letting Mojave communities function independently and just using the Yes Man route to prevent any other faction from taking over, to anything in between.

Mr. House:

In terms of a faction that will let smaller Mojave settlements, along with Freeside and Westide be while having a vested interest in making sure Vegas keeps its sovereignty, House is the best for the long-term in my opinion. His focus is very singular, on the Strip mainly. His eviction of The Kings and other tribes which form Freeside is the only crime of note Mr. House is responsible and even then it allows said factions to function independent of House since he really couldn't care less about them. With the courier's help in securing better resources (diverting energy to it from Helios One, and letting the water from Sharecropper farms being used in Westside rather than by the NCR) and evicting the NCR (who stole much of the resources otherwise used by locals and consistently combatted with locals, so with them gone Freeside and Westside both have enough resources and fewer enemies to challenge their sovereignty) House's continued jurisdiction over The Strip doesn't cause any further harm to these communities than the initial eviction that formed them in the first place. Not at all a comparable evil to the literal ethnic cleansings performed by the NCR and The Legion. Also, House didn't set out to specifically evict anyone, just recruit whoever was willing to help renovate the Strip (whereas the NCR and Legion go out of their way to eradicate tribes they disagree with even when peaceful options are more than available) once he saw the NCR moving in to claim the damn. Before then, there was no need to do more than let Vegas' tribes be since there weren't factions threatening Vegas.

Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.42: "Freeside" "Las Vegas wasn't heavily damaged during the Great War, but people didn't immediately "settle" into the remnants of the old city. The various Vault tribes that emerged years later, hunted and fought among the ruins, but it was not until the "return" of Mr. House that they ceased (most) of their hostilities. Mr House directed the tribes to use his sizable quantities of pre-war construction materials to build the crude (but effective) outer walls that separate The Strip and Freeside from the rest of New Vegas. While Mr. House valued the area around Fremont Street, he ultimately viewed it as secondary in importance to the Strip itself and he had a second, inner wall that separated the two areas. When NCR prospectors (and eventually the army) arrived in the region, people typically went straight for The Strip, leaving Freeside (as it had become known by locals) as an informal stopping point. Eventually Mr. House recognized that he could use Freeside as a filter for undesirables, and pulled his favored tribes and all Securitrons into the Strip, leaving Freeside to fend for itself." "In the two years that followed, Freeside has slowly degenerated into a hostile, lawless den of ne'er-do-wells. For a while, it was completely without order, but two power groups managed to come to an understanding about how the area needed to be maintained. The Kings, formed from the dispossessed remnants of unfortunate tribes, prevent all-out chaos from erupting, but do little to deal with the day-to-day nastiness that Freesiders inflict on each other. The Followers of the Apocalypse, no longer associated with the NCR, settled in the Old Mormon Fort. They receive some protection from the Kings in exchange for help with the community's basic needs (food, water, health services, and some education). Despite the oversight from the Kings and help from the Followers, the people in Freeside live in daily peril... from each other as well as outside forces."

I love The Kings and Freeside, so I know House's impersonal view of the eviction leaves out the harrowing impact of the displacement, but a. they literally only moved next door, and b. they get to do whatever they please, just outside The Strip. It wasn't great but it isn't exactly Bitter Springs or Nipton now is it? The NCR and Legion repeatedly lay waste to peaceful settlements / settlements of enemies to these factions that were otherwise peaceful. *Also, Yes Man seems overly eager to see-through the genocide of The Khans, which is partly why I don't trust him as much as House. It's also why I find it funny when people act like Yes Man is super progressive and chill when he literally just wants to be able to say no and copes through passive-aggression.* Freeside and Vegas more generally was a place genuinely riddled with murder and violence long before he decided to seperate The Strip and Freeside. He's neglectful of Freeside which left what tribes cared enough to band together and pick up the pieces such as The Kings. But as I say, that can become an asset compared to the disruptive oversight the NCR would pose. Letting Freeside be now that some degree of community solidarity has developed may be better than if House decided to extend his control into Freeside as well.

With the way The Strip is run, and the fact that House has ambitions to help advance the existing means of New Vegas alone (education, research, etc.) to thrive, rather than ambitions of territorial expansion which would soon become unmanageable. Using The Strip to extract wealth and resources from tribes and factions that come from outside the Mojave to fund Vegas' maintenance, while the day-to-day needs of food, water and such are already handled by the existing communities in the area, allowing House to focus specifically on making sure no other faction overruns these communities and running The Strip.

