#aka not possible and not what the ai should do during that mission

[izzy-b-hands]

Gave up on sr2 for the night because the AI is horribly befuckened rn and I had enemy gang members dropping out of the sky in their fucking cars, while the road refused to load and the camera slowed so I could no longer shoot and drive (the reticle moves so slowly that by the time it registers your character took a shot, the gun doesn’t actually fire at your target. If it sounds frustrating, just imagine playing it, it very much is !!!!!!)

Functioning Bideo Game asdfjaklsjfk

[neptuniadoesstuff]

My part lol

(may or not be very long so yeh this is why it's here) vvv

Noir:

QnA

She doesn't really know. She's more neutral tbh.

Not really. She doenst even know the geographic of Tamrial itself other than that of the Isles. Which is not apart of Tamrielbut then again I'm not sure if geographics are even taught.

Her DemiPlane is pretty similar to the Mortal realm, but with some hints of random stuff not seen in the Mortal realm. One of them being strange pastel crystals which is actually syrup coming from strange white trees. It's main region is the square (aka the village/city She created from her mind) but there are other regions but she... doesn't really talk about them at all. (Unless it one of those regions where she keeps a certain Dunmer in)

HCs

This may or may not be true- I however didn't really do much with her lore so-

She doenst even want to touch em or be near them. So she just let's Mirage (her 2nd dad thing aka Caretaker) do the work. Minus the fact he uh.... is a menace doing so-

Y e s . J u s t y e s . (Well she does still blink just not when she's staring at someone who just committed to worse crime to her eyes)

Dr. Jeremiah Cyberthorne:

QnA

He focuses on mathematics, machines/tech, & biology

Not really, Especially during the war he became pretty paranoid that he & the ppl he's close to will die. (This paranoia has lasted since his great grandmother died from a freak lab accident)

No one knows why he was chosen. Although some speculate that his family have a very close bond with the Royal family for generations.

HCs

Y e s (but isn't a hoarder bcs he has 2 D R A G O N E T S A T M )

Prob

I can't deny or agree with this... but let's just say... he may or may not does-

Isma:

QnA

When she & him were still well... Humans, they met at a Cafe. That's really it tbh. (Bcs Isma can't really remember when or how since it's been quite a long time she's been ded)

She has, but decides not to, bcs Malice WILL KNOW! (Speaking of Malice, ill get to him soon)

Isma comes from a Arabic/Egyptian background. (Yes she can speak Arabic) So she thought it be a nice name to name the child since 1) it's a Arabic name, & 2) she thought it was pretty

HCs

Actually she does have a rattle, although she can make the rattle go silent bcs she can

I really dunno how to answer this tbh. (I can't think rn)

Hmmmm maybe

E.N.A:

QnA

She has many times. But primarily for mission bcs her creator, Dr. B, is paranoid that she'll suffer the same fate as his duaghter, Ina.

They became fused with the fragments of Ouroboros, which turned them into monsters. (Also bcs She wanted to have some control in her life w/o being considered "a robot" by the others)

Shes mostly human (bcs her brain is still intact minus the fact the lower half of her human body was turned into mushed meat). But she does have a inhumane ability which is to basically copy whatever fragment that is from a primal god & turn it into a weapon mortals can use.

HCs

This is all true. However the scientists do wear anti-shock suits when near the "AIs".

She can still somewhat feel it, but only fragments of it. (Which makes her embarrassed on why she's so different from the others)

This is all true. While yeh still has her past memories, they're pretty blurry in the sense of... Well... She's frikin unded, & was sorta ded for awhile before being turned into the AI we know today.

NOW ITS MY TURN TO ASK THE QEUSTIONS!

Peter:

QnA

Has he told Isma that he's trans?

How does he feel about being a messenger for Harmona?

Has there a instance of someone looking at him like they would want to make a meal out of him bcs well... Bird

HCs

Possibly very scared of reptiles unless it's his wife.

Very much sorta paranoid that he forcibly shelters his kids but doesn't realize it at all.

May or may sleep during the day, but mainly due to stress in the time he should actually be sleeping.

King Malice:

QnA

What is his opinion on common/normal foods that isn't the stuff he would eet/drink all of the time?

Has he EVER murked someone over a small insult that was made to him?

Has he ever been a relationship with anyone during his reign as the God of Beauty & Violence?

(Extra) How does he feel about being called "Adder" (aka his original/mortal name) by Harmona?

HCs

May or may not dabbled in cannibalism before.

Despises Vallah bcs he think he's better than her EVEN THOUGH she can spite him in a instant.

Has a "Sober" form where he basically is tired 24/7 & his jelly reverts to a normal grape flavor & his hair becomes a blonde. Also is a pale white color with eyebags. (Only will happen when he isn't allowed wine for a certain amount of time)

Gynaephora:

QnA

How did she feel about her father dying?

Has there been other dragons she met in RoR?

Does she wish to go back how things originally were before being the queen later in life?

HCs

Likes making snowmen for funsies

May or may not wear a cute lookin hoodie.

Over all a complete gremlin who may or may not be seen "annoying" by others

Mr. Casanova (FNV Alt):

QnA

So like... how in the world di he become a White Glove? & if there's a reason why, then why?

Does he enjoy eeting other humans? Is it bcs of the taste or smtn else?

How did he form his group/gang?

HCs

Possibly knows about Sanchi's lil crush on him but doenst talk about it bcs why not

He likes to name his weapons after types of flowers, but primarily roses.

Will often have his hair down when under complete stress or very depressed. (Also I think he may or may not tie his hair in different ways just bcs)

Q & HC Swap W/ @neptuniadoesstuff

Noir:

Questions

What are her opinions on each of her (close) relatives?

Has she been to many of the provinces? If so, what are her thoughts on the ones she’s been too?

What is her demiplane like- or, even, what are its regions like if there’s variety

Headcanons

Her magic grows unstable during extreme emotions- more and more so, to the point that if she ever has panic attacks er watch out- random objects will be summoned and flying around everywhere- or spikey ice shield or smth

Hates spiders- buut is a bit overkill when it comes to small ones, and will cast full on fireball on a daddy long leg

Literally doesn’t blink unless using it in a ‘what the heck’ sort of way

Cyberthorne:

Questions

What field(s) of science does he primarily focus on?

Does he leave the city he’s in often?

How / why was he chosen specifically by the queen?

Headcanons

Loves plasma lamps- probably owns like a dozen (could stare at them for hours)

Uses really long words- not to sound fancy he just likes them- then gets confused why nobody understands what he’s saying

… May lick salt lamps, tho he wont confirm nor deny this

Isma:

Questions

How exactly did her and peter meet? (Since methinks we only planned Diamondback and petrus’ meeting?)

Has she ever considered running away from Malice with Peter so they can finally be together without their respective gods breathing down their necks?

How did she choose her daughter’s name?

Headcanons

Despite not having a rattle, when she’s angry somehow shaking her tail produces a rattling sound (funky spirit stuff)

Can easily scale walls with her claws- and her footsteps are completely silent

Pupils grow bigger or smaller depending on lighting and focus like a cat

E.N.A:

Questions

Has she ever left the lab? Was she allowed to- or was this completely against the rules?

Why did she eventually decide to take down those who made her?

Is she more human(?) or robot? Does she have any inhuman abilities due to her cyborg parts?

Headcanons

Really prone to giving people static shock- and also despite eating, can technically survive off sunlight or electricity.

Genuinely struggles feeling texture- kinda jealous that some people can pet fluffy animals and actually really feel the… softness?

Randomly gets flashes of her past life in dreams and nightmares- and considers them well, just that… except oddly vivid with a side of deja vu

[always--and--never]

Devlog #3: Get chomped idiot

I finally bit the bullet and implemented some simple enemies! I was not looking forward to it because I thought networking would be a hassle... and I wasn't wrong! But not for the reasons I expected.

I thought networking their movement would be the worse part, which would either require me to implement Unity's native navigation mesh system (a pretty simple AI system that lets me give objects a target position to move towards, taking the shortest possible path and avoiding obstacles as well as they can), or to do it by hand which would have limited the complexity I could feasibly add to the movement within my timeframe (aka: probably not avoiding obstacles). Fortunately, the navigation mesh approach worked and I was able to sync the projected movement accurately to all clients.

The really bothersome part was the attacking and damaging... During each enemy attack, I could send the target player an instruction in order to stop them completely during the grab and bite animation and release them once it ends, but for some reason I've yet to understand, using the same method to pass them a damage value Did. Not. Work.

It worked for the host player (the one who starts the game session and thus owns the AI for the zombie enemies), but not for any clients. I had previously made a stationary turret enemy that shoots bullets, and that worked fine for both host and clients so, after trying (and failing) to find the "correct" solution, I went for the hacky / clever solution:

When the zombie bites you, I spawn an invisible bullet directly beneath the player, pointing upwards, which instantly hits them and effectively damages them. This, like the turret enemy, works for both host and clients so: mission accomplished!

I'm sure that my code is flawed and that the direct approach should work, I should be able to damage players directly (I mean, the bullet does), so it's probably a matter of what server authority each of the involved parties (host-owned zombie, client-owned player, ownerless bullet) can use to effect one another, but I don't really have the time to figure it out right now.

[3w-writer-with-wings]

Next Yu-Gi-Oh! Crossover – Bonds Beyond Worlds

With so many ideas about what Yu-Gi-Oh! 7 will be about, I wanted ZEXAL/ARC V/VRAINS crossover continuation the most. I’ve already discussed this before Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens was announced (here it is if you’re interested https://3w-writer-with-wings.tumblr.com/post/189629945740/next-yu-gi-oh-anime-new-series-or-a-crossover ) and despite new series, I’m still hopeful we will be getting a movie at least. Well, even if we aren’t getting it, I’ll write it down anyway. Only once Yuma, Astral, Yu-boys, Bracelet Girls, Yusaku and Ai get a happy conclusive ending will my soul be able to rest.

Still please don’t hate on SEVENS! It’s a nice and funny show and Yuga is a precious little inventor who doesn’t deserve all the hate.

Main cast

So the main cast will be definitely made of the main protagonists aka. Yuma, Yuya and Yusaku and their partner characters aka. Astral, other Yu-boys and Ai. I also want to include Bracelet Girls since they are very closely connected to Yu-boys, though not directly, more like they have a separate, but just as important mission, maybe they even team up with Rio (since she has psychic-like abilities) and Aoi (who learns about world connection from her brother and wishes to help). If it will possible I’ll also include rivals – though more like supporting characters, the same way Signers and professor Banner were used in the movie. For everyone else it would be more or less just minor roles, but still important enough to contribute to the story (Kaito and Arclight brothers guide Yuma through different worlds, Reiji and Yusho investigate strange occurrences in Arc V and Akira, Kusanagi and Ryouken try to find out where Yusaku went and how to help him). Overall, I wouldn’t include too many characters since I really want to give them meaningful roles. 

