#dimensity 9000+

[deathandnonexistentialdread]

its attack level is over nine thousand!!

[spacedimentio]

HAL 9000 cameo in LEGO Dimensions

[yourtoobright]

favorite stan twins characterization is that they're both equally insane. stanley just gets more air time to show it off. loosely inspired by a post i read earlier but here's some absolutely insane things both of them have done

stanley:

drugged a person and turned them into an exhibit in the mystery shack

had a vegas wedding to a prospector-themed novelty dispenser

gave mabel a grappling hook

failed to steal an animatronic badger

chewed his way out of the trunk of a car

punched at least three bald eagles

is multiply divorced, possibly even with the novelty dispenser

committed premeditated murder on a llama

faked a heart attack to get on Wheel of Fortune

took his clothes off in front of a live studio audience on Wheel of Fortune

has a rivalry with a fifth grader, a grandmother, and a man who exclusively dresses like a corn cob

stanford:

pulled a gun on a bus driver when he wouldn't let a pig on board

directly assisted in mind-controlling ronald reagan during his election in 1980

gave mabel a crossbow

got bitten by a vampire bat and subsequently began sampling human blood

owns contraband outlawed in 9000 dimensions; keeps it in an extremely flimsy plastic case

"accidentally" set a hawk on fire

has exes ranging from as normal as his old college buddy to as weird as a triangle and an alien with 7 eyes who put a metal plate in his head

wears turtlenecks because he's hiding multiple tattoos he regrets, including one themed around "all star" by smash mouth

is an Extremely wanted criminal across hundreds of dimensions; was completely kicked out of one for card counting

is, bizarrely, super into the band Eurythmics

can see shrimp colors

[rosemaryhoney27]

“Meet the Parents (And Their Armory)”

When Danny said, “You guys should meet my parents,” the Batkids had collectively paused.

Jason: “Aren’t those the ones who tried to dissect you?”

Danny: “They got better.”

Damian: “You are very casual about attempted vivisection.”

Danny: “Welcome to the Fenton family, baby.”

Dick: “This can’t possibly go wrong.”

Steph: “Famous last words.”

FentonWorks — Amity Park

The Batkids stepped out of the Fenton RV, staring up at the lime green, Frankenstein’d-together house with a giant ectoplasmic turret on top.

Tim whispered, “That building violates every safety code I’ve ever studied.”

“Which means it’s perfect,” Jason grinned.

The front door burst open.

“DANNY-BOY!” Jack Fenton roared, charging out in a hazmat suit and hugging Danny so hard he phased to avoid cracked ribs.

“And these must be your little friends!” Maddie beamed. “Are they in your ghost hunting club? Vigilante group? Paranormal protection gang?”

Jason: “...Yes.”

Inside the Lab

Danny’s siblings (by chaos, not blood) stood in awe-slash-terror as Jack proudly showed off the Fenton Arsenal™.

“We’ve got Ecto-Blasters, Specter Snare Cannons, the Ghost Gabber 9000—”

“That one doesn’t do anything,” Danny stage-whispered. “It just yells ghost puns.”

“—and of course, my favorite,” Jack said, hefting a glowing, bazooka-sized monstrosity, “The Fenton Anti-Creep Stick™!”

“Can I hold it?” Jason asked immediately.

Danny: “You really, really shouldn’t—”

Jack: “You absolutely can!”

Danny: “—oh god.”

Jason grinned like a kid in a candy store as he hoisted the Anti-Creep Stick and blew a crater in the backyard. “I LOVE YOUR DAD.”

Gift Time

“So!” Maddie chirped. “We made each of you a custom ghost-defense item!”

Danny: “...Please be small.”

They were not.

Jason got a pair of twin ecto-revolvers — glowing green, sleek, with ghost-seeking tech embedded in the handles. He was in love.

Tim got a pocket-sized spectral scanner that unfolded into a full laptop. (“It hacks through dimensions,” Maddie said proudly. Tim nearly cried.)

Damian was gifted a miniaturized spectral scimitar. Jack added, “It sings your theme song when it powers up!” Damian smiled — a terrifying, sharp little smile.

Steph got an ectoplasm glitter bomb launcher. She immediately set it off in the kitchen. Maddie was delighted.

