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deathworlders-of-e24 · 2 months ago

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Liz, Biotechnician

Part 4

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“I still can’t get this stupid arm to work right,” Liz groaned. She’d managed to get to the lab on time today, and she’d been able to get dressed herself, but only barely. Her lab coat and uniform were both disheveled, the new bionic hand unable to get every button resulting in half of them being left undone. She’d ended up having to tie her shoe laces in knots to keep them on her feet because her fingers couldn’t bend the way she wanted or grip the thin laces. The only reason Liz was wearing the lab coat these days was to hide the cross section where her arm ended and the cybernetics began. Looking at it was… upsetting, to say the least.

“It’s only been a few cycles, Human Liz,” Coco said. “It’s my understanding that losing limbs is fatal to most other species of non-botanicals. Having the ability to complain right now is a gift.”

“It’s been over a week,” Liz said. “And I know, everyone keeps reminding me I’m lucky to be alive, you, the captain, Jane, I know how lucky I am, but this,” she waved the hunk of metal she called a hand, “is starting to piss me off.”

“You are upset,” Coco said. They were standing beside the center lab table. Liz couldn’t even see the claw marks the predator creature had left on their trunk anymore. “This is to be expected.”

Coco walked over to their wall computer, avoiding the small automated cleaner Liz had made to tidy up the dirt they tracked everywhere.

“Remind me again, this device you have made to remove the dirt, why have you attached a weapon to it?” Coco asked.

“Thought it’d be funny,” Liz said, “which it was.”

“And you have designated it…?”

“Stabby, ‘cause of the steak knife.”

“Why?”

“Old Earth legend. Makes us humans laugh,” Liz said, smiling as she leaned her chin on her good arm.

“You will have to explain that story to me again some time.” Coco clicked a button on their screen and a wall panel slid up between them, revealing the clutch of 5 eggs they’d taken from MX13 sitting in their tank. They were about the size of baseballs, or stone fruits. Liz had stuck a strip of electrical tape on the front and written ‘arm eating bastard eggs’.

“You know I’m half tempted to eat them,” Liz said.

“Please do not engage in predator behavior around me,” Coco asked. “It still makes me nervous sometimes watching you try to swat at insects.”

“Really? Why?” Liz chuckled.

“I know you are more evolved than a simple animal, but when I observe you stalk and hunt down the… mosquitoes? It reminds me of the predators we have on Spryga. It is unsettling.”

Liz stopped and thought for a moment. She hadn’t considered that before. It was probably a normal complaint among former prey species working alongside humans. Whoops.

“Well, sorry. Humans are weird like that, but I’ll try to be more conscious about it,” Liz said.

“Thank you. I do not mean to… step on your hands, but I appreciate it.”

“Step on your toes, hon.”

“Right.”

Liz pulled the tank out of the wall while Coco set the lab up, turning on heat lamps and setting the environmental controls in the room to MX13 standard, except for the air. Upon further analysis of the predator creature from the moon, it didn’t need the methane in the air to breathe. From what was left of its ‘lungs’, they breathed more like frogs, through their skin, stripping oxygen from out of the water they swam in. Apparently they were more reptilian than Liz had expected. There were underground rivers and lakes all across the subsurface of the moon, hunting grounds for the creatures. Liz guessed they came above ground to lay their eggs, away from the competition.

Furry reptiles, Liz thought. Why the hair though? It doesn’t make sense. Maybe to keep warm? The underground water has to be freezing.

“What do you think the GAIL will want to do with them after… if they hatch?” Liz asked.

“Standard procedure would be to return them to their natural habitat after a nano scrub to remove any and all unnatural scent from their bodies, so they can be reaccepted back into their species later,” Coco explained. “But hatchlings would be another question entirely. Perhaps they would be sent to an outpost for further study, or released into a controlled habitat somewhere.”

“What, like a zoo?” Liz asked. “You have zoos in the GAIL?”

“Possibly, I’m not sure what this zoo is.”

“We had them on Earth a long ways back. It was pitched as a way to study animals up close, but it was really just cheap entertainment for the masses. Eventually it kinda grew into a way to help endangered species, but it was still pretty on the line.”

“Then no, we don’t have zoos. What I’m speaking of are rehabilitated planets or moons with an ecosystem created to cater to the needs of the species we simply can’t put back where they are from.”

“That still kinda sounds like a zoo, but I guess if nobody is throwing peanuts at the elephants it’s still an improvement.”

The lab was set up for observation, the eggs were supposedly viable, so while they waited to see what would happen, the two got back to their other work. Reasonably they could’ve just left the eggs in the temperature controlled wall slot, but Liz had said that’d be boring, considering it was ‘the most she’d ever paid for less than a full carton of eggs.’

Coco stepped into their pot and watched the eggs, Liz in her desk chair tinkering with her new arm. She was sure if she could just get the pathways right, she’d be able to get the thing working properly. The cable running from her arm to her computer was annoyingly equated to a leash in her mind.

If I could just open a can of soda by myself, that’d be a huge win.