How it will connect the series?

VRAINS ends with a surprising findings uncovered by Akira – VRAINS got connected to many different worlds and Yusaku is on his way to unknown part of VRAINS in order to find Ai. While first crossover was connected by time (hence the title Bonds Beyond Time), this crossover will be connected by space. First crossover already made a big deal out of time (Atem was an ancient spirit from past and had to travel back in time to regain memories in order to rest in peace, Judai was a reincarnation of a Supreme King and Yusei fought against time-travelling cyborg from the future) and was therefore connected by time, with Yusei using Crimson Dragon to travel to past in order to stop Paradox from destroying it. This time, the new trio of protagonists will have to travel through space in order to meet. Since VRAINS ended so abruptly, with Yusaku travelling towards unknown part of network, this would be the most perfect point to start this new journey. If that part of VRAINS network somehow got connected to another world or more like a dimension, this is how Yusaku finds himself in ARC V dimension after the events of the fifth series – sometime after the four dimensions merged into one again. Yuya and Yuzu get used to their counterparts living in their bodies and Yuya is yet to defeat Yusho at that point.

Goals

In a way all three series share the same theme of protecting the world and changing it in order to save the ones they love, but with each series, less can be done to save it. Yuma used Numeron Code to save the friends he lost, prevented the destruction of Barian world and turned Barian Emperors back in humans. Yuya managed to seal Zarc’s soul in Reira and get Yuzu back and joined all dimensions into one, but he couldn’t save other Yu-boys and Bracelet Girls. Yusaku was unable to save Ai as Ai was never meant to co-exist with humanity. Therefore I believe this chain of events is in a way connected with Numeron Code – with such drastic change in Astral World and Barian World, the change must’ve affected Original Dimension in ARC V and Dr. Kogami must’ve had a reason to create Ignis (in the most far-fetched logic I believe the change awakened Zarc’s rage and convinced Dr. Kogami that the world is ending and humanity needs an immortal successor). Yuma could also feel guilty and selfish to activate Numeron Code, thinking he might’ve been wrong after all and that caused all the suffering Yuya, Yuzu, their counterparts and Yusaku have been through.

But at the same time this doesn’t mean they should just give up Numeron Code to fix everything and rather look for a different way, considering how much damage it has already caused. Maybe the antagonist wishes to have Numeron Code and their first goal is to destroy it or seal it for good and at the same time deal with the fact that it could bring Ai, Yu-Boys and Bracelet Girls back. Yusaku and Yuya don’t blame Yuma one bit and they both ensure him that their friends are still there, they just need to find another way to bring them back home. At one point they will be back either before the climax or during the climax (Yu-boys are pretty much already in Yuya, but it could be that they gain their bodies at the crucial moment when they are protecting Yuya). It would be interesting if Ai actually knew Yusaku was looking for him but was too scared to face him, thinking he’ll lose him (maybe Astral helps him get over it and during the moment where Yusaku is in danger, Ai comes back in a similar fashion as he did during his duel with Ryouken).

Antagonist(s)

It doesn’t necessary need an antagonist, considering the goals the main trio has is already challenging enough, though it would be interesting to have another antagonist. Rather than having a one that thinks they are doing the right thing but are ultimately making everything worse or a character that is outright evil. I prefer to use a very calculating antagonist who has a good reason behind his actions and truly presents a challenge for the new trio. Antagonist like Z-ONE from 5Ds would nicely fit in this story, but like I said, it doesn’t really need an antagonist. It will be also interesting to include a secondary antagonist or antagonists’ right hand against the girl squad. Since I plan to include Numeron Code (I mean it is a literal Infinity Gauntlet, why the hell not?) the main antagonist’s motivation could be something with rewriting reality and space all over again since Yuma and Astral greatly changed it since the end of ZEXAL. The Bracelet girls also have a connection to Ray and En cards that are also a rather powerful element so there would be no need to include more powerful elements, prophecies or ancient grudges against the protagonist trio. 

This might be a bit far-fetched idea too, but I think it would really interesting to use Yusho as antagonist. Not in a willing way of course, just that someone possesses him and through him challenges the new trio to a duel that decides all. A certain fanfic writer has (Frost190 in “Bonds of Pendulum”) already written down the most amazing duel between Yuya and Yusho that fit into the canon story so well that it made me think just what missed opportunity that duel was. Even though ARC V both starts and ends with Yuya’s vow to defeat his father one day, he never really duels him (though considering Yuri was able to defeat him and Yuya defeated Yuri, he could potentially defeat Yusho as well). Then there’s the fact that Yusho and Yuya haven’t really talked things through face to face yet. While it is clear that Yusho had to leave in order to stop Leo, he left right on the day he was supposed to have this big match. He knew Leo was up to no good, but really, really why he decided to leave on that day? He could’ve at least post-phone that match or be done with it in like an hour or so and then leave. This one thing has bothered me for as long as I can remember and that fact that they never point it out is that more frustrating besides the fact that Leo was magically excused of all horrible things he did. Yusho as antagonist (controlled of course, but using Yuya’s and Yusho’s memories to try to manipulate others) would work very well for Yuma and Yusaku too since Yuma also had to deal with the loss of his father and to Yusaku, Yusho could look like Dr. Kogami – a man who traumatized him for life. 

Climax

Like in Bonds Beyond Time, a big duel with protagonists against antagonist is expected to be the main battle of the movie, I would like to spice it up a bit or use entirely different climax scene. I mentioned before that I would love to see Bracelet Girls in action, so what if they get a seperate mission or another antagonist to fight and this is how they find a way to get their own bodies. With this info they have to reach Yu-boys and let them know how to separate them, though again there could be some trouble or something is happening due to disturbance in dimensions and they have to protect people in them. It would be really interesting if they were the trump card or if they would show up at that one moment when they would needed it the most. Another reason of why I want to include them so much is also because only the powers of Yuzu’s bracelet have been partially explained and considering Ray literally split a whole dimension and a demon in four, they must’ve been nearly as powerful as Numeron Code.

I would also love to expose the new trio of protagonists to their worst fears, showing their pieces of vulnerability there. Yuma could relive his duel with III and all the times he lost Astral and his friends. Yuya could go through the time his father was missing and when he hurt innocent people in berserk form. (In a way I would also love to see Zarc and Ray have a role, at least to guide him and encourage him to not to give up.) Yusaku might expect the trauma from Lost Incident, but it turns out to be the fear of truly losing Ai. Another important challenge would be probably temptation to use Numeron Code for their own interests like maybe it could rewrite Yusaku’s life with Lost Incident never happening, but erase all of Yuma’s friends who got revived. Maybe it could bring counterparts back but cause major disturbance in Den City. Overall I wouldn’t go there too much since I know well that Yuma, Yuya and Yusaku are one of the most selfless people and if anything, they would be fine with giving up on their desire for greater good.

Another important climax (in case I go with it), is Numeron Code. With such insane power of literal creation and destruction it could be again connected to ARC V, with the whole theme of Heavenly Dragons and En Powers. Similar themes also appeared in VRAINS, especially regarding the creation and destruction of life. It could also be that protagonists will be struggling with how to use it correctly or if they should use it in the first place. Another solution is also permanent destruction, but again, protagonists aren’t sure how will this affect dimensions and timelines. 

In all ways, climax will be epic and will join all the build up, struggles, fears and action in one scene.

Interactions of those who never met

This crossover will be able to provide a lot of scenes and interactions between characters of those three series. Yuya, Yuma and Yusaku have surprisingly a lot in common, especially their experiences when dealing with loss and fears. For some reason I’m actually seeing Yusaku opening up to them since they could strangely remind him of Ai and that was pretty much the only person besides Kusanagi that Yusaku trusted enough to share his fears. It would be also refreshing for Yusaku to see duelling as fun (I really hoped that would be the case when he duelled Go for the first time) and befriending more people like Ai told him to. Astral and Ai could also share a scene where they are talking about their human partners and the time once their partners will be gone since they are both sort of immortal beings. I strongly believe one of the reasons why Ai sacrificed himself for Yusaku was not only because he saw a future where Yusaku dies protecting him but because he knew Yusaku won’t live forever like him and he couldn’t handle being all alone without Yusaku or other Ignis. Astral who has been alone for thousands of years before meeting Yuma could teach him how to cherish the time with his partner that he still has. 

Conclusion

Like I mentioned it in the beginning – this would more or less be fix-it story. While I’m okay with ZEXAL ending (better than the one in manga at least), ARC V and VRAINS are in dire need for a better ending so overall, the ending conclusion will give the three series a much more conclusive ending. While I love to write a good angst and bitter sweetness for the end, I do no plan to end it this way (especially after binge watching two anime series in a row that had bitter-sweet but hella sad endings). This will have to be a feel-good ending with cheese on top or at least hopeful feel. I’m aiming for similar conclusion as Bonds Beyond Time, with three protagonists parting ways in hopes that they did the right thing and that they can return back to the worlds that they no longer need to fear they will break. 

The endgame will be obviously with Yu-boys coming back, Ai reuniting with Yusaku and Numeron Code being sealed away or if possible destroyed. If I’m going with “Yuma screwed up ARC V and VRAINS with Numeron Code” way, then I’ll really need to find a good reason to get rid of it or at least find a logical way how. Also he will be dealing with massive guilt and responsibility so maybe… Yuma might go Iron Man with it and others will need to stop him (that might lead to a secondary final duel or more like rescue duel, kinda mirroring final duel between Yusaku and Ai).

So yeah there will be a lot of conclusions to go through, especially if I include original antagonists, though I’m not that sure about it yet.

If anyone has any other ideas, suggestions, theories or anything else related to this topic, feel free to leave it below or PM me. I would love to hear your thoughts on this idea and it will really help me gather more ideas and material for this project that I would really love to write, not just for myself but for all other members of Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom as well.

[aintthatright]

Organizing/theorizing about what happened pre/right after apocalypse 1. SPOILERS FOR ALL OF THE 100!!!!

Hello everyone! So a while back I thought that it would be convenient for me and for others as well if the background info was all put into one place. So here it is. This covers all known events before apocalypse 1 and theorises on what happened after. Again, SPOILERS!

