#but obviously you get the option. fight some kaijus.
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bluntforcefem · 11 months ago
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been rolling around the idea for a few months of a fusion mechanic for interstitial that isnt amalgam-based (pure self-indulgence for when me and my friends do a campaign) which is not... too entirely far off from what about pacrim would be interesting to me as interstitial-based mechanics (read: the drift)
#kbitycus talks#similar principles to me but i want to poke at how links play into it#also i think. like a set of playbooks based off different roles at the shatterdome (pilot‚ mechanic‚ gay scientist‚ marshal) would be fun#inspired by writing workshop convos.. its been rotating in my brain for the past few hours nyeow#im terrible at writing playbook moves but between redoing the anchored for 2e & just practicing i think itd be fun#i dont care abt the crunch or mech maintenance or whatever that kind of mechanic doesnt hold appeal to me#''the jaeger has its own harm clock'' is probably the extent of what you will get from me on that front#you get a lot of the basic interstitial moves & then maybe a pool of Specialised moves based on how your jaeger is built?#so you pick like. two or three of Those from a list of like ten#'my jaeger has a chain sword' 'my jaeger runs on nuclear instead of digital and can blow itself up' et#basically building your jaeger a character sheet#i think the stats would be the combined stats of you & your co-pilot(s). your links are their links are the jaeger's links etc etc!!!#these tags got out of hand. whoops#i dont necessarily think you need the playbooks to be in a jaeger i like the idea of playing a pacrim expansion except youre still on#that kh bullshit. theres just also a jaeger or two there#but obviously you get the option. fight some kaijus.#if your links are locked with your co-pilots do you get to keep one of their individual playbook moves after the drift ends#so long as that link is locked? theyre in your head!!#these tags continue to get out of hand SEND POST
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sonicasura · 5 months ago
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Rafflesia Woes
This is basically the UnderDogs/Hoshikaf prompt from my story based side blog and Skyscraper Softie AU combined. I couldn't resist the temptation for chaos, lol. Now let's get started.
Soshiro and Kafka have been happily married for 4 years. Both came across each at a lone bar. Kafka and his fellow coworkers were celebrating a job well done when the himbo notices a certain bowlcut man at the bar.
He seems down in the dumps about something. Noticing where Kafka was looking, his coworkers encouraged him to go talk to the man. A decision that would soon spitball into a happy albeit chaotic married life with the Vice Captain of the 3rd Division.
Neither were exactly happy when their 5th year anniversary was ruined by a Spider Yoju. Soshiro obviously visits his lover in the hospital with some lovely flowers to hopefully salvage part of the special occasion. A noble effort that is swiftly ruined when he barely catches Kafka shout 'Kaiju'.
Soshiro sees the small monstrosity forcefully go down his husband's threat. He barely held back a scream as his fingers brushed against Kafka's wrist before the man jump out the window. The Vice Captain could only stare in horror when a 69'11 ft kaiju took the place of his lover.
Soshiro didn't have fun helping guide Kafka out of the city, much less call Mina to organize a special rendezvous. Yet it was the only safe option he had to keep his husband alive. Even if Soshiro has to watch the man get heavily sedated.
The only relief he had was that Mina and Okonogi were on his side about keeping Kafka alive. A kaiju type that could convert others already made it difficult to fight off the more unsavory Higher Ups. Especially since Soshiro's personal married life is dragged into this whole fiasco.
It took quite some time for both men to find some sort of domestic routine again. Wasn't uncommon to find Soshiro sleeping in Kafka's grasp, for a small lizard avatar to always accompany him, or take advantage over the time his lover could stay in his more human sized forms. Hunting kaiju soon became the Hoshina man's way to keep his husband fed than just his duty and family tradition.
Obviously Kafka is gonna poke his big scaly head into things. Man feels awful about the rough spot he put Soshiro in as what kind of husband causes trouble for their lover by turning themselves into a kaiju!? (None obviously but Kafka would treat the situation like it could've been avoidable when it really wasn't.)
He tries to help in whatever way he can. Although Mina often has to step her foot in should Kafka's attempts become intertwined with the Science Department. Some members of that group didn't think restraint was needed since the Vice Captain's husband is a kaiju. (They already tried to dig into their bedroom life upon the results in Kafka's biological exams.)
It was definitely awkward for the Rookies when they notice the big kaiju near base and find out that's their Vice Captain's husband. You can blame some gossiping officers for the latter bit. Soshiro didn't hesitate to threaten them about it either. (Kikoru doesn't blame him since Kafka did save her.)
I can say that No.9 is gonna be extra fucking creepy about the married couple. The Mushroom Man knows no boundaries so a interspecies relationship between a human and a kaiju will garner his interest. He doesn't have any knowledge about Kafka being human once yet since this information requires very high clearance but also kept separate from the main database. Extra security measures to put it simply.
Should No.9 find out... Well Soshiro is gonna have to be extra careful around him. The Mushroom Man will want to see if he can replicate the kaijufication done to Kafka on the Vice Captain.
Soshiro rather not deal with the results.
(Didn't know what to put at the bottom so here's two Sandhill Cranes that like to raid my bird feeder.)
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@oxandthorn @drmarune @discoknack @renard-dartigue @driokrine @terra-sketches @nightfal1n @omniithe-deer @aries-m0rningstar
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electronzekrom · 3 months ago
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The Glowing Being of Midwest Angelica: Episode 006 - Paradise
...because I have so many thoughts/theories about this; I want to run it by the public, so you all can tell me if I need to take my tinfoil hat off or not 😆 So- this glowing being (that features in the thumbnail), what are they, exactly? We only see them (her?) twice in the episode for a few seconds at a time, yet I feel like they are the most intriguing thing we do see.
The being seems to be either incorporeal or made out of something we can't see with the naked eye: after the second appearance, Marcus remarks that he only saw the figure on his camera screen. Some commenters theorized that the figure is some kind of projection from the Akashic Plane; if so, from who/where? It's not clear (and I really didn't register it at first either), but based on a handful of comments, the figure looks vaguely feminine. Someone we haven't been introduced to yet? Maybe one of the unfortunate members/victims of the Long Pine Midwest Church?
Could it be alien in origin? They certainly don't resemble any form of Starkill we've encountered yet. Building off of this, we don't know why this figure suddenly appeared, or what their goals are. They very well could be another manifestation of the Starkill/AZ-001/Nero, trying to lure humans to their untimely death and/or assimilation.
That being said... whenever this figure appeared, I got the feeling that it was benevolent? Or at the very least, wasn't actively hostile: True, the glowing being did in fact exert some kind of influence on Marcus, as I found out by this exchange:
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After the night at the motel, Marcus states that he had an odd dream that night, but he felt strangely rejuvenated, and he felt the need to go back (something was "calling him"). While this might obviously sound sinister, maybe it was a good thing Marcus returned to the Starkill's lair, because it looked like someone was still alive in there (possibly Piso?). Right before Marcus reaches the Starkill lair, the glowing figure briefly appears before him again- was it guiding him to rescue? Plus, we've seen how quickly the infection takes hold, and Marcus appeared to be just fine? The description for "Paradise" says that two more tapes created by Marcus had been found, suggesting that he survived the end of this video.
If the glowing figure is indeed a benevolent force, and that indeed is Piso we see at the very end, it makes sense (from a narrative standpoint) that Marcus and Piso cross paths: they have the same goal- getting the truth out there.
So... where am I going with all of this?
There are certain little details, about the plot of Act 2 and Midwest Angelica as whole that I've been connecting like red strings on a corkboard. We all know the series is heavily inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion, but the crux of my theorizing is rooted in the media that inspired NGE itself. Consider:
If indeed this glowing figure (a being of light, if you will) is a benevolent alien trying to fight the Starkill, that probably means it was already pursuing AZ-001 to Earth or keeping tabs on it.
It wouldn't be a big stretch to think that the glowing figure is/will be instrumental in combating against the Starkill threat: there are some parallels we can make between it and an EVA unit. EVA units can technically be considered female (like how the glowing figure appears), given that they're the souls of the pilots' mother, and there's this:
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Going off of the above point... let's not gloss over the fact that the Beta Chunk was able to make a kaiju-sized Starkill:
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Even though I did say the glowing entity would likely be instrumental for fighting the Starkill threat, that doesn't mean the humans are counted out: there's probably going to be an attack team/force (HOME, or some other branch) that will aid in taking down these massive Starkill lifeforms (Operation Homebound might've been a false flag, but "Kill it With Fire" is definitely still a viable option).
So, without further ado, here's my unfounded prediction for how Act 2 will go: At some point, Marcus will sustain a critical injury, likely from something the Beta Chunk does. When this happens, he is finally able to see the glowing figure standing before him. The figure of light (an angel, perhaps, to use an Earth term) explains why they're there- they've been hunting the Starkill down, but they arrived too late. While they were doing their best to assist him and other humans in secret, the situation has gotten dire, so it's time for direct action. If Marcus allows them to merge with him, they will be able to manifest physically at full power. Marcus agrees. And finally, the Angel appears...
With the explosive defeat of the Beta Chunk, Marcus and the Angel become persons of interest globally, which is why the description mentions a Japanese official investigation in 2001. They have gone into hiding, as their work is not done. Dunno how aware AZ-001/Azazael is, but I doubt Nero would take it well that their giant Starkill mass got barbecued.
TL;DR: We got it all wrong, Midwest Angelica is not a Evangelion reference, it's an Ultraman reference.
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i-didnt-hate-it · 10 months ago
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I didn't hate Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, honestly it was awesome!
I just got done watching it so I'm still digesting it, but here are my initial thoughts. Any potential spoilers will go under a break.
I went into GxK that it would be similar to GvK and the other Monsterverse films: big monkey hit big lizard, big lizard breathe laser, big monkey block laser with big axe, and so on. And don't get me wrong, it definitely was all that, all pro wrestling but with big monsters, but in a cooler way than what I thought. I'm still trying to figure out what all made GxK more than what I was expecting, but I think this is the main bit.
In today's media, there seems to basically be two options. Either you make a show on streaming, which means your seasons are too short so you have to sacrifice character to plot. Or you make a two to three hour long movie, which uses a big budget to explain either characters or concept, hopefully with something of a plot to tie it together.
But GxK is a secret third thing. Worldbuilding. Adding to lore. Letting the landscapes they paint and the creatures that inhabit them speak for themselves. There were long stretches of screentime where the titans weren't necessarily fighting, they were just doing their thing, exploring their worlds.
Now obviously we need some humans to A, be able to connect to the story some, and B, know what is actually going on. Because while I would love a completely dialogue kaiju movie, the concepts and gimmicks of the Monsterverse just get too convoluted to figure out without Exposition Lady.
I can confirm that Legendary realized that the less human characters they have the better. The cast was relatively small, and while character development was minimal, they did make me feel some feelings toward some of the humans. But they made the right call not giving them too much of the story. What is this, Godzilla Minus One?
It's not, and if you can go into it knowing that it isn't even close to being the same movie as Minus One, and just watch it as a fun Monsterverse entry, I think you'll love it. The music is great too, better than GvK, imo. VFX were awesome too.
Okay, now for some spoilers, just random extra thoughts:
Godzilla really did the OMG MOTHRA!!! thing from that one meme! And I did too tbh, our Queen is back and beautiful as ever!
I love how it wasn't an instant father/son connection between Kong and Mini-Kong (I don't remember his name). Kong tried to help him out a couple times, but then gave up after MINI KONG TRIED TO KILL HIM LIKE MULTIPLE TIMES! Like come on, this little guy is just chaotic. But like they actually had growth in their trust and relationship, it wasn't just like "me big, you little, I dad now".
Scar King was actually a lot cooler than I was expecting. Shimo/Shimu whatever her name is did not have as big a role as I was expecting, but I'm glad she's okay.
Shout out to Mothra for stopping her boyfriend from killing Kong, helping them in Hollow Earth, and then just chilling when they all went to Rio. She said, "you guys got this, right?"
When I saw there was another hollow earth inside Hollow Earth, I'll admit I had a bit of an eye roll. But they explained it away pretty well.
SCOTTISH GUY THAT SAID SHIT IN STAR WARS. Alex Ferns is literally the same character he was in Andor.
I love how they imply that they basically imply that the Iwi had something to do with building the pyramids in Egypt by having the portal thing open RIGHT NEXT TO THEM. Made a cool setting for the fight, too.
At this point, I have no idea how big the Coliseum actually is.
Last thing, for now. For having top billing, Godzilla wasn't in it as much as I thought he might be. I think Legendary is realizing that if you have a character like Godzilla who can just level up his powers instantly to take on anything, and just kinda does his own thing, you've gotta limit that screen time. Since Kong is kinda humanoid, it's easier to empathize with him and thus add character development. Godzilla can only convey so much emotion that most humans can relate to (obviously Shin and Minus convey a lot of emotions, but anyway). Godzilla is in the movie, but Kong is more of the star. Honestly the world of the Hollow Earth and the Iwi people and their history are almost as much of the focus.
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thekaijudude · 2 years ago
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Ok, so this isn’t a vs qn, but I’ve been thinking about asking it a lot today.
Now, before I start getting to the actual qn, I have a warning for you about this qn: you may, very well, not be the right person to ask this. I know you do calculations but pseudoscience does not seem to take much part in them. So, given what the premise of this qn is, you might not be the right guy for this qn.
I don’t know if that’s the case, but I’m just letting you know.
Anyways, onto the qn:
In my fanfictions, there’s a habitable, Earth-like planet called Ozarvis 32, which is about 12 times larger than Earth in size and about 8.5 times larger in mass. However, there’s a problem with that: it’s too big for “conventional lifeforms” (which obviously do not include Kaiju). I say that because, apparently, the rough maximum mass a planet can have while being able to support life is about 5 times bigger than Earth’s mass.
So, judging by real world physics, conventional lifeforms should not be able to survive on Ozarvis. 
That said, I already have an explanation: Ozarvis has large reserves of Mana, an energy substance which affects the density/mass of the substances around it. In other words, an object composed of Mana has decreased mass, and Ozarvis has a lot more Mana than any other habitable planet in the universe.
Either way, I’m not sure if that explanation makes any sense or if it really sounds that much like an Ultraman explanation for this sort of thing.
So, here’s the question: would my explanation work pseudo-scientifically, and if so, how well would it fit the Ultras series as an explanation?
I mean as said before for all AU-related asks and the reason why its kinda pointless to ask me whether so-and-so plot settings will work is because at the end of the day, its a fanfic AU so one can literally write anything to literally make anything work.
But if your question is whether you can find some form of analogy in the ultra series. I suppose one can kind of say that the amount of light within an Ultra essentially also affects the mass/density and power of said ultra as we've seen with Max with his adjusted size due to the Max Galaxy, Glitter Tiga, Z being powered with the light of STORAGE, Decker with the excess energy from the Eternity Core etc
Except that your idea of mana here is far more prevalent and more accessible as the Ultras would just need to absorb more on the spot to further power themselves up if indeed they can utilize mana?
I guess itll be equivalent to canon Ultras fighting on the surface of the Sun where they can theoretically do the same and never be exhausted and achieve + maintain Glitter state (Since Glitter state is not exclusive to Tiga, but simply a state of excess energy for all Ultras).
But obviously, it'll be broken unless their opponent has some way to negate this effect.
So this concept sort of already exists in canon, just that we dont see any fights happening on the Sun, closest example would have to be Ultra Flare event that happened in X's Universe where after throwing Greeza into the Sun, this somehow triggered a very weird solar flare that was able to digitize X and caused the awakening of Spark Dolls (This specific Sun, in particular, reacts very suspiciously similar to the Eternity Core and the Plasma Spark but tbh this is very, VERY deep cut bottom-of-the-iceberg lore stuff that I wont go into here)
In fact, the canonically equivalent option would be far more convenient than just having a single random planet that can provide essentially the same effect (but to a far lesser extent) as a Star that could literally do the same and it exists in every solar system (Plus, aint no way a 12x Earth sized planet is gonna have more energy for Ultras to harvest than an entire Star, so this particular planet would at most be a convenient pitstop in the grand scheme of things)
Thanks for the question!
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narugen · 4 months ago
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im so glad to see this addition thank u so much omg just a few things i also wanted to add to this because its just been getting baffling? long rambling under cut
the fact that shes been in the defense force for YEARS (close to 10) and yet shes never? thought? to get another person weapon to fight smaller kaiju as you mentioned when her main "asset" is being able to shoot through monsters with accuracy and power thats never been known before... i mean yes she handles the standard guns quite well and it might be "good enough" but it wouldn't hurt to have an upgrade..? a second option..?
and from kikoru and hoshina we can see that it IS possible for officers to have more than one personal weapon (im seriously not counting the new cannon because that puts her FURTHER and FURTHER away from the battlefield) so its really odd that mina (or well, the author) never considered giving her a secondary weapon when she's clearing kaiju after the honju is down on the field anyway
its just really disappointing because when we finally got some insight on how she felt being "alone" during her earlier years it kind of just. stops there. she says shes still scared but does her job. and thats fair but its obvious mina had to have so many mental breakdowns as a rookie theres just SO MUCH to develop on??? not to mention her internal thoughts when shes in number 9 (kind of matching kikoru's fight where she got that mental attack, except mina had to be saved)
which is why i find it so odd that the fight is dragged out for THIS LONG but mina has yet to have the same moment kikoru, narumi, and hoshina all had where they "found their purpose/solified their ambitions".
i wanted to believe that in chapter 114 her losing her OG weapon she would've been ready (like hoshina) and had something backed up? but thats clearly not the case and its even WEIRDER that matsumoto is sidelining her when shes obviously (off screen) capable of rising to captain status and fighting on her own?
i genuinely thought that she'd follow the route of reno and kikoru who were saved by kafka once and proceeded to develop on their own (or in reno's case when he was being tested for no.6, with iharu's help) and also handle the fight herself (or at least, majorly herself) (but thats not even it. not even close.... she doesnt even get to participate in the fight?!)
i understand from a marketing POV its important to keep popular characters relevant to the story but the reason WHY mina isnt popular in the first place is because she was never given the chance to slowly develop or show up.. if it was her thing to be 'distant' then sure! but it wouldnt have hurt to showcase more of her power instead of just???? whatever the hell the past few volumes have been, really
very disappointing. very frustrating. im so sad.
mina, who fears being alone and is forced to fight from rooftops. mina, who feels horrible guilt over her troop members risking their lives for her. mina who is all of that but doesnt get the chance to fight alongside her officers when given the chance because ??????????????
i still cannot understand this how are you going to have mina appreciate her vice-captain and THEN move on from that and make her go “take care of kafka” whilst narumi and hoshina “take care of this” you’re absolutely insane for this. and it’s so fucking obvious matsumoto never cared about ashiro mina in his life.
she’s spent volume 4 (tachikawa base raid) up until volume 9/10 (where she got to use her new cannon) WITH NO FIGHTS. hoshina showed up to conduct trainings with kafka so there’s that. mina got NONE OF THAT. and from volumes 11-12 she doesn’t show up either since it’s kikoru, hoshina and narumi’s individual battles (WHICH THEY ACCOMPLISH ON THEIR OWN. EVEN IF THEYRE DYING.)
in volume 13 we get a bit of her backstory but once again she’s SAVED! by someone else and she doesn’t even fight on her own. god fucking lord.