As they sat there doing important scientific work, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Coco said, unmoving in their corner. The door opened and, oddly enough, another human walked in. He stood just inside the doorway looking around sheepishly. Liz glanced at him and was surprised to see a maintenance droid sitting on his shoulder.

“Hey, I’m sorry to bother you guys, uhh, I’m Thomas, from engineering,” said the man.

“Well, hi, I guess,” Liz said, a little confused. “What are you doing all the way up here Thomas? We didn’t make any maintenance requests.”

“No, you didn’t, but I think you need one anyway,” Thomas said. “See, I was just in the med bay for the last couple cycles, and I overheard the nurses talking about the human who needed a cybernetic arm. I’m assuming that was you and not one of the other two, right?”

“What gave it away?” Liz said dryly, waving her metal hand. “And what are you doing, asking about me anyway? You want to see the robot arm or something, get an upgrade for your little buddy there?”

“Oh, no no no, I’m sorry, I just figured you’d need the fix for it,” Thomas said. He walked further into the room, albeit cautiously. “I asked about the model arm they gave you, the MK6, and there’s a small chance the one you have has a problem.”

“… huh?” Liz said, actually confused now.

“Yeah, the MK6 is a great design, but the company putting out the arms had a faulty inspection system, a couple hundred came off the line with a bug in the wiring.”

“I’ve ran a dozen tests on this thing, I would’ve found any code defect.”

“No, I mean, an actual insect, little crawly thing, in the arm. The factory where they were made had a pest problem so they were fumigating for a while. The whole plant is totally automated, so they didn’t stop production while they did it. Bugs went everywhere trying to escape, and some went into the product to avoid the pesticides. Prosthetics got sealed up, and so did the bugs. It’s probably gunked up the wiring in your arm, that’s why you can’t… you know,” Thomas explained, gesturing to her uniform.

“There… there’s a bug in my fucking arm?” Liz said, disgusted.

“I’m just saying there might be,” Thomas said, hands up like he was going to defend himself.

“Beep.”

“Yeah, I know buddy, but we gotta get permission first.”

“Did the small drone speak?” Coco asked.

“Oh my god you’re a Sprygan!” Thomas said, surprised. “I’m so sorry, I thought you were just a houseplant.”

“It’s no problem, I am not offended,” Coco said.

“Uhh, yeah, his name is Roomba, he asked why we don’t just fix the arm and go. We’re still learning patience and manners, apparently.”

“Beep.”

“Apology accepted. Thank you Roomba.”

“Can somebody just check my arm for bugs now please, before I throw up?” Liz half squealed, panicking. She could charge a hostile alien creature no problem, but the thought of insects touching her was enough to make her stomach churn.

“Yup, right, okay, gimme a sec,” Thomas said, coming into the room fully now. “Roll your sleeve up, I gotta remove the casing for this.”

Liz rolled the sleeve of her lab coat up past her elbow, grimacing as she caught sight of the connection plate set into the bone. The skin around it was still red and scarring.

Thomas pulled a small set of tools out of his back pocket and got to work. With a thin pick, he popped the forearm plate up, exposing the circuits running the length of the device, what Liz had in place of muscle tissue now. He took a small pair of needle nose pliers and started poking around, gently moving aside some wires here, around a bolt there. Liz turned her head away. As fascinating as the mechanism was, the idea of seeing an insect inside her body was going to make her sick.

“Okay, talk, bot boy, how come you knew about the defects?” Liz demanded. “I need stimuli to keep from thinking about this revolting situation, so talk.”

“I, uhh, wrote a paper at the academy, about how designers only see solutions to what they think could be the problem,” Thomas said, moving up her forearm. “A lot of people don’t realize they’re smarter than they give themselves credit for, especially actually smart people. Knowing what could go wrong, they start to doubt themselves, and when things do break, they wrack their brains over all the little things they think they did wrong. So I wrote a paper about all the other things that could go bad… like this little guy right here.”

Thomas clamped onto something and slowly fished it out of the device. Liz turned her head even further away, but it didn’t matter. Coco, ever present, and blunt as always, described it to her.

“It appears quite dead. Human Liz, you seem to have had a beetle of some kind in your prosthetic limb,” they said.

“Hon, I love you, but please don’t tell me the details,” Liz said, covering her mouth with her good hand.

“The lady who designed the MK6 is a certified genius, so I used her factory in my thesis paper. After they started getting complaints about some of their prosthetics, they ran every test they could think of, even rewrote the software a few times. It wasn’t until a no name engineer opened one up that they found the problem. Wasn’t anyone’s fault, it’s just a difference between working software and working hardware.”

“And you wrote an engineering thesis paper on that?” Liz asked, dry heaving ever so slightly.

“No, I wrote my psychology paper on that. I wrote my engineering paper on a new WARP drive design I made up.” Thomas threw the dead insect in the trash. “Bigger brains just see bigger problems. Takes a… well, not dumber person, just maybe a different kind of person to see the small problems.”

“Clearly. Anyone with two degrees isn’t what I’d call dumb either,” Liz said, turning her head back.

