#fucking bug. bet he has an exoskeleton

[universal-casey]

Bug coded

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “Room Service.”

“How is he?’

“As good as he can be given the situation.”

“And how good is that?”

….

…

“Not good. No good at all.”

Ramirez, Dr. katie and krill peered in through the doorway, trying to be discreet so the figure inside might not notice their presence. He stood alone on the bridge, in the dimmed light of the late hour rimmed only by the glowing neon of the console lights.

“Someone should talk to him.” “Not me, I am defective in human emotions.” Krill announced 

“I talked to him last time.” Katie said, turning to look pointedly at Ramirez.

Ramirez nodded, gathered himself up, and then stepped onto the bridge, his boots quiet on the floor as he moved across the intervening space.

Gently, he reached out a hand and placed it on the other man’s shoulder, “Adam… it's getting kind of late.”

Adam didn’t even bother to look over at him. Though the dim lighting did much to hide his gaunt appearance, it was still evident through his sunken eyes, scruffy hair, and weak old facial growth that he was not himself.

“Tell Dr. Katie and krill that they can stop spying on me and head to bed.”

Ramirez paused before continuing with some measure of guilt, “They are just worried about you, you’ve hardly slept, barely eaten and-”

“One month Ramirez, Shs been gone ONE month and only God knows what they are doing to her.” He shivered, his single, haunted green eye welling with moisture in the light of the console.

The tears did not fall.

“Somewhere out there some BASTARDS are cutting her to pieces. And I… I can’t find her Ramirez.”

He took a deep tortured breath, one arm around his chest, the other hand cupping his chin, running a thumb over the scruffy growth on his face and chin.

Ramirez kept a hand on his shoulder opened his mouth and then closed it again. What should he say what ‘could’ he say to something like this.

He turned his head looking Ramirez in the eye for the first time that night, and in the sharper light his appearance only grew worse, like a man who hadn’t gotten out of bed in a month…. Or in this case…. A man who hadn’t gone to bed in a month.

“I… I love her Ramirez…. I don’t know what I’ll do without her.”

The revelation didn’t surprise Ramirez, not in the slightest.

He squeezed Adam’s shoulder, “I know…. I know.”

***

Sunny lay on the floor of her ‘cage’ listening to the sound of a circular saw. Something that had only grown more and more common in her life over the past month…. Or at latest she thought it might have been a month. Then again to her, it felt like a year.

She didn’t even bother to lift her head, and she was too weak anyway, the drugs had that effect. If they really wanted, they probably could have left her unchained: she wouldn't have been able to lift her head, much less move.

One of her captors grunted and as he did there came a sort of crunching squelching noise as he pulled the Rest of the Drev’s carapace from his deceased corpse. The body rocked and then stayed limp against the ground. The man dropped the carapace to the side with a grunt.

“What did I say about damaging the goods.”

“We are just going to grind it up anyway so don’t even give me that.” The man paused as he looked over his handiwork, wiping orange gore from his hands and onto his pants, “never had this much of it at once.”

“Yeah and now we gotta ration it so as not to lower our prices.”

The second man looked over at the remaining Drev with narrowed eyes, “Guess this means you scarabs get  break for a little while, now isn’t that nic.”

Sunny shivered feeling the cold of her skin on the bare floor. Aside from that chip taken from her shoulder, they had begun their real rituals on the forearm of her lower left, slowly stripping the carapace away in small chunks the perfect size to be bottled. A good portion of her forearm was raw and sensitive to the cold in the room. It made her sick to look at, and angry, but threw as nothing she could do. She had been continually sedated for the past month, and if she wasn’t she had been enclosed inside that steel box before being gassed.

All in all, there was no avenue of escape, and if there had been, she certainly would have tried.

Darkness shrouded her vision and she spent her last moments of consciousness staring idly at the other Drev lying prone in the darkness.

***

Adam jolted upright in his chair not having realised he had fallen asleep. He wasn’t sure what had woken him at first, until the soft sounds of feet registered to him from across the room.

