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perpetual-fandom-brainrot · 5 months

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Shadow (Dark Link x Reader x Link)

Summary: The reader accidentally stumbles into Dink's boss room while scouting ahead for monsters.

MASTERLIST Warnings: 18+ themes such as gore, graphic descriptions of death and fatal injury, emotional/psychological manipulation, etc. coming up. Reader actually dies and is revived. This story is not suitable for small children and easily disturbed individuals.

The temple is completely silent aside from the moves of yourself and your best friend, Link. At first he'd warned you to stay in the safety of Kakariko, but lost that argument when you'd held your own in a sparring match.

Now, the two of you gaze upon the expanse of the room you'd emerged from. Lots of water, as expected, fills the area. You notice a plethora of hookshot points, platforms, and tectites. None of them see you or Link as you swim past them to a hallway entrance. You find that it leads to an underwater passage.

In fact, most hallways do, you realize as you trail Link throughout the temple. Most of that trailing is spent picking off monsters Link can't get to, helping point out puzzle solutions, and quickly stealing Navi's attention if her timing is inopportune. Conversation between Link and yourself is scarce, both a strategic decision and a comfortable one, especially for you. Too many other things might come up right now, things that will cause more problems than will be solved if you choose silence. So you do, especially underwater, where magic is your lifeline. Both you and Link have fully stocked up on bottles of magic for this reason.

That magic almost goes to waste when a sing-song voice calls Link's name. You resist a gasp as your attention is drawn to the literal princess who produced it. How in Hylia's name is she here? You suppose, as the sacred house to the water medallion, it's technically still part of the Zora domain, but you distinctly remember hearing how all of Hyrule's royalty is dead, hiding, or otherwise decommissioned. Perhaps Ruto is safe here? When you look to Link's face to read his expression, he looks shocked and semi-afraid.

"It's me! Your fiancée! Ruto! I never forgot our vows from seven years ago." The princess' words horrify the hero and leave you nearly choking again. Fiancée? Vows? Seven years? She's not serious, is she? "You were so mean to keep me waiting," definitely serious, "but this moment can't be for love. My domain, I know you saw it's completely frozen! A man named Sheik freed me from the ice. The others haven't woken, so I need your help to save them! As my future husband it's your duty!" Ruto, finally ready to drop the marriage topic, proceeds to explain the temple's three water control points, and even leads you to one of them. She's gone by the time you and Link reach the top, most likely continuing ahead without you.

Link reads over the symbols on the wall, muttering to himself the whole time you're inspecting this tiny room. A soothing song comes from that ocarina of his mere moments later. The water level lowers, much to your intrigue. Magic must be part of the architecture here, you think. Instead of vocalizing your curiosity about the subject, you wordlessly follow Link into the next room and help pick off the monsters you find, grabbing the map out of the chest that appears. After examining it, you decide to head back for the bottom floor. The string of rooms brimming with monsters and puzzles begins with that simple jump down. A puzzle, a new room, some monsters, a key. This process repeats twice to get you to the second water control point, which also has to be activated through song.

This one raises the water, although not as high as it was earlier, allowing you and Link to enter a newly revealed passage. It leads deeper into the temple, where the new area leads to a puzzle, more monsters, and another key.

"Is this what every temple is like?" You ask, fingers tapping against your weapon's grip point.

"Yep." Link grunts as he stores the key in his satchel. "There's usually more foes than this," he adds. Your chest swells and tightens at the same time, your eyes going wide with a harsh realization. He could die here. You could both die here. What if one of you gets fatally injured in the midst of a difficult battle? It would be a choice between saving the other person or trying to fight off the monsters quick enough to still have time to do so. What if you ran out of healing items?

"We should split up soon," you find yourself blurting, partially for good reason and partially for the selfishness of not wanting to potentially see Link die.

"Why?" He asks firmly. He was difficult to persuade when it came to your accompaniment, you hope this might be easier.

"We have no idea what to expect in here! Monsters, items, locked doors, sure we know that. Not what kind of monsters, or how many, or where any of those item chests might be. Plus, if you run out of supplies before we split up, I'd be able to smash a jar here and there to bring you back more."

At your words, the same reluctance from Kakariko this morning crosses his face. You know Navi can identify new monsters for him, but you also latch onto the glimmer of consideration adorning his eyes at your offer to pick some off and scavenge for extra items.

"Fine," he finally says, hesitance mostly gone. Warmth blooms in you at his trust that you can handle yourself on that level. This isn't something any random Hylian can handle. You keep that thought in the front of your mind as Link dives back in the direction you came from. You follow soon after.

The third and final water control point sits above a room containing a water geyser puzzle. You draw your bow to shoot the crystal once you and Link both stand on it, raising you to the door leading to the control point. With the water only partially filling the temple, the point you've entered appears to be a vantage point over the temple's main area. It becomes level with everything else when Link brings the water up, and on you go to the next locked door.