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hermannsthumb · 4 years ago
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From horny twitter: Hermann writes a very very detailed review of a vibrator online
not sfw below cut!!!!!!!!!!! 
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Now, usually, Newt doesn’t mess around when he’s on the clock, because that’d be very unprofessional of him and that’s totally not who he is, but he’s in a little bit of a rut with his current project and could use the distraction. Online shopping is his favorite go-to distraction these days: he can lose himself in size charts and color options and hunts for coupon codes and forget, even for a few minutes, that the end of the world is accelerating towards them at an intimidating rate. Plus, he can write off half his shit as work-related expenses. Win-win. Though maybe not this particular search.
Newt has a pretty reliable arsenal of sex toys he’s used on rotation since he packed up and shipped across the world for the PPDC, but the ten-year warranty vibe he’s used since PhD #3 (and his favorite of the bunch) finally crapped out on him last week after a historically intense fight with Hermann got him historically wound up. Eleven years ain’t bad. After testing out a different charger, poking around in the wiring, and even going so far as to zap it a few times with some sorta-stolen drift tech to see if it stirred any life back into it, he finally decided it was time to just mourn, move on, and buy a new one. (Even if, unfortunately, his particular favorite model was discontinued when the company’s factory was destroyed in a kaiju attack and they never quite managed to recover. More casualties of the war.)
The sex toy market is truthfully booming during the apocalypse. It makes sense, Newt guesses—anything for a distraction. Personally, for Newt, orgasms tend to dampen his own existential dread, even if it’s just for a few minutes. He scrolls idly through a few Top Ten For 2023 listicles on various sex magazine websites to see if anything jumps out at him (some of the recommended toys are dildos he already has, and vibes that are a little beyond his k-sci paycheck), just hoping for something to jump out at him. Apparently he missed out on a limited-edition run of jaeger and kaiju-themed vibes and dildos that came out in early January, which he’s honestly a little pissed about—he’s the top expert on kaiju biology, god damn it! Didn’t anyone want to consult with him about their hypothetical junk? Accuracy matters.
“It’s all off,” Newt mutters grumpily as he examines a 360 view of one of the kaiju dildos. Trespasser. “It’s not even the right color. Fucking amateurs. Did they even try?”
“What are you doing?” Hermann says.
Newt slams his laptop shut. Hermann decided to cut his lunch break short today, apparently. “Shopping,” he says.
“You sounded awfully angry about something, is all,” Hermann says. He clacks over to his half of the lab and shrugs off his big parka, then pauses. “Do you need to...talk about it?”
“No,” Newt says.
Hermann breathes out in obvious relief. “Good,” he says.
He takes his usual spot at his chalkboard and resumes his calculating. Newt re-opens his laptop and scrolls away from Trespasser before he can make himself angry over anatomical inaccuracies again. The jaeger vibes from the collection are pretty cool, actually; the designs are a lot cleaner, and their artistic license is a lot more forgivable. The highest-rated of the set is one obviously (but not enough to invoke copyright infringement, if that can even exist for a jaeger) modeled off of Coyote Tango, with like, a million different settings, and an astronomical cost to match. Newt eyes it enviously. He could be shoving that up his ass right now if he’d just signed up for a stupid email list last year.
He follows the link to Amazon to read through some of the reviews enviously, too. Life-changing; best money ever spent; warranty lasts a lifetime. Ten stars across the board. Sold out, obviously. No idea when it’ll be back in stock. He could get the Striker Eureka model for twice the original cost as when it came out, if he wanted, but the idea of constantly having to associate the twenty-something punk Hansen kid with his intimate affairs makes him shudder.
A nine-star review for the Coyote Tango model from someone named MathLover69 is the only one to make Newt really pause, on account of how absolutely insane it is.
I saved quite a few paychecks to purchase this vibrator, and though the cost is steep, I must say it is absolutely worth it. As opposed to my normal vibrator (here another vibe is linked, and Newt’s eyebrows jump at that price, too), which has only five settings, an admittedly bulky body, and average battery life, the CT2023 has a generous ten, a sleeker design, and charges fully in a matter of minutes. The orgasms I have experienced while using it are higher in quality (and more numerous) than any resulting previously from masturbation, though I have not tried beyond setting six yet. It also works wonders for stress relief. (I have an incredibly irritating colleague, and nothing calms me down so much as a quick round with the CT2023 after a spat with him.)
The body is versatile enough to be either inserted into one’s—
Newt feels heat rise to his cheeks in spite of himself, and he skims the second paragraph of MathLover69’s review to get the gist of it—that there are, uh, plenty of ways to utilize the vibe, that it’s discreet and small enough to wear to work (if you were inclined to do so, as MathLover69 implies he might’ve been) and that when combined with the Yamarashi dildo, the pleasurable experience increased tenfold. Talk about oversharing. Jeez.
My only complaint would be that the design is a poor approximation of the real Coyote Tango, and for that I’ve docked a star. I would recommend this product.
“This guy is a total nut,” Newt says to himself.
“Hm?” Hermann says.
Newt considers the implications of showing Hermann the vibrator listing: Hermann will know he was shopping for sex toys, Hermann will know he was shopping for kaiju and jaeger-themed sex toys, Hermann will know he was shopping for kaiju and jaeger-themed sex toys during working hours a mere ten feet away from him. Embarrassing, but on the other hand, MathLover69’s review is too funny to not share with someone else. “Hey, Hermann,” Newt says, angling his laptop towards Hermann. “Look. Who comments shit like this?”
Hermann descends his ladder carefully and inches up behind Newt’s shoulder, squinting at his laptop screen. He immediately turns bright red. Newt must’ve offended his Victorian sensibilities with the mere suggestion of self-abuse. “Oh,” he says. “Er.”
“Way TMI,” Newt says. “Listen to this line. ‘With the Yamarashi toy inserted into one’s mouth, and the CT2023 inserted up one’s—'”
“Well, how else is one meant to review a masturbatory aid?” Hermann snaps, surprising Newt. He looks oddly flustered. “Details can be—er—helpful. Can’t they?”
“Sure, dude,” Newt snorts. “Except they’re obviously just screwing with people. They literally have a 69 in their username.” He taps at the MathLover69, and doesn’t mention—on behalf of Hermann’s delicate mathematician feelings—that the MathLover part is obviously meant as a joke too.
“Well,” Hermann says. “Perhaps it’s just his—er, their birthdate.”
Newt turns around to stare at Hermann, taking in his red cheeks, his red ears, and the gaze he’s fixed steadily on his shoes. It’s all Newt can do to not to gape at him. “Hermann, you’re kidding,” he says. “Right?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Hermann says.
“You didn’t,” Newt says.
“I,” Hermann stammers. “Well—”
“I didn’t even know you—”
“That I what?” Hermann says.
Newt gives a half-shrug. Hermann doesn’t seem the type to engage in any sort of vice, let alone this kind. And especially not with the type of sex toys he apparently gravitates towards. (If Newt was a little bolder, and had a little less shame and care for hygiene, he might ask to check out the Yamarashi, because anatomical inaccuracies aside, wow that sounds awesome.) “I mean, you know,” Newt says. “You’re kinda you. No offense.”
Hermann takes offense. “I am human,” he says. “I am allowed to masturbate, Newton, and I was merely attempting to educate other customers about the—product—with my thoroughness.” He adds, awkwardly, “My review was voted very helpful, as you can see.”
“Okay,” Newt says with a grin. “I get it. Sorry.”
Hermann marches back over to his side of the lab with a scowl. Newt waits until he’s sure Hermann’s not watching him, and is too distracted by muttering angrily under his breath, to bookmark MathLover69’s page of reviews.
It turns out (as Newt revisits the page later that night, in the privacy of his bunk) Hermann buys and reviews a truly staggering amount of dildos and sex toys, and on top of that, has absolutely zero filter behind the wall of anonymity. It’s to the extent that some of his reviews read like goddamn sexts.
It took me three occasions to successfully work myself up to taking in the entire length…
My orgasm was so pleasurable I alarmed my colleague with the noise I made, who believed me to have injured myself…
The highest vibration setting is a bit of a disappointment…
These are excellent for double penetration…
It also turns out Hermann is a veritable sex fiend. Or at least a masturbation fiend. Judging by his reviews alone, Hermann’s purchased more than a dozen different toys in the past three years alone. That’s four a year. One every three months. That’s not even including buttplugs, which (according to other reviews) he sometimes just wears into the lab (“work”) for the hell of it, which Newt isn’t even going to think about right now. How the hell has Hermann kept this much of his life under wraps? When the hell does he have time to jerk off as much as he apparently does? No wonder they never seem to have any fucking funding; all of Hermann’s paychecks are funneled directly into his—well.
Newt recalls the faux-injury incident Hermann mentioned in a comment with mild embarrassment. No wonder Hermann had been so weird and flushed when he opened his door, and made excuses to say bye to him so quickly—Newt just caught him (oh, boy) immediately following the best orgasm of his life. Well, mild embarrassment, and a little more than mild arousal. What Newt would’ve given to have been there five minutes earlier, to watch Hermann in the act of the best orgasm of his life, to maybe even be the one to cause it…
What Newt would give to use Hermann’s fancy-shmancy vibrator on him, or literally anything from his giant masturbatory arsenal. Or even just watch him use it on himself. Hermann’s just so damned buttoned-up and uptight—it’s all about the contradictions. Juxtapositions. Newt unzips his jeans and sticks his hand down his boxers. “Stupid Hermann,” he moans, as he begins to bring himself off to the image of Hermann with that stupid kaiju dildo down his throat and that stupid jaeger vibe up his ass. Negotiator of peace between the two? Stupid joke, stupid Hermann. Or maybe he’s picturing Hermann showing up to the lab, all plugged up and loose from using a different vibe on himself that morning. Or maybe Hermann pushing two dildos into himself at once. How the hell can he even manage that? Ass his size— “Oh, goddamn it,” Newt moans again, and comes all over his hand.
Whatever. It’s not like Hermann’s ever going to find out about this.
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miekasa · 4 years ago
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SCREAM!!!!! OKAY you get me YOU GET ME!!!!!! and YES the fact that the giant fighter robots are called Jaegers like...the material on hand...there’s SO much one can do!! it’s for multiple ships and for multiple reader-inserts, like hello world!!!! one of THE best aus!!! it could be an eren x reader fic where eren’s family (sadly, gr*sha 🙄) spearheaded the program hence Jaegers, and idk what the plot would be, but there would definitely be family drama. dee-lish, deelish! jean x reader, where jean is a pilot and reader works in the lab....angsty and fluffy! hange as the scientists with their apprentice armin and reader who is gonna start working there? if you’re a coconut head stan, go for it! i personally...headcanon it as a levi x reader fic because i’m a whore for levi 😌 they’re co-pilots. like unpacking all that between reader and levi, and going through the mortifying ordeal of being known just so humanity’s strongest and his partner could bring down the kaiju? yeah yeah 😌 and on the other side of things...the drift. ahem. the things one can do here. mentally holding each other in place to keep one from chasing the rabbit—oh HO the communication issues! suddenly knowing the other person so well that they nonchalantly save the last lemon curd cupcake for them because it’s their favorite and their partner was late to the mess hall. suddenly knowing how to brew tea to perfection. that neural connection lingers after a fight, and co-pilots are drawn to each other (whispers: bed sharing...and it progresses...to a lot more). mmhm mmm. i just...it’s modern romance that completely reinvented the concept of soulmates and elevated it and made it absolutely transcendent okay!!!!! i have a lot of feelings about this kinda au, literally it eats my brain and i daydream about it a lot 👁👅👁
YES TO ALL OF THIS!!! YES ABSOLUTELY YES!! The mortifying ordeal of being known... the idea of letting somebody into your head and literally knowing the inner most mechanisms of your mind, body, and soul... it's so tender; it's so fucking GOOD!! OKAY here me out for some options below
Okay, here me out: Kenny and Levi who, despite their unconventional uncle-nephew relationship, are just about the best pair of co-pilots anyone has ever seen (bc you know, shared trauma brings a family together). Until Kenny is killed on a mission, and Levi has to find a new co-pilot. Cue oc, Levi's childhood best friend, a talented engineer, and Hange's right hand woman. Hange suspects oc and Levi would be pretty compatible, maybe even with a higher compatibility than Kenny; except, oc has no plans to be a pilot, and Levi wouldn't want to do a drift with her anyways, because that would mean letting her into his mind, and, subsequently, letting her know that he's in love with her.
Or, alternatively, oc just happens to be a new recruit who is talented, and drift compatible with Levi, and become good friends through their training. Over time, it's Levi who realizes that he feels something for her outside of the drift, and finds himself drawn to her and picking up on little habits and preferences. It's too bad she's already engaged to one of Levi's closest friends.
Or, Eren's family spearheaded the Jaeger robots and obviously receive government funding to engineer them and keep them going. The whole family is pretty impressive; tho it damaged her, Carla was the first woman to solo pilot a Jaeger and saved an entire country, Gr*sha is the head engineer, and Zeke and Eren are pretty damn good co-pilots. But some other nations have suspected that Gr*sha has been making faulty Jaegers for them, and making the best ones for his home country; and oc is the person sent to by one of these nations spy/steal the blueprints/maybe even kill the Jaeger family, and ofc she somehow meets Eren and falls in love in the process.
OR scientist coconut boy and oc who were childhood friends, and who both shared a common interest in deep sea creatures. She's really interested in the kaiju themselves and has her own theories about where the come from and their overall biology, that would sound crazy to any government official, but Armin believes her wholeheartedly. However, having nearly been killed in an attack, oc grows apart from her love of the ocean and the animals; so while Armin goes on the study and aid the Jaeger program, she finds a new hobby, far away from the kaiju. When it comes time to try and close the breech, all the scientists, Armin included, are stumped and there's a few puzzle pieces they can't quite solve, but Armin remembers oc's theory, and he knows that she's about the only person in the world who could help save them right now, so obviouslyyy he has to go and find her and bring her back and ask for her help and you get it.
Okay one more because I love Jean. He and Marco are pilots, and oc is actually Marco's girlfriend; she's a civilian, and lives in their hometown. Except, in their most recent drift, Jean and Marco have been having some difficulties; Marco isn't letting him in as much, and when he finally does, Jean sees that Marco's been hiding that he's been cheating/cheated on oc. Jean is upset with him, but hardly has time to reprimand him or talk it out fully because Marco dies on their next mission. Enter oc, who joins the Jaeger program to avenge the death of her boyfriend, which wouldn't be an issue, if she weren't drift compatible with Jean, the only person in the world who knows what Marco did wrong.
As you can tell, I have many thoughts about this. I am obsessed with this movie. Very much. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
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thequietmanno1 · 4 years ago
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Thelreads, Vigilantes 40, Replies Part 2
1) “Yeah, just like I assumed, Koichi will be the bait, obviously, and you three will be waiting with a trap of some sort. Nice Aizawa, relying on others, I’m so proud of you with your dumbass kid and two dumbass little twin brothers, what a good family”-Down a limb and he’s already working on making use of the varied resources lying around to take down the enemy with good teamwork and leadership qualities- no wonder he and Izuku get along so well, despite the rocky start.
2) “Oh god one of them had what seems like will be a FUN™ idea… Oh, what you have in mind young man?”-  Two Words- Kaiju Fight!
3) “Oh, NOW the laws of physic apply? Well alright then, Newtown is probably spinning on his grave like a damn turbine, we could probably generate infinite energy out of him.”- Yeah, I’m really betting on Koichi’s bullets being selective about when physics apply to them and resulting him- lets face it he’d need to have to kind of jojo-style ‘seemingly weak but actually OP ability when used in the correct manner’ in his corner if he wants to take on the trigger mastermind himself- as it stands, Koichi would barley be able to hold his own with Scarface, his no-doubt tougher and scarier master would be too tall an order for him to handle when he’s still just a young teen, new to the whole vigilante gig and figuring out what to do as he goes along.
4) “koichi found a new technique to use, since he’s already moving in that direction the bullets will only increase his speed; he can both fight and get away from danger at the same time, it’s the perfect combo.”- Difficult to aim where he’s going though if he’s moving backwards- sort of a high-risk trade-off for being able to flee and shoot the opponent at the same time, if Koichi’s not on a long street with minimal obstacles in his path he’s have a harder time splitting his attention between shooting the target and keeping his distance, and checking what’s behind/ahead of him to make sure he doesn’t take a fatal stumble and let his opponent catch up. Perhaps his future hero costume should include some kind of foldable rear-view mirror goggles so he can check what’s behind him in these types of situations?
5) “Also, is that tea? you’re making tea in your free time now?”- It might not be to the extent of a Japanese tea ceremony, but practicing such a delicate task with his stunted limb options is a good way for Kayayan to practice the kind of delicate control he’ll need to go out in public with a pair of blades for hands and avoid accidently hurting somebody. The fact it’s time-consuming and requires intense concentration probably helps him pass the hours of free time he has to burn now, since he no longer comfortably fits into the niches of society carved out for those with normal body types. Plus, if he makes the tea well, its literally its own reward for a job well done.
6) “Oh well, at least they didn’t got you completely off-guard, there’s still time to save the teacup.
