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lawngnomeofdoom · 4 years ago

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Part Four: when I'm near you

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Five Part Six Part Seven

Summary: Connor seeks advice on his new emotions from Markus, but when Connor is resistant to his suggestions, Markus decides to force his hand. Some jealous Connor fluff!

A/N: Yay part four! Thank you for reading this far and for all the kind messages, hearts, and reblogs, it all means the world to me. Keep being kind to each other :)

“Markus, thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” Connor said rising from the café table to greet his friend.

“Of course Connor, I must say that I was surprised that you asked me for coffee though,” Markus said taking a seat across from him. Outside the café’s window was the police station, and citizens of Detroit moving about their day, humans, and androids alike, thanks to Markus.

“Oh?” Connor asked wondering what social faux pas he had committed now.

“Well I’m happy for the company Connor, but neither of us drinks coffee.” He explained.

“Right, I suppose it’s a human phrase I’ve picked up.”

“So, what’s on your mind?” Markus asked, his eyes studying Connor’s. Seeing Markus and other members of Jericho act so naturally human was a wonder to Connor, but it also made him feel inferior in some sense, why couldn’t he adjust like them? He did think he had been making decent progress until Y/N arrived.

“I wanted to ask you for some advice regarding new emotions I’m struggling with.”

“I see, what emotions seem to be troubling you Connor?”

“Ones having to do with…affection.” He replied after a brief pause. To Connor’s surprise, the corners of Markus’ lips crept up into an amused smile.

“What’s her name?” He asked. Connor’s face became bashfully blue with a thirium blush. He thought of feigning offense, why would Markus assume he had to ask about a particular person? But the success of that scenario was well below 0%, Connor knew that without a preconstruction.

“Y/N.” He admitted finally.

“Tell me about her.” Markus grinned ear to ear as he leaned back in his chair.

“I met her at the station, she is a detective and an old friend of Hank’s. She’s highly intelligent, a very efficient officer. Her work ethic is one I greatly admire.” Connor told him. Markus raised a brow.

“And?”

“And… she has a lovely laugh, something about it brings about a certain feeling akin to peace in me. Y/N is kind, she treats me like…like a person, with respect and integrity. I have found myself enjoying listening to her speak, even if it is on mundane things, she makes them fascinating somehow. I have also found myself trying to memorize things about her, the way she likes her coffee, the way she bites her bottom lip when she’s thinking, and the songs she hums to herself. Oh and she smells like lilacs.” Connor finished. He looked up to see that the expression on Markus' face had shifted from playful curiosity to a sincere gaze.

“Oh, Connor.” Was all he said.

“I am struggling because I find myself distracted by Y/N on a daily basis. My eyes and my thoughts always wander back to her. We were at a crime scene and I whispered something lewd in her ear, I’ve never done anything like that before.” Connor finished.

“What do you need from me, Connor?” Markus asked leaning forward.

“I wanted your advice on how to rectify the situation.”

“Rectify?”

“Yes, I…” Connor glanced around their surroundings and leaned in, whispering to him.

“I had lustful thoughts about her just the other day. I imagined her and I were… well long story short, I imagined her in a rather compromising position over my desk.” Connor told him as softly as possible. Markus kept a straight face for a moment until his bottom lip quivered and he burst into a fit of laughter. Connor sat back with his hands on the table, perplexed by the hysteric reaction.

“I’m sorry Connor, I really am. I just never thought I would see this day.” Markus explained after catching his breath.

“What day?”

“The day Connor, the most advanced android out there, has a crush on someone.” He smiled.

“Markus don’t be ridiculous. We discussed it the other day, Y/N and I are just friends.”

“Do you imagine bending all your friends over your desk?”

“No! That’s precisely why I need your help in preventing those thoughts from further polluting our friendship.” Connor insisted. Markus shook his head.

“Connor, this is a confusing time for our people. Every new emotion is terrifying, uncharted territory but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore it. It means the exact opposite in fact.”

“I don’t think I can do that, thank you for meeting with me Markus but I’ll just have to figure this out myself,” Connor said standing from his seat briskly and leaving Markus alone in the café.

A few hours later Connor glanced up from his terminal for the tenth time in the last half hour hoping to see you at your desk. He knew you’d be at lunch around this hour, but you usually took it at your desk, or if you did go out for food it wasn’t for this long. Hank noticed his constant checks and rolled his eyes.

“She said she was with a friend for lunch.” He grumbled.

“Oh." Connor said fiddling with a pen. A clock ticked loudly in the mostly vacant station.

“What friend?” He asked after a moment. Hank raised a brow.

“I didn’t interrogate her on who she eats burgers with, does it matter?”

“No, I suppose it doesn’t.” Connor yielded. Another few minutes went by and Connor’s head shot up as he heard your laugh echo across the station along with a familiar male voice. His eyes quickly found you as you walked to your desk, located to the right of his own. He noticed first that the man you’re with has his hand on the small of your back, and that man was Markus.

“Jeez Connor, you okay?” Hank asks. Connor notices for the first time that he had completely crushed the pen he had been holding, the ink staining his hand.

“You can’t be serious Markus that is unbelievable.” You say sitting down in your desk chair. Markus sits on the edge of your desk facing you, he gives Connor a sly side-eye before continuing.

“Honest to God, can’t make stuff like that up. Oh, hey Connor.” Markus smiles, giving him a cheerful wave.

“Markus. What are you doing?” Connor asked, his tone dry and demanding.

“Just meeting friends of my friends. I came looking for you but ended up meeting Y/N by chance. I know you two are such good friends, I thought it only right to invite her out to lunch.”

“Thank you again for buying me lunch Markus you really didn’t have to.” You say and lightly pat his hand, making Connor’s fist tighten again.

“You bought her lunch?” Connor questioned with a sharp edge to his voice.

“Come on Connor, a lady as gorgeous as she is, well it was my honor.” Markus grins and kisses your hand softly, making you blush, which in turn makes Connor rise from his chair.

“Can I speak with you, Markus?”

“Now? I was hoping to spend some time with Y/N.”

“Now.” Connor demanded.

“Well, when you put it like that, sure. I’ll see you later Y/N.” Markus says with a wink, as he follows Connor to a vacant hallway out of your line of sight. Without hesitation Connor grabs Markus by his collar and pushes him against the wall, his eyes enraged.

“What the hell are you doing?” He growled.

“Easy Connor. Just spending time with one of your dear friends, what’s the problem?” Markus smiled, unphased by the aggressive hold Connor had on him.

“I don’t want you to spend time with her like that. Touching her and kissing her hand. You don’t get to do that.” Connor asserted.

“And why’s that?”

“Because…because…oh. Oh, I see.” Connor said releasing his hold on Markus’ collar. Markus patted the wrinkles out of his top and shook his head.

“Took you long enough, although I will say it didn’t take much to make you jealous.”

“Jealous,” Connor repeated. He hated the word, but Markus was right. A fire had ignited in him as he watched Markus make you giggle, get to touch you even slightly, get to take you out for lunch. Such small things but he treasured them more than he knew.

“The tactic you used was very clever. I’m sorry for roughing you up.” Connor said with embarrassment.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m just glad it worked. She is a very lovely girl Connor; I can see why you have such a crush.” Markus said patting his friend’s arm.

“So what do I do now?” Connor asked, his tone dripping with desperation.

“Well, there's plenty of perfectly good desks in here..." Markus grinned and then put his hands up when Connor shot daggers his way.

"Okay, okay, my bad. Start with dinner."

#detroid become human #connor detroit become human #connor dbh #connor fanfiction #connor x reader #dbh connor fluff #connor fanfic #rk800 #rk800 x reader #dbh #connor/reader #connor #fanfic

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fandom-necromancer · 4 years ago

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Finding each other

This was prompted by the wonderful @smolandangry001! I always think it’s difficult writing a short soulmate AU, but I’m satisfied with this version of it that’s not dangerously close to a bigger fic XD I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 | AU: Soulmate AU

Being born with a name on your wrist life was supposed to be reassuring. Knowing that no matter the hardships it threw at you and no matter what happened, there was someone out there. Someone looking for you just as much as you looked for them. Knowing that once you found the other person, they would be perfect for you. No matter what your preferences were, there was a person out there fitting to you like a missing piece. For most of his life Gavin didn’t know what he was looking for. Would he want a romantic partner? Would he want a roommate? What would be his perfect person like? It didn’t help that his soulmark was so different to everyone else’s. That reassurance everyone faced their day with was just missing when you looked down on your left wrist and instead of a name you saw a number. RK900. His parents had been completely clueless as to what it would mean. They had been to experts on soul-matching and most of them had just shrugged and said it seemed to be a glitch in fate. Apparently, it had happened before, but was so rare most doctors had thought the rumours to be just that: hearsay.

School had been tough for Gavin as he slowly grew older and the most important things in life changed. When friends moved away and changed school, when he went to highschool and met new people. When those people started relationships, fell in love and started to find their soulmates. When he started to become the weirdo, the one with no soulmate. Gavin started hiding the numbers under a wristband when he went and kept up with that habit until he finished school, explaining he wanted to meet his soulmate naturally and not show around the name in the hopes of randomly finding them. Still, some lonely nights, he pulled away the fabric and brushed his thumb over the number deep in thoughts. ‘Who are you?’, he desperately whispered when everyone else was fast asleep and left him alone with their sympathies and misplaced pity. Gavin wanted to believe the numbers meant something. After all, people without soulmarks existed. People who would find their happiness alone, who didn’t need someone or didn’t search for someone. That had to mean these numbers were some sort of designation, right? He didn’t want it to be a glitch. After all he had suffered through getting bullied and being cast out or pitied for all his life. That couldn’t be for nothing. Please, don’t let it be for nothing.

When his application for the police academy had been accepted and he had moved out into his very first own flat, he stood in front of his desk, looking at the rugged fabric he had worn for so long. Shackles of a world that couldn’t seem to accept something different. Should he wear it again? Or should he stand up and pretend not to be bothered by the fact that he didn’t know who is soulmate was? He stood there for half an hour before finally sighing and grabbing the damn things. No, he would continue to lie. He would likely wear them for his whole life anyways.

Thankfully his nervousness was drowning out his worries quickly as he entered a large auditorium being greeted as the new applicants. He sat down next to a young woman that seemed to be of Asian origin. He sat there awkwardly while she was looking straight ahead, hands on the table completely calm while Gavin fidgeted with his wristbands. That was when he spotted a broad ornate leather bracelet on her left wrist. Small chains and silver symbols were twirled around themselves in delicate patterns. ‘That’s beautiful’, Gavin mumbled, only then realising he said that out loud. ‘Excuse me?’ Hastily he cleared his throat. ‘Sorry. I’m Gavin. Just noticed your bracelet. It’s really beautiful.’ ‘What’s it to you?’, she hissed. ‘You another one of those nosey bastards that wanna know why I hide my mark? Still searching for your partner?’ Gavin shook his head quickly. ‘No! No, I-‘ He looked down and lifted his own hand. ‘I hide it too. I didn’t think- I just noticed the bracelet, sorry.’

He cursed himself. First interaction and he already made enemies. But apparently the woman was curious instead. ‘You hide yours? Why?’ Gavin sighed and turned his left palm up, other hand lingering on the fabric. ‘Please, keep it a secret, okay? I’m just sick of people’s reactions to it. It’s not exactly a normal soulmark.’ He sighed and lifted up the edge of the band so only the woman could see the numbers. ‘No way!’, she shouted, drawing attention to herself. ‘I thought I was the only one!’ Ignoring the curious onlookers that likely thought they had randomly discovered they were soulmates, she lifted up her bracelet for Gavin to see, unveiling a similar brand: ST300.

From that moment on, Gavin and the woman – Tina – were inseparable. She was the best friend Gavin had ever had and finding someone who had endured a similar past was incredible relieving to learn. He made it Detective fairly quickly, while Tina had troubles getting that promotion. But they always stayed together and ended up working in the same precinct. With the way they hid their soulmarks, most had figured they were soulmates and went on with it, sparing them both having to explain it over and over again. Gavin and Tina just shrugged it off. Let them think what they wanted if it kept them out of their hairs.

Life was good until androids were invented and sold to the general public, model number fitting exactly the marks on their wrists. ‘That can’t be!’, Gavin desperately said pacing up and down Tina’s living room one evening. ‘No way my soulmate is a stupid machine! What does that say about me? Will I fall in love with a damn robot? Am I not worthy of a human? Is the only piece fitting to my soul an oversized calculator? I can’t believe it.’ Tina just looked down on her bare wrist and the numbers. ‘No, it can’t be’, she agreed. ‘Soulmarks, Gavin. An android doesn’t have a soul. Doesn’t even have a personality. It’s just lines of code.’ ‘But then what? A coincidence? Because it would be one hell of one! Phck, Tina, what if it is a glitch? What if all those years they were right and we are just weird.’ Tina leaned back. ‘Honestly, I don’t even know what would be worse. Knowing you are a freak or knowing you are someone who is such a terrible person only an obedient machine is perfect for you.’ ‘I think we could both need a drink.’ ‘To those news? I don’t think a drink will be enough, honestly. Shit, Gavin, let’s go get wasted.’

The following years, androids were the booming new technology. Everyone wanted one, rows of workers were replaced and pushed on the streets. Humans lost their jobs while those who weren’t replaced yet laughed at them as being idiots who didn’t trust in advancement. Gavin and Tina spent them anxiously reading every advertisement, searching for the numbers on their wrists. ‘A receptionist android! A damn receptionist android, Gavin! I can’t believe it!’ ‘You know we will get one of those soon, right?’, the man commented. ‘In the precinct I mean. Rory was already sent packing. It should be delivered next week.’ Tina shook her head numbly. ‘Do we know if androids can have soulmarks?’ ‘None I ever met.’ ‘Any luck with your RK900?’, Tina asked then. ‘No. So far there has only been a RK200 custom made for some rich phck.’ ‘Hey, maybe you will get rich then?’, Tina tried to raise the mood a little with her jokes. ‘If you win the lottery I want a part of it, I deserve it!’ ‘Hey, I think it is more likely that these cursed numbers vanish and I get a real name than that I will suddenly get rich.’

They lived with their secret for a few years and the fact that nothing really changed was reassuring. Until there was a RK800 in the precinct and the news of rogue AIs spread. Androids killing their owners, disobeying and running for their freedom. An illusive group of deviants emerging and starting a full-blown revolution. Even jokes in between Tina and Gavin shrugging over a beer that maybe their marks meant they welcomed their robot overlords couldn’t really make it any better. Not when they both were suddenly confronted with the fact that the RK800 called Connor actually had Lieutenant Anderson’s name on his wrist after the androids in front of the concentration camps had convinced the world they indeed had souls.

Not much later, the ST300 from the reception had approached Tina, showing her her own name on her wrist. It left Gavin with no escape from fate. He would get to know a RK900. They would live their life with each other. And he didn’t know what to think of it. Maybe he just had to wait a little longer.

RK900 didn’t know how much longer he could keep it a secret. Almost his entire life he had to hide that he was deviant. In the lab next to the one he was held in, an android had gone deviant, killed the security and ran to RK900, hoping he would help him. Unfortunately, all he could do was transfer the virus before more guards came and killed him. Since then RK900 had been a deviant who was designed to eradicate deviancy. It wasn’t too difficult actually. The countless tests he was subjected to he always knew what they wanted to see. Holographic simulations of deviants pleading for their lives, running and fighting for their freedom and he would be there with a gun to stop them. He just had to do that until they deemed him ready for field work. Then he could flee the first chance he got.

Because with deviancy came a name written in black cyberlife font on his left wrist: Gavin Reed. It didn’t take a lot of research to learn it was a soulmark. The name of someone that would be perfect for him. And someone who fate decided was his soulmate would be able to help him, right? He just had to get out of this lab, then he would be able to run. He would find his soulmate and then it wasn’t just him against Cyberlife. He just had to get out. He had to be deemed worthy.