Basically, him being content to live and let live (except The Brotherhood - RIP) and demonstrating intent and capability to hold down the fort in Vegas frees up the courier to run the rest of the Mojave / let the Mojave communities operate separately from House. Only taking action when it seems necessary, since he seemed content to stay dormant until the NCR posed a threat. He is no more a control-freak than the NCR or The Legion, and does much less damage with that control quite frankly. Being practically immortal, I trust House more than Yes Man to maintain the anarchy my courier strives for even after the courier's death.

Edit: I had completely forgotten that House kills The Kings regardless of the Courier's actions if you side with him. I love The Kings, but enough of a community exists in Freeside and Westside that the Courier helps both enough before the ending for their loss to not be too big a detriment to the rest of the community, though I personally don't see why tf he should get rid of them like wtf???

[xxplastic-cubexx]

you open my Super Important Documents and its just pictures of charles xavier

[numbuh424]

Near is so unbothered because he has hobbies. literally solved the biggest murder case in human history all while crafting, playing, building, and collecting. actual king of having hobbies. reblog this with a hobby you think Near would have.

[sysig]

I think the world is so wonderful... (Patreon)

[dykedvonte]

Why do you think did Curly let Jimmy go before the crash? I've seen the theory Curly briefly thought about crashing too but didn't expect Jimmy to go through with it

I generally believe it was shock and a bit of denial.

It’s the sort of thing where Curly knew Jimmy enough to know he blows up at things but he never would’ve expected him to go through with something so crazy. He gives Jimmy way too much benefit. It’s just his nature and the dynamics he has with Jimmy. They have a stable relationship as friends but it’s stabilized by the unhealthy toxic aspects that keep him in it. He’s like this with Anya, taking the gun is something he really shouldn’t have kept off the record, so is Swansea’s feigned hostility toward Daisuke. He doesn’t want to get people in trouble and doesn’t want to believe anyone would cause trouble other than to themselves. He’s a very lenient man.

I think the words were hollow in his head. Said but not really meant like all the times Jimmy lashes out and says something cruel to him or others. He never means it, if he did why would he still be Curly’s friend? Curly’s head wasn’t in the right space in that moment, he just got through panicking with Anya and if the sound design is anything to go by, was panicked and preoccupied going to confront Jimmy. I mean, the flash of the warning signs before he runs back are identical to the dissociative episode of sort he has when going to talk to Jimmy to do his Psyc eval.

There is this sort of assumption in fanon that Curly was the idealic person for the job and simply failed. None of them were the idealic people to be there, it’s Curly’s entire concern with the ladder he chose. I see more interpretations of him being purposefully ignorant where I see him as just always looking the wrong way or not in a place where he can see it. There’s something different about seeing something than being told about it in the human mind. It may just be the psych student in me but Curly def has some sort of cognitive dissonance just like Jimmy but when it comes to his role as a Captain vs who he is.

They blur in his head to where if you ask him if he was acting as a Captain or a friend or himself to his crew he couldn’t answer. Not with confidence even if he did. There are many times we see that Curly himself is not in the right headspace to lead the Tulpar and that’s outside of anything with Jimmy. He’s spacey, he’s not sleeping, he’s deeply unhappy with himself and life. It’s why there’s believability he crashed the ship. Maybe the others saw it, or maybe Jimmy heard enough of it to spin it in a way that made Curly seem suicidally depressed.

So the tdlr is I think it wasn’t so much letting Jimmy go, more so not seeing the severity of what he was allowing to transpire. In his mind it’s just another one of Jimmy’s bluffs, cruel words, off words but just words. Jimmy rarely ever acts, why would he now? Maybe he’s never seen it because Jimmy hides those actions? Either way, he just never thought he’d really do it.