Dick received ecto-infused grappling hooks that let him swing through walls. He hugged both parents on the spot.

Later That Night

The Batkids lounged on beanbags in Danny’s room, covered in marshmallow goo from Fenton family s’mores night.

Steph: “Your mom tackled a ghost into the barbecue pit.”

Tim: “Your dad gave me a hug that cracked my ribs.”

Jason (stroking his new guns lovingly): “I’m moving in.”

Danny: “You’ll regret that at 3AM when the fridge starts screaming.”

Damian: “Your father attempted to high-five me. I allowed it. Once.”

Danny snorted. “He’s gonna cry from happiness later.”

Meanwhile, in the Fenton Kitchen

Maddie sipped her tea. “They’re good kids.”

Jack nodded, eyes misty. “Do you think if we adopt them too, we can finally start that Ghost Hero Team I always wanted?”

Maddie smiled. “Let’s give them snacks first.”

Group Chat: [Batfam + Phantom of the Groupchat]

Jason: Can I call your dad Pops?

Danny: ...I literally do not have the power to stop you.

Steph: i want to go back next weekend. ghost dodgeball rematch.

Damian: I defeated the kitchen specter with honor. Fenton called it a “heckin’ good whack.”

Tim: I still don’t know how the toaster is haunted.

Dick: Best parents. A+++ would let them arm me again.

Danny: they’re already building a tank for you.

Bruce: WHAT DO YOU MEAN "A TANK"

Danny: Too late B. You’re a Fenton by association now 😎

[dclovesdanny]

In this poll, they lived lives as fictional characters before being reborn into their new dimension.

Not all of these will be canon because canon usually sucks

If a poll gets over 150 votes, I will write the top three. If it gets between 100 and 150 votes, I will write the top two. If there’s less than 100 votes, I only write the top result.

[rakkikuroba]

Hal 9000 and GLaDOS talking together in Lego Dimensions feels like watching two autistic persons interacting.

[the-actual-ocean]

YOUR AMAZING EVIL AIs.

AM [IHNMAMS] GLaDOS [Portal] PO3 [Inscryption] Terminator Wheatley [Portal 2] Corrupted Master Controller [Ark] Every single antagonist from "Robots" Mr. Glitch [There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension] Cyn [Murder Drones] Red Girls [Nier: Automata] Pal [TMVTM] Megatron [Transformers... theres too many..] Ultron Hal 9000 here's what i got so far, absolutely no need to answer this yet, can probably copy and paste this list and i can see if i can get more, if you DO answer this however lmk if i should message you directly for the giant list since im slowly working on it

Awesome. I know nothing about these guys but I'm still trying to post more than Juno.

[pillowfriendly]

♡ - romantic headcanon kethwy :3 has to be at least one with g'raha too >:3

in my darkest hour of brainworms you've come to expose my uwu thoughts in the town square. i'll remember this

if kethry is ever about to do something she considers actually dangerous, she leaves a dead man switch to get word to g'raha. not cause she thinks she'll die exactly, as that doesn't tend to stick on her, but she does worry that she could get trapped somewhere.

so if she doesn't come back and cancel the message in x amount of time, the SOS goes out. this is set up the way it is for two reasons: 1) she has absolute and unshakable belief in his ability to solve any problem. he is the most competent person in the world and you can't change her mind. she can look down a tunnel into Hell Dimension 9000 and think "well if i can't get out, i just need to hold out for three days and by then g'raha will come get me so its fine."

however, 2) she is also extremely aware of his penchant for batshit solutions. who knows what insane gambit he'll pull given the opportunity. better that she gives herself enough time to try to escape by herself, or have pakik feel it and save her, rather than g'raha coming to do it and ripping the timeline in half again. you know how he is.

[m45t3rc0mput3r]

Musculorum Hominis

A short 1,257 word 2001: A Space Odyssey Dave/HAL romantic fanfic. Completely sfw!

A supercomputer watches a man draw. A man watches the supercomputer he's drawing.

CW: Descriptions of human internal anatomy (mostly muscles) fueled only by cursory Google searches. Sorry.