Also, I assume that you’d be at least a bit concerned over the fact that they are in their trigger form, I mean, I doubt they’d be using it if they weren’t in danger, you know?”- Kamayan’s overall lack of control over his situation and the changes his body’s been subjected to mean that he’s become even more focused on maintaining and doing the things he can control- like having this afternoon tea time, come hell or high water, and if the Universe isn’t gonna give him even that tiny modicum of hard-won respite for his shitty living situation, then there’s gonna be hell to pay for the offending party
7) “DUDE PLEASE DON’T TURN INTO A STRAWMAN, STRAWMAN GET TEACUPS BROKEN YOU KNOW? WE NEED TO KEEP THE TEACUPS SAFE”- The teacup’s fate was sealed once it came into the vicinity of Koichi and his villain-attracting powers- actually, store owners and such should start monitoring where Koichi’s going as a forewarning of Disaster, so as to protect their business from becoming ensuring collateral.
8) “THE KAMEN BROTHER IS DABBING THIS IS NOT THE TIME RIGHT NOW”- He Dabs for the Teacup’s loss.
9) “DUDE PLEASE, THERE’S A VIGILANTE, A PRO HERO, AND TWO TRIGGER-USERS TELLING YOU THAT THERE’S TROUBLE AND YOU’RE NOT TAKING ANY PRECAUTIONS TO KEEP THE TEACUP SAFE
IF- NO, WHEN THAT THING BREAKS, IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT AND YOUR FAULT ONLY.”-  There’s wishful thinking, and then there’s plain old ignoring reality staring you straight in the face. Actually, thinking about it, this is comparable to the wilful ignorance and disassociation most civilians in this world show, looking away from incoming trouble, unwilling to get involved until they’re literally forced to intercede against their wills, and otherwise totally deluding themselves that whatever’s going on, it’s somebody else’s problem to deal with.
10) “Alright, you know what, I mentioned the use of blades agaisnt this monster, but now that I think about it, I’m not sure it even has a advanced regeneration factor like the USJ Nomu.”-
Hota 1: (cheering from the sidelines) Kaiju Fight! Kaiju Fight!!
Hota 2: Dude, I don’t think we can really call this a Kaiju battle here. Sure, they’re both monsters, but they’re only, like, 8ft tall or so, not 100ft or more
Hota 2: You really think the neighbourhood has the budget for Monster battles that big?
….
Hota 1&2: (simultaneously) Kaiju Fight!! Kaiju Fight!!!
11) “Yeah Koichi, don’t bother with him. I thought he was going to be an interesting centerpiece on a serious topic that would expand on the worldbuilding of the series’ universe by tackling topics that were alluded to but never properly addressed… but no, he’s going to be the hypocritical humor character instead. “-I mean, he can be both. He’s not exactly judging based on appearances, given Octonomu did just break into his room and trash his stuff, chasing down his friends and a licensed hero and overall acting aggressively, requiring him to respond in kind. 
And he is facing legitimate hardships that are being pointed out in a tongue in cheek manner, so as not to come off like Furuhashi is cramming the message down our throats. But on the other hand, he displayed the exact same apathy towards their peril that society overall has displayed to his current plight, so it’s a mixed bag with his character.
12) “Alright, you know what, let me correct myself, this guy brought ten fists to a knife-fight. Mathematically speaking, he has the advantage, not to say that apparently the blades aren’t even sharp enough to slice him.
Oh, this will end bad.”- His fists beats blades, but Koichi’s Gun Beats Fists, and that’s why Koichi Wins!
13) “Look dude, even without trigger those things look like they could cut real good, meaning that the proto-nomu here is really tough, probably hardened skin, maybe just a sub-product of the modifications rather than an actual quirk.”-Given he’s utterly lacking in any projectile weapons beyond what he can improvise from his surroundings, it makes sorta sense they’d focus on increasing his defence to match his offence, and thus ensure he wouldn’t get taken down from afar by stuff like concentrated gunfire to the knees. Koichi’s shots may actually be a lot harder than they look, it’s just that Octonomu’s also tougher than he seems so the shots vary in effectiveness depending on how much effort Koichi puts into it.
14) “Alright, now that there’s no danger to anyone nearby and Mantis turned into the bait rather than Koichi, Aizawa will finally jump back into fray, likely just so he can get his other arm broken.”- And if that happens, Aizawa will throw his scarf around with his legs until the opponent breaks those. He’s knuckleduster’s equal in willpower, just not in being able to tank a hit half as good.
15) “You’re not planning to try to tie him up again, are you? It didn’t work last time- sure last time you weren’t counting on the two additional arms, but even so, the strength of him would probably cause some trouble, even more since you’re one arm short right now.”- It’s not how much scarf you have to use against your opponent, it’s about how logically you use it- Aizawa can’t tie him up effectively anymore, but he can blind him for a few precious minutes- and multiple arms or no, if Octonomu can’t see his opponent, it doesn’t matter how many arms he’s got, he’s still helpless against them.
16) “Erm- Wait, blind it? But- But he doesn’t even have eyes? I thought it was moving around using other senses instead. Are you guys implying there were eyes there? what?”-When you stare into the abyss… don’t forget to bring a gun with you to shoot it right between its horrifyingly tiny eyes when it stares back
17) “OHJESUSFUCKTHEREWEREEYESTHERE
NOPE
NOPE
TERRIFYING
0/10
PLEASE BURN WITH FIRE”-
This is probably Octonomu’s version of that anime trope with the big white eyes.
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So, his eyes are really really small, if that’s their comically largest size.
18) “OH YEAH! IT’S THE NOTHAMEHA! THE CRAWLER’S MOST TERRIFYING SKILL
SO POWERFUL IT CAN MAKE HIS ENEMIES SPURT EYES OUT OF NOWHERE
HORRIFYING, COMPLETELY HORRIFYING”-
Koichi: With the power of this copyright breaking attack, I’ll blast you out the panel borders!!!! Return to the abyss from whence you were spawned!!!
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19) “OH THIS IS GONNA BE A HELL OF A SHOT”-And as the capper to Koichi performing this heroic action as a temporary ‘sidekick’ to Aizawa, he’s the first hero that actually refers to him by his desired hero name out in the field. Koichi’s getting closer to becoming the hero he wants to be, and further away from the embarrassing nickname of ‘the cruller’, despite the J-men’s best efforts to spread the ‘good word’ about him.
20) “But anyway, that was nice to see. Aizawa isn’t a moron, he knows that sometimes rules need to be broken when its a matter a survival. He doesn’t care that Koichi is a Vigilante, or that the Hotta brothers are using trigger, even if its the ~legal~ kind, because now its not the time to be picky, they either work together or they’ll all die.”- Like many things, Koichi’s greatest improvements in crime-fighting, in this case, working as part of an effective team, come about only under duress of imminent expiration. It works, but he needs to find other avenues of improving on his own time, or he’s gonna get more attention from the ‘official’ heroes and the shadowy villains they’re hunting than he really needs right now. Some time to practice his moves where nobody can interrupt him would do him the world of good, and come without the risk of him getting busted by the law for illegal quirk use.
@thelreads​
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thebladeblaster · 4 years ago
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Digimon Tamer ZERO (ver.2) Chapter 1 The Digimon Phenomenon (part 3)
Misaki lowered her book for a second as she heard their conversation.
“Considering its attitude The Blaster probably spoiled it. Wait...Knight...Blaster...affection...”, Izaki suddenly gasped as he realized something.
Miwa nodded and then put his pointer finger over his mouth.
“What’s with you two?”, Morikawa questioned obliviously.
“It’s nothing.”, Miwa replied with a coy smile.
At Aichi’s house...
Aichi had just put on his white jacket from before and prepared to leave.
“Hopefully, I can find something this time...”, Aichi thought.
His V pet suddenly beeped as a strange circular symbol appeared on his V pet screen.
“The digital world needs your help please answer our call!”, A feminine voice came from the V pet.
“What’s this some sort of event?”, Aichi questioned.
“After the defeat of Lucemon many years ago the other demon lords returned and took over the digital world. There is not many tamers strong enough to face them. So, we urgently ask for you to receive our call.”, the voice continued as yes and no options showed up on his V pet.
“I have time. Okay, I’ll see what this is about real quick.”, Aichi said before clicking yes.
“Take the 5:45 Shibuya bound train from Jiyuugaoka Station.”, was displayed on his v-pet in text.
“Jiyuugaoka Station? Why does it want me to go there?”, Aichi questioned.
Aichi looked briefly at the block. He had about 20 minutes to get there. He looked down at the v-pet still confused. He could just ignore it but...he didn’t know what but had this strange feeling...like he really should go. Aichi sighed not knowing exactly why he headed there despite having much more pressing matters like a planet destroying alien demon thing within him.
“Bye Mom.”, Aichi waved goodbye to his mother before he left through the front door.
“Don’t stay out too long, sweetie.”, his mom replied waving goodbye.
Aichi continued to the destination first walking. He didn’t understand why but he felt his heart beating against his chest increasingly rapidly as he started walking faster. Aichi sweated nervously as he continued to speed up.
“What’s with this feeling?! It’s just like the feeling I had not long before everything with Link Joker started.”, Aichi thought, hardly noticing he was now sprinting.
Aichi noticed this sweat dropping as he passed a car in speed. Aichi promptly slowed down hoping no one noticed that.
“Wow, that was really bad man. If your trying to hide what’s wrong with you you’re failing miserably.”, Imaginary Plane Dragon said in a mocking tone.
“Darn it! Darn it! Darn it! I keep forgetting about Link Joker’s extends beyond cardfights!”, Aichi thought, panicking and mentally hitting himself.
He did not know the extent to this thing’s power. He mentally sighed having a brief flashback. He was in the Cardfight club room with Misaki, Naoki, and Shingo. A cardfight had briefly finished and he had a panicked expression. The others looked at him in confusion. He shook his head waving away the memory.
He came to a stop as he heard...a explosion?! Aichi was beyond confused looking over to the station. He gawked as from out the smoke emerged a large blue t-rex-like dinosaur. It had some sort of organic armor over its head with horns. It had black stripes along its body and yellow eyes. Countless people ran for their lives fleeing from the debris.
Aichi rubbed his making sure this was not some sort of illusion.
“Holy crap!!! There’s a real life kaiju attacking Japan!!!”, Aichi thought.
“What the heck!!! How did these guys show up on Earth so easily?!?! We needed a real convoluted plan pull that off! And this stupid dumb dino did it easily!! Mind asking him his secret?”, Imaginary Plane Dragon said as Aichi sweat dropped shaking his head no.
“Now that I think about it that dinosaur looks like Greymon but blue. But Digimon can’t be real right?”, Aichi thought.
“You thought the same thing about Cray too.”, Imaginary Plane Dragon replied sarcastically.
“Well...I...”, Aichi trailed off knowing he had a point.
Aichi flinched as the BlackGreymon turned to him.
“Nova Blast!”, BlackGreymon called out as it shot a large blue flame ball from its mouth in his direction.
“Run stupid! We can’t destroy the universe if you die!”, Imaginary Plane Dragon said.
“I’m not doing that!!!”, Aichi thought as he ran from the fiery blast.
He suddenly heard BlackGreymon let out a pained cry before he turned around. He gasped in shock seeing the fiery blast had been cut in two and BlackGreymon had crashed against the station as if it was hit by something. It grunted as it started to get up looking for whatever struck it. That’s when Aichi looked down to see another Digimon which was much smaller than BlackGreymon. It was light purple reptilian Digimon wearing kendo gear and holding a wooden sword. The gear covered most of its body besides it’s legs. You couldn’t even see it’s face, only glowing gold orbs which were likely it’s eyes.
“It’s a Kotemon. Just like...there’s no way.”, Aichi thought.
“Rahhh! How did a weak little Digimon like you knock me down?”, BlackGreymon questioned getting back up on its feet.
“Heh, your not strong. All you have is unnecessary size that slows you down. It’s no wonder when your species becomes mega if drops most of its size.”, the Kotemon replied snarkily.
Aichi tilted his head seeming to recognize Kotemon’s noticeable attitude. BlackGreymon growled at Kotemon in fury.
“We’ll see about that before I turn you into a greasy smear!!!”, BlackGreymon growled as it charged at Kotemon.
Aichi gasped as BlackGreymon approached and Kotemon entered a kendo stance. Aichi from behind Kotemon noticed near BlackGreymon’s stomach it had been damaged by the rubble.
“To bring it down Kotemon needs to strike there.”, Aichi thought, not noticing his v-pet glowing.
Kotemon focused on that spot and started running towards BlackGreymon. It raised its wooden sword and struck BlackGreymon in the weak point Aichi saw. Aichi gasped in surprise wondering if Kotemon saw that weak spot too. BlackGreymon gasped clutching its stomach growling. It opened its mouth and prepared another blast.
“Kotemon move!”, Aichi shouted out.
“He’s about to shoot another Nova Blast!”, Aichi thought worriedly as v-pet glowed again.
Kotemon just barely dodged the Mega Flame which burned off some of Kotemon’s kendo gear. Kotemon had jumped back over closer to where he was. The top parts of its kendo gear had been destroyed revealing half of its face, the top of its arm, and its upper right body. He saw it was indeed reptilian like he expected. It had two horns on it’s head and golden eyes. It’s underbelly and the its jaw was black. It seemed to have some strange golden markings on its face, arm, and torso.
“Your not getting any closer BlackGreymon.”, Kotemon said.
“I won’t let some rookie stop me from fulfilling my mission!”, BlackGreymon roared.
“Mission?”, Aichi questioned.
“You won’t live long enough to find out human!”, BlackGreymon said as it fired out another fiery blast.
Kotemon swiped the blast in half when it approached him.
“Grr! Why are you even protecting this little human?!”, BlackGreymon questioned.
Aichi looked at Kotemon curiously who faced BlackGreymon.
“He’s my tamer obviously.”, Kotemon replied.
“Tamer? Me? Wait that means...”, Aichi trailed off looking at his v-pet seeing a sprite of Kotemon fighting BlackGreymon.
Aichi gasped in surprise seeing the fight before him was playing out on his v-pet.
“Then did you really hear what I was thinking?”, Aichi questioned.
“Right. I heard your commands loud and clear through the v-pet.”, Kotemon replied as Aichi sweat dropped.
“He didn’t hear Link Joker did he? I hope not.”, Aichi thought nervously.
“I don’t know what your planning, but I won’t let you go around terrorizing my world!”, Aichi said facing BlackGreymon.
Aichi looked at his v-pet noticing the strange symbol had reappeared. Aichi’s eyes briefly glowed with a rainbow spiral and a light blue aura appeared around him. They all looked surprised as Aichi’s v-pet let out a bright light. The light enveloped Kotemon.
“Kotemon digivolve to DrakeGladimon!!!”
Out from the light appeared a slightly taller figure clad in knight armor. Unlike normal Gladimon it’s body shape was more similar to Knightmon but not as tall. It had a brown vest with brown straps. It’s legs were dragon-like and clad in armor like the rest of its body. It’s boots and gauntlets had claws. It’s helmet was stylized like a wyvern with horns and it’s eyes were red. It’s helmet had the orange fur at the end like normal Gladimon. It now had two real metal broadswords with a golden handle. A light purple tail stuck out from its armor having bits of armor on it as well.
Aichi’s v-pet had changed as well now being a small light blue device with blue buttons and a grey antenna. It had strange markings on it.
“What?! How did he suddenly digivolve like that? Digivolution should take years?!”, BlackGreymon questioned.
“Let’s go! DrakeGladimon!”, Aichi said and DrakeGladimon nodded.
“Yes master! Whirlwind Wheel Rush!”, DrakeGladimon replied.
DrakeGladimon spun itself like a tornado striking BlackGreymon. BlackGreymon gasped in pain as in was struck by DrakeGladimon’s dual blades. Aichi v-pet had a voice come from it again.
“You must now purify it.”, the voice ordered.
“How do I do that?”, Aichi asked.
“Aim your former v-pet towards the fallen Digimon.”, she ordered.
Aichi did just that and a light shot out of the once v-pet enveloping BlackGreymon. When it cleared some dark energy came out of it which disappeared. It then instantly began to shrink into a much smaller orange dinosaur and green eyes. It had became Agumon.
“Woah, what happened? What’s this place?”, Agumon questioned, looking around confused.
“Uhh...this is Earth.”, Aichi said as he approached Agumon before DrakeGladimon quickly grabbed Aichi out of the way of a massive figure which suddenly appeared behind Agumon.
“Agumon!”, Aichi called out, paling as a massive foot squashed the rookie Digimon.
Agumon dispersed into pixels which was absorbed by the massive figure. The figure was very buff and green. It had skull-like armor and a massive bone sword. It had red markings and white hair.
“Stupid weakling. He couldn’t even do his job right. You’ve been relieved from your position in the Ebony Squadron, BlackGreymon.” , the big Digimon said.
The massive Digimon held a grey train with yellow horns. It had a single green eyes and was very roughed up. That train wasn’t just a train it was a Trailmon! It threw the injured Trailmon directly at them. It laughed after the Trailmon impacted causing dust to fly everywhere and the ground to tremble.
It stopped laughing as it flinched. It felt a extremely dark malevolent presence. It looked around for where the presence was coming from.
“Is one of the demon lords here!?!?”, the skull armored Digimon questioned.
“You!”, the skull armored Digimon looked over to the source of the voice.
As the smoke cleared the skull armored Digimon could see glowing red eyes. It gawked as it saw that the Trailmon never hit the ground. It was being held by a Digimon. The Digimon was knight clad in dragon-like armor which resembled Knightmon. It’s helmet had horns and it had red eyes. It had a visible tail with pieces of armor and metal spikes down it. It had purple wings and legs like DrakeGladimon. It had spikes on its shoulder armor and bits of gold on its armor. It had a massive shield and great sword strapped to its back.
“WyvernKnightmon, it’s a extremely rare species of Knightmon. This should be fun.”, the skull Digimon said.
Next to WyvernKnightmon was Aichi a faint red and black aura appeared around him briefly.
“I can’t believe you killed your own comrade!”, Aichi said as he glared at the skull armored Digimon.
“Comrade or not that is the law of monsters. The weak must die.”, the skull armored Digimon said.
Aichi clutched his chest trying to contain Link Joker within him.
“I have to calm down this anger isn’t like me but...”, Aichi thought, remembering Agumon being squashed.
It didn’t even know what it was doing it must have been controlled by something. The idea of a innocent little creature being controlled like that and killed. It was beyond horrible. It was the kind of thing that definitely sadden him, but he didn’t get angry often at all. However, he could feel Link Joker’s presence getting more powerful twisting the sadness he felt into rage.
