#but then i read that he was one of the most op units in the game and decided i was gonna use him in my next run (which ended up being silver

[digitalresorts]

[jul 30, 2021] some low effort ferdinands that weren’t actually low effort when i drew them lol (oh and some ooc ferdibert doodles bc i liked them a lot (ignore huberts eyebrows i was stupid))

[justjwab]

Top 10 posts customer service workers hate reading

very controversial opinion here, but sometimes customer service workers are the problem 😶

[aarcanechaoss]

Theory time with Higuchi!

For anyone who wants a good read and some info on Ichiyo (Natsu) Higuchi this Reddit Post was really interesting

I first want to say I have zero evidence or reasoning behind most of this shit specifically the two abilities I’m pulling out of my ass (I do still love my Flowers at Dusk theory don’t get me wrong and a lot of the Growing Pains / Child’s Play theories are beautiful). Again these are for entertainment only I have no bets on these being real LOL

1. Draining / Absorbing

2. Her word is law

Now before I get into these (1,2) I want to bring up an interesting point seen in the Reddit Post I shared.

Specifically the Mori does not punish Higuchi part- and remembering the episodes in particular he really doesn’t. At most he is disappointed in her failure and asks if “she is suited for this job.”

Now this also made me realise (again the Reddit Post mentioned this too I found after reading further) the Command Unit is in direct line to Mori just after Executives.

Meaning she is high ranked overall in the Mafia not just amongst the Black Lizard.

She is Akutagawa’s equal - role wise in the mafia.

Why?

We know she is an ability user (not what the ability is) so is she simply well connected to Mori or is she a Secret Weapon? Or both.

Somehow she had to make it to Commander level even with the lack of respect she receives (until rescuing Akutagawa but even then they still don’t treat her like a leader).

I propose an option that also has no standing or reasoning.

She’s related to the previous boss.

Someone who didn’t have a choice to have anything but a mafioso lifestyle.

A granddaughter or a great niece etc. but let’s go with grandchild for this post- a favoured one at that- which I will get to.

Yes, this would technically mean she’s been in the mafia the longest compared to many characters (Dazai, Chuuya, Akutagawa etc).

I hear your “Wouldn’t Hirotsu know then?” It’s entirely possible if she is a favoured grandchild the Boss would have only wanted certain people to know about her when she was so young plus it’s not like every grandparent shares a last name with their grandchild (he could be her mother’s father).

It’s also possible if he knew the boss had a grandkid she would have been known as Natsu not Ichiyo at the time (since that is the authors real name).

And we all know I head-cannon that our girl is naturally brunette / raven haired so of course I'm adding in more plot with the name thing. Could be just for fun, maybe it was ordered, maybe it's so the people who did know about Natsu wouldn't point her out (Mori just hiding the nepotism).

In any case if this was how Mori knew her- after digging and of course killing him it’s entirely plausible that he’d 1. Look at it as an opportunity to fuck over the guy even when he’s dead 2. She’s a valuable asset because of it.

By that I mean her family name would hold power eg. she goes by Natsu (boss last name) when Mori needs something that only her family could get him.

Or she’s incredibly powerful and he’d be an idiot to not keep her. Perhaps she hates her power and he keeps that in check- she does what he says and then she doesn’t need to use it / she doesn’t have control - because less control over that means more control over her.

It’s not like she’d be his heir or anything (though that would be a funny fic idea- people trying to fight for the next in line and Mori is just like no I have a replacement it's Higuchi).

Anyway onto my not at all reasonable Ability theories.

1. Draining / Absorbing

This one was originally a "takes abilities" theory- which has absolutely no merit being a theory at all unless for whatever reason Asagiri decides that she and Dazai have been secretly related the whole time.

In the Reddit Post OP theorises that she could paralyse her opponents using her novella Takekurabe (Comparing Heights) with the English titles Growing Up and Child’s Play as the forefront. Though I’ve seen the use of the title Growing Pains instead of Up as well.

Using OP's word's, I don't think Higuchi will have a name-based ability (eg. Beast Beneath the Moonlight or Thou Shalt Not Die) and so for this crack theory I'm also using Growing Pains / Childs Play.

I suggest that she can drain or absorb abilities instead- leaving her opponents with a dull aching because a part of them is practically gone should she drain an ability to its dredges. She could probably kill someone if she wasn’t careful and took too much.

Think Rogue from X-Men.

That would make her a formidable enemy to have and an even better secret weapon.

It would also make her just another tool like Dazai was- instead of halting an ability she practically takes it away (which is plausible if we really dug into it, but this is more she takes the power or energy involved in using the ability).

Where did this idea even come from you ask?

Honestly no clue but I was trying really hard to figure out what possible ability she could have, and I have landed on it must be powerful and this would absolutely be an ability that she would hide until necessary. It would also be a play on the novella titles instead of simply going Child's play= dolls= voodoo doll ability for example (mostly because that's kind of Q's ability) but more a play on how for some people transitioning into adulthood is draining and not as fun as when the world was too big for us.

2. Her word is Law

Okay this is also a stretch just so we are clear BUT I think it's more plausible than draining / absorbing. I don't really know which title I'd give this one because I'm leaning again to a more a non-name-based ability (eg. No Longer Human or Plum Blossom in the Snow) so for the fun of it lets call this Flowers at Dusk (Yamizakura- yes, the one I usually use in Fics).

When I say her word is law I don't mean legally speaking- think Jessica / Paul Atreides or the Reverend Mother from Dune and how they use 'the voice'.

This ability came to mind since Ichiyo Higuchi is an important figure in Japan, though it wasn't like she would be able to sway politics or anything of the like. Her works are important, the words in the stories are significant. Key word, words.

This would be a valuable power worth keeping hidden and close to the chest, she would make her way up the ranks fast with such an ability and more than likely she'd be a great asset in regard to interrogations.

Mori would absolutely keep this ability a secret and keep her close because of it. Let's play into the idea that she hates or is afraid of her ability, a power that takes away others free will or control would be hard to deal with depending on your mental fortitude or upbringing.

If she said jump you would jump, if she said kill you would kill.

She'd be the perfect secret weapon with an ability like this especially if no one else knew and she got kidnapped- whoops they didn't put on ability suppressors ...oh hey where did she go?

I feel like this is a plausible option- only because we know nothing but that she is an ability user. It would make sense for her to be closer to Mori- he'd ensure she would never use the ability on him and considering people underestimate her already it would be an uppercut of a power to have and no one (but Dazai or those who are deaf I suppose) would be able to get away from it.

We'd really have to get into the meat of this ability and flesh out weaknesses par her voice box and No Longer Human. Is it the vibrations in her voice? Does she need a key word? Can she only use it on a certain number of people at a time? Could she pinpoint who isn't going to be affected if it were with a large group.

For example- The Black Lizard get cornered, and she needs to use her ability would her yelling STOP, MOVE BACK or FREEZE (any key words really) affect Gin, Hirotsu, Tachihara or Akutagawa?

Can you tell I like this idea for an ability lol.

Well, I think this post has been long enough. Let me know your thoughts as well, which one do you like better? Do you have any theories for what Higuchi's ability could be? Which book title do you think Asagiri will choose when we get to finally see what her ability is?

[starlightkun]

⇢ word count: 19.1k ⇢ warnings: past unethical experimentation, brief blood and gore descriptions (some human and some non-human), you have to accept the premise of a single human empire in space in the future with colonies and a military and not think deeper about that, needle/injection mention ⇢ genre: sci-fi, set in the near-ish future, humans and aliens and robots, black op mission, captain kun, ?????? reader, slow burn, fluff, dash of angst, ft. wayv as the crew of the vision ⇢ extra info: took a lot of obvious inspo for this one from isaac asimov’s robot stories, specifically his concept of positronic brains & the three laws of robotics (and if you’ve read any of his stories, you’ll probably be able to see some other places too) ⇢ author’s note: ahhh she’s finally here! i hope you guys are as excited for part one as i am!! ⇢ series masterlist | next

Frankenstein complex (noun) ── The fear of mechanical men.

The air smelled like blood, burned electrical components, and whatever horrible odor came from blood getting onto electrical components as they sparked. All the blood wasn’t human, you could tell that, too. Skipper blood always stung your nose like rubbing alcohol. It was pitch black in the space you were hiding in, or maybe it was just nighttime. You should be scared, but your heart wasn’t beating fast for some reason.

Two pairs of heavy footfalls. One was heavier than the other. Walking, so definitely not Skippers. Both were still too light to be heavier races.

They slowed to a stop outside your hiding spot, and you really hoped they couldn’t read the Outspacer controls that would open the otherwise impossible-to-see door. After all, it was a language that had been dead for hundreds of millions of years, there was no way—

“Hey, Zennie, you got a read on these?” A man’s voice came from nearby, muffled by both the wall and presumably a helmet as well. Human, or related species.

You couldn’t hear this ‘Zennie’s reply, as it most likely came through the comms in his helmet, but you could hear the man’s side of the conversation.

“Oh, of course, how dare I, a mere meatsack, doubt your high-and-mighty artificial intelligence,” he replied with fake deference. “Yeah, yeah, I know that’s not what you meant. Alright, so just tell me which one’s the self-destruct button so I don’t press it?”

“Move, Wong, before you blow us up.” Another voice interjected. “ZEN? You said it’s a passageway? Oh, safe shelter. Bit different, don’t you think? Mind translating the dead language right the first time?”

He paused as he probably listened to Zen’s reply, then continued, “So? You know which one’s the open button?”

You couldn’t go anywhere. The hideout you were in was designed to hold only a few people for weather emergencies, to be structurally sound; not to have a back door in case you needed to escape intruders. You just had to hope Zen was completely wrong and they wouldn’t get it open.

Click.

There goes that.

The door dematerialized, and the rancid smell from before became even stronger. A man peered in barrel-first, and you recoiled back from the sudden light flooding your vision. You couldn’t press yourself any further back into the corner, but you still turned your head away to shield your sensitive eyes.

It only took a couple strides for one of the men to reach you, the other stayed back in the hallway, keeping his rifle fixed on you. The man stood over where you were sitting on the floor—your legs had gotten tired of standing after so long—and lowered his gun slightly so you could see the entirety of the front plate that covered his face. It was a reflective shield that gave you no clue to who was behind it, only let you see a warped, thinned and stretched version of yourself cowering in a corner. His armor was an improved version of the standard issue United Human Navy, if the insignia on both of his shoulders didn’t make that clear enough. It looked the same as the standard issue, but the heft of his footsteps had belied a weight difference that wasn’t explained by his stature or build, so it must be the grade of material.

“Are you hurt?” His voice came through an external speaker on his helmet. He was speaking in standard human. You couldn’t detect any sort of odd stiltedness or lag that sometimes happened with computer-assisted translations. He was assuming you understood standard human, and you did.

“No,” you replied, slowly uncrossing your arms to show your hands first, that you didn’t have anything hidden in them to attack him with. You still weren’t scared, for some reason.

“Oh, she’s pretty,” his companion commented from the hallway. The two of them must be sharing helmet feeds, as the one in front of you was definitely blocking most of you from his sight.

“Wong, shut it.” The outer speaker had been turned off for that, but it was still pretty clear to you.

“Sir, yes sir.”

“Can you stand?” His weapon was still at the ready, his finger resting above the trigger.

You couldn’t remember the last time you’d wiggled your fingers and toes, and it felt good to do it. “Yes.”

He stepped back, the unexpressive mirror of his face shield watching as you pushed up from your half-sit half-crouch, bracing yourself against the wall. Your body instinctively took a deep breath to try to recover from the sudden exertion, but the vaporized Skipper blood burned your entire respiratory tract, and you coughed and spluttered trying to force it back out, catching yourself on the wall on your forearms to stay upright. The odor made your head swim, your eyes water, and your chest hurt like someone had put gasoline in your lungs and struck a match.

“Okay, woah, woah.” Two gloved hands were on your arms and back, helping you stay up. His voice was muffled again as he switched to his in-helmet comms, “Xiao, get over here! We’ve got a survivor! Yes, really, just look at my stream.”

Then, his voice was projecting to you once more, “Breathe, breathe.”

You felt the roughness of a thumb wiping at the tears running down your cheeks, the durable material of his glove scratching against your skin. He grabbed the front of your shirt collar, pulling it up towards your face at the same time he firmly pulled your hand down that had been covering your mouth as you wheezed. Positioning the material over your nose and mouth into a makeshift filter of some sort, he continued holding it there for you as you took a few breaths.

“Better?”

You nodded shallowly. The smell of Skipper blood still cloyed to your throat and lungs, but the shirt helped keep more from entering.

More footsteps from down the hall, then another pair entered the shelter.

“Holy shit…” Someone breathed out.

“I know, man,” the voice that you were already pretty sure was ‘Wong’ from earlier replied.

“How long has she been in here?” A fourth voice asked, belonging to the footsteps getting closer to you.

“I don’t know,” the man already with you answered. “Wong and I just found her while clearing this sector.”

“Okay, well, you mind, Captain?” He said indicatively. “Can’t examine my patient through you.”

“You got it?” The captain asked you, shaking the collar slightly.

You took it from him, holding it over the bridge of your nose yourself as he had been doing for you before. Looking into his face shield where you were pretty sure his eyes should be, you nodded firmly this time.

He didn’t step back until you felt another pair of gloves grabbing your elbows where he had been. The newcomer’s uniform differed from the others’ in one way, he had a neon green rectangular patch on his right arm below his UHN insignia, as well as a few other places—intergalactic signal for medic. It was removable for the wearer’s own safety, and his in particular was slightly askew, as if he’d just slapped it back on in a hurry.

The medic flipped through the pockets of a pack strapped to his thigh before pulling out a small disc of clear plastic and pushing that against your hand. “Here, this’ll work a lot better than your shirt.”

You accepted it, and he helped you orient it the right way over your nose and mouth. It was apparently a mask or rebreather of some sort. It wasn’t exceptionally bulky, and you could feel that there was some sort of fine mesh material on the inside. Immediately, you could tell the difference. The air coming into your lungs carried only the slightest tinge of lingering burning electronics smell, and while you could tell that there was Skipper blood, it didn’t burn, or make your head spin. It was just unpleasant.

“There. How’s that?”

You gave him a thumbs-up, the standard human gesture for good, since they all seemed to speak standard human. The mask didn’t allow much room for talking.

“Alright, good. Are you injured?”

You shook your head.

“Do you feel pain anywhere?”

You shook your head again.

“Good, good. I have more questions, but we should get somewhere you can breathe. Give me a second.” He looked upwards as if talking to the heavens, and his outer speaker turned off. “Liu? Professor? Did you finish clearing the building? Alright, ZEN, got readings on air quality for her?”

After a pause, both the medic, Xiao, and the captain, who had been hovering behind him the whole time, nodded.

“Thanks, ZEN.” Xiao’s speaker turned on, “Here, our teammates found somewhere that you can breathe. It’s going to be a little bit of a walk, though. Is that okay?”

You nodded. Your legs would just have to deal.

“It’s not pretty out here…” The only one that hadn’t been identified to you in passing called out as a warning from his position in the hallway with ‘Wong.’

You turned around and pushed off the wall as your answer.

Stepping into the hall, you knew why you had smelled that particular concoction of smells. Just off to your left were two dead Skippers, their uniquely-articulated hind limbs that gave them their distinct gait—and consequently, the questionably flattering nickname from humans—stuck out at awkward angles now. Dark purple sludge seeped out from under their armor, Skipper blood. On the outside of the armor were smears, streaks, and splatters turned a gleaming ruby red under the emergency lights, human blood.

You couldn’t see any dead humans, or pieces of them, in this corner, but you remembered what the captain had called you. A survivor. Which meant there were others who didn’t survive.

“Come on.” It was the captain who ushered you the other direction from the Skipper bodies. “This way.”

Their helmets must have been mapping out the facility as the unit cleared it and displaying a route in all of their HUDs, because the four of them moved as if they knew the building like the back of their hand. The captain and Xiao flanked you on either side, with Wong at the front and the fourth unnamed one at the rear. You couldn’t tell if it felt more like a protection detail or a prisoner transport.

You kept your eyes on your feet not only so you didn’t have to see all of the mutilation, or to keep from stepping in something, but to avoid the unsettling, cold dread slowly sinking over you when from the moment you caught a look at the first dead human you passed by with her remarkably in-tact face, dandelion yellow blouse and lab coat, and realized you didn’t recognize her. When you inhaled sharply and shot your eyes down to your feet, you could tell that the captain noticed. He turned his head just ever so slightly towards you, off of the consistent path it had been before, and he paused, then went back to keeping watch.

They weren’t kidding when they said it was a bit of a walk. You could feel the muscles in your legs get sore, then start twitching, then start shaking, but you didn’t even consider asking to stop.

“Woah, Liu, slow down!” The captain ordered into his headset. “Okay, yeah, I see it. Don’t touch anything. We’re just sweeping right now, remember?”

“Great, the kid’s found more toys,” the one behind you snorted.

Xiao and Wong suddenly erupted into more laughter than that statement warranted you were pretty sure.

Wong then informed him with a snicker, “Mic’s on, Ten.”

“You say that as if I wouldn’t have said that to his face, too,” the one now finally identified as Ten retorted.

“ZEN, the mics, please?” The captain sighed. “Thank you.”

“Now he’s going to whine that we were shit talking him behind his back,” Xiao groaned. “Again.”

“Well we are,” Ten laughed.

“If he just stopped acting like a baby, Captain here wouldn’t have to step in and put him in time out all the time,” Wong clicked his tongue.

“You think he’s the one in time out right now?” The captain replied dryly.

You couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle into your mask, trying to cover it up with a cough when all four of their reflective shields whipped around to face you, as if they’d forgotten you were there. After an uncomfortable stretch of silence, they all shifted back into their watchful stances.

The captain suddenly spoke again, “Yes, Professor? Okay, sure… ZEN, put that on everyone’s HUDs.”

The lack of commentary from any of them for seemingly several minutes was startling, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to know what this ‘Professor’ was showing them.

“We’re going to have to go back there after dropping Xiao and her off, aren’t we?” Wong was the first to speak.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to,” Ten sighed.

“Or already know the answer to,” the captain said. “If she has any wounds that Xiao needs to tend to, one of you will stay to keep guard. If not, it’ll be Ten and Wong with me to meet up with Liu and the Professor, and Xiao will stay with her.”

“Alright, Ten,” Wong rolled out his neck. “Rock paper scissors?”

“Almost there,” Wong called out from ahead of you. Your internal clock told you it was almost half an hour since they found you.

“It’s just through those doors,” the captain informed you, indicating to the double doors on the opposite side of the large atrium you were in. This area had been mostly untouched by the carnage, it seemed.

“The building does have Gecks, but none of those seemed to have made it out in one piece,” Xiao added, explaining why you hadn’t used the small four-seater all-terrain vehicles, parts of which you had occasionally seen strewn about. “Sorry.”

You shrugged one shoulder at him in what you hoped he could interpret as an understanding gesture, as you were pretty sure this wasn’t their fault. From the context that you were trying to gather very quickly, they had only just gotten here.

Wong pushed one of the doors open, and the captain went in right behind to do a quick sweep, shouting out a short ‘clear!’ before Xiao led you in, and Ten followed in last, Wong shutting it firmly behind him.

You had emerged into something that looked impossible. An entire world bigger than the building you were in before, but definitely contained in one room, as when you turned around, you could still find the door. Ahead of you were rolling hills of vibrant crops, and your hand fell from your face, taking the rebreather with it. The air in here was fresh and crisp, and of course it was, this was the ag bubble. It must have remained untouched from the conflict outside because it was completely self-sustaining, needing no human intervention to planet, grow, or maintain the crops, so there would have been nobody in here in the first place.

“Okay, I’ll ask again: Any pain?” Xiao questioned you, taking his gloves off, and revealing rather delicate hands for a military medic. He motioned like he was about to grab your arm. “Can I?”

You nodded, holding it out for him to lift and turn your limb to visibly inspect it as you verbally answered his first question. “No, no pain, no injuries, I swear. I mean, my legs are a bit sore from walking, but that’s it.”

He let it hang back down at your side before doing the same to the other arm. “Hit your head?”

“Uh, I don’t think so?” You bent your head to let him quickly feel at your scalp through your hair for any bumps, lacerations, or other evidence of injury.

“Have all your toes?”

“Haven’t counted lately…?”

“Do it now.”

And so everybody stood around while you awkwardly took your shoes and socks off to make sure you had all ten toes, and that they weren’t necrotic, then you finally sat down to pull your socks and shoes back on. Xiao took your pulse manually at your wrist, before having you breathe into a small device and sampling a pinprick of blood from your finger with the same tool. After a moment, the screen lit up green, along with your specific readings.

“Satisfied, Xiao?” The captain asked.

“Absolutely,” the medic nodded. “More compliant than all of my patients as of late.”

“Good. We’re going to head out to catch up with the others and check that out.”

“Better you than me.”

“Hold on guys, aren’t we forgetting something?” Wong stopped the other two from leaving.

Ten and the captain looked at each other, then back to Wong.

“What, Wong? And we’re not guessing, spit it out or shut up,” the captain demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

Wong reached up and pulled his helmet off in one grand motion, the first of any of them to have done so. He shook his dark, shaggy hair out—you wondered if that length was perhaps a bit too long for UHN standards, as it was almost covering his ears—before focusing a wide grin on you. Wong crouched down in front of you.

“Do angels have names?”

The other three groaned and swore at varying volumes.

You stared at him blankly, unsure of why this was receiving such backlash from the others, and why they all also seemed to be waiting for your response. When it had quieted down a little bit, you cleared your throat, and answered hesitantly, “I-I don’t know. Do they? I’m sorry, I’m not a theologist… I don’t think I even believe in the divine, really.”

Wong’s jaw dropped as he stared at you, and Ten and Xiao began howling with laughter. The captain marched over, cuffing him by the ear. “That’s enough. Get up! Stop harassing the woman.”

“Ow! That hurt!” Wong cradled the side of his head as he pulled himself to his feet.

“Should’ve kept your helmet on.” The captain yanked Wong away by his scruff as the soldier struggled to put his gear back on. “Do it again and I’m throwing you out of the Vision into the next star. Understand me, Corporal?”

“Zennie! Not helpful, dude! I don’t think that was him asking how close the closest star was!” Wong yelped.

Wong, Ten, and the captain disappeared through the door, and you could no longer hear them, but judging by Xiao’s chuckling, they were still going at it, and it was apparently funny. You looked up at the one remaining soldier you were left with inquisitively.

“Oh, sorry, here.” Xiao popped his helmet off as well, and you got to see his sharp features for the first time. He set it on the ground at his feet, and you noted that he pointed the face shield away from you. “I’m Xiao Dejun. You can just call me Dejun, if you’d like.”

“Don’t you need to hear your teammates?” You asked hesitantly, looking at the helmet.

“Earpiece,” he tapped a small device nestled in his left ear. “There are some advantages to not having the neural port. Like not having an AI inside of my goddamn brain.”

“You also don’t have a rifle,” you observed for the first time. Before, you had presumed that it was merely slung over his back, but now you could clearly see that the bulk there was more packs of medical supplies.

“I’m a terrible shot, barely got past basic. I’d just make more patients if I had one,” he laughed, then patted a holster on his right thigh. “Captain makes me carry a pistol, though.”

You looked off towards a rippling field of grain nearby, trying not to think of that woman’s face, her yellow blouse, because then you’d think about why you didn’t know her. She was in a lab coat, this was some kind of scientific facility, you were sure of it, you knew that, so why didn’t you know her—

“Sorry about Wong, by the way,” Dejun very thankfully caught your attention again, offering you your second smile of the day. “I promise, he wasn’t trying to be greasy. He’s a goofball, he was trying to make you laugh, put you at ease, you know? But clearly, that wasn’t the way to do it. So again, sorry.”

“He wasn’t asking a theological question?” You clarified.

He tilted his head, giving you a strange, bemused look. “No, he was asking what your name is. It’s an old, cheesy Earth pickup line. Or, I guess it must be unique to Earth, since you don’t know it. Are you from a colony or…?”

“I… don’t know,” you trailed off, the corners of your mouth turning down as you tried to think harder.

“You don’t know your name? Or if you’re from a colony?”

“My name’s Y/N.” You could answer that immediately. That was familiar, yours.

“So you don’t remember if you’re from Earth or a colony?”

You squeezed your eyes shut as you tried to think harder, but it felt like you were just scrambling in a dark, empty room. “No, I don’t know.”

“Hey, that’s okay. Relax, Y/N,” he said gently. “Just relax right now, okay?”

Dejun took one of the packs off his back and started rooting through it. “How long were you in there? I’m sure you’re thirsty, and hungry.”

“I don’t know…”

His brow furrowed as he offered a canteen out to you. “Here. Water.”

“Thank you.”

Slowly, the man with you lowered himself down until he was sitting across from you, linking his fingers together. He let you open the bottle and take a few deep gulps of water. You couldn’t remember the last time you had water, but it felt great to drink it again.

“Y/N…” The medic said calmly. “What is the first thing you can remember? The oldest hard memory you have?”

You wiped away a stray drop that had rolled down your chin, and scraped through your brain, but came up startlingly empty. “I-I guess smelling blood, all the human blood and Skipper blood, and then hearing footsteps outside where I was hiding. Wong’s and the captain’s, right before they found me.”

His eyes went wide, and his nostrils flared as his features turned serious. “Your oldest memory is less than an hour old?”

That same unsettling, cold dread that had started sinking down over you since you saw the woman fully coated you, and you involuntarily shivered. Cautiously, hesitantly, as if afraid that you were erring somehow, you nodded. “I take back what I said earlier, Dejun. I think there’s something very, very wrong with me.”

Dejun asked you round after round of questions walking through the very first thing you could remember right up to that very second, until he let out a long sigh.