Thomas used a little brush to clean up the arm a little, squeezing a small tube of sanitizing gel into the empty space between wires.

“Roomba, sterilize this for me, would you?”

The little drone carefully climbed down from his shoulder and dropped onto the table. It held its little hand up as one of its finger tips ignited, making a small controlled torch. Liz held her arm out, looking concerned. The little droid ran its finger over the affected area and after a moment, the little flame went out.

“Beep.”

“Good job buddy. He said it’s totally clean now, 100% sterilized,” Thomas said.

“Oh thank god,” Liz breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks little guy, I owe you one.”

“Beep.”

“He said you’re welcome,” Thomas translated, handing the small droid a data pad. The pad wirred and trilled, and Liz realized the droid was playing a video game.

Odd little fella, huh, she thought.

“You should be able to get the arm working by the end of the day now. It’s had plenty of time to adjust to your neural pathways, it just couldn’t execute any functions till the block was removed. It’ll work just like your old one now,” Thomas said, putting the little tool kit back in his pocket.

“Guess I should say thanks for that,” Liz said, rolling her sleeve back down. “So… thanks. I owe you one too. Any of you guys down in maintenance need a hand, I’ve got a shiny new one to offer.”

“Human Thomas,” Coco chimed in, “thank you for fixing my friend. Your service has been greatly appreciated.”

“You’re very welcome,” Thomas smiled at them, “both of you. I better get back down to the maintenance deck though, we’re still repairing the core room from that flare the other cycle.” Thomas turned to leave, and was almost at the door when Liz called after him.

“Hey, hardware!”

He stopped in the doorway.

“Weird thing to call me, but I can dig it. Yeah?”

“How many degrees do you have?” Liz asked.

“Four, why?” He said.

“Know anything about eggs?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thomas left after a while, saying he’d be back to help build a better inclosure for the hatchlings. Apparently he’d kept bearded dragons as pets when he was a kid, so he knew at least a little about ‘lizards’.

Liz opened a desk drawer and dug out a stress ball, something Doctor Shaw had given her for rehab, and tried to squeeze it. Amazingly, her metal fingers actually curled and the ball morphed out of shape.

“Finally!” She said. “Coco, look! I can squeeze the ball!”

“That is wonderful, Human Liz,” Coco said, the lit photo bar in their branches feeding them synthetic star light. “The human capacity to overcome body altering trauma is fascinating. In my research of non-botanical life, this is very clearly an exception. Other lifeforms would simply perish from such catastrophic damage.”

“Wait until you hear our bones grow back stronger after they break,” Liz said, laughing.

“They do what?” Coco asked, a note of alarm making its way into their voice synthesizer. Liz cackled, throwing her head back and everything. She felt better than she’d had in days, like whatever funk she’d been in was starting to disappear. She suggested they discuss human bone structure while they go get something to eat, saying Coco could gorge themselves on chocolate while she got a sandwich or something.

The mess hall was lively, and various species meant various different cultures and cuisine, so it always smelt different every few minutes or so. They sat and discussed cellular structures, bone density, and the like, how calcium deposits support bone regeneration for a while, making the broken area stronger than ever, for a time at least. Coco was simultaneously fascinated and terrified. They had no idea non-botanical lifeforms were so resilient in the Terran System.

After some time, and a second sandwich, they made their way back to the lab. They’d just stepped off the lift and were a few feet from the door when Liz heard it.

…scchhtt scchtt sschht…

Something was scratching at the door, low to the floor. Something small.

“Coco wait a minute,” Liz said softly, holding out her good arm in front of the Sprygan.

The door opened… and there was a baby arm eating bastard sitting there, looking up at her. The thing looked almost like a big kitten, except for the gator snout and reptilian limbs. Its body was covered in patchy fur, almost like a baby seal. It looked up at the two of them and chirped like a cat before waddling over, sat on Liz’s foot, and began gnawing on her laces.

“Holy shit,” Liz said. “It’s so ugly I love it.”

“I will go call Human Thomas,” Coco said, “we will need the new enclosure now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Thomas arrived, the scientists had found two more Armeaters. “Yeah, one word, that’s what I’m calling them,” Liz had said when asked. One had been crawling around in Coco’s plant pot, and the other was sniffling around under the desks. As for the other two eggs, it seemed the three had…

“You mean they ate the other eggs?” Thomas asked, mildly horrified.

“Yeah, we checked the recordings. They sat looking at the eggs for a bit before they, uhh, kinda just crushed the eggs and ate them scrambled,” Liz explained. She was sitting in her desk chair, covered in Armeaters. Coco didn’t put out any body heat, so the little buggers had decided Liz’s lab coat and uniform were the optimal place to get warmth. It was actually pretty cute, in a weird sort of way, as they were all three purring in a guttural manner.

Thomas rigged the big tank the eggs had been in with a little 3D printed ‘rock’ cave, with some spare dirt the Sprygans had on board. The engineer worked hard to make the enclosure as close to the environment on MX13 as possible. By the time he was finished, they even had a little ‘pool’ made out of a file tub they weren’t using.