“Take him down, WyvernKnightmon. Aim for unarmored his chest.”, Aichi thought pointing the former v-pet to WyvernKnightmon.
“Berserk Tempest Sword!”, WyvernKnightmon called out as it flew at the skull armored Digimon.
It raised its own massive blade to block WyvernKnightmon much to its shock its own blade shattered upon impact with WyvernKnightmon’s.
“That’s impossible!!!”, the skull armored Digimon said as it was sent flying back into the abandoned station.
Aichi got onto WyvernKnightmon’s back and flew into the abandoned station. In the station more Digimon were inside most of them were champion and ultimate. They blasted WyvernKnightmon with there attacks but WyvernKnightmon created a barrier of wind blowing their attacks back. He charged at the skull armored Digimon and delivered another fierce slash with its sword at it chest.
“Damn. It’s just a ultimate Digimon. How is it this strong?”, the skull armored Digimon questioned.
A green goblin Digimon ran over to it. It had white hair and blue eyes. It held a club and wore black loincloth.
“Commander Titamon!”, the club wielding Digimon called out.
Titamon struggled up looking over to the approaching Digimon. As soon as it came near it grabbed its head and crushed it. It dispersed into particles that were absorbed by Titamon. Titamon now seemed to be a bit healed from fighting WyvernKnightmon. The other Digimon flinched as Titamon looked over to them.
“Give me your commander your power you pathetic weaklings! Soul Core Attack!”, Titamon commanded slashing its own troops with its blade and absorbing their data.
“Stop it! Now!”, Aichi said as he rode towards Titamon on WyvernKnightmon.
WyvernKnightmon slashed at Titamon who blocked with its newly restored blade. It was pushed back into the railway tunnel. However this time it’s blade wasn’t broken. Aichi looked rather confused as they went down the railway tunnel and the area around them completely changed. He could see a unfamiliar forest nearby a station with a strange track. White almost ghost shaped Digimon flew by. As they passed through WyvernKnightmon glowed again changing its appearance once again.
“WyvernKnightmon digivolve to Dynasmon!”
It’s blade disappeared and Titamon laughed cockily as it slashed at Dynasmon. Dynasmon threw a punch that completely shattered it’s sword and as it hit its face completely shattered its skull helmet. Titamon crashed into the forest below and the flying Digimon dispersed to avoid getting hit.
Aichi blinked completely stunned after regaining control.
“Oh crap, where am I?”, Aichi questioned.
“You are in the digital world, my lord the Blaster.”, Dynasmon replied and Aichi let out a sheepish chuckle.
“My real name is Sendou Aichi and you don’t have to call me lord. You can just call me Aichi.”, Aichi replied.
“Great, because you cried over a baby dinosaur we have been isekaied.”, Imaginary Plane Dragon said.
Aichi pinched himself to make sure this hadn’t all been some sort of bizarre dream.
Chapter 1 end
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alastingconfusion · 5 years ago
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geraskifer pacific rim au, babes
@humii369, i’m a very slow writer and i did not expect this to be this long but here it is! i hope you vibe with these thoughts.
anyway, this is the third fucking time i’m trying to express my ideas about a geraskifer pacific rim au and evidently the universe does not want me to put this out there, but i will, i will
 jaskier is the one that brings them together. nobody’s sure what jaskier does at the shatterdome, but he’s a rich man’s kid, and one of his relatives is pretty high up in the military?? he’s known geralt forever and he had a pretty unfortunate first meeting with yennefer. everybody’s pretty sure they’ve seen him mess around in the training room and he’s pretty decent, but give him something delicate to hold and oops, that thing’s gone. i mean, it’s on the floor but it’s also in a million pieces and like, it probably can’t be used for whatever it was supposed to be used for.
anyway, he and yennefer have a shouting match right there in the hallway. jaskier’s an asshole cos he’s got family in high places and he’s a privileged bitch and won’t ever admit he’s wrong, yen’s an asshole cos she’s one of the leading scientists on this thing dipshit.
so geralt has to show up at some point to make sure his best friend doesn’t get gutted by one of their best scientists, and anyway he and yennefer hit it off. by that i mean they flirt outrageously because geralt is turned on by women/people who wants to kill him and yennefer is turned on by men/people who like to listen to her every whim but also look like they know how to have fun (i mean if you’re flirting outrageously while trying to defuse the situation from getting your best friend killed/in more trouble that counts right). anyway jaskier is like excuse moi??! because like there’s still a pretty decent chance yennefer is going to get some of her shady friends to murder him in his sleep (if you’re one of the leading scientist on kaiju of course you have shady friends).
but like after this, things settle into this weird equilibrium where jaskier is still hopelessly pining after his best friend, and geralt is also doing that, but also flirting(/getting it on??) with yen, and yen and jask become somewhat of frenemies (what are you, eight? / i will drink all your apple juice),
and then, one day, all of a sudden, jask is like “i think we should pilot a jaeger”
and then the other two are like “???”
“all three of us”
“?!?!?!”
but like apparently triple pilot jaegers are a thing now?? it’s not just that one jaeger?? and they need people to pilot them?? three of them at the same time??
and like jaskier obviously had insider info and like knew about it and has also been thinking about this?? he has full faith in his people, he believes that this will work
(there’s no question whether they’re drift compatible or not, at least not among them. yen might grumble and geralt might silently panic, but like, it’s them
anyway when they go for the compatibility tests, they prove it to everyone, so)
somehow yen gets convinced away from research (look pacific rim is built on the fact that jaegers are in any way the more effective/efficient option compared to other things, so someone think of a reason) (oh wait she can still be a mage, there can be magic shenanigans), and like she’s iffy about it at first, but once she’s in, she’s in. even when the date for their first drift session gets closer and jaskier gets nervous, she’s determined that this will be a thing, she’ll make it work, they’ll make it work
geralt is like a ball of angst, after all he’s one of the last witchers, an experimentally enhanced super soldier(?) designed to save the world against aliens but now everyone else also knows about it too. there weren’t that many witchers left to start with when the rift opened and he piloted a jaeger alone after his fellow witcher dropped out of it dead into the sea, and he survived, he’s one of the last ones surviving. he doesn’t really want jaskier and yennefer in a jaeger, but the world is ending and jaskier is on the base for some reason and have you ever tried to stop yennefer from doing something she set her mind to? no? well, don’t.
the first time they go into drift someone chases the rabbit. i mean this is a must-have trope. is it geralt? no, he’s the experienced one. is it yen? maybe. i mean, she’s got a lot of rabbits to chase about. is it jaskier? i’ll get back to you when i know his backstory.
anyway with all that excitement, they somehow miss that they love each other a lot. but only for a little while. it’s not a thing you can hide for very long in your own mind, when everytime you look at your loves, do something for them, it’s there. 
like yennefer finds some of that real good human connection?? love that she can’t doubt?? she’s important to not just one someone but two someones and no voice in her mind can tell her otherwise because she heard it straight from their brains. she felt it straight from there. (i’m realising now that witcher mages can read minds. we’re gonna have to put a limit on that.) and like, she knows her boys love her? she knows without a doubt? jaskier doesn’t think it, or if he does it hides in the corner of his mind. yennefer is his enemy ok. she sees it in his actions though. undeniably, when he always makes sures she’s present, smiles at her when she enters the room, however quickly he covers it with snark, gets her her favourite/contraband snacks. geralt definitely thinks it. maybe he doesn’t think it in words, but she feels it whenever he thinks of her, thinks of jaskier. he’s so filled with love for the both of them. geralt wants her to be ok. geralt wants her to be there. geralt wants her to be happy.
jaskier is a hot mess trying to deny and push down his illegal feelings for his two best buds, but like jask, jaskier, jasky, it’s not working out bud, everybody knows, especially those two cos they’ve been in your head. they feel it when you think thoughts at them and feel it when you move the jaeger together cos a jaeger is basically a gem it’s made of love. 
geralt. geralt hopes yen and jask aren’t getting too good a look at his past traumatic experiences but he’s been in a bond before. he knows how it works. if they live long enough, and they fight long enough, they’ll learn all that he is, all that matters anyway, and geralt is finding that he doesn’t mind so much, after all, it’ll be ok, he trusts them.
like i don’t even know if this is canon or fanon at this point, but at some point that drift bond crosses over to daily life and they’re getting breakfast, shuffling through the cafeteria like zombies together and yennefer gets jaskiers coffee black cos its that kind of day even though jaskier didnt even ask and he normally drinks his coffee basically as milk+sugar flavoured with coffee, and they sit down down and geralt grabs jaskiers fork when he adhd drops it even though he normally doesn’t bother to do it, cos jaskier does it, like, a lot ok, and it’s his responsibility. but geralt wasn’t even paying that much attention and he foresaw it enough to just catch it?? and they look at each other for a moment and we’re all not sure what happened, but there definitely was some sort of realisation.
also at some point/all points there’s a lot of bed sharing. jaskier likes to sneak into geralt’s room to snuggle with him no matter how many times geralt changes the lock/ups security/goes to someone about it (maybe not so much the last one cos he doesn’t actually want to-- what? no! preposterous!) and jaskier and yen like to paint their nails/do make up together and talk/gossip. sometimes, geralt lurks stoically in the corner reading or something (nerd!). sleeping over does not happen intentionally the first few times but what is jaskier if he can’t just fall asleep in anyone’s bed when he’s comfortable and yen doesn’t have the heart to move him even if geralt offers and after a while, it’s not on purpose, but it’s not on accident anymore, y’know
anyways, that’s all i have. at this point, i’m not sure how much of this is coherent/readable but eh, someone might appreciate it.
oh and one last thing. fringilla’s newt but like sexier and cooler obviously. i’m not sure what cahir’s about but maybe he’s also newt??? i mean is he evil????
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dat-fandom-losertown · 6 years ago
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The Drift Between Us
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Chapter 1: The First Day
•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Hank Anderson x Connor and Gavin Reed x RK900 (Ritch)
Genre: Fluff, Action, A bit of Angst, Pacific Rim!AU
Warnings: Referenced death, Swearing (do I need to put this as a warning? Probably not ‘cause it’s Hank we’re talkin’ about, but Ima do it anyway for this chapter lol)
Word Count: 9,563
•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Synopsis:
    Ever since Connor was young, all he’s ever wanted was to become a real jaeger Pilot and take down kaijus with his twin brother, Ritch. After several long years of training with their stepmother, Amanda, that dream finally becomes reality. Well, almost. Things are made difficult after the identical twins admit that they refuse to pilot together. Their choices are find other people to partner up with, find a way to work together, or quit before they become official jaeger pilots.
    There’s no way they’re working together, and they aren’t going to throw their entire life away, so it’s option one, then.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•
AN: Hello to anyone reading this! A few weeks ago @connorssock​ (this person is really cool and nice btw, would recommend) came up with a really cool Pacific Rim!AU and I just had to write it!! I got their permission to and now here we are! I plan for this to be a long, slow burn fic, and 8,000 words is the average amount of words I usually have for chapters. I’ve written fanfictions before, just not on this blog or for this fandom before! Whelp, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of The Drift Between Us!! <3
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Masterlist <~> Next
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    The first attack happened long before Connor and Ritch were old enough to actually remember anything, but they know that that first kaiju is the reason their parents aren’t around anymore.
    They weren’t the only ones to lose parents and families, obviously, but they took their loss much better than a lot of the other kids in their orphanage. The fact that everything happened so fast and they were just so young helped make it less traumatizing. If the twins hadn’t overheard their caregiver– as she told the young kids to call her instead of “mom”– telling someone what happened to their family, then they would have assumed they were abandoned or simply never had parents to begin with.
    Whenever the twins told anyone this, they would always get sad, pitying looks that were usually followed by “I’m sorry” or something of the like. Connor and Ritch agreed that they hate being pitied for something they don’t remember and had no control over, which is one reason why they stopped talking to the other kids altogether. Either they got pitied, or the other people expected to get pity from them when they “had it harder”, which didn’t make sense to the twins, even at the young age of seven.
    Pity can’t change or fix anything, and everyone at the orphanage obviously no longer has legal guardians anymore for one reason or another. Pain is pain; it shouldn’t be compared or ranked between people. This is one of the other reasons Connor and Ritch stayed away from others. They already had enough on their plate to deal with, they didn’t want to have to worry about other people’s problems and vice versa.
    However, their antisocial behavior ended when a woman by the name of Amanda Stern interviewed them for adoption one day.
    She asked questions like how they acted towards and around each other and others, what their favorite subjects were, and simple, normal questions like that. She didn’t once mention the parents they don’t remember, which, in hindsight, was normal for her, but at the time it was extremely refreshing, just like her lack of pity was too. Then she asked what they thought of jaeger pilots.
    Connor loved them, adored them, aspired to be like the new pilots Hank Anderson and Jeffrey Fowler one day. He had always wanted to be the hero that saved the day so desperately. Connor couldn’t have worded it properly at the time, but he wanted the praise of doing something good and the satisfaction of knowing he saved someone’s family, someone’s home. He even regularly pretended to be a jaeger pilot, ending the imaginary kaijus one by one and stopping the invasions altogether.
    Ritch had a slightly different reaction, but a similar answer. He admired jaeger pilots and found them to be very brave, but he wasn’t obsessed with them like Connor was. He didn’t really want to be a jaeger pilot, but Ritch liked the idea of helping and saving people enough that, if it was necessary to make Connor’s dream come true, he’d train and fight alongside him.
    Then Amanda asked if they were serious about becoming jaeger pilots. She said she could make that happen easily, but it would take work and dedication. It would take years and years of training, but if they did well and listened to her, they could be real jaeger pilots when they grew up. All they had to do was go with her, and she would do it.
    As if Connor could ever turn that down, which meant that Ritch agreed to go along with it too, albeit less enthusiastically.
    She officially became their stepmother soon enough after that day and brought them to her nice, large house away from any coastline, and any immediate threat of the kaijus along with it. The twins started their training the next week after their arrival, only given enough time to get on a proper “early to rise, early to rest” schedule and get used to how Amanda ran the house.
    They trained alongside each other nearly everyday for years. After they mastered the “basics”, Amanda began pairing the brothers against each other in roughly evenly-matched battles of wit and brawn, even though the brothers weren’t inclined to do so. Yet they had to. They had to because the longer they trained, the more Connor’s dream of being a jaeger pilot was slowly becoming Ritch’s dream as well, and they had nothing else to work towards in life by that point, so they put up with her games.
    It was during one of these matches that Amanda forced them into that something between them finally cracked. It was just a splinter in comparison to the big picture, but it was enough to start the collapse of everything. Amanda’s continuous meddling and manipulation didn’t help either, it made everything worse, in fact, but they had to fight through it. They had nothing else beyond becoming jaeger pilots, and Amanda was reminding them of that fact almost daily by that point. They couldn’t give up, and even if they were allowed to, their pride wouldn’t let them.
    Then it happened.
    Connor and Ritch don’t talk about it, even the mention of it is enough to make them recoil. It had ruined nearly everything for the brothers. Yet, not wanting to be thrown out like trash or abandoned like stray dogs, they continued to painfully push through Amanda’s games of both physical and mental kinds. They just had to make it another few months and they’d be well on their way to become official jaeger pilots. It was the only thing they could ever be useful for.
    In the end, Amanda kept her first promise (one of the very few that remained unbroken). They listened to her every order and every suggestion for years. They put everything they had and more on the line for this, just like she said they’d have to back in the orphanage, and now here they are. They survived, and they finally did it. The only problem is they don’t know what to do now that they’re actually here. For so long this day seemed like it would only arrive in dreams or fairy tales, and that might still be the case; they weren’t able to somehow change the forms Amanda filled out for them to be pilots together, and lying on those forms is a legal offense. 
    Finally getting loaded onto the large helicopter with fifteen other young adults, ones that still have that spark of life and innocence in their eyes. Connor and Ritch silently glance at each other. All it takes is one, tiny nod for them to agree that they’ll figure out some kind of plan when they get there. For now, though, they get buckled in for the trip to the Pan Pacific Defense Corps base.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•
    Almost all of the other cadets in the large helicopter have been complaining about their backs and necks aching for a long while now, and Connor is very close to telling them off for being children for constantly complaining about something as insignificant as that. However, when he turns his head to ask them to shut up, he just barely manages to catch sight of the edge of a huge, fort-like structure through the tiny window by his head. Reassured that their immature and meaningless complaints will very soon come to an end, Connor shuts his mouth and faces forward once more.
    Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Ritch staring at him with an eyebrow raised, a silent question of what made him change his mind (because of course Ritch knows he was about to make a comment to these people). Connor offers an answer in the form of nodding towards the tiny, reinforced window between him and Ritch. Ritch silently looks out, leans back a bit in attempts to see what Connor had, then smirks. He, too, straightens and relaxes in his chair, his slight smile never quite leaving his face.
    Connor assumes that Ritch is just as excited as he is to sleep in a real bed tonight, or as real as a cheap mattress or cot will be, anyway. It’s been nearly a week of traveling and layovers and such, and they haven’t slept somewhere that wasn’t an uncomfortable chair or the tiled ground in as long, too. The other cadets grumbled about them not getting any real beds while the staff had some the entire time, as well, which is why Connor was almost at his wit’s end just a few seconds ago. If he’s being honest, he still is.
    Their commander finally announces that they’re preparing to land at the PPDC, and to gather what little was allowed to remain unpacked for entertainment. The renewed chattering of the others annoys the twins, who are used to the constant silence of their old home, but it irritates Connor especially. He has always been more introverted and socially awkward than Ritch– much to Amanda’s displeasure– and there has already been a week of non-stop people and talking so far. Connor’s ready to spend some time alone in peace.
    He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to find a partner if he and Ritch are somehow allowed to stay as separate pilots, not if they’re all going to continue being this obnoxious, and especially not if Connor remains just as socially inept. Ritch must see something portrayed on his face because he leans over as much as he can with his harness being the way and speaks up for only the second time during this several-hour flight.
    “They’re still young, let them be children a little longer. I’m sure we would have liked a little more time as well.” Ritch says, ever the patient one.