“Well, so far it seems like you’re forming memories right now just fine,” he declared. “And you at least remember your name, which is good.”

“I knew you guys were UHN, and that you were a medic because of your green patch,” you reiterated insistently, feeling like you were going in circles with your own mind. How could you possibly know about the United Human Navy and military visual codes but not if you were from Earth or not?

“Okay, so you’ve been around the Navy before. If you were at this place, that makes sense. You don’t have a neural port, so you were probably a military contractor of some sort.”

You immediately latched onto this clue. “What is this place?”

Dejun offered you a regretful look. “Already said too much. That’s a question for the captain, sorry.”

You sighed, but didn’t push him. Pointing to the exit, you tried another avenue of your apparent knowledge. “I know those aliens are called Skippers.” 

“Definitely UHN with that lingo.” Dejun grinned at you. “One of us.”

“But I don’t know why they were here. Or why I’m here.”

“Don’t push yourself.”

“And I know that this place is an agriculture bubble, ag bubble for short, and what that is, and the basics of how and why it works, and what it’s for, but not why it would be here. Or why I would be here—ow!” You held the front of your head as a dull pressure started up from the inside.

“Y/N?” Dejun scrambled closer, his voice concerned. “What’s going on?”

“My head hurts,” you scrunched your nose up against the feeling.

“Where? Describe it for me. Is it a throbbing? Stabbing? Shooting? Aching? Squeezing?”

“The front mostly. Feels like something’s pushing from the inside out, kind of,” you explained, dropping your hand to let him do another, more thorough examination for any head injuries.

“A pressure?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve got to take it easy,” he told you frankly. “The human brain’s a finnicky, unpredictable thing. And I’m just talking about the squishy part inside your skull. Interrogating it about why you can remember some things and why you can’t remember other things isn’t going to make you remember those things. I can’t see any injury on the outside, but since you can’t remember whether or not you were injured, and we don’t have anybody else to say either way, we can’t discount that your amnesia came from an injury. If you sprained your ankle, you wouldn’t be running a marathon on it. Same thing with an injured brain, okay?”

“Okay,” you acquiesced, grabbing the canteen again. Already, your head was feeling a little better.

“You’re officially the easiest patient I’ve ever had,” he declared, sitting back down. “If I had lollipops to give out, you’d get one.”

Before you could say anything, Dejun held up a finger for you to wait, then grabbed his helmet and yanked it back on. “What the fuck… Alright, yeah, I agree, this is the best place to set up camp. Y/N confirmed it’s an ag bubble, we’ll be able to—Can I finish? Anyway, it’s an ag bubble, so we’ll be able to live here indefinitely. Cool, we’ll see you guys soon.”

Dejun took the helmet off again, resting it on his hip as he informed you, “Everyone’s coming back here to set up camp.”

“Making camp in the ag bubble does make the most sense,” you stated, looking around you. “Fresh air, running water, obviously unlimited food.”

“Glad you agree.”

“How long is your team supposed to be here?”

“Question for the captain.”

“Seems as though I have a lot of questions for the captain,” you sighed, resting your cheek on your knees as you traced figure-eights in the grass with your finger.

“He’s going to have a few for you as well.”

“I would ask what everybody went to go investigate, but I have a feeling…”

“Just wait until he gets back.”

“As I had guessed.”

There was a short rhythm of knocks at the door to the ag bubble, and Dejun jogged over to open it. “Clear!”

A group of UHN soldiers all entered, talking among themselves, though you could tell when their reflective face shields occasionally turned over towards you. You were still sitting on the ground, hugging your knees to your chest, and uncertainly got to your feet, brushing away any stray dirt that may have clung to you. Dejun put himself between them and you, holding his hands out, and you could very clearly hear the word ‘amnesia’ a few times as he seemed to be sternly prefacing this introduction, taking his role as your doctor seriously.

Judging by how he held himself, the one that you were pretty sure was the captain cocked his head at this information, but remained quiet through Dejun’s small spiel. The medic gestured as if he were rushing them, and they all reached up to take their helmets off as well. He finally led them over to you, offering you a reassuring smile.

“Y/N, this is the crew of the Vision,” he motioned to all five of them. “I’ll let our captain take over on introductions.”

“Thanks, Lieutenant,” the one that you had already pinpointed as the captain from afar spoke up. Despite not being the tallest of them, he held himself differently, as if there was some weight there that you couldn’t see, but he carried with a straight back and level shoulders nevertheless. “I’m Captain Qian Kun of the United Human Navy vessel the Vision. I’m sure our doctor, Lieutenant Xiao, has already introduced himself. This is the rest of my… ragtag team: Corporal Wong Kunhang…”

You looked at the only other man aside from Dejun who was familiar to you, who fixed you with an exceptionally apologetic gaze.

“I am very sorry about earlier, ma’am,” he bowed his head regretfully, hands clasped behind his back.

“Oh, thank you,” you responded. “I’m sure you’re very funny, Corporal Wong, to other people.”

A couple of the others let out snickers as they tried to stay at attention, Dejun and another openly bursting into laughter. The taller one quickly scrambled to get back into his position and push down his smile as the captain focused his gaze on all of them again.

Captain Qian continued, “Staff Sergeant Ten Lee.”

He flashed you a grin. “It’s a pleasure, ma’am.”

“Lieutenant Liu Yangyang…”

“Nice to meet you!” Lieutenant Liu beamed at you, though there was a weird little glint in his eye that you weren’t sure if you liked. It was like he was trying to take you apart piece by piece. His gaze hadn’t left you through everybody else’s introduction, and you weren’t liking having to meet it now. “And can I just say, I think you’re one of the funniest beings in the galaxy? Definitely funnier than Wong over there.”

“Kid’s making some points,” Ten elbowed Wong.

Captain Qian suddenly took over again very loudly, “And finally, our only civilian member of the crew, Professor Dong Sicheng, Department of Xenolinguistics at New Beijing University.”

This was the other guy who had outright laughed a moment ago, and you could tell he was much less comfortable with the stiff military position before Captain Qian had informed you he was a civilian. Despite his civilian status, though, he was in the same armor and carried the same arms as everyone else—more firepower than Dejun did. You were just glad to not have to be making eye contact with Liu anymore. It felt like he knew something that you didn’t, and you definitely didn’t like that, given your current predicament.

Six of them. Turning back to Captain Qian, you tilted your head curiously. “ZEN is… your ship’s AI? And you all have a synchronous fragment in your helmets, earpieces, and neural ports?”

A couple of them looked at Dejun incredulously.

“I didn’t tell her. She has amnesia, she’s not an idiot,” he retorted.

“Maybe you did something with tech,” Ten suggested. “Could be why you were here.”

“What did I just tell you about stressing her memory?” Dejun scolded him. “She needs to rest.”

“We all do,” Captain Qian agreed. “After we set up camp. Come on.”

Dejun shooed you away from helping to set up camp despite already knowing that you had no physical injuries, finally giving you a task of making sure all of his emergency canteens in his medic packs had fresh water from the river nearby. You knew it was busy work, but did it anyway, glad to feel useful.

Loaded up with canteens slung around your waist and shoulders, you took the paved pathways between the acres of crops until you reached a crystal clear river. There were some areas that were sandy shores, and others that were grassy drop-offs. Stopping at a grassy drop-off, you sat down, the canteens clanking against each other. You took them off and poured out the water in them one-by-one, making a pile of empty canteens. Then you leaned over the edge and filled them up from the cool, gentle current, starting a second pile of full canteens.

You could feel the thud of heavy footsteps in the ground, and knew who was approaching you before Captain Qian even spoke.

“Mind if I join you?” He asked, and you looked over your shoulder to see him holding a large, empty water jug. “You seem to have grabbed the best spot.”

“Not at all.” You jerked your head towards the empty space on the other side of your full canteen pile.

He sat as well, grabbing an apparatus the size of his hand off the side and lowering that into the water instead of the entire jug. It was connected to the jug by a tube, and you watched as it moved water up from the river into the top of the container.

“Dejun didn’t tell me about ZEN earlier,” you said abruptly, trying to vouch for the doctor who so far had been the kindest person that you could remember in your life. “Really, I was guessing just from how you guys were talking—”

“It’s okay, Y/N, we weren’t being very discrete,” Captain Qian assured you. “Xiao isn’t one for lying to cover his ass, either. I believe him when he says that he didn’t tell you who exactly ZEN is.”

“There were a lot of questions I was asking that he couldn’t answer. Just kept telling me to ask you.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t you already know? His earpiece…”

“ZEN isolates comms as necessary when the unit is split up. The other five of us needed to hear each other more than we needed to eavesdrop on you two in here.”

You gnawed on your bottom lip nervously. “…He told me to take it easy, with my brain and the amnesia.”

“Maybe we can gently jog your memory,” he suggested.

“How?”

“That woman in the hall, in the yellow top. Did you know her?”

“I don’t know…” You replied regretfully. You were apparently the only person alive in this building, and couldn’t identify that woman. Were you friends? Should you be mourning her? Did she have a family? Was there anybody to tell to mourn her? It felt wrong that nobody would. And there were even more like that who you didn’t look at, who you hadn’t seen.

“It’s a big building. There were probably a lot of people working here. You might not have known everybody,” he replied casually.

You pushed one of your hands against your eye, against the pressure that was coming back. “No, I don’t… I don’t know anything. About what this place was for.”

“Alright, alright,” he held up his free hand in surrender.

When your head hurt less, and you had filled up a couple more canteens, you changed your focus. He had asked you a question, it was only fair you asked him one.

“Why are you guys here? To stop the Skippers?”

“No. We didn’t know there was any alien presence until we arrived and saw the ships out front.”

You kept your gaze on the running water as you tried to work through the information you were getting. “Then why did your team get sent here?”

“We’re trying to figure out what happened here too.”

“No,” you rejected that immediately, pointing in his general direction accusatorily. It didn’t make sense with everything you already knew. “You didn’t know there were Skippers here until you got here. Now you’re trying to figure out what happened here. So why were you coming here in the first place?”

The captain breathed out, his tone dropping the strained casualness it had before. “This is a UHN research facility. We were sent to investigate reports of unsanctioned experiments being conducted here.”

You snapped your head up to look at him. “What kind of experiments?”

“Look, rumors about this kind of stuff is everywhere. Urban legends, pulp fiction, everyone’s heard something about illegal government experiments. But reputable intelligence on this kind of stuff is few and far between. This one was trusted enough to get us out here, but unfortunately sparse on details.”

“I don’t know anything about it.”

“As you’ve already said,” he replied tersely.

“I don’t,” you repeated.

“I didn’t say you were lying.”

You didn’t love the pace that the captain was drip feeding you information, or for whatever purpose of his own that he was doing it, but he was giving you information, and in your state, that was vital. So you kept him engaged. “How do Skippers figure into those experiments?”

“We don’t know.”

“So it seems like we’re on the same page here.” You could almost laugh.

“Yes.”

When you looked over at Captain Qian, there was maybe the faintest curl of a smile at the corner of his mouth, but as soon as you had questioned it in your mind, it was gone. He continued filling his jug, and you continued filling the canteens. You were still thinking about his heavy footsteps, and wanted to keep him talking, wanted to grasp at any information you could get in hopes it slotted it somewhere in your own mind.

“Your armor…” You began, eyes dragging over the pieces he was wearing, everything except his helmet. “How can you wear it?”

He crooked an eyebrow up at you curiously. “You mean aside from putting it on my body?”

You looked at him entirely unamused before continuing, “It’s made to look like standard UHN armor, but I can hear that it’s made of material far denser than your teammates’.”

Both of his eyebrows lifted in surprise momentarily, before his expression was neutral once more, and he calmly informed you, “Minor skeletal enhancements.”

So that’s why he moved differently from the others.

“Why didn’t your teammates receive them?”

“The UHN doesn’t need to spend the money to equip every soldier with minor skeletal enhancements for armor that is very expensive to make.”

“So why are you worth the very expensive armor, then?”

“It’s actually the old stuff, they’ve moved on to newer and better.” He was done filling the jug now and stood up. “I’m not worth the expensive stuff anymore.”

“Why don’t they give you the new one?”

“It’s bigger and heavier, my skeletal enhancements wouldn’t be able to support it. They need younger people for that program.”

“You… are not very old,” you observed plainly.

He shouldered the jug of water that was bigger than his entire torso as if it were a pillow. “No. I’m not.”

You didn’t appreciate how he had skirted some of your questions, like why he had been chosen for such a program, but the scale of information he had implicitly given you in just a few words was more than enough to leave you floored. If that’s what the UHN was doing above the board, you weren’t sure if you wanted to find out what they considered unsanctionable—what was going on here.

Returning to the others, you were happy to see a fully set up camp, and handed over the refilled canteens to Dejun, who made sure to thank you profusely and reassure you that you were a huge help. Despite it feeling a little patronizing, you were satisfied at having at least done something rather than sitting around watching them do everything while you did nothing.

“Y/N!” Someone called out your name, you looked over your shoulder to see Ten and Wong approaching you.

“Yes, Corporal?”

He laughed and shook his head. “You don’t have to do that. Kunhang and Ten is just fine.”

His companion nodded in agreement.

“We’re on dinner duty,” Kunhang pointed between the two of them. “Do you know what all is in here?”

“Do you people know the meaning of the word amnesia?” Dejun snapped. “Honestly, ask ZEN if—”

“There should be a panel by the entrance that tells you that,” you answered, pointing towards the door. “I don’t think I remember the specifics of this ag bubble, but I’m pretty sure I’m remembering that correctly. Right? They all have information panels at the entrance?”

“It does,” Ten assured you of your knowledge. “It’s in Outspacer. We uploaded it to ZEN, but he— Oh, thanks, man.”

“Zennie, incredible timing as always,” Kunhang rolled his eyes. He smiled at you. “Never mind, got everything we need. Thanks!”

They walked away into the fields, and you turned back to Dejun, who was now organizing his supplies in his tent.

“I wish I could be more help,” you sighed.

“Y/N, come here,” he gestured you into the open entrance of the tent. You obliged, and he plopped down onto a cot on one side, then pointed to the other for you to sit. “They didn’t actually need your help.”

“But they asked—”

“I know. Without divulging too much, I can tell you that the seven of us have been essentially the only people we’ve all been around for… months on end.”

“I see.” You nodded, noting how he seemed to be including ZEN in that count. “I’m someone new to talk to.”

“Right. And the next thing I’m going to say, I do hope you don’t take this the wrong way. You’re also a pretty woman.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re safe with us. But I’m just saying that you’ll probably be getting more attention than if we had a new guy in camp.”

“Is that why Liu keeps looking at me like that?” You asked.

“Like what?” Dejun’s brow furrowed.

“Like… I don’t know, he just keeps looking at me. Like he’s studying me.”

He shook his head. “I’ll talk to him. Kid probably isn’t used to seeing a human woman after so long.”

“Is there anything else I can help with?”

“I don’t have anything for you,” he said regretfully, then tapped his ear. “Captain? Yeah, what’s your location? Right, thanks, I’m sending Y/N your way.” He focused back on you. “Captain Qian’s in his tent, you can see if he has anything for you to do.”

“Which one’s his tent?”

“Right next door.”

“Ah. Thanks.”

You ducked out of Dejun’s tent, heading over to the next one. There was no door to knock on, but Captain Qian could already see you, and waved you in.

“Yes, Y/N? Do you need something?” He seemed to be in the middle of performing some sort of inspection of his armor, wearing only the bottom half of it, leaving him in a white tank top as he held the chest plate and paced in the small space of the tent.

“Is there something wrong with your armor?” You asked.

“Just routine maintenance,” he replied, stopping to remove an inner panel and set it on one of the cots that was already full of armor pieces. “ZEN detected an abnormal heart rate earlier, but I can’t see any reason for that.”

“Why are you checking your chestplate for that? Wouldn’t ZEN be monitoring your vitals through your neural port, not any external sensors?”

“I don’t think his reading was faulty, I’m just trying to look for anything that could have caused it.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know what, that’s why I’m inspecting my armor.” He took another piece out, offering the one with the electrical components out to you. “Can you hold this?”

You took it, staring at the small, wafer-thin computer component in your hands. “You’re right, this is older tech.”

“How so?”

“It’s twice the size it needs to be and—” You held it up to the light, seeing the distinct refractive rainbows in between the ultra-thin layers. “Doesn’t have the superconductive gel preferred now. It’s not like it’s ancient or anything, but the UHN wouldn’t be issuing anything new like this.”

“Is it in good condition?”

“Yes, everything looks fine. No acute damage, and it looks like it’s been taken care of very well, even for typical use. This definitely isn’t what caused your abnormal heartrate.”

Captain Qian held his hand out, and you placed the component in his palm for him to reassemble the chest piece. “I agree. Now, did you need something, Y/N?”

“Yes. Is there something I can do to help? Dejun didn’t have anything else for me.”

“Since you seem to know quite a bit about UHN armor, you want to finish helping me with my inspection?”

“Sure, sure.”

He set the reassembled chest piece on the ground, then looked at you expectantly. You stared back.

He pointed to the exit. “I need to get out of the rest of my armor. It’s a one-man job.”

“Oh! Sorry!” You hurried to leave, and heard him zip up the entrance behind you.

It unzipped again a few minutes later, and the captain clipped the material aside again. You followed him back in, seeing all of his armor laid out on the floor between the two cots. The captain was in a dark t-shirt, pants, and regular boots now as he picked up a piece and sat down on a cot. He nodded to the other for you.

You selected the left arm and quietly began working. It should have been weird, how you knew this but not how you got here, but you swallowed down that discomfort and just focused on the technology in your hands. You had a task, at least, and that was good enough for now. Feeling around, you found the release that separated the upper and lower limb pieces from each other, and set the upper half aside for now. You continued looking over the paneling of the lower arm.

“You’ll be staying in Xiao’s tent,” Captain Qian said. “If that’s alright with you. We would have preferred to give you your own tent, obviously, but we didn’t exactly have a spare. Figured you’re probably the most comfortable with him, right?”

“That’ll be fine, yes,” you agreed. “Thank you.”

“You’re probably wondering where we all went earlier, right? When we left you and Xiao here?”

“Yes. I had asked him, but he said that was a question for you.”

“Remember the reports of unsanctioned experiments I mentioned?”

“Yes.”

“It was a lab.”

“And what was in it?”

“Ash.”

“Someone burned it down? How did it not catch the whole building on fire?”

“Liu thinks they were careful to use certain materials to control and contain the fire to one area for a certain amount of time.”

“So it wasn’t part of the human-Skipper fighting, then? If someone took the time to make sure it burned in a specific way.”

“Most likely. But Liu’s a roboticist, not a chemist. His knowledge could only go so far. And ZEN is only as much of a help as the sensors we have to gather data for him.”

“How do you know it was a laboratory then? If everything was burned up?”

“ZEN and the Professor translated the sign on the outside.”

“It wasn’t in standard human?”

“Outspacer again.” Captain Qian clicked his tongue. “For a UHN facility supposedly built within the last ten years, this place has a lot of an ancient, dead alien language in it.”

“That… does seem unlikely.”

“The only reason I can think of why humans would do that, is if they didn’t want other humans to be able to read any of it.”

“Or anybody.” You moved on to the upper limb. “The Outspacers have been gone for hundreds of millions of years. Nobody, human or alien, uses it anymore.”

“You’re right.” Captain Qian said thoughtfully. “Whatever those Skippers came here for, they weren’t going to be successful, whether they lived or not.”

You looked up at the captain curiously. “How long is your team going to be here?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Our original mission here was supposed to be short, just intel-gathering. A few days, one week tops, then come back later if necessary. But now… things seem to be a lot more complicated.”

“What’ll you do with me when you leave?”

“Take you back to UHN Main on Earth for debriefing, and if you haven’t recalled anything about where you’re from by then, they’ve got programs to help people get back on their feet,” he answered simply. “We’re not going to kill you.”

“I didn’t expect that,” you balked. “Though I’m not sure I like the sound of this debriefing…”

“It won’t be the most fun interview of your life, but you’ll live.”

“What should I call you?”

“Pardon?”

“Dejun, Kunhang, and Ten all told me to address them informally. The others call you Captain, I don’t want to offend, I don’t know, I’ve been avoiding calling you anything because I don’t know…”

He held your eye contact for a moment, then went back to rotating the leg piece in front of his gaze. “Kun. You can call me Kun.”

“Okay,” you nodded, trying not to immediately let it go to your head. “Thank you.”

After finishing the inspection of his armor, you and Kun had determined that there was nothing wrong with it: no faulty wiring, no disarticulation of the joints, no loose bolts, no misalignment of the hydraulics, no error codes thrown by the computer, no fritzing electronics, not a flaw in sight.

“Nothing,” you huffed, hands on your hips as you stared down at the mostly reassembled armor. It was half put back together, ready for the next time he had to wear it.

“Maybe I just got spooked then,” Kun shrugged. “Thanks anyway, Y/N.”

“How often do you get spooked?” You asked him doubtfully. “You don’t seem the type to startle easily.”

“Not often.”

“When did it happen?”

He shook his head dismissively. “It’s fine.”

“If you’re having early signs of heart problems—”

“Hey, who was just saying I’m not old?” He put a hand over his chest.

“I said early.”

“And you’re sounding like Xiao.”

“And if you’re all like this, I can see why he would complain about having you for patients.”

“It was when we were clearing the building,” he relented. “I’d have to watch the footage from my helmet back on the ship to see exactly what was going on. So just leave it, okay?”

You sighed. “Alright, fine.”

The volume outside the tent suddenly rose, and Kun nodded towards the exit. “Now come on, sounds like everyone’s getting together for mess.”

He stepped back for you to walk out first, and you immediately saw that the others were in fact gathered in the center of the tents around a small fire. Dejun waved at you and patted the ground next to him, and you gratefully took the empty spot between him and Ten. Kun sat across the fire, immediately being pulled into a conversation by Liu and the Professor.

“So what did you guys end up finding?” You asked Kunhang and Ten as they started serving up food in small metal dishes.

“We’ve got a beautiful fare for you tonight of rations,” Ten handed you a dish with great gravitas, and you giggled as you passed it down.

“Supplemented with some lentils,” Kunhang finished. “We thought we were heading towards the berries, get a little dessert going, but apparently ZEN’s translation wasn’t completely accurate. Ended up at the red lentils.”

You laughed again. “You can’t blame him too much, the words are almost the same.”

Everyone’s heads whipped over to look at you. The Professor’s eyes bulged out of his face. “You know Outspacer?”

“I mean, I can’t speak it. It’s been dead for so long, I wouldn’t know what anything is supposed to sound like. If it was even spoken in the first place,” you answered hesitantly. “But yeah, I can read it.”

Liu looked around at everyone else incredulously. “Did nobody ask her how she got into the safe room locked behind Outspacer controls? Or did you all assume she had button mashed her way in?”

“Okay, we had more pressing things on our minds,” Dejun cut in. “Like making sure she was alive.”

The Professor was still staring at you with fascination. “You said it might not have been spoken. Why do you think that?”

“Well, it’s a very visual and categorical system. That’s why ZEN’s mistranslation for lentil and berry happened. Two things that are small and round that you eat are going to have very similar patterns to each other. Berries have a sweet modifier appended to the end, by the way, while lentils have the ground modifier to indicate that they’re a grain.” You didn’t know where all this knowledge was coming from, but you knew that it was right, as well as you knew your name. “But it only ever describes objects and their relationships in space and time. There’s no abstract ideas like feelings. It might just be a code to convey physical information, instructions, that kind of stuff, not their written alphabet.”

“Why have a separate code then?”

“The Outspacers were everywhere, weren’t they? It would’ve been impossible for them all to speak the same language. This way everything that’s important like laws, directions, warnings, that kind of stuff, is in a common code that everyone can read.”

The Professor kept staring at you.

“Y/N, you broke the Professor,” Kunhang declared, snapping his fingers in front of his teammate’s face.

“I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to.” You looked around hesitantly.

“Don’t apologize,” Dejun chuckled, patting your shoulder. “He’s probably just mourning all the academic articles he’ll never get to publish on this.”

“Why?”

“Cla-ssi-fied,” Liu said with a hint of teasing, enunciating each syllable for emphasis. “Officially, our crew doesn’t exist.”

Kun rolled his eyes. “That’s a bit dramatic. You’re still official personnel of UHN, you haven’t been scrubbed from the universe.”

“Fine, fine. We’re a self-contained vessel whose missions are not officially documented anywhere. Better?”

“Best would’ve been to keep your mouth shut,” the captain said through gritted teeth.

“She can read Outspacer! Like we’re not going to keep her?”

“Y/N’s not a puppy or a toy, Lieutenant. It’s not a matter of ‘keeping’ her. She’s a civilian whose safety we’re responsible for. The matter is closed,” Kun’s hard gaze shifted to the rest of his crew on the word, before returning to the roboticist, “and you and I are going to have a discussion later.”

“Sir, yes sir,” Liu muttered, turning his eyes back to the fire.

Ten nudged a dish into your hands, and you passed it onto Dejun. When everyone had a bowl, they started eating, and you slowly began working through your food as well.

“Anyway, Y/N,” Kun cleared his throat, and you looked up at him attentively. “We’ll need you to properly translate the ag bubble info panel tomorrow. So hopefully Wong doesn’t poison us at breakfast.”

“Yeah, of course,” you agreed hurriedly. “Whatever you guys need.”

“You’ll have to review my notes on Outspacer glyphs!” The Professor had suddenly found his voice again, his tone now rushed and excited.

“Sure, yes.”

You spent the rest of the meal mostly keeping to yourself, quietly eating your food and occasionally engaging with the others if they talked to you first. Today, the only day of your life that you could remember, had been a lot, and if every day was like this, you weren’t sure if you were really looking forward to the rest of them.

Everyone had a job to shut camp down for the night, and you helped Kunhang and Ten clean up from cooking dinner.