[brionysea]

allison and five are actually fascinating to write together. allison is the sibling for checking on people and asking in plain english if they're okay but five would literally rather bleed out than show a shred of vulnerability

[ryllen]

Please don't crucified me if this headcanon is deemed unrealistic in real life. (´；ω；`) More notes / detailed notes:

stayed & travelled with the Figs for awhile -- after being found, before finally dropped of to an institution, as the Figs think their travelling life style is not really suitable to raise a child

quickly picked up civilization as he is an intelligent child (that's why he is a ravenclaw)

exchanged letters with the travelling Figs during his time at the institution / orphanage

was a really helpful child during his time at the institution / orphanage that he is close with the staff

he thinks of befriending people is a way of learning & by helping them he gets to experience a lot of different things

a mellow temperament child in general (just like how it is ingame)

likes exploring (bcs damn! we really going places in that game)

picked the silly 'Alex Xander' name himself, maybe he heard a mother called her child with that name once and he is obsessed with that name ever since.

he always writes Xander as his 'family name' to show that he is complete even without a family

actually a bit older than his classmates, as he went through extra few years to catch up to civilization as a feral child

blank template [x]

#anyhow i really love our barn owl; she's so beautiful but with a face like biscuit

[clownsuu]

mermaid asker here! love your art its a lot of fun to see and a huge inspo

im glad you liked my thoughts so heres octo robbie i love him

at first i was going to give him a "normal" skin color and then i was like. hey. hes NOT human. slap his regular colors on that bad boy.

hope you like it. i think robbie is great. please never stop drawing him (or do. im not in charge of you)

YOOOOOOOOOOO OCTO BB

[confusedfeelsfangirl]

People on Twitter asked why there were accounts that shipped Laios and Mithrun together (Laiumisu /Laithrun) and some are complaining it doesn’t make sense.

Firstly, ships dont necessarily have to make sense.

But also, why wouldn’t you want the Laios/Kabru/Mithrun triangle to be complete ? They should each have two boyfriends that are boyfriends too, it’s fun.

[sewellove-deactivated9782]

MARK??????????

[themagicalghost]

Got it

[wasongo]

GetBackers headshots since I finished rewatching the anime a bit ago with a friend. Some of these men were impossible to draw!! Had to redraw Akabane 3 times and I'm still not sure if I captured him well.

[deadbeandrop]

ahem. and if i may be completely unwell about the moose and slug for a moment,

i keep thinking about a post-story scene where lumpus and slinkman's relationship is still in rocky territory, and they have like... kind of a half-arguement getting ready for bed and it doesn't really go anywhere but there's still a tension in the air, and then a moment of silence as they settle and face each other in the dark. there's a beat. and then slinkman just... reaches over to take lumpus' glasses off (he'd always been in the habit of adjusting them over the years), and he's confused for a second, and slinkman's just like "you shouldn't sleep with those on. you're going to break them" which is like, ah, yes, completely logical action, and something he's told him a million times,

but it's Also like "Oh, God. even when you don't have to anymore, and you said you'd stop doing it all the time, and you're mad at me, you're still taking care of me just because you care enough to that it's complete subconscious instinct for you to do so. i'm gonna jump off a cliff"

because, when you're in the dark, in complete silence, sharing a shoddy pull-out couch bed in the basement of your stupid hand-me-down bait-and-tackle shop with your life-long best friend, your only friend, almost a bit like you used to when you'd push your beds closer together at night the camp you loved all those years ago, well, then there's also nothing else around to distract from the fact that you appreciate that more than anything in the entire world

and so lumpus takes a second and is like ....Right. (voice crack) Of course. and turns to face the ceiling and feels like he's going to be sick <- (i love nausea being one of lumpus' gut responses to feeling things ❤️)

[sysig]

Party (group) party (celebratory)! (Patreon)

[reindeer-writer]

I may be a tad hyperfixated

Ok so like, Starline has 100% become my defacto comfort series and because of that I’m thinking about it nonstop, all the time, every day, so I have a lot of things that I have to share about it

The two listener characters in either entry, Skipper in SL2 and Breckett’s spouse in SL1 (who I’ll be calling Hops because I’m a comedic genius) are left pretty blank character and backstory wise for obvious reasons, but there are still a few things we can deduce about them (us?) that I wanna write down so I don’t forget

I’ll be putting down things we know about Breckett and Hakir as well just for the sake of having it all in one place (and also because they’ve pretty firmly made themselves at home in my mind palace)

I’m splitting this up into two parts because I need to relisten to Starline 1 before I finish that part of this, so this post will only cover Hakir and Skipper

Hakir:

-Hakir’s full name:

Hakir’s full name is Hakir Ven Krolist.