The problems started when the humans tried to put the creatures in the tank. They didn’t go for it. The moment Liz tried to set them down, they started whining, making this pew sound, much like baby alligators.

“I do not understand,” Coco said. “Why are they doing this? There is food and water in the enclosure, as well as a heating rock to keep them at the optimal temperature.”

“They probably imprinted on Liz when you walked in,” Thomas said. “Lots of creatures think the first thing they see after they’re born is their parent.”

“That sounds… confusing,” Coco said. “On Spryga, we either sprout from the ground near our progenitor, or we are sometimes an offshoot of them when branches or limbs break off and take root on their own.”

“This is just great,” Liz said sarcastically. “Gonna have to get a blow up bed or something, sleep in the lab now. We’re having a slumber party Coco, sorry, but apparently the kids need me.”

“Beep.”

“Because they’re newborns Roomba, they don’t know any better- OW SHIT!”

Thomas looked around, then started laughing uncontrollably. The auto-cleaning device had started its rounds, cleaning up eggshell and dirt. It had nicked his ankle with its knife.

“THERES A ROOMBA WITH A KNIFE!” He howled. “This is amazing! Why didn’t I think of that?”

He looked directly at Liz, more serious than either of the two scientists had seen so far.

“Do you think Roomba can ride the roomba? Can one of the little guys ride with them too?” He asked, so seriously.

“You humans are starting to concern me,” Coco said. “I’m getting more chocolate.”

“Can you grab me a drink too hon? These little guys are sleeping and I don’t want to wake them.” Liz was petting the little creatures when she noticed she was using her prosthetic arm. She hadn’t even noticed, it felt so seamless. She curled the fingers and scratched gently behind one of their ears.

About time, she thought. The funk was over. The new normal wouldn’t be that bad it seemed. She looked at the engineer.

“Thomas, if it’s the last thing I do on this ship, they’re riding the roomba.”

#deathworlders of e24 #humans are deathworlders #humans are space oddities #humans are space orcs #humans are strange #humans are weird #humans are space australians #earth is space australia #humans are insane #humans are terrifying #writing #short story

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aceinspaceart · 25 days ago

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Clone Bang 2024- Bionic, Side by Side, Symbiotic

This was the art that I made as a part of team 14 in this year's Clone Bang event!

This lovely fic written by @the-starry-seas, beta'd by @tearfulsolace, and the art was made by @ofteasandherbs and me.

Synopsis:

Fox hates the mind meld required for them to pilot a mech. Hates fighting murderous, superpowered monsters. Hates not being allowed to see his brothers. But worst of all is the threat the Chancellor made before rousting Fox from the Senate: fail to win the war, fail to keep the Chancellor's secrets, and Fox's son will be fed to the creatures of the lower levels.

With an entire city-planet on the line, the only thing that matters to Fox is keeping his son safe. And the only thing that matters to Vos is finding out the dark truths of the Chancellor's office. Unable to call on his brothers for help, and unable to trust the Jedi he fights alongside, Fox is on his own. Yet as the war progresses, and he sees more of the Jedi way - of Vos's way - revolutions just may be built on hope.

@clonebang

#cb2024 #clone bang 2024 #commander fox #quilan vos #pacific rim #star wars #clone trooper #coruscant guard #commander thire #commander thorn #commander stone #my art

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kaisaniku · 1 year ago

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I finally finished the second chapter of this doodle comic!

Basically from a translation machine:

It's called notes, but it's really bullshit time:

(I didn't put any asterisks in the "text" in order to make the picture cleaner and not make this little comic seem too serious)

①WX says that their body "doesn't have any of those really advanced things" and that "the concept is just bionic", which might make you wonder how WX can agree with their own shortcomings when they are always been so confident in their own machine body. This is kind of a guess: WX's comments in the wiki about Wagstaff being "afraid of progress" and "short-sighted", combined with WX's usual machine-worshiping and violent tendencies, such as their comments about Maxwell "He has that kind of power but he doesn't go out and destroy human". So it's an offense to them, but they actually agree that even though they claim to be superior, I guess WX would like to see their bodies more advanced and even more radical.

② Yes, this WX has acceleration circuits installed.

③ Gnome get✓ Do you guys remember the line where WX checks the Gnome

④ "You're not as kind as you look", how should I put this one, because the Wilson I understand is more or less with a little bit of darkness in his mind, he's someone who is full of emotions but often restrains them with reason, he fears and hates the negative impulses and instincts within himself. And this trait I think probably comes from his good nature, his education and survival experiences and the influence of the Shadow Throne. (But honestly after suffering in CONSTANT for so long, it's normal for whoever it is to be a little psychologically unhinged, not to mention the SANITY setting.) And after WX's soulwalking, they easily have some "psychic empathy" with Wilson... ...... Well, how did that happen Wilson?

⑤ Well I know the reasoning of the empathy module episode is weird ...... In fact, it's mainly because when I drew this plot I didn't have a good understanding of the empathy module, and simply thought of it as something like "emotional deficiency", so this episode was supposed to be Wilson saying "why do I still feel emotional ups and downs blabla" and then WX explaining that it's because of "memories of emotional experiences", which would have made a lot more sense.