He turned in his seat, only to see a large huling shape approach him from the doorway. Blue light glowed over the red carapace and Adam stood. Cannon, the only other person he trusted to understand what he was feeling. Golden eyes flashed at him from the darkness blazing with as much anger as he felt.

“Something wrong Cannon.”

“I just got a call.”

He hurried forward eager to hear, “What.”

“Some old friends back on Noctopolis was offered a vile of green liquid from a buyer. He claimed it had all natural contents, and could be used for a variety of ailments and beauty regimes. The bottle alone cost over 100,000 dollars.”

Adam gritted his teeth hands clenching into fists, “Does he know where to find this “Buyer”?”

Cannan nodded his large head, “He says he knows where he is staying, but is just a lead…. And…. well I… I was planning on looking into it myself. Conventional methods  aren’t working, and I’m tired of sitting around as I know you are too.”

Adam’s knuckles grew white, “Where is this lead?”

***

Toni sat in his hotel room resting on the bed and switching rather mechanically through the channels. He ha two pillows behind his back and wore nothing but a shirt and boxer shorts. He had always thought that alien TV was sort of weird, and personally didn’t like the creatures himself, but it was lucrative business, and he was willing to deal with a few bug-like creeps if it meant getting paid exorbitant amounts of money. Even taking a ten percent for each sail, and making a sail only once a month, that was 10,000 dollars a pop beside his other gigs, which made him a very, very wealthy man.

A very wealthy man who definitely could have chosen better lodgings, but somehow still liked the aesthetic of back alley seedy motels. There was just something about the distantly loud music and the couples fighting in the next room that reminded him of home, not his own home, for his childhood and been surprisingly normal, but his home back on earth in his little apparent in the understreets of New York.

He glanced over at the side table, where his last vial was sitting, glittering in the overhead light., a bright electric blue.he bet he could sell it for a markup without the boss knowing, and maybe squeeze a little more cash out of the sail without anyone being the weiser. Besides, its not like anyone was going to miss money the didn’t expect to have.

The thought made him smile. 

He sighed deeply and leaned back in the pillows, closing his eyes halfway as he prepared to fade into a sort of fitful sleep.

And that is when the loud knocking came on the door.

He jolted upright cursing and sat up.

The knocking came again and he cursed violently throwing his feet over the side of the bed, “Coming!”

Feet sticking slightly against the rather tacky carpet, he walked up to the door and peered through the peep-hole. outside , he saw a man standing with a stack of towels and growled. He didn’t remember ordering more towels.

Still, he tugged the door open, “Wha-”

His voice died on his lips. The man who stood before him raised his head, scruffy unkempt and with murder in his eyes, and right behind him, outside of view of the peephole, was a massive Red drev.

“Room service.” The man said, holding up a stack of towels, and before Toni could react, the man used the towels to cushion the sound of his punch, a punch that was so powerful it sent Tony reeling backwards onto the sticky carpet.

Both man and Drev stepped into the room letting the door snap shut behind them.

It was only then that Toni noticed what the man was wearing.

A metal exoskeleton of shiny silver metal and whirring actuators.

He knew what tat was.

Iron eye armor.

He had sold one on the black market not so many months ago.

Which meant he knew what it could do. 

He crawled back across te floor hands over his face, “please don’t… I y-you got the wrong guy I… I don’t-”

The man reached down with both hands and hauled him into the air as if he were a kitten. The suit he wore hissing and spitting below him like a dragon, “I think the fuck not.” His human eye rolled wildly in his head, but Teri culdnt help but notice the mechanical eye fixated upon him at that moment, the appriture zeroed in on him like a targeting system, which it might well have been. He knew Tesraki work when he saw it.

“Adam.’

The man paused and turned just in time or the two of them to see the Drev pick the blue vile up from the bedside table. In that moment of horrible silence, Teri knew what was coming next.

He heard the appriture of the mechanical snap shut zeroing in on him, and then an explosion of pain through his back and body as he was slammed into the floor.