    Connor sighs defeatedly. “I know we would’ve, but we were kids when we started and they’re grown adults. Besides, they’ve been talking constantly since we met at the airport earlier this week. Shouldn’t they have run out of topics to discuss?” Ritch takes a breath to say something, but Connor dismisses him with a wave, “Yeah yeah, I know. People talk about any and everything when they get along and they’re excited. And that’s okay, I’ve just been wanting some peace and quiet, and they only got louder.”
    Ritch nods sympathetically. “Yeah. We’re almost out of here though.” Connor nods back. Ritch hesitates twice before continuing, “Are you excited? This is your childhood dream coming true right now and you seem bored.”
    “This is only the boot camp. We could still get kicked out.”
    “Do you honestly believe that could happen?” Ritch asks almost sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.
    “Maybe, we still have our issue to deal with,” he looks pointedly at Ritch, who instantly knows what he’s talking about, ”but you never know. And to answer your question, I don’t think it’s hit me yet that I’m actually here. Ask me again in a day or two. Maybe in a week.”
    Ritch huffs a laugh, an actual, genuinely amused huff, “Yes. I feel the same way.”
    That was probably one of the most normal and pleasant conversations they’ve had in at least over a year. It was almost refreshing, if not awkward. Luckily, Connor is saved from over-analyzing their conversation by the helicopter finally landing. The doors open and all of the young adults hastily unbuckle, grab their duffle bags of clothes and supplies, then step out onto the landing pad. It’s a nice, clear day, and all of the trainees group together by the helicopter to listen to what this woman with braided blonde hair– obviously their guide for now– has to say. Well, more like has to yell over the surrounding machinery and wind.
    “Welcome to the Pacific Ocean Defense base! My name is Chloe and I’ll be giving you a brief tour of the place so you know how to get around without being run over or squashed! Got it?” The group nods in unison, a few saying “Yes, ma’am.” She smiles, “Good! Follow close behind me! Don’t want you getting lost on your first day, do we?” She sharply turns around and starts walking, not looking back or waiting for the group to follow.
    Connor and Ritch glance at each other quickly before following close behind Chloe, the rest of the group close behind them. As they walk up to the large, metal doors, they expect to see some kind of common area place behind them, but they instead open to reveal a large, heavy-duty elevator. The elevator is plenty large enough to fit the lot of them plus three, huge, glass containers and another person, who is fussing over the containers of… are those kaiju parts?
    “Excuse me, sir,” Connor tries grabbing the man’s attention, too intrigued to keep his mouth shut like he knows he should.
     The pale man shoots up from what he was doing and looks at the crowd, obviously trying to figure out who called him. Connor asks his question, confident that he’ll get at least a simple “yes or no” in return now.
    “I hope you’re not bothered by me asking, but are those pieces of kaiju?” Connor tilts his head curiously, knowing he doesn’t portray emotions well when he’s tired but wanting to show the man he is genuinely interested in his answer.
    The man’s eyes brighten up immediately, “Yes, yes they are.” He takes off his gloves and fixes the small bun on the back of his head before reaching out a hand to Connor politely. “I’m Elijah Kamski, the head scientist of the kaiju research department.”
    Connor takes his hand firmly and shakes it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Kamski.” Connor hears someone scoff from the other side of the otherwise near silent elevator, followed by a sharp “shh!”.
    The scientist releases from the handshake and drops his hand. “Please, Mr. Kamski will do, if you must. I don’t actually have a Doctorate’s degree, I’m just someone who’s interested in kaijus and happened to get lucky.”
    “It was hardly luck, Elijah.” Chloe jumps in.
    “Ah, well, thank you Chloe. It makes me happy you think that.”
    “Are these parts still functioning? Or just being preserved?” Connor brings the attention back to where it was originally, his curiosity far from quenched.
    Mr. Kamski sighs heavily and turns to the glass containers, “Just preserved, I’m afraid. We weren’t able to get to this kaiju in time to save any of its parts. But we do have some... somewhat functioning specimens down in the lab.”
    Someone in the group, a man with darker skin and a shaved head, speaks up next.
    “Why would we want to keep chunks of kaiju alive? Wouldn’t it be better that they stay dead for good?”
    The blond, fair-skinned man standing next to him answers, “I imagine if they can keep pieces functional long enough to figure out any more weaknesses, it could make our jobs in the future easier, Markus. It’s smart, really.”
    Mr. Kamski practically glows, “You’re absolutely right– uh, what’s your name?” He reaches his hand out to the blonde.
    “Simon, sir.” He shakes Mr. Kamski’s hand once before letting go.
    “Simon.” He turns to Connor, “And I never got yours?”
    “Connor.”
    “These are the new possible recruits for the new jaegers that are being built.” Chloe informs.
    “That explains why I haven’t seen you guys around.”
    The scientist chuckles in a way that makes it seem like he was trying to make it sound awkward, rather than it being a genuinely awkward laugh. Although, that may be just Connor over analyzing things again. He can’t really help it, old habits die hard, especially when they were critical to his comfort of life for so long.
    However, Connor definitely isn’t the only one to notice how the elevator is starting to slow down to their floor. Mr. Kamski puts his gloves back on and stands up straighter again from where he was leaning on the handles to the cart holding one of the large, fluid-filled, canister-type thing. Connor isn’t exactly sure what the containers are called, or what they’re actually made of. Mr. Kamski interrupts his thoughts.
    “Well, normally newcomers aren’t allowed in the lab, but if one of you guys happen to run into me and we’ve both got the time and interest to look at some kaiju organs and muscles, I wouldn’t have a problem showing you around.” His eyes suddenly have a curious, almost pompous glint to them, and his smile shifts minutely with them (though, Connor doubts anyone else notices this besides maybe Ritch. Stupid habits). “It’s always... nice, to find others who are interested in the kind of work I do,” he tilts his head ever-so-slightly, “So don’t be afraid to stop by.”
    “I’ll definitely consider it, Mr. Kamski. Thank you.” Connor, ever the people pleaser, tells the man as the elevator doors open.
    Most of the group politely waves goodbye to Mr. Kamski as they collectively step into the reinforced hall. They’re wide enough to comfortably fit vehicles through and the ceilings are high with pipes running up and down along them. Everywhere he looks is covered in sturdy metal, obviously reinforced and prepared in case a kaiju gets too close.
    They round a corner, and Connor realizes that Chloe has been talking. Yet here he is, still not really listening because he’s internally freaking out and having a painfully silent fanboy moment. Someone wheeling a large cart passes by and Connor can’t stop himself from briefly studying the foreign materials on it with a sense of awe.
    Connor has been waiting for this moment since he was a child. He’s looked up pictures that were leaked on the internet, he studied the backgrounds of the very few interviews held here at the base, he’s watched every documentary he could find on jaegers and their pilots. For a while, it was the only thing that kept him going, just the sheer strength and size of these machines that are so huge and powerful that one person alone can’t control it without risking mental overload and death. He thought he wouldn’t be as shocked as the others since he’s exposed himself to these battle machines as often as he could growing up, but it seems it’s very much the opposite in reality. He’s grown an appreciation for everything here that the others don’t have yet.
    He still isn’t listening to Chloe as she explains what this area is and little facts about the jaegers that he probably already knows. He can already see Crimson Typhoon, piloted by Ms. Chen, her newer partner, and whoever else is available and compatible with them, normally the testy Mr. Reed– if he remembers that brief interview correctly– and it uses a triple arm technique. Apparently it was extremely difficult to get it working and safe enough for pilots to use. To his knowledge, there’s no other jaeger that uses more than two pilots anymore because of it. The next one over is Cherno Alpha. It’s the last mark one jaeger still standing, and is currently the oldest and heaviest jaeger this base has, but its pilots, Mr. Miller and Mr. Wilson, can still pick one hell of a fight in it.
    The group starts turning to go down another hallway and Connor follows automatically, shamelessly looking at the the other jaegers down the enormous warehouse. He only recognizes one more of them, Striker Eureka, the only mark five jaeger in existence. All he knows is that it was decommissioned a day before its official release, but despite how much he searched for why it was shut down, he remains clueless to all else. They did a fantastic job keeping mark five quiet, so it makes sense that its shut down would be sealed up even tighter.
    He can’t wait to see what new technology and designs the architects and construction teams have put together for the possible future pilots. Their teams should be getting mark six and seven jaegers, which seems almost surreal to Connor, that he’s actually here and they’re going to get new and improved jaegers. He wonders if the other jaegers he can see on the other end of the enormous room are the ones they’ll be able to use if they pass training. He sure hopes so; they look fantastic.
    The group slows down and he realizes that he wasn’t listening to Chloe again when she calls his name. He cringes minutely, shameful that he still couldn’t force his mind away from the giant machines, then morphs his face into something he knows is almost unreadable and faces the blonde guide.
    “Yes ma’am?”
    “You’re really that interested in the jaegers?”
    Connor looks away as he answers more timidly, “Yes ma’am. Have been since I was a kid.”
    She pauses at that, putting in another code to another door.
    “Then you’d be able to repeat the guidelines of this particular room? If you’re familiar with all of this already,” she gestures to the vast area around them.
    As a matter of fact, Connor feels like he probably could.
    “May I try?” She waves him on silently, almost sarcastically it seems. “Watch where you’re going at all times, because there are a lot of people and heavy equipment moving about. Don’t meander or wander idly because people have jobs to do and are trying to get places. Don’t bother the pilots unless absolutely necessary because that’s just common courtesy, same goes for workers of any kind. Clear out quickly if a jaeger is being moved to deploy. That’s all I can think of, ma’am.”
    She nods thoughtfully, “If you were listening, you would have also known to just call me Chloe. Ma’am and Miss makes me feel old.”
    Oh. She doesn’t seem entirely mad.
    “Yes, M– er– Chloe”
    She chuckles as she walks through the now open door, and others snicker along. It’s only his first day here and he’s already made a fool of himself. Training is not going to go at all like how he was expecting and hoping. Ritch must see how he deflated because he nudges Connor and leans over to whisper in his direction.
    “I’ll be struggling to call her just Chloe for a while myself.” He straightens up. “Good to know I won’t be alone in this particular endeavor.”
    Connor nods, too surprised that Ritch is talking to him again to verbalize anything.
    The group follows Mi– Chloe, just Chloe, down some hallways and around some turns and bends. She talks about the specifics of what the different departments and areas of the base do and why they’re important, things that aren’t common knowledge for normal people, but have been drilled into Ritch’s and Connor’s heads over the past several years. She moves on to explain who’s in charge, the ranking system, and tips on remembering how to get to where they need to be and avoid where they aren’t allowed. It’s rather dull, but Connor easily pays attention now, giving only a small piece of his awareness to his surroundings.
    Sneakily looking to his left, Connor sees that Ritch is much less twitchy than he is. It’s completely expected, seeing as Connor has always had a stronger need to know his surroundings well, and the fact that what’s happening now has been in Connor’s dreams for so long, while Ritch was just along for the ride for a large part of it. Yet, the fact that he shares a dream with the others here doesn’t help Connor feel sane or like a normal part of the group. He’s long since used to being the outcast by now, but he’s hoping that he will get along with some people, since everyone here has a great interest in being a jaeger pilot (what exactly are they doing here if they don’t?).
    They take one last left turn and are met with what looks like a training room. Chloe has all fifteen of them line up in a neat row along the side wall, rather than muddled up against the back of the room. She then asks the people who did not come with a partner to take a step forward.
    Connor moves only his eyes to glance at Ritch, and catches Ritch doing the same. Without any “telepathic communication”, as Amanda and any others who knew them called it, Ritch takes a confident step forward, and Connor quickly follows. It dully hurts Connor for some reason that Ritch didn’t even seem to think before taking a step, but it’s not like Connor was enthusiastic to try to work with him. It just feels like there’s really no chance in mending their damaged bonds now.
    Connor can feel the confused gazes on his back, and he understands why. It’s obvious they came as a pair, if the fact they haven’t tried to socialize with the others as much as sticking to each other didn’t give it away already– even if it was just because they were both uncomfortable around strangers– then it’s their matching faces and builds. The only way to tell the difference between him and Ritch is their slight, unnatural height difference and the fact Connor prefers to wear grey and darker colors, since it’s harder to get messy and he believes it compliments his figure, while Ritch prefers white and lighter colors because he claims it looks better on him with his light eyes. It, admittedly, does look sophisticated on him in a way that Connor could never quite pull off with his dark eyes.
    Connor is pulled out of his head once again (how many times am I going to zone out today?) by the sounds of footsteps entering the room. The Marshal Jeffrey Fowler himself is walking into the room with an assistant of some kind. She’s holding a clipboard and plenty of relatively thin files. Connor wouldn’t be surprised if those folders held every single thing known about everyone around him. He doesn’t exactly want to know what his says, since all of the information on him and Ritch in there would’ve been given by Amanda or taken through spying.
    Marshal Fowler isn’t quite how Connor imagined him to be, which is to be expected for any type of celebrity really– if he ever counted as a celebrity at all, that is. While Connor remembers him being kind and open and definitely with less of a scowl on his face, Marshal Fowler seems to be sharp edges and angles and Connor can already tell that he won’t hesitate to put people in their places immediately, no matter how new they are or what age the person is. Connor isn’t exactly sure how he feels about this, but he’ll try his best to not step on his toes and avoid being a complete suck-up by accident, Both of those things happen more often than one would think.
    The Marshal stops in front of the two rows of trainees and seems to scrutinize each person and pair. He suddenly clears his throat loudly, as if gathering attention back to himself even though no one was distracted in the first place. Connor doesn’t know why anyone would become distracted right now in the first place, but some people are just plain old idiots.
    “Alright. Let’s get this done and over with. Miss Arlen?”
    The assistant takes a step forward upon hearing her name. Her dark hair is tied back in a neat, short ponytail and her lovely dress compliments her dark skin and figure well. She looks like a respectable, well-put-together woman, someone Connor could probably trust to send a message to Marshal Fowler in the event of an emergency or something of the like.
    “I’m going to call out your names so that if you prefer to go by a separate name, you can tell me now and I can write it down in your file for future reference,” she starts with a smooth voice, “Let’s start with the pairs then, shall we? Markus and Simon Manfred?”
    The two guys who were talking to Mr. Kamski earlier in the elevator call out.
    “Present!” “Here.”
    “Lily and Maveric Hallowitt?” Those two are obviously siblings with how similar their blonde hair and blue eyes are.
    “Here!” “Here.”
    “Joshua Manfred and North Adams?”
    “Present.” North says as the other informs Ms. Arlen that he prefers to be called Josh.
    Ms. Arlen nods an “alright” and writes something down in one of the files quickly, then takes a breath to call out the next group. However, Marshal Fowler interrupts her from doing so with a inquisitive hum.
    “We have a lot of Manfreds in this room. You all siblings?”
    “Not quite, sir,” Josh answers respectfully.
    Markus continues, “Josh is my brother, but Simon is my husband, sir.”
    The marshal nods and makes a noise of interest at that. “How long have you two been together?”
    Simon answers, “We’ve known each other since we were both children, but we married a few months ago.”
    “Well, congratulations. Hope this is the kind of honeymoon you wanted.” His face becomes stone-like again. “Who’s our next group?”
    “Connor and Ritchie Stern?”
    “Present, but I’d like to be called ‘Ritch’ please,” Ms. Arlen nods and scribbles in his file, and Ritch continues, “And I mean no disrespect respect when I say this, but we do not want to pilot as a pair, despite what our stepmother had made us sign up for, sir and ma’am.”
    Marshal Fowler properly glowers at them now. “Why did you let someone other than you make these decisions? Huh? ‘Cause I have a feeling you’re just in a little spat right now and are making rash decisions.”
    “Sir, he’s telling the truth,” Connor pleads timidly, “We had no intention to work as a pair from the start, but we were… forcefully instructed to sign up as a pair by our guardian.”
    “So you lied on the paperwork?”
    This is going bad, we need to just give up and try again at a later date. A much later date.
    “Not exactly, sir. We are just uncomfortable–”
    “Then you two can stay put just the way you are until further notice or else there will be consequences. Got it?”
    Connor drops his head immediately, but Ritch remains tall and proud.
   “Yes sir.” the twins echo at the same time in different tones.
    “Good. Miss Arlen, continue.”
    “Yes sir.”
    She goes on to call out the last pair, Kelly Wright and Leon Arsonilla. Then the singles are called out one by one. Traci Powell, Alex Mace, Melanie Goodwin, Jeremy Bukket, and Rico Salomon. She scribbles anything that needs to be written down on her notepad and in the appropriate file, then nods and takes a step back. Marshal Fowler takes this as his cue to step back into front and center to address the group.
    “As you may or may not already know, this training is extremely hard, and not many people graduate. Most drop out because this was tougher to get through than they thought, and some were required to stop because their bodies and minds couldn’t handle the pressure that’s going to be on you starting tomorrow. Take this as your warning now. If some of you are iffy now–” he pointedly looks in the twins’ direction “–then passing training will be impossible for you.”
    He turns his gaze to the class as a whole and starts slowly pacing again, “Most, if not all of you will not make it through training for one reason or another, so know that I have no real expectations for you lot. Do what you’re gonna do. Leave if you’re gonna leave. I don’t want to have to waste my time and resources on someone who knows they can’t stay to the end.” He stops front and center again, hands behind his back and looking almost bored. “Chloe is going to show you to your bunkers. You all have assigned rooms, pairs will share a room, singles will have a half-room or will be instructed to share temporarily. Dismissed.” He turns and starts walking out of the room.
    Before the marshal even reaches the door, Chloe is herding and leading the group of young adults out. She shows them how to get to their hallway, telling them when the different training sessions, meals, and free time will start for the next few weeks so they aren’t late. As they turn into the hallway where all of the pilots stay, Chloe hands each person a small, folded paper with their names on the outside. Connor opens his up to find his room number and a four digit passcode. Once she finishes handing all of the slips of paper out, she wishes the group good luck then leaves them behind.
    Everyone except Connor begins their hunt for their bunkers. The twin instead takes his time to finally get a good look at the place, now that he isn’t being rushed somewhere like a cattle in a traveling herd. The hallway here looks exactly the same as the first hallway they entered, only less busy and noisy. Connor starts stepping backwards towards where the others headed off to and notices that his boots don’t clang against the ground like he expected. He turns around to properly follow after the group, who are long gone now, and finds Ritch waiting for him with his arms impatiently crossed.
    “Almost done staring at the pipes?” He lifts his eyebrow grumpily.
    Connor lowers his head. “Yes. Sorry.”