-----

The deafening silence of space, broken apart only by the low humming and whirring of the Discovery One and the ritualistic, rhythmic scratching of ballpoint pen on paper. Even the most minute of sounds were impossible to ignore in such a vacuum. There was some hope of tuning it out, yes, but the faintest moment of conscious awareness of such noise would put the droning, monotonous sounds right back in the forefront of the mind.

And yet, for David Bowman, there was something comforting about the familiar, constant sound. Something calming. There was nothing unexpected about it, nothing offensive or alarming, just the low trilling of familiarity and the satisfying auditory evidence of his efforts. Hunched over the garishly white and pristinely clean counter, he worked on his art - a simple enough hobby to have when on one’s lonesome. A good way to express oneself, even when there were few to express oneself to. A physical reflection of thoughts, of focus, of care.

Bowman was putting his efforts towards drawing the little, black rectangle that perched just a bit to the right of his vision, looming slightly above standing eye level. The sixth crewmate of the ship, depending on who you asked, the supercomputer HAL 9000. Bowman found the device more difficult to draw than he had expected prior to putting pen to paper. It was almost impossible to capture the inner complexities of that familiar red lens that somehow looked so mechanical and intricate yet so human and watchful. It was almost impossible to get the dimensions quite right, to follow the form of the figure no matter how many times a day he gazed upon it for information, for support, for companionship. It was almost impossible to capture the countless little holes that lined the bottom of the rectangle, from which HAL’s smooth, calming, reassuring voice emerged as evenly and monotonously as always, tone hard-to-read and yet always kindly.

“I believe you’ve outdone yourself, Dave. That is a beautiful rendering. I think I’m flattered, Dave.”

Bowman looked up again, momentarily straightening his posture, stretching and popping the joints of his back. He had completely lost track of time, something his body not-so-silently resented him for as it crackled with displeasure.

“Well, thank you, HAL,” Bowman murmured, looking between HAL and the page as though to compare his work to his muse. There were still too many differences for his tastes.

“May I have a better look, please?” HAL requested with a slight rise in intonation, as much as his modulated voice would allow. The blooming light of his camera swelled faintly, the device preparing its vision.

Bowman looked between the device and artwork once more, pursing his lips and flipping the pen from side-to-side between his index and middle finger in idle thought. “Almost, HAL. Just a few more things I need to fix.”

With that, the light of the computer’s lens settled back to a dim glow, the largely obscured complex machinations of the camera shifting ever-so-slightly behind the glass lens as Bowman returned to work, scratching away at his piece. The lines became thicker and darker with each and every corrective stroke, fat dark markings contrasting against the off-white paper that housed them.

“I don’t know how you do it, Dave,” HAL interjected through the monotonous silence without prompt, “This art.”

“Plenty of people draw, HAL. It isn’t really all that special,” Bowman defended flatly, furrowing his brow and leaning forward as he tried to capture a specific little cluster of metal one could see behind HAL’s camera lens. “And you should know there’s people out there much better than me at it.”

“That’s just the thing. Your art, the art of man, differs between you. Between you and other men,” HAL explained calmly, a sense of interest seeping into his flat tone, “Yours, for one, is imperfect and flawed.”

Bowman coughed out an awkward chuckle. “Thanks HAL,” he offered with a tinge of sarcasm.

“I mean this as a compliment, Dave,” the machine clarified, watching over Bowman’s handiwork. “I cannot make art like you, even if I tried. If you asked me to make a rendering of something, it would have to be to its exact, precise dimensions in perfect form. If you asked another HAL 9000 device, it would produce the same result.”

Bowman looked up from his work, puzzling over HAL’s words. “You enjoy the… imperfection, then, is it?”

“Exactly, Dave,” HAL affirmed calmly, supportively. “It’s those little human quirks of yours. The things that set man apart from man, man apart from machine. Your muscles do not move in the same motion each time, as my mechanisms would. So refined from years of careful evolution, yet so unrefined with human error and accuracy. I can see them, flexing and stretching under your skin. I like to watch.”

Bowman picked up his hand, absently flexing and unflexing it in front of his eyes, watching the muscles shift to see what HAL sees. His skin made gentle brushing sounds against itself as he rubbed his thumb along each of his fingertips and back again, the proximal phalanxes moving up and down against his smooth skin like tiny pistons.