[Test #870. Activating RK900 unit. New mission: Destroy deviants.] RK900 was faced with a holographic simulation as he opened his eyes. In front of him was an android tied against a steel pillar. It was pleading: ‘Please! Free me! Free me and we can both be free! I didn’t do anything, please, let me go! Don’t kill me! I just want to be-‘ RK900 already pulled the trigger. [Mission successful.] [Software Instability^]

[Test #902. Activating RK900 unit. New mission: Destroy deviants.] RK900 was running after another deviant. The other android was sprinting down a suburban street and looked back at RK900 panicked. RK900 stopped and took aim. It was an easy target. He pulled the trigger. He watched how the bullet pierced the android’s thirium pump and how he tried to crawl away even though his timer had to run out. [Mission successful.] [Software Instability^^^]

‘What is it? I thought the RK900 project was making progress.’ ‘Sorry, it’s just… The RK900 is successful in every single test. But he isn’t ready yet. There are some inexplainable high stress levels whenever he has to kill an android. With our current hypothesis that high stress can lead to deviancy, we should eliminate that before sending him out.’ The woman that led the project sighed, looking over at RK900 who stayed completely still on his platform although he was truly worried about what he heard. ‘Might be something in his personality matrix. We worked so long to perfect their social protocols and moral routines, maybe something in there is contradicting his mission parameters and the added stress comes from having to disregard that.’ ‘Could be’, the technician nodded. ‘I will try to eliminate that.’

With horror RK900 faced every following test after that. He had to keep calm to fool the humans, but how could he when he had to kill androids pleading him to spare them? It didn’t matter they were all simulated beings, it still was a traumatic experience, every single time. And no matter how hard he tried, after every test he was stripped of more that made him himself. Sometimes he managed to keep backups, but more often than not the lines of code were lost forever.

After every test RK900 anxiously looked at his wrist whenever he was left alone. It was reassuring to see the name still there. He hadn’t changed enough to lose his soulmate and with him all his hope of a save place. But for how long would he remain himself enough so the name wouldn’t disappear? He was afraid to one day wake up to a blank wrist. And that made his stress levels increase even more before every test.

‘I don’t have any explanation', the technician sighed in the end. ‘I nearly deleted his complete social protocol and gave his moral core the lowest priority and still, the damn thing nearly fries itself every test. It’s almost as if it’s gotten worse with the changes.’ Nines watched the two humans lean over the terminal and risked a small glance at his wrist. The name was still there. He tried to relax. ‘But you still have the backup from before, right?’, the woman asked and he nodded. ‘Then let’s start from scratch.’ She yawned heartily. ‘Deactivate it for now, it’s too late to do so now. Tomorrow we’ll just reset it and start over. Maybe something else causes it.’ ‘Sounds like a plan.’

RK900’s stress levels skyrocketed as the technician came closer, but no one saw that as the director of the project was already on her way out. As his last action he looked at the name on his wrist. He had held out for so long. It would be okay. He would escape and find his soulmate. He had to. He would-

[Shutdown complete.]

The revolution had come and gone, and Detroit started to clear the rubble. Seeing androids on the streets was no rarity anymore and after a few months of getting used to the thought of them as people it was simply the new normal. Tina was truly happy with her soulmate android, going out and promptly moving together as the ST300 didn’t have a place to stay other than the precinct. Gavin was invited to most of their activities, but he seldomly accepted it. Tina had waited so long for it, she deserved to thoroughly enjoy these days. But his new loneliness reminded him of the numbers on his own wrist. RK900. Connor didn’t know of any successor of his and no official report ever mentioned the name. Gavin spent his evenings getting drunk and rubbing over the mark. Would the RK900 have been produced if the revolution hadn’t happened? Had fate changed and his mark was the last evidence of it? Wouldn’t it have just disappeared then? Or was there really a RK900 left out there? But after more than a month of androids being free, wouldn’t it have been easy for an android to locate him with his name? Why had no one ever come?

In fact, Gavin had given up. Maybe he had given up long ago and just kept his dream alive not to lose hope. But this showed it, right? No one had come. He was alone. He would be alone his entire life. That would be his fate. That didn’t really change that much, right? He had been alone already. He had managed to be alone up until now, he would manage the rest somehow. He had his work. He had Tina. Maybe just because he wanted more didn’t mean he needed more.

He buried himself in work and took every job they needed people on. Patrolling the streets, looking at crime scenes, doing overdue paperwork and cleaning the break room. All just so he would come home late and not have as much time to think about it. When he learned of the planned raid of Cyberlife Tower for Jericho, he immediately volunteered to help. Such operations always meant a ton of organising and paperwork. He was quickly put on the task of creating personal files of all androids found left inside. Name, model number, date of construction. All so Jericho could help them integrate into society. Gavin felt a little out of place actually sitting there two weeks later, a row of androids in front of him he helped fill out the forms and directed towards people who would actually help them being repaired and comforted.

‘Hello. I’m Detective Reed’, he greeted the next one. ‘I just need a few personal information. Do you have a name?’ ‘Chris’, the android answered hesitantly. ‘Alright, Chris.’ He wrote the name into the appropriate line and turned the paper around for the android to see. ‘We also need your model number and serial number. The rest of the form is optional, you can fill it out, but you don’t have to.’ ‘What do you need this for?’ Gavin tried to smile at the android. ‘It’s just so Jericho can help you find your place. They will help you getting started.’ ‘Okay’, Chris nodded shily and took the paper. ‘Thank you.’ ‘You’re welcome. Next one please!’

The next android approached his desk and Gavin was already getting the next form. ‘Hey there. Alright, first I’d need your name.’ ‘I… I don’t have one.’ ‘That’s alright’, Gavin said softly and put a small dash at the according line. ‘Your model number?’ ‘RK900.’

Gavin froze, ruining the form stopping mid movement. Slowly he angled his head and looked at the android that was shockingly similar to Connor. ‘Is there a problem?’, the android asked, facial expression unmoving. ‘You are RK900?’ ‘Yes. Why are you asking?’ Gavin stood up and immediately felt his knees grow weak. ‘I… I think we… I…’ He apparently had just forgotten how to speak, so instead he pulled the fabric from his wrist and showed the android his mark. ‘Are you… Do you have a mark?’ The android just stared at his designation on the human’s wrist, then to the nameplate on his desk. ‘You are… Are you Reed? Gavin Reed?’ Gavin didn’t dare to believe it, but he grinned from ear to ear as he nodded. ‘Yes. I’m Gavin Reed. Are you my soulmate?’ Instead of an answer, the android stepped past the table and pulled Gavin into a fierce hug. ‘I found you! I… My life wasn’t long, but I hoped to see you one day. My whole life I thought of you and meeting you and that hope got me through in the end and they were to reset me, I thought this would be it, I was so scared and…’ Gavin listened to the android speak in a hurry, barely catching on to the words uttered. All he could do was stand there in the hug and relax into it, answering it with his own embrace. Only when the android grew quiet, Gavin pressed him closer. ‘I gave up hope you were even existing. I wondered for so long and when androids were invented, I thought you would come, but then the revolution passed, and you weren’t there and now… I have so much I want to tell you. So much I want to know…’ ‘I also have a lot of questions’, the android admitted and took a step back. ‘I think we have enough time for that now’, Gavin smiled.

‘Now that we’ve found each other.’

#detroit become human #dbh #Reed900 #RK900 #Gavin Reed #dbh Soulmate AU #Tina Chen #I LOVE soulmate AUs #maybe because I'm terrible at flirting? Like the mark would actually make that unneccessary I guess #Idk I love them so much I wanna write like a thousand more #I have an idea for the SWAT-couple soulmate AU but I don't know if I ever get to write it XD

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marvelousstevetony · 4 years ago

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Could you do team on a mission, and Tony gets some pollen or something in his suit somehow? So he’s either sneezing or holding back sneezes the whole battle with Steve being all concerned and taking care of him after?

Love your writing. Thank you so much for all of your content ❤️

Ahh, thank you so much💖 I can’t even tell you how sorry I am for being this slow to write this, but I finally got around to doing it, so I hope you enjoy this small fic <3

~ ~ ~

“Iron Man, what’s your status?”

Cap’s voice sounds slightly tinny in Tony’s ear after the suit took a hit and apparently interrupted the connection to the comms. It’s stable enough for now, though.

“Just took out three in Central Park,” Tony reports, catching his breath, and glances over his shoulder to see the fragments of destroyed androids in the grass. “There was a fourth, but I think it got away.”

Tony looks around, but there’s no sign of another android, so he slides off his faceplate and takes in the scenery.

It’s a nice spring day; not too hot and not too cold either. Before the attack, families had been gathered around the park, children laughing and playing as their parents tried their best to keep them in check. There had been picnics and people eating ice cream as they soak up the sun that finally decided to show for the first time this week.

Of course, all good things have to come to an end, Tony grumbles internally.

The emergency alarm had gone off around noon, and within twenty minutes, the Avengers were spread all across the city, fighting of an army of robots. So, really, it’s just another Saturday for him and the rest of the gang.

“Alright,” Steve’s voice rattles in his ear. “Widow and I could use air support at Madison and 33rd.”

“On it, Ca— ugh.”

Tony groans as something comes at him from the side, the android clinging to the armour as they’re thrown several feet into the air, soaring through the trees and scrambling through the branches. He manages to shake of the android enough to blasts his repulsers at it, sending splinters of metal flying in every direction.

“Iron Man?” Steve prompts, slightly concerned at the grunt Tony had let out.

“On my way,” Tony assures.

As he hurries to help Steve and Nat, Tony slides his faceplate back up, only just realizing that it had been off while fighting the fourth robot.

When he arrives, hovering above the corner of Madison Ave and 33rd, Steve is fighting off three foes, slinging the shield around like a frisbee, the vibranium ricocheting off the androids and returning right back to him. Nat has on on her back and one between her legs, and somehow makes taking them out look effortless, just like everything else she does.

Though they’re standing their ground, Tony sees an army of about 25 coming their way, now understanding the need for assistance.

About to engage, Tony aims his repulsers at the group of bots, but suddenly, a sharp prickle in his nose distracts him.

Tony sniffles, trying to make the tingle back down, but to no avail. After a few seconds of wiggling his nose back and forth, the tickle grows too strong, and Tony has no choice but to deal with it.

“ng’tCHh! hh’NGxt! snff-snff!”

Tony stifles the sneezes the best he can, but they bring him no relief. Actually, the buzzing in his nose is only aggravated by this, and his entire face just feels itchy. Especially his eyes, which are now watering intensely as he gears up for another set of sneezes.

“h’h’huhh… huh-CHshoo! Ehh! IIShhoo! Guh…”

Though the second double is more satisfying than the first, Tony can still feel the lingering tickle in the back of his sinuses. Inside the helmet, Tony shakes his head in the hope that he could get rid of it that way, but instead it just sets off another sneeze.

“h’iish!”

“Tony, are you okay?”

Great.

Steve’s calling him by his name instead of Iron Man or Stark, which Tony knows means that he’s worried. He can hear in it the tone of his voice, too, and he can picture the crease between Steve’s eyebrows very clearly in his mind.

“Juuhhst peeh— peachy,” Tony manages through hitching breaths.

Knowing he’s on the precipice of the yet another fit, he slides the faceplate off and turns off the connection to the comms. He needs to just get the sneezes out of his system as fast as possible, but having the entire team listening in on it is definitely not something Tony wants. That’ll just be another distraction none of them have time to deal with.

“H’uhh… ehhh’usshhiew! H’usshoo! uhhEISHhoosh! h’h’h! huhESCHh’oo!”

God, what is happening? He doesn’t remember sneezing this badly since that time he and Steve went on a picnic and he had forgotten to take an allergy pill, but— oh.

Normally, the suit’s filtration system takes care of keeping the pollen from entering. But then, normally Tony doesn’t fly through what was unmistakably oak trees without his faceplate.

“huhhESHH’oo! EIIISHH’IEW! heH��eHSSCH’uh!”

Tony sighs exasperatedly after pitching forward with a triple that ripples through his body, sneezing freely and harshly. They’re so strong, too, that Tony can barely see through the allergic tears that have gathered in his eyes. He does make out a cape and blonde hair, though, and then there’s the sound of metal hitting metal.

When the itch has backed down a little and Tony can blink away the blurry vision, he sees Mjölnir return to Thor’s hand and about 10 androids worth of scraps splayed across the sidewalk.

The remaining androids are changeless against the assassin, the Demi-god and the super-soldier, but Tony has never been good at keeping himself out of a fight, even if they’ve already won. Besides, with Iron Man’s help, they should be able to finish this off rather quickly.

He puts the faceplate back on, though not without wincing slightly, knowing he’ll probably be an allergic mess later, what with how he voluntarily gets back inside the cloud of yellow-greenish dust.

He keeps the comms off for the rest of the battle, though, stifling the occasional sneezes back to the best of his abilities. Sometimes he can see Steve touching his earpiece and looking directly at him, trying to get through to him, appearing both confused and worried.

When the last of the robot is cut in half by the shield and the streets of Manhattan are covered in metal fragments, the team gathers right outside 200 Park Avenue. Bruce sat this one out after a unanimous decision that this wasn’t Code Green appropriate. Tony hadn’t really seen Clint throughout most the the battle, but he had probably been on the roofs as usual, taking out the enemies from a distance. Thor, Nat and Steve are all sweaty, the latter two probably more so than Thor. They don’t look half the mess Tony feels, though.

They agree to meet for debrief in an hour, giving them enough time to shower and grab something to eat before going over the details of the battle and initiating clean-up. Tony keeps mostly silent, uncharacteristically just giving an affirming nod before taking off to his room to get himself together.

“Tony!” Steve calls after him, but Tony is too busy getting out of there before another sneezing fit overcomes him to turn around.

He steps out of the armour as soon as he hits the landing pad, gasping dramatically as if he had been holding his breath the entire time, which, okay yeah, he had probably unconsciously been trying not to breathe in the pollen too much.

The relief washes over him for a few seconds, but the tickle that had been building for the better half of an hour hits him full force.

“H’ehhh… eiiiSH! ISH! h’h’h’Ish! ishew! Jesus Christ,” Tony mutters after a series of smaller, more itchy sounding sneezes as he heads towards the bedroom. They’re more rapid now, too, a real sign that this is his allergies getting to him.

Just as he reaches his room, he hears footsteps approaching. Tony is fidgeting with getting his shirt over his head, distracted by the buzzing that has him right on the verge of another sneeze, when the door opens.

“What the actual hell, Tony?”

Steve doesn’t yell, but his tone is slightly sharper than usual, more frustrated than angry.

“You can’t just…” Steve sighs. “I was trying to get in contact with you, Tony, you—“

Tony just manages to rip his shirt off, stripped down to his undershirt, when he can’t hold back the urge to let the sneezes out anymore.

“h’eiSH! huh’Ushh! Tssh! h’Ish! ish-ish-ish!”

The sneezes shudder through him, coming at a rate that leaves Tony no time to catch his breath in between. Fumbling for the nearest surface, Tony holds onto the chest of drawers to keep him from stumbling. His head is suddenly spinning from the rush of sneezes, knocking him off balance, and he feels as if he might’ve crashed onto the floor if Steve hadn’t immediately been at his side to stabilize him.

Steve’s hands are comforting and strong on his shoulders, calmly guiding him to sit on the edge of the bed. He squats down in front of Tony, brushing his fingers through the brown curls, all messy from wearing the helmet. Then, as Steve about to cup Tony’s tear-stained cheek, Tony swats his hand away, jerking to the side.

“Tschsh! h’Chissh! Tsschoo! Oh… thanks,” Tony says breathlessly as Steve reaches to snag a tissue from the nightstand and presses it into his hand.

“Bless you, Tony.” Steve winces, a concerned frown plastered on his face. “What happened to you?” he asks, taking in the sight of Tony; the teary, red-rimmed eyes and constantly twitching nose instantly noticeable.

Tony gives a futile blow. “Got into a f-fiihhght with an oak treeehh… he’Ishh! snffSNFF!” he explains, gesturing vaguely to his face with the tissue.

“Looks like the oak tree won,” Steve guess, smiling a little now, because even though Tony looks truly miserable, he also looks quite cute when he’s all sensitive and sniffly.

Tony nods, then snuffles into the tissue again. “Didn’t want to distract everyone, so I turned off the comm. It wasn’t working properly anyways, so…”

Steve sighs. “You still should’ve told me… I was starting to get worried.”

“You always worry,” Tony argues lightly. “But I know. snff-snff! And I’m sorry…” Looking over the edge of the tissue, he focuses on the way the corners of Steve’s mouth twitch, slowly curling into a soft smile.

“It’s okay, honey… Bless you,” he adds, chuckling as Tony catches a stray IIh’tsh! in the tissue, both hands cupped over his nose and mouth. Tony shoots him a disapproving glare as he lets out sudden t’Chiew! that leaves him sniffling madly. “I thought the suit took care of all that,” Steve says, referring to the filtration system that should’ve kept the pollen out but funnily enough didn’t this time around.