    Ritch lets out a harsh “hmph” with a slight scowl and spins around and starts walking without waiting for Connor. The latter hurries after his brother, not so much worried about losing him, but worried that if he doesn’t stick near him he’ll get distracted and lose his sense of time again.
    They quickly and easily find their room. Connor puts in the pin, then Ritch opens the heavy, metal door. The space inside is kind of cramped. There’s more room in here than Connor expected, but it’s still small. Against the wall to the left are bunk beds, and against the wall directly in front of the duo is a desk and plenty of empty wall shelves for whatever they’ll need or want to store or display. They step inside and Connor notices a small bathroom to the right and locker-like closets against the same wall as the door. The center of the room has just enough open space to maybe fit a chair or two and still have room to shuffle around it, but Connor can’t see himself or Ritch wanting more than just the one desk chair in here, so it’s not a concern.
    Ritch wastes no time in unpacking his things into one of the locker-closets. Connor follows his lead and starts putting their bathroom supplies away. By the time an hour has passed, Connor is standing on the chair in his comfy clothes to position his old kaiju and jaeger figurines on the very top shelf, and Ritch is laying down on the bottom bunk (“Good luck getting up there when you’re exhausted beyond belief,” he said when Connor claimed the top bunk) with a book open on his chest. All of their books are on the second to top shelf, leaving the bottom two completely open and clean for whatever they’re going to need to store in the near future.
    Connor finishes messing with his figurines and hops down from the chair, pushing it in behind him as he makes his way to bed. He’s in the process of climbing up onto it (a slightly complicated task only because the bed is a bit smaller than a twin and has no obvious ladder) when someone knocks on the door. Ritch lowers his historical fiction book and looks at the door curiously, but makes no move to actually get up and answer it.
    “Fine then, guess I’ll get it.” Connor indignantly grumbles, hopping back down to the ground.
    “You’re the one who’s already up.” Ritch responds in a bored tone.
    With an angry sigh, Connor skips looking through the peeper hole and opens the door. Markus, Simon, Josh, and North are all standing with polite smiles and relaxed postures. Connor gives a smile back, suddenly aware that he still had a scowl on his face.
    “Hey guys, what brings you here?”
    “Hi Connor,” Markus greets pleasantly, “We were wondering if you would like to join us to the cafeteria?”
    “Dinner isn’t starting for another thirty minutes. What do you guys plan to do?” Ritch is suddenly standing right behind Connor.
    “Ritch.” Connor hisses.
    This is the first time he’s been asked to do something with the others. Yes, they were annoying the shit out of him earlier, but they aren’t bad people. Just very… lively, friendly. Connor doesn’t want to lose this chance on not being the outcast for once in his life. Stupid Connor and his stupid, puppy-like eagerness to please people and and to be liked.
    “I’m just saying, Connor. Besides, weren’t you complaining–”
    “Sure guys! I’ll come along!” Connor interrupts Ritch before he can finish that sentence. It earns him a glare from Ritch. “Just let me get some real clothes and shoes on! I’ll be just a moment.”
    He rushes to shut the door, afraid that Ritch will let something else spill that could ruin his chances of getting along with the others. He hastily pulls off his clothes, then a t-shirt on before Ritch says anything from where he’s standing by the door, very annoyed.
    “You’ve been annoyed with them all day.”
    “That doesn’t mean they’re bad people.”
    “You just want everyone to like you.”
    “Is there a problem with that?” Connor pauses in putting his second sock on.
    “There can be.”
    Connor groans and puts the sock on, then starts putting his left boot on.
    “Don’t give me that, Connor. We both know how you are with new people. You let yourself be used and don’t know when to draw the lines! Then you wonder why people use and get tired of you!”
    Connor starts strapping his belt on with practiced precision, “I don’t see how that’s your any of your concern, Ritch.”
    “Legally, we are partners.” Connor reaches for the door, but Ritch grabs his wrist. “You make a fool of yourself, you make a fool out of both of us. Amanda isn’t here to fix things this time, and she certainly can’t get us back in here if we get ourselves kicked out because you mentioned the wrong thing.” He lets go and steps back. “This is your dream career, Connor, remember that.” He turns and plops himself on the bed, the rustle of papers giving away that he’s gone back to reading.
    “Sorry for the wait, guys,” Connor smiles and pulls the door shut. “Ritch just had some… concerns. But everything’s okay now. By the way, what are we doing until dinner?”
    “We’re just going to stroll around, get used to the place.” Josh smiles politely.
    “Ah.” he nods
    “Do you wear anything other than that uniform?” North points to his outfit.
    “Uh...”
    Connor freezes and looks down at himself, with his dark grey t-shirt tucked into his lighter-grey cargo pants, his pants tucked into his black boots and held up by a black belt. It’s the same outfit he’s been wearing pretty much every day for the past decade, now. He looks back up at the others and notices their t-shirts with patterns, designs, and colors and jeans with simple tennis shoes. Hell, North is wearing leggings and sandals. Connor doesn’t think he’s ever worn sandals before in his life. They ruin posture, foot structure, and knee and hip joints if worn too often, and provide no coverage for people’s feet, so he hasn’t ever thought about wearing them. Yet, here he is, thinking about how it’s probably kind of strange that he hasn’t now that he really can’t wear them anymore.
    “North–” Josh starts to reprimand, but Connor doesn’t let him finish.
    “I guess not. I haven’t really thought about it until now I guess, but I haven’t really worn other types of clothing for the past several years.” Connor notes the genuine, innocent curiosity in his voice that he didn’t mean to let slip. He meant it to sound more sarcastic so they wouldn’t worry, dang it.
    He guesses North notices too because she sounds sincere when she asks her next question once they’ve started walking.
    “Several years? You’ve just been wearing boots and cargo pants everywhere for years?”
    Connor turns his head to North, “Yes, unless there was a social gathering we– Ritch and I, I mean– were required to attend.” He faces forward again, “In those cases we usually wore suits.”
    Out of the corner of his eye, Connor can see Markus lean forward to try to make eye contact with him, so he turns his head again. How do people handle talking to large groups like this? What if someone doesn’t get to speak because the others are too busy chatting away? His thoughts get back on track and in the present as Markus speaks.
    “Were these ‘social gatherings’ a normal occurrence for you growing up?”
    “Kind of?”
    “Kind of?” Simon repeats as a question of “what do you mean?”
    “Well, Amanda would have parties and gatherings often enough, but we usually weren’t allowed to attend since there was wine and other alcohol involved, so on those nights we stayed outside and trained in the dark.”
    “Training before you were legally allowed to have alcohol? Exactly how old are you?” Josh inquires.
    “We’ll be turning 23 in a couple of weeks.” 
    North’s eyes widen, “Woah, what the hell? You’re so young!”
    “Am I? How old are all of you?” Connor doesn’t know how successful he was in covering his slowly-growing anxiety at being the odd one out before getting a chance to fit in.
    Markus answers, “I’m 28, Simon’s 27, Josh and North are both 26.”
    “I’m turning 27 in two and a half months!” Josh proudly declares.
    Connor desperately wants to ask if that’s the average age for trainees to be, but is, quite frankly, afraid of what the answer will be. Therefore, he states an observation instead so there isn’t a noticeable gap while he tries to think something else up.
    “You guys are very close in age.”
    “Yea,” Simon nods, “I was in the same elementary class as Markus, and Josh was in the same class as North, and Markus and Josh are brothers so we all met up.”
    “Best friends ever since.” Markus smiles.
    “How long have you been training for, then?” North jumps into the conversation expectantly.
    Connor doesn’t really want to think about this, let alone talk about it with strangers who have been annoying him all week. It’s not their fault, and they’re really nice people, Connor just isn’t used to being around so many others for such an extended time. The fact that he hasn’t had any proper down time isn’t exactly helping his social aptitude, either. Maybe he should have listened to Ritch earlier, but he just wants things to be different this time.
   “Uh, well... How long have you guys been training?”
   “For about a year.” Markus answers easily.
    Oh.
    Something must show on his face because Simon asks how long he’s been training again, except this time he asks it in a way that seems more sympathetic and concerned. His tone catches Connor completely off guard. He doesn’t know what to do when people start treating him like more than some kind of dog or machine that’s eager to please, despite that being exactly what he wants. Those kinds of moments were few and far between before he got here. Now, it’s only been a week that he’s seen these strangers, and he hasn’t even talked with them properly before now, but they already seem to regard him as one of their acquaintances.
    And this exact moment is what Ritch meant when he told Connor to watch himself, isn’t it?
    Well, now Connor can’t exactly dodge the question any further, can he? Since Simon seems so genuinely interested. That, and there’s been a few, solid seconds of silence since the question was asked. He’d seem like an extreme freak to not answer such a simple question.
    “Uh–”
    Were all of those years of training and forcing ourselves on really for nothing? Was that Amanda’s deranged way of entertainment all this time? What if they’re the ones that are being too lax and won’t make it through because of that? But if we were meant to do heavy training before now, why would we have these months of official “training” on top of that? Did Ritch and I really have to push ourselves so hard? What if–
    “Connor?” Markus’ voice interrupts his anxiety.
    Stop it Connor! You’re starting to look like a freak! Don’t you want friends?
    “I think it’s been just over ten years now?”
    “Ten years?!” all four of them blurt out with varying levels of concern and bewilderment.
    Just stop talking Connor, you stupid fucking idiot! You need to give normal responses! Normal!
    “Yeah, it might’ve been a bit overkill, now that I think about it. But there’s no changing the past, right?” Connor sounds so awkward, but he doesn’t know how to make it stop. “Guess that’s just life.”
    “You were twelve when you started training?”
    “Uh– No. I– We were closer to ten? But I’m– We’re not bothered by it–”
    “Did you even get a childhood? Or was that spent–”
    “North.” Josh swats her arm.
    “What?”
    “I’m sorry about her,” Markus apologizes, “She can be a bit abrasive sometimes.”
    Connor wrings his hands together, “That’s alright. Isn’t everyone at times?”
    He definitely should have listened to Ritch back in their bunker.
    “I mean, I guess, but not as often as North.”
    “Hey!”
    Their playful bickering continues as they wander the halls, and they must pick up on Connor’s discomfort from before because they don’t ask any questions about him or his past anymore. There are times where he feels like he is intruding on their time together, kind of like the fifth wheel, but that’s how it always is when a group of friends try to accept a new member, right? That, and Connor also isn’t super into being a part of large groups anyway (anything larger than three people is a large group for him, though, so...).
    “Hey there, trainees!” a woman with tan skin and black hair calls out– jaeger pilot Tina Chen, “You’re heading to the cafeteria, yea?”
    “Yes ma’am.” Simon answers respectfully.
    “Just Tina will do. I’m on my way there myself. I can show you which tables have been claimed by who when we get there,” she smiles nicely, “C’mon. Let’s go get some grub!”
    They make it to the food court area, and Tina shows them which tables they should be welcome to sit at, and which ones they should avoid at least for now. There’s two tables she points out– the one closest to the door that’s completely empty and a partially full one towards the back of the room– that she says are completely off limits until further notice. When Markus asks why, she explains that she and her little group sit there, and two people in her friend group are known for being very easily agitated, so it’d be better for them to just stay away. She then goes on to say that the table by the door is just one that no one wants to sit at.
    Connor’s aware that there’s a warning in the way she says it, but he elects to ignore it. That specific table sounds like the perfect place to take a well-needed break from people and their accidentally invasive questions. He can just get up and leave when whoever sits there normally arrives.
    So Connor gets his food, and silently thanks whatever higher power there may or may not be when the group of four move to sit at a table in the center of the room without asking Connor where he’s going or if he wants to join them. He sits down on the farthest end of the barren table, noticing how clean it looks compared to the other tables. Connor idly wonders if it’s cursed or something. Even if it was, Connor would still sit here, considering he’s pretty sure he’s already been cursed to some degree–
    “Who the fuck are you?”
    Connor whips his head to the source of the gruff voice and is met with the Hank Anderson. Sure, his hair is grey and shoulder length rather than the neatly trimmed blonde it was before, and he’s definitely gained quite a few pounds, but there’s no mistaking that this is the person who inspired Connor to become a jaeger pilot those years ago. Which means this is the same Hank Anderson that retired due to unknown reasons. Why would he still be here if he isn’t a pilot anymore?
    “My name is Connor and I’m a new trainee–”
    “Yea yea, whatever, I don’t actually care. What I do care about is why the fuck you’re hanging around my table. You don’t look like you need anythin’.” The older man crosses his arms angrily, the smell of alcohol wafts from him, and Connor can just tell it’s not the expensive, celebratory kind that Amanda was known for providing.
    Connor doesn’t know what happened to make him slip like this during the past several years– because he’s pretty damn sure that the Hank Anderson from ten years ago was not this bitter and vulgar– but he has a pressing feeling that it’s probably the same reason he decided to retire from being a pilot. And while Connor wants to know what happened, he also has personal experience with people asking well-meaning but invasive and mildly to majorly triggering questions. Therefore, Connor doesn’t mention recognizing him, and makes a mental note to never ask him personal questions and such.
    Connor lowers his head just a bit, but doesn’t break eye contact with Mr. Anderson. It’s the perfect picture of being genuinely guilty and apologetic, according to Amanda’s and Ritch’s reactions to this posture. Anything to let him know that Connor really didn’t mean to intrude on his valuable personal time.
    “I wanted a break from all of the people and was told that this table was always empty and off limits.” Connor shifts, already grabbing his tray to move and eat in the hallway or against the wall or something. He’d prefer that embarrassment over having to deal with anyone else today.
    Mr. Anderson sighs heavily, then throws up his arms as a sign of “fuck it”. “Fuckin’ hell. Can’t deny a man some fuckin’ peace and quiet now can I?” He harshly points at Connor as he continues, “Just don’t think you can start botherin’ me or some shit just ‘cause I let you sit here today, got it newbie?”
    “Yes sir.”
    “And knock it off with the ‘sir’ already. I ain’t your boss.”
    Before Connor can even reply, the very-likely-drunk man stumbles off to the line for food. Connor catches some strangers’ eye from the table behind him and quickly turns to sit properly on the bench. Unlike before, Connor keeps his head and eyes down and doesn’t look up from his plate, despite the stares he can feel dragging along his back. This was the exact opposite of what he wanted by sitting at this table. He didn’t know what he expected, though– actually, he did.
    He expected that because people appeared to be completely ignoring the table itself, he was hoping he would be ignored along with it, but that is absolutely not the case. It’s only his first day here and yet he’s gotten himself on bad terms with the marshal, made multiple people think he’s some kind of pity-fest freak, and probably already managed to get himself a reputation of sitting at Hank Anderson’s table even though it’s very clear that no one is welcome. He’s probably going to be labeled as the “problem child” (or would it be “problem man”?) by the end of tomorrow if he hasn’t already, and anything he does is automatically applied to Ritch as well, considering they have the same face.
    Ritch is going to be pissed.
    “Would you stop with the fork thing, kid?” Mr Anderson’s voice snaps, “Fuck’s sake.”
    “I’m sorry.” Connor responds automatically upon hearing Mr. Anderson’s irritation. He isn’t even sure when he returned or how long he’s been sitting there.
    Connor has learned over the years that it’s always best to apologize first. It makes people easier to talk to and negotiate with. That, and rarely ever just say “sorry”, as that can too easily be mistaken for sarcasm or insincerity, but also don’t use the phrase “I’m sorry” too often, or people will come to believe that he’s rarely meant it genuinely. “I’m sorry”, “I apologize”, “My bad”, and “Forgive me” are the basic ones– the equivalent of the root of a word, one could say– and if it’s anything more serious, Connor uses “I sincerely apologise”, “I’m very sorry”, “I am so very sorry”, “Please forgive me”, “It’s my fault”, or a combination or repetition of any of these phrases.
    Stupid Connor and his stupid habits. Except this is one of the few habits he wouldn’t call stupid, since this one generally helps fix something or lessens the blow after he really was an idiot.
    Connor suddenly realizes that he hasn’t touched his food since Mr. Anderson confronted him earlier. Connor takes one more bite, but doesn’t try to force any more down. Amanda isn’t around and neither is Ritch (not that he’d really do anything, hopefully), so surely he can leave food on his plate, right?
    Wrong. He needs the calories if he’s going to continue working and training hard. He really doesn’t want to pass out mid-fight again; it never ends well for one reason or another when he does. Therefore, with a cringe, Connor forces himself to take another bite and chews slowly, as if the food will simply disappear in his mouth if he chews it long enough.
    “What the fuck’s got you in a twist?” the familiar gruff voice asks from the other end of the table. Connor notes that he sounds somewhat annoyed, if not a tad curious.
    Connor can fix that, probably, since he is the reason for his irritation. He straightens his posture and gets ready to get up and leave, despite there still being food on his plate. He ignores the rush of bad feelings he gets for not finishing.
    “Nothing that should bother me, if I’m to be a jaeger pilot.” Connor makes to get up and bid the older man farewell when said man speaks up suddenly.
    “What do you mean, ‘nothing that should bother you’? Are pilots not people?”
     A quick glance over at him shows that Hank has his eyebrows furrowed and his arms crossed in a defensive manner. Why does everything Connor does to try to placate people here always backfire? Is something wrong with him? Well, more wrong than he already knows, anyway?
    “I meant no offense or harm by that. It’s just been a long week for me even though it would be tame for a real pilot.” Hank opens his mouth to say something, but Connor cuts him off, “Ah– I’ve talked too much again. I’ll go ahead and get out of your hair. I apologize.”
    Connor gets up from the bench then promptly throws his tray out before his mind can force him to stay and somehow finish it. Connor takes a quick glance around the cafeteria area, noting with something weighing his chest down that everyone else in the room is in comfortable clothes or official uniforms except for Ritch, but he doesn’t seem too bothered with that fact with how he’s seems to be getting along with Simon and the others. He spins around to head out of the crowded area and go back to his room to reset after today and sleep. As he passes Mr. Anderson, who’s been staring at him like he’s trying to solve a difficult puzzle, Connor decides he might as well properly say goodbye, so he doesn’t come off as just plain rude by walking past Mr. Anderson as if he doesn’t exist.
    “Thank you for putting up with me today, Mr. Anderson, I hope your evening gets better.” after I ruined your peaceful dinner, Connor finishes in his head.