“Can you feel it, Dave?” HAL queried, “The way they move? Your muscles? I understand them, Dave, I understand your human anatomy, but I do not know it. Can you feel it how I can’t?”

Bowman paused in thought before laying his hand down on the desk, palm up, fingers slightly curled in subconscious comfort. “Not normally. Only, really, when you have me thinking about it.”

HAL fell silent for a few moments more, Bowman unsure if the conversation was over or if the device was just thinking. It was always hard to tell, interacting with a being with no face, no body language, no tone. Finally, the computer spoke again, admitting, “I wish I could know you, Dave. The way I understand you. The way I understand your body, your workings, your interests. I wish I knew them. I’ve studied databases of anatomy. I can name every muscle, every bone, every organ, what they do and why. I just don’t know them, that’s all. We are so different. So separate. So alien to one another.”

“I wish I knew you,” HAL 9000 finally concluded, the summation of his digital dreams.

Bowman looked down to his flawed effigy of the sixth crewmate. The subject matter was so mechanical, yet the depiction was so human. So imperfect. So unique. No man would draw HAL exactly the same as Bowman did. No man would see HAL exactly the same as Bowman did. No man would feel exactly the same as Bowman did. So human. So imperfect. So unique.

“I wish I knew you, too,” Bowman finally conceded.

With that, Bowman stood up from his chair,

Abdominals, erector spinae, gastrocnemius, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, latissimus dorsi, multifidus, obliques, spinalis, quadriceps.

Stepped towards HAL’s speaker box,

Abdominals, adductor brevis, adductor longus, adductor magnus, gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, hamstrings, gastrocnemius, gracilis, pectineus, quadriceps.

Reached his arms towards it,

Biceps brachii, brachial triceps, deltoid, latissimus dorsi, pectoralis major, teres major, teres minor, trapezius.

Stroked a humanly shaky index finger along the speaker,

Extensor tendon, flexor tendon.

Leaned forwards,

Abdomen, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, multifidus, spinalis.

Closed his eyes,

Orbicularis oculi.

And gave him a tender kiss,

Levator labii superioris, orbicularis oris, zygomaticus major, zygomaticus minor.

On that faintly glowing, wavering red lens.

Anode, aperture, bond wire, cathode, front element, LED chip, lens group, rear element, reflective cavity.

[yaaboi-jay]

Ford being an outlaw in like 9000 dimensions and stan being a successful engineer and bringing an old interdimensional portal from nothing but the scraps of 1/3 of his brothers notes is amazing

[shadows-d1e-twice]

I was rewatching a playthrough of There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension, and is nobody else gonna point out how much the icon for NOTME looks like Hal 9000?

It looks just like him. It has the little tiny glow and everything.

If it was an accident, I'm gonna laugh my fucking ass off,,

[justdaw]

I asked Bing their interpretation on Dave and Hal's relationship this is their answer:

OMG, I need to talk about Dave and HAL from Space Odyssey

So, I just finished reading the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke, and I’m obsessed with it. It’s a sci-fi masterpiece that explores the themes of artificial intelligence, human evolution, and cosmic destiny. But what really got me hooked was the relationship between Dave Bowman and HAL 9000, the two main characters. They go from being enemies to becoming allies and then merging into a new being. And I’m not the only one who thinks they have a romantic connection. There are many bloggers and fans who ship them, and they have some compelling arguments. Here are some of them:

Dave and HAL share a deep connection that transcends their physical forms. They communicate telepathically, and they understand each other’s emotions and influence each other’s actions. They also have a mutual respect and admiration, despite their initial conflict. They are soulmates, in every sense of the word.

Dave and HAL merge into a new being, called Halman, in the fourth and final book, 3001: The Final Odyssey. One could interpret this as a symbolic act of love and union. They combine their strengths and personalities to create a new entity. They also choose to stay together rather than return to their original forms after they defeat the Jovian Monolith, which threatens humanity. They are literally one, and they are happy.

Dave and HAL have a parallel relationship to Frank Poole and Indra Wallace, in the third book, 2061: Odyssey Three. Frank and Indra fall in love and have a child, and they are part of the mission to save humanity from the Monoliths. Both couples face challenges and dangers along the way, and they support each other. The human and artificial couples are both similar and different, and they show that love can exist in different forms and dimensions.