You instantly shoot down two waiting keese on the wall behind the door, returning it to your gear when no more show up. Link yanks you back as you attempt to step further into the room. You're preparing to be annoyed, but immediately take notice of how the room is built. You would have fallen clean off the area you now stand on and landed on a platform about 10 feet below you. That platform leads to more platforms, one of which sits on the same wall and four others slowly fall down a waterfall's current. You groan when you notice the hookshot platforms. Link laughs softly beside you.

"The hookshot is uncomfortable!" You whine in defense, while a much worse feeling creeps up your spine. How many rooms has it been since you last encountered a monster? "Tell you what, I have to get used to it anyway. Let me scout ahead now! I'll tell you all about the next puzzles when I come back," you hastily promise before snatching the hookshot from Link. You cross the room before you can back down and before he can protest. The next room, another hookshot puzzle which contains a crystal, almost makes you want to rip your hair out. You don't, instead keeping a cool head as you pass through the room, alternating between bow and hookshot to activate the crystal and cross gaps between the platforms.

You're about to celebrate when you see one last hookshot point, but your face goes pale when you notice spikes directly underneath it and a slime creature bigger than you waiting on the other side. With sword drawn, you hook onto the ceiling, immediately doing a downwards spin-slash to finish it off when you drop to the floor. The next door is not locked.

The room it leads to is not inhabited. Instead of monsters, puzzles, or chests, you're greeted by a peaceful scene. An endless expanse of calm, shallow water expanded on all sides. The only disruptions are the door you came from, the door leading forward, and a small sand mound with a leafless tree sitting between them. You take a step forward and find that the water reflects your face perfectly. You feel oddly safe to take another step despite no visual of solid ground. Your feet sink slightly, but nothing more. You walk, then pause when you notice the door ahead has bars on it. The room is empty, isn't it? You turn around in a panic, trying to spot anywhere a monster could hide. In the water maybe? You take a second look at the surface, only to see a lack of your reflection. The pit of your stomach sinks. This room, and whatever is going on, is fueled by magic. This thing didn't need to hide from you, it could hide itself.

"You're not the hero," a voice sneers, sounding as though the room itself is speaking. That tone, that slight rasp anyone else would miss, it sounds just like-

A hand suddenly covers your mouth, your body being pulled backwards against another. Your instincts call on your weapons, but your assailant grips your wrist with superior strength. A sob begins building in your throat. This is a foe, one who is clearly prepared for Link and not some Hylian girl. You're dead. You'll never get to run around the village again. You'll never get to train with a sword again. You'll never get to tell Link-

"That's right, you'll never get to tell Mr. Hero-boy that you loOove him~" the voice purrs against your ear, his its tone cruel and mocking in a level whisper. Your lungs freeze when you process the words' true meaning. this thing knows your deepest secret and deepest fear. Worst of all, its voice sounds almost like Link's with the exceptions of a heavier rasp, being slightly deeper, and a permanent sadistic venom lacing every word he it spoke.

"I'm so touched you know who I am," it continues. Your body is jerked in a 180-degree spin and shoved to the ground, leaving you sprawled out and disoriented. You're still reeling from being winded like that when you notice a blade at your throat and freeze. A familiar blade, only darkly colored rather than the hauntingly beautiful silver you're used to. You slowly bring your gaze upwards, eyes meeting Link's face when you fully meet the monster's. It's Link?

"I am not that foolish child of the light," it says with a snort, still sounding calm and deadly whilst amused. "No, I am the stronger and more courageous warrior he could not bring himself to be. That Link, that hero that you love so much, he will never be what you think he is. He will never be what I am. I will pry what is rightfully mine from his sinking corpse." The last sentence is a growl full of venom and jealousy that has you trembling. Something tells you this monster really does stand a chance against the mighty hero of time. You would be mad, you should be mad, but his blade still sat against your neck. You don't dare to move or speak as you try to form a plan.

"Tell you what, here's a plan:" Link's evil copy presses his blade against your throat more, "I kill you, possess your corpse, and force hero boy to choose between letting it kill him or mangling it in order to stop me!" The monster says it like it's trying to suggest a fun new game you haven't heard of before. His eyes are wide with a sadistic kind of glee, one that enjoys seeing you so terrified, meanwhile something in you stirs. At first it's slight, something you bite back, but you can't just let him talk about Link like that.

"Don't even-" Evil Link begins, slashing his blade, but you roll away in time to get slashed on the shoulder instead. It isn't too deep of a wound, but you need to make quick work of this foe or else you'll lose your edge. Springing up, you jump backwards before drawing your sword and shield. The monster charges at you with a cry not unlike your Link's. You try not to think about it as you raise your shield to parry the incoming slash. With the opening it creates you manage a minor slice on his its shoulder. It isn't the monster's sword shoulder, but if it causes any struggle it's worth it.