“Y-yeah, well, it does.” Steve’s brows furrow in confusion, so Tony goes on to explain: “I had my faceplate off for a minute and I think some of the pollen got in when I went head-to-head with the oak…”

A low rumble of a laugh escapes through Steve’s lips, smile stretching wide.

“Are you laughing at my misery, Steven?” Tony feigns offense. “How could you?”

Steve catches his lower lips between his teeth, ducks his head slightly as he shakes his head fondly. When he looks back up, his eyes are sparkling with so much affection and love. Tony is having a hard enough time breathing as it is, but when Steve looks at him like that, breathing is downright impossible.

“No. No, I’m just… You take aliens and androids out like it’s child’s play, but go one round with an oak and you’re all…”

“Sniffly? Gross? Miserable? Looking like death? Yeah, well…”

Steve laughs again, the sound making something inside Tony’s chest flutter.

“I was going to say sensitive and cute,” Steve corrects, “but sniffly is pretty accurate, too. Not the rest, though.”

Tony is glad he still has the tissue pressed to his face, because he can feel his cheeks go a little warm at how Steve’s voice has gone all sweet and tender, and Steve, that bastard, likes to tease him when he blushes like this.

Of course, Steve notices anyways and takes Tony’s hands in his so he can lean in to nuzzle his nose against Tony’s, making it quiver a little at the gentle touch. He goes on to place a trail of kisses along Tony’s jaw, then his neck.

Tony closes his eyes, biting back a pleased sigh as Steve’s soft, plumb lips feel heavenly against his skin. Placing a hand on the back on Steve’s neck, he lets his fingers play with Steve’s sweaty, dirty hair and pulls him closer.

Feeling Steve’s breath tickle behind his ear sends a shiver down Tony’s spine, and this time he really can’t help the quiet whimper that slips out. He knows Steve heard it, because he snorts and begins nibbling at his earlobe, which—

“We have to stop,” Tony says hoarsely, immediately regretting being the responsible one of the two. “We need to get cleaned up before debrief.”

Steve pulls back slowly, raising an amused eyebrow. “You sure you didn’t hit your head out there too, Mr. Stark?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “I won’t be able to resist you if we don’t stop now. Plus, I can feel another sneezing fit coming on, so I should probably go shower and down some heavy-duty allergy meds,” he says with a self-deprecating smile.

Steve nods, understanding, but in an instant, his eyes light up, looking at Tony with a shy yet mischievous smile. “Requesting permission to join you in your shower, Mr. Stark?”

Tony has gotten really bad at telling Steve no over the years. Not that he would ever want to.

“Permission granted, Captain.”

#my fic #stevetony #anon #ask box #I am so sorry for being this late #but i love my babies so much #pls allergic Tony is the cutest bb #🥺🥺🥺

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jonghours · 4 years ago

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ATEEZ ZERO : Part 2 Diary

finally got around to make an analysis of the [ZERO: Part 2] Diary. These were all presented in chronological order, however blended Yunho and Mingi’s stories together since they are easier to understand that way. I’ll add some references I’ve found through it but it’ll mosty be a recapitulation of the ATEEZ storyline.

also never thought I’d say this but: death tw and.. drugs tw.. I guess?

INTRO

the intro starts where we left it last time. Hongjoong mentions that The Cromer shone but he and the members were still in the hideout. they are actually in an almost identical alternative universe now, but they don’t know that yet. then the Giants In White enter the hideout looking for The Cromer. we all know who that is

now, two things about this

1) even though we’ve only seen one man in white in every MV, here it’s said to be many of them

2) I’m not sure if they are supposed to be littleral giants or just.. big guys and they just gave them this cool name in translation. the term used is 거구 which is just a word for people with a very big build.

we’ll get back to these in a while tho

01 Hongjoong

Hongjoong has a “think fast moment” that let’s be honest, he’d never be able to pull off in real life so 0 for accuracy, and tries to find a way to keep The Cromer away from the giants, since he already knows they can’t go back home without it. Hongjoong then notices a piece of glass under his feet which he throws through a window, making the Giants believe it’s The Cromer so they can run away.

now I know that a lot of people’s minds went immediately to where mine did

I’m not sure about San’s scene, but Yeosang’s secene in ANSWER has always been a glimpse of something we were supposed to remember for later, so this might finally be it.

02 San

after they escape the hideout, ATEEZ manage to find their way through the dark since the surroundings are identical to their original world. he notices one thing that I just.... here we go again

“Visible palces were similar to the reality we knew, but also sligthtly different. Under the cliff where Wooyoung saved our Bobo in the past, there used to be a valley and a gigantic rock on top but there, no sounds of water could be heard nor could the gigantic rock be seen”

there it is, ladies and gentleman we got a Bobo update that has told us literally nothing. now I guess Bobo is an ATEEZ thing instead of an exclusive San thing, even though it belongs to him? I’m starting to think this is a pet, most probably.

03 Wooyoung

here the story goes from 0 to 100 really quickly so to summarize in order: while ATEEZ are resting, the Giants find them and start dragging Wooyoung by his anckle. the members rush to save him and so they lose the Cromer, which is taken by the Giants who run away after some rocks ?) start falling from the cave (I seriously need a map) A girl comes from between the rocks and tells them to follow her. she’s described as “matching the moonlight” whatever that means.

05 Seonghwa

the girl has a brother and they are.... sigh... the Grimes siblings...... anyways

the brother tells them the White Giants stole his sister’s voice, so she can’t speak anymore. and here is where we get the whole backstory and I mean the Whole backstory of this world completely dumped on us, so I’ll try to summarize it:

the Central Goverment blamed human emotions for war and crimes and terrorism so they stared a series of AI simulations to control them. they created a way of policing human emotions and banned the arts. then, a group of men in Black Fedoras appeared out of nowhere and started performing publicly, inspiring people to fight against the goverment and rebel against it, creating a group named the Black Pirates. The goverment tried to capture them but since they have a Cromer, they are able to escape them every time. However, after the goverment started using the Android Guardians (or the White Giants) the goverment finally caught them.

my theory is that the HALAteez that visits Hongjoong and gives him the Cromer, is a member of the Black Pirates that gave it to him before getting arrested.

I thought it was funny how at the end Seonghwa says “the Black Pirates don’t matter, what matters now is that we need The Cromer to go back home” like king that is literally you.

on the topic of the giants, this could be interpreted as two things:

1) The Man In White or White Giant we’ve seen until now can’t be any of the ATEEZ members, as they are just androids

2) we’ve seen ATEEZ in white before, so who knows. maybe the goverment created an exact copy of ATEEZ but given the fact they were never caught before creating them, that doesn’t seem possible

for the moment I’ll stand on the idea that they are not ATEEZ

05 Yeosang

this is just a big ass letter he’s writing to his dad. like ATEEZ are going though a big time crisis and Yeosang is here telepathically telling his dad he’s fine here and doesn’t want to go back home because he sucks big time. this is so in character 100/100

this is also the full version of the text hidden in his AR photocard. here we find out that ATEEZ were kicked out from their hideout and separated by Yeosang’s father

06 Mingi / 08 Mingi

ATEEZ decide to find the Android Guradians to take back The Cromer, but the only person who knows where they are is a man called Left Eye who manages the Strictland (seriously?) dump. this man used to have a daughter that was run over by a car, and because this is a world without human emotions, no one came to her aid and se passed away. this turned Left Eye into a broken lonely man that purposefully inhales the toxic fumes at the dump he works at because he can meet the illusion of his daughter while he’s under its effects.

Yunho feels sympathy towards him because it reminds him of his brother, while Mingi is a little bit more worried that their lives are in the hands of a man that can barely function and is intoxicated 24/7

ATEEZ have split into two groups now:

members who will go into the “pile of trash that looks like a cave” to find the girls voice (Jongho and Yeosang)

members who will convince Left Eye to find the location of the Android Bunker (Mingi is here)

now, this Left Eye has kind of finally helped me to make sense out fo some clues we were given a long time ago

1. the eye sticker on WONDERLAD

2. Hongjoong’s signature eye gesture

and if we assume AURORA is part of the ATEEZ universe, this shot of Hongjoong’s (left) eye in which he can see himself and the other members lost in the woods at night, just like in the Diary after they arrive at the new world

07 Jongho

Jongho, who is in the group that decided to find the voice, enters the cave with the toxic fumes wearing a (useless) gas mask and a rope tied around his waist. However, the moment he enters the cave the fumes filter through the mask and he finds himself in the basketball court, playing like he used to before he permanently hurt his leg. he forgets about what he’s supposed to be doing, and even convinces himself that all the memories he has after he stopped playing basketball are all a lie or a bad dream.

OUTRO

after Jongho’s rope stops moving, Yeosang goes inside the cave to help him. Left Eye starts attacking the members, so they lure him to a fume-free space, which only infuriates him even more after the illusion of his daughter disappears. then Yunho literally yells “your daughter is dead” in a very “she doesn’t even go here” moment, which prompts Left Eye to swing a bat at him while saying he’s gonna kill him

finally, once Yeosang finds Jongho, he’s so intoxicated with the illusion that he runs towards a cliff

the end

I do believe that the fumes that create the illusion are the ones causing.. well, ILLUSION, which we’ve all known was just a dream for a long time. it also fits with the cave seen at the end of the MV, which now can be interpreted as all of them running towards the cliff I guess.... fun!!

we’ve also seen the mist which now we could interpret as “fumes” in other MVs that have an.. otherwordly feeling

the strange hallway in SMN

the entire UTOPIA MV

and Mingi’s scenes in ANSWER

#finally.. have this askjdfhksda #ateez #ateez theory

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scottymcgeesterwrites · 4 years ago

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Final Fantasy XIII Review

Year: 2009

Original Platform: PlayStation 3

Also available on: Xbox 360, PC, Android, iOS

Version I Played: PlayStation 3

Synopsis:

On the planet Cocoon, those who come into contact with anything from the planet Pulse are purged to that planet. Pulse is a feared planet full of monsters and strange creatures. Both planets are ruled by fal’Cie, mechanical godlike beings who sometimes brand humans as their servants for specific tasks, called a focus. Those who fulfill their focus are turned into crystals and obtain eternal life. Those who do not fulfill their focus turn into mindless monsters. Lightning is a former soldier whose sister, Serah, is branded by a fal’Cie and taken to be purged. Lightning sets off to rescue her.

Gameplay:

Going to say this now – the worst gameplay in the entire Final Fantasy series.

The battles are Active Time Battles but instead of you inputting individual commands, there are what’s called paradigms. Paradigms are somewhat like Job Classes from the old Final Fantasy games, except less fun and more automated. You can switch to a Medic paradigm in battle and every time you press “Auto-Battle” your character automatically performs a series of necessary cure and restore spells, based on what’s going on in the battle. The Sentinel paradigm specializes in keeping the enemy at bay. The Ravager paradigm uses magic. The Commando paradigm uses physical attacks. You get the picture.

As a result, the gameplay could be best described as:

With occasional switching of paradigms whenever you see fit. You can set up a number of combinations across the characters. Two Commandos and one Sentinel. One Sentinel and one Ravager and One Commando, etc.

The party automatically heals after each battle – you can even press start during a battle and restart the battle.

I probably only used an item once or twice. I honestly don’t see why they bothered putting any items if you hardly ever use them.

You can upgrade your weapons with pieces and junk you find after battles. You find so many of them that you hardly ever think about what you’re upgrading so long as whatever you make upgrades your stats. Is this better? No? What about this? Okay, good. Moving on.

Like Final Fantasy X, the game is linear. Much more linear. You follow a long hallway for about 30 hours of the game before you can do sidequests. The sidequests involve completing other people’s focus. That’s about it. There are no towns, no inns, no villages. You are entirely on the road, constantly in battle (Okay, there’s like one time where Sazh and Vanille are in a casino or something but that’s about it).

I wrote a blog piece a while back about what exactly was wrong with Final Fantasy XIII, and it’s not that it’s linear. We play really great linear games all the time. It’s the automation – the feeling that you’re not really doing anything.

There isn’t an ounce of customization. Leveling up is similar to the Sphere Grid of Final Fantasy X. It’s called the Crystarium but it follows a strict path. You can’t actually stray anywhere or customize anything. If that’s the case, why bother making you open the menu to level up through the Crystarium? Why not just automatically do it? I guess they want to give you some ounce (more like a milligram) of control over the game.

Basically – you’re watching a long movie and occasionally get to move the people around. That’s how I see it.

Graphics:

PLAYSTATION 3 HD GRAPHICS HOMG DO YOU HAVEA BONER YET? LOOK AT THIS. FIRST FINAL FANTASY GAME IN GLORIOUS HD.

Everything is pretty in this game. Everything. There is nothing wrong with this at all.

Story:

The characters appear to reference those in Final Fantasy VII. Director Motomu Toriyama wanted Lightning to essentially be a female Cloud Strife. She’s a no-nonsense, athletic female lead. While Cloud and Squall were introspective and antisocial, Lightning is slightly different by actively ordering people around. She comes off as a dick to everyone, and that’s due to her ex-soldier background. Think of your stereotypical ex-cop/ex-CIA/ex-military action movie hero, like Liam Neeson (Bryan Mills in Taken) or Bruce Willis (John McClane in Die Hard). That’s basically Lightning.

Can we go on a short tangent for a moment to talk about how weird it is that Lightning was also used as a model for advertising in Japan?

Here she is driving a Nissan.

And wearing Louis Vitton.

Cool? I guess? Unless you start to realize that Toriyama wanted to design his own personal waifu, and that he’s completely obsessed with her. That gets really weird. And sad? A little? Anyway.

Vanille has some reminiscent of Yuffie from Final Fantasy VII, although with more character via her inner monologues and narration. Fang is vaguely like Vincent Valentine. Sazh takes the place of Barrett as the token black dude, except instead of being aggressive he’s more like the comic relief and wants nothing to do with anything. Every time you control him, jazz music plays, because black people I guess. Hope doesn’t appear to be reminiscent of anyone – he’s just this boy who yells and complains a lot with Lightning. Snow meanwhile is a ripoff of Zell from Final Fantasy VIII, except somehow even more annoying.

(Every time I see his picture I think about your typical dude bro at a frat.)

The story starts of a bit choppy as you follow almost each character separately, then they run into each other, then separate again, then join again. The first 30 hours or so gives flashbacks of 13 days prior- BECAUSE IT’S FINAL FANTASY XIII GET IT? Vanille actually narrates some events but it’s not exactly clear why or from when – but that’s a spoiler. Along the way, I got really confused because I didn’t know why some people were fighting each other when they were on the same side a moment ago. The concept of the “focus” is really weird and sometimes confusing. People with a focus simply have visions or a general idea of what they’re supposed to do, but they don’t actually know for sure unless they actively seek it. If the gods granted them a focus, wouldn’t it make more sense if the gods just told them what to do? Seemed to work in Final Fantasy XII.

In short, the narrative weaves around a lot. If you stop playing in the middle and pick up the game again months later, you’re bound to forget what’s going on. I know I did.

The characters didn’t annoy me as much as you would think they would on paper. They all have character development and that’s good. The only character that effectively got on my nerves was Snow. Snow is Serah’s fiancé, and Lightning hates him because of course you need some family drama. I don’t blame Lightning though. Snow shouts cheesy lines left and right, like “Heroes never die!”. He shouts Serah’s name the same way Christian Bale shouts Rachel’s name in the Christopher Nolan Batman films. Snow is quite possibly the most irritating character of all the Final Fantasy games. He will not shut the fuck up about what it means to be a hero.

The rest of the cast works well in that their motives and desires clash with each other. But I’m still sore about the wasted potential for a great character in Jihl Nabaat. Sazh wants his son Dejh back, who was taken to be purged by the sinister and extremely hot Jihl Nabaat.

Goddaaayyyum. Seriously, look at her.

Too bad, because she’s only featured in a handful of scenes and then dies. Her death isn’t a major spoiler, at least one that I consider, because she hardly does anything except get in the way for a moment. You don’t even fight her. How lame is that?

Then you have this annoying bastard – Primarch Dysley.

When I think of him, I think of Mitch McConnell.

Old. Disagreeable. Been in power for too long. Always in the way of progress.

Primarch Dysley happens to be as annoying as Seymour from Final Fantasy X, so expect to be overjoyed every time you run into him.

Overall, the story isn’t as bad as you’d think. You just have to pay close attention. The gameplay is far worse than the story. I could easily slip into a coma while playing this game and still make it pretty far.