Before apocalypse 1:

Earth is unliveable. We know that the Eligius missions were all about finding more oil on other planets but there were other problems as well. From Josephine’s worst memory we can conclude that dust seems to be an issue as well as water. The guy talks to Josephine about the “water protest.” Eligius III is about to set off, while the other 2 missions have been going on for a while and Dioyza is still free. Eligius III was supposed to be the answer to the prayers of the human race. Should they find a good planet to live in the human race could just abandon Earth which had so many issues. 

During this time the most brilliant mind of the human race Becca has been making “night blood” aka blood alteration serum for the Eligius missions due to possible high exposure to radiation. However, she is also working on a second AI after ALIE proving to be a failure in the sense that ALIE doesn't know the difference between finding a solution for everyone and killing everyone to find a solution for the few. Becca has ALIE locked up and tries to create a device with the power of an AI, but one that could be integrated into a human mind. She has already created the mind drives for Eligius III which record everything about their missions and she is using similar technology trying to find how to make ALIE 2.0 work. 

12 other spaceships are operational in space which belong to different nations. Mount Weather is occupied and the Second Dawn Cult is preparing for the end of the world. 

Apocalypse 1:

ALIE gets loose and her solution to all human suffering is “too many people.” By this time all Eligius missions have been sent off including Diyoza and co. ALIE sets of the bombs destroying most of the Earth. On Earth three groups survive, and one group survives in space. No one except Becca and co. know that it was ALIE, to everyone else it looks like China set off the bombs and other nations just retaliated. 

After apocalypse 1:

Up in space the 13 stations start to unite and build the arc. Becca refuses to destroy the flame, hops into an escape pod and goes down to Earth. The other 12 stations blow up Becca’s lab to set off an example for everyone what not complying will cause. Mount Weather stays silent for 60 (?) years before finding out there are survivors on Earth. They discover they cannot metabolise radiation on their own and thus begin the most horrid human experiments. People of the Eligius III arrive on Sanctum and experience the effect of the two suns. Josephine is murdered. Gabriel and Russel find a way to bring back all primes using the mind drives made by Becca. The cult of the primes starts on Sanctum.

The cult of the  Second Dawn and Cadogan are the people who meet Becca at her escape pod. Her being probably one of the most famous people in the world some may recognize her and start to follow her instead of Cadogan. Becca and Cadogan experience a power struggle with her becoming Becca pramheda aka the first commander and him becoming the Shepherd. However, Becca is one of the only people, if not the only one, who can survive the elevated radiation levels due to night blood. She begins to share this knowledge with others and injects them with night blood as well. Night blood becomes valuable and the way for grounders to choose their leader. The flame and thus Becca’s legacy lives on. Cadogan is angry at her and her followers and decides to burn her alive. In that scene we can clearly hear her scream “Cadogan, you don't have to do this. With my serum you don't have to live in the bunker anymore, the flame can change everything.” Becca probably gave night blood to all of her followers but because it is probably a recessive trait only some descendants got it, while the original red blooded gene remained more dominant in the gene pool. 

Now here comes the tricky part. Cadogan would be an IDIOT not to take Becca’s serum for himself and his followers. Why wouldn't he do it? I suppose it could be pride but I don't think so. I think he knew that he didn't need the serum because him and his followers would not need it since they wouldn't be on Earth anymore. I believe Cadogan found an anomaly stone on Earth and used it to transfer himself and his followers to Bardo. I am 100% sure that the 6th planet that Raven said was offline is Earth and we even see Becca’s lab in the opening credits with all of the other planets the anomaly is detected in.

On Bardo he became the “Shepherd” who “saved them from the fire that destroyed the world” (words from 7x04). His followers became the disciples. They literally disappeared from the face of the Earth which would explain why the grounders worship Becca and the flame and no one knew about Cadogan or the Second Dawn. This would also explain why their tech is so advanced on Bardo - Cadogan’s followers consisted of people who had lived in a technological world and could make advancement in technology on Bardo. Slowly but surely they found out how to use the anomaly stone and started using other planets to their uses. Skyring as a prison and Nakara as a graveyard. Sanctum is not used due to the disciples not wanting to let the primes know they exist and the last planet is not used due to its extremely harsh climate. The anomaly and the six planets are also foreshadowed in Lexa’s back tattoo. Its information that she got from the flame so maybe Becca knew about the anomaly stone but wasn't willing to use it because they couldn't know for sure it worked. Maybe that’s why she also screams to Cadogan’s followers: “you think he’s saving, but he is killing you!” She thinks that by using the unpredictable anomaly stone Cadogan and his disciples will be killed in the process. 

Some sources other than the show and my brain:

https://www.reddit.com/r/The100/comments/fysp8u/spoilers_season_7_how_it_all_connects_a_multipart/

Twitter spoiler accounts such as OperationaBardo and Operation Nakara

[throwingideasatthewall]

Clone Wars          Escape from Kadavo

Well this is certainly a      scene change and one that doesn’t really make sense,

   I mean I thought it was a Camp of Holding for slaves

     Where they got transported to different places on the island to do     slave labor, per         hap        -s

   Now there’s apparently a lava pit under it,

            How?

  That

    -doesn’t make any sense

    Also wtf,

   Coal, metal

Since when was   refinery really this place’s MO      (Like this is really starting to feel like they got the        Mandalorian           And           This        Set         -ting        s       Switch           ed,)

      Not to say they can’t be a     coal/mining industry,  

      Just, that the setting should    reflect it,

     From we saw there was nothing to indicate this was anything but        an ar       chai          c      Soc-either

     With no flues        Or fu    -mes

     To indicate   that they were burn        Ing combustibles,

   Honestly some kind of stalactites   mine,

     Or someplace where they       dig for      “valuables,”            -like      prized st-          one for         Jew           elery-          Would          make         more        sense-       -        Anyway, I’m getting.      way too        focus        -ed          on          the        se-          tt         -        Ing-      - Again Rex is    just straight up chilling,     This is      n’t       his first rodeo with abusers,

  Ok, seriously what was up with the    Wil       -h         el          m,?

     (Like I don’t honestly see anything          steep enough to fall off)

   You could say      it was a whip but we haven’t seen any        Of       That,      Ye      t-

  I don’t get the    screaming-

  Also that   dude just attacked him out of nowhere,

  Like   could we have gone    establishment of that?

   Like,

  What was even his ber-zerk        butt-        on       there?

   Dude was doing his job

  Like if it was a faster thing you kind of have to establish that before hand      -        Also then the environment, the ma      jor      ity,       Would be working at a   breakneck speed,      With a sense of anxiety,       In the       air,

    Then,     the whip,

  He-     was?

  (Like that was just        plain - pointless

     Not even an emotional reaction

     Like that told us absolutely nothing about the setting      and character

    The mate didn’t even have a reaction

    It’s one random guy that just decided to hit      someone else-

   Like that’s not even calculated never mind       systematic,

    Also I like how Rex like yeah      I wouldn’t know anything about that,        feck’in             Jedi             -

      Also       “Effect?”

      Not really more like 

     “ Dave’s having a real rough day and I really don’t want to talk to              (In that               state)

          Like they didn’t wince.

         There was no antici             pation-

          No                  anxiety,

            Like no signs of this is had a           permanent          psychologically            damaging              affect

(Note all toxic behavior is           harmful,               The difference here is             Between                The intensity of the        in-dentation,

            It can get pretty       bad

            And enabling        tox can have serious effects                 (Pretty                   bad)

              (Requiring a lot more time   to undo)

               From;            Dave is really an    asshole,

                 To                           I am really an    asshole,

                  To                    The world is really an   asshole (And Dave is the       savior-)

   (Apologies to anyone who’s chosen name is          Dave or similar vernacular,               It’s not out of any Mala-    cian-              Just the first identi          fication I could think of,

          And tox-    ic logic is really not something you wanna enable,

         Again what the Frick?

(This is really not an   or-ganic way to      introduce        your       rules

Like, “oh yeah    speech is for-bidden,       Have a nice        day,”

 Like      you   think   dude-

Like you were pretty damn path     -etic     abu       ser-        (s)         -    (Sla       vers)       Wow,

   There was no emotions or anything     -be      cause the set up was so poor,

  W-        h      -a         t

    Again the emotion    is non existence,

  Also what the fuck     happened to Rex over there?     -      

When did he      go down?

 (Like don’t    get me wrong   I saw a flash in the corner?)

  But why       him?

   [also did the scenery just completely changed because he was on the far end of Ken-        Obi with something in between

      Some thing they were       shoveling the stuff on?

     That’s just       gone in this shot]

  [Also,           From a narra-         tive,     standpoint wouldn’t it have made more sense and been a more engaging concept,          If the guy had threat          -ene             d-            The clone          in Obi- wan’s              stead,             Seeing as of the     republic’s version of slavery,

      Rex pos          s-             ib          ly

     Reflec-         ting on the          (Other           Species?)

And    contrasted with them,

   On how much    Obi-Wan views him as a possession,

   (Or his reaction to the people under him getting hot          ,and why)

   Allo-      wing for more heart, 

     “I’m            sorry,”

        “No              Wors              e-               Than               The            Kamino               -ins,”

       Rex’s         Sub             Cat;

        Seeing the people he was trained (and order-ed) to protect              Harm                 -ed                   -                    Much like the people (under him) were harmed during the Kamooin.   s-

  Groom          -ing,                  ?]

      Any      -way,  

    Again,     and what was the emotion?       -         M-aster

  Rex must be like,         Kar-           ma

     If he’s   not,

    [Never mind      he isn’t asleep      just one frame     made it look weird?]

   Ai-       gh -t

  Oh yeah seriously check up on that one guy instead of you know the person under the command,

    Also;       

 What The fuck?

    IS THAT GOOGLY EYES?

    What the feck,

     What is with that       expression-

     What is with that              facial-

   (Seriously someone tell me what      emotions this is supposed to por-     tray!

    What?

    Also yeah 

  they completely waltz.       -ed     past the ab-        us         -er.        Be-         Ing        -         Con-          fron         ted-              by         the       Con-        Seq-        Uen        Ce        (s)          Of       their      actions,

  It’s not pointed out that Obi-Wan totally caused this by (not)-    listen-ing,        To dude’s        initiative      to stay out of it

(Or, what he did to Cody        Rex,       and basically         all the clones,)

(And what could’ve been a good moral about negative effects of “Pos-       itive  over-       invo        lv           e-       Ment-            )

   so I am slightly big mad

         Not com-   -pletely

          But I’m      get-ting          th-ere

   Drinking         my        slightly       bitter       ju-ice-

   Gett    -ing         pr-etty          salty

     Which is odd since I normally don’t criticize      aesthetic differences

              Like                    This-       -

   The problem is it isn’t the aesthetic       that I have a problem with,        (You want to have a Obi-Wan show more compassion to the slave of similar generation then to Rex?