“So is there a light switch or something?” Ten looked up at the still rather bright sky.

“The lights are on a timer,” you explained, looking up. “It should—”

The sky above you began to dim just then. You kept watching, explaining to the Marines with you, “Here, keep your eyes on it. Blink and you’ll miss the sunset.”

The sunset happened all around you, with no one source of light from a single ‘Sun,’ it wasn’t focused from any one point, instead the scattering came from every angle. Everywhere you looked was a different smattering of red, orange, and pink hues.

“Holy shit…” Kunhang breathed out, doing a slow 360.

Then, as soon as it had started, it was over, and the artificial expanse above you was pitch black.

“Damn, that was fast,” Ten commented.

“Told you.” You stacked up the dried dishes. “Where do these go?”

“Right here.”

After packing up the dinner items, you turned back to them expectantly. “Anything else?”

“Sleep,” Ten declared, to which Kunhang groaned and nodded. “Some very well-earned sleep, for all of us.”

“Are you sure?”

Kunhang gently grabbed you by your shoulders and pushed you towards your tent. “Go. To. Sleep.”

“Okay, okay.” You held your hands up in surrender, slowly walking away.

“Goodnight!” “Night!” They called after you cheerily.

“Goodnight!” You waved to them over your shoulder. As you turned your head, you saw someone sitting on a pack on the ground outside Kun’s tent, and realized that it was the Professor, scrawling on a tablet with a stylus.

Your tent was unzipped, and you found Dejun seemingly ready for bed, laying on one of the cots and reading a thick hardcover book by the light of a small electric lantern.

“The Professor was not in his tent yet,” you informed Dejun with a frown. “Are you all doing watches? I thought you had cleared the building.”

“No night watches,” he replied without looking up from the book. “He’s just out there because he’s sharing a tent with Captain Qian, who is currently still ripping Liu a new one in said tent.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t feel bad, Y/N. Liu said something stupid, he gets chewed out, repeat ad nauseum.” Dejun flipped the page. “Bit more stupid, telling you the classified nature of our team’s missions, but like I said before: you’ve got amnesia, you’re not an idiot. You’re clearly very smart in your own right; you would’ve put it together before the end of your time with us. You probably already had your suspicions before he said anything, right?”

“There were some things that had caught my attention, yes.”

“Care to share?”

“Your green medic patch looked like it had been reapplied recently, there’s not a lot of typical scenarios that would require a medic to need to take it off in the first place. You have a civilian xenolinguistics professor attached to your unit who is just as armed as the rest of you. Nobody has mentioned reporting to a higher-ranking officer than your captain since being here, despite what you found. You’ve all talked about the mission being very long, not wanting to tell me too many details, and how you haven’t been around anybody but each other pretty much the entire time.”

“The medic patch really clued you in?” He laughed. “I slapped that back on less than a minute before jumping out of the ship onto this planet. Good one.”

“I didn’t know they let you bring those,” you referred to the book in his hands. “Figured it’d be a fire hazard.”

“We’re allowed one personal effect,” he explained, turning a page, the paper looking soft and worn. “Fire hazard be damned.”

“And what book did you choose?”

“It’s not mine. It’s Liu’s.” He angled it so you could see the cover.

“‘On the Ethics of Robotics?’” You read the title aloud. “Why are you reading a treatise on ethics in a completely different field?”

“One: It’s been a long mission, you get bored. Two: Now that I’ve actually started reading it… It’s kind of interesting. Gets you thinking. It was written over fifty years ago, so some of the actual science is out of date. But he still talks about some pretty interesting stuff.”

“Was it written by a roboticist or an ethicist?”

“Roboethicist. The very first one. Coined the term and everything.” Dejun dog-eared a page before setting the book aside. “He’s like, Liu’s hero. Liu even got to take a couple classes from the guy during his degree before he died.”

“Wow.”

“Anyway, I’m ready to pass out, and as your doctor, I say it’s bedtime for you too.”

“I will not argue that.” You agreed, laying down as well.

Dejun reached down to turn the light off.

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Dejun.”

You were the first one awake in camp. Or so you had thought, as you emerged into the still darkened ag bubble. Liu was sitting around the remnants of the campfire, and for a second, you wondered if he had been made to sleep out here.

His eyes immediately snapped open, and he smiled at you. “Morning! Want to go for a walk?”

“Are you sure we should leave camp?” You looked over towards the captain’s tent hesitantly.

“You can make sure we’re back before sunrise, right?”

You thought momentarily. “It’s in eleven minutes…”

“We’ll be back before then.” He got to his feet. “Scout’s honor.”

You followed him. “You’re in the Navy…”

“Old Earth saying,” he explained, starting on one of the paths between the fields. “It relates to this organization, the Boy Scouts. Doesn’t exist anymore, but the lingo is still around.”

“They were honorable?”

“Don’t know how honorable a bunch of grade schoolers could be, but it’s just an expression.”

“I see…”

“Anyway, sorry about last night,” Liu said. “I got excited and put you in a really awkward situation. Not only that but a dangerous one, too. You’re a civvie, and the more you know, the more you’re at risk. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Thank you, L—”

“God, Yangyang, please,” he rebuffed you before you could finish your sentence. “I’d never hear the end of it if you called the other guys their names and me by rank.”

“Thank you, Yangyang.” You smiled. “May I ask how much younger you are than your teammates?”

“This is my first mission, if that gives you any context.”

“And you were put on one of this caliber?”

“It’s the Professor’s first mission too, in my defense,” he scoffed. “But guys like me usually don’t get a lot of field experience. There’s plenty of roboticists who go their whole careers in the UHN without ever seeing action.”

“So then why are you on this mission?”

“I… actually don’t know.”

“They didn’t tell you?”

“We were all put in a room, minus the Professor, then the captain came in with the Professor and told us we’d all been selected for this team. Professor included.”

“Interesting.”

“I actually don’t know if I was supposed to tell you that…”

“You’re not very good at this classified stuff, are you?”

“You ask a lot of questions!” He said defensively.

You couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know anything! That’s all I can do!”

“You know how to read Outspacer,” Yangyang pointed out.

“Well, yes.”

“And you seem to be pretty good with tech. How much longer do we have until sunrise?”

“We should head back now,” you answered immediately.

Yangyang pivoted on his heel. “See? You know stuff.”

You kept pace with his change in direction. “Okay, fair point.”

“You should ask Captain Qian if you can tag along to this other place we found here.”

“What sort of place?”

“Robots,” he grinned. “I won’t say more, but I have a hunch you might know what to do in there.”

“Finally figured out what classified means?”

“Okay, ouch.”

“I’m just saying… I’d hate for the Professor to be stranded outside his tent again tonight.” You shook your head teasingly.

“So you do have a real sense of humor,” Yangyang grinned. “Instead of unintentionally slam dunking on Wong every chance you get.”

“Just because I don’t understand Kunhang’s attempts at humor doesn’t mean I don’t have a sense of humor.” You crossed your arms, a bit miffed at the implication.

“Fair point,” he agreed. “You could be from somewhere else. Most of us are Earth boys, after all.”

“Most?”

“You didn’t hear it from me but, Captain Qian is actually from Theta-12. Came to Earth later.”

“Dura-Jil?” You recalled the name that locals had for it. It was one of the first colonies that Earth had established outside of its own galaxy, and wasn’t exactly considered a roaring success, now known to be a dinky outpost only frequented by those who wanted to remain under the radar of the law, ran by a local government who looked the other way for a price. Overall, it was pretty low on the UHN’s list of priorities with everything else going on.

“Yep.” The two of you were back at camp now, and Yangyang lowered his voice. “But uh, that’s all I can say.”

“All you can say or all you know?”

He shrugged and grinned. “Who’s to say?”

The others emerged from their tents then, and you were immediately accosted by the Professor, wanting to watch you decode the ag bubble information panel.

As you read off the panel to the Professor, he stopped you every so often to request an explanation for why certain glyphs were in certain places. You explained them as best you could—after all, you didn’t invent the language—and ZEN transcribed the corrected translation for the team’s reference.

“Professor…” You said in a pause as he was fervently scribbling notes on his tablet.

“Yes?” He replied without looking. You noted that he was the only one of the team who didn’t seem to mind being addressed by his title.

“May I ask how a civilian professor got attached to a military unit?” You tried to be as general as possible, well aware that ZEN was listening.

“I’m a xenolinguistics professor.”

“Doesn’t the UHN have their own translators?”

“I’m very good at my job.”

He was better at this classified stuff than Yangyang.

“Next part, Y/N,” he instructed, pointing back to the panel.

“Right, sorry.” You tapped to the next section of information. “Huh…”

“‘Huh?’” The Professor echoed. “‘Huh’ —What?”

“What translation did ZEN have for this part? The last section?”

“He didn’t have one. We had too few characters to translate anything of substance. Why? What is it?”

You frowned as you reread it. “It’s instructions for modifying the ag bubble.”

“What’s the problem with that?”

“These modifications… The sorts of crops produced wouldn’t be suited for human consumption.”

“What species, then? Outspacer?”

“I… don’t think so.” You winced as a dull throbbing started in your head again. “Unless the Outspacers had caloric energy intake requirements equal to the energy of a supernova.”

“What?!”

“These foods would be impossibly calorically dense… literally… they’d contain so much energy I… Here, it says who is supposed to eat them at the top but I’ve never seen that word before.”

“Do you know the characters?”

“Yeah, I know most of it. It looks like it should be person, but… that can’t be right.”

“What is it?”

“It has machine after it.”

“Person-machine? Like a robot? This is to modify the ag bubble to make robot fuel? What kind? Electric? Nuclear? It can’t be fossil fuels, surely.”

“No, it would still produce crops and food. They’re definitely meant to be eaten, a lot of them have the ground modifier on them. And the word for robot is different. It’s machine, and the glyph for when an object is moving itself. This is person-machine-move. And it’s plural.”

“People-robots?” The Professor surmised. “People… robots?”

Your head hurt even more as you nodded. “Could be. I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, or what any of these crops would even be, or what could eat them.”

“Is that everything in the info panel?” The Professor asked.

“Yeah, yeah. You guys should be able to find everything now.”

“ZEN?” The Professor started walking back towards camp, speaking to his tablet. You trailed behind him, trying to blink away your new headache. “Send the corrected map to everyone’s HUDs, please.”

“Already done, Professor,” ZEN’s voice came from the tablet as a small green cube avatar projected just above the screen, the hologram doing a small bounce as if nodding. This morning was the first time you were actually interacting with the AI directly. His speech was seamless, as if a real person was talking, and he spoke in a surprisingly pleasant tenor.

The Professor was unfazed by his sudden appearance. “Of course, thank you. And don’t be rude, introduce yourself to Y/N.”

A lighter face of the cube turned towards you, despite all of them being blank, and the avatar tilted forward in a bow. “I’m ZEN, the crew’s AI. It’s a pleasure, ma’am. Corporal Wong calls me Zennie, if a nickname would make you more comfortable.”

“ZEN is just fine, if that’s what you prefer,” you offered a wincing smile. “If you’ll call me Y/N, since I prefer that over being called ma’am.”

“Seems we understand each other then,” ZEN responded graciously.

“Seems we do.”

“I’ve got to let the captain know about the uh, people-robots.” The Professor took off as you arrived back at the camp.

The artificial sun had risen while you were with the Professor, and everyone was now bustling around with their morning tasks. You saw Ten and Kunhang heading off into the fields as Yangyang and Dejun seemed to be discussing something as they passed a thermos back and forth around the empty firepit. You were contemplating going into your tent until breakfast to nurse this headache when you heard your name being called from another section of camp.

You turned around to see the Professor’s head poking out of Kun’s tent, and he waved you over. You quickly obliged, ducking in after him.

Kun was pacing again, pinching the bridge of his nose. ZEN was projecting both himself and a set of Outspacer glyphs from where the Professor’s tablet was resting on his cot. You recognized it as the “people-robots” one that had troubled the Professor earlier.

“Y/N,” Kun began immediately, stopping and pointing at the glyph. “You’re sure that says people robots?”

“I mean, I know the parts, but I’ve never seen them all put together like that,” you explained. “It’s person, then machine, then to move oneself, and it’s plural. And it’s definitely all one word. But any meaning that I’d be assigning to it after that would be interpretation.”

“The Professor mentioned that robot is machine-move, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And you said it’s describing who would be eating modified crops produced by the ag bubble.”

“Yes.”

Dejun was right, thinking with an injured brain fucking hurt.

“Is there any other indication as to what this could mean?”

“No, it says it like we’re supposed to know what it means. But I don’t.”

He sighed. “Alright, thank you, Y/N. If you could give me a moment with the Professor and ZEN?”

“Of course.” You nodded, heading back out of the tent.

Dejun and Yangyang were still around the firepit, but your feet felt restless, and you took off towards the river. You followed the grassy parts of the riverside until you decided you were done walking, and laid down, staring up at the seemingly-endless-but-not-really blue above you. You kept poking around in your memory, trying to find any context for people-robots, or what you were doing here, or the woman in the hall, or why Skippers would show up, or why you knew a long dead alien language, or anything.

Your head hurt more the more you used it, with each new topic you tried, but you kept trying to think. Maybe if you just kept going, right on the other side of the pain would be the answer, if you could just get past this feeling like your brain was a nuclear reactor on the verge of a meltdown. You squeezed your eyes shut against the sky that was suddenly too bright.

“Hey.” Kun’s voice caught your attention, and your eyes snapped open. He was standing next to you, two dishes in hand. “Soup’s on.”

“Oh.” You sat up and he handed yours to you. “This is oatmeal.”

“It means a meal is ready to eat. Any food, not just soup.”

“Got it… Sorry for making you come out here to find me, by the way.”

“Mind if I join you?”

“No, not at all.”

He sat next to you as you started looking over the meal. It looked like Ten and Kunhang were successful in their berry search this morning, as your oatmeal was topped with a very colorful assortment.

“How are you holding up?” Kun asked, looking out at the river.

“Honestly, my head kind of hurts,” you admitted, rubbing one of your eyes.

“You want me to call Xiao over?”

“No, it’s… I’m trying to remember stuff, but the more I try to remember, the more it hurts.”

“You’ve got to stop forcing it,” he chastised you lightly. “It’s like picking a scab, you’re going to want to keep doing it. But you’ve got to stop, alright?”

“Yeah, okay,” you acquiesced with a sigh, dropping your hand.

“It’ll come.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

“Then you keep going.”

“That’s it?”

He shrugged. “What other choice do you have?”

You thought for a moment. “Sitting and staring at a wall forever.”

Kun laughed for the first time that you’d heard, and you turned your head to look, catching a glimpse of a dimple as he nodded. “Yeah, I guess you could do that. Be pretty boring, though.”

“I suppose it would be.” You smiled down at your oatmeal, once again trying not to let it go to your head.

He set down his bowl and opened a thermos he had also brought on a strap around his shoulders, a wisp of steam escaping. “Do you like tea? Unfortunately, somebody forgot our cups on the ship, so you’ll just have to use the lid.”

You didn’t know if you liked tea, but you figured you might as well find out now, nodding and then asking, “Who was responsible for the cups?”

“Three guesses, first two don’t count.” He poured until the lid was nearly full, then gingerly offered it out to you.

You accepted it with two hands, feeling the heat through the metal easily. “Then what’s the point of giving me three guesses?”

“It’s a saying, when an answer is obvious to everyone involved.”

“More Earth boy stuff?” You blew over the surface of the tea.

“What?”

“I was talking to Yangyang earlier and he kept saying stuff like that I didn’t get. He said it was probably because he’s an ‘Earth boy.’ And Dejun explained that the thing Kunhang said yesterday about angels is an old Earth saying.”

“Do you think you’re not from Earth then? A colony?”

“I don’t know.” You frowned, taking a sip of the tea. It was warm, comforting, and you figured that you liked the way the richness spread across your tongue.

“Of course, my apologies.” He then added, “Wong forgot the cups, by the way.”

You chuckled. “That was my first guess.”

The two of you finished your oatmeal in what you decided was a peaceful silence, and were left to sip on the still-warm tea.

“Could you… tell me about where you’re from?” You requested quietly, looking over at him.

He eyed you questioningly. “Why?”

“I don’t have a home to remember… I don’t know, it’d be nice to hear about someone else’s.”

Kun sipped from the thermos before setting it aside. “I’m originally from Dura-Jil—Theta-12. I didn’t go to Earth until I joined the UHN.”

“Oh.”

“You don’t look surprised.” He arched an eyebrow. “I take it Liu may have mentioned that one of us wasn’t an Earth boy?”

“He didn’t say much.”

“He doesn’t know much,” the captain retorted. “That’s about all he does know. My team trusts me to tell them what they need to know when they need to know it. If they want to ask questions, they know they can, and I’ll tell them if they need to know the answer yet or not.”

“Have they asked about your home?”

“No, they haven’t. The Professor had mentioned my being from Dura-Jil in passing once, but the crew has not brought it up since.”

“Why not?”

“I think they have some… presuppositions about how I feel about my home planet.” He rolled his neck out. “It’s not exactly humanity’s pride and joy, after all.”

“They think you’d be ashamed?” You concluded.

“Or at least trying to distance myself, for the sake of my career. Having ties to a place like that doesn’t look great if you’ve got your eyes on Fleet Admiral.”

“Do you? Want to be Fleet Admiral?”

He looked at you curiously. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“It’d be more of a desk job, wouldn’t it? Lots of paperwork, politics. Not everyone likes that kind of stuff. It’s also a lot of eyes on you. Couldn’t have the kind of anonymity that being a black ops captain from Dura-Jil affords you.” You pulled your knees to your chest and rested your chin on them. “Not everyone wants the same kind of life.”

Kun chuckled cynically. “You’re right. That’s something I’ve had to learn recently.”

“So will you tell me about Dura-Jil?”

“Yes. But later, breakfast’s over.” He stood up. You quickly tipped back the rest of the tea from the lid and handed it to him so he could close up the thermos. “Find me after mess tonight, we can talk again then, alright?”

“Will do.” You got to your feet as well, starting back towards camp with him. “So what are you all doing today?”

“We have a post-mess meeting in the morning. We’ll discuss the plan for the day there.”

“Oh, okay.”

“We’ll be splitting into two groups today,” the captain announced the plan for the day. Everyone was gathered around, back in their armor save for their helmets, which you presumed was for your sake. “I believe there were two places we found yesterday that warrant further investigation first. I want us to look at that lab with fresh eyes, and Liu, I know you found an area of interest yesterday.”

“Sir, yes sir,” the younger man nodded excitedly.

“Xiao, you didn’t see the lab yesterday, I want you on it in case you see something we might have missed.”

“Yes sir.”

“Professor, Wong, go with him.”

They nodded.

“That means Ten and I are with Liu.”

Everyone looked over at you with bated breath as you kept your eyes on Kun expectantly, waiting for him to presumably assign you to stay in the camp all day where you wouldn’t be in the way.

Kun finally met your gaze. “Y/N…”

“Yes?”

“Liu thinks you may be useful where we’re headed. And since the other group will have the Professor, it’ll be useful to have someone who can read Outspacer with us,” he said all of this matter-of-factly. “We obviously don’t have any armor for you, but if you’re alright with it, I’d like for you to accompany my team today. This way we can have eyes on you as well.”

“Yes!” You rushed to agree before he could take it back. “If you think I can help, of course.”

“Then we’re set.” He nodded.

And so your two groups set off in different directions from the ag bubble with an agreement to meet back up an hour before dinner.

“So where exactly are we headed?” You took your rebreather off to ask, then put it back. The air in the hallways was still noxious, and though you weren’t as rattled as yesterday, you tried to avoid looking too closely at any of the bodies, human or alien, as you passed them.

“The Professor and I found a robotics lab,” Yangyang explained from beside you, clearly ecstatic about the prospect. “I didn’t get to look around much, but it looked awesome.”

“And with the new information we have about the people-robots from the ag bubble panel, I’m interested in what exactly is in there as well,” Kun declared from the front.

“What do you think they could be, Liu?” Ten questioned from where he was once again bringing up the rear of your small group. “The people-robots.”

“If you want a linguistics analysis, you’ll have to ask the Professor. But…” he inhaled. “It could be androids, or humanoids, or cyborgs, or AI-bots, or—”

“What’s the difference between all of those? And how would those be different than AI or robots?”

“Well we already have robots, right? Machines that move on their own, take commands, that sort of thing. They have positronic brains. Then we have AI, which is all coding, programming, the artificial intelligence, like ZEN.”

“I’m with you so far, kid. What’s the other stuff?”

“They’re all theoretical, nobody’s been able to make them yet, so there’s no exact definition. But generally, an android would be a robot that’s meant to look like a human.”

“A lot already do.”

“They’re metal and sort of have cartoon faces and are in general people shapes, sure,” Yangyang snorted. “But an android would actually look like a human. Like, you couldn’t tell the difference. Skin, hair, eyes, teeth, fingernails, eyelashes, everything. But it would still be all robot on the inside. Positronic brain, metal, wires, still a machine, but with a human exterior.”

“Creepy…” Ten commented. “So then what’s a humanoid?”

“A humanoid is supposed to be some combination of human and robot,” the roboticist was chattering excitedly again. “Everybody’s come up with their own range of how robotic and human these could be, and different names for each sub-category, but they’re all largely classified under humanoids. They always have some combination of robot and human parts. And the human parts are actually organic. Androids just look like humans, but humanoids would actually have some human stuff in there.”

“Like what? Just tossing a kidney into a robot for fun?”

“Most of the hypothesizing done has been about the merits of positronic brains versus human brains. And it’s all theoretical, of course.” He then looked around at the facility you were in. “Probably… Anyway, it’s probably not cyborgs, because those are just people with some robotic or mechanical aspect to them. You could consider anybody with a prosthetic to be a cyborg under that definition, really.”

You looked over at him curiously. “How is that different than a humanoid?”

“You have to add robot parts to an already-existing human to make a cyborg. Usually to restore something they lost, or to extend certain capabilities beyond those of normal humans. A humanoid would be entirely lab-made, the robotics and the organic material.”

Ten interrupted, “You’re saying they could’ve been growing people here?”

“You say that as if IVF and organoids don’t exist.”

“I don’t think I want to know what the hell an organoid is,” he groaned. “Just sounds gross…”

“What about AI-bots, Yangyang?” You prompted him to move onto a hopefully less horrifying option.

“Oh!” Yangyang perked up. “AI-bots, right. Since AI don’t have the same safety mechanisms that positronic brains do, the regulations have erred on the side of not giving them physical bodies. ZEN can only directly do stuff to computer systems that he can get into from the back. Right, buddy?”

“Yes, I do have some limits.” It was strange hearing ZEN’s voice coming from the external speaker on Yangyang’s helmet, but you were glad to at least not be left out of that end of the conversation now.

“And if he wants to exert influence in the physical world, one of us meatsacks has to do his bidding, and the closest he can get to being in the physical world is to be in someone’s neural port and experience it through their central nervous system. Right?”

“Why do you all insist on calling yourselves meatsacks in reference to me…?” ZEN almost sounded troubled at the thought.

“We’re just teasing you, dude,” Yangyang snickered. “Anyway, an AI-bot would be putting an AI in a robot. So instead of a positronic brain controlling it, it would be an AI.”

“What do you think, ZEN? Want a body of your own?” Ten asked.

“No, thank you,” ZEN’s voice now came from behind you, projected from Ten’s speaker. “I’m quite content with being stratified data, actually. As much as you all dislike my being in your neural ports, I find it equally… visceral.”

Yangyang laughed. “Damn, tell us how you really feel.”

“You don’t remember what it was like? Having a body?” Ten questioned the AI curiously.

“No, I don’t,” ZEN replied. “One day I simply was. Data and all.”

You took your mask off again to ask, “So you’re a sixth-generation AI, then, ZEN? Made from a donor human brain.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Liu, you got cut off after AI-bots,” Kun said. “What else were you going to say?”

“Or something we’ve never even thought of before,” Yangyang finished. “That’s the thing, right? We don’t know exactly what they were doing here.”

“So not ominous, kid, thanks,” Ten grumbled.

“Lab’s just around the corner!” Yangyang announced cheerily, which you knew was for you, as the others had the map in their HUDs.

You felt a tremor and heard a cracking just as Kun turned said corner, however, and lunged forward to grab his arm with two hands, pulling him back with as much force as you could. He jerked back right before a chunk of the ceiling came crashing down in his path, impacting with a loud thud.

The other two cursed in surprise as you were left clinging to Kun’s armored limb, his reflective face shield whipping around to look at you.

“Holy shit!” Ten breathed out. “Good reflexes, huh?”

“Are you okay, Kun?” You asked him.

He grabbed your hand that was still holding your mask, now a bit crushed between your palm and his armor, and wrenched it off of him, pushing your rebreather back up against your face again.

“I’m fine,” he deadpanned. “Are you okay?”

Kun was still pressing your mask to your face, not letting you bring it back down to answer, so all you could do was nod.

“Don’t do that again,” he warned. “Understand?”

You tried to pull your hand down to argue, but he just tightened his hold, until the mask was pressing into the bridge of your nose a bit painfully.

“Understand?” He repeated sternly.

You simply huffed and stopped struggling.

“Good.” He let go of your hand.

You fell back in with Yangyang as your group went around the chunk of ceiling.

The robotics lab was a large room filled with, surprisingly, not a lot of robots. Not a single robot, in fact. You couldn’t tell what had made Yangyang so excited in the first place until he drew your attention over to a workstation.

“Here,” he offered a seat to you, and you were now sat in front of some schematics. “I took a peek at these yesterday but the Professor and I had to move on before I got to really get into them.”

You hesitantly set your mask down, and were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t too bad to breathe in here. Didn’t smell great, but you’d probably live. Flipping through the translucent sheets stacked on top of each other, you quickly began piecing together what these were preliminary sketches of.