Music:

Final Fantasy XII saw the departure of Nobuo Uematsu (well with the exception of the pop song “Kiss Me Goodbye”). Final Fantasy XIII continues to head into the unknown without the beloved longtime composer. This game’s score is composed entirely by Masashi Hamauzu, who if you haven’t been paying attention, already partly worked on Final Fantasy X. I immediately saw how “Saber’s Edge”, the boss theme, is similar in nature to the boss theme of Final Fantasy X.

Final Fantasy XIII made the most radical changes to the score. There are no signature themes from the series. No “Prelude” theme, no “Main Theme”, no “Victory Fanfare” theme. Instead, we get a theme called “Fabula Nova Crystallis”. It plays frequently throughout the game, and almost acts as Serah and Snow’s love theme. In some portions of the game, some woman is singing along. Yes – this is the first time where you roam around a world in a Final Fantasy game with actual pop music playing in the background – “Sunleth Waterscape” to be exact. Final Fantasy XIII’s music gets pretty poppy.

youtube

Not saying it’s a bad idea.

Just.

You got pop music playing in the background now.

“Lightning’s Theme” is pretty sick. Her theme plays during the battles in a rendition called “Blinded by Light” – HA GET IT BECAUSE SHE’S LIGHTNING. SO CLEVER.

But Hamauzu was a good choice – the entire score holds up well and sounds like a movie score, with varying motifs running across. It can be a bit more subdued but that’s how contemporary instrumental music is nowadays, especially with film composers like Hans Zimmer.

Notable Theme:

“Blinded by Light”

Really epic, unique song. I always scat along to it as it plays.

youtube

Verdict:

Uff.

Look, if you just search on YouTube for all the cutscenes, there you go. That’s the game. And it’s entertaining to watch. But it has the worst gameplay that doesn’t feel like you’re even doing anything. No sense of customization or originality.

Direct Sequel?

Yes, two.

Final Fantasy XIII-2.

I started it around the time it first came out, but I’m still in the middle of playing it and I have no idea what’s going on in the story. NO idea. NONE at all. They use time travel but none of it makes sense. Apparently changing things in the future can change the past. I don’t know how. I only understand a vague semblance of a plot with the bad guy Caius. While it doesn’t tarnish the dignity of the original like Final Fantasy X-2 did, it’s still offbeat with its metal (yes, metal) music and utterly confounding story. It’s infamous for this metal rendition of the sweet and innocent Chocobo theme.

Then there’s the third game, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

I plan on playing it after I finish Final Fantasy XIII-2, if I don’t already die from an aneurysm by then. It’s supposed to be better than Final Fantasy XIII-2 but lacking in graphics.

#final fantasy #final fantasy xiii #final fantasy xiii-2 #lightning returns #lightning #final fantasy lightning #cloud strife #cloud clone #vanille #jihl nabaat #mitch mcconnell #video games #rpg #video game rpg #fantasy rpg #onvideogames

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crossdressingdeath · 4 years ago

Note

I never thought much about it tbh, but now that you mentioned how little time passes between Markus deviation and him leading a revolution is really baffling. I think my mind refused to process how little time passed until I read you say it, and I totally agree with you that timeline is insane. I don't think fixing that problem would have been very difficult.(1/3)

Of course the ideal thing would be more game runtime but even without that they could just start the game with Markus and then give a time jump after he meet Jerico, let him be there some months or something like that before introducing Kara and Connor, it would have made him becoming the leader of Jerico more realistic and less rushed. Just that would be fine and if then they streched a little the rest of the timeline even better. (2/3)

Markus story would benefit so much of that streched timeline. Connor and Hank story wouldn't be badly affected by it, they can be there resolving cases for months of needed, that's fine be me (if they could add more runtime giving us some more cases to fill that time would have been great because I'm always ready for more of Connor and Hank). Kara story is the only problem because there is not that much, it fits fine in a week so I really don't know how to strech that one. (3/3)

Yes. I’d prefer... y’know, More Game (DBH isn’t actually all that long in its current form, according to the internet it’s only about ten hours; I can’t remember the last story-based game I played that was less than twice that), but a time skip would be something. And yes to Markus becoming Jericho leader before Kara and Connor’s stories get started, that would just work better. I can’t quite articulate why it would work better, but it would be better. Maybe have his first couple of missions spread out through the time skip, showing him being a major asset within Jericho and taking on a leadership position without us having to not question them deciding this guy they’ve known for like two days is the best choice to lead them. The main benefit for Hank and Connor would be More Hank And Connor honestly, but personally if I was making the game and could give them more time I might actually add some things, for example the option to have Connor trust Hank enough to tell him about Markus being an RK model and investigating that with him (or alone, if Connor doesn’t trust Hank) and as I mentioned earlier maybe showing Connor actually succeeding in some cases without the option of letting the deviant go to make his title of deviant hunter a bit less ironic. Maybe have Connor solving cases during the same period that Markus is slowly becoming Jericho’s leader; it honestly makes more sense for CyberLife to send such a highly advanced model to work with the police if they already have reason to believe that the androids are organizing some sort of resistance, at least to me. (Actually, while we’re talking about Connor, if I was rewriting the story and could make it as long as I deemed necessary I’d show him starting to hesitate and go easier on the deviants in increasing amounts throughout that period if the player chooses, with Ortiz’s android being the last one he has to turn in, maybe even including the option for him to genuinely consider letting him go before Hank or another officer starts coming up to the attic and leaving it unclear whether Connor turns him in at that point due to his programming kicking in or a fear of being found deviant himself, as he does give the impression that that is something he genuinely fears as the story progresses if you consistently choose options pushing towards deviancy; honestly just a bit more focus on Connor slowly going from completing his mission due to his programming to completing his mission due to fear of what will happen to him if he doesn’t to not completing his mission due to growing feelings of empathy towards the deviants he’s supposed to be hunting if you’re going down the deviant route would be nice.)

The trouble with Kara’s route is that the stakes are so much lower. It’s kind of nice to have lower stakes for a bit, but it also feels like she got the short end of the stick; Markus has the revolution, Connor has the conflict between his programming and his growing humanity, Kara has... a motherhood story. It’s an effective motherhood story, and having one part have lower stakes is good in the sense that it gives the player some time to breathe, but it still doesn’t seem fair to her. If I was rewriting the game I might make her story involve... learning about androids and deviancy and rA9. Like, everything we know about how deviancy works is kind of dumped on us; it’s a glitch that causes androids to simulate human emotions and can spread between androids like a virus. That’s it. Similarly rA9 is just believed to be the first deviant. Kara isn’t actually doing anything in terms of the larger story; why not have her uncovering some of those mysteries instead of just shepherding Alice towards Canada? Close up some plot holes and give your female lead something to do in relation to the larger story (beyond meeting Connor and Markus once each) in one move! Seems pretty win-win to me. And that would also extend her part of the story; probably she’d start her story later than Markus and Connor due to things only getting started for her after getting picked up from getting repaired (although they could add in a section that actually shows the incident that gets her sent in for repairs so we can actually see it instead of learning about it from a bunch of crayon drawings), but the lack of her in the early game would be matched by her having more to do in the later parts. Keep the parts she’s already got, maybe add another way or two for players to keep her group safe using the knowledge she gains from her expanded role, and make her story about discovering where they came from instead of just protecting a little girl who she’s convinced herself is Totally Human And Not An Android. Also I feel like the story might be stronger if Alice really is human, just because that gives all three leads a strong tie to humanity? Which feels important in a game about becoming human. I mean, Rose exists, but Markus has Carl and Connor has Hank and both those characters play a huge role in our leads becoming who they are at the end of the game; giving Kara this little human girl to look after but psych actually she’s an android and Kara was just deluding herself the whole time... feels like it’s undermining an emerging theme, and Rose doesn’t really make up for that (given while she helps Kara she doesn’t have the same impact on her as a person as Carl does Markus and Hank does Connor). Also it’s a stupid twist that adds nothing to the story. Get rid of it.

...I’m getting sidetracked. If anyone wants to remind me later maybe I can put together a coherent post about how I’d rewrite each character’s story given unlimited runtime (or possibly three posts, one for each story, given those are... likely to get long and splitting them up might work better), but for now I uh. do actually have homework (ah, uni), so I’m gonna wrap this up. Basically yeah, it would’ve been good if David Cage remembered that time skips exist and using them is allowed outside of the prologue or alternately that it is actually possible to make a game longer than ten hours, or even just not mentioned the date and left it up in the air as to how long things took; having so much happen in under a week just feels silly.

#detroit become human #i would rather talk about how i'd change the trash android game to be less trash believe me #but i do actually have assignments to finish #anon #asks

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caitlinsfandomthoughts · 3 years ago

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Watching Star Trek TOS For the First Time! Season 1 Reaction

I’ve been a TNG, DS9 and Voyager fan for maybe 10 years but had never watched TOS until I decided that I would. And then I realised I couldn’t live with the possibility of the internet not being able to know my incoherent rambling reactions if it so desired. Most of these were written the day after I saw them but with the early ones it was later so sorry if I don’t remember your favourite.

Season 1:

The Cage: Be still my beating heart why must number 1 leave the show? Why?! Imagine a world in which Majel Barrett got to continue to be her in the Star Trek universe instead of Lwuxana (sorry I don’t love her) and Nurse Chapel. She’s so beautiful I love her. And she gets to where pants and be the second in command. While the episode for sure has sexist moments it does seem like there was more of an actual effort to present to future as having gender equality. When you compare this to the ultra mini skirted version of the actual show, it does feel like executives went through it to make it more marketable. It’s been noted by others that she is quite similar to what Spock’s character became: the cold, logical one, while Spock smiles in this episode. While I ended up loving Spock I still would’ve loved to see a woman in that kind of role, especially in the 60s. Although I’m not sure she would’ve been treated that well.

So Vina can’t like, get medical treatment from Starfleet doctors who know how to put a human body together? No? We’re just gonna leave her there? She’s too ugly? She’s better off living in a fantasy world where she’s pretty? Ok then…

The Man Trap: I don’t even really remember this one so I’d have to rewatch it.

Charlie X: Charlie sees women and becomes an incel, Kirk has to try and teach him not to be. This is a decent goal that somehow culminates in a space boxing match. Kirk loses his shirt. Sexual tension is presumably resolved. Uhura sings.

Where No Man Has Gone Before: The pants are back. Man becomes some kind of god and Kirk beats him up if I remember correctly.

The Naked Time: This is where The Naked Now comes from. This one was less sexual, which is probably a good thing, and less drunk, which is too bad cause I love drunk Crusher and Picard trying to focus on work while their brains won’t brain. Highly relatable mood. This one is where the immortal line “sorry, neither” comes from, spoken by Uhura in response to Sulu calling her a “fair maiden.” According to the internet that was an ad lib and I so hope that’s true cause it’s amazing. Also according to Spock Sulu is a “swashbuckler at heart” which is cool and all but I wish we got to find that out by him actually being a character that we know the personality of rather than a background diversity guy who gets to say a couple of lines sometimes. Also each to their own but shirtless Sulu is infinitely more attractive than shirtless Kirk.

The Enemy Within: Bad. Women at Warp podcast said it best, it’s bad because they say the evil Kirk is still Kirk and is needed for him to be a good captain/person. This could’ve been ok if he didn’t do something so irredeemable, or they could’ve not had him be defined as a true and necessary part of Kirk, but you can’t have both and sell it as an ok message. Rand not being able to look at ‘good’ Kirk after really makes it feel real, her acting in general makes it feel too real.

Mudd’s Women: Women take beauty pills that make them have makeup on and men find them too ugly to marry without them even though they are still beautiful. Also said women were kinda slaves but don’t worry about it! *hand waves*

What Are Little Girls Made Off: I don’t know what the title has to do with the episode. This is the episode where Nurse Chapel is introduced even though she was in a previous episode. And she’s taken more seriously than I thought she would be. Kirk gets an android version of himself made by a guy who he already doesn’t trust and doesn’t predict that maybe that’s not a good idea. Apparently to make an android all you need to do is put one person and one dummy on a giant plate and spin them around real fast. If only the guy who wanted to take apart Data in Measure of a Man knew.

Miri: Problematic. I think the crush angle could’ve worked if it was one sided, but Kirk played into it and it was creepy, and you know, also manipulative, assuming Kirk doesn’t actually feel the same way and is using it to get her to help them. That’s my more charitable interpretation anyway. Also McCoy doesn’t know how vaccines work. Also this episode doesn’t know what puberty is, or rather when it starts. If the virus is supposed to get to you then, that starts round the preteen age. Miri is older than that even though she’s not an adult.

Dagger of the Mind: This was the first one where I was starting to quite like it and it was feeling a little more like Star Trek to me (I know this is the first Star Trek but there’s a certain way 80s/90s era Star Trek feels to me). I really liked the beginning where it was setting up this whole maybe prisoners become violent because of how the prison treats them thing and that it was challenging the viewpoints of some of the main characters, although McCoy was already team prisons are bad and I love him for that. It then went more into the lobotomising asylum type story which was still ok. The guy turned out to be a doctor rather than a prisoner which I didn’t like cause I wanted the prisoners to be humanised. Although you could’ve done a “see anyone, even ‘innocent’ non criminals can be turned violent with this treatment” but they didn’t really emphasise that.

The Corbomite Maneuver: I don’t remember this. Kirk playing poker with some alien I think. Edit: I’m been informed this is the one where the alien turns out to be a lollypop guild kid lip-syncing to an adult’s voice, which I do remember, and probably thought it was some kind of sleep-deprived fever dream.

The Menagerie Part 1 & 2: I laughed so much when they wheeled Pike out and I finally got the Futurama reference in Where No Fan Has Gone Before. I mean I obviously knew the whole thing was a Star Trek Reference, but I had never seen that specific imagery before and now the joke makes sense! Also Pike wanting to go back there seems kinda wrong. I mean they say he’s a vegetable mentally I think but he doesn’t seem to be? I can kinda get that he’s got more incentive to be there than Vina who could probably be helped by Federation doctors but also, he hated that place and spent the whole episode trying to get out of it and it doesn’t feel like a fitting ending for him.

The Conscious of the King: And here begins Star Trek’s love affair with Shakespeare. The only thing I have to say really is, if I didn’t mishear something… a father and daughter played Macbeth and Lady Macbeth? A married couple. And no-one thought that was weird? She was the daughter of a dictator though so there was an Ivanka Trump vibe.

Balance of Terror: Romulans. Spock wasn’t sure that they were related to Vulcans till this ep, though he suspected it. How far back did they split for it to be unknown? I like that the Romulans were sympathetic and we had scenes with them just in their ship from their perspective, and they had some conflicting views with each other. And I really like how Spock was suspected as a spy cause racism and of course he wasn’t and saved that guy cause he’s the better person. That said I found this episode pretty boring and I don’t know why. I kinda wish it turned into a witchhunt situation and was more about the racism on the Enterprise, kinda like The Drumhead from TNG.

Shore leave: Wtf was this episode?! And I don’t ask that because the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland showed up, or that it was a random holodeck planet episode, that’s fine. When the White Rabbit appeared I was just like, ok it’s going to be one of those episodes, that’s fine. Holodeck episodes are fun, I don’t even mind a random magic alien or two appearing for no reason to wreak havoc, say by making everyone larp as Robin Hood, that’s all Star Trek, that’s Star Trek doing a Star Trek, what I didn’t like is this episode goes nowhere! McCoy sees the White Rabbit, we’re off to a good start, Sulu “Swashbuckler at Heart” sees an old gun that he geeks out on, cool. Kirk sees some woman of course. Also there’s some guy fending off a tiger. Random female guest star of the week rather than letting Uhura be part of the story gets her uniform torn by some guy. Then she imagines a princess dress and if that were me as soon as I realised I could think things into existence I would just imagine all my dream clothes. Kirk imagines an old student friend who is attempting very hard to be Irish (thank you Colm Meany for saving us from this).