⑥I guess it's my own personal setting: although the game doesn't make a distinction, I don't think WX as a robot would have a "headache and blurred vision due to lack of sanity". The system will be affected, sure, but the physiology won't necessarily feel it. It's hard to go from luxury to frugality, and since there is no experience in the eternal realm in the human era, WX can't adapt to the negative impacts of sanity reduction at all.

⑦Wilson's curiosity and desire to explore and then equipped with WX's hardware strength is simply ON FIRE. and "adapting to the human body so quickly" this conclusion mainly comes from the last chapter when the two people just transformed the body, Wilson's side is very difficult, while the WX on the contrary, it seems to be very easy. Even when they suddenly possessed internal organs, blood, light weight and so on, there was no adverse reaction. Wilson, who loves to observe, has always had suspicions (sorry however I didn't draw this clue out)

⑧ on the one hand, just learned a shocking secret, excited and energetic Wilson, on the other hand is the history of the exposure, and is also experiencing unprecedented headache WX. so the two temperament is not quite the same as usual.

⑨ "Wiped of most of their human memories" from the game's credits: "Suddenly recalling the memories of his past life, WX-78 soon decides to change his fate on his own."

⑩ Those of you who have fought Shadow creatures online might know that the only way a teammate's Shadow creature will have hatred for you is if you've forcibly attacked them. What happened here is that WX forced an attack on Wilson's Shadow Creature (except that Wilson was still relying on his headache of empirical judgment and didn't realize that his SANITY was too low), and then WX's own shadow creatures that were looming all showed up as well, which is why it became so much more. I don't have a very comprehensive understanding of this mechanic online though, and it doesn't seem to be very rigorous, so that's probably what it is anyway.

I accidentally added a lot more, mainly because of the limited ability to express the drawing ... Hope you enjoy!

#don't starve #don't starve together #dst #wxson #dst wilson #wilson p. higgsbury #dst wx78 #wx78

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the-starry-seas · 25 days ago

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time to show off what i've been working on for @clonebang 👀 my team had @aceinspaceart and @ofteasandherbs as artists, and @tearfulsolace as a beta!

When Chancellor Palpatine is criticised for keeping Coruscant's most accomplished Guardsman on his personal security team, during a kaiju war that's killed thousands of citizens, there's only one way to salvage his reputation. Fox is abruptly reassigned to the Jaeger Program, with the infuriatingly casual, competent, and charming Jedi Master Quinlan Vos as his partner. Fox hates the mind meld required for them to pilot a mech. Hates fighting murderous, superpowered monsters. Hates not being allowed to see his brothers. But worst of all is the threat the Chancellor made before rousting Fox from the Senate: fail to win the war, fail to keep the Chancellor's secrets, and Fox's son will be fed to the creatures of the lower levels. With an entire city-planet on the line, the only thing that matters to Fox is keeping his son safe. And the only thing that matters to Vos is finding out the dark truths of the Chancellor's office. Unable to call on his brothers for help, and unable to trust the Jedi he fights alongside, Fox is on his own. Yet as the war progresses, and he sees more of the Jedi way - of Vos's way - revolutions just may be built on hope.

#ya like mechs?#yes that's a bee movie reference #commander fox #quinlan vos #quinfox #ct kit #pacific rim #sticks' fics #yay crossovers!

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theoriginalfool · 1 month ago

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I love how the fandom saw Viktor die and went "well obviously we're gonna get some bionic creature from this" and instead we got jesus

#arcane #viktor arcane #arcane jayce #jayce x viktor #league of legends #viktor jesus

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jurakan · 2 years ago

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The BIONICLE world has a canonical...hell?

Oh yeah, that's A Thing. I had been toying with that as a Fun Fact, but I kind of assumed we were all like

But I'm happy to hear I can put this back on the slate! So! Today You Learned about Karzanhi!

In BIONICLE, the main inhabitants of the world are these worker fellows called the Matoran, (the people the Toa protect) and they need to keep working for their world to keep functioning (this seems dystopian to me, but the story kind of glosses over that).

The Matoran have this legend that if you're a very good little worker you're sent to Artakha, a divine workshop island kingdom ruled by an entity also known as Artakha. They would work in this ultimate workshop with Artakha to create cooler gadgets and buildings than anywhere else in the world.

But if you're a bad little worker, you're sent to Artakha's brother, Karzanhi. There bad little workers go to his dark kingdom, and are never seen again...

Obviously we have Heaven and Hell parallels here. In the actual story, most of the characters don't believe this is real. In one book, the heroes come across an evil vine creature that's named Karzanhi after the legend.

But then a bit later we find out that Karzanhi is totally real...

Except... he's kind of a doof. See, bad workers weren't sent to his kingdom as punishment, they were sent because Karzanhi's job is to fix them (these are bionic beings, remember?). The idea was Matoran who were bad workers because they needed some kind of repairs were sent to his kingdom for him to repair and send back. But Karzanhi was garbage at his job, so instead of sending them back after "repairing" them, he just sent them away, or kept them in his own kingdom. The reason Matoran never came back was because he was hiding his own shoddy work.