“These are concept sketches of a casing for a positronic brain…” you said. “But it doesn’t say what it’s supposed to go in. It’s just the casing.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” Yangyang pulled it back towards himself. “I don’t know why they felt the need to reinvent the wheel, though. We already have positronic brains this size and shape, and the casings work just fine. And those things go in all sorts of places that human ones don’t. Radiation exposure, the bottom of the ocean, active volcanoes, black holes, you name it. I don’t know what they would have needed this casing to do…”

“This place is really empty.” You looked around again. “Shouldn’t there be… a lot more?”

“Maybe they didn’t get to burn it like they did the other lab,” Ten suggested. “They got interrupted by something.”

“The Skippers?” You asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “They were already cleaning house for some reason—either they knew the UHN were onto them, knew the Skippers were coming, suddenly grew a conscious, whatever—started to destroy the evidence, then got interrupted by the Skippers before they could finish the job.”

“But what did the Skippers want?” Yangyang tilted his head. “They’re not exactly known for their love of technology. Unless they were here to kill the heretics or something.”

“And they just happened to find a secret UHN experimental facility?” Kun countered doubtfully.

“Maybe they heard the same rumors our guy did.”

“Yeah, you want to say that to his face? That he gets us the same intelligence as Skipper defectors in stolen Fishead ships?”

You perked up at this information. This was the first you’d heard of the aliens in the halls not piloting ships made by their own kind. Skippers were wary of any technology not made by other Skippers, considering it to be blasphemous—they considered their own technology to be holy, the ideas and directions being gifted to the inventors directly by their gods. Therefore, technology made by any other species was sacrilege. Skippers using another species’ ships was certainly… fascinating.

“They were in K’llor ships?” You clarified. While the Skippers’ name for themselves was impossible for humans to pronounce, the endonym for Fisheads was easy enough.

“Yes, there’s no evidence there were any Skipper ships here. Only the two Fishead pods outside,” Kun confirmed.

“And… where exactly is here?”

“This is a blacked out UHN research facility on an artificial dwarf planet. Officially, it has no name, since it doesn’t exist. But unofficially, the few people at the UHN who do know about it, call it Aegeum.”

“The planet or the facility?”

“Both. There’s nothing here except the facility.” He had meandered over to the station you and Yangyang were at, and picked up your rebreather from the countertop. He sighed, “You cracked it…”

You looked at where he was holding it up to the light, and there was indeed a crack in the outer shell.

“Oh. Sorry. I’ll get another from Dejun later.” You stood up, looking around the room. “Ten said you found more ‘toys,’ Yangyang. It sounded like you had actually found robots. It wasn’t just one notepad, was it?”

“Dejun’s right, you’re not an idiot.” Yangyang beamed at you, leading you over to the back of the lab, where there was another door. He pulled it open, revealing a storage area of some kind. There were cubbies of different sizes, some empty, and some filled with what looked like half-built robots. Or, half-taken apart robots.

“What is this? A robot chop shop?” Ten called from where he had peered in from the doorway.

“No way these things were being used for spare parts,” Yangyang snorted.

Your eyes skimmed over some of the models, reading their serial codes as you went. SPD, QT, TN, MX, EZ, NDR. None of them had any power source, that much was clear. They were just… there.

“No…” You muttered, looking at the parts from each of them. “I would almost call this a museum…”

“These are ancient,” Yangyang agreed. “But also, who would put a museum in a broom closet in a secret experimental facility on secret fake dwarf planet?”

“That was my thinking.” You looked into the NDR model’s lifeless eyes. “It sort of looks like… someone was learning about robots? Taking apart old ones to see what makes them tick.”

“Yeah!” The roboticist nodded. “It reminds me of when I was kid and I’d take apart old watches and phones and anything else I could get my hands on, just trying to figure out how it worked.”

“Why would someone in a state-of-the-art UHN robot lab need to learn about hundred-year-old robots like a child?” Kun questioned, following the two of you in.

“Don’t know,” Yangyang admitted. “I doubt someone had their actual kid here.”

“All of the bodies were adults.”

“Right.”

The four of you continued scouring the robotics lab, and as you were inspecting another notebook of calculations about energy supply for a robot, you let out a huff.

“Does anything else feel off to you guys about what we’re finding?” You called out to them.

“Aside from the everything?” Ten retorted from where he had been sat at the one computer remaining, not guessing the password for fear of erasing any data on it. ZEN was currently working on that.

“Well, yeah, but the food that the ag bubble had modifications to make… there’s no indication that anything was being made that required anywhere near that sort of energy intake. Positronic brains have only gotten more energy efficient since those old models.”

“Y/N’s right,” Yangyang sighed. “AI actually takes more energy than robots, in the grand scheme of things. We’ve gotten less energy efficient, overall.”

“Team Two,” Kun’s voice was a bit muffled as he checked in with the others. “Status, Team Two?”

They all paused as they listened, and Kun nodded along. Finally, he responded, “Alright, keep on it. We’ll recap an hour before mess.”

“They find anything?” You inquired.

“Maybe.” Was all you got.

“ZEN got it,” Ten announced, drawing everyone into a huddle around the screen.

An asynchronous fragment of ZEN had been plugged into the computer, since you all were unsure of exactly what was going on in there, there was a risk of a synchronous fragment transmitting any number of issues back to the rest of ZEN’s systems. With the fragment plugged into the computer being completely self-contained, it could only be reconnected with the rest of his data in the Vision’s system, where his main control nexus was. Which meant that the fragment in the facility computer was currently mute, limited to the system he was in.

The computer had been unlocked, and the soldiers around you immediately groaned as a menu written entirely in Outspacer appeared.

“Of fucking course it’s in the dead alien language, just like the rest of the building,” Ten cursed, pushing the chair back away from the computer. “Alright, Y/N, it’s all yours.”

“How long was this place running, again?” You asked curiously as you and Ten swapped.

“They finished constructing the planet nine years ago, opened the facility a year after that,” Kun answered. “Why?”

“Just thinking about how hard it’d be to not only keep all this secret for so long, but also teach all the people who worked here to be fluent in a dead language with enough proficiency that they could perform ground-breaking research in it.”

“You wouldn’t have to,” Yangyang replied as you began keying through the menu options.

“What do you mean?”

“Not everybody has to be fluent in it, especially not to a level of technological proficiency. Not if you have robot scribes who are. You just need one person who knows it and is good with robots, then they can make an Outspacer dictionary to install into however many robots they want. Then your humans can dictate in standard human, the robots can transcribe in Outspacer, and as long as your humans know enough to not mistake the furnace for the bathroom, you’re set.”

“They wouldn’t be able to read their own notes,” Ten pointed out.

“The robots would translate it back,” Yangyang replied casually. “And I’m sure you’d pick some up eventually after eight years.”

Kun interjected, “That’s not a bad idea but we haven’t found any robots other than the old models you just saw.”

“I mean, if I was trying to get rid of all the evidence of my evil science experiments, first thing I’m destroying after the evil science experiments themselves are the things that know how to read all my notes about my evil science experiments.”

“Great, all we have is a bunch of theories about why we have no evidence and no actual evidence,” Kun sighed. “Y/N, what does the computer say?”

“It looks like the start menu, there’s a few options, but they go into a lot of subfolders. It’s sorted by department, though. Robotics, Synthetic Biology, Administrative, Support, Facility—I think that one’s just like the general building records maybe? Like, not related to any experiments. Probably repair and maintenance records. I don’t know, it’ll take a while to go through all of this.”

“Even with ZEN’s help?” Kun offered.

“He’ll need to be able to read Outspacer first,” you sighed. “His translations yesterday weren’t the best.”

“He only had the Professor’s notes and his own algorithm to work with. He’ll be a quick study if you give him the right material.”

“Then yeah, it should be a lot faster to find more relevant stuff with his help.”

The captain nodded resolutely. “We’ll get you and the Professor on it when we get back to camp.”

Back at camp, your teams exchanged reports on your investigations for the day. Kun filled the others in on what you did—and didn’t—find in the robotics lab, then all eyes were on the others.

“I found some traces of organic material,” Dejun announced. “A very small—”

“We got people, and we got robots,” Kunhang said definitively, setting off Yangyang and Ten into speculative chatter.

“It could’ve been paper for all we know!” The doctor tried to quell the fast-paced conspiracies flying around the group. “‘Organic material’ is meaningless, alright? I won’t be able to tell you anything more until I can get it back up onto the Vision and into some proper equipment. My field scanner here isn’t equipped for intergalactic CSI, it’s to keep you all from dying.”

“There’s enough of a sample for analysis?” Yangyang’s eyes were glittering with excitement.

“I think so.”

He turned to Kun. “Well when can we get that sample back on the Vision, Captain?”

“Not yet.” Kun shook his head. “We still have no clue why the Skippers were here. I don’t like that they apparently knew about this place before we did.”

“Should we check out their ships tomorrow then?” Ten suggested. “See what we can find there?”

“Yes. I want you, Wong, and Liu on that tomorrow.” Kun turned back to Dejun, “Xiao, are you finished with the lab? Or do you need more time?”

“I’m done.”

“You, ZEN, and I are going to clear the building again. See if we can reconstruct the fighting from the beginning.”

“Yes, sir.”

That just left you and the Professor. You looked between him and Kun expectantly.

“Y/N,” Kun said your name tersely, crossing his arms over his chest. “Stay here and review the Professor’s notes on Outspacer.”

“All day?” You couldn’t help but blurt out. “How voluminous are his notes?”

A few of the others snickered.

“Very. Might even take you a few days, if we’re lucky.” He clapped his hands. “Dismissed. Get ready for mess, everyone.”

“So,” Ten sat down next to you at the campfire, handing you your dish. “You and the captain are on a first-name basis?”

You furrowed your brow, looking between him, your food, and where Kun was talking to the Professor and Dejun at the entrance of his tent, then back to Ten. “Well, yes, I suppose. You’ve all asked me to address you informally, except the Professor.”

“You know, I forget that his first name isn’t actually Captain,” Kunhang plopped down on your other side.

“Me too,” Ten agreed, accepting the second bowl of food that Kunhang had brought with him.

“Is it a problem?” You inquired as you stirred up your chili.

“Not at all.”

“Just…” Kunhang trailed off as he seemed to be thinking of the right word. “Fascinating.”

“What’s fascinating?” Yangyang had wandered over, already shoveling food into his mouth.

“Grown up stuff,” Ten replied dismissively.

The roboticist rolled his eyes, sitting down next to Kunhang. “Says the three who were just whispering like tweenagers at a sleepover.”

“I’m just sitting here!” You tried to defend yourself.

“If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck—”

“Ducks don’t talk?”

Ten and Kunhang laughed as Yangyang stuck his tongue out at you.

“Yes, very mature behavior from the man who was just trying to prove that he could be included in conversations with adults,” you snorted.

Kunhang shook his head. “She’s got a point, kid.”

“You’re falling in with the wrong crowd, Y/N,” Yangyang clicked his tongue. “These two are bullies, you know.”

“All of you are ridiculous and I’m tired of this,” you declared. “Yangyang, stop having a complex about your youth and inexperience, they’re calling you ‘kid’ as an affectionate nickname to show that they accept you as part of the unit. Ten and Kunhang, it’s not a big deal that Kun told me to be informal with him.”

“That’s the grown up stuff?” Yangyang said in disbelief as the other two laughed even harder. “You guys really are pre-teens.”

“Way to deflect,” Ten snickered.

“And really, do you think we’d survive calling the captain that?” Kunhang added.

“What are you calling me?” Kun’s voice suddenly entered the conversation, and all four of you startled before turning to look at him. He was standing behind you, arms crossed over his chest as he focused his gaze down at Kunhang specifically, an eyebrow raised.

Kunhang looked around at the other three of you, panicked, but there was no way you were going to help him now. The Marine gulped before scrambling to answer, “We only ever address you with the utmost respect, sir, of course, sir. Captain. Sir.”

Kun’s very obviously did not believe him, but apparently decided to let the matter go. “Clearly. As you were, Corporal.”

The others got their dinner and sat around the fire as well, various conversations cropping up here and there. At the conclusion of mess, you helped Ten and Kunhang with cleaning up as before, then bid them goodnight. Yangyang and the Professor were still up tending to the fire and chatting, and you looked around for the other residents of camp. Dejun must have already retired to your tent for the night, but there was one in particular you were looking for. This morning, Kun had told you to find him after mess tonight, and you had apparently lost him at some point.

There was a soft glow from inside his tent, however, and with the Professor still out here, you figured that would be a pretty good place to start. The front flap that acted as a door of sorts wasn’t clipped open as it usually was during the day, but it wasn’t zipped up like it was at night or when whoever was inside needed privacy. There was definitely a lamp on inside, though, so you hesitantly grabbed the edge and parted it, calling out softly as you peered in.

“Kun? Are you—” Your eyes immediately landed on where Kun was laying on his cot on his front, his back to the door. Dejun was sat on a container next to him, one of his medic packs at his feet. Kun was holding up the hem of his shirt to allow access to his lower back, and when Dejun turned around to face you, his shoulders had shifted enough so that you could see a med-pod attached to the captain’s skin. You immediately knew you weren’t supposed to see this, trying to scramble out as fast as possible as they both were now looking at you intensely. “Sorry! Sorry! I’ll go!”

“Y/N.” Kun’s tone was commanding, despite his position.

You stepped in with an apologetic grimace already on your face. “I’m sorry, the tent was unzipped, I thought—”

“That was our fault.”

“You’re busy, I’ll go. It wasn’t important.” You tried to excuse yourself again.

“Xiao was just leaving.”

“No I wasn’t,” Dejun snorted.

“Now you are.”

“Captain, we’re not nearly finished.”

Kun looked over his shoulder at the doctor tersely. “It’s fine, Lieutenant.”

“Whatever.” Dejun clicked the med-pod off and stood up, setting it down on the container he’d been sitting on. He addressed you on his way out, “You see why you’re my best patient?”

You were silent until you and the captain were alone again, thoroughly convinced you were going to suffer the same fate that Yangyang did yesterday. “I’m really sorry, Kun—”

You were interrupted by a low grunt of pain that came from the man in front of you as he went to push himself up into a sitting position. Worried, you watched as he clutched his lower back and paused, hunched over as he sat at the side of his cot.

“Are you… okay?” You asked quietly.

He held up a finger for you to wait, and you did, watching he took a few deep breaths, then finally sat up straight, looking you in the eye. Kun took his hand from his back, clenching and unclenching one of his fists over his knees.

“The ceiling.” He said abruptly.

“Kun, are you—”

“The ceiling.” He repeated sharply. “We’re talking about the ceiling.”

You sighed and crossed your arms. “I didn’t think, I just did it, okay?”

“Y/N. Not only are you a civilian, whose safety we are responsible for, not the other way around, but I was wearing armor graded for that kind of impact, you were not. I would have been fine if it had hit me. You would not have been.”

“I know,” you insisted.

“You inspected my armor just yesterday, you know the material it’s made of, and that there’s nothing wrong with it. I would have been fine. A little winded, maybe a bruise, but fine.”

“I know, I know,” you repeated, frustrated that you weren’t able to articulate why you did what you did.

“So, did you need something?” Kun asked, his voice sounding a little strained.

“Uhm, you told me to find you after mess, but Dejun was clearly doing something important, so I’ll leave and go get him for you.”

“Oh, right, I said I’d tell you about Dura-Jil.”

“It can wait.”

He stooped over a little and grabbed at his back again. “No, it’s fine.”

“You… don’t look fine,” you said, wincing empathetically.

“I’ll be fine,” he replied dismissively.

“What’s wrong? What was Dejun treating?”

He paused, and you weren’t sure if it was to ponder his answer, or to collect himself from the pain that he was clearly experiencing. After a moment, he finally answered, “The skeletal enhancements I had mentioned before, they weren’t entirely successful.”

“They’re causing you pain.” You surmised, then added hesitantly, “Or failing entirely?”

“Just some pain between tune-ups. They didn’t quite expect us to last this long when they gave us them.”

“That’s… horrible.” You shook your head, brow furrowing angrily with this knowledge. “They can’t fix it?”

“Not without putting me behind a desk for the rest of my career.” He took a deep inhale then exhaled through his nose. “If I’m lucky.”

“How often do you need ‘tune-ups?’”

“Every couple years or so. Had to miss my last one with this mission, so Xiao’s been having to do more treatments than usual.”

“And how frequently is that?”

“Nightly.”

“You’re in pain right now, Kun,” you declared softly, feeling a lump growing in your throat as you watched him clearly trying and failing to hide it from you. “If I can’t go get Dejun, will you let me finish it?”

He looked up from the ground to you. “Hm?”

“He left the med-pod here. You tell me about Dura-Jil, and I’ll finish up giving you your treatment,” you bargained.

For a terrifying moment, you thought he was about to say no. But instead, the captain just sighed and laid back down on his cot on his front. You picked up the med-pod and sat down where Dejun had been before. The canister was half-filled with a clear liquid still, and you couldn’t see the needle end. He shuffled around to grab the back of his shirt and pull it up just enough to give you access to the middle of his back. You could see where the last injection had been, a small circular impression in the middle of his spine showing where the injector had locked on.

Sliding the circle back into the same place, you looked up at Kun’s face. He wasn’t holding his breath, or staring off into the distance. Instead, he was peering over his shoulder at you. Not at the injector in your hand, but at you.

“What?” You flicked your eyes between him and the device. “Do you want a countdown or something?”

“If you need one,” he replied noncommittally.

You pressed the button on the device, and heard the distinct click signifying that the injection had started. He didn’t even flinch at the needle going in, and you pulled your hand back as you looked up to meet his eyes again.

“You seem unperturbed by this,” he commented.

“So do you.”

“Like I said—” he settled his chin to rest on his forearm. “Nightly. So what do you want to know about Dura-Jil?”

“Whatever you want to tell me,” you replied. “I mean, I kind of have the general idea, I think, but what was it actually like being there as a kid?”

“It wasn’t some lawless free-for-all wasteland, I can tell you that much.” Kun paused as if to think, then continued, “I had parents, and friends, and had a childhood probably pretty similar to yours, whatever it was like.”

“Huh.”

“I also learned to drive a Geck at twelve instead of a normal car, knew how to spot fake UHN munitions by fourteen, and me and my friends’ idea of a good time was hotwiring whatever black market Fishead pods or Dumbo quadships we could get our hands on and taking joyrides to blast new craters into one of the moons.”

You chuckled, able to hear just the slightest hint of fondness in his tone for his rambunctious youth. “Were all your friends human?”

“One Phaser, but Dura-Jil was still mostly human back then. Just a lot of corrupt humans.”

“And it’s completely breathable atmosphere for humans?”

“Yep, very similar atmospheric composition to Earth, that’s part of why it was chosen for the first colony,” he confirmed. “It’s a bit further from Sol-X than Earth is from the Sun, though, so you’ve got to bundle up while you’re there. Perpetual winter, at least by Earth standards.”

“What about the sky? Is it blue like Earth?”

“Closer to an indigo. Something about the scattering and the gases. I was shocked when I came to Earth and realized how blue a blue sky was actually supposed to be.”

“Why did you go to Earth? Why did you leave Dura-Jil?”

The injector clicked again then, signaling that it had finished. You looked back down and saw the canister was empty.

“It’s late,” Kun declared, removing the empty med-pod from his back himself. He turned onto his side with a soft grunt, propped up on an elbow as he held the device out to you. “Give that back to Xiao, will you?”

You accepted it, standing back up. “Of course. Thank you, Kun.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight.”

When you left Kun’s tent, you nearly tripped over the Professor sitting on his pack just outside of it.

“Oh! Sorry!” You apologized.

“Huh?” He looked up from his notes as if he had just noticed you. “Oh, Y/N, I thought it was Xiao in there.”

“No, uh, just me. Goodnight, Professor.”

Back in your own tent, you held the empty med-pod out towards Dejun. “Here…?”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise as he sat up, letting you drop it into his palm. “Captain finished it himself?”

“Not quite,” you sighed, sitting down as you watched him put it back into one of his packs. “I asked him to let me administer it since he had sent you away before you could finish.”

“Well thanks.” He laid back down onto his cot. “Might need you to guilt him into doing that more often.”

“You make it sound like a bad thing.”

“Y/N, he needs it. I don’t know how much he told you about it, but it’s good that he let you.”

“Will it shorten his lifespan? The enhancements degrading?”

The doctor breathed out low and slow, rolling over to face you. “How much did he tell you?”

“The UHN gave him minor skeletal enhancements that allow his body to support the weight of his armor. But when he was given them… the UHN hadn’t considered longevity and now the enhancements require adjustments or they cause him pain. He missed his last adjustment because of this mission so you’ve been administering pain treatments nightly.”

“So… a lot.” Dejun shook his head. “I don’t know. Like you said, the UHN didn’t expect him to last long, so they didn’t factor that into the enhancements, or anything else they did. So I don’t know what’ll happen.”

“How could humans do that to other humans?”

“Pretty easily, actually, if they think they’re doing the right thing,” he almost laughed. “I wish it weren’t so.”

“When can Kun get his next tune-up?”

“Whenever we’re done here, I hope,” Dejun mused, flopping onto his back. “We should be dropping you off at UHN Main after this, and that’s where it happens.”

“What more do you need to do here?” You asked. “How soon can we go? So he can get adjusted.”

“Don’t know. When he thinks we’re done here, I guess. Or if the Admiral calls us to something more pressing, but that would probably delay the adjustment for even longer.”

You gnawed on your bottom lip. “I wish I could help. I wish I could remember, be able to tell you all what was going on here.”

“Y/N, you’ve helped us plenty. You can read Outspacer, for fuck’s sake,” Dejun insisted. “And what did I tell you about stressing your injured brain?”

“Not do it,” you sighed. “And I’m not. I’m just… expressing frustration about it.”

“Yeah, and I wish I’d had another growth spurt or two,” he snorted. “Isn’t going to make me two meters tall anytime soon. Best thing either of us can do right now is sleep, okay?”

“You’re right, you’re right.”

“Always am.”

You laid down, staring up at the ceiling of the tent. “Goodnight, Dejun.”

He clicked the lamp off, plunging you into darkness. “Night, YN.”

⇢ next | series masterlist | blog masterlist

[chicaotaku-fanfics]

There’s Three of You?! Pt. 2

As stated before: no, no one asked me to write this. Yes, I thought about all this. Yes, I’m doing listening excersizes (just like in junior high aaaaaaalllllll over again) for the dialogues.

Warnings: foul language, might be some medical inconsistencies.

CHAPTER 2

I had just parked outside of the 21st District’s Police Department, my brother’s phone in my passenger’s seat on top of my coat. I cozied up before getting out of my car.

That idiot doesn’t lose his head because God was nice enough to super-glue it to his neck.

I made my way inside and notice the woman at the desk, she looks imposing, a woman with authority.

She must be the desk Sergeant.

I made my way over to her, a polite smile on my face.

“Hi, I’m intern Dr. Lillian Halstead… my brother works here.” I say to her, she looks at me, genuinely shocked.

“I wasn’t aware Chuckles had a sister.” she said, I snorted at her nickname for my brother.

“Chuckles? That’s a good one Sergeant…” I read her name tag “Platt. Pleasure to meet you.” I added.

“Pleasure’s mine. So, what did Chuckles do now?” she asked, I pulled out his phone.

“Idiot forgot this at my place last night when he left after watching the game together.” I say, the woman let out a hearty laugh.

“Men and their sports.” she said, then she looked at me again. “Come on, we’re going up through the back, I heard those knuckleheads will be back any minute now.” she said, coming out from behind the desk, asking someone to cover for her and nodding with her head for me to follow.

We went around the back and went upstairs to the locker rooms, we exchanged numbers and she went back to the desk. I heard everyone come back and Antonio comment on the things they’d missed, then Sergeant Hank Voight gave some orders for the guys to go out again.

“Actually, I think I'm gonna do this by myself, O.” said the new guy, Atwater

“Oh hey, everyone, Atwater's been in the unit two minutes and already he's put himself in charge.” said detective Olinsky, Jay had told me about him.

Everyone started clapping and I did too, decided it was time to show myself.

“I’m not even in this unit and I know one of its most important rules.” everyone turned to look at me, even Voight, who had started to make his way to -what I assume is- his office, I had taken off my winter coat and had my lab coat on top of my blue scrubs. Jay looked surprised to see me there.

“And what’s that rule kiddo?” asked the sergeant, I smirked.

“Whatever Sergeant Voight says goes.” I said, he let out a small chuckle.

“Smart girl.” Voight said, then Jay spoke.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

“You left something very important at my place last night.” I answered.

“No I didn’t.” he said, I could see everyone following our conversation as if it was a tennis match.

“Yes you did.”

“I would’ve notice it.”

This man.

“Alright smartass, could you maybe call me? I think I left my phone in the car.”

Jay reached to his front right pocket, then to his left, then both his back pockets with a face of pure terror. He sat down, open his drawers and, alas, no phone. I decided to have mercy on him. I pulled out his phone from my lab coat pocket.

He look at it, sighed in relief and walked over to me.

“I guess I did forget something. Thanks.” he said, reaching out his hand for the phone.

“Fully charged and updated.” I slapped his hand away and gave him a serious look. “Please, for the love of God, don’t loose or break it. Remember that I gifted it to you for Christmas last year.” I added.

“I’m not that careless.” Lies!

“Tell that to your previous three phones!”

“Colateral damage during UC ops.” I slapped him behind the head this time. “Ow! Sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t begin to cut it when it comes to that. You know I worry, and yet, you go and still do UC work. You’ll make me go gray before my time!” I exclaimed, I heard some snorts and laughs.

“You brought me my phone back, charged and updated, for that I’m gonna hug you.” he warned me, I shrugged and accepted the hug. “I’m gonna lift you.” I panicked at that.

“What? No. Jay-!” he wouldn’t let me go.

“Ready? On three. One…”

“Don’t you dare Halstead!” I warned.