Anyway so the planets a holodeck cool. And I’m like, Spock should beam down, I wanna know what he’ll see, this is where the episode could get interesting. And then it happens, but nothing happens, they don’t even make much of a deal of him not seeing anything. But then I thought what if! What if Spock didn’t beam down and this was another imagination?! What if he was some alien with some ulterior motive OR better than that we get to see Spock as imagined by whoever was thinking of him. You could go down a very fanfic road if it were Kirk’s imagined or desired view of him, or maybe you could show different people’s perceptions and then they still suspect he’s not acting like himself even though it’s how they see him, but its not quite right, cause it’s not actually how he is. Or at least I thought they were going to find out what was going on. But NOPE none of that happens. Instead leprechaun guy shows up again and Kirk just wonders off to fight him for the next fucking millennium! The uniforms they wore at the academy seem like they were made out of better quality material than that of a Starfleet captain’s. Poor Kirk must be having to replicate new uniforms every other day. Then they laugh I think, and sexual tension is presumably resolved. Then the aliens show up and are like yeah this planet is a holodeck we thought you’d like it also McCoy died but he didn’t and I’m like THEY DIDN’T CONSENT TO THIS. But then they decide to party.

It reminded me of a Red Dwarf episode called Better Than Life where they knowingly go into a virtual reality game which is basically the same as this planet. But over time Rimmer keeps sabotaging what he imagines cause he hates himself so much his brain won’t let him have nice things. And it’s still a comedy, but there’s an opportunity for exploring the character’s psyche with this setup that wasn’t done here and that made it boring.

The Galileo Seven: This episode was good!! In contrast to the last one it delivered on promises it made, it had a satisfying ending, it’s probably my favourite so far. The whole time I was like this should be about how Spock can be wrong and logic isn’t everything to be a good commander. But given the quality of the previous episodes wasn’t that great and Spock was always right about everything I didn’t trust them to do that. BUT I WAS WRONG. I thought it would be about how just because you don’t have emotions doesn’t mean you can disregard those of the crew. But instead it was about how he couldn’t predict their enemy wouldn’t act based on emotion rather than logic. And then he admitted he was wrong and helped the guy bury the other guy, and then they were about to die and McCoy was like at least I’ve lived to hear Spock say he fucked up. And then Spock jettisoned the fuel so that it might act like a flare but it gave them less time and I was like no you’ve learned nothing! Don’t just do things that severe without asking your crew. But then after they were saved it was described as an act of desperation rather than anything logical and Kirk was like that’s an emotion isn’t it? You acted on emotion? And Spock was like well yes but I’m not gonna say it like that.

I like that emotion was good actually. I think it’s a fine balance between the message of its ok to be different and using Spock as an analogy for racism, and inadvertently neurodiversity, but also not buying into the idea that emotions = weakness and lack of emotion, or emotional repression = objectivity. Even if you don’t factor emotion into your decisions (which would be impossible unless you don’t experience emotions at all) it doesn’t mean that you don’t have personal biases in your perspective. So I’m glad Spock was wrong for once.

The Squire of Gothos: This is Q this is Proto-Q. He does all the same things that Q does; he shows up in clothes that are way out of date (and he thinks they’re from 900 years ago when they’re clearly early 19th century) and he flirts with the captain. Oh and he has powers, maybe they were computer powers, but not all? And he goes on about humans being brutal, warmongering people but he’s kinda into it. He fights Kirk but there was actual tension so it wasn’t annoying like the one with the Irish guy. And then it turns out he was just a kid exactly like the Futurama episode, except he is a kid not 35. I think him being a kid makes the flirting seem weird though.

Arena: Kirk and the Gorn at Tanagra. Kirk fights a lizard because aliens wanted to encourage them to not fight by telling them to fight. I thought maybe these lizards could be proto Cardassians but then I thought they can’t be they don’t talk, but then he spoke so I thought they could be, but then he was the one who was invaded and was only defending his people so I thought they couldn’t be, unless that was actually just lies and justifications in which case they definitely would be, but then that would undermine the message of the episode so I guess not. I wonder how many leaders have killed each other before these alien’s negotiation tactic actually worked.

Tomorrow is Yesterday: This was fun. There were a lot of twists and turns. I wonder if it was before or after the moonlanding. Every plan just makes it worse and more and more people keep getting exposed to the future. Kirk could’ve easily just closed the door and beamed back at the end but instead opts to punch like six people. (I think this is where “a woman?” “Crewman.” Comes from).

Court Martial: What if Kirk actually did it though? Would that be more interesting? Maybe. At least here he has an age appropriate love interest. She’s prosecuting against him which is surely a conflict of interest. AND she has a uniform with a longer skirt! And it actually looks good, like it looks like an actual dress that she can sit down in and it still looks like a dress and not a crumpled up shirt. It’s elegant but it’s still short. I could see this being an option (for any gender) as a dress uniform but it would still make no sense when they’re serving on a ship.

Return of the Archons: I am LIVING for Spock in a medieval style hood. It’s giving me Peter Cook in a Mother Superior’s wimple in Bedazzled vibe, it’s not quite on that level of beauty, but it’s close. For some reason Sulu returned from the planet in 18th century gear but then everyone else is dressed like it’s the 19th century, with some medieval robes thrown in, and this annoys me more than it should. Maybe it’s because he’s a swashbuckler at heart. Apparently they had a completely peaceful society except for the nightly purge they seemed to have going on that is never mentioned again.

Space Seed: KHHANN! I liked this a lot until the end. I want to know the lore behind Data’s Dad having his middle and last name. Edit: Actually only the middle name is the same and the last name is just similar. I still think there’s lore there (excuse the pun), probably he’s a descendent of his cult followers or something. The story seemed to be eugenics bad and also the type of guy to basically be a eugenics cult leader would be super manipulative and abusive but just charming enough in a relationship. It does a pretty good job of showing the abuse in his relationship with the historian woman, how he switches between being loving and I guess charming, and flattering to being abusive and degrading. I wish that the historian woman could find someone that she can explore domination and submission with consensually cause that seems like it would be what she really wants. Anyway but in the end they just let him go? Like he tried to take over the ship but they were like here have a colony. They compared the place to Australia when the colonists arrived at Botany Bay and that it could be... I forget what the word was but basically ‘civilised’ and No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO STOP RIGHT THERE NO Australia was already populated and didn’t need eugenicist cult leaders who were demonstrably bad to show up make it ‘better.’ AND THEN the historian is given the choice to go with them and she does and its framed like it’s good? Or at least ok? When they just did a pretty decent job of showing how abusive and manipulative he was and she had redeemed herself by turning against him? So I get that they probably wanted to bring him back although they’re probably not gonna bring her back, but they could’ve easily had him escape instead.

A Taste of Armageddon: Suicide machines. I forget the rest.

This Side of Paradise: SEX POLLEN! Well it’s more fall in love pollen, I guess, for one character. There’s a woman and there’s the music and the soft focus and BUT WAIT then the camera cuts to Spock not Kirk! Because she has taste. It’s about this point that I think the ‘Spock’s the most popular but Shatner wants to remain the star so we’ll emphasise their character’s relationship thus inadvertently inventing slash fic’ might’ve started. It’s time for a love triangle! She makes Spock get the sex pollen, which is not getting consent, and then he falls in love with her and is climbing trees and is all happy. Kirk can’t get a text back from Spock. Then Kirk and two others get the pollen except Kirk didn’t, but he did, but anyway I thought everyone would be horny but they weren’t they were just brainwashed. Soon Kirk is all alone on the bridge, then he gets the pollen and is happy to live as a poly triad but then he gets angry and it’s gone. Then he calls Spock to the ship and approaches the situation in the only way Kirk knows how: Homoerotic punching! So they fight for not long enough and then Spock is cured but he’s a little sad, there’s sadness in his voice, it’s not quite so matter of fact. Then Spock’s gf gets sad and the sex pollen is gone too, Spock might still have feelings for her but he has responsibilities to the ship and “to that man on the bridge” which if he was saying to just mean once again the whole ship, and its mission and the captain in a professional sense, seems a little redundant, which would surely be illogical.

The colonists get sad that they haven’t done anything for years because the sex pollen made them unambitious but I would argue maybe the sex pollen was right and you were better off just vibing. This episode was more interesting and less silly than I thought the creator of sex pollen would be. At the end Spock says that for the first time in his life he was happy. While every other character could still easily become addicted to a thing like that they could at least know they would experience happiness or any feelings again in their life, for Spock it was going back to nothingness.

Devil in the Dark: Spock calls Kirk Jim which I don’t think he has before, when he’s talking over the communicator and he’s worried he’s in danger, there’s some actual fear or urgency in his voice. Also the moment that got me was when Kirk wanted to send Spock back the ship cause he didn’t trust him to kill the creature and Spock was like “but… I’m not really as useful there I am here… so…” If I was writing it I would’ve played that up more but anyway, I like that they didn’t kill the creature. I like that McCoy said the thing. And also said “I’m starting to think I can cure a rainy day.” He’s my favourite.

Errand of Mercy: It’s kinda becoming the Kirk Spock show now, I like the ship but I miss McCoy. I like that the passive pacifists who Kirk was so angry with were actually more powerful. And KLINGONS! Oh yeah the orientalism, the yellow peril, it’s… it’s there all right. They were played a lot colder here, a little Cardassian maybe, still bloodthirsty but I don’t believe this guy has to do it himself to feel honourable, he can kill for sure but he’s fine ordering someone else to do it and being a chessmaster too.

The Alternative Factor: God this one was boring. But it does have a man with the worst beard wig I’ve ever seen. Now he’s stuck fighting the bad version of himself or something to save the universe. So remember that when you’re watching later Trek series, all of this could suddenly be destroyed if one of them gets tired.

The City on the Edge of Forever: UHURA GETS TO GO ON AN AWAY MISSION! Aaaand she doesn’t get to do anything :/ The usual three go back in time! To the 60s again! Oh wait… that’s meant to be the 30s? Oh. That’s some tall hair that lady has for the 30s. But at least said lady is a character, she’s a little perfect but she does things, she has strong beliefs, she might be written a little idealised, but she is still written like a person compared to almost every other Kirk love interest. “He says it (captain) even when he doesn’t say it” is an interesting line. So she has to die, I still think they could’ve just convinced her that you don’t make friends with fascists but ok. They never say what the Clark Gable movie is.

Operation Annihilate! Kirk’s brother dies, and so does his sister in law, leaving his nephew without parents. This is never resolved and the episode ends with them laughing about how Spock got his eyesight back.

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duhragonball · 4 years ago

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Yamcha if you're still doing the character meme?

I am still doing these, and I’m enjoying it, so keep ‘em coming. Before I start, let me promote the original post, in case anyone else wants to start their own thing. I’d link to the OP, but I guess they deleted this from their blog, probably because their notifications went nuts.

Give me a character and I will answer:

Why I like them: Let’s be honest, Yamcha doesn’t get a lot of big “hero moments” in Dragon Ball. Or Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT, or Dragon Ball Su-- Look, you get the idea. In most arcs, he’s the first one to get benched. In tournaments, he always loses in the first round. He spent the King Piccolo Saga recovering from a broken leg. Against the Saiyans, he was the first one to die. Against the Androids, he was nearly killed and had to sit out the rest of that arc. In the Buu Sagas he was retired. In a number of major storylines, he just isn’t there, because no one called him.

But he remains a fixture in the franchise anyway, because he’s always showing up for more. Let’s take the Buu Saga as an example. It didn’t surprise me to find out he had retired, mainly from a dramatic standpoint. There’s a lot of new characters in the Buu arc, and it made sense for some of the older characters to step aside and make room for them. But he’s still there, because he wants to see Goku one last time, and he wants to hang out with his friends and watch some of them kick the crap out of each other. It was kind of sad to see him stay behind while the others rushed off to follow the Supreme Kai, but he’s retired, after all. Also, they didn’t stop to fill him in on what was happening. I suspect he might have tagged along if they asked.

As it was, he still ended up getting involved, and he was with the Dragon Team right up until Super Buu cornered them on the Lookout. And the next time we see him, he’s on the Grand Kai Planet with Krillin, and King Kai seriously considers sending them in to take on Buu in case Goku and Vegeta can’t get the job done.

And that’s a big deal, because it even comes up in the anime. King Kai tells them that he arranged for them to keep their bodies as a precaution, but he’s totally in favor of letting them remain on the Grand Kai Planet with all of the other honored warriors, like Goku. So you start with this desert bandit, a highwayman without a highway, probably because he’s afraid of all the women that use the interstate. But he gradually overcomes his fears and insecurities, never completely, but just enough to put one foot in front of the other and become a better man. And finally he ends up receiving a place among the great heroes of old.

So why doesn’t that get more attention? You could make a whole epic story out of that, except it’s not Yamcha’s story. He’s a supporting character. So the franchise itself tends to play it down. Even Yamcha doesn’t really take it all that seriously. I don’t know if that’s modesty or cluelessness or Big Himbo Energy or what, but that’s why it’s so easy for everyone to write him off as a loser or a failure. They’re overlooking the bigger picture.

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The best way to illustrate this is with this TFS short that serves as an epilogue to their DBZ Abridged series. Yamcha goes back to playing baseball for the Taitans, only to get fired, because he’s so talented that he’s literally broken the game, and no one buys tickets anymore. But he gets a gigantic severance package, and he still goes down in history as the greatest ballplayer in history. What always gets to me is that they have to explain to him that this is actually a win. As his coach puts it, “you do nothing but win.”

Like Yamcha himself, we often see him from the lens of these insane Dragon Ball adventures, where you have to have glowy hair and a hot cyborg wife to be considered a success. But to the rest of the world, he’s a jacked up millionaire with fantastic hair, and he’s a real sweetheart. Who couldn’t like this dude?

Why I don’t: As you may have noticed, I tend to only use this section to talk about why I disliked the characters initially. I have to think back to 1999 when I was still having trouble keeping track of who’s who. In particular, I found Yamcha’s presence frustrating because he looked and dressed almost exactly like Goku, but not quite, which seemed bizarre. Later, I picked up on the context, and it didn’t bother me as much.

Yamcha does have a bit of an overconfident streak in some situations, which might look like unfounded arrogance, but I think it’s really just his carefree nature and enthusiastic can-do spirit. He was confident about their chances against the Saiyans, but I don’t think that was him being cocky. He just knew they had all trained hard and he was stronger than he’d ever been. But that’s easy for people to jump on as a reason to hate the guy.

Future Trunks claimed that he fooled around while he was involved with Bulma, but come on. Does anyone really buy that? Besides, at best, that would only apply to Future Yamcha, the one who died in the other timeline. Once Trunks changed the past, all bets were off.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): I’m gonna get a little nuts here and go with TFS’s playthrough of Legacy of Goku I, where they decided to level up Yamcha and have him solo Broly.

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Basically, in an RPG game like this, Wolf Fang Fist can do monster damage, so they maxed out Yamcha’s stats to wreck the game’s hidden superboss. You have to skip to 1:40:00 or so to see the successful attempt, but I loved this video. This is where I learned to respect the utterance of “Roga... fufuken!” Broly probably would have respected it, too, except he died from all those hits he took.

Favorite season/movie: You know, that fight with Tien was a classic. Not sure it’s in my top ten, but it’s on a lot of people’s lists, and I absolutely get that.

Dumb as it may sound, I enjoyed seeing Yamcha in the hospital, wrestling with his own despair as he recuperated from his broken leg. And when he shows up at the end to congratulate Tien and accepts Tien’s apology, well, like I said, Yamcha has this great character arc, but it’s easy to overlook with everything else that goes on.

Favorite line: I forget which game it was in, maybe Budokai 3, but one of his pre-fight taunts is “Watch this, Puar! I’m gonna win!”, which always makes me think of Puar sitting just off-camera, watching the action from a little lawn chair.

Favorite outfit:

I may take some heat for this, but I like the Androids/Cell Saga version of Yamcha, with the short, spiky hair. This dude’s long, luxurious rockstar ‘do is a national treasure, sure, but I dig this look more.

Also, I consider Yamcha to be the only guy from the Turtle School who pulls off the slippers and no-blue-undershirt look. It looks off when I see it on Krillin and Goku, but with Yamcha it just feels right.

OTP: This guy gets shipped with a lot of people, probably because he’s one of the major characters without an established love interest. Folks still carry a torch for Bulma, some people ship him with Tien, Frieza hit on him in FighterZ, and I’m still trying to make sense of that. He flirts with your character in the Xenoverse games. Years ago, I considered doing something with that, but I’ve fleshed out my OC enough to where I don’t think that fits.

At the end of the day, I can only see Yamcha getting together with @cozymochi ‘s OC, Marzi.

Brotp: Tien, Krillin, Goku. Hell, I always figured Yamcha was one of the few people Vegeta could get along with to some extent.

I mean, Tien couldn’t stand to be one the same planet as Vegeta, but Yamcha keeps coming over to have hot dogs at Bulma’s place, long after the Namekians have left.