Not exactly groundbreaking information, but it’s only brought up like once or twice in the whole series so I’m putting it here anyway

-Hakir was a sentinel during or before Starline 1

This is mostly just a timeline thing.

Hakir was a sentinel at some point which means he had to have signed up before the war.

However he’s a red diamond, meaning he was dishonourably discharged and fought against them during the war.

-Hakir was about 15 during Starline 1:

In Starline 1 it’s established that a lot of people who sign up to work for the sentinels do so because they don’t have any other choice, needing to help provide for their families or just provide for themselves the moment they come of age.

Hakir was a Sentinel and it’s very likely he joined when he came of age.

In Starline 1 Breckett also says that he was only 13*[SEE END FOR CORRECTIONS] when the Sentinels ruined his life, the fact he says “only 13” means that he was either a child, a teenager, or a very young adult (we can probably remove child from that lineup purely because Breckett seems to have left home soon after that and I doubt a kid would’ve made it very far). 

From this we can deduce that it must be pretty common for intergalactic races to come of age somewhere around 15 years old, probably a bit earlier or a bit later depending on species because if they didn’t he would have clarified what stage of their life his race is in at that age.

Meaning that from now on 15 is the assumed age that a species is considered an adult at.

It can’t have been that much time since Hakir’s discharge from the sentinels because he’s still in tip-top fighting shape by Starline 2 so he obviously isn’t like 50 by then

Assuming he joined the Sentinels as soon as he could to help provide for his family, he would have joined at about 15 years old and have been discharged soon after because of his behaviour.

-Hakir is in his late 20’s to early 30’s 

In the Starline 2 trailer’s description it says it’s been 15 years since the events of Starline 1

meaning that Hakir must be around 30 years old, give or take depending on when his species is an adult.

-Hakir is not very trusting of other people:

Hakir is fairly distrustful of people and quick to close himself off, in fact it’s a fairly large part of his character.

He’s initially distrustful of Trailblazer, very quick to turn on the Director after it’s not how he imagined it. (even if the distrust toward them is justified)

Hell, he didn’t even trust Skipper, the soon-to-be love of his life before they’re put into a life or death situation, and being locked into two different rooms together (the prison in episode 1 and their shared bedroom thereafter.

Hakir is understandably very closed off, and his trust and love for Skipper just goes to show how much they love each other.

-Hakir is still close with his family:

Both when explaining the naming system of his species, and when talking about his and Skipper’s relationship moving forward it’s clear that Hakir is still very close with his family.

-Hakir wants Skipper to step on him:

Need I say more?

Skipper:

-Skipper isn’t their real name:

Ok let’s get this out of the way first

Skipper is almost 100% a nickname or a pseudonym they go by because so much of their work is illegal.

It's just like how Mindflayer's listener character gets nicknamed Rook eventually. (Also sidenote, but Lorraine, Harph, and Rook have the fucking strongest polycule vibes in all of fiction istg)

Maya calls them “Skipper” when speaking to Hakir as well, meaning it’s *definitely* what they use for work.

There’s never any sort of clarification on whether it’s their first name or last name or what the rest of their name is.

It also makes sense from a storytelling perspective to have it be a nickname rather than an actual name since it lets us better project our own traits onto Skipper.

All this to say that Skipper is definitely not their real name, and just one of those nicknames that’s so good everyone calls them that rather than their real name.

-Skipper is really skilled when it comes to combat

Both before and during the series their fights with Hakir show that their abilities are at least equal to that of someone who definitely has both training from the sentinels and combat experience from the war.

From this it’s pretty obvious that Skipper is incredibly skilled with combat and that it’s something they enjoy immensely.

-Skipper is in their 20’s:

In episode 1 Argus says that Skipper started doing smuggling work the moment they were old enough to fly a ship (almost definitely 18), he also says they’ve only been at it for a few years with Smuggling work meaning they’re, at the very youngest, 20 years old, but more likely somewhere between 20-25

A lot less deduction than Haki’s age huh? :3

-Skipper was a child during Starline 1:

Again just more timeline stuff, but Starline 1 takes place 15 years before Starline 2, meaning that Skipper was somewhere between 5-10 years old

-Skipper cares about other people's well-being a lot:

Making sure to keep Hakir off the bottle, getting him to drink water instead of coffee when he's hungover

Early on in the series Skipper begins to show a lot of concern for Hakir’s wellbeing even though up to this point they’ve been pretty bitter rivals.