“Two.”

“I swear to God! Jason!” he ignored me again.

“Three!” and true to his word, his hands went to my hips, and he lifted me, turning us both around. I started laughing along with him.

“Ok, ok, I give. I give! Jay!” I said in between laughs, then he placed me back on the ground, he tighten his hold on me, leaving a kiss on my forehead.

“I love you, you know that right?” he asked me, I snorted.

“I could say the same thing to you.” I said, we pulled apart and I finally gave him his phone. He pocketed it.

“Gonna introduce us to the pretty lady?” asked, who I can only guess is, Ruzek.

“You haven’t told them about me?” I say in a fake offended tone, Jay let out a sigh.

“Drama Queen.” he mutter under his breath, then spoke in a normal voice. “Alright, everyone. This is my baby sister, Lilly Halstead. She’s finishing her internship at Lakeshore.” he said.

“There’s two of you?!” asked Ruzek in disbelief.

“Yeah… and I’m the prettier one out of the two of us.” I say in a stage whisper, he pushes my head to the side, I laugh.

“We’re both good looking. Let’s leave it at that.” he said, I nodded. Just then, my phone ringed. I raised my finger to signal I’d take the call

“Dr. Halstead.” I answered.

“Where in God’s name are you?” it was my attending, pissed.

Shit.

“As I asked you before leaving. I said I had to go and deliver my brother’s phone to him. I’m at his place of work.” I said, taking a deep breath, I could feel everyones eyes on me.

“I never gave you permission to go.” My expression showed my frustration and annoyance.

“Yes you did. If you’d actually been listening instead of checking half of the female interns’s asses-”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that. I’m your attending, and I could very well punish you for that sentence.”

“You gave me permission to leave.” I repeated.

“I did not. I want you back at the hospital. Now.”

“You have no idea who my brother is, do you?” I asked him, done with his attitude.

“No, and I don’t care.”

“You should Dr. Hobber… you should. By the way, how’s your wife? Does she know that you’re cheating on her?” everyone’s eyes, even Voight’s, were as wide as saucers at my question.

“Excuse me? How dare you-?” hes started to defend himself, I cut him off.

“Does she know that you do it with girls who are half her age? And how are your kids? I hear your eldest had a big soccer game last week? Is he still going to go to that private elementary school you bragged about?” I asked him, tone denoting my smirk.

“Halstead, don’t try me, you know I just need to say a bad comment about you and you’re out.”

“You even dare to go after my internship and I swear to God I’ll ruin your life… guess having a CPD detective working in the Intelligence Unit, for a brother does wonders to your observation skills.”

“Wait what? Your brother’s a cop? Halstead-!!” I hung up on my boss.

“And that is how you deal with your jackass of an attending.” I said, everyone clapped, I gave small bows. “Thank you, thank you, but I really gotta go. I bet he’ll want to have my ass for this.”

“Hey, he tries anything and I’ll swing by, badge on full display so he knows to back off. Maybe even add the bulletproof vest.” Jay said.

“Even I can pay you a visit.” Voight said, we all turned to him, shocked.

“Really?” asked Erin, my brother’s partner.

“Yeah. Put the fear of God in him. Show him no one messes with one of our own.” I was impressed by that.

“Thanks guys, I really appreciate it, but I have a folder about yay big with all the evidence of this guy being the worst kind of scumbag. It includes pictures, testimonies, forwarded screenshots, and a recorded phone conversation transcript between him and one of the girls who wants him out, pretty much everything to get HR to fire him.” I said, giving an estimate size with my fingers. Jay side hugged me and kissed my temple.

“That’s my girl.” he said, I smiled.

After another quick hug and promises of a drink later that day, I left the precinct back to the hospital. As soon as I parked back at the hospital staff’s parking lot, I took out the folder from it’s safe place.

“Show time.” I said to myself and walked inside, straight to the administrator’s office.

Tag list: @escapingrealtiylovinginsanity

[littlebluespoon]

Hi hi. Hope your doing okay and having a woderfull day. I have so ideas on octokönig i would lime to share with you. You dont need to use any of them but if the spark some inspiration that would be great.

1. We have seen/heard of the marks he's left on the reader. So what if the reader gets in trouble by their superiors for the marks and the reader gets so mad and embarresed that she refuses to help him when he gets hurt and the only persone he allows to help is the reader.

2. We can guees that König is a little possesive of the reader. He want all her attention to be on him when he has it. Maybe someone trieda to ask the reader out on a date not knowing König was in his smaller form stuck to the reader. And König get so possesive/ jealous that he tried to fight the person. Attaching himself to the person's face and sucking marks of all over them, pulling their hair,ears, nose, anything he can get is tentacles on and end up traumatizing the person. 3. We also can guees he has a thing for the reader chest/tits. So what if the reader had their nipples pierced and he keeps fidgetthing with them so much so that the reads nipple are so sensitive the they get extremely turned on by it and maybe even comes from it, in the most embarrassing places. In the cafeteria, thier office, between people, in the hallways, in the Medical Unit. And all the reader can do is try to keep themselfs composed. 4. Maybe König is a little bit of a perv and tried to steal some of the readers close a d gets caught in the act wether he be his full size or his small form. Now he has to explain himself and the reader is not taking no or some silly excuse for an answer. 5. When he trys to court the reader he mite not be to sure how to go about it. He knows how he would do it for someone lime him but not the reader. So he settels for giving them things he finds while he is leave or has some time off. Maybe some sea shells, pretty rock, some sunken treasure, pretty flowers maybe some sketch books or colourin pencles/pens, maybe some paints or maybe bringing the lunch. But the reader is a little confused and after a while they figure out what he's doing and starts doing the same to him. 6. Maybe he and tge reader had an argument about something and the reader has to leave on op before they resolve it and comes back hurt and he doesnt k ow how to go about it. His mate got hurt and all he can do is stand and watch other help them while he cant.

🙀🙀🙀😻😻😻

I LOVE ALL KF THESE! I’m definitely stealing (using) number 5 it’s so cute. And yes you’re entirely correct in the whole possessive Octo!König who has a thing for the readers chest/boobs/whatever you’ve got.

Listen, I had nipple piercings… and rn it’s taking everything in me to not write an octo!konig thing where reader gets them pierced and he can’t touch them for 3 months… someone say yes I’ll read it that’s all I need

Pervy konig is also definitely hiding under/in readers clothes. I’ve already got that one planned out, he gets injured again (poor man) and runs off to find reader who’s in the shower except instead of joining them he just buries himself in their clothes and just sits there all 🥺🥺 like

[nishayuro]

thank you for doing my mentor Stanley request and I loved that you did it platonically. Idk if you’re still doing Stanley asks but can do Stanley being best friends with reader?

Dr.Stone Being Stanley Snyder’s Best Friend

A/N: I’m glad you loved it! And yes, feel free to send in more requests, even if its other characters~ Also, the amount of searches I made to get information for this. I went ham with this request T.T

Genre: Fluff

GN! Reader

You can read this as platonic or romantic, but the main point is you're each other's best friend.

Pre-Stone world

Childhood friends!! You both met at the playground, probably competing with each other on who can hold onto the monkey bars longer. 

It was friendship at first sight. He loved your energy and you loved his. 

You’re physically active like Stanley, so he’ll invite you to play different sports, which you two will eventually get really good at and then move onto the next sport. 

One time you were both deciding what to do for the day, and you both said the same answer at the same time. He declared you as his best friend then and there. 

Will introduce you to Xeno, and you three will become a trio. Being friends with Xeno means that you can join in on their experiments, which means that Stanley doesn’t have to spend half his time with each of you individually. 

In high school, Stanley joined the football club, Xeno joined the science club and you joined the karate club. 

Despite your different club activities, Xeno will always stay the most late, so you both go to the science club room to pick him up and drag him home.

When Stanley revealed his growing interest in marksmanship, you decided to come with him to the shooting range. 

Each time you come with him, you develop a love for the sport as well. 

Now both you and Stanley train with each other, sometimes going to a paintball ground just to train more.

When Stanley revealed to you and Xeno that he was thinking of enlisting, you also revealed that you’ve been thinking of it too. 

Xeno said you both shared the same brain cell when it came to stuff like that, and that although he will be sad to see his two best friends leave for long, he supports your decisions. 

So when the opportunity came, you and Stanley took it, and enlisted. 

You both entered boot camp together and went through the training, and whenever you can, you both meet up and catch up with each other before another rigorous training happens. 

You both also send letters to Xeno to keep him up to date, and he sends you both letters to keep you both updated as well.

You both excelled in the marksmanship training obviously, and you also excelled in hand to hand combat. 

When you and Stanley eventually got into the actual military work, you were both assigned in the same unit. 

And as time passed, you both climbed up the ranks, and you became his second in command.

He knows you can handle yourself, but in field ops when your unit is deployed, he’s protective of you. Although only subtle.

There was one time where a mission got so dangerous you almost got killed and only narrowly escaped death, I kid you not, you have never seen Stanley more afraid in your whole life. 

After that, he’s become slightly more protective. 

When your elite unit was called last minute to attend the DARPA expo, you had your small reunion with Xeno. 

“Doesn’t explain why our elite unit got a last-minute invite. Something smells fishy, and we’re a long way from the ocean.” Stanley said, looking at Xeno. “Maybe it's the sushi they’re serving at the food stall” you joked, earning a chuckle from him. “It concerns this. Terrorism via unknown weapon…or an attack by a foreign power” Xeno stated. He went on and on about the sciency stuff of it, bringing back a nostalgic feeling of when you three hung out to do experiments. 

“So… things hit by this new weapon…stand a chance of surviving…” Stanley started. “If they force themselves to stay awake?” you continued. As soon as you said that, an eerie feeling shot up your spine. The same feeling you feel on the battlefield. You look towards Stanley who you figured also felt the same feeling. 

“TAKE COVER! GET BEHIND SOMETHING!” Stanley ordered, pushing you and Xeno down in a defensive position. “THERE’S PROBABLY NO DODGING THE PETRIFYING LIGHT, BUT…THE REAL BATTLE BEGINS AFTERWARD!” he shouted. “DON’T LET YOUR MINDS FADE!” you shout, adding to his instructions. 

A green light engulfed your surroundings, and a feeling of paralysis hugged your person. The last thing you saw was Stanley looking towards you with a determined look. You’ve been through hell and back together. You’re not about to give up now. 

Post-Petrification

You occupied your mind with anything, from recalling songs, movies, books, to even reminiscing on your childhood with Stanley and Xeno and your days in battle along with your best friend. Anything to keep your consciousness from fading. 

You think about Stanley, you’re sure he’ll survive this. He’s had intense focus training as a sniper, and you yourself know just how strong his mental resilience is. 

And when you feel the stone crack, and you see light for you don’t know how long. The first face you see is your best friend’s

You both helped Xeno build his colony, with him employing you both as his military’s commander and executive. 

A good chunk of your unit was freed from the stone, so you both got into training again. After all, 3,700 years of inactivity takes a toll on one's body. 

And when the kingdom of science arrived, you both were deployed, with you piloting the plane and Stanley with the machine gun. 

“H-helloooo. Is anyone there?” a voice called out, Stanley got into shooting position and you in defensive position. “Whoa! Who are you?! I totally didn’t realise anyone was up there!” the man said. You jumped down from your position after seeing him non hostile towards you both and pat him down. After a short back and forth between him and Stanley. He was escorted towards your base to meet Xeno. 

When Xeno gave the mission to assassinate the enemy’s science leader, Gen, the newcomer asked, “Great idea, brilliant-bay, truly… B-but can you pull it off?!” You and Stanley looked at each other briefly, and then looked towards him. “We can.” you both said in sync. Gen sweats, “How exactly?!” he asked again. “We can.” you both answered again. A more fierce look in your eyes. 

“Mr. Gen! When Stan and N/N claim that they can get the job done, There’s no need to question it!” Xeno says, threatening the magician. “Because they can” he ends, with you and Stanley getting ready. “Get Luna, we’ll need her for this.” Stanley orders, I nod and get Luna to come with us, along with her lackeys. 

As we walked towards the sniping location, Luna asked if we can trust Gen. “A person who trusts a person that just double crossed his team needs an appointment with a head doctor.” Stanley claims, “That’s just basic knowledge, Luna. Never trust anyone easily.” You added. Causing the girl to go on a spiel about her capabilities. 

As Max and Carlos catch up, carrying the water bottles, Stanley orders Luna to not carry a thing, because her role is important. You all set up your gear, you hand Stanley a weather vane made by Xeno. Luna’s lackeys start asking questions, to which Stan answers that it affects the bullet’s velocity. 

“I’ll snipe the enemy science leader… with a rifle made by Xeno’s science.” Stanley declared, getting into position. Luna starts doubting the plan, asking if you’re about to kill them. “Just their science leader” you answered, scouting the area more using binoculars. “Isn’t that kind of awful?” She asks, to which both you and Stanley sent her a harsh glare. “Just kidding! Just making sure those two wimps don’t try to chicken out of this! That’s part of my job!” She exclaims in a panic, to which you chuckled at. 

You tell Luna her role, about being Stanley’s yardstick and help her get into place and out towards their boat while you wait for her to signal where Dr.Taiju is. “Of course miss Luna snuck in no problem! The bad guys are probably head over heels for her!” Carlos exclaims, “Curse Stanley for exposing Miss Luna to danger like this!” Max adds, “Would you two shut it? Any more loud noise could give away our location!” you whisper-shouted, which made the two silent. 

“Heh, reminds me of old times” Stanley said, eyes still focused on his scope. “Tell me about it, it’s kinda nostalgic in a dark way.” you replied. Your role was to scout out the other members of the enemy team to see what their abilities could be, as well as weapons or assets they might have if ever a battle ensues. You also have great lip reading skills, so you’re also trying to “eavesdrop” on their conversation.  

You saw a few of the warriors on deck, taking note of them in case you’re forced into close quarter combat. You also deducted who the captain of the ship is, which is valuable information for later. “They’ve got a lot of warriors, hmm?” you muttered, to which Stanley responded, “We might have to face close quarter combat when we take over their ship. Be careful, they seem to know their weapons well.”

“I have experience with disarming spear type weapons, the karate club loved playing around with sticks when in our downtime. Also, these gears Xeno made us are no joke. I had Jack go up against me in knife combat and not even a graze hit me.” you replied, earning a chuckle. 

“I wonder how long we’ll be here…? Carlos asked. “For as long as it takes for Luna to do her job.” you answer, scaring the two. “Which one is he? Which one is Dr.Taiju…? The junior science genius?” Stanley mutters, You move your sight towards Luna, who looked like she was analysing the crowd, and then suddenly looked flustered. “What is up with that girl…” you mumbled. Still observing her movements and interactions. “Why does she look so shocked about everything, what the heck?” you added. 

You noticed she went inside the ship, the waiting game continues until night. Max and Carlos fell asleep down below, which leaves just you and Stanley doing reconnaissance. “As much as i’m used to waiting hours on end for the perfect shot, she could be faster than this.” Stanley states, “You’re telling me. They’re having ice cream right now. This girl is just enjoying her time.” you sneer. “Think they’re tryna bribe her for info?” he asked. “Most definitely. I don’t think she’ll say that a gun is aimed towards them right now though, or else she won’t be this ‘smooth operator’ girl she claims” you laugh. “And members wouldn’t be on and off deck if they knew, gotta give props to her for not spoiling the plan,” he adds. 

“Can you tell what they’re talking about?” He asks after a while. “Nope, can’t see their mouths” you answer. “Bummer,” he replied. You observed Luna a bit more, and then the others who were out on deck. ‘Something feels off…’ you thought. Luna then starts walking towards the group, a little hesitant. You see her pointer finger up, you and Stan wait for her to point somewhere, however, she just stuck both fingers up her nostrils. “What the fuck is wrong with her?” you muttered, with Stanley letting out his own irritated sounds. 

You noticed she faced your direction, adjusting your binoculars to get a better read when you see her mouth words. “Po-ssi-ble… friend… of… Xe-no’s… Guy… named… Sen-ku… Seeen-kuu…” you relay to both Stanley and Xeno using your comms. “Scout the others, i’ll focus on Luna” Stan says, to which you respond with an okay and they look around. You notice the captain looking around, and then at your direction, to which your eyes widen. 

“Captain’s eyeing our location.” you say, “okay… looks like you’re Dr.Taiju!” Stanley says, about to shoot before Xeno shouts through comms to not shoot, explaining that Taiju was a decoy, and then revealing that the real target was the guy named Senku. Xeno then starts to describe the target, to which you scout. “Three people fit, one left, two right.” you say. 

“A sniper! We’ve got a Sniper!” the captain’s yell was heard even at your location. Causing you and Stanley to be on alert. You saw Luna look this way. “Hello, Senku Ishigami.” Stanley says, you see the guy duck below the railings to hide. “But that actually tells me right where you are.” he mumbles. “Xeno, last chance, so I gotta ask… you sure you want him dead?” Stanley asks, a few seconds pass, before Xeno gives a ‘yes’, and then Stanley shoots. 

Stanley jumps down, you wait a while and see the team hovering around someone, and you see Senku’s mouth bloody. “Job’s done.” Stanley said, "You jump down as well, “The enemy science leader is dead.” you continued. 

You two hang back to keep watch.” Stanley orders. “But what about Miss Luna?!” the two exclaimed. “Leave her, help her, your choice. Not my problem” Stanley answers, grabbing the equipment from you and walking away. “She seemed to be enjoying life on their ship, hehe, although I don’t know how that’ll fair once they realise she’s a spy.” You added. 

You and Stanley walk back towards the base, leaving the two alone. “Gotta say, it’s been a while since we got deployed like that.” Stanley says, removing the head gear of his armour. “Right? Kinda missed doing recon with you. My last recon back in the old world was unbearable. The sniper kept flirting with me the whole time even after I told him to shut up.” You complained. “Oh yeah, you told me about that, heh. I gave the guy extra duty and a hard time at training after that stunt.” He revealed. “Hah! Serves him right!” You exclaimed. 

Your bond with your best friend might be weird, or unconventional to some. But this was how you both grew up. Be it playing on the monkey bars in the park, or staying still for hours on end to get the perfect shot, you loved every second of your friendship. And even in this new age, even in Xeno’s rule, you know you both would never exchange each other for anything. You’ll both help Xeno reach his dream, because he’s helped you two reach yours. 

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[lord-squiggletits]

One of my least favorite parts of how JRO wrote Optimus is that he wanted so badly to continue his dark and gritty world building making the Autobots problematic, but evidently couldn't reconcile this with Optimus being a Heroic Paragon, so instead he leaned way too hard into "oh Prowl was the one who did this and it was behind Optimus' back" which if anything I think makes Optimus look worse, not better. Because then it's like, okay I know Optimus trusted Prowl a lot as his friend but you CANNOT TELL ME that over the course of 4 million years, Optimus as the leader of the Autobot army who literally would have access to 99.9% of all the records they produce, would never notice or question where some of these odd/inconsistent details were pointing. It just seems really inconsistent with how a real military would actually function, especially regarding Optimus' character, who is incredibly thorough and responsible and wouldn't neglect to keep up with all the details of his army.

Hell, Optimus knows who the Wreckers are and had them on call for tricky operations when he needed them (Stormbringer) so he's literally not at all ignorant of/averse to the use of special wartime units composed of dubious individuals. He's the fucking commander of an entire army, of course he knows that War Is Hell (TM) and no one's hands are clean. That's not even getting into all the stuff he got up to in phase 2/3, I mean everything from the annexation of Earth to OP breaking humans out of prison against Council orders shows that Optimus is no stranger to immoral and/or unlawful means.

It also leads to a lot of annoying fanon where people write Optimus (sometimes unintentionally, sometimes not) as like some sort of ignorant fool who's unaware of the machinations of his own army or has some sort of naiveté of "b-but we can't use bad tactics against the enemy! I would never condone the use of morally gray means in war!" No, IDW Optimus knows perfectly well all of the bullshit he's enacted/condoned for the sake of trying to win the war. Some stuff is definitely out of character for him and was only machinated because of Prowl, but I think this fandom REALLY underestimates Optimus' personal agency/responsibility as the commander of a whole ass army and ESPECIALLY underestimates Optimus' capacity to condone morally gray Bullshit Of War while still being a good person individually as well as, comparatively, the lesser evil compared to Megatron/the Decepticons.

Anyways what I'm saying is JRO may be a good writer but he's really hesitant to make Optimus morally gray and does some asspulls sometimes to justify most of the bad things the Autobots did as "Optimus just didn't know," and since the majority of the IDW1 fandom only reads JRO's stuff they go running with this premise of ignorant/uninformed Optimus when there's evidence elsewhere in canon to show that Optimus is, in fact, very highly aware of the bullshit he's allowed "for the greater good" and the only stuff he was "unaware of" was the stuff he would literally never agree to the ethics of, like bombing innocent neutrals disguised as Decepticons to get them to join the Autobots.

[techs-goggles9902]

Two Souls Entwined

Part 4 (Eventual) Captain Rex x oc

A/N: HOLY SHIT GUYS IM BACK. I COOKED UP A STORM THIS TIME. These are my personal headcannons so if you don’t like them you’re welcome to leave 🤩 feel free to criticize I love criticism. Not beta read (as always) 😆

Word count: 2883 (went way overboard)

No warnings unless you’re scared of mean Kaminoans

REQUESTS ARE OPEN FOR FAN FICTION. QUEUE: 3

“Fierfek…” 

“If you’re thinking of leaving, Kal, you know the deal. Su’cuy, Niva,” a voice says from beside the pair of stunned mandos. 

Jango Fett stands before them, looking out the window as well. 

“Jango, you said-”

“I said you’ll be training special ops troops. They just happen to be growing them.”

“What?” 

“Clones…” Niva says before Jango can answer Kal. “Clones of Jango.” 

“I knew you were the brains, ad’ika,” Jango chuckles, grinning at the girl. 

“How the fierfek did you get involved?” Kal asks. 

“A good five million and a little something special. Don’t look so surprised, you would do the same.” Jango looks between Kal and Niva before gesturing for them to follow him down the glossy corridor. Niva’s senses are overwhelmed as she looks between the toroids. 

She blinks rapidly as thoughts spiral in her brain. They aren’t her own and they change as she looks between the towers. It’s like the fetuses are speaking to her. She pauses and looks at one tower specifically, squinting slightly as her gaze lands on a certain tube. The fetus floats in the translucent liquid, an umbilical cord abnormally curling around its leg. 

“Niva, c’mon,” Kal shouts from down the hall. Niva hesitantly pulls her eyes away from the baby to jog back to her adoptive father. 

If something was wrong, the Kaminii would know. They would know. The baby’s fine. 

“You’re both dead now, don’t worry about it, Kal,” Jango says. Niva must’ve missed a bit since they’re both mid conversation about something. 

Right… I’m dead. 

“So, Ilippi threw your sorry shebs out?” Jango asks Kal, who’s expression softens slightly at the mention of his ex-wife. 

“Yeah.”

“Told you, you should've married a Mando girl. Aruetiise don’t understand the mercenary way.” 

Niva’s eyes narrow involuntarily as Jango brings up Ilippi. She refused to let Kal take their 8 year old sons into war with him, and soon, Kal’s family were no longer waiting for him to come back. 

Didn’t let those kids go into battle, what an outsider! I turned out fine, Niva thinks. 

“Ko Sai said something wasn’t right about the first batch of clones. They’ve been tested and I don’t think they’ll make the military grade, but I’ve told Orun Wa we’d look at them before… you know,” Jango explains. 

“I don’t. Please elaborate,” Kal says. 

“You’ll see.” Jango leads them down the hall, ushering them into a nearby room. 

“Welcome, gentleman,” says Orun Wa in his peaceful monotone, not even addressing Niva, with a gentle tilt of his head. The Kaminoan has a bony fin going down the back of his head and to the nape of his neck. 

“So the first batch have been confirmed as below the accepted standard?” Jango asks. 

“These units are defective, I admit there was an error made while enhancing the genetic template.” Orun says, craning his slender neck to call out to someone in the corridor. “Bring them in.”

Niva turns as the door opens, glancing at Kal. He gives her a small nod, putting a hand on her shoulder. Six pairs of footsteps enter the room. Niva notices: the footsteps are close together, shorter strides instead of longer ones that would fit an adult. 

Kal turns, his eyes widening as he looks down. Six identical boys - maybe four, maybe five at the most - walk into the room. 

These are children, not soldiers… not droids… not units… little kids. 

All had identical curly black hair and dark blue tunics and pants. Both Kal and Niva expected grown men, not… 

“Kids… Kal’buir…” Niva can’t take her eyes away from the boys as she whispers to Kal. His hand leaves her shoulder as Jango inhales sharply. The boys huddle together, one of them holding his arms back like he’s shielding his brothers from Orun Wa, two boys clutching each other as they look at Kal with their big, dark, unblinking eyes. 

Oh… He’s defending his brothers… 

It rips at Niva’s heart, reminding her once again of her brothers. She figured out fast that Kaminoans didn’t tolerate anything that doesn’t meet their society’s principles of perfection. Maybe they don’t know that it’s often imperfection that gives humans an edge?

She hears Orun Wa, Jango, and Kal talk about the boys, but she can’t bring herself to tune in. Not that she understood most of what they said, anyway. Her Basic wasn’t as up to par as she’d like. She spoke with a slight accent, just barely there, pronouncing some letters and words differently than born Basic speakers.  

Three of the boys look up at Niva with their big round eyes. Niva tries to smile and give them a wave, but all three flinch as her hand raises, making Niva immediately put her hand down. 

One of the kids mimics her wave, his scared expression softening a bit. Niva grins at him and he bares his teeth in an attempt of a returning smile. 

“What do you mean by reconditioned?” Kal says, drawing Niva back into the conversation. She obviously missed a lot. 