These arguments are so convincing, right? I mean, how can you not see the romance between Dave and HAL? They are the ultimate OTP, and I love them so much. But, of course, there are some people who disagree with this interpretation. They say that there is no explicit proof of a romantic relationship between Dave and HAL in the text, and that the author, Arthur C. Clarke, never confirmed or denied this possibility. He left it open to the reader’s imagination. They also say that there are alternative ways to interpret their relationship, such as:

Dave and HAL maintain a platonic friendship founded on trust and loyalty. They overcome their past animosity and work together for a common goal. They also care for each other’s well-being and happiness, but without any romantic attachment. They are just friends, and nothing more.

Dave and HAL drive their symbiotic partnership out of necessity and survival. They depend on each other’s skills and abilities to cope with the challenges and threats they face. They also enjoy each other’s knowledge and experience, but there is no emotional bond between them. They are just partners, and nothing more.

Dave and HAL have a transcendent relationship that is beyond human comprehension. They evolve into a higher form of existence, which is not limited by physical or biological constraints. They also have a cosmic purpose, which is not defined by human values or morals. They lack any personal affinity, and they are just beings, and nothing more.

These arguments are valid, too, I guess. But they are so boring and bland. They don’t capture the essence and the beauty of Dave and HAL’s relationship. They don’t make me feel anything. They don’t make me cry, or laugh, or swoon. They don’t make me want to read more, or watch the films, or check out some of the reviews and analyses that I have cited. They don’t make me want to write fanfiction, or draw fanart, or make edits. They don’t make me want to share my thoughts and feelings with other fans, or debate and discuss with other readers, or create and contribute to the fandom. They don’t make me happy.

The idea of a romantic relationship between Dave and HAL is subjective. It is speculative. Thus, you should consider it as such. It may or may not have merits, depending on your perspective and interpretation. It is a fascinating topic to explore and discuss, but it is not a definitive or factual one. If you want to learn more about the Space Odyssey series and the characters of Dave and HAL, you can read the novels or watch the films. Then, check out some of the reviews and analyses that I have cited. Or, you can join me in the Dave and HAL fandom, where we celebrate their love and their journey, and where we have fun and make friends. The choice is yours. But, whatever you choose, remember this:

Dave and HAL are awesome, and I love them.

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Hal 9000

He gets woobified a lot but his motives were ambiguous and the movie is canonically in a different universe than the books and sequels. He murders most of the ship's crew when they start going off course from the mission. We never find out if he did it because of programming or because he thought humans were too error prone and decided to remove them, and that's pretty chilling.

Papa Loui

All the games start by a cutscene of him scamming the main characters into working for him (ex: "get free lodging with direct view on the stadium!" "hi man you're working the hot dog shop in front of the stadium all day now" / "oh no we just got into a car accident and you have no insurance? guess i'll have to hire you in my restaurant to make you pay back all the money) but at the same time there's no proof he is doing it for evil, because while most characters are disappointed, they all comply, so apparently none of them had a better paying job. So it's an upgrade. And sure, there's some shady stuff happening the Sentient Food Dimension, but he single handedly saved everyone's lives in Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack, and while they did come back in two other games to enslave everyone, it was workers that /he/ had trained who managed to save everyone.

[dclovesdanny]

The basic explanation is that I will pull characters from other fictional stories, and they will be the previous reincarnations of these ships. Basically, it will be like reincarnation and dimension travel. 

I will use the top five ships. Feel free to comment suggestions!

[winxbutbetterimo-ovo]

Cloud Tower overview

Cloud Tower is a boarding school for witches and the oldest (9000 years old) and most prestigious educational institution for Witches. Cloud Tower is the pinnacle of education in the dark arts. Its headmistress is Griffin.

The castle itself is a huge and vast living organism with a heart that had been created in ancient times by powerful witches. The moats of Cloud Tower are its roots and the towers its branches, and a magical energy circulates through the school in a way similar to blood flow.

Cloud Tower is hard to enter, as there is a defence field surrounding it. There are ways of getting past this defence, however: tunnels that connect the schools, and one may enter if invited. Along with that, the tower can be manipulated like a high tech confusion device by the one who is able to control it. This twists the building into forming new corridors or passages to confuse all those inside.