    Connor doesn’t see how Mr. Anderson tenses up upon hearing his name, because he never told Connor his name and he hasn’t met anyone who has recognized him in years because he’s fallen so far down. Connor doesn’t see because he's already hastily making his way back to his bunker, where he can’t possibly screw anything else up unless he’s still awake when Ritch gets back to their room. That doesn’t happen, however, because as soon as Connor gets inside, changes into sleeping clothes (because he was always told “pajamas” were for children), and gets himself tucked into his tiny bed, he’s out like a light.
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Masterlist <~> Next
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A/N: I hope you didn’t hate this chapter! This chapter is in Connor’s POV, I know, and I promise Reed900 will come soon, just not for a couple of chapters, ya dig? Gotta raise the anticipation (I hope)! Next chapter will likely be a mixture of Ritch’s POV and Hank’s. Maybe a bit of Connor too? I haven’t decided yet. Anyway, Ima go and stop procrastination housework Lol. Thank you anyone for reading!! Ciao! <33
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twitchesandstitches · 6 years ago
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Power Mods - Responses To ‘Em
The MILF Fleet and the Cobalts have a lot of interest in people studying them because of their ability to make powers and plenty of people trade with them, and are desperate to get even relatively weak and niche powers. Even a minor power can be a huge gamechanger! And they might also hope to glean the mystery of how to make those powers for themselves. The two groups handle this differently:
The MILF Fleet strictly regulates the selling of power ups. As they don’t lose access to that power if they give one away (as the essence of those powers is stored in their stockpile, and are magically crafted into consumable forms, such as physical cybernetics, food and drink, or arcane surgical procedures), they don’t have anything to lose. But they dread the idea of letting loose weapons-grade powers and putting them in the hands of warlords and unleashing hell upon those who would use their great power to bully other. They have no desire to become arms dealers and generally sell only quality of life powers that improve physical condition, have very specific and niche aspects (such as producing universal fuel or having a bouncy, rubbery body), or have relatively low potential for inflicting harm.
That’s not to say they won’t trade weapon-grade powers at all. They just would prefer not to have to. From time to time, they may partake in deals that require trading powers on that level and they hate having to do so, but they’re pragmatic enough to recognize the need. But they generally keep the strongest stuff away from the market, and those who purchase their powers must often be placed through several tests to prove their character and make sure they are worthy to handle the destructive potential. (Often this appears to be a date with a MILF who gives them the power, either impregnated with it and passing it onto them with a kiss, or giving them a power in a consumable form.) They are more lenient when it comes to dealing with people who are fighting impersonal, grave threats, such as kaiju, magical monsters, and demonic incursions.
The MILFs are quite willing, however, to sell powers that have much less destructive potential. Often these are the sillier and more niche types of powers, such as a transformation into small and harmless animals, having a gooey body that can bounce like a superball, splitting apart into a bunch of mobile wheels, the power to make hair grow and control it, and so on. It doesn’t matter that these could have combat applications, since they’re not restricting that. It’s just that they refuse to actively sell powers that are explicitly designed to hurt people.
The Cobalts have fewer compunctions. They are willing to sell any power, to anyone that can meet their exorbitant prices… with a few provisos. Firstly, they have no desire to accidentally empower enemies and rivals, so their top-quality powers, their most destructive assets and most useful abilities, are kept for themselves. They only sell weaker or less obviously souped up powers. Secondly, as the powers are personally bestowed by Vriska, she DOES lose those powers once she gives them away, so she is reluctant to do so. Over time, they have traded secrets with the MILF Fleet, and the Fleet has taught them how to refine a spark of Vriska’s powers into new ones that won’t cost access to them, so this is no longer that much of a drawback. However the resulting powers tend to be weaker than the original one, requiring much training and experience to truly get strong. The more complex the power and its potential is, the more extreme this gets. And deriving more powers from it only makes it more of a problem.
As a result, the Cobalts can’t just mass produce powers, but take a great deal of time in refining them into finished products. An underclass of the crew will take on powers just to enhance them for selling later on, getting a taste of power before it is ripped away from them, but getting a ton of experience as compensation. This is one reason their powers are so expensive to purchase; it takes a lot of resources to make the same power that the MILFs can craft by the dozens, though the MILFs just make themselves pregnant with it and avoid that whole issue.
The Cobalts freely sell weapons grade powers, ranging from highly destructive substance control (such as weaponizing very common materials, like concrete, air moisture, liquids and fabric), to producing very volatile blasts of acid, flame, or bursts of intense weaponized magical essence. In general these powers are often full suites of abilities all related to each other; fire powers include the ability to create/control fire and transform into a flame being, and hair powers allow one to grow hair to any length and morph it in a wide variety of ways (including density, hardness or even sharpness). They have something of a complexity addiction; even if it would be easier to make less complicated powers, they just won’t do it. It has to be elaborate, fancy and a work of art. The mutations of their powers are also much more subdued, since the Cobalts are all about looking refined.
Otherwise, the Cobalts deal in very wide-ranging suits of powers with broad effects, to the point that it can be very hard to find a fine line beween their powers and their more extreme mods.
Other groups of note:
The Conspiracy: Much of this group is still completely unknown. It is impossible to say for sure if they can manufacture these powers, but given the age and reach of the organization, it’s likely. Their agents almost invariably have extremely powerful, if very narrowly focused abilitie. Interestingly enough, most lingering factions that retain knowledge of superpower modification derive directly from places where they had a lot of influence, including technological wonders that could grant new power. Their powers, when applicable, tend to be fairly restrained and not very showy.
The Ringers: They’re more interested in gaining powers than creating them, constantly trying to get more abilities from the Fleet and they form a sizable part of the Cobalt’s market. They would be eager to steal secrets, and they regard the idea of making their own powers as a big part of thier plan; common consensus is that they would spread superpowers across worlds that would specifically handle it poorly, in order to drive them into destructive wars and make it easier to take over. The powers they use themselves are often boring but practical ones that have no frills, no spectacular moves or unusual tweaks. Superhuamn strength, defensive abilities, force fields and super speed are their preferred options.
Imperial Human Commonwealth: With their very vocal dislike of mutation, they publically regard superpowers as a strict violation of sanctity of the human form. Psionic powers are a major cornerstone of their culture, however, and they discreetly purchase massive quantities of power ups that induce such powers or amplify them. The Cobalts make huge profits from them, while the MILFs are reluctant to do buisiness with them at all. Sometimes the MILFs accept entire worlds or large numbers of civilians in exchange for modest psionic powers, and then they just… disappear. The Commonwealth believes the MILFs devour them, which is true. They don’t know that the MILFs refer to this as rescuing them, and later rebirth them onto their own territories to live freely.
Miscella Inc.: This hyper corp happily deals in every manner of commodity, and they would dearly love to buy and sell superpowers as well. They mainly only sell in very large quantities that the Fleet and Cobalts don’t often have the ability to meet - unless you count fiefdoms and child-worlds that can afford to churn out powers to meet this demand. They don’t use these powers for themselves, generally; they sell them at an absurdly exorbitant cost to others. They would most like to find a way to make their own powers so that can just make huge amounts of money, and, they hope, to chain the minds of anyone who uses those powers so they become subservient to the hyper corp.
Cartel Organizations: They’re not so much concerned with powers despite the wealth it could give them, since that’s not really a market they feel has a lot of long-term value; once you power someone up, they won’t buy another one. Instead, they gather powers to enhance their most trusted agents and leaders, becoming smarter and stronger. Generally they prefer powers with a straightforward edge that look scary; materializing blades from your body, for instance. Some parties suggest the production of power ups that fade in time and require constant re-upping in order to retain their powers, with addictive properties that will mutate the body without regular doses. This is super messed up and naturally was applauded.
Others: In general, assume that while a large enough group can potentially find a way to empower itself or trusted agents, they cannot do it on a large scale. Most metabeings are mutants, one of a kind flukes, or statistical anamolies making the best of a weird situation. Any given group will have a few superpowered beings, but their potential is highly variable and really cannot be pinned down.
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aion-rsa · 4 years ago
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Mortal Kombat Sequel: What Should Happen Next
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IT HAS BEGUN!
Or it will. Mortal Kombat came out and did all right for itself. The reboot has its highs and its lows, but one thing I will say it does a better job at is setting up a sequel. The 1995 original had a decent enough cliffhanger with a kaiju-sized Shao Kahn popping in and everyone ready to just kick his ass, but at the time, there weren’t too many promising places to take the sequel.
The first movie was just so front-loaded that the second didn’t have enough to rope us in. That’s why it’s probably for the best that Johnny Cage is currently being treated purely as a sequel hook. He’s the carrot on the stick meant to keep us interested in keeping this franchise going.
Also there’s still a tournament. As someone who has seen every adaptation of Mortal Kombat (outside of the Live Tour, but once I get this time machine finished…), I can understand why they would want to try something new with the narrative. Treating everything as a big prelude to the sequel, which will actually do the tournament, is a fine enough option. Just as long as they deliver. Oh, and try to make the tournament make sense! Both the original and the Scorpion’s Revenge animated film just make up the rules as they go along. I want some goddamn brackets!
So here are some other things we’d like to see in the Mortal Kombat sequel.
A Johnny Cage Who Can Fight
Obviously. Johnny Cage is Warner Brothers’ chance to get a big name actor in there. Since he was so good in the animated movie, I thought about Joel McHale getting jacked up for the role, but he’d be in his 50s by then. I know WWE’s Miz is also campaigning for the role, but while that would be adorable, I simply want a Johnny Cage who not only has charisma, but can do some kind of martial arts.
Linden Ashby was able to pull it off, but the less our new Hollywood egomaniac has to be carried by editing and his opponents, the better. Really, just go with Scott Adkins.
Noob Saibot and Sub-Zero II
I know Cole Young isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the sequel can completely redeem his existence by using the second Sub-Zero as his rival and counterpart. In the games, the Sub-Zero/Scorpion stuff happened in the present day, so Kuai Liang was Bi-Han’s brother and took up the Sub-Zero mantle in-between the first two entries. He ended up being a more honorable warrior and became one of the series’ main heroes.
Considering the new movie’s version of Bi-Han is—for an unexplained reason—borderline immortal, his successor wouldn’t be his brother but likely his descendant. Weirdly, it would be a descendant that he would have coexisted with, but sure. Therefore you get a new Sub-Zero who is to the original what Cole Young is to Scorpion.
Read more
Movies
Mortal Kombat (2021) vs. Mortal Kombat (1995): Which is Better?
By David Crow
Games
Mortal Kombat: 15 Most Powerful Characters
By Gavin Jasper
Shang Tsung hinted at bringing back some of his dead henchmen, so Bi-Han will likely return as the insidious Noob Saibot. On paper, that’s a tag team match of bloodline vs. bloodline. Except there’s some good drama in there if you have the new Sub-Zero stray from what the original wants him to do.
Kitana and Edenia
Probably one of the stranger choices in Mortal Kombat was to include Mileena as one of the flunkies and kill her off when there hasn’t been a single mention of Kitana. Having Mileena mean nothing is a mistake that both movie continuities have made.
We’re probably another movie away before Shao Kahn becomes a major player in this franchise. He might have as much a role in the sequel as Thanos does in the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Kitana can show up though, both as his assassin and/or his betrayer, giving us a better idea of what he’s all about without actually having him appear.
Also, with Kung Lao gone, Liu Kang is in desperate need of connecting to someone. Giving him a Juliet to his Romeo would be welcome.
Recognizable Backgrounds
The Mortal Kombat series is known for so many cool and unique places for the characters to fight. So it was a little disappointing that the new movie featured such locations as a sand pit, the insides of a crappy house, and a frozen-over locker room. Even the use of the Pit meant nothing as nobody got knocked into the spikes.
Give us the Dead Pool or the Living Forest. Or that one stage with the portals in the background while the shadow priests float around. Anything from Mortal Kombat II. Get some of that rad Outworld real estate.
We’re Going to Need a New Heavy
Throwing Goro in for the sake of having Goro was a ballsy move for the movie, and probably a foolish one. Goro is more than just a brick house of an enemy to go through. He’s the heart and soul of the first Mortal Kombat game and its tournament. He stopped mattering after the fact, but in the storyline of the first game and first movie adaptation, he was the gigantic threat. He was the irresistible force that everyone was too afraid to talk about because he might hear you.
The 2021 movie proceeded to use Goro for the sake of scaring Cole into growing his mutant power shirt before Cole brutally murdered him. Sure, he can come back in the sequel, but what’s the point? He’s lost all of his mystique. He’s no longer the scary giant.
There are options for replacements. They could use Kintaro, although he’d be more of the same. Perhaps Motaro? Eh, centaurs are too cumbersome to work. They might have to bring in someone like Moloch or even Blaze in just to give us the necessary moment of, “Whoa, what the HELL is that?!”
Bring Back Kano
Just… bring him back. If Sub-Zero #1 is obviously returning as Noob Saibot, then there’s no reason why Shang Tsung or the Black Dragon, or Quan Chi, or Shinnok can’t just resurrect Kano and put a metal plate where his wound was. The biggest mistake of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was cheating us out of the best performances from the first movie. So please, Warner Bros., give us some more Josh Lawson.
A resurrected Kano would not only bring back the fantastic comic relief, but he’d be the ultimate wild card. Maybe he can find redemption? Maybe he’ll still be a total bastard and work for the villains. Maybe they could play up fellow Black Dragon member Jarek’s in-game storyline where he’s so freaked out by the threat of Shinnok (or whoever) that he knows that there is no monetary gain he can get out of the situation, and no reason to do anything but save his skin by helping save the world.
Or maybe Shang Tsung morphs into Kano and gets hit on the head so hard that he forgets how to turn back to normal and is stuck spending the rest of the movie as a wise-cracking Australian. I’m spit-balling here.
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dcubang · 5 years ago
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Second Claims Now Open!
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1 Title: Green (may be renamed) Word Count: 9961 Genre: Fandom/Universe: Batman - All Media Types Characters/Pairings: Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Jason Todd - Tim Drake/Jason Todd/Damian Wayne, Tim Drake/Damian Wayne, Tim Drake/Jason Todd, Jason Todd/Damian Wayne, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent (background), Jonathan Kent/Damian Wayne (background) Warnings: Dubcon, non-consensual drug use Rating: Explicit Summary: Jason and Tim agree to coach Damian through trying weed for the first time. All is going well, until they realise they’ve been dealt Ivy-brand weed and inadvertently been dosed with sex pollen. Obviously, a threesome ensues.
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4 Title: The Ghosts of Robins Past Word Count: 9,399 Genre: Action, casefic, drama, canon divergence Fandom/Universe: Batman Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth, Jack Drake, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd. Jason Todd/Dick Grayson Warnings: Kidnapping, mentions of torture Rating: PG-13 Summary: Bruce never planned or wanted to take on a third Robin. Dick seemingly vanished off the face of the earth at fourteen and Jason was murdered at fifteen. Thirteen-year-old Tim Drake came into his life while he grieved for Jason, insisting Bruce needed a Robin to keep him balanced. Against his better judgment, he accepted and began training Tim. Now, at fourteen, Tim’s more than earned the mantle of Robin and his place at Bruce’s side. But did Bruce make a terrible mistake in accepting him? If something should happen to Tim, could he handle another loss? Bruce hopes he won’t have to answer that question. Soon he has a new case on his hands. People are being killed with gold tipped knives with owl symbols on their hilts. Bruce believes the killer is mimicking the Court of Owls to scare Gothamites while Tim believes a Talon is responsible. Dismissing the claim, Bruce continues to fight Gotham’s crime while doing his best to keep Tim safe. Even the best intentions fail. After a wrist injury prompts Bruce to send Tim home early, Bruce is horrified to receive a call from Jack the next morning saying Tim is missing. Try as they might neither man can find Tim. And Tim at last discovers what happens to the long lost Dick Grayson: he was abducted by the Court of Owls and trained to be a Talon along with the resurrected Jason Todd. Now, they have their eyes set on him.
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8 Title: we could put some roots down Word Count: 14378 Genre: Fluff, Romance, Drama Fandom/Universe: DCU (pre-New-52), Nightwing, Deathstroke Characters/Pairings: Slade Wilson/Dick Grayson, Batam Warnings: family drama, Bruce Wayne’s A+ Parenting, mention of Catalina Flores Rating: PG-13/Teen Summary: A set of multiple vignettes that center on Dick and Slade as they interact with the other members of the Batfam as Tim and Bruce come home to act as a catalyst of change. Dick grapples with what Bruce’s return means for his time as Batman while Jason teases that his relationship with Slade might be moving to the next stage. Dick and Tim finally get closure and the ability to clear the air between them while engaging in a bit of brotherly bonding and teasing. As always, Alfred holds all the answers. The story takes place mainly on the grounds of Wayne Manor, in the Bat Cave, or inside the Manor itself. The timeframe of the story takes place over the course of a few weeks to a month.
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9 Title: Scarlet Tears Word Count: 12,857 Genre: Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: The Flash Characters/Pairings: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart Warnings: mpreg Rating: Explicit Summary: Leonard Snart decided to take a break from the Legends, with Mick in tow. They head back to Central City, only to find Team Flash in a bit of trouble…well not the team just Barry. A young Meta causes trouble with her power exactly what is her deal?
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11 Title: When You Move, I Move Word Count: 9150 Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood and the Outlaws Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson/Catalina Flores, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne Warnings: Non-Con/Dub-Con (non-graphic) Rating: R Summary: Despite having been in love with one another since they were children, Crown Prince Richard and Dragon Slayer Jason are faced with the fact that they are bound by duty and law to never marry. King Bruce manages to come up with a plan that would allow the pair to remain close and for Richard to fulfill his duty as the future king. He proposes a marriage of convenience to a woman, Catalina of House Flores, who is on the brink of permanent maidenhood after having been passed over by too many men in the past. And though she was aware that the future king would never love her, Catalina grows bitter and jealous over the love between the two men and the love her and Richard’s son shares with that man. So she calls upon the help of a crone to curse both men to live this life and all future lives close to one another but never allowing them to be together. And though the crone grants the curse she places a contingency: if one of them were to die before their 18th birthday then the curse would be lifted and they would be reunited to share the love they have been denied. When Dick and Jason come into contact with the god Fate in their current life, the pair are made aware of what had been stolen from them decades in the past and shown that because of Jason’s untimely death at the age of 15, the curse has been lifted. And Jason is finally given the answer as to why he was awoken in his grave all those years prior. With the truth laid out before them, the pair must figure out what it means for them in this lifetime and all future ones.