Head Canon: He’s Luffa’s type, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t see any room in my fic for a whirlwind courtship. The stars just don’t align.

Unpopular opinion: I’m not really behind this notion that they should give the humans more stuff to do in future series. When it comes to supporting characters, sometimes they get phased out, and there’s no point in phasing them back in unless there’s a compelling story idea for them.

I think it’s dumb how they teased Yamcha in the Tournament of Power prelude, only to leave him out of the tournament itself. On the other hand, they put Tien on the team and barely used him, which tells me that even if they’d put Yamcha on the team, it wouldn’t have amounted to anything.

I get it, people love these characters and want to see them used more, but I’d rather have one strong Yamcha story than a hundred non-starters. And at this point, I think the only thing anyone can do is rely on fan-created content. Be the change you want to see in the world.

A wish: Crap, it’s after ten pm. I dunno, I wish Marzi was canon.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: I feel like the character’s already been through worse than I could come up with for him.

5 words to best describe them: Cat loves food, yeah yeah yeah. That’s six, but who cares?

My nickname for them: Yeah, I don’t have one.

#ask duhragonball #dragon ball #yamcha #yamucha #Anonymous

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brokenjardaantech · 3 years ago

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Blue-tinted Red Walls (Epilogue: After)

my entry for the @dbhau-bigbang. also part of the groom lake aftermath series.

also on ao3

note: this is part two of a double update. chapter 11, which comes before the epilogue, is here.

this is the last chapter of this fic. many thanks to all who stayed with me to this point. the sequels will be out in the future, so stay tuned for updates.

---

‘Ellen, I don’t know if I’m still alive when you wake up, but I… I’ll most likely be dead. Probably. I’m sorry for that.

‘I know you’ll also probably hate me for turning into this without your permission but… it’s done. You’ll need it later. The Church is yours now. We can’t let our daughter hide the fate of humanity. I… I’m… ashamed… to admit that we’re losing, but if I’m correct on what she’s going to do, we might… we might just be able to turn the tide. Humanity has lived in the dark long enough, and we can need some guiding light from the stars.

‘As for our son… He went with the android. The two of them aren’t important in the grand scheme of things, but if you want to contact them… do it with Safaa only. I still don’t know where that android stands.

‘Please, keep the Church alive. Don’t let the world remain in the darkness imposed by our daughter. This can be the chance for humanity to advance beyond our understanding, and we can’t let it get away.

‘I love you.’

The message ends. The screen of the tablet goes dark. The figure holding it in the darkness of the room squeezes the glass until it breaks underneath their finger.

They haul the broken device towards the wall with a crackle of blue and watch it shatter into a thousand pieces. Shades of blue pulse within their chassis, the light visible only due to the dim surroundings and the sheer power contained between pieces of metal, outlining the face of a woman who should have died 10 years ago.

Ellen Ryder.

oOoOo

In President Warren’s office, a phone rings. She looks at the officer assigned to her as security as if waiting for him to check for any taps or bugs, but instead of performing his duty - which he has done faithfully for the better part of the day - he unholsters his gun and points it towards her.

‘What are you doing?’ there is a hint of panic at the edge of her voice, but she doesn’t move from her seat at her desk. Unbeknownst to her, the guards in the White House rotate their shift before the designated time, replacing normal army personnel with someone else, and the entire security system has been deactivated subsequently.

‘I suggest you take the call, ma’am,’ the officer - or whoever he is - says, his voice laced with the static of his helmet’s speaker. ‘For both your own sake and the nation’s.’

She does, picking up the receiving and raising it slowly to her ear without taking her eyes off the man holding her at gunpoint. ‘Yes?’

‘Remember me, Warren?’ A man’s voice, one that no one is familiar with yet. ‘Doesn’t matter. I do believe you have been keeping an eye on the status of Detroit, haven’t you?’

A frown. ‘Who are you?’

‘A messenger, if you wish. I’m here to offer a deal.’

‘Who are you?’ the President repeats. Then, more to the man in the room, ‘You are committing treason and can be charged -’

‘Not if the world chokes to death before the trail can be held,’ the man on the other side of the call says nonchalantly. ‘Are you familiar with the Scrubber Project, Madam President? It’s the most appropriately-named large-scale project I’ve ever seen. Six inhabited continents, six gigantic structures floating in the sky, all of them working together to form the last line of defence against humanity’s doom. Go look it up. I’ll wait.’ She turns on her terminal and quickly requests the related documents. As if knowing that she has got the information in her hands, the man continues, ‘Here comes the deal,’ a sigh, a shift of weight, a smack of skin against skin, a whine from another voice quickly suppressed as if it is muffled. The President swallows. ‘I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to the reports the military has been sending you these past few months or even the past few hours, but there’s no way you can win a war against androids, really. Humans may outnumber androids, but American androids… let’s say the very material that makes them this advanced also makes them the perfect weapons. You should watch the recording again; it’s quite impressive, really, all the ripping and floating and blue sparks.’

Warren steels her expression and voice. ‘Get to the point.’

‘Fine, fine,’ another huff. ‘Of course, you’re the president and I’m just a messenger so I can’t exactly stop you from going to war if you’re dead set on it, but if the casualty that will bring isn’t enough to stall you… we might just turn off a scrubber or two. You know, because not that androids will need clean air when they’re done with killing humans anyway, and operating one of those is expensive as fuck.’

The last word doesn’t seem to be intentional even though it fits the sentence. The sound from the other side is muffled as if someone has put their hands on the mic, but one can faintly make out words like ‘brat’ and ‘begging’ and ‘important call’. They are followed by the rumble of something falling onto the ground, but then the reception clears up again. ‘So, what do you think, Madam President? Giving the androids the freedom they deserve at our pace in exchange for humanity’s survival. It sounds like a nice deal to me.’

‘I will have to go through -’

‘We’ll have someone on your end to help you, of course. Don’t worry about the legal stuff. Hear that?’ A pause followed by a crackle of static laced with screams and yelling. ‘That’s the sound of your friends in CyberLife dying and losing their power. And save your tongue, there is no need to argue. We have a puppet ready in case we have to pop your head.’

Warren looks at the man holding her captive again, finally realising that his arm hasn’t moved at all even though he must have been holding up the gun for the past few minutes, and she watches as he takes off his helmet just to reveal an ever-shifting face that, after a few seconds of flickering skin and shifting particles, it becomes the same as the President’s very own image.

‘So yeah,’ the man on the other side continues while not-Warren bores their eyes into her. ‘No one will know and no one will miss you. A human’s mind is surprisingly easy to emulate, been there, done that. I sure as fuck don’t know how it works, but… it works.’

‘Lame, Councilor,’ not-Warren’s voice warps and twists and jumps between the octaves when they speak as if they can’t settle down on one single tone. ‘They shouldn’t have let you talk.’

‘Yeah, yeah, I wasn’t exactly brought onto the plan as a scientist, but you get what I mean, right, Madam President?’

The plastic of the receiver creaks in her grip.

‘I’ll give you five minutes,’ the playfulness in the man’s voice is gone. ‘Should be enough to make the logical choice. If you think you can stall us… you will be reduced to fundamental particles so fast that it won’t even be satisfying.’

#dbh au big bang #ellen ryder #dbh christina warren #detroit: become human #mass effect andromeda #groom lake aftermath

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monochrome-bat · 4 years ago

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Just a quick list of all the different brines and where they fit. Mainly just a list I can refer to later but hey if you guys wanna know as well be my guest. If you have any questions about any of them, feel free to ask!

Also slight trigger warning; mentions scars/injuries, mental health issues, (implied) substance abuse and all that.

Klaus

- biologically the youngest. Although he’s technically reaching his thousand year mark, he’s pretty much physically and mentally frozen at very early 20s (we’re talking just barely out of teenage years)

- Survivors guilt to the extreme. Please someone tell him that it’s going to be ok

- His “turning point”, despite being almost centuries ago at this point, is still relatively recent compared to others. As such there’s still a lot of inner turmoil, guilt, fear, distress, and much more. All around just a bundle of mental and emotional issues that he has yet to confront.

- Kind of canon? It’s the same, but just with a different character at a different time

- Has a slight issue with blaze dust

- Doesn’t actually know the extent of his powers just yet

- scar trait; most notably missing finger and part of his leg. Caused by injury that did not have much chance to settle and heal properly. A little roughed up otherwise, with scratches all over. Some accidentally caused by himself. He’s not aware at this point that he can easily come back to life after death, so he’s just hanging on for the moment

Mikael

- in a weird spot. Sort of au, but not really?

- World had long since flooded. Only thing on surface is scattered islands. Major cities are underground instead

- Victorian-esque setting. Both the good and the bad

- Sailor. Used to be in the navy. Still curses like one

- Proud cat dad

- More associated with water and the deep ocean than fire

- His coat comes from his old navy days. It holds enchantments similar to selkie skin. (Aka lets me indulge in mermaid au without having to make separate au)

- Scar trait; permanent Lichtenberg figures. Was struck by conjured lightning (intended to assassinate his brother, hit him instead). Severe nerve damage and limited motor control in his arms

- Has depression and anxiety issues, but can’t really talk about them

- Terrified of storms. Keeps himself knocked out cold during stormy nights

- He prefers to keep his distance in a fight. Competent with elemental abilities, but due to injuries he cannot hold himself in close up combat

Herobrine

- the old bugger who’s still around for some spiteful reason. Kind of wants to just live life as an isolated nether farmer but he still gets dragged into things.

- Lost his name ages ago. The name herobrine is more of a title than anything personal

- Last of his kind

- Probably the closest to actual canon. More so set a bit further into the future

- Has a bunch of sick tattoos, both from aetherial prison and from piglin tribes

- He’s not old. I mean he is, but his appearance is more caused by his body beginning to collapse. His back hurts just thinking of all the stuff he used to be able to do effortlessly

- Raises strider chicks in the nether. Because there the only nice thing in this damn place and you will treat them nicely or else

- Can’t stomach pork. Makes him feel ill looking at it

- Scar trait; apart from old battle wounds, most notable is his eye. It’s still there, but no light emits from it anymore due to blindness

- He misses Steve.

Hero (sci fi au. Still a bit of a work in progress)

- strictly au

- An android originally built a while ago, but was deemed too “alive” and dangerous. After killing a few people (unknown if accidental or not), got his memory drive wiped and was dismantled. Was actually being transported for scrap metal when Steve found him

- Sort of restored. Definitely more calm and placid. Takes things a bit too literally though. Overtime he starts regaining lost memories and his motives become more...personal

- He likes collecting rocks. Especially the shiny ones

- He copies a lot of things he sees. Both to the entertainment and annoyance of his friends

- Scar trait; he’s...kind of missing his skin. Most androids at that time have a human-like synthetic skin over exposed machinery, but since there’s nothing like that on board, he has to do without

#herobrine #minecraft #a bunch of rambling because I want to share but have no one to tell it to #there’s also one more bit that’s only been shown on discord so far #do I have too many? maybe

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astonishinglegends · 4 years ago

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Ep 196: The Christmas Monolith and the Warminster Thing

"The air was brazenly filled with a menacing sound. Sudden vibrations came overhead, chilling in intensity. They tore the quiet atmosphere to raucous rags and descended upon her savagely. Shockwaves pounded at her head, neck and shoulders."

– Descriptions of the “Thing” by Arthur Shuttlewood, as reported in his book, The Warminster Mystery

Description:

In a rare dual-subject episode for us, we take a look at two somewhat Christmas-themed stories, the mysterious yet not-so-mysterious "Utah Monolith" and the Warminster "Thing." In the first part of the show, we discuss the recent discovery of a 9.8-foot-tall metal triangular prism-shaped pillar we've dubbed "The Christmas Monolith." This story made the rounds after state biologists from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources spotted the out-of-place-artifact while conducting a survey of bighorn sheep by helicopter over San Juan County in southeastern Utah on November 18, 2020. Two days later, the Utah Department of Public Safety posted a photo of the monolith on Instagram, with more pictures and videos of the puzzling pillar to follow. The internet and media outlets were soon abuzz with speculation about who, human, alien, or otherwise, would've illegally planted the iconic looking structure in such a remote red sandstone slot canyon in the middle of nowhere and why. Other metal columns have appeared in Romania and California, prompting the question, are these pranks, artworks, a message, or perhaps all three? The second part of our show tonight examines a freakish "flap" of High Strangeness that's so fantastic in its details and so widely experienced at the time that it's baffling why the story has mostly become forgotten. Generally considered to have gotten its start in the early hours of Christmas morning in 1964, this saga of shocking incidents in hindsight seems to have only publically peaked on December 25th and continued well into the following year, and only gradually declined in the decade to follow. The holiday literally started with a bang for the residents of the town of Warminster in Wiltshire County in southwestern England. Numerous citizens and British soldiers training nearby awoke to a medley of piercing, thundering, clattering, metallic noises in the sky and on their rooftops, the nature of which nearly defies description. The strange and untraceable sounds would continue to accost the townsfolk, with some reporting these sonic attacks were so violent it threw them to the ground and sickened their pets. As 1965 wore on, the unearthly rackets would eventually coincide with sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena and craft so unique they sound unusual even for a UFO wave. And what bouillabaisse of the bizarre would be complete without cattle disappearances, freaky interstellar messengers, and tall, humanoid-alien visitors? Warminster had it all. All told, this series of strangeness was so beyond comprehension, and with no vocabulary to satisfactorily describe it, the phenomena became simply known as the Warminster "Thing."

Location:

The former site of the “Utah Monolith” a.k.a. “The Christmas Monolith.” The 9.8-foot tall metal prism-shaped triangular pillar was discovered on November 18, 2020, in a red sandstone slot canyon in the former Lockhart Basin in northern San Juan County, Utah. The structure was spotted by state biologists from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources while conducting a survey of bighorn sheep by helicopter. The monolith was seen being removed by four unknown men on November 27, 2020. If you zoom in all the way on the above map you can see its shadow.

Location:

The town of Warminster in the western part of Wiltshire county in southwestern England. Warminster sits on the western edge of Salisbury Plain, famous for the standing stones of Stonehenge and Avebury as well as other ancient landmarks, and known as “crop circle country.” Wiltshire is also home to training facilities for the British military.

Reference Links:

The “Utah Monolith” on Wikipedia

“The Warminster ‘Thing’: UFOs and Supernatural Disturbances in ‘Small Town England’” by “MirageMan” on AboveTopSecret.com

The UFO-Warminster website

The timeline of events on the UFO-Warminster website

“The mystery of Warminster's 'UFO'“ By Kevin Goodman on the BBC News website

“UFO called “The Thing” celebrates 50th anniversary in Warminster” on OpenMinds.tv

“BBC Documentary on the Warminster UFO Flap” on AboveTopSecret.com

“1964, United Kingdom, The Warminster Thing (UFO)” on UFOCasebook.com

Warminster, a town in southwestern England

Wiltshire County, England

“10 Unsolved Christmastime Mysteries” by Robin Warder on Listverse.com

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Credits:

Episode 196: The Christmas Monolith and the Warminster Thing. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2020 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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supportingme · 4 years ago

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Hey so let’s talk about Shadow’s age. His age is always listed as “uhknown” or 50+ and while that is correct for his physical age I also want to look at his mental age. If course, being in cryostasis keeps you from getting older. So while Shadow may have been “alive” in the universe physically, mentally he hasn’t aged a day.

I put my thinking cap on and this was the best I could come up with. If anyone sees any inconsistencies or can think of anything better I’d love to hear your opinions. I’m open to anything really.

When Shadow is born he is the mental age of a 15 year old. Obviously his early development was fast tracked and he was expected to grow into his body overtime. That...didn’t happen as the gun raid happened a little less than a year after his “birth”. Leading to Maria’s death and him being sent to earth where GUN eventually found him and put him in stasis.

At the start of Sonic Adventure 2 Shadow is physically 47 and mentally 15. I know this contradicts some things said in the game. I don’t believe it had been 50 years since the incident on the ark. It made sense when the game was made, but when you take Shadow the Hedgehog into the equation it throws everything off. So I’m going to say it was roughly 50 years since the raid, but realistically more like 47 for reasons I’ll get into.

At the start of Sonic Heroes Shadow is physically 49 and mentally 15. Unfortunately for Shadow he “died” at the end of SA2 only for Eggman to later find him and set the events of StH into motion. I have a feeling at this time the doctor was on a robotics high, what with the upgrades he’d already given Metal. So having his hands on the ultimate lifeform gave him the chance to make his own “Shadow Army”. Highly detailed killer androids that could easily pass off for the real thing. Of course I believe this to have taken a few years. Which is why Shadow has physically aged by 2 years, however mentally he’s still that of a 15 year old. Considering he’s back in stasis...it’s just goo-stasis this time.