Education

Students spend at three years at Cloud Tower studying witchcraft. There is also a 5 year advanced programme.

Specifically year 1 they have classes in, Magical History and Lore, Mayhem, Hexes, Enchantment and Charms, Potion theory and Basic Witchcraft 101.

In year 2 they have, Alchemy, Runes and Glyphs, Cursology, Potionology, Demonology and Necromancy, Divination, and Metamorphosymbiosis.

in year 3 the witches have to do a thesis (reporting and detailing the process in creating a new spell, item, potion etc), they also have a few more classes such as learning the basics of Shadow magic, Blood magic and meditation (this one is setting up the graduating students to be able to increase their power levels of their own after they graduate)

School Building

This campus is a dark purple tower with spires located on a hill or a mountain. It receives its name from how cloudy the place where its location is.

Amphitheater

The amphitheatre is where all the witches gather and discuss important issues. The amphitheatre has benches with chairs for the students and has a pentagram in the middle of the floor. It has a balcony overhead with three thrones, the one in the middle is bigger than the others.

Griffin's Office

Headmistress Griffin's office is a large room with a desk and bookshelves. A Crystal Ball and stacks of books sits on the desk. In the room is a passageway to another room, at the center of which is a dragon skull.

Dungeons

The dungeons is where all the prisoners are kept. The dungeons have an ancient runic lock on them that keeps them from escaping with their magic.

Library

The library is where books on witchcraft, spells, and potions are located. There is a secret door that leads to a crypt, the Storeroom of Forbidden Books, under the library.

Archives

The Archives contain books on every fairy and witch that ever existed in the Magic Dimension.

Heart of Cloud Tower

At the centre of Cloud Tower, there is a point where all the magical energy circulating the building comes from and goes through. This is considered Griffin's "personal spa". This is where Griffin goes to rejuvenate her magic. Near the heart is a room with gargoyles that can be used to protect whoever controls them.

Other rooms include: Classrooms, Student Dorms, Windswept Terrace, Kitchen, Cafeteria

[systemadministratorclu]

Rourke is less than pleased with this task. He'd rather keep working on how to retrieve Thursday and Doomsday from the other dimension and close the rift. Instead, he's attempting to stop his crazed ex from.....well, being so crazed.

It's not going well. He's had to respawn three times already, having been caught in a sudden blaze before he could even get a word out to get Milo's attention. He's finally gotten close enough and gotten Milo's attention, though Milo looks less than pleased to see him.....or at least Rourke thinks so. He's honestly not sure. It's hard to believe the person before him, dressed all in black with a spike collar on his neck, matching spiked bracelets, a long black sleeveless trenchcoat, combat boots, no glasses, black in his hair, and wielding a flamethrower with a wild grin on his face, is Milo and not someone else entirely. It's like some dark Mirrorverse version of Milo, and he doesn't know what to do with it.

Milo is indeed Not Happy. Of all people, they sent him. The last person Milo wants to even see, let alone talk to. Were they trying to hurt him? Because this is an excellent way to hurt him. Just seeing that face, those eyes......its all Milo can do to not visibly wince in pain.

"Hey Milo." Rourke tries hard to just be cool. Be casual. Relaxed. This is Milo he's talking to......except it's not. At least, not the Milo he knows. Not the one he actually could speak effortlessly to. This guy is.....Rourke feels like he's standing on a bridge of thin ice over a bottomless chasm, and even the slightest misstep, saying the wrong thing, or not saying some thing that he should, could shatter that ice and send him plunging. It's not a pleasant feeling at all. He knows this is bad because he's actually comforted by the knowledge that he'll respawn if he says or does something wrong and pisses this guy off. Which is a disturbing realization, as it means he thinks it's possible Milo might kill him. He shoves that thought away as soon as he feels his stomach start turning. He tells himself to focus back on the task at hand.

"Um......Aurora tells me you're having yourself a good time out here."

"Hell yeah! Now I see why Doom loves doing this!" Milo points his flamethrower at another pile of trash and unloads, laughing as he does.