    (That’s per-fect-ly fine and could even show how he values his job and  Mission over someone he is actually wound-        ed-)

     However that’s not it-

        (It doesn’t             even do that)

   My problem with it is that it shows no        emotion

   No emphasis

   No moral

   It’s - empty               -          Watching this scene,     there is absolutely nothing I get out of it,

       Also wow that was a        quick turnaround,

Like seriously     it generally takes longer      for that kind of behavior to be indented,

  This is literally the only Jedi       he’s seen be there

       One time

         This is barely scraping        logic,          And            even             then,                not              really            requiring-              pre-knowledge                  of the emotions               and general plot               (before                       hand)

   I know that I should feel bad for the        slave because         slav-ery is a bad thing           And any real person would be          pretty upset it/             Suffer for the toxic environment,

         Note; it’s not from the               medium

         I didn’t gain that                 knowledge             from the medium

(In which the chara-       cters      actions and emotions,         Make me        conclude,       “oh wow,         slavery is a real         bad thing!”

   No the characters are wooden puppets          with no emotion,

          Going from;                Point a to point B

      Nothing to connect them              (No preamble)

         No emotions

         No motive(s)

       ‘why is Obi-Wan doing what he’s doing?’

         ‘I don’t know’

                    (And I honestly don’t think the wr-     iters did either)

       And no damn interest

        Barely scraping        logic..

   ‘Why is Obi-wan      doing what he’s doing,’

     ‘Because he has the rescue the slaves,’

    ‘ why does he have to rescue the slaves,?’

      ‘ because you have to rescue slaves,’

        It’s literally circular

   Rely- ing completely on the cookie   cu-    tter,

    Resulting in it being as flat as a cookie when      rolled over by a rolling pin,

         Where                It             should;                Be;

    “ why does Obi-Wan want to rescue the slaves?”

        “Because of his dedication to his moral compass/ because of his dedication to his generation/ non-      clone- ena         blers,/      (Whatever        you want           to put            there)

           (Hey that was almost emotion from   ,Rex)

         (We’re      2:29      Min      Ut        es        In,        And I’m already        salty about the episode refusal to be         fun,

     -

   That’s nice        exposition      *Palpatine*.       Sidious,

     Tra-        dition           (S);

    Mill-

  That’s literally all I      -heard-

      -(I assume they’re saying             “millions,”)

         Which would actually be neat if we got to see some you know human soldiers on the Darkside to counterbalance the whole do you know clone troopers, contrasting the dark side’ s more ethical but none the less toxic practices,

    To the light side’s-          Gen Break-

      De-       fiance?

   (I think you mean that other Zygerian’s death because we have literally not seen the queen act even remotely rebellious,

   Yeah she      con-     templates possibly free-        ing them,

   But we haven’t seen her openly communicate with either of these 2 to inform them

   And she still wants to keep     Anakin,

  So she at least     has one Jedi,

   With the others possibly be blamed on a       -prison break-

      And literally nothing that we’ve seen       com-municating the concept of open - rebel-      lion

   Or any of the connection between      her    and the separatist,

   Again seriously        how am I     supposed to feel about that             (Also the one person that gives even the slightest bit of emotion and it’s the villain,)

    Like I’m surprise’d       Dooku’s surprised by that

   (Er-)

    O-k

   Whe-lp 

   (Also, now there         are flues).           (Don’t recall        seeing them                last time,)

        Or just sticks with gold          on them

 (I am very        con-        fused,)

This seems pretty different

And totally safe

  (Also wasn’t the castle       blue?)

  But I’m not against it because it could work with the       symbolism of wild,       Or just.          Wor      -k                 (I know I’m being way too hop-   - eful but I try,

      Re-        hash-

     Easy-

   So why is there no other emotion 

   And why do you look like a         caveman,

    (Eyebrows    constantly furr-        Ow-        ed)

    Also what was with the      pro-nunciation and        emotion?

    Bare,

   Also literally no     one else is paying attention to that guy?        ?

‘ he also doesn’t   cause me to have any emotions’

  Like seriously I know that it’s a cat person but you still have to show some sentient emotion here

   If there’s no emotion,        there’s no risk,

   (Part of   sent- ience)

   Att-        end,

   Again that’s not the cha-    llenge I think they were trying to make it out to be;              (Un-accountabili-          ty)    Aka         What it would work best as;

          Remix;

    “ I’ll would never turn away from a challenge,” Anakin said snarkily,

      The queen se-           duct              iv             el-              y

          Taking his light saber,                -                that works better;

           -                   Ser-iously                       -                       Um-                       No,  

(Last time someone fall from a height that      high, they died,)

   (You have to play by        your       own      rules,             )

    Wha-

    Also again wh        -at-

   Sky -walker

  When          ?-

   -

   Would be nice if you ever         feckin showed it,

       (Seriously the concept of Obi-Wan having to come to terms at least temporary that his Over-involvement has      hurt people is an interesting concept,”

     Also bullshit      that you know that

      (Pretty)

   (You’re all enabled and you haven’t spent any time around     Obi-Wan)

   (That’s a stupid plan            and the animation really doesn’t help,)

       Zy-ger

       Perm     -     R-       i-,

Oh yeah so no reserves,     about using the term,             “master”      After this     schism            ?            -         Y-eah           -         How?           -           W-at

 [The emotions are off the roof and I have no idea 

    with the scale of escalation

   W-at]

   Lesh          -       Li- fe

    You did-            n’t?             -              Emo            tion-

        ?

      Wh-at?

      Who        called-        the       guards?

   Seriously if this is such a constantly abusive (tox) relationship than how do they not know,

     (Unless the previous guards got killed and these          are the         newbies,)

    Because you don’t act like it all don’t have any of the characteristics generally associated with constantly rein-forc       -ed toxicity,         Show-       ed no emotion including     (anxiety and anticipation)         In that previous           fight,

 As well as no negative    con-    seq-    uen      ce          s for your behavior             -               Even now your voice is just     “ oh I’m     dyi-ng-            -,’.                 .        

Meep,

 [Something        happened 

   not a Tumblr refresh,

       Gist;

  There’s absolutely no emotion in the scene and the fact that she just dies after that being the threat is just kind of cheap,

  [and the fact that she had absolutely no expression            (Or emotion)     during that entire fight                  Not showing any of the general signs             -               Just no)

    And that expression is a weird way way to end

   The scene.       not the movie that still going,          (Un-fortunate-         ly)

   Uh, why             Off to you obviously evil factory,       land,”

    Kick,

   Hey     isn’t it that minor antagonist    that hasn’t showed up since the last episode?       . . .       Why?         . . .       And he included       the clone        why?

    (Oh yeah I want the      Jedi Knight         Obi-Wan          Kenobi,          And especially the to my knowledge           (default)             clone.

       -  

       And Rex who is honestly a lot more intimidating,

  K-i

  [Again this is supposed really be about.     Ken-obi but I’m really focusing on     Rex,]

    Wh-        at-        -

   How?!

    They were on a        bug?

    I-

   Ok-

  Sorry my memory     gave out for a moment at the whole     Anakin durp face thing         -       -

 W-h

  W-

Wood

   Again, how is he supposed to do that?

    -       Ter-         -        I-l

   Sl-av          es

   So Ahsoka goes to rescue the slaves while An-a      kin,    stays here and carves a hole,

   En-ough

   No emotion!

   Oh,     I thought he meant         Ah         -soka         -          Oh so yeah let’s bring a warship into what seems to have been         intended as a stealth mission,

      Screw                    Fitt              Ing                Re                Action-

And-

   W-

      .

How   did that change the fact that they have the button that can kill all the    slaves,

    (It didn’t)

Obi-won just apparently stopped giving a       fr-ick         -

  Ray-

   Well then they were impossible to   take out,

 F-a         -           S-l

   But only the         Tyger-ian        (Apologies for any misspelling          I mean Ahsoka’s            kind,)

      “He           -at,”

        “Cut,”

         Ge-n-

         Rex did more than Obi-wan,

          Also yeah     completely forgot about that,

        Also he said               kill,

         [Not further         im-prison,”         ]

       Rex had some      rage-

      Also you’d think that be Obi-Wan       considering how much he’s gotten       ,screwed with         This entire          ,time              -           Wh,at 

      Wh            -y              -

          -

Wh        -y          -     H-ere         -               How is Rex still fighting      guys?         -       Also thanks a lot Obi-Wan      you useless      piece of shit,

   [Again, would         n’t it make           sense?            .)

      W-ell

      -           You just came into a door        just hop them - over-                                -                             Lan      d-

                      Wait,                            How did you just get in, there                     though,

                     .                        Co-                    vert                          -                            ?

O-Kay,     new character,

 W-h

 -

(Also oh no they gave      plo another fleet  

      Great      )

     Ser-iously,   what     where are these guys coming from?        ,     You’ve literally been allowed this dude to heck around the entire time while Rex did all the hard work

La-me,

 Also seriously where was all that                    -  ,coming from-                     -                Wh    at-

Where   was the   emotion?       -      Hey that had no meaning, symbolism      or emotion behind it -       whatsoever,

    I

    ?