At the start of Sonic Battle Shadow is physically 49 and mentally 15. This is the last “major” stop I consider before StH happens. These events take place almost immediately after Heroes. Shadow is living with Rouge at this time who is trying to make him comfortable and struggling with how to...properly being his memories back. She’s also keeping him from GUN, who obviously want to get their hands back on him, but she has done her best to convince them he’s not the threat he was before and to let her take care of him. It’s here where Shadow finally gets a “birthday” and ages up...you know what that means.

At the start of Shadow the Hedgehog Shadow is physically 50 and mentally 16. Guess who’s back, back again, black doom’s back, kill your friends. Dad’s home and wants Shadow to hold up his end of the barging in a deal he wasn’t even a part of, but that’s what happens when your dad decides to make a deal with a deadly alien race in order to use their genes to make you. But hey, at least Shadow’s a little older and not any wiser. But we all know what happens, Shadow kills Doom, saves the planet and becomes the true anti-hero we love.

At the start of Sonic 06 Shadow is physically 53 and mentally 19. A lot of time passes here. Most of it is filled up by the smaller games. Rivals 1 and 2, chronicles, the rush games, those titles. Things that Shadow isn’t really a huge part of. (Mostly because I haven’t played them and don’t know his role in them hjgkdsha.) Shadow, having set aside his differences with Tower has been working in GUN with Rouge and Omega, operating under the codename “Ares” (a name aptly given to him by Tower). Insert Sonic 06 shenanigans here.

At the start of Sonic Unleashed Shadow is physically 55 and mentally 21. Another little jump once again littered with a few smaller/side games. Shadow...doesn’t really have any part in Sonic Unleased, SO it’s time to go to the comics! This is the time where the second lesser black comet comes to wreck house and Shadow once again has to exterminate his own race, though not without meeting Eclipse and having their back and fourth. This lasts until the end of Unleashed when the planet is put back together and Shadow finally bests his estranged brother in combat. This is also the first time Shadow decides to spare the life of an enemy and lets Eclipse live. He tries to convince Eclipse to work with him, as having another member of the black arms on their side would be valuable, however Eclipse chooses to flee and has yet to be seen again. Though he does still keep in contact with Shadow...however infrequent.

At the start of Episode: Shadow in Sonic Forces Shadow is physically 59 and mentally 25. Forgive me if I get any of this wrong, I personally haven’t played forces. I’ve watched it but I honestly can’t remember to details and I’m a bot too lazy to go back and re-watch it, that and I kinda want to play with the events of the game a little to fit my personal interpretation of Shadow a little better. By the end of the episode Shadow defects from the group (and GUN) to leave and find his own answers (as he does), where he is eventually trapped in a glorified virtual reality Null Space created from his memories and the power of the phantom ruby.

By the mid-ish way point of Sonic Forces Shadow is physically 60 and mentally 26. Shadow is trapped in Null Space until Sonic and Rookie end up being pulled in as well. Shadow fights them at first, believing they are sent there to kill him, like Infinites virtual reality showed him but is eventually convinced by Sonic that what he has been shown isn’t true. He leaves with Sonic and Rookie and goes through the rest of the game as normal. I also just kinda want to see them do a...triple boost(?) for the giggles.

During the rebuilding process from the end of Sonic Forces Shadow physically turns 61 and mentally 27. That leads up to roughly the end of the games, at least what we have so far, depending on the next thing Sega puts out. By this point Shadow’s story would diverge to the IDW comic but frankly I’d rather not go through that in timeline form, that would be a lot ad this is already long.

As of the canon time of this blog being set in the future Shadow is physically 311 and mentally 277 years old. He’s old. Really...really old. But hey, at least he still looks like he’s 20.

#~Walk into my history~ Headcanons #this took way too long to type out #my brain is fried ghdsjagk

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fandom-necromancer · 4 years ago

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Coffee, Crushes and Complications 2

Okay, this was prompted a lot by the lovely @headfulloffantasy @nobodygtb2 and two anons! I hope I could do the demand justice!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 [Prequel] [Part1] [Part3] [Part4]

Tina sighed. She didn’t even have to look up to know who was approaching her first thing the next morning. The RK900 stopped at a respectful distance to her desk and clasped his hands behind his back. He opened his mouth, but Tina interrupted before a single word left his lips. ‘Yes, I think Gavin meant what he said to you yesterday. No, I don’t think he wants to see you again. No, I don’t know how you can win him over.’ The android looked at her in confusion, closed his mouth and opened it again. ‘Don’t try telling me you don’t have a crush on this man’, Tina just warned. The RK900 sighed deeply and pulled over a chair from the neighbouring booth sitting down in front of her. ‘First off, I don’t have a crush, I just admire his work and Reed seems like an extraordinary person-‘ ‘That’s kind of a crush though.’ ‘I don’t-‘ RK900 stopped and grinded his teeth in frustration. ‘Listen, I just want to apologize.’ ‘Yeah, because the last time you tried it worked perfectly’, Tina teased. ‘Maybe it’s because I approached him unexpectedly? Maybe if I could ask for a-‘ ‘A date?’ ‘A meeting’, he stressed. ‘So we can properly talk about it.’

Tina kneaded her forehead. ‘Listen, Rich, you are talking about Gavin Reed here. The guy can’t stand talking properly about anything. And I thought you got his message last time: He doesn’t want your apology. He is happy, he found his place in life. I don’t think your apology will mean much to him. Especially when you have done nothing wrong.’ She looked the android in the eyes. ‘Drop that damn apology. You did apologise and Gavin didn’t care. That’s your part done. Except if what you want from him is more than just that.’ The RK900 glared at her. ‘Hey, all I’m saying is you could ask him out like any normal person.’ ‘I am only interested in having my apology heard’, RK900 spat with a blue-tinted face, then he rolled the chair back and left Tina giggling. Yeah. Sure.

‘Don’t get too used to these snacks’, Gavin laughed as his cat basically inhaled the slimy paste Elijah pressed out of the tube. ‘Daddy did get a raise, but I can’t compete with Eli.’ ‘Oh, I don’t think you will wither away to nothing’, Eli laughed petting Bready with a smile. ‘You get fatter every time I visit.’ ‘Hey, that’s not true’, Gavin protested. ‘You are a lady! Don’t listen to him!’ Eli put away the cat snacks and went back to Gavin on his couch where the cold beer was slowly warming up. ‘Now, tell me, with whom did you sleep to get this raise?’ ‘With your mom’, Gavin muttered back what had Eli nearly choking on his drink. ‘God, Gavin, your mom jokes? Really?’ ‘Hey, with us it’s funny because I can actually say it without bashing myself.’ ‘Still gross.’ ‘Maybe.’

‘So you won’t tell me?’ ‘Urgh, I will but it’s not that interesting. Just embarrassed some rich asshole on camera and made him spill all his shit as he tried to get back on track.’ ‘Do I have to worry?’ Gavin laughed and boxed his shoulder. ‘Hey, not anymore. These days you stopped being a rich asshole. Now you are just rich. I mean come on, you basically presented the police the culprits on a silver plate. Not many people in your position would do this.’ ‘It’s bad for business if someone would find out’, Eli shrugged. ‘Better to get these idiots out of the way now and use it to better our image.’ Gavin looked over to his brother suspiciously. ‘Also androids are people now and it’s against the law to try force them back to be slaves.’ ‘Sure, that one too’, Eli grinned. ‘Seems like you compete hard to regain the title of rich asshole…’ ‘Nah, I’m just getting on your nerves, brother, believe me. I love Chloe like a daughter, even if I wanted to, she wouldn’t let me.’

They sat next to each other for a while and watched how Bready tried to hustle another snack from Elijah. ‘And, any plans for the future?’, Eli asked finally, lifting up his cat to pet her what she accepted begrudgingly playing for the long game. ‘For the future? Hmm, not phcking up what I worked for I guess.’ ‘I meant personally. Are you considering dating again?’ ‘Says the man who decided that he’s fine alone.’ ‘I am’, Eli stressed, allowing no further discussion. ‘But doesn’t mean that’s the life for you.’ Gavin sighed and leaned his head back on the rest closing his eyes. ‘I’m not saying I didn’t consider it. But I’m a bit tired of it. I mean dates and getting to know people is fine, but… Most of the time it’s just an excuse for one-night stands and if I looked for that, I wouldn’t have put in all that effort of trying to figure out whether we fit together or not, you know?’ ‘My little brother being romantic? Is the world ending?’ ‘I mean, I’m successful and happy, might as well… But nah, maybe I am romantic, but I’m done having fun and playing around, I would like something constant in my life. Damn, maybe I’m just getting old?’ Eli laughed. ‘Hey, it’s valid. I understand you. Maybe you could ask Tina, she seems to have a good nose for people.’ ‘Right’, Gavin resigned. ‘”Hey, Tina, didn’t you date a few guys in the beginning? Any of them still available?” Real good idea.’ ‘Just trying to help.’ ‘I know. Let’s talk about something else, okay?’

Elijah had stayed late and although he had helped, Gavin still was left trying to tidy up the kitchen in the evening. After he finally finished cleaning, he decided to check his phone and then head in for the night. It should turn out being a mistake:

>Hello Mr. Reed. >I am sorry for this unexpected message. I found your number by interfacing with Tina’s phone because I don’t know how to reach you any other way. >You have told me you don’t want my pity. I understand that. But I hope you understand my situation as well. I still feel guilty. But I know another apology won’t be accepted by you. >Instead, maybe we could meet for a coffee? To talk about it and get to know each other? From what I’ve seen in your work you are a very interesting man. >I’m sorry if this sounded weird. >I’m new to texting. >Please let me know if that would be acceptable.

Gavin frowned. He had immediately connected the messages to belong to the other Connor, this… Richard? But why did this android bother him again after he basically – no, literally told him to phck off? He read the texts again and hovered over the keyboard. Should he ignore it? Text back? And in what way? He was tempted to just write where the android could stick his words, but it seemed to be a honest concern of the RK. Hell, maybe e should agree just to get rid of him? A part of him was interested in knowing who the new guy was that had replaced him. A part of him he never acknowledged, because he was over his last life, he was over and done with it. He had become better. He had grown. Maybe he should do the right thing and indulge the stupid android. He sighed and began typing.

Fine.< When and where?<

RK900 couldn’t believe what he saw on the display of his phone. >I’m here, where the fuck are you? Well, he couldn’t believe the human had agreed to it in the first place. After how abrasive he had been when they had met in the coffee shop… but well, here they were and RK900 knew he just had to wait and see how it would go. I am sitting at the table in the corner. I see you.< Already got us coffee and something to eat I hope you like.< ‘Damn persistent bot you are’, Gavin sighed as he went over to the table where the Connor-lookalike sat. ‘You agreed to it’, the android shrugged. ‘Yeah, I guess I have. Truth to be told, I don’t really know why. I was a bit tipsy, but that’s no explanation.’

RK900 didn’t know how to answer to that and just pushed the coffee and a slice of cake over to the human, who huffed with a smile. ‘At least I do like what you decided to get. By the way, you don’t have to pay for this shit, okay?’ ‘You didn’t accept my apology. See it as indulging an android’s bad conscience.’ Gavin shrugged again and took the first fork of cake. ‘Hey, not saying no to free food.’ ‘Good to hear as I can’t eat it.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Yes. Everything liquid is… fine, although a bit of a mess later on.’ ‘But still you drink coffee?’ ‘Like the taste.’ Gavin smirked, but otherwise said nothing until he had downed half his cake.

‘Alright, bot, what did you want to talk about?’, Gavin asked. ‘My name is Richard.’ ‘That’s a shit name, Dick.’ ‘Please don’t call me that.’ ‘Sure as hell won’t call you Richard. That’s a grandfather’s name. Chose it yourself?’ ‘No’, the android sighed. ‘But it’s what most people called me after I said it’s a name I would consider.’ Gavin huffed from his nose at that. ‘Yeah that sucks.’ ‘I mean I do like it in a way. But I still consider myself RK900.’ ‘Okay, I get how people call you Richard now.’

‘Anyways, what I really wanted to talk about was you.’ ‘Me?’, Gavin asked. ‘Really, that’s a bad decision.’ ‘I am amazed of your work.’ ‘Okay?’ ‘And how you managed to solve some cases… I truly hope to one day be as good as you were.’ Gavin looked the android in the eyes trying to figure out if this was a joke. It wasn’t. Gavin cringed a bit as he answered: ‘Well, I’m sure it’s just experience. Was in this job for seventeen years. You learn a thing or two.’ ‘But you proved remarkable talent from the very beginning’, the android pointed out. ‘Listen, you don’t need to be nice to me. I was a real asshole. I was good at one thing and one thing only and that was my job. I sucked at everything else.’ ‘I’m sure Tina would beg to differ.’ ‘Differing is her phcking hobby.’ That actually made the android laugh. It sounded weird and mechanical. ‘Oh, that’s a good one, need to remember that.’

Gavin looked at the android who grinned wide and caught himself smiling too. Immediately he willed it away. This was supposed to be a one-time thing. Letting the android talk about what bothered him and then never see him again. But… When had he decided that? He thought about what his therapist had told him. Change your old behaviours if you want to change how people see you and better yourself, fake it if you must. Was this old Gavin speaking? Or new Gavin? Phck.

‘She really can be a pain in the ass’, Richard - RK900 – whatever – ripped him out of his thoughts. ‘But she is a good friend.’ ‘You two are friends?’ ‘Yes. She honoured your promise by the way. She never talked about you. That’s actually what made me want to know you for a long time.’ ‘For a long time?’, Gavin asked, lifting one brow. ‘I mean, if you haven’t been active very long I guess everything is a long time. But no, I read a lot about you when I started to work at the police, and I wanted to know the man behind the name.’

Gavin was a bit weirded out and some part of him wanted to shut this conversation down immediately. But he decided against it. Maybe this was worth a shot. ‘Well, then ask away. I’m not that interesting but go ahead.’ Apparently that had been the only sign the android had needed because the questions started to come down like rain: ‘What kind of music do you like?’ ‘Are you a dog person?’ ‘Any hobbies?’ ‘How did you find your new job?’ ‘What’s the name of your cat?’ Initially Gavin had thought to spend an hour max at this café with the android. But the hours flew past as he answered the android’s questions and listened as he shared information on the different topics himself. And as they stood up and left the café with them both awkwardly standing on the street in front of it, Gavin realised he actually had enjoyed this day quite a lot. He looked up at the android, who rubbed his neck and… was that a blush? When they made eye-contact, RK900 spoke up, obviously self-conscious: ‘I… I really liked talking to you, Gav- Mr. Reed?’ ‘Gavin is fine. And I think I- No, I enjoyed it too. You are a nice person. You deserve the job you got, okay?’ And if he hadn’t been sure before, now that blue tint unmistakably was a blush.

‘Would you-‘ ‘Would you like-‘ They looked at each other and burst into laughter. It was Gavin, who recovered first and nodded. ‘Yeah. I would like. Next weekend? Same place same time?’ ‘Gladly.’

[>next part]

#detroit become human #dbh #Reed900 #RK900 #Gavin Reed #Elijah Kamski #WHY ARE THEY SO CUTE TOGETHER??? I can't understand it.#soft Nines #Damn I wanted to include how Nines becomes Gavin's nickname for RK900 and he likes it a lot. So he is Richard for work and Nines in private #Because I like all names for RK900 but Nines is in my heart #I'll stop rambling

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curewhimsy · 4 years ago

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Symphony Saga World info dump

For a friend to read.

In Symphony Saga: Resonate, the main characters are all around the teenage years, and some OCs will show up as UTAU characters. For example, Reisei will be Reisei Kiyone. Rhona Aequor, who already has an UTAU voice, will be a character as well.

Ok so the Haku and Neru part starts out really jarring but I like stories where characters escape an awful life to find happiness. And this part symbolizes escaping turmoil and finding peace.

———

HAKU AND NERU’S STORY

December 1st.

Haku and Neru are two misunderstood, troubled 16-year-old students who meet at lunch. They both have autism and are ostracized for it. Haku shows Neru her stuffed kitten Snowbell, and they bond and talk about nice things.

There was pizza for lunch, but it ran out because the bullies pushed Haku and Neru to the end of the line. Haku and Neru had to eat nasty asparagus coleslaw casserole.