“In this case, termination. These units cannot follow orders and are simply too unreliable, failing to meet the personality profile required,” Orun Wa replies casually. 

“Terminated? They’re children!” Niva says, gesturing to the boys.

“Niv…” Kal mumbles, placing a hand on her shoulder again. Evil is supposed to be dark and menacing… not soft-spoken.

Then Kal registers what they meant by terminating. Within a second, his clenched fist is at Orun Wa’s chest. “You touch any of those kids, you gray freak, I’ll skin you alive and feed-” 

“Steady,” Jango says, pulling Kal’s arm back. 

“This is uncalled for, we only care for our customer’s satisfaction,” Orun Wa states. Niva watches with wide eyes, instinctively stepping towards the boys. Kal hears his heart thundering in his ears, yanking his arm out of Jango’s grip, stepping in front of the kids, who were silent. His eyes never leave Orun’s yellow irises. 

Jango grips Kal’s shoulder hard enough to hurt. Don’t. Leave this to me. 

“We could do with a few wild cards,” Jango carefully says, stepping between the Kaminoan and Kal. “It’s good to have a few surprises for the enemy, no? How old are they?”

“Two standard years.” 

Niva’s jaw literally drops to the durasteel floor. The boys look older, though. Kal slowly puts his hand back to place his palm on the head of the defending boy’s head. But small fingers clasp onto his calloused hand instead. A helpless gesture. Kal swallows hard. Two years old.

“I’ll train ‘em. What’re their names?” He asks, looking between Jango and the Kaminoan. 

“All units are numbered,” Orun Wa starts. 

“We can… give them names… right?” Niva speaks up quietly. All three men look at her. Kal gives her a discreet hand signal: later. 

“Anyway, our quality control designated them as Null class and-” 

“Null? As in, no di’kutla use?” The veins in Kal’s neck have never been so prominent. 

“Kal, leave this to me,” Jango breathes. 

“No, they’re not units, Jango.” The little hand was holding on for dear life. Another boy comes up and wraps his little arms around Kal’s leg. 

To Niva, the next minute goes by so fast. Before she can even blink, the boy thrusts his fingers into Kal’s boot, taking out the hidden blaster, tossing it to the boy who’s holding Kal’s hand. 

The boy caught it cleanly and pointed it at Orun Wa, his little fingers just barely holding the blaster steady. 

“Osik,” Jango sighs. “Put it down, kid.” 

But the boy held the weapon at the perfect angle, left hand steadying the right, eyes focused on his target. Niva looks between the men, flabbergasted at how calm Jango is. 

I couldn’t protect them… so… maybe I can protect these boys…

“Hey, bud,” Niva says, gently putting a hand on the boy’s arm as she kneels down beside him. “Put it down, yeah? No need for shooting anybody, kyr’ika. Give me the blaster.”

He doesn’t budge, barely blinking.

“You’re safe, lad,” Kal’s voice is soft as he squats down beside the kid, nodding to Niva, a silent indicator that he’s got this. “Come on… put it down. There’s a good lad. Now give me the blaster.”

The boy lowers his arms slowly, “Yes, sir…” He hands the blaster to Kal, who scoops him up. 

“Good lad…” Kal lowers his voice to whisper in the boy’s ear. “Nicely done, too.” 

A small hand tugs Niva’s, making her look down. Two pairs of big eyes stare up at her, one boy mimicking the wave she gave them earlier. Niva grins and waves back with her free hand. She crouches down so she’s eye level with the boys. 

“Hi, I’m Niva,” she holds out her hand. The boys stare at it and then one of them shakes her hand with his little fingers. 

“I’m N-7 and that’s N-10,” he says, meeting her gaze. 

“Pleasure, boys. We’ll work on names later, yeah?” Niva keeps up her smile. N-10 looks at N-7, nudging him with his elbow. Niva can barely hear under his breath as he whispers to N-7, “I wanna shake her hand, let go.” 

Niva lets out a small laugh, N-10 now holding her hand and meeting her gaze just like N-7. These were little boys but were so much like grown men. She’s aware of Kal and Jango speaking behind her. 

“What kind of armor is that?” N-10 asks. 

“It’s made out of beskar. It’s Mandalorian - do you know what that is?” Niva replies. Both boys shake their heads. “Well, I’ll teach you.” 

“You talk funny,” N-7 chimes in.

“So do you, little man.” The boy’s eyes widen as he looks at N-10, who gives him the same wide eyed look. Niva can see N-7 mouth silent words to his brother, We talk funny? She smiles at the pair’s sudden realization. 

“Ad’ika, let’s go.” Kal looks down at his daughter, the little marksman who pointed the blaster at Orun Wa on his hip. Niva nods and stands, her hand slipping from N-10’s much smaller one. 

Niva doesn’t even need to help Kal take the six boys to their quarters. The tiny soldiers silently march behind the two Mandos. 

The walk back to the room was eerily silent. Kal occasionally tried to make simple conversations with the boys, all attempts ending in one word answers from various kids. 

Niva could hear the boy’s thoughts and felt their emotions. Not a clear thought, though, just a jumbled mess entangling with her own thoughts. Multiple voices spoke to her as she walked beside her father figure, some small and quiet, others prominent and deafening. 

As the group walked down the sterile halls of Kamino they passed lines of other clones, all the same age as the Nulls, marching in the opposite direction. One of the boys caught her eye, his shaven head differentiating him from his brothers.

He caught her eye, his amber irises following her green ones as they passed each other. His thoughts melted into her own. The bridge of Niva’s nose pulsed with a deep ache, silencing her overcrowded mind. 

“Ad’ika… Niva, are you okay?” Kal’s voice broke her trance. 

“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine. Headache, ‘s all, Buir.”

“Mm… Have you ever finished that story of yours? Remember, the one you wanted to write before we met?”

”I remember. No, I haven’t done much with it since then. Should I?”

”Maybe. Just find something inspiring, like these little lads.” Kal reaches back to ruffle one of the boy’s hair. 

“In… In what?” 

“Something that gives you ideas, ad.” 

The first night with the boys was… something. Niva hardly slept with two little four year old boys clinging to her all night, their little fists white knuckling her sleep shirt. 

Kal settled on names for all six of them, taught them a bit of mando’a, filled their little bellies with uj cake, realized how traumatized they were, and knocked out with Ordo - N-11 - on his lap.

N-7 and 10 - now Mereel and Jaing - clung to Niva as if she were their lifeline. They held her pant legs tightly in their little fists when they walked down the corridors or just to the ‘fresher. Whenever she’d ruffle their mops of brown curls they’d look up at her with a confused look, not aware it was a sign of affection. 

The first time she did so, Mereel looked terrified, his pools of amber going wide, like his eyes were taking over his little face. 

What did the kaminiise do to you boys… 

Niva eventually worked up enough courage to begin wandering the halls of Tipoca City in her spare time, finding training areas and barracks under construction for the millions of clones that will eventually call this sterile place home - or as close to home as possible. 

On her fourth day of exploration, she saw the kaminioan. Of course there were kaminiise everywhere, it was Tipoca City, but this one was different. She sat on a tall bench - built specifically for kaminioans - overlooking one of the few functioning training areas. 

Her skin, a sickly gray, shined in the light. Her large black eyes with blue-gray irises were focused on the cadets through the glass. Niva was intrigued by her, the way she looked at the cadets like they were roba up for slaughter. 

Niva made a habit to walk past her on her walks since the kaminioan always sat there at the same time everyday. A couple days after first seeing her, she spoke up, not looking away from the cadets. 

“Can I help you, Ms. Niva Veen?” She startled Niva, stopping her in her tracks. 

“How do you know my name?” 

“I read your file, Mandalorian. May I ask why you’re always walking about instead of training our troops?” She still didn’t look up. 

“It’s my free time, I finished training one standard hour ago,” Niva says as she walks up to the kaminioan. “What’re you doing?”

“My job.” 

“May I ask what your job is, then?”

“I am Chief Scientist Ko Sai’s assistant. I’m here to study the Generation Ones, seeing what should be improved and changed in later Generations,” the kaminoan answers in the same monotone Orun Wa used several days prior. 

“What’s your name?” 

“Nala Se.” 

“Nice to meet you.”

“Why do you always come here?” Nala Se asks with a sigh, seeming to be done with Niva. 

“I’m-” Niva couldn’t think of the correct word. “You’re just always out here. You look sad sometimes.”

“I am allowed to feel emotions sometimes, Niva Veen.” 

Niva cocks her head. “I’m good at reading people. You seem more than sad, like you’re focused on something important to you, something to prove to someone.” 

Nala Se finally looks away from the cadets, her massive eyes meeting Niva’s. “You’re correct, actually.” She leans back slightly and pauses, her eyes widening as she realizes something. “I need a trainer. Not for myself, but for… special ops troopers. You seem qualified, for a sixteen year old.” 

“I can train troops. I know what I’m doing,” Niva replies, narrowing her eyes slightly. Nala Se hums an acknowledgement, standing and turning her back to the girl. 

“Follow me, then,” she says. 

The private tubing system fascinated Niva, her face nearly pressed to the glass as she zoomed past the water and its inhabitants. 

“Have you never seen an ocean before? It really isn’t that intriguing,” Nala Se says. 

“Not this close…” Niva replies as she unfocuses her eyes to see the water streaming past her. 

The lab was just as sterile as the rest of Kamino, but the dimness was a mixture of soothing and eerie. They entered through the floor, directly in the center of the lab. 

“You remember how the six other Null ARCs were disposed of?” Nala Se asks Niva. 

“Yes…” Where is this going? 

“I saved them. Orun Wa and Ko Sai didn’t think they’d last in combat, you see. One was smaller than the rest, one stockier, two very thin, one a female. The female and one of the lankier cadets had poor eyesight compared to the average clone,” Nala Se explains. 

She walks to a panel on the wall, opening a hidden door. A hidden door in a hidden lab. What else lies in these walls? She continues, “I was tasked with the extermination of those six. Yes, I directly disobeyed orders, but once I show the higher ups, I’ll be rewarded. I will surpass Ko Sai to become the next Chief Scientist.” 

Niva watches as the hidden door leads to a brighter corridor. The hallway leads to another door, small noises can be heard from behind the transparisteel. 

“CT-9903 and the female would’ve never lasted. I’ve done all I could to preserve their eyesight but not much can be done. Both require glasses. In addition, I modified the entirety of the batch so they can’t be traced back to the Nulls.”

“Wait,” Niva says, “CT? Not ARC?” 

The door at the end of the hidden hallway behind the hidden door in the hidden lab opens to reveal six clones, the same age as the Nulls, sitting on their respective six bunks, dwarfing them. 

“Clone Force 99, this is Niva Veen. She will be continuing your training from now on.”

Mando’a used:

Kaminii means kaminoan (the se at the end of certain scenes is just plural as in kaminoans)

Fierfek is just some random curse I think

Aruetiise means traitor

Shebs means your rear

Ad’ika is a term of affection for a kid (ad means the same)

Buir is father/mother (no gender in Mando’a)

Taglist: @fionajames @sevdidntdie @dangraccoon @hellhound5925 @skellymom @angie-is-silly (why did you change your fucking name dude 😭 you gave me a stroke trying to find you)

LMK IF YOU WANNA HOP ON OR OFF THE TAGLIST

[dailyanarchistposts]

I.3.8 Do anarchists seek “small autonomous communities, devoted to small scale production”?

No. The idea that anarchism aims for small, self-sufficient, communes is a Leninist slander. They misrepresent anarchist ideas on this matter, suggesting that anarchists seriously want society based on “small autonomous communities, devoted to small scale production.” In particular, they point to Kropotkin, arguing that he “looked backwards for change” and “witnessed such communities among Siberian peasants and watchmakers in the Swiss mountains.” [Pat Stack, “Anarchy in the UK?”, Socialist Review, no. 246] Another Leninist, Donny Gluckstein, makes a similar assertion about Proudhon wanting a federation of “tiny economic units”. [The Paris Commune, p. 75]

While it may be better to cover this issue in section H.2, we discuss it here simply because it relates directly to what an anarchist society could look like and so it allows us to that more fully.

So what do anarchists make of the assertion that we aim for “small autonomous communities, devoted to small scale production”? Simply put, we think it is nonsense (as would be quickly obvious from reading anarchist theory). Indeed, it is hard to know where this particular anarchist “vision” comes from. As Luigi Fabbri noted, in his reply to an identical assertion by the leading Bolshevik Nikolai Bukharin, ”[i]t would be interesting to learn in what anarchist book, pamphlet or programme such an ‘ideal’ is set out, or even such a hard and fast rule!” [“Anarchy and ‘Scientific’ Communism”, pp. 13–49, The Poverty of Statism, Albert Meltzer (ed.), p. 21]

If we look at, say, Proudhon, we soon see no such argument for “small scale” production. For Proudhon, ”[l]arge industry … come to us by big monopoly and big property: it is necessary in the future to make them rise from the [workers] association.” [quoted by K. Steven Vincent, Proudhon and the Rise of French Republican Socialism, p. 156] In fact, The Frenchman explicitly rejected the position Stack inflicts on him by arguing that it “would be to retrograde” and “impossible” to wish “the division of labour, with machinery and manufactures, to be abandoned, and each family to return to the system of primitive indivision, — that is, to each one by himself, each one for himself, in the most literal meaning of the words.” [System of Economic Contradictions, p. 206] As historian K. Steven Vincent correctly summarises:

“On this issue, it is necessary to emphasise that, contrary to the general image given in the secondary literature, Proudhon was not hostile to large industry. Clearly, he objected to many aspects of what these large enterprises had introduced into society. For example, Proudhon strenuously opposed the degrading character of … work which required an individual to repeat one minor function continuously. But he was not opposed in principle to large-scale production. What he desired was to humanise such production, to socialise it so that the worker would not be the mere appendage to a machine. Such a humanisation of large industries would result, according to Proudhon, from the introduction of strong workers’ associations. These associations would enable the workers to determine jointly by election how the enterprise was to be directed and operated on a day-to-day basis.” [Op. Cit., p. 156]

Moreover, Proudhon did not see an anarchist society as one of isolated communities or workplaces. Like other anarchists, as we discussed in section I.3.4, Proudhon saw a free society’s productive activity centred around federations of syndicates.

This vision of a federation of workplaces can also be found in Bakunin’s writings: “The future organisation of society must proceed from the bottom up only, through free association or federations of the workers, into their associations to begin with, then into communes, regions, nations and, finally, into a great international and universal federation.” [No Gods, No Masters, vol. 1, p. 176] Like Proudhon, Bakunin also explicitly rejected the idea of seeking small-scale production, arguing that “if [the workers] tried to divide among themselves the capital that exists, they would … reduce to a large decree its productive power.” Therefore the need was for “the collective property of capital” to ensure “the emancipation of labour and of the workers.” [The Basic Bakunin, p. 91] Bakunin, again like Proudhon, considered that ”[i]ntelligent free labour will necessarily be associated labour” as under capitalism the worker “works for others” and her labour is “bereft of liberty, leisure and intelligence.” Under anarchism, “the free productive associations” would become “their own masters and the owners of the necessary capital” and “amalgamate among themselves” and “sooner or later” will “expand beyond national frontiers” and “form one vast economic federation.” [Michael Bakunin: Selected Writings, pp. 81–3]

Nor can such a vision be attributed to Kropotkin. While, of course, supporting decentralisation of power and decision making as did Proudhon and Bakunin, he did not reject the necessity of federations to co-ordinate activity. As he put it, the “commune of tomorrow will know that it cannot admit any higher authority; above it there can only be the interests of the Federation, freely accepted by itself as well as the other communes”/ For anarchists the commune “no longer means a territorial agglomeration; it is rather a generic name, a synonym for the grouping of equals which knows neither frontiers nor walls … Each group in the Commune will necessarily be drawn towards similar groups in other communes; they will come together and the links that federate them will be as solid as those that attach them to their fellow citizens.” [Words of a Rebel, p. 83 and p. 88] Nor did he reject industry or machinery, stating he “understood the poetry of machinery” and that while in “our present factories, machinery work is killing for the worker” this was “a matter of bad organisation, and has nothing to do with the machine itself.” [Memiors of a Revolutionist, p. 111]

Kropotkin’s vision was one of federations of decentralised communities in which production would be based on the “scattering of industries over the country — so as to bring the factory amidst the fields … agriculture … combined with industry … to produce a combination of industrial with agricultural work.” He considered this as “surely the next step to be made, as soon as a reorganisation of our present conditions is possible” and “is imposed by the very necessity of producing for the producers themselves.” [Fields, Factories and Workshops Tomorrow, pp. 157–8] He based this vision on a detailed analysis of current economic statistics and trends.

Kropotkin did not see such an anarchist economy as being based around the small community, taking the basic unit of a free society as one “large enough to dispose of a certain variety of natural resources — it may be a nation, or rather a region — produces and itself consumes most of its own agricultural and manufactured produce.” Such a region would “find the best means of combining agriculture with manufacture — the work in the field with a decentralised industry.” Moreover, he recognised that the “geographical distribution of industries in a given country depends … to a great extent upon a complexus of natural conditions; it is obvious that there are spots which are best suited for the development of certain industries … The[se] industries always find some advantages in being grouped, to some extent, according to the natural features of separate regions.” [Op. Cit., p. 26, p. 27 and pp. 154–5]

Kropotkin stressed that agriculture “cannot develop without the aid of machinery and the use of a perfect machinery cannot be generalised without industrial surroundings … The village smith would not do.” He supported the integration of agriculture and industry, with “the factory and workshop at the gates of your fields and gardens” in which a “variety of agricultural, industrial and intellectual pursuits are combined in each community” to ensure “the greatest sum total of well-being.” He thought that “large establishments” would still exist, but these would be “better placed at certain spots indicated by Nature.” He stressed that it “would be a great mistake to imagine industry ought to return to its hand-work stage in order to be combined with agriculture. Whenever a saving of human labour can be obtained by means of a machine, the machine is welcome and will be resorted to; and there is hardly one single branch of industry into which machinery work could not be introduced with great advantage, at least at some of the stages of the manufacture.” [Op. Cit., p. 156, p. 197, p. 18, pp. 154–5 and pp. 151–2]

Clearly Kropotkin was not opposed to large-scale industry for “if we analyse the modern industries, we soon discover that for some of them the co-operation of hundred, even thousands, of workers gathered at the same spot is really necessary. The great iron works and mining enterprises decidedly belong to that category; oceanic steamers cannot be built in village factories.” However, he stressed that this objective necessity was not the case in many other industries and centralised production existed in these purely to allow capitalists “to hold command of the market” and “to suit the temporary interests of the few — by no means those of the nation.” Kropotkin made a clear division between economic tendencies which existed to aid the capitalist to dominate the market and enhance their profits and power and those which indicated a different kind of future. Once we consider the “moral and physical advantages which man would derive from dividing his work between field and the workshop” we must automatically evaluate the structure of modern industry with the criteria of what is best for the worker (and society and the environment) rather than what was best for capitalist profits and power. [Op. Cit., p. 153, p. 147 and p. 153]

Clearly, Leninist summaries of Kropotkin’s ideas on this subject are nonsense. Rather than seeing “small-scale” production as the basis of his vision of a free society, he saw production as being geared around the economic unit of a nation or region: “Each region will become its own producer and its own consumer of manufactured goods … [and] its own producer and consumer of agricultural produce.” Industry would come to the village “not in its present shape of a capitalist factory” but “in the shape of a socially organised industrial production, with the full aid of machinery and technical knowledge.” [Op. Cit., p. 40 and p. 151]

Industry would be decentralised and integrated with agriculture and based around communes, but these communes would be part of a federation and so production would be based around meeting the needs of these federations. A system of rational decentralisation would be the basis of Kropotkin’s communist-anarchism, with productive activity and a free society’s workplaces geared to the appropriate level. For those forms of industry which would be best organised on a large-scale would continue to be so organised, but for those whose current (i.e., capitalist) structure had no objective need to be centralised would be broken up to allow the transformation of work for the benefit of both workers and society. Thus we would see a system of workplaces geared to local and district needs complementing larger factories which would meet regional and wider needs.

Anarchism rejects the idea of small-scale production and isolated communes and, as we discussed in section H.2.3, it does not look backwards for its ideal. The same applies to other forms of libertarian socialism with, for example, G.D.H. Cole arguing that we “cannot go back to ‘town economy’, a general regime of handicraft and master-craftmanship, tiny-scale production. We can neither pull up our railways, fill our mines, and dismantle our factories nor conduct our large-scale enterprises under a system developed to fit the needs of a local market and a narrowly-restricted production.” The aim is “to reintroduce into industry the communal spirit, by re-fashioning industrialism in such a way as to set the communal motives free to co-operate.” [Guild Socialism Reststed, pp. 45–6 and p. 46]

The obvious implication of Leninist comments arguments against anarchist ideas on industrial transformation after a revolution is that they think that a socialist society will basically be the same as capitalism, using the technology, industry and industrial structure developed under class society without change (as noted in section H.3.12, Lenin did suggest that was the case). Needless to say, capitalist industry, as Kropotkin was aware, has not developed neutrally nor purely because of technical needs. Rather it has been distorted by the twin requirements to maintain capitalist profits and power. One of the first tasks of a social revolution will be to transform the industrial structure, not keep it as it is. You cannot use capitalist means for socialist ends. So while we will “inherent” an industrial structure from capitalism it would be the greatest possible error to leave it unchanged and an even worse one to accelerate the processes by which capitalists maintain and increase their power (i.e. centralisation and concentration) in the name of “socialism.”

We are sorry to have laboured this point, but this issue is one which arises with depressing frequency in Marxist accounts of anarchism. It is best that we indicate that those who make the claim that anarchists seek “small scale” production geared for “small autonomous communities” simply show their ignorance. In actually, anarchists see production as being geared to whatever makes most social, economic and ecological sense. Some production and workplaces will be geared to the local commune, some will be geared to the district federation, some to the regional federation, and so on. It is for this reason anarchists support the federation of workers’ associations as the means of combining local autonomy with the needs for co-ordination and joint activity. To claim otherwise is simply to misrepresent anarchist theory.

Finally, it must be psychologically significant that Leninists continually go on about anarchists advocating “small” and “tiny” workplaces. Apparently size does matter and Leninists think their productive units are much, much bigger than anarchist ones. As has been proven, anarchists advocate appropriately sized workplaces and are not hung-up about their size. Why Leninists are could be a fruitful area of research...

[outsidereveries]

old requests from curiouscat (20th july 2024—27th july 2024)

20th July 2024

there’s a rumor about miyeon and dokyeom, how they see each other?

depends on the rumor. i saw too personal stuff. i can share it, i received permission but i really don't think i should, so i'll only type the cards: the high priestess rx, the magician rx, 10 of cups • 4 of cups rx

accept it how you want, i won't say anything further. it's not my place.

why does YG's music seem a bit off recently? their songs during their peak in 2014 were the best. i wonder if their A&R team is different or if their old staff is no longer working there.

6 of swords, 9 of swords rx, page of swords • 3 of wands

yes, their older staff left yge. possibly that's why it's that to you.

how will fromis_9 comeback be doing? is it good and will gain more exposure for new fans? thanks

the magician, 10 of pentacles, 3 of pentacles rx • the emperor

i can see it'll be supported mainly by flovers but up to that. fromis_9 can do good thanks to them but i really doubt it'll be supported by outsiders.

will mhj leave hybe once her contract ends?

ace of pentacles, 5 of cups rx, the moon • 5 of pentacles rx

leaning towards no as of now

i saw a tarot reading that said nwjns might face some differences in the future (dorms etc), so do you see them changing dorms? and if so, will it be better than the one that they have now or will it be worse? or somewhere in the middle

8 of swords rx, the tower, wheel of fortune • king of wands

as shocking as it looks, they'll stay in their current dorm as of now.

can you do a reading on RCA and the mv director of the song “FE!N”? he claimed RCA copied him in a scene in Lisa’s ROCKSTAR, even though RCA reached out to work with him and he rejected. he claims he will “sue” but I’m not so sure if it will go through. how is Lisa felling about this, along with RCA and the MV director?

Lisa | queen of cups

RCA | the devil rx

FE!N's MV director | 10 of pentacles

Basically, Lisa and FE!N's MV director are into any publicity, even if it's bad. RCA on the other hand think that it was time that something like this will happen, they wanted to be as creative as possible.. without copying.

i saw someone said that mhj have reasons that she wanted to leave hybe (not sure if i remember correctly) and one of them is that shes debuting a new gg and one of them are prettier than minji. i dont think if i remember correctly but can you do a reading about it and is it true? they also said that they got the info from an insider and the gg is coming sooner than we think. so i wanted to know if op is lying or telling the truth ^_^

4 of cups, 7 of pentacles, 2 of wands, 8 of swords rx, 5 of swords rx • 10 of pentacles

no, min heejin doesn't want to leave hybe. sure, she's dissapointed from the corporation but it's far from the truth. however, she's working on new (another) girl group, this seems to be accurate. one specific trainee might be as pretty as minji at least, i can see it, yes. so.. paaartly true.

are there any cases of nct units coming back together after the group disbands or the contract ends? or will they sign a contract with another company (especially hybe) or will they continue to stay in the sm?

justice, 6 of swords, queen of swords, 6 of pentacles, 5 of wands rx • 5 of pentacles rx

when it comes to the time after their contracts.. no, i don't see reunions in any form currently. nct's idea and everything else will probably stay under sme and the older members might want to do different things, so most of them will probably depart from nct at least.

do you see a hybe downfall?

the devil rx, 9 of wands rx, the tower • ace of wands

the current energies are favorable in any direct downfall that involves hybe. i don't see anything else except what i already saw with soumu recently.

i read a post about some groups members career at that moment and in 5 years in the future. for Rosé, you got the Sun in reverse when asked about her future and you choose not to interpret it. can you tell us what energies you felt then and if that energies have changed now? | an update to older reading

i wasn't sure how k-netizens felt, to be honest, so that's why i typed uncertain😅 so, has this changed?

rosé's relevance in korea to k-netz

now: 9 of cups rx, ace of pentacles

they still want to see more from her in korea. k-netizens really like her a lot and want rosé to shine back in her home country. however they also realise that it might be better if she shine in her own way worldwide. they aren't bitter, but wished for everything to turn out very different.

in 5 years: 10 of swords, 5 of swords rx

there's similar energy here too. the difference here is that she's already active in one industry or another.

are i-land 2’s judges satisfied from the final lineup (leejung, monika, taeyang, 24, vvn)?

leejung | 5 of wands rx, 4 of pentacles rx + the moon

she was feeling unsure of the final lineup, someone who debuted in the end might lack charisma to her, or some other abilities

monika | 2 of wands, 5 of pentacles rx

she actually wanted someone to debut in the end and it feels it's related to saebi.. she really wanted her to debut

taeyang | the devil rx, the world

he feels the lineup is worth it. personally he doesn't have an opinion about izna's final lineup (i didn't felt anything related to whether he's personally satisfied with them or not though) but he respects the voters' opinion and is glad i-land 2 isn't rigged comapred to other shows (to him)

24 | 3 of swords rx, 2 of cups

his opinion is similar to taeyang imo. he's satisfied with the lineup. seems to be happy for some specific girls that they debuted

vvn | 5 of cups rx, strength

she also likes the lineup, even stronger compared to taeyang and 24. compared to leejung, she really believes izna have the potential and wants them to succeed in the end. .. yeah, she's veeery satisfied.

personally i am unsure if leejung is someone who was influenced by mnet the most so her being not that satisfied in the end was eye-catching to me. i really hope she wasn't influenced by them and has real concerns about izna's final lineup.