       A-i

         -            W-h              -             -           -            Whelp, was completely boring

    Covenants of a good,                  fun story;  

       - Set;  Excessive in instances that don’t directly affect the story’s           up,    cohesivity

       -Tone; Is appropriate

       -Emotions; And appropriate, and consistent and manage to keep a consistent tone,

             (Un-nessary,                        Typically switch-ed for a        more logical tone,                        In works of                      non-fiction,

                  Though may be in both,                        So long as note                        is given,)

        This            film            (Movie      -      Gets absolutely none of it right except the basics for a         good story

      It’s        co -         hesive-          But damn           boring         and empty,

Story         -      Re-write.          -            (I needed something fun after watching that       boring documentary,)

     So let’s       get into it,            -                   (May          feature            episode             -overlap)

   Obi-Wan emerges from the carrier,              With R           -ex,

    (Obi-Wan possibly sub- con-ciously           mov              -ing                  In              Fron                 -t                        Of                    Rex-)

         [Or              Cody]

             The                  minor              antagonist                welcome(s)                 them;                   Obi-wan trading some banter with him                      -                     It                being part of a plan to get captured,

              Unfortunately somethings went ar-ray and instead of              Cody being the back up plan; he got taken with him

               The minor antagonist                                   -               quickly cuts the chatter                                 -                                     By having the guard                               (S-                         bring Cody forward, introducing him as                                                           Obi-Wan’s                                                               Slave

           Giving a veiled threat of                “ would be a shame if something happened to such a                    ,pretty specimen,”

                  Obi-Wan getting   def-ensive,

                      The atag,      Com   menting,       “ Pretty protective,           Of your toy,            Aren’t              You,”

      Before         having           them thrown            somewhere,

         Next time,        we see them they’re getting e-           scor-            ted-             for gem            Min-            Ing,

         (Possibly some black humor from the vil               -ains-                about how people                 will pay,                     “An arm                  or leg

*Pos-sibly        yours,

                For                      the                      stuff,’           

            On the way there one of the guards notices Rex    (Cody)’s                                                                                     ey-ing the place.                                                                                          warning him                                                                                          That,                                                                                           ‘He’s                                                                                        not                                                                                 the only                                                                                     one                                                                                    under                                                                                 ob                                                                            -servation)

                                                                             Possibly                                                                               causing                                                                              a wincing                                                                            or anxious                                                                           reaction                                                                             from                                                                             them                                                                                  .   (I would generally  encourage flashbacks to be        able to - show the emotion          em-          ot            ion,)

      (Under-stand               what is going inside their            head,)

         But for now            I’ll stick           with           the example            given by the show         which is no flashbacks,     The      guard        making        it clear what will happen

Shock-     -Ing-

  The clone       (Eith          er)           Ha-ving       a bad reaction         to this,

     Knee       jerkingly      reaching            out,

     The guard       grabbing him         and         holding him    back -            -           Forced into a      distressing circumstance of         fa            il           -in            g-         The           Miss-         -ion             -

                                                                                             Those two are                                                                                     pretty much out of the action                                                                                for the rest of the episode being                                                                   stuck

                                                  Obi-Wan can’t do anything without hurting Cody                                                       Cody can’t do anything without hurting                                                                         the slaves                                                                               -                                                                              Most of their part is                                                                               contrasting                                                                            the condition,

Most of the     action is with      Ahsoka,        Who talks down that  dweeb         (Maybe someone near-er          to her age)                     And they go break      Obi-Wan out so he can back up, Anakin

    In the Dooku fight,

               The most consistent and                       clear char-                        -acter                          Being                              Q                             -ueen,                              Being a     slaver-

   If         it’s         Ana-       Kin,

          Anakin having to begrudgingly put up with this        slaver’s nonsense

         Be-grudgingly

      - Her talking about how life is slavery     and him just not...

          Then                  Dooku                 Shows                      Up,

   (The whole transition between the mine scene and the Anakin- slaver scene,        Being a cut from the sparks in a mine           To the jewel on her finger              With extra focus       being put on the jewels,

        Possibly all done with all of them              Zy-              gar-ian                (Or of all        the planets that         she’s taking people from-  

      Zygarian            Heir               loom)

          A black stone          (in the middle of her chest)               By a pendant                 (Generally                   implied to be by                 Count Dooku)

    Toxic        court-ing           implied,

              Count Dooku                   announces                a surprise visit,

               The Queen is pleased                    but nervous                       (Hands                         behind -back)

                  “I-”

              Putting        a wine glass down behind it,

                     Dooku is immediately aggressive

        The queen            offering                Anakin as a consolation prize

       As the youngest and newest to the-ir possible              rank,

        Dook-u snark                  Ing,

          Dooku threaten                -ing  to kill

          The queen having issue with that whole main characterization being the collector of rare things

          (Possibly a reflect-                Ion  about the no speaking rule)

             More likely Dooku dismissing her con-           cerns just saying that he can always get her a new one,

            “The Queen possibly wincing at a raised hand                  - if we want to go for indications of                  physical tox-’

          Poss-ibly a conversation about why she put up with           him

        “He treats me well”

        Focus on the necklace and pendent to             - contrast with the choking necklace-

          Possibly a poison               Sub-line

                -                     If you want                    to go there,                       -                    But focusing on Ahsoka,              they broke those guys out,

                 Ahsoka finding a heartbroken                         Jedi,                       Explaining that their res       -pect     ive  clone friend,        Has given up on them

   Ahsoka finding that person,

   Who manages to explain that he can’t        move either-

    To be cut off by the guards      who has really had enough of         every-      thing-

   Decided - screw it if pain isn’t going to make you stop and then might as well put them in a life or death situation,

    Add-ing time on the clock         (Or at least a new var-         iable-)

   Ahsoka possibly     does a whole speech thing          (Since seriously         we’ve seen none of her involvement or even care about         her own         spe-cies)          Via dem            on-          Strat           Ion-

      (Very likely leading to a            riot situation,)

     As they didn’t plan on the           Tagroatians (?)             Rebell              ing due to                crush                  -ed                 spirits,

     That happens                  -           Those two re-         unite and go to fi-ght                Dooku

        (I never.       really cared for the        Zy-            ger-             Ian           queen,)

         If she lives in then,    she’s grateful for them driving off Dooku,          Allows them to get off with the slaves,

      (Necklace might have information            might not,)

   *Honestly I felt it made more sense for        Anakin to be the one in the mine;             The Zy-          garian queen, and Obi         -Wan hav-          ing boomer ban             -ter,              With Obi-Wan a lot more           aware of that stuff,               (Show-ing               worldliness       by identifying the stones)             While Anakin compares       the circumstance to the one that he used to live in,              And the one he enabled Rex living in,           While Ahsoka,    could team up with a          Zy-ger-Ian round              her age,               Possibly some conversations about           enabling-           May-be Ahsoka talking about getting a clone         command of her own-            (If we want the clone commanders to be a constantly          featured theme                here)               Boomer                 Bait,               Busting Anakin out of the            mine,                Obi-Wan getting hidden behind a             cur-tain,                     And going to heck over Dooku,                   (Slaves recovered-)

           Both the Zy-                Gar-                  Ian-                    (And a flirtatious                promise to return                      By                       Obi-wan, )                       [contrast                        Mandalorian]                    Gets                         Free-                        Dom-                        -                         End-                         -

[xxx-cat-xxx]

Told You So

aka Three times Tony and Bruce take care of each other.

For @twentyghosts. Happy Birthday, Renata! This is a birthday fic and also my excuse for writing Science More-Than-Bros for the first time. It’s hurt/comfort because that’s me, but nothing dark.

Major thanks to @whumphoarder​ for beta reading. Enjoy :)

-------------------

Bruce wakes when the sky outside is still dark, hours before their alarm is set to ring. That’s nothing new - between him and Tony, they have assembled so many potentially nightmare-inducing traumas that there is hardly a night in which both of them sleep until morning - but today it’s something else that woke him.

Tony is facing away from Bruce in a futile attempt to not disturb him with a wet and seemingly painful coughing fit. He is hunched into himself, trembling slightly, sucking in rattling breaths between the coughs.

“Hey, Tony, take it easy,” Bruce mumbles as he blinks himself awake, his voice still hoarse from sleep.

He props himself up on an elbow and starts to rub circles on the other man’s back. Tony shivers visibly under his touch, and Bruce’s hand goes up to his neck. He sighs when he feels the searing heat coming off Tony’s skin. The chest infection Bruce warned him about when he went on a three-days workshop binge with a cold is now in full force. Of course Bruce was right, but he doesn’t feel satisfaction, only worry. Bruce isn’t one to say ‘I told you so’.

Tony coughs and coughs and coughs, then wheezes in a breath and coughs some more, sounding increasingly frantic.

“Okay, you need to get upright.” Bruce scrambles out of bed and helps the other man sit up.

Tony takes a rattled breath before doubling over and hacking again. He brings a hand to his chest in a pained expression. “Can’t - breathe -”

“I know, I know. You’re okay, Tony, it’s just the infection,” Bruce assures in the calmest voice he can muster, trying to radiate confidence. He knows that not being able to breathe is one of Tony’s most prominent triggers, and the last thing they need right now is a panic attack.

“JARVIS, can you start the steam in the shower?” he addresses the AI.

“Of course, Dr. Banner.”

“That should help you,” Bruce encourages, hoisting Tony up. “Come on.”

Steam is already filling the shower. Bruce sits Tony down on the ground, asking him to lean forward and breathe evenly.

Tony tries, then descends into another coughing fit. He tries again and hacks up a mouthful of mucus, his fingers clawing into Bruce’s arm. There’s panic in his eyes when the attempt to fill his lungs with oxygen yields no result.

“Okay, try again, just breathe with me,” Bruce instructs. He takes both of Tony’s hands into his, holding them tight. “I’m right here, okay? Let’s do this together.”

He counts them down from ten a couple of times until finally Tony’s breathing eases. For a minute, Tony just sits there with his eyes closed, swaying slightly, relief visible on his face. Then he slumps against Bruce, exhausted and clearly feverish.

“Thanks,” he mumbles. “‘s was awful.”

“You’re okay now,” Bruce soothes. “Maybe just listen next time when I tell you to take a day off.”

Tony sticks out his tongue at him, then buries his face in Bruce’s chest.

“Do you think you’ll be okay here for a moment while I get us a change of clothes?” Bruce asks. He personally wouldn’t mind cuddling his partner on the bathroom floor all night, but the heat of the steam really doesn’t help with Tony’s fever.

Tony nods sluggishly, already half asleep. Bruce helps him shift so he can support himself against the tiled wall.

He goes to change his own pajamas, leaving the wet ones on a heap on the floor to deal with later. Then he fetches a pair of sweatpants and a shirt for Tony and returns to the bathroom.

“Brucie?” Tony is still sitting on the shower floor, and when he looks up at Bruce, there’s a smile on his tired face and a sparkle in his eyes. “Your bedhead looks adorable.”

*

“Something about this smells fishy to me,” Tony says into his comm and Bruce grins because this is the third time he’s heard that same line during the past hour. He can almost see Steve taking a deep, measured breath on the other side of the channel.

Missions are always Bruce’s least favourite part about being an Avenger. This time, at least, it isn’t the Hulk who is needed but actually Bruce, the scientist, and there are definitely worse things to do than investigate an abandoned Hydra base together with Tony.

That’s what he thinks anyway, until the moment when the air resonates with a deafening explosion from further down the corridor and he realises that they have walked right into a trap.

“I told you so,” Tony snaps at Steve through the comm, and Bruce almost laughs because this is such a Tony thing to say, but then there’s an ominous crunch from the walls, and the next moment the building collapses over their heads.

The dust settles and by some mysterious fortune, Bruce is still Bruce, although a Bruce who’s lying on the ground on his back without any memory of how he got there. He tries to get up with a groan, but he can’t. His chest is pressed down by something metallic, and he realises with a surge of fear that it’s Tony’s armour. He tries to turn to his side, but that doesn’t work either as there is debris all over him and possibly the remnants of a wall nailing him in place. He tries to lift his hands to free himself just to realise that he can’t even do that, and that’s when the panic takes over.