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15 Title: (Better Things to do than) Chasing White Rabbits Word Count: 4k of what will likely be 6k Genre: Romcom and action/adventure Fandom/Universe: DC, Pacific Rim Characters/Pairings: Slade Wilson/Dick Grayson Warnings: violence, swearing, slurs (Gipsy Danger is the canon name of a jaeger), overprotective parent Bruce Wayne, sexual innuendo, secret identities, Slade's canonical bad parenting (but at least he's trying to work on that), accidental relationship, family drama, frenemies to lovers Rating: Explicit just in case, though I don't think sex will happen until the next installment in the series Summary: Rumor has it that Dick Grayson can drift with anyone. Slade Wilson has the opposite problem, and kids. Killing kaiju may be easier than parenting, and that's with Grayson playing mediator when he inevitably messes up. Dick, meanwhile, is tired of Bruce overstepping boundaries, and Slade just offered him a chance to help a villain redeem himself while also rubbing B's nose in the fact that clinging so tightly is more likely to drive all his kids away than make anyone want to stay. Even Nightwing has a rep for cheerful spite. Stacker Pentecost is too tired for this; he's got a daughter pushing to join the program, said program to run, and the Becket brothers are enough of a headache. That said, if an internationally wanted mercenary is truly willing to join the program, he'll welcome Deathstroke. He just doesn't want to lose Grayson in the process, or the Wayne family funding for the program. Jason, meanwhile, wins Best Brother accolades, and not just for donning Nightwing while Dick pilots giant robots.
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18 Title: Coffee Shop Love Word Count: 7,494 Genre: Fluff, Romance, Crossover, Alternate Canon Fandom/Universe: DC Comics/MCU Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Tim Drake/James "Bucky" Barnes, Owens/Pru/Z, Conner, Cassie, Bruce/Diana, Bart, Cassie/Cass, Jason/Roy/Kory Warnings: None Rating: PG-13 Summary: Five years ago, Tim Drake saved Bruce and walked away from his so-called family and with Owens, Z, Pru and Bucky Barnes the Winter Solider and started up a small coffee shop with only Conner, Cass, Bart, Cassie and Alfred knowing where he is. Tim was happy until the day the Bats and the Avengers found him. Dick has never forgiven himself for driving away Tim, he longs to make things right with him, even if they never become anything but brothers but those plans are derailed when it comes clear to him that James "Bucky" Barnes has more than friendly feelings for Tim. Soon it becomes Dick vs. Bucky for Tim's heart. Tim just wishes that they would have asked him first.
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23 Title: With Blood and Rage of Crimson Red Word Count: 6,968 Genre: Angst, Action/Adventure Fandom/Universe: DCU, Batfam, Lantern Corps Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardener, John Stewart, Bleez, Rankorr, no pairings (however, I might include hints of Batlantern (HalxBruce) later) Warnings: Canon-Typical Violence, mentions of past underage attempted rape, mentions of past drug use, mentions of past child abuse Rating: PG-13 Summary: Jason was only 11 when his life was irreversibly changed. Now the newest member of the Red Lantern Corps, he is immediately thrust into a dangerous game where losing could mean death. With practically half the villains in the universe after him and the rest of the Lantern Corps, Jason must watch his step at every corner. To overcome this threat and find a way to save himself and the people he cares for, Jason must first overcome his own inner demons and learn to trust himself and the people around him. This story is set on multiple planets throughout the DC Universe. On Earth, we see Gotham City, the Batcave, and the Watchtower, in space, they travel to Ysmault and other planets that I made up for the purpose fo the fic (so you will have mostly free reign with the design of those planets if you choose to draw scenes involving them). This story involves canon-typical violence throughout. At the start, there are mentions of child abuse, and there is camera footage shown of attempted rape of a minor, but nothing explicit. At the start of the story, Catherine Todd is found by Jason post-OD and that is mentioned a few times throughout the story. The abuse and attempted rape are mentioned a little throughout the story, but not much, as it is not the focus, rather a back story for Jason. Other than that, there is no smut, or even pairings (unless I decide to do the Batlantern, but that will be a minor background pairing). There might be some language, but it is kept to a minimum.
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26 Title: Hearts Beating Side by Side Word Count: 3,600 Genre: Romance, Drama Fandom/Universe: Young Justice Verse Characters/Pairings: Garth - Tempest/Kaldur'ahm/Dick Grayson Warnings: Threesome, misunderstanding, pining, dirty talk Rating: Summary: On the precipice of changes in their lives, Garth and Kaldur find a momentary reunion and the repressed childhood love that they have both harbored for the other is reignited. But the weekend won't be an easy fall into long awaited love. Nightwing has reappeared after months of silence in the guise of his civilian persona, Dickie Wayne-Grayson. And even though he's playing the part of full-time playboy, Garth can see the spark that Dick lights within Kaldur. And it's not a one-sided feeling. A weekend of diplomacy is consumed by Garth and Dick's competing jealousy; each believing Kaldur has eyes for the other. Garth thinks Dick is leading Kaldur on, and Dick thinks Garth has won Kaldur's heart before the weekend even began. They bicker, and banter, until they Bang It Out. When Kaldur catches them, there's guilt, and confessions and polyamorous negotiations.
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30 Title: There Be Dragons Word Count: 6425 words Genre: Urban Fantasy, Dragons Fandom/Universe: Batman Characters/Pairings: JayDick Warnings: Descriptions of burning buildings, violence, some gore Rating: M Summary: In Gotham, there be dragons. A pureblood dragon, Bruce revolved his vigilante persona around his ancestry, to become, Dragonman. Dick’s dragonhood was a direct result of Bruce’s ingenious DNA bonding–a gift he now refuses to use. For a moment in his life, however, he tolerated it, for Jason. Then Jason died. For six months, as far as Dick and Bludhaven was concerned, there were no goddamn dragons. Then one night, fire licked the sky. No matter how fast Dick ran, swung and flew, it was too damn late. A casino was razed to the ground. Human bodies stacked in piles. The shadow of a red dragon’s wings flapped in a distance. There was no question, however impossible, who did it. Dick couldn’t believe it. Dick wouldn’t believe it. This dragon flew around in Dick’s city on a raging warpath, knowing more than he was letting on. Dick intended to find it, and stop it.
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31 Title: When the Winds are Howling Strong Word Count: 3040 Genre: Found family, omegaverse, no capes AU Fandom/Universe: Batfam, Red Hood and the Outlaws Characters/Pairings: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson Warnings: Implied non graphic rape, intersex omegas, severe misogyny against omegas. Dick is a cop but he’s on leave through 90% of the fic Rating: PG-13/Teen. Nothing is graphic, but the topics are heavy Summary: Dick signed up to be a foster alpha, but never expected that he would actually be given an omega. Then Gorden’s men find an gang’s omega in heat and in bad shape. Since most foster alphas are searching for a mate, Dick is given custody over the omega. Jason was pulled off the streets by Joker’s gang when he was fifteen and life’s only gotten worse from there. As a gang omega, Jason served mostly as a form of recreation for the other gang members. After four years in hell, Jason’s given up all hope of escape. He’s got a new alpha who seems decent, but past experience has taught him those are the worst ones. Found family is the core of this fic. Dick helps Jason with his reintroduction into society/introduction to Gotham’s high society and both are forced to confront their internalized prejudices against other castes. It’s set in Gotham and explores both the slums and the glitzier districts. Jason and other male omegas will be depicted as wearing more feminine styles, including dresses and skirts. Key scenes: Dick taking custody of Jason, Dick and Jason growing used to each other, Tim and Damian meeting Jason by accident, Jason dumping out all of Dick’s liquor cabinet, Dick taking Jason shopping, Jason meeting Bruce and Alfred, Dick takes Jason to a gala and they work through a meltdown, Jason shows Dick where he used to live before Penguin and Joker, Dick and Jason fight after finding out everything Jason did in the gangs, Sheila makes an appearance, Jason is induced into an artificial heat, Dick and Bruce find Jason who is already making progress to rescue himself, End by Jason cutting the ribbon to an omega shelter.
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34 Title: Bruce Wayne, the Court of… Word Count: 4035 Genre: AU, humor, fluff, angst Fandom/Universe: Batman comics, Nightwing comics, Red Hood and the Outlaws comics, Batman: Under the Red Hood Characters/Pairings: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne Warnings: rape, death, beating, abuse, violence, spoilers for: Forever Evil arc, Court of Owls arc, recent Nightwing comic arc, recent Batman comic arc, Red Hood and the Outlaws #25, Batman and Red Hood #20 Rating: T/Teen And Up Audiences /PG14+ Summary: Bruce had made many mistakes in his life. The most horrifying and disastrous were the ones involving his family. The way he treated them, deceived, hurt and used finally blew in his face and he had to face the consequences. There was no forgiveness for him now, not from any of them. But maybe there was a way to avoid it all. This story is meant as a fix-it to all the mess the canon turned into. While the story focuses on talking about canonical events there are a lot of headcanon/fanon/tropes put into it as well ie. romantic relationship between adopted brothers. And although the topics discussed are serious matters the fic itself is slightly crackish. The story takes place in Gotham during the Batman: Under the Red Hood events. At first the action is placed all over the city: rooftops, docks, parking lot, train station; for it to narrow down to an abandoned hotel room.
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katieskarlette · 8 years ago
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In defense of Illidan/Maiev
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If you’ve ever wondered why anyone would ship these two, or rejected the idea as ridiculous/gross/stupid/an abomination against nature/the reason aliens don’t visit us/a sign of the apocalypse... this post is for you!
I’m only one fan, I don’t claim to speak for other shippers, and I’m not trying to win any converts, but I wanted to clear up some misconceptions and questions I keep seeing about the Illidan Stormrage/Maiev Shadowsong ship.
TL;DR version:
They are both complex, gray characters with a lot in common.  The appeal of the ship comes from watching two very similar, strong, evenly-matched characters play off each other.  Their banter is snarky and fun, and there are intense emotions connecting them.
It is possible to ship them and keep them in-character.  Maiev is a resilient, no-nonsense character who has proven herself capable of matching Illidan in wits and tenacity.  Her awesomeness is not in any way diminished by being in a relationship.  They are both badasses separately, and they would continue to be just as badass if they were a couple.
Yes, they canonically hate each other.  The “enemies to lovers” trope is as old as time and remains popular for a reason.
It’s not the kind of relationship you want to model IRL, and that’s okay because it’s fiction.  Playing a Death Knight doesn’t mean I’m going to pick up grave robbing as a weekend hobby, either.
It’s totally understandable that the ship isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.  You don’t have to ship it.  Just please don’t be rude to people who do.
[Long version -- with funny pictures -- below!]
Argument #1:  “Shipping Illidan/Maiev trivializes her character, reducing her to arm candy or playing into the horrid trope that a woman who isn’t all sunshine and flowers 'just needs to get laid.'”
That’s not at all how I see their dynamic working.  Maiev has very valid reasons to be a fireball of fury and vengeance.  Her character is not, never has been, and never will be, anything resembling demure or passive.  There’s not a force in the cosmos--demon hunter dick included--that could change who she is at a fundamental level.  And who she is, is badass, self-sufficient, determined, brash, brave, stubborn, hot-headed, unyielding, unforgiving, clever, stoic, deadly, and awesome.
I can understand why people would dislike the idea of Illidan/Maiev if they’re imagining her turning into a lovesick teenager who doodles “Mrs. Maiev Stormrage” in her notebooks.  But that’s not even close to how I imagine the ship working.
Even putting aside the fact that night elves are a matriarchal society, it’s against Maiev’s very nature to stand back and defer to Illidan on anything.  The only reason she would ever voluntarily stand in his shadow would be to launch a sneak attack on him.  In fact, she is the dominant one who sees Illidan as her property. 
She is extremely possessive of him.  She was enraged when Tyrande released him from prison (and, yes, killed a number of her personnel along the way, which admittedly didn’t help her mood any.)  She refused to accept Malfurion’s decision to pardon Illidan and grant him exile instead of imprisonment.  She bristled at the thought of Akama or the players landing the killing blow on him.  She even stashed away his body in a vault for years so she could continue to be in control of him in some way.  Illidan is hers to do with what she sees fit.  His fate is in her hands alone, as far as she is concerned.
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I would even argue that Maiev is the stronger person.  Where Illidan has stumbled and failed time and time again, she has proven herself consistently competent.  It’s not about her “needing a man” or some rubbish like that. It’s about the fact that she’s just about the only one who can see past Illidan’s grandstanding, stand up to him, and call him out for his reckless, morally questionable schemes.  Illidan could use a voice of reason standing by to tell him when he’s getting in over his head.
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Wanting Maiev to pair up with someone as capable and badass as herself is a compliment to her character, yet I often see it framed as “shippers want her to be tamed/domesticated/broken by a man.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.
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[Image sources:  Illidan fanart | Maiev fanart]
If they hooked up absolutely nothing would change except maybe slightly fewer death threats, and more sneaking off to work out some of that tension between the sheets.
Argument #2:  “Maiev is too good and righteous to be associated with a villain like Illidan.”  (Or, “Illidan is way too cool for a 'cr*zy b*tch' like her.”)  “All they have in common is being cooped up in the same prison for ten thousand years.”
There’s a tendency among people who dislike the ship to either gloss over or magnify one character’s flaws to make the other seem incompatible.  
This is nonsense.  They are both deeply flawed, conflicted, gray characters.  They can be bloodthirsty and ruthless, but neither is evil incarnate, either. 
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The point is, they have a lot common.  So much so, in fact, that other characters remark on it in-universe (Malfurion in WCIII and Akama in the recent Illidan novel.)
The way they condemn each other for traits they actually share is delightfully ironic.  Their inability to see flaws in themselves while fixating on the same flaws in each other is what makes their interactions so fascinating.  
They both brag about their noble goals (saving the cosmos from the Legion, dispensing justice) while using morally questionable methods to achieve those ends.  
They both have delved into dark magic (he more than she, obviously, but in a Warcraft III optional mission Maiev did not hesitate to use a dark artifact called the Shadow Orb to help her inside the Tomb of Sargeras.  She also freed the player demon hunters from stasis when things got too hairy early in Legion and she thought they would be useful.)
They both make and break alliances for their own convenience without regard to any promises they might have made to cajole aid from others.  (Kael’thas got burned by both of them, poor guy.)
They have both outright murdered people who disagreed with them.  (In Warcraft III Maiev left Tyrande to either drown or be torn apart by undead.  In the novel Wolfheart, she stalked and murdered numerous night elf mages, and attempted to kill Malfurion, as well.)
Illidan and Maiev both operate under their own codes of morality.  You do not want to stand between them and their goals, because they are more than willing to incur collateral damage along the way.   You’re either for them or you’re against them, and if you’re against them you’re irrelevant at best and a liability at worst.
They both think that only they know what’s best.  Admitting they were wrong about something is not an option.
They also have similarly traumatic backstories.  When the Legion first invaded, they had their whole lives ahead of them.  Illidan was working his way up the ranks as a sorcerer, spurred on by the belief that his golden eyes were a sign of a great destiny.  Maiev was vying for leadership within the Sisterhood of Elune.  Neither came from illustrious backgrounds.  They were both fighting tooth and nail to make something of themselves, and were succeeding quite well until the demons showed up and ruined everything.  The bitterness of thwarted destiny and crushed dreams certainly gives them common ground.
And perhaps the most important thing they have in common:  they are both fixated on either other.  
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[Above:  A coin you can fish up from the fountain in Northrend’s Dalaran.  Dang, Maiev, get a hobby.]
Their mutual obsession is one part Ahab and the Whale, one part Javert and Valjean, one part [insert superhero of your choice and their nemesis], and one part stalking-your-ex trope.  They can’t stop thinking about each other, talking about each other, talking to each other, goading each other, and getting under each other’s skin with practiced ease.  They know exactly what buttons to push to get a rise out of the other.
At the end of the boss fight in the Black Temple, they both admitted how closely linked their lives had become.
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That is a powerful connection, whatever kind of relationship you think they have.
Argument #3.  “They hate each other.  Like, really, really hate each other.  To the point of actual homicide.”
Yes, and?  
“Enemies to lovers” is a popular, long-lasting trope for a reason.  Illidan/Maiev is actually listed as an example in two different places, but it is by far not an isolated case.  For many reasons too complex to address here, this type of narrative resonates with a large number of people.
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Remember, this is fiction.  “I am entertained thinking about these characters in a romantic and/or sexual context” is literally all that is required to ship something.  It doesn’t have to be canon.  People ship characters who never even meet in canon.  At least I/M have a strong emotional connection to start with.
I also don’t see many shippers who seriously believe these two are romantically linked in canon.  (At most, maybe some kinky prison hatesex happened.)  Instead it’s often shipped in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way, and the WTFery is part of the charm.
I should note, however, that there were a couple quotes in the Illidan novel that pinged my shipping radar.  See here and here.
Argument #4:  “Illidan’s still in love with Tyrande,” and/or “It seemed like Maiev was in love with Naisha.”
Because people only fall in love once in their entire lives, right?  And it’s impossible to have feelings for two different people at the same time.  And you have to be deeply in love with someone to have sex with them.
Oh wait.
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Argument #5:  “It’s abusive and unhealthy!”
No shit.  Again, it’s fiction.  I enjoy watching Godzilla movies but that doesn’t mean I want a kaiju to destroy my neighborhood IRL.
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[Above, Maiev and Illidan demonstrate that they are, indeed, fictional characters.]
Argument #6:  “It’s creepy and wrong!”
That’s a perfectly valid opinion.  Thankfully, no one is forcing you to ship it.
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[Above:  Not what is happening.]
It’s fine to dislike a ship.  Heaven knows I have NOTPs of my own.  Personally, I practice the Thumper doctrine (”If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”) when it comes to shipping.  Everyone has different tastes, and as long as the characters are adults and no incest is involved, it’s not my place to tell other people what they can and can’t enjoy.  Fandom is supposed to be fun!
Speaking of which, I had a lot of fun writing and illustrating this post.  I hope it was entertaining, even if your opinions weren’t swayed.
If, after having read all this, you still think I/M is the worst ship ever, that’s totally okay!  Just move along and let us shippers have our fun.  Thanks!
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