In fact, he also doesn't realize anything exists outside of his own work. When the heroes pass through his kingdom trying to get to the Plot, he doesn't believe that they're saving the world because as far as he knows, the world is just peachy! When he finds out from them how bad things are, he decides to take a hand in world events himself. And predictably, screws things up even worse.

[He also eventually gets a set that looks nothing like his illustration, because mutation shenanigans, but whatever.]

So yeah! BIONICLE Hell! If you ever see me use 'WTK' that stands for "What the Karzanhi?" We in the BIONICLE fandom used it back on BZPower.

#BIONICLE #Today You Learned #Fun Fact Friday #Karzanhi

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reriart · 2 days ago

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[Heinrix x F!RogueTrader] A Sweet Heart

Summary: The Rogue Trader has called Heinrix… to eat some biscuits. Some sexual tension rises between the two and ends with a sweet promise. You can read it on AO3 too at this link. Tags: fluff, unresolved sexual tension, sfw with some hints *wink wink*

Notes: This is my first WH40K fic ever! I've been a huge fan of this universe for almost 10 years. While I didn't liked Owlcat's Rogue Trader videogame immediately, I've become fond of it later. Now I'm obsessed XD I've started playing the game for Marazhai but I fell in love with Heinrix :) This experimental one-shot is based on our favorite biomancer's official background: he can't cook! I hope to write something more elaborate in the future... this one was my way to test how to write about these two idiots. I hope you'll enjoy this silly fic.

Thanks to J., @icastcoconoclast, B., and also a huge thank you to @redbatchedcumbermayned, who supported me a lot. ^_^

“Van Calox! Interrogator Van Calox!”

Abelard’s voice was clearly recognizable, although distorted by the vox he wore. Composed, austere. Heinrix couldn't take it any longer. Something about how he was forced to listen to these comments every time they set foot on a different planet or, even worse, every time he tried to direct a word to Cassandra, the former Astra Militarum officer. Despite her young age, she had climbed the ranks, far too quickly in his opinion. Just at the incredible young age of 30, she had succeeded in obtaining the title of Rogue Trader, gained almost absolute power and a noteworthy business network. Her nom de guerre, “banshee”. Just like the creature of legends, she had pale skin, long black hair, eyes of a light green that looked like glass, and... she was lethal.

“Van Calox!”

Heinrix ran a hand through his dark hair, huffing. “Come in, seneschal.”

The mechanical door swung open, emitting an agonizing creak. The man entered briskly, then stopped in front of the black desk in the center of the room, hands behind his back. He smelled of boot wax, cologne and ... spices?

Heinrix stood up, making his way around the table. He glanced at the clock: dinnertime, an unusual time of day for a visit by Werserian. Perhaps the scent was related to something exotic being served in the refectory.

“To what do I owe the honor?”

Abelard raised the chin, clearing his voice. “I have come straight from the Lord Captain's chambers, Master Van Calox. Lady Cassandra requests your presence there in fifteen minutes,” he announced, his sole remaining human eye now narrowed and intent on analyzing his every step and reaction.

Heinrix reciprocated the gaze, clenching his jaw.

“Thank you, seneschal. However, I guess you are not here just for this purpose; otherwise, you could have reached me by vox.”

“Indeed,” Abelard replied, blinking as if taken by surprise. The bionic eye pulsed with a red light. “I wanted to talk to you about the Magnae Accessio.”

The Rogue Trader's ascension on Dargonus would be held in several months. So why talk about it right now? Heinrix frowned, intrigued, and nodded to the seneschal to continue.

“It will be a celebration throughout the galaxy. The Lord Captain notified me this day that it will be you and I, Master Van Calox, standing by her side during the ceremony,” he continued, then cleared his throat with a cough. “This is a great honor for both of us. This gesture will make public the relationship between the Inquisition and House Von Valancius, among other things.”

He felt his cheeks on fire and immediately called upon his powers to slow the flow of blood that was flowing straight to his face at an insane speed. It was not like him to blush, but the realization that Cassandra had requested his presence knotted his stomach, causing him to feel increasing heat in his chest. Pride? Affection?

He allowed his imagination to wander for a fleeting moment. Dressed in a long gown, she sat on the throne, her pale skin contrasting with the dark fabric.

The green eyes intent on observing him, then giving him the sincerest of smiles. The hand, with a plethora of scars, between his own.

Heinrix. Stay with me.

Here, in Dargonus.

He shook his head, trying to banish the vision. He could not allow himself to daydream as if he were the protagonist of one of Lady Cassia's beloved books. Then the heat in his ribcage turned into a tightening. Why had she sent the seneschal to tell him this news? Why had she not done so herself?

“It would be a great honor. I will make sure to be all set for the occasion.”