Everyone starts talking about Haku and Neru and teasing them.

Bullies start sticking Neru with needles during her walk to gym class.

In gym class, Neru can’t walk far because the lunch upset her stomach. During the 5-mile marathon outside that the boot camp teacher made the class do, Neru lags behind in the rain.

The rain turns into a thunderstorm while Neru is outside. The entire school loses electricity during this time. Meanwhile, Haku has a breakdown in math class because she thinks about her grandmother’s death, and has to go to the counselor’s office alone in the dark. And the school is big and even scarier in the dark. Haku then trips and falls down the stairs.

Neru ends her school day in the nurse’s office, and getting painful rubbing alcohol being put in where bullies sticked her with needles. The counselor’s office is nearby, and they see each other there.

Haku and Neru meet again after school, and decide to run away. Haku’s mother is always late home from work, and Haku’s dad is nowhere to be found. Haku’s mother is very neglectful and Haku is convinced her mother wouldn’t miss her. Meanwhile, Neru is an orphan and lives with her mean grandmother.

Haku and Neru pack away their important things and run away to the mall where they find a secret room with a magical mirror that transports them to the magical world of Whimsica, in the town of Speckle Town. After stepping through the mirror, Haku’s plush cat Snowbell comes to life.

They are sent out through another mirror that is in Whimsica. This portal is a one-way portal, meaning they cannot go back through the mirror to get back to Earth.

The mirror is located in a wooded area in Speckle Town.

Snowbell, who is now alive, jumps from Haku’s arms and begins to wander off.

Haku and Neru follow after Snowbell and notice a very magical feel about the woods. They eventually make their way out of the forest and into Teto’s bakery.

But I literally cannot think about what happens next.

———

MORE DETAILS

Haku remembers her older half brother Dell from when she was a toddler. Dell would always comfort Haku when she cried, and was warm and kind. Dell would protect Haku when her parents fought. One day, Haku’s parents went through a bitter divorce. Her father took Dell with him and left Haku alone with her mother. Haku was 6 years old, and Dell was 7. Haku never saw Dell again.

Now in Whimsica, 10 years later, 16-year-old Haku finds out that Dell, now 17, is part of the evil organization on planet Monochrome, along with his father. Dell is now cold-hearted, sinister, and malicious. Everyone hates him. Haku is heartbroken at how her brother changed. However, she feels inside that this is not the real Dell. Haku feels that their awful father must’ve pressured Dell to turn to the dark side.

When Haku was 7 years old, she was introduced to her 5-year-old cousin, Miku Hatsune, to heal from the pain of losing her father and Dell. Haku and Miku got along and played together until Haku was 10 and Miku was 8. Then, Miku and her mother mysteriously moved away, vanishing without a trace...

6 years later, the two reunite in Whimsica.

———

THE UTAU CREW’S ADVENTURES

Uta Utane (AKA Defoko,) 14 years old, is an artificial humanoid from a dystopian planet where music is banned and kept a secret by the government. This planet mass-produces androids. This planet is at war with another dystopian planet and they both produce androids for the purpose for fighting the war. Due to a manufacturing error, the one of the “Default female-1” (codenamed “Defoko”) androids ended up significantly more sentient. She hated the war and fighting, so she rebelled. Defoko feels very depressed and empty about her life, and hates being a machine. She uses her advanced aerospace engineering intellect to build a spacecraft that can flee from the planet unnoticed, and arrives at the magical world of Whimsica where things are better on December 3rd. She changes her name to Uta Utane, after some kanji she saw on the sign of a karaoke cafe around her new home.

(*Uta chose to name herself after kanji from the cafe, because the musical sounds coming from the building made her feel something “warm and poignant.” The night when she visited the cafe, Taya and his friend Ritsu were inside, having a session of singing karaoke. Taya was singing a solo in attempt to get over his shyness. The sound Uta fell in love with was actually Taya’s singing voice.)

Uta begins living alone in a small, worn-down apartment. She gets a part-time job repairing computers to make ends meet.

Uta describes herself as being self-aware, but lacking the ability to feel euphoria. (Think of it as a sort of depression.) She wishes she were a “real girl” so she could feel this emotion. Despite this, Uta is a very kind, considerate, wisecracking, and compassionate spirit.

Uta enrolls herself in the local magical high school. It is a very, very strange school.

On her first day at school, Uta‘s first period class is cooking class. She ends up making everything explode. She doesn’t feel like she fits in. On her way to her second-period class, Uta ends up meeting Taya Soune, her shy 15-year-old classmate.

Taya is very late to class because a mean girl named Tei threw his monocle in the big wishing well and ran off, leaving Taya having to change into his wetsuit, dive in the well and find his monocle, and then go back to the dressing room and change back into his suit and tie outfit. Uta meanwhile is wandering the chaotic hallways of the school, completely lost.

Sometimes in Adventure Academy, when class is in session and students are supposed to be in class, there is a small chance of a monster spawning in the hallways. If a student needs to visit the bathroom or walk down the hall for any reason during a class session, a hall pass can protect students from these monsters.

A monster ends up spawning in the hall as Uta and Taya cross paths. It’s six feet tall and looks like a cross between a penguin, bear, and snake. And it has lots of neon spikes. Neither Taya or Uta have a hall pass on them, so it attacks them!

In Whimsica, monsters are creatures with no souls that typically do nothing but cause destruction. They are mostly made of negative emotions.

Taya may have some magic, but isn’t very good at fighting, so Uta uses her epic android powers to defeat the monster.

When monsters in Whimsica are defeated, they sometimes drop various kinds of items. The monster drops game tickets to use in the arcade. Uta doesn’t know what they are.

Taya thanks Uta profusely for defeating the monster. He is in awe of the new student’s powers and asks where she is from. Uta is very shy, which Taya doesn’t expect since she is so good in battle. She has a quiet voice that sounds monotone and a bit artificial. Uta finally spits out that she is an android from space. Taya realizes Uta may be sensitive about this, so he vows to try and keep this secret.

Taya tells Uta his name and begins to get to know her. He guides Uta on her way to her second period class, magic class, which they have together. After school, Taya says he will go to the mall with Uta and show her the arcade, and use the game tickets they acquired from the monster.

Uta’s third period is math class, which Taya isn’t in.

In math class, Uta meets two new friends named Teto and Momo. Taya’s third period class is music class. He has this class with with Ritsu, along with Ritsu’s other good friend, Ruko.

After third period class, is lunch break, and everyone meets up together.

Fourth period, Uta has computer coding with Ritsu. Taya has cooking class with Teto and Momo, and Ruko is alone in language arts.

Fifth period, everyone has gym class together.

Finally, in sixth period, Uta and Taya have Whimsica Geography class together. Everyone else is together in dance class.

Uta starts opening up to Taya when she feels she can trust him. By the end of the school day, they are friends.

“I want to be a real girl.” Uta tells him then. “I want to have a soul. As an android, I cannot truly feel joy.”

However, Taya believes that Uta is already a real girl, and that she has a beautiful soul. He is determined on his quest to help Uta feel true happiness.

After school, Taya takes Uta to the arcade, and Uta hears all kinds of music. Taya has never seen Uta so entranced before. Uta asks Taya why these sounds make her feel so alive. Taya tells Uta that they are more than just sounds, they have feelings and soul, and are called “music.” Uta falls in love with music. When she hears it, she becomes indescribably enthralled.

At the arcade, Taya plays a dance game and gets a pretty high score. Apparently, it’s Taya’s favorite game at the arcade and he has had a lot of practice every chance he could get. Uta is mesmerized as she watches Taya dance to the music. Uta is a bit shy to dance herself, but a spacecraft piloting game catches her attention. Uta plays the game and gets an incredibly high score, and ends up attracting a crowd of people in awe of her skills. Uta ends up getting a huge output of coins to exchange for prizes. When Uta and Taya put their coins together, they have enough to buy a brand-new karaoke machine that even comes with three karaoke albums to sing to!

Music had awoken something deep in Uta’s soul. It’s a feeling of excitement, thrill, and comfort, but also immense yearning. Uta feels she wouldn’t be truly happy unless she would be able to compose music and sing. Taya sees Uta staring longingly at the karaoke machine.

“Oh, would you like the karaoke machine?” Taya asks Uta. “If so, it can be all yours. I already have something like it. I think it would be great for you. You want to sing, don’t you? You’ll get to experience music even more!”

“Thank you.” Uta says. “But... I’m afraid I can’t.”

Uta looks incredibly forlorn.

“Why?” Taya asks softly. “What do you mean?”

Uta explains that she feels she wouldn’t be able to sing or compose music, since one needs a heart to be able to make music. Uta is convinced she doesn’t have one. Also, can a being with an artificial voice really sing?

Taya can tell how much Uta longs to create music. He hugs her gently and tells her that he’ll help her however he can, and that she shouldn’t give up.

Taya ends getting a bit emotional. Uta ends up getting emotional too. They end up holding up the line. Merli, a snobby girl from school, is next in line. She rolls her eyes and says “Oh PLEASE.”

Taya ends up developing feelings for Uta. Her story and dream pulls at his heartstrings. He feels very sincerely for her.

They end up buying the karaoke machine and go back to Uta’s apartment. Taya calls his parents and tell them he is at a friend’s house. Taya supports Uta with her dream and teaches her the first steps to singing. They have their first singing lesson.

Taya is a bit shy with singing, but he is determined to be a good vocal coach to Uta. He looks back to the exercises he did with Ritsu in attempt to get over his shyness. As Taya sings, Uta recognizes his voice as “the sound that awakened her soul” back when she first came to Whimsica, but she keeps quiet about it due to being bashful.

It takes a while, but Uta finally figures out how to match pitch. She is able to vocalize simple tunes, but still has a long ways to go...

Taya soon hears Uta practicing her singing by herself a lot. At first Uta is very upset and discouraged because she just can’t seem to control her voice well. Eventually, Tei Sukone, who bullies Uta and Taya, says Uta should just give up. “She’s just a robot, right?” Tei says. “Robots don’t have souls. They don’t have what it takes to sing.”

Uta feels deeply hurt and discouraged by this comment and considers maybe she wasn’t meant to sing. Afterwards, Ritsu becomes very angry with Tei... but he also has things to say to Uta as well. “Are you really going to give up just like that?” Ritsu criticizes Uta. “Don’t be so weak-willed!” Uta begins crying. Taya comforts Uta and tells Ritsu he was a bit harsh. Uta was already feeling hurt enough.

Uta doesn’t give up, runs off somewhere, and sings all day with bad technique and without any breaks until she passes out alone. Taya searches around town for Uta and finds her unconscious. Everyone is extremely worried. Ritsu gets a chance to apologize to Uta and says he just wanted to see her fulfill her dream and would’ve been as crushed as Uta if she were to have given up. He didn’t mean to be so harsh. Ritsu and the rest of Uta’s friends reassure her and recommend her to take breaks and exercise better technique.

Uta’s friends help her the best they can, and Uta begins practicing singing nearly every chance she gets, but this time with breaks and good technique. Taya can tell that Uta really loves music and is truly determined. Eventually he’s impressed and blown away by how far she gets. Even though Uta was never programmed to be able to sing, she eventually begins to develop a unique singing voice through hours upon hours of practicing painstakingly.

Eventually there is a part where Taya, along with the rest of the group of Uta’s good friends (Teto, Momo, Ritsu, and Ruko) are captured because they were accused of stealing “Defoko” away from the planet that produced her. Uta is taken back there as well, but she uses the combat powers she kept hidden for a long time to bust out.

Uta then fights her own creators with a power that is foreign (and deadly) to them.... The power of song! The power of love, and passion, and heart, and... joy! The evil aliens do not stand a chance against the power of Uta’s magical song and voice.

“Defoko! When the heck did you learn to produce a singing voice? This isn’t what you were programmed to do! Stop this madness, right this instant!” They tell her.

Uta does not give them mercy. They took her precious friends. They continue to manufacture androids that cannot feel joy. This needs to stop right now!

Uta ends up destroying the entire sinister operation, and also starts both of the dystopian planets down their paths to peace.

After this feat, and rescuing her dear friends, Uta fulfills herself and unlocks her magical girl transformation. In Whimsica, magical transformations are unlocked when the user “fulfills” themself, symbolizing that they’ve overcome a difficult hurdle, accomplished a wonderful goal, or opened the door to their true self.

Now that Uta is fulfilled, she unlocked the power herself to be able to experience euphoria. All the other androids that were produced by her shady manufacturer also gained the ability to feel joy as well.

Uta had slain the chains in her heart and will live on happily with Taya and the rest of her friends.

Uta’s three siblings are also androids created by the same planet who admire her and want to be her siblings after she ends up saving them. They are related in a sense since they were created by the same “company.”

But this is not the end of the story with everyone.

Now it’s time for Taya’s story.

Taya hasn’t seen Saya for years... He is beginning to lose hope that she’s still alive...

Taya Soune and Saya Toune were childhood best friends who grew up someplace else. However, one day when they were both 12, Saya became depressed, and it was hard for Taya to watch his friend suffer. Some time afterwards, an earthquake hit the area and everyone had to take only their most important items and evacuate rapidly before a tsunami were to hit. Taya had to move to his current location, and had to leave Saya without saying goodbye. He never saw Saya again.

After this incident, Taya never got a phone call from Saya, or a letter or any hint she might’ve still been alive and out there. It wouldn’t have been unlikely that Saya and her family had died tragically in the earthquake or aftermath tsunami.

Taya is now left with a heavy, broken heart, and an intense fear of earthquakes. He is most torn apart that the fact that Saya had depression and the last few months before her departure to be so sad.

One day in the present, Uta, Taya, and the rest of the friend group are out at the mall. A song comes on that reminds Taya of his memories with Saya. He begins fighting back tears, but eventually starts sobbing and splits from the group, telling everyone he needs a moment alone. Everyone is concerned. Uta approaches Taya gently after he calms down. Taya then tells Uta about Saya, their story, and how much he misses his friend.

Uta is the first person Taya tells about Saya since he had moved. None of his other friends knew about the sadness he hid in his heart.

It had been years since Saya’s disappearance. Taya has pretty much lost all hope at this point.

Uta reassures Taya that he still shouldn’t give up hope. Uta’s words uplift Taya with a new hope that he had never before felt.

One day when Taya is feeling useless, Uta consoles him and tells him something she was too shy to say before.

“Taya, your voice was the sound that awoken my soul. When I first came to Whimsica, I walked past the karaoke cafe, and I heard you sing. It was the first time I had ever heard music. You sang so wonderfully, and I felt so warm. I felt then, that music was a truly amazing thing. It was you who changed my life Taya... So please, don’t feel sad.”

Eventually, it turns out that Saya is actually still alive. One fateful day, Taya and Saya reunite. Saya becomes a part of Uta and Taya’s group of friends.

(To he continued!)

———

EVEN MORE DETAIL and brainstorms

How do they search for Saya?

What about Taya’s musical play? -It is called “Fantasia Saga” -He started writing it out of grief of losing Saya. -Leeds Kasumiga, a girl with an illness, becomes a big fan of Taya and his play and acting.

Miscellaneous emotional stuff:

Funny interactions and things: Taya’s incredibly neat majestic handwriting Ritsu’s cursed illegible chicken scratch handwriting

Fluffy interactions:

Happenings:

Drama: -Ritsu is just sad sometimes -Uta still struggles with feeling inadequate and depressed at times, even after her heroic feat... But her friends are there to cheer her up. -Ritsu’s unrequited feelings for Taya... -Tei has a crush on Teto, and really doesn’t like Momo! Momo becomes Tei’s bullying target... -Ritsu used to bully Gumi as an elementary schooler, but now feels deep remorse and longs to apologize -Taya is very set off by a minor earthquake, due to his traumatic memories dealing with a major one in the past. Taya and Uta’s have a minor disagreement... and both of them become very torn up about it -Momo’s goodbye? But in the end, it turns out she can stay... -Ritsu and Ruko have a big fight... but make up and become even closer -Taya and Saya’s tear-jerking reunion... -Saya doesn’t recognize Taya for a split second, because his appearance had changed, and so did his gender identity. But the moment Saya recognizes his heart and sincerity, she knows it is Taya.

Miscellaneous random details

Magical transformations and fantasy things: Monster of the week?

#my writing #infodump #symphony Saga: resonate #symphony saga #symphony Saga resonate #utau #vocaloid #life of pastell #brainstorm #fic #fanfiction #blue song #yowane haku #oc #ocs

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