He mutely notices Tony saying something, but he can’t concentrate, his own increasingly frantic breaths sounding too loud in his ears. The weight on his body seems to grow heavier with each second that passes, and he is almost sure that he can feel the oxygen decreasing.

The Hulk stirs in the back of his mind, and Bruce is nearly glad to let him take over, but then he realises that this can’t happen because Tony is lying above him, which means that Tony is trapped together with him under the debris, and if the Hulk comes out, he will squeeze Tony to death and -

“Bruce? Are you okay?” Tony’s voice interrupts his racing thoughts and Bruce realises from his tone that this is not the first time he must have asked the question.

Get me out of here, he wants to shout, but he can’t answer, the weight pressing down onto his vocal chords robbing him of oxygen.

“Bruce?”

“N-No,” he manages. “C-can’t -” He breaks off, panting.

“Okay, hey,” Tony says. “Calm down, big guy.”

It’s a stupid thing to say, Bruce thinks, because it’s not the what that is the problem here, it’s the how. Tony mumbles something into his suit, and then Bruce can feel a gush of fresh air on his face, because of course Tony’s suit would have an A/C function.

He gulps in a breath, and another, and another. It doesn’t do much to take the weight off his limbs, but at least the fear of suffocating is gone for the moment.

“Bruce? Talk to me, you’re freaking me out. Are you okay?” Tony sounds a little panicked himself.

“Yeah - yeah, I’m sorry,” he rasps. “Just, uhm, I don’t really like small spaces.”

He can hear Tony let out a breath. “Yeah, somehow I guessed that… You’re not injured, right?”

“No, I’m-I’m good, just, there’s debris all over me. And I can’t move.” He tries not to make the last sentence sound too pathetic, but it’s a close call.

“I’d help you out, but my suit’s holding the structure upright, so I can’t really move either,” Tony explains.

Bruce can feel the minute shakes of the armour betraying the strength it takes Tony to keep the building from collapsing further - can hear the low hum of the armour. He wonders how much energy it has left.

“FRIDAY called for backup, they should be coming soon,” Tony goes on. “Don’t move until then, it’s a very...fragile situation.”

Great. That’s just great.

“Are- Are you hurt?” Bruce asks, because no matter how close to losing it he is, he needs to know whether Tony is okay.

“Nah, I’m good,” Tony responds, the strain in his voice obvious. Bruce is inclined not to believe him, but on the other hand, he is carrying a building on his shoulders, so of course he’d sound strained, and god there is a whole building trapping them and he can’t move -

“Slow it down, big guy,” Tony instructs firmly.

“It’s not - It’s hard - “ The edges of Bruce’s vision are shimmering green.

We are safe, he tries to convince the Hulk, You don’t need to take over, we’re okay- but he has such a hard time believing it himself.

“Bruce. Just breathe with me. Like that night in the shower, when I was sick, you remember?” Tony manages the miracle of keeping his voice soft even though he himself is almost panting from exertion.

“Yeah,” Bruce manages, pulling up the memory in his mind. If Tony got through bronchitis without a panic attack, Bruce can get through his claustrophobia. Has to, actually - it’s not like there’s much of a choice.

“Okay,” Tony directs, “Count your breaths. Easy-peasy.” There is a groan and something in the structure shifts. For a horrible second Bruce thinks that this is it, it’s going to collapse and the Hulk will come out and Tony will die - but then he feels a hand reaching for his, and realises that Tony has somehow freed his arm.

“Is it okay if I touch you?” Tony asks.

“Y-Yes. Thanks.” Tony finds Bruce’s hand in the dark, and he can feel the nanite casing of the other man’s suit retracting, his warm fingers enveloping Bruce’s own.

“Here. I got you.” Tony soothes. “Now, just breathe. They’ll come for us soon.” His fingers hold Bruce’s tightly, pressing his hand in rhythm with Bruce’s breaths.

“I’m so sorry,” Bruce says when he manages to calm down a little bit.

“For what? Was it your fault that Captain The-Structure-Is-All-Clear Rogers got the wrong intelligence?”

“No, of course not, just...if I wasn’t there, you could just use your repulsors -”

“Goddammit, Bruce, stop apologising for existing!”

“S-Sorry,” Bruce whispers, feeling a tiny smile form on his lips.

“Stop saying sor -” They are interrupted by a rumble from somewhere deep in the structure.

Bruce flinches, but Tony’s fingers press his reassuringly. “It’s the team. They’re coming for us. Don’t worry, we’re going to be safe.”

Thankfully, Tony is right once again.

*

“Sorry-  for making you late -” Tony rasps, spitting a string of bile into the toilet bowl.

“What do you mean, ‘late’?” Bruce frowns. “We’re not going anywhere.”

“Yes, we are so going-” Tony stops to rip a piece of toilet paper off the roll and roughly wipe his mouth with it. “I’ll just - give me a few minutes, I’ll be able to keep down a painkiller and then we can leave -” He interrupts himself to retch once more.

“Tony, the stupid ceremony is not important. I’m not letting you go in the state you’re in.”

“This’ nothing  - jus’ a stupid migraine - I’ve worked through worse -”

“Is that supposed to reassure me? Because it definitely doesn’t.”

Bruce braces himself for another comeback, but Tony has gone quiet, holding his head in his hands with his eyes screwed shut, reeling slightly. His adam’s apple is bobbing up and down as he is visibly trying not to be sick again. The pain on his face is almost too much for Bruce to bear.

“Okay, hey.” Bruce brings his tone down to a soothing whisper. “Do you think you’re done for now?”

Tony nods minutely, so Bruce helps him up to standing. Tony whimpers involuntarily when the change of altitude dials up the pain, grabbing at the basin for balance. When he can stand more steadily, Bruce fills a glass of water for him to rinse his mouth.

FRIDAY has already dimmed the lights in the bedroom. Bruce sits Tony down on the foot of the bed and takes a moment to tidy up the pieces of the fancy suit that are laid out on the mattress, evidently left there when Tony got sick while trying to get dressed. Bruce is glad that he came home early to find the man in the bathroom throwing up instead of meeting Tony directly at the science award ceremony like they had planned originally. He is sure Tony would have forced himself to go despite a migraine bad enough to make him sick.

“‘m useless. And stupid. More stupid than Dum-E.” Tony is struggling with the buttons of his suit shirt.

“I have a hard time believing that, coming from the man who was supposed to receive a science award tonight with me.” Bruce smirks.

“I feel stupid. Can’t use my brain. ‘n my hands.” He pulls at the buttons irritably.

“It’s okay. I got this, see?” Bruce helps him out of the shirt, eliciting a small, grateful smile. He nudges him to change into sweatpants before Tony gingerly curls into the blankets.

“You should try and get some sleep,” Bruce tells him quietly.

“Can’t. Not tired, ‘s not even seven yet.”

“Keep lying there and I bet you’ll be asleep within half an hour.”

“Sure.” Tony responds sarcastically.

“Are you still feeling nauseous?” Bruce asks. The answer is a small nod, so Bruce fetches the trash can from the corner of the room and sets it next to the bed. Then he goes to wet a washcloth with cool water and lays it over Tony’s eyes. Tony lets out a breath of relief.

“You can still go, y’ know?” he speaks up when Bruce slides under the blanket with him. “‘s boring here, ‘m no fun.”

“Tony, you don’t have to be fun for me to want to be around you,” Bruce protests. “I don’t want you to be alone when you’re sick.”

“Oh. ‘kay.” Something in his tone expresses genuine surprise, and Bruce feels a sudden green flash of anger at whoever it was that made Tony believe he has to be a source of constant entertainment in order for people to stay with him. Bruce draws in a breath.

“How’s the pain?” he asks, more softly.

Tony shrugs, flinching when he does so. His face is abnormally pale, sweat beading on his hairline. Bruce realises that he still has a clenched fist pressed to his left temple. Migraines typically hurt on only one side of the head, Bruce recalls, and with Tony, it’s always the left that gives him trouble. Carefully, Bruce reaches out, removing Tony’s fingers and starting to exert light pressure on his head. Tony bites back a whimper.

“Does that hurt?” Bruce asks, immediately pulling back his hand.

“Nah. ‘s good,” Tony exhales.

Bruce starts to lightly massage Tony’s temple, then runs his fingers through the man’s curls. They’re damp from sweat and messy, giving him a softer look than the careful style in which he usually keeps them. Although Tony would disagree, Bruce likes them much better this way.

Bruce massages the pressure points at the base of his skull and Tony moans quietly, rolling over so that Bruce can reach the other side of his head. His jaw is still set and the pain is visible in the lines around his eyes, but the tension is slowly decreasing.

“Last time anyone did that was like, 35 years ago,” he mutters.

“Your mom?” Bruce asks, thinking of how his own mother used to take care of him - whenever she could, which was usually when his father wasn’t home.

“Nah,” Tony huffs. “Jarvis. The human Jarvis. He use’ to - used to stay with me when I was sick as a kid.”

“Oh.” Bruce knew about Tony’s closeness to the butler, but it starts to occur to him now that Jarvis had probably been more of a substitute parent. Bruce’s own childhood had been pretty much a horror story, but he wouldn’t really want to switch with Tony either.

Bruce buries his hand in his partner’s curls, focusing on the sensation of the hairs being smoothed under his fingers.

“Thank you,” Tony mumbles after a while, reaching up clumsily to grasp Bruce’s hand and stop it in its pace. He doesn’t let go of Bruce’s fingers and instead pulls the hand close to his face so that the knuckles press onto his forehead. “Thank you fo’ stayin’…”

Bruce smiles a little in the dark. “Always, Tony.”

He keeps sitting in this position, holding Tony’s hand in his. Five minutes later, Tony is asleep.

Bruce he bends down and presses a kiss to the other man’s forehead. “Told you so,” he whispers.

-------------------

All my fics

@badthingshappenbingo - This is my fill for the square “Raspy Breathing”.

Taglist: @toomuchtoread33  @yepokokfine

[ihavenoside]

Tagged by: @saviour-in-disguise   Tagging: @chloemodelrt600 @neverwither @parisian-eagle @stayhuman-genevieve @flawsinourcxde (corwin?) @fraegi @boundinmybones @forensiicanalysis @mikhailthefixer  @strictauthority  @hakamorraf @kyojin-daelko  @replicantdeviancy @becameinhumxne  and anyone else who’d like!

—    BASICS.