Abelard flattened his mustache. “I suggest an appropriate suit for the occasion. I presume the Inquisition has provided you with formal attire...and, mind you, no gifts: they will be the prerogative of the guests, not our Lady's entourage. Be sure to investigate the records of the principal invitees,” he said, handing him a datapad, then stepping back, bringing his own arms behind his back. “That will be all.”

Heinrix absentmindedly scrutinized the list of names. He already knew almost all of them and, in all likelihood, those he had never heard of were probably useless pawns in a regicide chessboard already filled with pieces.

“I will take care of it as soon as possible. Now, though, the Lord Captain awaits me.” He stood up, retrieving his crimson cloak from the coat rack. “Have a good night, seneschal,” he murmured, thankful to be done with it, for the tone of his cheeks was not much different from the piece of cloth in his hand.

***

When the elevator reached the Lady's quarters, Heinrix's senses were immediately tantalized by a strong, pleasant fragrance. He allowed his powers to probe, gliding through the corridors until he located the room from which the spicy aroma was coming. He walked on, only to clear his throat. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind. On all the occasions when he and Cassandra had been alone, she had shown some affection toward him, even if they were only a few caring gestures. Sweet words that concealed an attention the man was not used to.

Are you getting enough sleep, Master Van Calox?

The uniform suits you particularly well today.

I like your haircut.

“Lord Captain? Have you...”

When Heinrix arrived at the main room, he found all the furnishings quite different from the way he had seen them the last few visits he had made. Instead of the various trophies, among monster heads and xeno artifacts, there was now a long stone and golden shelf, and next to it, a stove. In the center stood a kitchen island adorned with the family insignia.

Cassandra, in shockingly casual clothes - just simple cargo pants and a black shirt - was kneading something.

Her tapered, pale fingers, almost silvery from the incredible number of scars, were playing with what Heinrix hazarded to be ... well, he didn’t know, because he'd never cooked anything in his life but camp rations. Nor had he ever actually seen anyone cook.

“Oh, Master Van Calox! You're finally here!”

The woman's voice, despite the name that haunted her, was often cheerful and ringing, in stark contrast to his voice, which was almost always stern. She wiped her hands in the basin of water on the table, then dried them. She approached him, and he bent his head enough to kiss the back of her hand. The Interrogator's index finger slid lightly to the center of Rogue Trader's wrist, and Heinrix relaxed control over his powers, allowing him to appreciate the woman's pulse, the scent of spices hovering over her skin.

The air suddenly grew cold, and he withdrew his own hand abruptly.

“You called me, Lady Von Valancius?”

She smiled, if visibly a little puzzled by the drop in temperature. She closed and reopened her right hand a couple of times, then returned to the table in the center of the room.

“Would you like to keep me company while I bake some cookies?” she asked, blowing away an unruly wisp that had escaped from her long, voluminous tail. When she was in battle, the woman sported a striking mane as black as the void, made of bright, lustrous black waves. However, Heinrix had noticed that when he could finally return to her beloved Unforgiven, the woman preferred to tie them into a tail or a long braid. As a matter of practice, he would have easily imagined the opposite.

He, however, loved her with her hair undone. He closed his eyes for a moment, imagining kissing such hair, inhaling its scent. He clenched his jaw, trying to banish that thought.

“I ... certainly,” he lied. He wished he could go back to his room and get to work. Safe, away from whatever strange, inappropriate scenario his imagination kept coming up with regardless of his efforts. He stood where he was, feeling uncomfortable, his arms behind his back. “Do you wish to talk about anything? The seneschal has just...”

“Oh, come on!” she teased him, as she resumed kneading. The blue veins under her almost transparent skin danced to the rhythm of her movements. Heinrix observed her, captivated. Despite having spent so many years in the Astra Militarum, the woman possessed incredible grace. “You don't want to stand there all the time like a servitor. Have you ever cooked?”

“I'm afraid not,” he replied, flustered. “My family had personal chefs. And since I left...” he continued, scratching at the top of his neck, ”...let's just say the food on this ship is very good.”

Cassandra rolled out the fragrant dough with a rolling pin, applying pressure. The muscles in her arms swelled slightly, emphasizing the veins that ran along them like climbing plants. Heinrix focused all his attention on the woman, then swallowed and tried to spread his collar a little wider.

“And, tell me, Master Van Calox...have you ever tasted flour? Some real flour?” she asked, smiling and red-cheeked.

He squinted his eyes. He looked first at her, then at the big bag of dust by the counter.

Aeldari characters.

He raised a finger, pointing it at the woman. “Lady Cassandra, I would like to remind you...”

“What, Heinrix?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. He swallowed, feeling his stomach clench violently. He would have liked to hear his name called again in her voice. “Do you want to, I don't know, interrogate me? Am I a threat to the Imperium just because I bake treats? Let me remind you of my position as Rogue Trader,” she smiled slyly, as she bent to open the oven: apparently she had already baked some cookies. Helping herself with gloves three times the size of her hands, she pulled out the tray and set it on the stone. The scent, sweet and spicy, filled the rooms with disarming speed. Thanks to his powers, he could smell the same delicious aroma on her snow-white skin, on her clothes, on her hair.