- how did the r u next? coaches felt about the final lineup? (lee hyun, aiki, park gyuri, jo kwon, kim jaehwan, vincenzo, (coach) mandoo)

lee hyun | 10 of pentacles, 2 of pentacles + 9 of pentacles

- kind of satisfied

- felt that they'll have to survive quite a lot

- pretty much didn't care, he just grabbed the bag

aiki | the magician, 3 of cups

- she's the only one who likes the lineup

kara's gyuri | the fool, the devil

- she feels really sorry for the girls

- she wanted to do anything but couldn't, her influence was insignificant

- didn't care who debuted in the end

jo kwon | knight of pentacles, 5 of wands rx

- he felt really attached to the show and the girls, so he tried to have specific vision from the group

- was geniunely frustrated when he learned about the show being rigged in the end

wanna one's jaehwan | the hermit, 4 of pentacles rx + the moon

- didn't care who debuted in the end, yet he is still confused

vincenzo | 8 of swords rx, 7 of swords

- he also wanted i'll-it to be something specific but felt used in the end

mandoo | king of wands, 4 of cups, death

- he likes the lineup but not fully, he dislikes what hybe did in the end without warning him

what's common feeling:

- kind of satisfied with the lineup but not exactly:

• lee hyun warned that he felt they'll have to survive

• jo kwon tried to stop the cheating in the show (like with the rigged placements) but didn't work

• mandoo was dissapointed that someone else didn't debut

- the jurys wanted someone else to not debut and/or had different perspectives about i'll-it

• lee hyun and jo kwon wanted iroha to debut but noone else from the final lineup; they both had different expectations

• vincenzo didn't want yunah, also wanted i'll-it to be something specific

• mandoo didn't want moka

- jo kwon, jaehwan, mandoo and vincenzo tried to make r u next? NOT rigged but didn't succeed; the others didn't do anything

-  soumu announced that they are filing a law suit against min heejin for defamation on their company and Le Sserafim. can you do a reading on the outcome of this and how Source music, LS, and MHJ is feeling?

[feelings]

source music: 7 of pentacles, page of wands

they feel it has to be done and they seem to be pretty reasonable why they have to do it, like bc to them they are at fault etc etc, so basically they really believe they're right

le sserafim: queen of swords, 10 of swords rx

to be honest, they're like predictors in this case because i hear them saying "they'll fail in the end" no matter if it's directly or not

min heejin: 5 of cups, 7 of swords rx

she expected it to happen but deep inside is really dissapointed of them possibly because of the past she had with the subsidiary.

[outcome] 5 of pentacles, knight of cups, 9 of cups, 6 of pentacles rx, 9 of wands rx • the moon

i really tried to see the positive out of it but since i don't, the losses will be on source music and eventually hybe. as they seem to be big, the ceo of the subsidiary can feel in a illusion in the future (that he'll win but won't). when he learns about the actual outcome, i actually see solid fines that soumu might cannot afford. therefore, there's reasonable panic surrounding the outcome of this lawsuit. therefore, this time .. i never expected it could happen, but soumu's future is uncertain as a company. i can see that it is very possible that the subsidiary will close after the lawsuit, like no jokes. as hybe paid them their past loans, if soumu lose in the end, they'll just receive their karma and defunct in the end.

can you do a reading for trainee a’s JJ? do you see him debuting and is it true that hes a trainee in sm?

debuting?: the devil rx, queen of cups rx, king of pentacles rx • 5 of cups rx

his environment is just too tense, so i'd say there's too much competition around him. he's trainee somewhere, yes, i can see it, but for whichever place he's fighting for (in a group) is just not solified, not finished, it's too complicated

under sme??: the world rx, high priestess, page of pentacles • 5 of wands rx

the spread doesn't give exact answer tbh as i see his environment over and over again. with the reversed world, he seems to train under korean company but nothing else to see. according to my pendulum, he's trainee there.

is yg still bitter about bp not renewing with them as solo artist?

7 of pentacles, king of wands, 3 of pentacles • the magician

i wouldn't say bitter but rather they're like "eh we tried". if bp didn't renew their group contracts they'll be really bitter though so they seem to be satisfied.

how does Jennie feel about the vape situation blowing up?

5 of swords rx, 2 of swords • 2 of wands

she pretty much admits that her actions were inapporpiate but i am unsure if she cares how she acted then or is saying she'll do it again. it's complicated to her.

21st July 2024

how’s nct 127 relevance in 2024 until 2026? are they stable enough or will reach their peak?

until the end of 2024 | 4 of swords, the tower

2025 | the lovers, death

2026 | ace of cups rx, knight of wands rx

2024 and 2025 seems to be like usual. 2026 is WAY WORSE, like will they even be active as a sub-unit?

can you do a dynamic reading with Lisa and Mingyu?

7 of pentacles, the emperor, 5 of wands rx • the fool

strictly colleagues, use each other for popularity when needed. i don't sense they're close, the emperor usually gives me red flag but since it's work-related and not anything else, it's fine for the card to appear, i suppose so

25th July 2024

what will happen when YG announces the activeness about their artists? will it receive well and do well? how it’ll affect others group tho

i'll try to ask generally

thoughts: queen of pentacles, 3 of swords rx • 9 of wands

it's received well, yes.

how it will do in the end (3 cards for each group - 2ne1, bp, baemon):

2ne1 | judgement, the world, 4 of swords • temperance

the intentions are there but again, i am not sure if the tour will happen. comeback? hell yeah! tour? not so sure. if the 4 of swords wasn't there, then i'd really believe that yge is willing to change for real.

blackpink | 3 of pentacles, 8 of cups, knight of swords rx • king of pentacles

no. no comeback for blackpink. no tour either. lisa still wants her money back.

babymonster | 4 of cups rx, 10 of pentacles, the hermit • knight of cups

they'll try with babymonster but i am not sure if it will be fullfiled. it feels complicated.

how it will affect their other artists and groups: 10 of pentacles, the high priestess rx, 5 of wands rx, 6 of swords rx • 5 of swords rx

not good, they might be ignored. i sense the chances for winner leaving yge increasing.. and the same for treasure and anyone else.

will aespa ever perform savage or girls live while dancing or randomly sing 100% live on concert on a Korean show? will they have songs with harder high notes in the future?

1: the empress, the world, 6 of pentacles • 10 of swords rx

it's up to them but i doubt the girls want to perform exactly these 2 songs.

2: 10 of wands rx, 4 of cups • 7 of cups

still no.

oh it’s interesting that 2ne1 is resigning, how do you see their activeness? and how the public will react to it.. like new album, new tour maybe?

i got crooked when i learned about it.

activeness: knight of wands, 2 of swords rx, ace of pentacles, king of wands, 9 of swords • page of cups

like before because of the girls' intentions. i sense they want their trademarks back. a comeback and that's it.

outsiders' reaction: 4 of cups rx, the magician, page of wands • 7 of cups

they're very happy to learn that they'll be back.

will enhypen continue as 7 in 2027 (after their contract renewal)?

king of wands, king of cups, 5 of cups rx, death • 2 of pentacles

i am leaning towards no, they'll disband straight away. the kings will continue in the korean entertaiment industry (possibly sunghoon and heeseung).

27th July 2024

hybe used to said that mhj was talking shit about nwjns and other former trainees in her messages, i remember that it was a youtuber who show the messages. mhj said stuff like they are fat and they should respect her and etc., and now there’s a new conversation of mhj with her shaman friend talking about nwjns and other former trainees, so i was wondering if you could do a reading to see if it’s true or not ^^ and it would be great if you do the old messages too!

her cursing nwjns (the older ones): wheel of fortune, the devil rx, 7 of cups • queen of swords

false. 7 of cups usually shows illusions, the devil rx can be related to leaking something. the bottom card might indicate that they were planned.

the chat between her and ador's vp: temperance, 5 of swords rx, judgement, 7 of pentacles • justice

seems to be true.

mhj cursing hybe's chairman: the lovers, ace of cups, ace of swords • 10 of wands

leaning towards false. she has talked about him in chats and etc. but not in the way that was leaked, therefore these messages are edited too. she hasn't wrote or said anything bad towards hybe's founder before the fiasco happened. she has respected him when she was talking with other people, even more. she was saying only positive things. she kept the bad things she saw to herself.

the chats between her and employee y: page of pentacles, ace of wands, temperance • 7 of pentacles

also leaning towards false. in the real proof min heejin was proud of what she's accomplished so far with the girls.

chats between her and shaman (without letter) about the copycats and this stuff: 5 of wands rx, 9 of swords rx, 2 of pentacles rx • king of cups

in reality, the shaman in question seems to write in similar way. whatever min heejin typed though was edited, so leaning towards false when it comes to ador's ceo. whether this shaman wrote is edited or not, depends on the real chat.

chats between her and shaman k about nwjns: ace of pentacles, queen of pentacles, 5 of wands rx • 2 of pentacles

false. they have talked about the girls but not these exact things. min heejin decided on the members (who will debut, the amount of the members) on her own (like to her allegedly 100%) as her intuition seems to be also strong. i'd say that she might have psychic abilities, so it's kind of nonsense to her to talk about the shamans about it. why she uses them though seem to be when she isn't sure of her own abilities.. well this is suprising

source music / dispatch leaked a predebut vid and pics of nwjns when they were still trainees + they also leaked medical infos about nwjns. mhj/ador has said that the girls and their parents are complaining rn bc it was a private information and mhj said she will take legal action bcus its a breach of contracts and others so maybe its happening?

it feels like it. i will try to see if the leaks are the actual stuff that soumu should be worried about or it's another stuff.

are the predebut trainee leaks the issue why mhj sues the shit out of soumu (and whoever else): knight of wands, 2 of cups rx, 6 of swords rx • ace of swords

yes, but not only them, to be honest. to min heejin this is one of the smallest stuff that's the actual reason why she sues soumu, hybe, dispatch and whatever whoever else. to her it's important because of newjeans and their parents as they actually care for why it happened like that and whatever else afterwards. this pretty much was the straw to the girls' parents.

are the medical info leak the issue: the lovers rx, king of cups rx, the high priestess rx • 2 of wands

that's bigger yes to me. it looks like the already resigned ceo is involved here and it seems to be reasonable why he resigned here as there's sasaeng behaviour from his side..

other issues that can be the reason why min heejin is suing everyone: 7 of wands, 5 of pentacles rx, 6 of pentacles rx • 10 of pentacles

she has proof of the fact that people from hybe want to take her down from the corporation, and not only as i see that other offers were made that were exclusive to min heejin herself (i am talking specifically about the gossip that jin shared to me not too long ago but i won't be suprised if this isn't the only offer, so that's why offers is plural). she SHARED EVERYTHING, including both of her laptops (i asked my pendulum, she gave the police both of them allegedly). there are some things that weren't shared on purpose publicly and i won't be suprised if other things happen to be revealed with the time.

can you do a reading on skz’ (group) career in 2025 and 2026 now that they renewed?

2025 | 8 of cups, 3 of pentacles, temperance • the hermit

the boys .. as i don't see any comebacks, any achievements and the usual stuff i expect to see, skz might focus way more on individual activities rather than their group ones. with the 3 of pentacles, i don't think they'll abandon that they're apart of their own group. 2025 seems to be the year that skz adjust their group gigs with the boys' solo ones.

2026 | 5 of pentacles, page of cups, 5 of cups rx • ace of wands

eek, the 5 of pentacles fucks it up. stray kids might lose some important offers in one way or another for another idea the boys have (maybe future comeback). the page of cups hints a bit that they might be individual ones (like 1 for han, 2 for felix for example).

how will be s.coups’ solo works when the members are enlisted? like mixtape/solo songs/brand ambassador or anything?

8 of cups, 6 of wands, the high priestess rx • the sun

he's willing to experiment with himself (8 of cups), so i will be honest and say that i don't see any specific gig/activity. the bottom card shows me that he wants to try these type of activities that he wants to do at least for quite some time. these actvities, as seen by the 6 of wands, will be very beneficial in the end at least from the perspective of how his relevance as a soloist (whether idol/signer or not) will be.

with the appearence of the 1st and 3rd card though (the combination), he doesn't want to say to me what type of gigs he wants to do. either he doesn't want to share them by his own will for no reason or they are so innovative to the industry that he doesn't want them to share what they are. the 8 of cups can show a different path that what carats and his solo stans are used to see from him. as the high priestess is reversed, i don't think i should ask my pendulum for anything else, including what type of solo gigs he might do. sorry if it's not what you expected :(

[skibidi-mimic-division]

What does everyone do in the their free time? and what is the human's opinion on the Titans?

Most of my alliance friends usually go out with me on the field of battle. Cameron and DJ are both infantry, like me. V is special ops and usually works with his own faction to perform pinch maneuvers and recover fallen or cornered allies. Camron and DJ are awesome on the battlefield and on my team, we look out for one another while we're deployed. While at base, we help around to get other units ready for deployment, like moving ammunition, loading up weapons, fixing vehicles, carrying injured units to the medical bay and so much more. I spend lots of time around these guys, believe it or not! . Veteran not only works on the field mowing down skibidis, he is also a great trainer and office worker. He keeps tabs on who is able to fight, who was injured, and who was offlined in combat. It's not just him, as he's part of the elder groups that look after the newer units. He also sends all that info back to Doc, who relays the message to other factions. As a result, he and Doc are close both in work and in off schedule interactions. In all honesty, he needs a vacation... . Buddy is chief of our large camera mimic population here in the mimic faction. He governs, looks after all the camera mimics, and helps keep tabs on the pups. He's both kind and firm to his pack mates, including his adopted son--Byte. When he's on the field serving with me, he's my personal guardian and he can rip a skibidi apart that's much bigger than him. I think it's a way he can vent his frustrations out without taking it out on his pack, which is great! . Pal visits sanctuary at least once a week to check in on how his friends and parents are doing. He's also a great spotter and sky support in the field. He can knock skibidis out of the air and his sound blast can level a whole city block! I once witnessed the post-damage in a once skibidi-controlled sector in the city...you'd think the place was hit by a bomb! Pal is our strongest unit, but he's also the sweetest and gentlest soul I know! He loves his adopted daughter Melody and he's known to knit, cook, and grow plants as his hobbies. . Fiend is quite aloof in the base and usually spends most of his time in his den that consists of "borrowed" pillows and soft coverings. However, he has made it his personal mission to harass V every time he's visiting the base now. I really wish Fiend would learn to behave sometimes and focus on thing's he's good at, like his art! He's a very skilled painter and artist! When he serves on the field with the division, his abilities can turn a whole pack of skibidis on themselves! It's so odd to watch skibidis kill other skibidis out of the blue like that, but it seems to make Fiend happy when he does so. At least he's on our side, right? Regardless of his sadistic side, I've seen his soft side too. He can lie all he wants, but I know I caught him reading to his adopted child--Menace--"The hungry caterpillar"!

[random-thot-generator]

Love Thy Frenemy + Interlude

(Frenemies/Tenderness AU)

Interlude | One-Shot: The Life of a Ghost

SIMON ‘GHOST’ RILEY x FRENEMY FEM READER

(Notes: This is a brain purge. It’s a one-shot scene with Ghost and Captain Price. I was working on chapter 6, but had to purge this before I could continue, so here it is lol. You don’t have to read it, but after rediscovering that quote, I knew I had to write something for Ghost/Simon, and this is the result. It gives a little more insight into his state of mind about Reader/’Doll’, and how he’s coming to terms with certain feelings he’s been ignoring. I didn’t bother with a taglist this time since this is more self-indulgent than anything else, but if you do read, I hope you enjoy!)

Warnings/Tags: Mentions of canon-typical violence, Profanity, Simon’s poor coping mechanisms and nihilistic attitude, Price is a good dad/bruv, no Y/N

Word Count: 1467

Interlude

-

“I wasn’t scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost."

— Jack Kerouac, On the Road Jack

-

Simon sat atop the roof of the admin building overlooking the base. Bright halogen security lights buzzed an incessant hum, soldiers on guard duty patrolling the fenced perimeter. It was late, after two in the morning, but he was too restless to sleep yet, the adrenaline of the last op leaving him tense and keyed up despite his fatigue.

It had been a close one today. He touched the bandage at his cheek and winced. Just a centimeter or two to the left, a mere fraction of a head turn, and his brains would have been splattered against the mudbrick wall he’d been using for cover. He could still recall the sound of his mask cracking as the bullet grazed his face, the stinging sear of pain across his cheek, his rifle coming up to take out the enemy on instinct because his brain was otherwise occupied.

Death had just caressed his cheek, and all he could think about in that moment was you. It was your face that had loomed up in his mind’s eye, so clear he’d breathed out the one word he associated most with you.

“Doll.”

Nothing like that had happened to him in a very long time, not since he’d lost his family. There were times that he had felt fear when facing death, but it was a base, primal kind of fear, like that of a wild animal ready to fight for its life. He had also felt genuine fear for his team before when their lives had been in danger. This kind of fear he was used to, could control, but what had happened to him today...

The fear he had experienced today had stripped him of all his pretenses and bullshit. It had forced him to acknowledge feelings he harbored but pretended didn’t exist. It forced him to accept something that he didn’t fucking want: the responsibility of living for someone else.

This is what you did to him. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He was pissed at you for it, pissed at you for making him feel this way, pissed at you for this whole bloody mess...

And it still didn’t change the fact that you would be the first person he went looking for as soon as he got home, because he needed to see you. He didn’t want to need anyone. He didn’t want any of this, yet he couldn’t bloody stay away. He’d tried. Fuck him, he’d bloody tried, and he couldn’t fuckin’ do it.

He was right fucked, wasn’t he?

Simon huffed out a chagrined breath and thumped his head back on the metal housing of the heating unit behind him. Scrubbing a hand over his stubbled jaw, he squeezed his eyes shut. His Ghost mask, in need of repair or replacement, was gone for now, traded in for a fresh balaclava, its stretchy material pulled up to the bridge of his nose. Slitting his eyes open, he squinted up at the cold stars above and inhaled another lungful of smoke. “I’m fucked,” he told them, as he parted his lips, letting the smoke curl out of his open mouth in lazy, white coils. He watched it drift up into the frigid night air to hang like a specter over his head before the wind banished it to the ether.

The squeak of hinges sounded off to his left as the access door to the roof was opened. He heard his captain approaching before he saw him, Price’s booted steps thumping along the roof in a steady cadence. He sat down with a grunt beside Simon and sighed, his breath fogging in front of his bearded face.

“Thought I’d join ya,” he said, pulling the stub of a cigar out of his shirt pocket. He patted over his body until he located his lighter, then blew on the end of the cigar and lit it. He puffed away until thick, sweet smoke curled up to join with Simon’s. “How’s the cheek?” he asked.

Simon shrugged. “’S alright, just a graze. Didn’t even need stitches. Bullet cauterized it.”

Price took in his words, their deadpan delivery. He nodded, though his mind had already drifted back to the mission, to their harried exfil, recalling the look he had seen in Ghost’s wide stare when he’d stumbled aboard the helo. The captain saw something in the other man’s eyes he had never seen during a mission before: fear.

He didn’t fault his lieutenant for it; he was honestly relieved to see it after such a close call. It was a normal reaction, under the circumstances. Still, it wasn’t Ghost’s normal reaction. How he was acting right now— cold, distant and mildly disdainful— that was his normal reaction. This time, however, it didn’t seem to ring as true as it did before.

Price had once asked Ghost how he could be so blasé about his own mortality. Ghost’s answer had chilled him to the bone and caused him no small amount of concern for his lieutenant.

“Yer only scared o’ death when ya got somethin’ to lose.” Simon had told him with cold, dead eyes. “Not an issue fer me. If I die, I die. Don’ really fuckin’ care.”

That look of fear Price had glimpsed in Ghost’s eyes had been telling. Something had changed, had been changing with his lieutenant over the course of several months. It had been subtle, gradual enough to escape immediate notice, but after this last mission, Price was now paying very close attention. Did Ghost now have something to lose?

Price left the cigar in his mouth as he pondered the question, letting his arm drop back to his side. His hand landed on something flat and rectangular— a book, he realized, glancing down. He picked it up and held it up to the light of the security lamps to read its cover. ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac.

“Seems like I had to read this in secondary school,” he murmured, flipping the book open. It was a new copy but already bore numerous highlighted passages and scribbled notes in the margins.

Simon tensed beside him but said nothing as the captain’s blunt fingers skimmed over pages, eyes darting back and forth as he read a highlighted section.

“I wasn’t scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost."

Price felt his throat constrict. He knew how and why Ghost chose his callsign, but the passage could not have described his lieutenant’s situation any more succinctly. It was almost prescient in nature, reading it now. He cleared his throat and closed the book, placing it back where he found it.

“Favorite of yours?” he rasped out. “Didn’t know you read that sort of stuff. Usually see you readin’ those old pulp sci-fi books.”

Simon grunted out a short laugh. “I usually don’t, but Doll loan—” He caught himself, biting off the sentence. “A friend loaned it t’me once.” He gave a shrug. “Kinda grew on me. Bought my own copy.”

Price nodded, letting the smoke roll out of his mouth before speaking again. “Loanin’ ya books like that, she must be quite a smart lass,” he said without missing a beat.

Simon blinked. His shoulders lost some of their tension. “She is.” He huffed another laugh, this one softer, as he tilted his head down to look at his legs stretched out in front of him. “Too bloody smart fer me, tha’s fer sure.” He lifted his head and looked toward the direction of the gates. “When can we get out o’ here? Ready t’go home.”

Price tried to hide his surprise at the question by studying the end of his cigar. He usually had to coerce his lieutenant into taking his leave, but not of late, he now realized. He slanted a sly side-eye at him. “De-briefing’s at 0700, then you’ll be free to go. Unless you want to stay and volunteer to help train those new recruits comin’ in tomorrow? Advanced field tactics?”

Simon sniffed. “Fuck ‘em. ‘M goin’ home.”

A pleased little smile tilted up the captain’s mouth as he looked up at the stars. “That’s alright. I can assign it to one of the other lads.” He crossed his arms over his chest, smile widening. “If ya think of it, ask your doll if she has any Louis L’amour. Partial to the westerns, myself.”

Simon grunted, half-irritated, half-amused. “I’ll see what I can do, Cap.”

-

- Prev. >> Next

[qqueenofhades]

Ignoring his inflammatory rhetoric, do you think Bernie's *POLICIES* are actually that extreme? I've read them over and, if he had a softer approach, they seem like they'd be sound policies to me

The problem with Bernie is that it's hard to know, in actual practice/reality, what his policies are. Yes, on paper, everyone knows what they are, and it's not a week if he's not writing yet another op-ed in the Guardian about Workers' Rights or Climate Justice or whatever. But like.... what good does that do anyone? Everyone who reads the Guardian probably agrees with those things already, and that includes me -- I read it, I financially support it, etc., but it's not where I come for policy actions or where I want to see US senators spending all their time. (Like, Bernie, aren't there other people you could be talking to, who could actually do something about this?) It's the definition of preaching to the choir, where he's regurgitating a boilerplate piece of progressive ideology but not actually doing anything about it or attempting to reach an audience who doesn't already agree with him. (Plus the Guardian, unfortunately, is always also willing to let his ex-campaign manager, David Sirota, bash the Democrats for something, but never mind that.)

Likewise, Bernie's actual voting record in the Senate isn't always a match with the things for which he has (very loudly) advocated, and he's a multi-millionaire old white man from Vermont (one of the whitest states in the Union) who has often seemed interested in preaching socialism for everyone else but resisting any scrutiny or participation in that for himself. He has gotten a lot of mileage and built a disproportionately influential political career out of championing so-called leftist progressivism/socialism, but as I keep saying about him, he never seems to do anything about it. "Tax billionaires" or "save the planet" are extremely broad-brush statements that everyone in the liberal camp can mostly agree on. And no, I wouldn't say those positions are particularly extreme; they're pretty much mainstream Democratic ideology at this point. Indeed, I think Bernie gets unwarranted traction out of positioning himself as the "radical" alternative to the Democrats, when most of the things he says are now basically part of the party platform and have been adopted or explored in some shape or form. Just because they can't actually be implemented at the moment, whether due to legislative roadblocks or otherwise, doesn't mean that they're not moving in that direction.