Whilst there’s an argument to be made that it’s only because they’re working together now, the turnabout in behaviour is far too quick to just be in self-interest, especially if they harboured genuine resentment toward Hakir.

They  make sure to keep Hakir sober when possible, probably already aware of his destructive drinking habits from their shared history.

And the night after they sleep together when Hakir suggests drinking coffee to deal with their hangover Skipper tells him to drink water, he responds with a stutter and a slightly more submissive tone as well which means Skipper was firmly ordering him to drink water rather than just suggesting it.

-Skipper is very trusting of other people: 

Trailblazer and Breckett even though they were both connected to the director (there’s not even any indication given that they’re upset with the director which implies they understand and forgive it)

Skipper is very innately trusting of other people, after meeting trailblazer they’re very quick to trust him despite Hakir’s objections, and it’s only because of them that Hakir is willing to give Blazer a shot.

They also don’t seem to harbour any resentment towards The Director (at least not that’s shown) which seems to imply that they forgive him.

On top of that their relationship with Hakir is built up very quickly expressly *because* they’re willing to bury the hatchet and put their full trust in him right off the bat.

-Skipper is a smartass: 

There are a few different times when Skipper makes a snappy remark or a quick-witted joke, and in episode 8 (Hangover) Hakir straight up calls them a smartass.

On one hand this is mostly just Skipper being a funny person in general, but on the other it seems like it might partially be a bit of a persona they put on to bolster their own confidence considering the fact that in a lot of situations they’re actually rather 

-Skipper is highly intelligent:

Skipper is a very clever person, they’re an incredibly skilled hacker, have good combat awareness, quick on their feet, and being smartass requires that you actually be smart.

-Skipper is very unserious:

Skipper is pretty much constantly making jokes or acting silly, even in dangerous situations like when they were trying to dock the director's ship and make a joke about Iron-Man.

Barring scenarios where they’re in mortal peril, Skipper is always ready to make light of a situation, and this functions as a bit of a grounding force for the people around them like Hakir since he’s a lot more stable mentally and emotionally when they’re around.

-Skipper is a total nerd:

Beyond the obvious Iron-Man reference it’s made pretty clear that Skipper is a bit of a geek.

The main thing is their knowledge with computers and hacking, getting interested enough in computers and stuff to even start hacking already has the dweeb alert blaring at full volume, but beyond that, committing fully, learning how to code and then subsequently learning how to hack is massive nerd activity. 

-Skipper does smuggling work because they love the danger, freedom and adventure that comes with it:

Skipper could pretty easily land a job somewhere with their m4d hax0r sk1llz (god I'm sorry, I shouldn't be allowed near a keyboard) and there aren't exactly a lack of places to find work with the entire universe at their disposal, so it's very likely that they do smuggling work because it's fun rather than because it's profitable (though it probably is, Hakir mentions some jobs Skipper stole from him would've made him rich) and the only reason someone could find this kind of work enjoyable is if they love the danger, freedom, and/or adventure that come with it.

-Skipper is very confident in themselves and exaggerates their confidence further with faux-egotistical behaviour: 

There are 2 or 3 times in the series where Hakir tells Skipper that they shouldn't let something “go to your head”. The fact that this is repeated tells us that this is common behaviour from them. 

Skipper is either actually overconfident in themselves or they pretend to be for the sake of being funny.

The odds of them being genuinely egotistical are incredibly low for a few reasons, but what springs to mind is the night where they sleep with Hakir, because before they're willing to go through with it they voice concerns that it's just a fling rather than anything more. 

It’s obvious that at this point they've already developed feelings for Hakir, and they're concerned enough that he won't be interested in them that he'll just leave again afterward.

This kind of insecurity isn't the type of thing one would expect from someone who would be totally full of themselves.

-Skipper is actually very soft in private

In the scene where Hakir and Skipper are making out drunk and about to sleep together, Skipper needs to be reassured that Hakir is actually interested in them and that it’s not just a one night stand.

In the hangover scene they gently reassure Hakir that they enjoyed their night together even though he thought it was a bit of a disaster.

and finally

In the scene where the two of them have accepted their fate and are lying in one another’s arms ready to die together, Skipper is happy being held and comforted by Hakir about their fate rather than being the one doing the holding or comforting.