▸     IS  YOUR  MUSE  TALL  /  SHORT  /  AVERAGE? Connor’s heights unknown but the general headcanon is that he’s 6ft0. so tall.

▸      ARE  THEY  OKAY  WITH  THEIR  HEIGHT ? Yes, he’s never been bothered but it and feels to be average height compared to other’s he’s been around. Aka Hank and Markus are taller.

▸      WHAT’S    THEIR    HAIR    LIKE? Short, brown, a little longer on top so he’s hair to kind of hangs over like it does.

▸     DO    THEY    SPEND    A    LOT    OF    TIME    ON    THEIR    HAIR     /    GROOMING?

Connor doesn’t sleep so he doesn’t have many reasons for his hair to be messed up. If it does, a little water and running his hands through his hair should fix it without much issue. so no.

▸      DOES  YOUR  MUSE  CARE  ABOUT  THEIR  APPEARANCE  /  WHAT  OTHERS  THINK ? He cares about his appearance and how he sees himself but he’s also not worn much outside of his Cyberlife attire. He didn’t seem very comfortable in his Jericho outfit and will probably continue to gravitate towards more business causal clothing because it’s all he’s ever known. If people don’t like it, he’s not to bothered by it.

Despite keeping his LED because it’s part of who he is, he’ll ditch the Cyberlife jacket or at least disable the identifiers on it until be can get/find something better. The only thing he really cares about when it comes to how others see him if they still see him as the Deviant Hunter. Which he knows some will and some might never see him as anything but that.

—    PREFERENCES.

▸     INDOORS  OR  OUTDOORS? He’ll want to be outdoors mostly because I feel like he’s spent most of his time indoors. In Cyberlike, in the DPD, in a building. He’s not had much of a chance to adventure out and he’ll want too to see and discover new things. 

▸     RAIN  OR  SUNSHINE? He likes the rain, it beings a sense of calm over the city. It’s often peaceful and storms are an interesting thing to watch. If he’s stuck outside in it, he’s waterproof so the rain doesn’t bother him.

▸     FOREST  OR  BEACH?   Both, each would give a new opportunity and experience considering he’s not stepped outside of the city.

▸     PRECIOUS  METALS  OR  GEMS? I think he would like gems simply because they vary a lot in colors, shape, and value.

▸     FLOWERS  OR  PERFUMES? Flowers would visually be more interesting to look at.

▸     PERSONALITY  OR  APPEARANCE? Personality means more than appearance but it’s also a trick question. Your appearance and personality can both make you look like a bad person but it doesn’t mean that's who they truly are. It's understanding why they are perceived that way, is where their true colors shine and Connor’s an example of that.

▸     BEING  ALONE  OR  BEING  IN  A  CROWD? I feel like Connors used to being alone or happiest in the company of at least one other person. If he’s in a crowd, I think he’s like to hang back and observe the conversation or event.

▸     ORDER  OR  ANARCHY? Order over anarchy. He’s programmed for order but with order sometimes comes with unfairness, which sometimes needs to give way to anarchy so order can be restored.

▸     PAINFUL  TRUTHS  OR  WHITE  LIES?   Painful truths, whether people like it or not, facts are facts to him and doesn’t necessarily have a filter to know when he should tell a white lie unless he starts picking up on it.

▸     SCIENCE  OR  MAGIC? Both. There is a science to everything, in which he can understand but magic is the art of despection, which can be very useful. 

▸      PEACE  OR  CONFLICT?   Peace is ideal, he’d rather avoid conflict if possible. 

▸     NIGHT  OR  DAY? Night. Again, it brings a calm over the city. Plus the city looks more interesting all lit up.

▸     DUSK  OR  DAWN?

Dawn, the same reason, most people are still asleep and most things are quite still. Plus the morning hues are nice to see.

▸     WARMTH    OR    COLD ?

Warmth. While the cold won’t bother him... generally. If he becomes cold or for some reason he can’t regulate his core temperature, he’ll become highly stressed and possibly prone to panic. He has a fear of the cold thanks to his AI almost freezing to death in the Zen garden after Cyberlife resumed control over his programming. While this was more mental, physical would feel worse because the cold would cause an instability in his systems, which could cause him to shake as it’s working harder to fix the instability, which is another form of losing control over himself and would just mess with his head. Please don’t let the boy be cold.

▸     MANY  ACQUAINTANCES  OR  A  FEW  CLOSE  FRIENDS? I think he’d have many acquaintances and would want to befriend all of them but he also knows not everyone’s going to like him so he’d appreciate those that consider him a friend. It’s a little weird because he’d want to be Gavin's friend but Gavins not likely to ever like him but if he finds out someone else considered him a friend, he’ll admire that more.

▸     READING    OR    PLAYING    A    GAME? Playing a game, it's a good distraction and because there is so much variety in them, he’d enjoy it a lot as well as be quiet good at them.

—    QUESTIONNAIRE.

▸      WHAT    ARE    SOME    OF    YOUR    MUSE’S    BAD    HABITS?

He’s reckless but often in a way that he freaks people out but he knows exactly what he’s doing. Like be able to run out into traffic and not die lol. which often leaves him confused to why people are upset.

He doesn’t know how to ask for help when he needs it because when he needed it, no one came so he’d basically learned he needs to handle things on his own and not rely too heavily on anyone.

It’s in his nature to ask a lot of questions, even if those questions should seem obvious or possibly inappropriate. 

▸      HAS  YOUR  MUSE  LOST  ANYONE  CLOSE  TO  THEM?  HOW  HAS  IT  AFFECTED   THEM?

No, he hasn’t but Connor’s a new unit and hasn’t had much time to form strong bonds with anyone but he has lost people, even if they where strangers. That has still affected him on a deeper level the more he reflects on it. Emma, the little girl from the hostage mission bothers him the most. A human life was lost and he failed to prevent it. He also sympathizes with Rupert and the Traci's because of him, they’re also dead and they didn’t deserve that. He regrets having to kill 10 army men during the revolution, 10 more people who won’t return home to their families and feels guilty over it despite everything but also doesn’t know how to properly handle the grief he feels.

▸      WHAT  ARE  SOME  FOND  MEMORIES  YOUR  MUSE  HAS?

Again, he’s a new unit so the list is short and simple. One would be the day he got to meet and pet Sumo, tied with that would be the day the DPD the officer he saved in the hostage mission pulled him aside and genuinely thank him for saving his life. Tied with that, is the day he learned Cyberlife hadn’t removed him from the expense account and bought a half a mill car because it was made in the year Hank was born.

▸     IS  IT  EASY  FOR  YOUR  MUSE  TO  KILL?

It’s hard to say because he was built to hunt his kind and programmed to handle weapons. so I want to say yes and he hates it? He never wants to take a life but in the heat of the moment, it’s to easy for him to pull the trigger and go for the killing blow.

▸      WHAT’S  IT  LIKE  WHEN  YOUR  MUSE  BREAKS  DOWN?

Connor hasn’t felt geniune loss to the degree that he’d want to break down and cry. Unfortunately, he deals with his grief, fear, anger and stress in the same way he’s seen other deviants and humans do, which is to isolate themselves and hide. He also has the added notion of being this state of the art machine but is showing to be no better than the deviants he was programmed to track down. So he feels like he should be in much better control of his emotions and he’s not. 

This leaves him in a high stressed state while he tries to understand and sort through his emotions which will either end in him getting kicked into a sleep mode, become so physically/mental drained that he’s no longer able to focus on what had previously been bothering him, which is basically the state before he’s kicked into a sleep mode or finds a way to distract himself and evade the emotion altogether because he doesn’t know how else to handle them. His life basically dependent on how well he could portray being a machine so Cyberlife wouldn’t suspect him of deviating when he wasn’t even sure if he was deviating himself. It’s a habit he’s also not broken since becoming a deviant. So for the most part he can hide his stress well.

▸      IS  YOUR  MUSE  CAPABLE  OF  TRUSTING  SOMEONE  WITH  THEIR  LIFE?

Yes. it’s more or less based on people not killing him when they had the chance too. This would consist of Hank, not shooting him at the bridge, Markus sparing his life twice and North considering shes capable of letting him deviate too. (this also applies to threads in which someone saves his life) 

▸      WHAT’S  YOUR  MUSE  LIKE  WHEN  THEY’RE  IN  LOVE?

No idea. He’s far too focused on working through his other emotions. He has no idea what love is because no one has remotely shown him love let alone genuine kindness. Hank in his case has more or less tolerated him up until the end of the game when Connor was willing to give up his mission so that Hank could live. Aside from that, the only time someone has shown him kindness was the officer pulling him aside and thanking him for saving his life. Connor’s so taken back by this, that he smiles and slightly nods at the thanks because he doesn’t know how else to respond.

[scratchface]

Yusaku has better shit to do.

Aka Part 2 of the Yusaku Character Analysis!

Part 1 is here

So we covered why Yusaku is so socially isolated, but now we have to discuss who Yusaku really is and why.

First and foremost, to understand Yusaku, we have to note that he is highly mission-oriented. In season 1, Yusaku is always focused on and prioritizing the task at hand. Everything else comes second, if it even registers at all. Yusaku is so focused on his mission to the point of being oblivious about other matters, such as charisma duelists. He’s very concentrated on his three reasons, his three goals, and nothing short of life-threatening situations can even compete with that in his mind. It’s all about defeating Hanoi, helping Jin, and finding his special person. Nothing else matters, except for people’s lives. Even when Yusaku makes a move to help out other people, it’s because it serves his own goals or is to keep them from dying. That’s why Yusaku, for the most part, outright ignores everybody else’s emotional drama and only sticks his nose in their business when they’re actively doing something dangerous. 

So to get Yusaku, we have to understand that what’s significant to us, as the viewers, probably does not matter to him at all. 

A great example of this is the non-relationship between Aoi and Yusaku. Take the scene where Aoi overshares with a guy’s she’s spoken to once, because he mentioned her famous brother’s name, then runs off, obviously upset: 

This infodump on a near stranger is simultaneously an accusation and a plea for help. This is where the shonen protagonist is supposed to chase after her and comfort her, feeling both offended and guilty. Where they’re supposed to hash it all out and become closer.

But while the viewer feels bad for Aoi here, Yusaku never does anything with this information. In fact, based on their most recent interaction, we can assume Yusaku hasn’t really spoken to Aoi since she ran off months ago, considering she still hadn’t thanked him for finding her unconscious body on the school roof. That’s because, to put it simply, it’s all irrelevant to him. 