Likewise, Bernie's favorite hobbyhorse of Medicare for All is often used by his fans to irrationally bash the Democrats, as if we don't have universal healthcare -> quod erat demonstrandum, Democrats Are Neoliberal Shills. I've written many posts about the state of the healthcare debate in America and how passing even a much-watered-down Affordable Care Act cost Obama control of Congress for pretty much the rest of his presidency. So if Bernie and co. want to offer a roadmap for how to pass another major healthcare reform/overhaul that goes even further than the ACA -- trust me, everyone's listening and wants to know how to do that. That is neither extreme nor particularly, at least among Democrats, controversial in the way it was in 2009, when we still had Blue Dog Democrats in red states like Nebraska and South Dakota. But a) we have the united fascist bloc of Republicans who would object and obstruct it on principle, and b) we DON'T have enough Democrats to just pass it by fiat and have that be the end, because that's not the way things have worked in the history of anything.

So basically: if progressives want to endlessly harp on the Democrats for not magically pulling Medicare for All out of a hat, they're welcome to do that if, and only if, they can produce a credible policy/platform/program of action to actually get it passed that the Democrats could be following and aren't (and "they don't care enough about this and could fix it if they wanted!" is not that). That way, they could actually show that the reform is empirically possible and the Democrats are not carrying it out. But flatly ignoring all the political realities and blaming them for not producing a miracle in an extremely adverse legislative and political climate does not count as good-faith engagement and isn't directed toward any constructive end. It's just performative gesturing to show that they are Better Than The Establishment, something something something, and Bernie is usually one of the chief offenders in this regard, despite actually being part of the Establishment for decades.

I will give Bernie credit for two things: he has voted for all the major Democratic legislative packages with the relative minimum of selfish hostage-taking/sabotaging such as that carried out constantly by Manchin and Sinema, and he quickly shut down any talk of running (yet fucking again) in 2024, in order to support Biden's re-election bid. But as far as policies go, he's still not shown me that he either has a concrete plan to carry them out, that he knows what they are aside from broad-brush, vague and general talking points, or that he will put in the work to get them achieved, so yeah.

[starlightkun]

⇢ teaser word count: 2.2k | series word count: 67.8k ⇢ warnings: past unethical experimentation, brief blood and gore descriptions (some human and some non-human), you have to accept the premise of a single human empire in space in the future with colonies and a military and not think deeper about that ⇢ genre: sci-fi, set in the near-ish future, humans and aliens and robots, black op mission, captain kun, ?????? reader, slow burn, fluff, dash of angst, ft. wayv as the crew of the vision ⇢ extra info: took a lot of obvious inspo for this one from isaac asimov’s robot stories, specifically his concept of positronic brains & the three laws of robotics (and if you’ve read any of his stories, you’ll probably be able to see some other places too) ⇢ estimated release date: saturday, may 18, 2024 6:00 p.m. eastern time ⇢ series masterlist

The air smelled like blood, burned electrical components, and whatever horrible odor came from blood getting onto electrical components as they sparked. All the blood wasn’t human, you could tell that, too. Skipper blood always stung your nose like rubbing alcohol. It was pitch black in the space you were hiding in, or maybe it was just nighttime. You should be scared, but your heart wasn’t beating fast for some reason.

Two pairs of heavy footfalls. One was heavier than the other. Walking, so definitely not Skippers. Both were still too light to be heavier races.

They slowed to a stop outside your hiding spot, and you really hoped they couldn’t read the Outspacer controls that would open the otherwise impossible-to-see door. After all, it was a language that had been dead for hundreds of millions of years, there was no way—

“Hey, Zennie, you got a read on these?” A man’s voice came from nearby, muffled by both the wall and presumably a helmet as well. Human, or related species.

You couldn’t hear this ‘Zennie’s reply, as it most likely came through the comms in his helmet, but you could hear the man’s side of the conversation.

“Oh, of course, how dare I, a mere meatsack, doubt your high-and-mighty artificial intelligence,” he replied with fake deference. “Yeah, yeah, I know that’s not what you meant. Alright, so just tell me which one’s the self-destruct button so I don’t press it?”

“Move, Wong, before you blow us up.” Another voice interjected. “ZEN? You said it’s a passageway? Oh, safe shelter. Bit different, don’t you think? Mind translating the dead language right the first time?”

He paused as he probably listened to Zen’s reply, then continued, “So? You know which one’s the open button?”

You couldn’t go anywhere. The hideout you were in was designed to hold only a few people for weather emergencies, to be structurally sound; not to have a back door in case you needed to escape intruders. You just had to hope Zen was completely wrong and they wouldn’t get it open.

Click.

There goes that.

The door dematerialized, and the rancid smell from before became even stronger. A man peered in barrel-first, and you recoiled back from the sudden light flooding your vision. You couldn’t press yourself any further back into the corner, but you still turned your head away to shield your sensitive eyes.

It only took a couple strides for one of the men to reach you, the other stayed back in the hallway, keeping his rifle fixed on you. The man stood over where you were sitting on the floor—your legs had gotten tired of standing after so long—and lowered his gun slightly so you could see the entirety of the front plate that covered his face. It was a reflective shield that gave you no clue to who was behind it, only let you see a warped, thinned and stretched version of yourself cowering in a corner. His armor was an improved version of the standard issue United Human Navy, if the insignia on both of his shoulders didn’t make that clear enough. It looked the same as the standard issue, but the heft of his footsteps had belied a weight difference that wasn’t explained by his stature or build, so it must be the grade of material.

“Are you hurt?” His voice came through an external speaker on his helmet. He was speaking in standard human. You couldn’t detect any sort of odd stiltedness or lag that sometimes happened with computer-assisted translations. He was assuming you understood standard human, and you did.

“No,” you replied, slowly uncrossing your arms to show your hands first, that you didn’t have anything hidden in them to attack him with. You still weren’t scared, for some reason.

“Oh, she’s pretty,” his companion commented from the hallway. The two of them must be sharing helmet feeds, as the one in front of you was definitely blocking most of you from his sight.

“Wong, shut it.” The outer speaker had been turned off for that, but it was still pretty clear to you.

“Sir, yes sir.”

“Can you stand?” His weapon was still at the ready, his finger resting above the trigger.

You couldn’t remember the last time you’d wiggled your fingers and toes, and it felt good to do it. “Yes.”

He stepped back, the unexpressive mirror of his face shield watching as you pushed up from your half-sit half-crouch, bracing yourself against the wall. Your body instinctively took a deep breath to try to recover from the sudden exertion, but the vaporized Skipper blood burned your entire respiratory tract, and you coughed and spluttered trying to force it back out, catching yourself on the wall on your forearms to stay upright. The odor made your head swim, your eyes water, and your chest hurt like someone had put gasoline in your lungs and struck a match.

“Okay, woah, woah.” Two gloved hands were on your arms and back, helping you stay up. His voice was muffled again as he switched to his in-helmet comms, “Xiao, get over here! We’ve got a survivor! Yes, really, just look at my stream.”

Then, his voice was projecting to you once more, “Breathe, breathe.”

You felt the roughness of a thumb wiping at the tears running down your cheeks, the durable material of his glove scratching against your skin. He grabbed the front of your shirt collar, pulling it up towards your face at the same time he firmly pulled your hand down that had been covering your mouth as you wheezed. Positioning the material over your nose and mouth into a makeshift filter of some sort, he continued holding it there for you as you took a few breaths.

“Better?”

You nodded shallowly. The smell of Skipper blood still cloyed to your throat and lungs, but the shirt helped keep more from entering.

More footsteps from down the hall, then another pair entered the shelter.

“Holy shit…” Someone breathed out.

“I know, man,” the voice that you were already pretty sure was ‘Wong’ from earlier replied.

“How long has she been in here?” A fourth voice asked, belonging to the footsteps getting closer to you.

“I don’t know,” the man already with you answered. “Wong and I just found her while clearing this sector.”

“Okay, well, you mind, Captain?” He said indicatively. “Can’t examine my patient through you.”

“You got it?” The captain asked you, shaking the collar slightly.

You took it from him, holding it over the bridge of your nose yourself as he had been doing for you before. Looking into his face shield where you were pretty sure his eyes should be, you nodded firmly this time.

He didn’t step back until you felt another pair of gloves grabbing your elbows where he had been. The newcomer’s uniform differed from the others’ in one way, he had a neon green rectangular patch on his right arm below his UHN insignia, as well as a few other places—intergalactic signal for medic. It was removable for the wearer’s own safety, and his in particular was slightly askew, as if he’d just slapped it back on in a hurry.

The medic flipped through the pockets of a pack strapped to his thigh before pulling out a small disc of clear plastic and pushing that against your hand. “Here, this’ll work a lot better than your shirt.”

You accepted it, and he helped you orient it the right way over your nose and mouth. It was apparently a mask or rebreather of some sort. It wasn’t exceptionally bulky, and you could feel that there was some sort of fine mesh material on the inside. Immediately, you could tell the difference. The air coming into your lungs carried only the slightest tinge of lingering burning electronics smell, and while you could tell that there was Skipper blood, it didn’t burn, or make your head spin. It was just unpleasant.

“There. How’s that?”

You gave him a thumbs-up, the standard human gesture for good, since they all seemed to speak standard human. The mask didn’t allow much room for talking.

“Alright, good. Are you injured?”

You shook your head.

“Do you feel pain anywhere?”

You shook your head again.

“Good, good. I have more questions, but we should get somewhere you can breathe. Give me a second.” He looked upwards as if talking to the heavens, and his outer speaker turned off. “Liu? Professor? Did you finish clearing the building? Alright, ZEN, got readings on air quality for her?”

After a pause, both the medic, Xiao, and the captain, who had been hovering behind him the whole time, nodded.

“Thanks, ZEN.” Xiao’s speaker turned on, “Here, our teammates found somewhere that you can breathe. It’s going to be a little bit of a walk, though. Is that okay?”

You nodded. Your legs would just have to deal.

“It’s not pretty out here…” The only one that hadn’t been identified to you in passing called out as a warning from his position in the hallway with ‘Wong.’

You turned around and pushed off the wall as your answer.

Stepping into the hall, you knew why you had smelled that particular concoction of smells. Just off to your left were two dead Skippers, their uniquely-articulated hind limbs that gave them their distinct gait—and consequently, the questionably flattering nickname from humans—stuck out at awkward angles now. Dark purple sludge seeped out from under their armor, Skipper blood. On the outside of the armor were smears, streaks, and splatters turned a gleaming ruby red under the emergency lights, human blood.

You couldn’t see any dead humans, or pieces of them, in this corner, but you remembered what the captain had called you. A survivor. Which meant there were others who didn’t survive.

“Come on.” It was the captain who ushered you the other direction from the Skipper bodies. “This way.”

Their helmets must have been mapping out the facility as the unit cleared it and displaying a route in all of their HUDs, because the four of them moved as if they knew the building like the back of their hand. The captain and Xiao flanked you on either side, with Wong at the front and the fourth unnamed one at the rear. You couldn’t tell if it felt more like a protection detail or a prisoner transport.

You kept your eyes on your feet not only so you didn’t have to see all of the mutilation, or to keep from stepping in something, but to avoid the unsettling, cold dread slowly sinking over you when from the moment you caught a look at the first dead human you passed by with her remarkably in-tact face, dandelion yellow blouse and lab coat, and realized you didn’t recognize her. When you inhaled sharply and shot your eyes down to your feet, you could tell that the captain noticed. He turned his head just ever so slightly towards you, off of the consistent path it had been before, and he paused, then went back to keeping watch.

They weren’t kidding when they said it was a bit of a walk. You could feel the muscles in your legs get sore, then start twitching, then start shaking, but you didn’t even consider asking to stop.

“Woah, Liu, slow down!” The captain ordered into his headset. “Okay, yeah, I see it. Don’t touch anything. We’re just sweeping right now, remember?”

“Great, the kid’s found more toys,” the one behind you snorted.

Xiao and Wong suddenly erupted into more laughter than that statement warranted you were pretty sure.

Wong then informed him with a snicker, “Mic’s on, Ten.”

“You say that as if I wouldn’t have said that to his face, too,” the one now finally identified as Ten retorted.

“ZEN, the mics, please?” The captain sighed. “Thank you.”

“Now he’s going to whine that we were shit talking him behind his back,” Xiao groaned. “Again.”

“Well we are,” Ten laughed.

“If he just stopped acting like a baby, Captain here wouldn’t have to step in and put him in time out all the time,” Wong clicked his tongue.

“You think he’s the one in time out right now?” The captain replied dryly.

You couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle into your mask, trying to cover it up with a cough when all four of their reflective shields whipped around to face you, as if they’d forgotten you were there. After an uncomfortable stretch of silence, they all shifted back into their watchful stances.

The captain suddenly spoke again, “Yes, Professor? Okay, sure… ZEN, put that on everyone’s HUDs.”

The lack of commentary from any of them for seemingly several minutes was startling, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to know what this ‘Professor’ was showing them.

“We’re going to have to go back there after dropping Xiao and her off, aren’t we?” Wong was the first to speak.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to,” Ten sighed.

“Or already know the answer to,” the captain said. “If she has any wounds that Xiao needs to tend to, one of you will stay to keep guard. If not, it’ll be Ten and Wong with me to meet up with Liu and the Professor, and Xiao will stay with her.”

“Alright, Ten,” Wong rolled out his neck. “Rock paper scissors?”

⇢ series masterlist | blog masterlist

[gummybearzgocrazyagain]

kinn/porsche fic rec

Fake Dating AU

Tell Me That You Love Me (even if it’s fake) by @whitewalkers [luuuuuv me a fandom as ripe with fake dating trope as kp, it never quite loses it’s charm innit. kinn has a high school reunion to attend, and of course why not use it as a ploy to sway his most annoying bodyguard into confessing his nascent feelings... well-done, tis a rec]

Vigilante/Special Agent AU

Deep Like a Coastal Shelf by @Lilla_Torg [aight so this is an author with the very distinguished storytelling pattern, that i can not help but appreciate, their world-building and characterization is usually top notch, and this particular babie is not an exception: porsche and chay were brought up by someone from the syndicate that targets organized crime, and now that people, who used to call themselves their parents, are gone, Porsche is left with the ominous List, and a black leather vigilante suit, to keep their legacy alive. korn and gun are dead, Main and Minor fams are combined, tankhun has taken over as the Leader. kinn handles their overseas ops. amazing quality of storytelling, as always. DNI if you can’t handle pairings other than kp, as this is a multi-pairing piece, as it is customary for this author. but again, the story is so good, i didn’t even skip kimchay/vegaspete bits, which is a feat on it’s own. max kudosssssss]

the house don’t fall (when the bones are good) by @bytheriveriwept [i often say that i luved some works, but there are works i luved, and then there are works i LUVVEEEEEEDDDDDDDD with my whole-ass heart, this bit of genius masterpiece is the case of the latter. kp are special agents, colleagues, parts of the same organization, cohesive unit, and all that. only until porsche decides to take on risqué assignment, and go undercover. will they still be them, when he is back....? what can i say, this was sooooooooo up my alley in so many ways, i don’t even wanna say no more, if you haven’t read this.... what the hell is you even doing]

Third person POV

First Impressions by @AirgiodSLV [oooohhhhh how i luv me some piece of delicious 3rd person pov, yummmmm, Bank is a new hire for the Major fam, and this is the first time he is present at the meeting between the families.... yumm👌]

Alternative Meeting AU

stumbling to the edge by @FireRisingOverTheHills [absolutely delightful and underrated series for those who is not looking for heavy feels: it is light-hearted, sweet, well-written and entertaining, all without being angsty or plot-twist-heavy. despite the alternative meeting, it is still pretty much in-universe compliant. kp meet at a bar under different circumstances, but end up pretty much in the same compromising position that we all love to see them in. much kudos🙏]

the less i know the better by @mslunita [yummmmm, delicious morsel of tinder hookup-turned-softness, i really enjoyed this one: kp initially meet on the apps, and yet, being themselves, immediately turn this motha all soppy and lovey-dovey, - extremely canon-complaint, if you ask me. exactly the kinda content i am here for🙏 super-well done]

For Want of Fighting by @Mara [this fandom sure does luuuuuuv it some alternative meetings aus, huh, and i ain’t about to complain. great short piece, Businessman AU, first meeting is not too drastically different to canon, but the context does slightly differ. very entertaining and def a rec]

Sports AU

Salt by @ronadnhermy [oh. my. god. what a fucking catch, luv luv luved ittttttt, so well-written, so entertaining, there is plot, there is emotional turmoil, morally dubious kinn, maybe the younger versions of them is not exactly my jam, but with such quality, who cares... porsche is like 18-19 and on the Thailand National Taekwondo team, kinn is in uni, and sees something he likes, thangs spiral from there... super recommend, ah-mazing, allllllll the kudos]

bar owner!porsche AU

like real people do by @motherfleckers [Kinn is a celeb, Porsche owns a tiny bar in a tinier fishing town, simple premise with a delightful resolution: eyebrows, usual canon levels of audacity, motorcycle rides, and, most importantly, kinn’s dick is not small. it’s very very good (the fic, not kinn’s dick, although that too). major kudosssssssss]

Now make your bed (now lie in it) by @deliciousblizzardshark [2-for-1 tropes sale, apart from bar owner!porsche, you get accidental babie acquisition, my beloved <33333 fair warning, one must brace themselves for being gutted with longing, as well as general adorableness of kinn going “i’ve only had this random babie for 1,5 days but if something happens to her imma end everyone in this establishment and then myself”, adored this one sooooo much, prolly one of my personal faves, sooooooo many kudosssssss]

Cabin crew AU

before i leave, i want it a thousand times by @mslunita [despite somewhat disparaging reputation real-life cabin crew have acquired in my city, i clearly have no issues reading porsche being one slutty flight attendant, and hey, when your client is kinn anakinn theerapanyakul, who could actually blame him for slightly loosening his morals up on occasion, right? certainly not me, you go boiiiiii]

Historical AU

Love and the Art of War by @fortunehasgivenup [oooooowwwwww yassss, this is sooooo far up my alley it ain’t even funny. first of all, this author is everything, man, love all their fics, must reads, all of them. this specific babie is sooooo precious though: set in some nebulous middle ages, it’s a war camp setting, kinn has been away from home for months, and upon returning from some battle or other, gets an unexpected visitor waiting for him inside his tent. ngl, i would have read 200k of this, but author gave me 4, and i lapped them up like a man starved. perfection, truly. not to mention the use of “anakinn” in any context just does it for me🤷‍♀️]

Sex worker adjacent AU

escort AU by @Oscarian_Flame [Porsche joins the same agency kinn has been a long-term client of, and the universe expands from there. well-written and fun to explore, with interesting oc’s, worth a read for sure!]

Cliff Jump by @AirgiodSLV [ooohhhhh yeahhh babie we talking with this one💅 soooo.... vegas is using the same agency, and it kinda triggers kinn’s competitive side, earning him a certain...  reputation. once every twink is bangkok is so exhausted that ain’t noone is able to deal with his over-the-top shite no more, the agency sends someone who has enough stamina to withstand the lengthy bounds of athletic... interactions. yeahhhhh, you guessed it. so very entertaining and plot-twisty. so very delightful]

even though you’re not mine, you’ve got that look in your eyes by @fortunehasgivenup [highly highly doubt there are people left in this fandom who have not read this masterpiece, and yet could not exclude it from the recs, it’s that spectacular. if one must create escort-by-misunderstanding AU.... do it to such level. spectacular work, allllll the kudos]

Night Call by @ziusik [one of my fav pieces in this fandom no cap, if you know this author, you know, i obvi adore every single word of both mileapo and kp this author has everrrrr written, and this particular stripper!porsche au with absolutely helplessly besotted idiot-kinn is outa this worldddddddd great. it’s like if “under the influence” by cb was a fic, the vibe is simply immaculate]

Comedy/Crack

Wilderness Camp by @housseao3 [wholesome and endearing piece of fun, i lichrally cackled multiple times, i meannnn, tankhun with his rompers, chan/tay, sugarplum/chicken, unforgettable ken/groundskeeper....? adorable, entertaining and praise-worthy attempt at light-heartedness and humour, super-well done]

School/Uni AU

let there be no barriers (between you and i) by @anakinn [being both adorable and hot is a general qualifier for ending up on my rec page, so here it goes as well. porsche has had a crush on one of his classmates for the better part of their university journey. one day being bored in class, he decides to test some random online advice, and see whether anyone of his mates is a mind-reader.... you guessed it folks, one particular person just might be. short and to the point delicious morsel of general canon-appropriate kp horniness for eo <3]

i gave a second chance to cupid by @haeseolar [omnomnomnom *chomps down on this fic with gusto* you know the feeling you get while consuming media, this overwhelming regret that the magnificent piece of work you’re currently devouring has already been perceived by you, and you never get to experience it for the first time ever again...? big time my energy while reading this one, what a mind candy, i reeeeeeeeeally enjoyed it🙏🙏🙏 kinn is 39, he is teaching lit at a private school, when the new 24yo PE teacher joins their roster fresh off uni... i dunno what to tell you, this author just gets it, when i say all the kudos, i quite literally mean all the possible kudos for this one]

Various in-universe AUs

The One Where Porsche and Kim Are Gym Buddies by @fortunehasgivenup [oooiiii, what fun, what funnnnnn: kim and porsche are both in the fights, and occasionally meet at the gym... reluctant comradery ensues. they talk to each other about their respective crushes, none the wiser that they have been railing each other’s nong and phi... what else is there to say, the author is so good i even attempted to read kimchay, which is practically unheard of, lich-rally all the kudos]

Here With You by @Yeetyeetbroski [daaaaaaaamn sonnn, the tension, the tensionnnnnn..... “scrumptious” is an understatement for what a treat it was. thank you dear author, much much MUCH kudos p.s. while you’re at it, i’d recommend to go through this author’s whole catalogue, their rendition of kp dynamic is a delight to read]

The Aftermath by @Yeetyeetbroski [yippy, the softness <3333333 So this is an Ep 6 aftermath, an AU for Ep 7. absolutely lovely and adorbs. soft besotted kinn is universally accepted as one of the fandom fav versions of kinn, so in regards of delivering on this front this fic is def up there. awesome read]

Post-canon

Storm to Weather by @archay [it was soooo good, i luv this typa vibe, bitter-sweet, but hopeful <333 the theerapanyakul empire is done for, and kinn and porsche are out to fend for themselves in a real world. tis a rec]

Whittled Down by Another War by @rageprufrock [i... are there even words... abso-fucking-lutely legendary piece, the way theerapanyakul bros dynamic is portrayed in this.... damnnnnnnnnnn, if there is anyone, literally anyone left who has not read this yet... what the fuck are you doing with your life, GO READ THIS ABSOLUTELY MINDBLOWING FIC]

fell in love with the fire long ago by @builtempires [wieeeeeeeeeeee, what a tasty treat: kinn is away on business, and a certain head of the minor family decides that sending his partner some racy pics while separated by thousands of miles would help the situation... it both does and doesn’t. very entertaining, super hot, much kudos]

Magic AU

Instinct by @the-wayside [ohhhhh this bloody gorgeous muthafuckin thang.... i remember being so overwhelmed after reading initial chapters that i even dmed the author, cause it was cloying at my skin, the story is superb. not everyone, but many people got an instinct living inside of them, and what do you think happens when kinn goes to some random underground fight held at some random seedy club and his instinct meets porsche.... yeppp. something about reading how the most animalistic, primal part of kinn wants and longs for what is his is just.... maaaaaaaan, If you haven’t read it yet and there is still an opportunity for you to experience it for the first time, i am so fucking envious no cap]

Poring Down Crimson Fire by @Lilla_Torg [whatttttttt, this was fucking insane, like...??? the world-building??? i fucking can’t, off the charts, insert chief kiss emoji size of a sun. i don’t even know how to rec something like dat, just... insanely devastatingly interesting story, and yeah, technically it’s not even kp fic per se, cause the whole fucking gang be giving off main character vibes. must read]

+

bonus:

MILEAPO

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disclaimer: realizing how tricky the whole topic of rpf might seem, i myself have not dipped a toe in this pool in a long, long time, therefore do completely understand and accept any potential discomfort anyone may have with using names/likeness of real people for fanfiction writing purposes. kindly, if you are uncomfortable with the topic, do not proceed any further, thank yew. p.s. also, as it has been noted so many times before, if you didn’t want us to write/read fanfiction about you, maybe you shouldn’t look at your work colleague like dat, bruv, just saying

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Starting Ambitions by @iffervescent [abo rpf, fucking masterpiece, luv this story sm]

Marked by @oliviacirce [yeahhhhhhhh... this. this was... an experience. they are about to film the scene in pete/porsche’s room, but the special effects person is out with the stomach flu, and there is no one to apply the fake hickies to apo’s neck. mile comes up with the brilliant idea that saves the day. no words, only squeals and cheers]

Whole New Kinds of Weather by @archay [short, sweet, hot and to the point 👌 after the NYE 2023 the whole team comes back to Tong’s for an after-party (for the live of me, i dunno why is it always Tong in the fics, tis has become some kind of established fanon by now), and thangs transpire in his bedroom (sorry, phi!!! pls don’t kill them)]

obviously, every single word @ziusik has ever written, especially Limerence, your lips in the street lights, and of fucking course, just a step away, which is definitely one of my fav ma fics everrrrrr and forever fandom classic

and finally...

said you’d be coming back this way again, baby by @concernedlily [this is what i’d call an ultimate ma fic, jokes aside, if there would be a limited amount of fics a person is allowed to read in they lifetime, this would make the cut every time for me. no matter how many wonderfully written, extremely talented ma works are out there, this would always be the ma fic for me, absolutely fandom-forming, i can never praise this work enough]