...On her lips?

Only then did he notice how shiny and full they were. He looked at the table and noticed a thick, amber liquid with a pleasant smell. He was tempted to taste it ... but it was definitely another xenos product. He would rather starve to death than eat filthy food.

“I didn't say that, but you should avoid consuming food of questionable provenance. Only that which is imperial sourced is reliable.”

She set about cutting the dough with the help of a goblet, creating wide circles. “Well, I bought it on Footfall thanks to Jae. Imperial enough, if you ask me.”

That woman was impossible. Heinrix sighed, pinching the bridge of his own long, straight nose with his fingers. “You are irresponsible, Lady Cassandra. Let me tell you.”

“Is that so? Despite my years of service in the Astra Militarum, am I being declared irresponsible just because I am enjoying my life a bit?” she asked, curious, as she placed the disks - some more precise, some less so - on another baking tray, and then placed it in the oven. She then picked up one of the already-baked cookies and, after careful inspection, bit into a piece. A slight crack interrupted the silence between the two, and then she licked her lips, catching the crumbs that had escaped her. “And what else am I to your eyes, Master Van Calox… Heinrix?”

His attention was all on those plump, red petals. He found it difficult to search for a meaningful answer. He looked up at the forest-green mirrors as soon as he heard his own name, feeling his heart skipping a beat.

“You are irresponsible, I have already said that. Flamboyant. Eccentric. On the battlefield you are a fury and risk your neck every time,” he began, as his eyes descended on her exposed neck. A blue vein, almost perfectly straight, divided her neck vertically. He wished he could have caressed her, felt her pulse. He wetted his lips and blinked, trying not to be distracted. “And young, too young, to be a Rogue Trader.”

He came closer to her, as if attracted by an invisible force. He tilted his head slightly. “You are also fearless -- brave. Despite being hotheaded, you also manage to care for your comrades on the battleground. All attributes that have made your career.”

She smiled, her cheeks a little red. He could feel the warmth of her skin.

“And you know what you are?” she whispered, her eyes firm on his lips.

“What?” he asked, his voice even more barely audible as he stroked the stone of the shelf with one hand, catching Cassandra between it and his body, yet without letting the bodies touch.

What was he doing?

“...a xenos cookie eater!” she laughed, shoving a cookie into his mouth with a speed to make a Drukhari envious.

He jumped on the spot, furrowing his brow and making to spit, but Cassandra promptly put a finger to his lips. “No. Just chew. Let yourself go a little. No one will know that you have eaten non-imperial food. It will be our secret.”

He tried to disagree, but a wave, sweet and spicy, tantalized his taste buds. He chewed slowly, without taking his eyes off the pale index finger.

How could hands so full of scars be so soft?

It was ... delicious. The best thing he had ever tasted in his life. During his years with the Inquisition, Calcazar had often taken Heinrix with him to prestigious dinners; he had then participated in undercover operations, where banquets with nobles were a must if he wanted to extort important information. But never, ever had he tasted anything so unique: the food of the Imperium was often bland or strongly chemical tasting. But that one? It tasted of a childhood he had never had. Of peace, tranquility. Of an evening without work, spent reading and sipping a hot beverage. Things he had never experienced in his life.

He swallowed, parting his lips. The stoic mask gave way to a sudden and, just vaguely hinted at, smile. “Where did you learn? I've never tasted anything like that.”

“My home planet is vaguely similar to Catachan: you really have to get your claws out to survive. But...” she explained, now in a wistful voice, as Heinrix gave her room to move. She took some cookies and placed them in a small tin box. “...It was not always so. The animals changed because of the warp during my teen years. Before then I lived with my family... unaware that I was a Von Valancius. I didn't even know who Theodora was. My mother loved to cook and taught me many recipes. Would you like to try some more, Master Van Calox?”

“Heinrix.”

She tilted her head to the side.

“In private ... you can call me by my name, as you did before,” he almost stammered. He felt his cheeks burning. “And yes, I would like that very much.”

To the void, the xeno ingredients...

She smiled, her eyes bright and happy. She took his left hand, resting the box in his palm, then resting his other hand on it.

“Do you remember when you offered to teach me Regicide, Heinrix?” Cassandra took care to say his name slowly, her gaze now turned to the chessboard on the opposite side of the room.

He looked at the box, savoring its cool temperature compared to his skin, which was getting hot, and then followed her eyes. The memories of that invitation made him smile. “Certainly.”

“Then meet me here, every seven days, at this hour. You will teach me how to play, and I will cook you something different each time. Maybe I'll even make an effort to use less...exotic products. Now, I think it's good for me to rest, the day has been exhausting. Good night, Heinrix.”

He smiled, gently kissing the back of her hand, savoring her soft skin. He left another kiss, this time far from the polite greeting everyone reserved for the woman, on her spice-scented fingers. He felt her pulse race dramatically.

“I will look forward to these seven days with delight, each and every time. Good night...Cassandra.”

#heinrix van calox #heinrix van calox romance #heinrix x rogue trader #idiots in love #rogue trader #warhammer 40k

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