“WHERE DID YOU GET THIS!” the man screamed 

He gasped and choked even as he was slammed into the floor again.

“I SAID WHERE DID YOU GET IT!”

The big Drev was holding up the vile now, holding it up like a conviction. A sword held over his head.

The green eyed man was so mad with rage that he feared he would die before he could even answer.

But he calmed down just enough, to allow him a breather and to choke out he words.

“A….an old f-friend told me to sell… it.” He choked out his voice high and squeaking past his rapidly crushed airway.

“Where are they!” The man snarled, teeth barred little drops of spittle flying from his mouth and reflected in the seedy dim light above. His pale skin was so red with pure rage that he wouldn’t have been surprised if the man burst a blood vessel.”

He thought about the money of course.

Thought about how much he would lose if he told this man.

Thought about losing a good seller and buyer.

Thought about all the money he had in the bank right now.

And quickly determined that he had rough to buy a small moon to retire.

“Ok ok! I don’t know where he is exactly!>” The man’s face screwed up into a look of rage and he stammered slightly, “W-woah I said i don’t know ‘exactly’ but I know ‘approximately’. They tend to orbit A136 because of its hub connections with other planets and its central place within the smuggling ring.”

“What class ship do they own.”

“One of those luxury cruisers…. Big thing, fo like civilian transport or some shit, but they use it for cargo. I…. l look man I have no idea what they did to you, but I’m just the fence. I had nothing to do with the actual operation, hell I don’t even know where they get the damned stuff.” For a moment he was pretty sure that he was going to die. More sure than he had ever been about anything.

But then with a light whirring the man stop. 

He was breathing hard, his face was slick with sweat and his hands trembled, but at least he seemed to have decided not to murder him.

The Drev on the other hand, still holding the bottle, looked at him with such malicious intent that his life flashed before his eyes a second time. He closed them not willing to see his death if it was coming. He didn’t need to know anything and didn’t want to see it.

And he waited 

And waited 

And waited

The next time he opened his eyes, the room around him was empty, the vile was gone and he was left alone with a few cracked ribs and a determination to retire from his life of crime.

Whoever those people were, he never wanted to see them again.

Besides it was as good enough a reason as any to retire early.

***

Sunny awoke to the door opening with a hiss; she was feeling a little better today, if not a bit groggy and disoriented. Her arm didn’t hurt so much, which meant the missing carapace was already healing over. Still, the cold felt strange and unwanted against her skin, and she held the arm close to her body where it was warmer, and the air didn’t seem so strange.

The voices grew louder, and she was surprised to hear a woman’s voice joining in with the man, “Lady, Bennett, I… admit we are surprised to see you here. We assure you, our supply chain is still functioning perfectly.”

The woman’s sharp voice pierced the air like a blade, cutting into Sunny’s very soul, “I did not come here to discuss the function of your supply chain. I came here to discuss the product you sold me.”

There was a pause, “Are you… dissatisfied with the outcome ma’am.”

“No, I enjoy the product, but I wish to purchase in another color. None of your buyers have anything other than this…. green color, which is nice for in the winter when I am missing the spring, but I want something more cheerful for summer. My daughters and I, that is, which means I would be willing to pay for at least three of your bottles if you have any.”

The men paused and glanced between each other, “well…. The process is not… something that someone like yourself…”

“Show me the stock, boy or you lose my business.”

The men paused and then agreed, and the slow footsteps came up the hallway.

She heard the sound as the people passed into the room and slowly lifted her head.

Her two captors, and a older, but still elegant woman stepped into the room, and despite the gruesome scene before her, she did not flinch, staring around at the captive Drev in various stages of drug induced sleep or drug induced exhaustion.

Sunny d her best not to ganer to much attention, but as soon as the woman’s eyes fell on her, she knew the fight was lost.

The elegant woman made a b-line across the room and straight to her cage, “This one, this small blue one.” I like her coloring.

She paused, “Open the cage.”