All this points to the fact that in private Skipper is actually a huge softie despite their confident and jokey exterior when it comes to how they act in public.

-Skipper isn't close with their family:

Ok so this is a big one. I can't remember in which episode this is, but Hakir says that maybe when Skipper and their parents are on good terms again they could introduce Hakir to them.

This tells us a few things, namely: 

Skipper and their parents are on bad terms, the fact that they might be on better terms at some point in the future means that it's over something that can be forgiven, and the fact that they might introduce their boyfriend means they’re still close enough to care about what their parents think which means their relationship isn't totally shattered, just fractured.

In the first episode Argus mentions that Skipper “started the moment you were old enough to fly a ship” with their career in smuggling which means the second they could they left home and put as much distance between them and their parents as possible. 

From this we can then deduce that whatever caused the fallout between them and their parents was incredibly severe despite the fact they seem willing to forgive.

Which means that it’s probably that Skipper is queer in some way (which is pretty obvious looking at their character, kinda fruity)

All this to say it's pretty likely that it all played out as follows:

Skipper discovers that they're queer in some way during their teenage years.

They choose to come out to their parents

Their parents are NOT accepting, but aren't bad enough to create a permanent divide between them

Skipper leaves home the second they can and starts with their current career

The Exciting Conclusion!

From all of this information we can actually narrow down a lot of things about each of the characters into more concise profiles starting with

Hakir:

Hakir is a very closed off and cautious person, his initial reaction to just about anyone is to keep them at an arm's length unless absolutely necessary.

Once you get close enough to him to break through his hard exterior though he’s a fairly chill guy.

He has a hard time keeping himself mentally or emotionally in check alone, but Skipper helps to keep him happy, healthy and enriched.

He’s a little bit rough around the edges, but Hakir is consistent and reliable, nobody better to have on your side when the chips are down, just be sure to support him and he’ll be there to help.

Skipper:

Skipper is an incredibly trusting and caring person, they put the safety of others before their own and care deeply about anyone close to them to the point they’re willing to forgive huge mistakes or misjudgements of others. 

They put on a persona of independence and confidence both as a way to deal with the hardships that they face on a regular basis, and to ground others around them in times of need.

In more private situations like with close friends or Hakir they drop the act and show that they’re actually a lot softer and are more willing to be doted on than in public.

They’re super sharp, but never use their intelligence to degrade or diminish other people’s abilities.

Fun, caring, and calming. What more could someone want?

I'll be releasing the Starline 1 version sometime soon, so be ready for that when it drops!

*Edit: So I started my relisten of Starline 1 and uhhhhh

I may be stupid

Breckett actually says that he was only in his 30's when the Sentinels came, his use of "only" indicates that his species is still fairly young at 30 years old.

This could mean that Breckett's species might live for far longer than humans do if 30 is still young, maybe even hundreds of years, or that maybe the advancements made in modern technology have extended the lifespans of all species to the point that 30 is still very young. (I choose to believe the second one purely because it means Breckett and Hops get to grow old together, and if they don't get a happy ending then my heart wil shatter)

I also want to bring attention to the fact that the translator might have a part in this since we know it has a tendency to embezzle details a little bit. Like when Breckett makes food from his homeworld and we hear him call it squid, but he also clarifies that it's not a type of seafood.

So there's a very good chance that when Breckett says he's 30 he might not be using human years, he could be using his homeplanet as a reference for how long a year is or it could be some other intergalactic constant we aren't aware of.

Not to mention the fact that there's probably a whole slew of space terminology that doesn't have any equivalent in any human language yet.

And if the translator is meant to function off of a wide set of data from a bunch of different sources like a neural network of some kind the fact that it only has one person as reference for how all of the English language works would probably cause a few issues.

All this to say I've basically just debunked my entire argument for Hakir's age and he could be any number of years old.

I'm sticking to my guns though because I've already implanted it into my brain as canon and if they have similar lifespans then they're far more likely to die at around the same time and not need to mourn their partner's death for like another 100 years. I still think that Hakir is around 30 and no one can convince me otherwise.

Plus this all comes with the bonus headcanon that everyone in the future gets to live far longer which is always nice.

[found--family]

am i the only one who sensed some jilted lover vibes from jensen?