He only approached Aoi to see if she had information on SOL, and it’s clear she does not, so he does not speak with her again IRL. It’s not that Yusaku is incapable of being kind, caring, or sympathizing, but he has other stuff to do. While the viewer may be attached to Aoi here, Yusaku is clearly not.

The only time Yusaku shows the slightest interest in the Zaizen’s drama is episodes later, when he points out that he doesn’t want to be involved with either of them and doesn’t want them in the darkness. Knowing what we now know about Yusaku and how he perceives the world, we know of “the darkness” = the abyss, not just his quest for revenge. Yusaku doesn’t want them to cross the abyss; he doesn’t want them to live in the same world as him, like Ryoken does. Yusaku recognizes the Zaizen’s as pure-hearted people (to a rather frustrating degree), and wants nothing to do with them, for the best interests of them and himself.

Yusaku obviously thinks similarly about Go and Ema. He doesn’t want them to cross the “abyss” either. And he doesn’t want anything to do with them either, besides what’s necessary. Take, for example, the end of the duel with Ema. Ema outright pulls the most cliche romantic Japanese line on him, and even specifies when Ai doesn’t get it that she’s not actually talking about the moon. 

Whether this is a true expression of romantic intent or an attempt to distract Playmaker isn’t clear, but Yusaku just demands she hand over the back-door program. His only interest is, as always, the mission, and not at all in the beautiful woman trying to flirt with him. His no-nonsense attitude leaves Ema no openings to continue.

I alway thought Ema looked kind of sad here, either because of the rejection or because she’s realized not even she can distract Yusaku from his dangerous path. (But she’s also interested and more than a little infatuated with the mystery of Hanoi, the Incident, and Playmaker.)

Yusaku looks at the moon after Ema leaves, but instead of wondering what Ema could have possibly seen in it or in him, Yusaku wonders if SOL’s databank will have what he needs. Whatever feelings Ema was trying to express, they clearly didn’t make much impact. 

So Yusaku has other things on his mind and no time for the emotional journeys of the other characters. 

Why is Yusaku so single-minded? In season 1, the revenge quest is Yusaku’s last resort. He’s tried years of therapy, of trying to be normal, but none of it helped his PTSD. He never smiles, or laughs, and doesn’t seem to have anything he enjoys or even likes. He’s so worried about the important person he left behind in Hanoi that it “tears at his soul”. He can’t connect with anyone around him, and doesn’t even want to. Yusaku’s life is really miserable. As he told Akira, he has no friends or precious moments, and his youth is already ruined beyond repair. The gloomy abyss scene is suggested to be how Yusaku has seen the world for 10 years. Yusaku is at the point where he is almost unable to care about anything else, because this is his last chance and his last option: revenge. 

Either he gets revenge and finally gets a chance at life after, or he dies trying.

But Yusaku also just doesn’t have much else to care about. Almost every other character in the series is motivated by their family.

Ryoken -> his father. Aoi -><- Akira. Go -> the orphans. Spectre -> his “mother”. Kengo -> his mother. Kusanagi -> his brother. Vyra and Faust -> their little “brother”. I could probably go on.

There is no mention of Yusaku’s family. He doesn’t seem to have any, or remember them if he ever did. This makes Yusaku’s task-driven nature all the more unique in Vrains, and makes his fixation on finding the special person all the more poignant. 

Yusaku isn’t just focused on his mission, he has to complete it by himself.

Yusaku is a self-proclaimed loner. Up straight, Yusaku just doesn’t like being involved with other people. [I feel ya, Yusaku, I feel ya.] Not just because of the “abyss” but because Yusaku is living a dangerous life. He clearly states he doesn’t want anyone else involved and in danger, and in the worst case scenario, doesn’t want anyone to be associated with him. Just having Cyberse Wizard and calling himself Playmaker’s friend got Naoki kidnapped.

Yusaku doesn’t want anyone else to die in his fight; if he goes down, he wants to go down alone. And his revenge is meaningless if he’s not the one exacting it, so there’s no point in endangering others. Considering its been ten years and the only information Yusaku has gotten about the Incident is what he’s actively and probably illegally obtained himself, and that must have been incredibly frustrating. The result is that Yusaku doesn’t trust authority figures, or even most people. The only way he can be sure that his revenge is done right, even done at all, is if he does it himself. 

Yusaku has lived on his own for who knows how long. And that sort of independence at such a young age has instilled in him a fierce self-efficacy as well as self-sufficiency. From these same traits comes a sort of social aversion; the desire to handle things on his own. Yusaku knew Ema was sending him down the wrong path when she suggested they split up, but he didn’t protest or try to follow her. This is also especially clear at the end of the first season when Yusaku rejects a ride home and instead walks, wanting to be alone with his thoughts after the most emotionally taxing day of the entire series. Yusaku sorts through things best when he’s on his own, but he also struggles with that same solitude. He seem to prefer to sleep around people or stay up all night with Kusanagi, as the constant noise seems to relax him. It’s not so much loneliness that bothers Yusaku, but silence. No surprise, considering how his one comfort during the Incident was a voice. 

But despite his lone wolf attitude, Yusaku comes to respect other people’s desire to fight. Watching Go struggling against Genome, Yusaku struggles with himself; with his desire to interfere and his knowledge that he should stay out of it. 

Yusaku is acutely aware during the Anothers Incident that people are being hurt in a hunt for him. He feels responsible, but also recognizes that Hanoi wants to drag him out. So Yusaku forces himself to stick to investigating in the real world, and then finds Go is fighting on his behalf, with his “identity” on the line.

 And ultimately, Yusaku decides to limit his interference to just some tough encouragement. It’s here that we see that as long as they aren’t getting in his way, Yusaku is coming to terms with other people choosing to fight Hanoi. That’s why it’s not quite accurate to say “Yusaku doesn’t want help”. Yusaku is not going to ask for help, and he doesn’t want anyone interfering, but it’s irrelevant to him if others decide to fight on their own. 

Moreover, Yusaku doesn’t seem to mind his working partnerships; he’s very comfortable with both Kusanagi and Ai, and easily accepts both their advice and assistance when it’s viable. But for reasons I’ll get to in the next part, Go, Aoi, and Ema will probably never be able to reach this level of closeness with Yusaku, unlike Takeru.

Furthermore, Yusaku struggles between doing the right thing and doing what’s necessary for his goals

When Tower of Hanoi Arc happens, Aoi and Go show up with some words about being heroes and fighting for everyone. Aoi then asks what Playmaker is doing there and Yusaku lists three much more concrete goals.

To stop the tower, protecting Ai and the Cyberse from Hanoi and effectively foiling their plans again, preventing a world-wide disaster.

Saving Ema’s life.

And to fuck up Revolver’s shit. It’s all very focused and not at all like the idealistic answers Aoi and Go gave. Its more concrete, so when their motivations turn flimsy, his remains. 

Hours after that Go, Aoi, and Akira all get deleted and join Ema in the Tower. And some of that was pretty damn traumatizing for Yusaku: both Ema and Akira’s deletions drove him into a rage, as he was faced with his own weakness and helplessness. Because despite Yusaku’s focus on his revenge, and his competency, when it comes down to it, Yusaku is really bad at it. 

Despite knowing Hanoi’s connections with the experiments that ruined his life, Yusaku struggles with actually resenting the individuals. He respects human life too much to truly wish harm upon them, causing him to spend most of his quest searching for the truth over searching for payback. 

And then, when an innocent life is put between him and his mission, Yusaku freezes up. Spectre throws him off-balance, making him question whether his mission is truly reasonable and justifiable, and if it isn’t, if he’s prepared to bear the consequences and do what it takes to complete it anyway. 

Yusaku never really gets the chance to make this decision directly, aka make a kill. Akira and Spectre and Kogami all kill themselves, but after Akira Yusaku  not only refocuses on his mission, he doubles down on it. When he was forced to doubt himself and then reaffirmed by Akira’s words, instead of opening his mind up a little and seeing more than the mission, Yusaku goes straight into mission tunnel vision. Because Akira gave him the answer: he should choose the mission over people’s lives. 

Though he didn’t get a chance to chose the mission over life, due to Akira’s words, Yusaku is recognizing the necessity of sacrifice. As Go disappears, Yusaku is much more controlled and less furious than he was in the face of Akira and Ema’s deaths. And that’s because he’s decided the mission truly does take priority, and Go’s death serves a purpose to it. 

Now we see in season 2, in the wake of the Tower of Hanoi, that Yusaku isn’t as cool with other people joining the fight anymore. Before he might have let Aoi do her own thing so long as she didn’t bother him, but now he tells her “thanks but buzz-off”, because putting herself in danger again is unnecessary. 

Even though circumstances have changed and things aren’t as life-or-death, Yusaku still has no reason to think he needs help. Yusaku managed to take down the Knights of Hanoi and the Tower almost single-handedly--only two notable members weren’t defeated by him, and he certainly could have and would have taken them down himself had he tried to. 

It’s not just a matter of independence or Yusaku’s incredible skill; Yusaku had six months of Ryoken’s “Be strong” echoing either in the room or in his head, every time he showed weakness or failed. Yusaku associates weakness, hesitation, and helplessness with pain and starvation. It’s either “Be strong” or suffer. 

Furthermore, in the wake of Yusaku reprioritizing and casting aside his hesitation, Yusaku may truly want everyone else to stay out because he’s not willing to chose them over his goals if necessary. He may very well be trying to avoid another captive Akira situation because he now knows he will have to attack anyway. 

Thanks, Akira. 

That’s why Yusaku doesn’t protest each time Soulburner puts himself in danger so Yusaku can continue pursuit, and why he ditches them in the most recent episode even with Ai expressing concern. This is not something early Yusaku would be able to do so easily.

The mission to get back Jin absolutely takes priority over the others’ safety. Hell, Yusaku seemed pleasantly surprised when Soulburner came back fine from his duel with Go. He’s so used to other’s failing that part of him probably already wrote Takeru off as sacrificed. So it’s not that he trusts Takeru’s skills yet, but that he prioritizing.

So, all in all, Yusaku is the kind of person that does everything himself and is strong enough to make it work, and the Tower of Hanoi Arc validated that mindset. Having come to terms with making sacrifices for the bigger picture and working through a lifetime of distrust and an entire season of incompetency, he once again wants everyone to stay out of it and keep the body count to a minimum, but he’s at least nicer about saying it.

Yusaku’s single-minded focus on the current task and need to complete it himself without getting any more meddlers killed than necessary are essential factors to the question: who gets to help Yusaku? It all comes down to who can reach him, on the other side of the abyss, and who is good for the mission.

So, how the hell did Takeru manage it, when the others failed? 

Well, join me in Part 3 tomorrow, hopefully.