The two men did as told with no argument and sunny felt the breeze of the cage door as it swung open. The woman squatted down on her impossibly tall heels and grabbed Sunny under the chin, forcing her to look up. She tapped one of her nails against Sunny’s carapace. It made a sort of hard clattering sound, Sunny jerked her head away in the only symbol of defiance she could muster.

The woman smiled, the grin spreading impossibly wide across her face, “A very beautiful color…. My decision has been made.”

Sunny felt her heart sink down in her chest plummeting into her stomach where it was likely to remain.

The two men grabbed the chains and hauled down on them, lifting her from the cage and into a standing position.

“You may not want to watch this Ma’am.” 

“I think I will be just fine.” She said, the smile never leaving hre face.”

[keyofjetwolf]

Elisabeth: Bellaria

In “Bellaria”, we have another Essen exclusive. It’s a dour number (show me anybody on earth who has had this stuck in their head), featuring Franz Joseph and his mother, Sophie, as they clash and finally have a falling out over Elisabeth.

IT ONLY TOOK YOU LIKE A DECADE GOOD JOB FRANNY JOJO

The more I think on it, the more I think excluding it from the Takarazuka version was a good idea. Not because it’s not important, but because it doesn’t really have a place in the story the Takarazuka is looking to tell. Franz Joseph develops a backbone, in a sort of crunchy bug exoskeleton way, and Sophie actually finds a sympathetic toehold.

There’s no place for either of those things in the Takarazuka. Elisabeth isn’t entrenched in a mutual bitter power struggle with Sophie, she’s a victim of low-key villainy in the Evil Stepmother vein. Franz Joseph isn’t grappling with his inherent weakness and isolation, he’s a cardboard figure playing as Death’s romantic rival. There’s nothing this song can bring to what the Takarazuka wants to be, and as it’s entirely character-driven, we don’t even need it for plot purposes. TO THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR WITH YOU

So let’s take a look at what it does for its respective characters in the Essen version. It falls just after The Last Chance/Malady, so when Elisabeth learns of Franz Joseph’s adultery and decides to make it an opportunity for her to do whatever the fuck she likes. Which, if you recall, is to wander around Europe for the next couple decades, as you do.

That decision hasn’t yet been made (or at least not revealed), so while I can’t imagine Franz Joseph doesn’t expect some consequence for his dick-sticking choices, I’m not sure he foresaw his personal life becoming twenty-something years of postcards. In a rare gesture toward him, I’ll say that I’m not sure he would do anything different here, even if he did know.

I do believe he means it, as much as I believe that the fact he had sex with someone else isn’t the full stop on the sentence. Elisabeth has done her level best to push him out of her life, even after he’d done what she asked, and after years of this with no end in sight, I can’t fault him for looking elsewhere. I don’t think fucking someone else was the right band-aid to grab from the troubled marriage fix-’em-up box, so I’m not shoving all this on Elisabeth either, just that there’s enough blame to go around.

So yeah, I’ll hand it to Franz Joseph for saying “I fucked up huge, and to try and make it right, I’ll give Elisabeth whatever she needs from me.” AND THEN DOING IT. He immediately puts this into practice, by telling his mother that he’s done with her copious amounts of bullshit. 

GOING TO BET SOPHIE DIDN’T WAKE UP THIS MORNING THINKING SHE’D HEAR THIS

Sophie tries (and also doesn’t try) to defend herself, and now to pop her a little bit of credit too, SHE DID NOT MAKE YOU HAVE THE SEX FRANNY JOJO THAT WAS YOUR CALL FRIEND. She also makes the entirely valid point that her and Elisabeth’s hatemance has actually nothing to do with him.

IT’S NOT EGO WHEN IT’S TRUE

They have a back and forth, with Sophie saying she’s fighting against Elisabeth (”And me!” Franz Joseph says NOT INCORRECTLY) for the sake of the monarchy, and here’s where things with Sophie get extremely interesting.