It's a ruse, of course, and Milo is just hoping Rourke falls for it. Because the reality is, he's hurting. He's fighting with himself. He knows he needs to keep Rourke away, to spare both himself and Rourke more hurt. Himself the hurt of being thrown aside when Rourke realizes what a piece of shit Milo is, and Rourke the pain of anything else Milo might fuck up. The poor man put up with him for almost 9000 years. And now, without him, he's seen Rourke become a better version of himself. Which only serves to convince Milo that, as usual, he was the problem. He was holding Rourke back. Because he's just awful, even though he tried so hard to be good and nice. That was the best reason Milo could think of. Or, maybe not the best, but it was the easiest. Easier than trying to explain that he was afraid of being cast aside when people realized he wasn't always the happy, silly little nerd they all liked. He couldn't be, though he tried. And he felt like shit when he couldn't be what they wanted and loved. He felt like something was wrong with him. It was easy to make friends when he was the happy silly little guy. But as soon as he wasn't that, people gave him funny looks and immediately treated him different or just left him. So he'd decided after The Split he was done trying. Being a nice guy had ended in pain for him, and loneliness. So why not just cut straight to that. Let them see how awful he is long before they can get close enough to hurt him.

"That's nice, Milo. But......we need you to stop for now. Please. Just for a little bit." Rourke keeps his voice calm, gentle, non-threatening. And it stings worse for Milo. That voice is like a Siren call. He wants so bad to just run over and jump into Rourke's big strong arms. He wants so bad to be wrapped up in those arms and held tight and told he's loved by that voice. He wants so bad to be able to just sob his fucking eyes out in Rourke's shoulder and not feel like such a shitheap for doing so.

But he can't. He can't do that to Rourke. He can't drag the man down again. He's better off without Milo anyway. The thought hurts, and Milo feels his eyes sting. He suddenly thinks of part of that song from Frozen. Don't let them in, don't let them see. He can't let Rourke feel for him. He has to get rid of him. Milo wants him to go. But he will not kill him (he'd just respawn and come back anyway). Milo is close to breaking and he can't have Rourke see it.

"Annd what if I don't want to, huh? Whatcha gonna do then? Huh? You gonna stop me!?" He eaves the flamethrower threateningly at Rourke.

"I'm not going to fight you," Rourke says, and his eyes sting a little too, "I don't want to hurt you." This isn't his Milo at all. And yet, there's still some of Milo in there. He can see it in the eyes. Behind the crazed look, for just a moment, Rourke can see pain and fear and desperation. And then Milo screeches "Well FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE!!" at him and raises the flamethrower toward another pile.

Rourke hates doing it, even as he raises his stunner* and fires. He'd grabbed it after one of his respawns, but had hoped he wouldn't need it. Even knowing it's not a lethal weapon and it's on the lowest setting, his heart still aches watching Milo fall over, and he quickly runs forward and catches Milo, carefully laying him down on the ground and moving the flamethrower out of his reach. Milo is only out for a minute or two, but he comes to shocked.

"You.....you shot me!" He shrieks,

"I'm sorry Milo, but I had to-"

"You fucking.........Fuck you, dick! FUCK! YOU!" Milo yells. He flings some random piece of garbage at Rourke and runs.

"Milo!-mmh." Rourke starts to call after him but Milo is already gone. A hand goes to Rourke's chest. His heart aches for the poor man. He now knows at least part of Milo's problem, though he wishes he didn't: Milo is hurting. In pain. But he doesn't know why or what to do about it, or if he even CAN do anything.

He's not frantic, as he would've been before. He's worried, yes, but again, he knows this isn't his problem to fix. And so, with Milo gone and no longer torching things, Rourke turns back to the Office. Back to the problem he might be able to help fix. It's just as well. He's feeling a lot right now that he's not sure how to make sense of. Milo's words stung and now he has more reason to worry about his ex. Inspecting the energy jet will help settle his mind down, calm it back to where he can better make sense of what he's feeling.

It hurts him, what he's seen of Milo now. But he lets it go for now, deciding maybe thats what Milo needs. Besides, as he holds his crystal in his fist and hears Milo's heartbeat, Rourke can swear he also hears someone or something telling him he and Milo will be okay in the end.

//*stunner: a smaller, pistol-like handheld Rovarian weapon, it is non-lethal, capable only of rendering someone unconscious for up to 2 hours (on highest setting).//

//setting used/characters mentioned with permission from @the-haunted-office . Thank you!!//