Agree or disagree with Sophie and her methods, she’s been consistent in her motivations since literally Day One of their marriage: Elisabeth is Empress now, that is the role she willingly accepted.

REMEMBER WHEN THIS HAPPENED SEE IT WASN’T JUST A THROW AWAY IT’S A CENTRAL POINT ABOUT ELISABETH. Nobody forced her into this role, she embraced it with open arms, already knowing she longed for MORE freedom not less, and despite being directly and specifically told that this was was going to take a fuckton away from her. “To live with me will not often be easy for you,” Franz Joseph tells her well ahead of their marriage. “Under the yoke of duty, many dreams are lost.”

“We aren’t like the others, born to be happy.”

ELISABETH LISTEN

I FEEL YOU AREN’T LISTENING ELISABETH

BITCH THIS IS IMPORTANT SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR TWO SECONDS

Nobody tricked her, nobody lied to her, every card was on the table, and she sat down anyway, with a teflon arrogance that’s almost impressive. “Oh none of this will actually apply to me, it’ll be fine!”

Spoiler alert: IT WAS NOT FINE

Sophie’s demanded one thing of Elisabeth, and that was for her to take on the duties and responsibilities of the Empress she agreed to be. Obviously what that means is defined and policed by Sophie, and we can discuss the fairness or unfairness of that, but it’s a separate conversation. What Sophie was after from the start was Elisabeth holding up her end of the contract she willingly entered into.

And by god, that’s STILL what she’s about here at the end of her time in this story.

She even sings it to the same music from that first morning, an excellent and very intentional call-back. I wouldn’t ever try to claim that I think Sophie wasn’t petty and didn’t take some personal delight in making Elisabeth miserable whenever she could; as this scene is showing us, Sophie was human, and we humans fucking love to be petty. But I do believe that the empire, not herself, was at the core of every choice Sophie made and every action Sophie took.

Everything Elisabeth has done and will do is for Elisabeth.

Sophie’s a smart woman, though, and she knows she’s finally lost. Franz Joseph will no longer hear her, and whatever happens from this point forward is out of her hands and away from her influence. With her loss, however, comes a touch of the freedom Elisabeth has spent her life pursuing, and Sophie comes as close to regret as I think she would have ever.

It’s the only hint we get of the struggle Sophie herself has carried. It’s a suggestion that she, too, wanted something else out of life, that her actions have been intentionally crafted, not naturally born. Sophie has demanded so much of Franz Joseph, and Elisabeth, and their children, but no more than she’s ever demanded of herself.

I was surprised by how deeply I responded to Sophie in this moment. It’s so small, but so good, and I must give credit to Sophie’s actress as well, for the way the strength and defiance just bleeds out of her. Before our eyes, Sophie shrinks, going from an indomitable force to an exhausted, defeated old woman.

Before she leaves, Sophie has one final bit of advice for her son. “Those who forget their duties must perish. Only when it is too late will you understand that.”

“Understand me,” Franz Joseph replies, holding firm and finally refusing to capitulate to her.

Then this, which UGH, is just played SO SO WELL. Sophie doesn’t look at Franz Joseph when he says this. Instead, she bows her head, accepting her defeat, and you can see how it just GUTS Franz Joseph to see it. He reaches out for her, unable to stop himself, but she’s already turned away.

She hasn’t noticed and slowly begins to leave the room. She’s been using her cane the entire scene, but now it’s particularly noticeable as she leans her entire weight into it. (It’s a brilliant example of using a prop to build a character.) Franz Joseph takes the opportunity to gather himself. Near the door, Sophie turns to him for one last look, a silent appeal perhaps, or an opportunity for him to change his mind and undo some of what’s been done.

Instead, he’s standing at attention, and gives her one last formal bow.

AND I’M SCREAMING. Everything Sophie’s been demanding of Franz Joseph, everything she’s drilled into him (”Be strong. Be hard. Be cold.”) has finally come to full bear, and against her.

They say nothing. Sophie leaves, and Franz Joseph stands alone, dwarfed by the Hapsburg crest.