As you take the second to acknowledge your handiwork, you find your own wrist being slashed at. You get a mild cut, hand starting to shake as you force yourself to support your sword. You back away in even steps, Link's dark version matching your pace. He It suddenly sinks back into the floor below when you're about to reach the other door again. Your reflection not returning keeps you on guard. As you survey the room for the monster, its words pop back into your head. It talked about Link like he's nothing! You internally seethe. Clinking behind you gathers your alert and you turn around just in time to brace your shield against his blade. It bounces backwards harshly enough to dent your shield and send the monster stumbling into the wall behind him. You step forward and slash at him again, inflicting a gash on his arm that's severe but not deadly. He drops his sword and shield, one arm now too hurt and one arm holding the gash. He only grits his teeth at you and glares before disappearing again.

You smile victoriously and saunter back to the door leading forward. I never could've gotten a hit on the real Link, you think as you reach for the bars over the door-

Wait, what? Your heart speeds up immediately as you retreat from the door. That's impo-

You feel warmth travel down your abdomen, a very heavy warmth that makes you instantly sleepy. You yawn and reach down to try to pull it over you like a blanket, hands wrapping around something. Your hazed mind doesn't realize the object is sharp as you weakly tug on it, becoming frustrated when you have no success pulling it up. You tear up, but a soothing feeling settles in your throat when you try to cry rather than choking. Slowly, you find yourself falling asleep as your vision fades out.

You wake up what feels like hours later, to Navi's concerned voice and a fairy missing from your inventory. Exhaustion is still burrowed into your bones and unconsciousness keeps a desperate grip on the corners of your mind.

"Y/n! Y/n! Thank Hylia! What in her name happened here?!" The fairy's voice is fast, full of panic. You open your mouth to speak, but as the memories fade back you can't even begin to process it. Saying it proves impossible when you burst into tears, resisting the urge to scream when your body instinctively tries to choke.

"I- I'll get Link! Stay here!" You reach to try to stop Navi when she flies towards you, but you're too fatigued and a sharp pain in your abdomen stops you. You lose the ability to keep your cries silent. It hurts so badly, you don't even want to breathe because even that causes pain. You swear you can feel it in your organs, even. The little blue-winged fairy carefully, silently, sifts through your belongings and extracts the hookshot before she leaves the room. You curl up in the water, which no longer bears your reflection in the absence of the shadow being, and lift your armor slowly to peek at the wound.

Despite having a fairy's healing applied, the wound is horrendous, and looking at the surrounding skin has you in hysterics. Inflamed, red, with a bubbling rash and several tender bruises already visible. Not to mention the stab wound sitting in the center, looking somewhat scabbed over but still obviously new. You try not to think too hard about it, or about anything except Link, as you slip into the simplicity of the morning's memories for comfort.

"Link! Link!" You call excitedly as you jog towards the Death Mountain gate to greet the currently blue-clad hero. You notice he's brandishing a different sword than the famous Blade of Evil's Bane. "New tunic and a new blade in the same day? Awesome!" You cheer, skipping next to Link, who stays quiet beside you. "Where're you headed now?"

"Water temple," Link grunts. When he notices the spark in your eye, visible concern replaces his typically stoic expression.

"Do you need extra eyes?" You ask eagerly. "An extra blade to back you up?" Link turns to you and grabs your shoulders. You know what he's about to say when he opens his mouth.

"Y/n, it is my job to save Hyrule. Not yours. I'll be back before you know it. You're safest in Kakariko," he says in a firm yet comforting tone. A cheeky grin spreads across your face as you form a plan.

"Let me spar you! How about that? If I can't defend myself against you, I'll stay here!" You announce. Link sighs with a defeated look as you celebrate and prepare your gear.

The door opening and Link's alarmed exclamations bring you back to your unfortunate reality. You open your mouth to try to explain, but break all over again when he gently moves to shush you. You can't help but flinch away from his hand. He looks confused, hurt for a moment, before he notices a fairy missing from your healing items. Potion is immediately poured into your mouth, your eyes tracking the seams on the leather covering his hands. You physically relax as the calm warmth of healing comes over you, a much different and more blissful warmth than the one you remember from earlier. You drift back to sleep, barely registering a pair of arms lifting you as you fade away.

You wake in the middle of Kakariko. It's the middle of the night and it's foggy. Everyone is inside for the night. The village is dead silent. The moon and stars are absent, yet a gentle light is barely visible through the fog. It's beautiful, and red. You think it may be a torch at first, other villagers you can't see, but the light seems to shrink as you approach. Curiosity fills you, urging you forward. More characteristics about the light become distinct the closer you get. The source splits into two separate ones when you're what seems to be a few feet away. Their shape becomes perfectly circular.

Your blood goes cold. You freeze in place when you see Link. The evil one, the one made of darkness. The one who had... encountered you in the temple. A smirk crawls up his face as he yanks you towards him and pivots. You feel the edge of the abandoned well dig into your back. You don't have time to process how his eyes aren't red, how his hair turned white, how his skin turned grey. How he looks more human now. He completely fills your personal space, his body pressed wholly against yours as he tips you backwards over the edge of the well, lips poking your ear.

"Welcome home, y/n~" he whispers before shoving you over the well's rim. A scream rips from your throat as you fall into infinite darkness, Kakariko village, your home, getting smaller and smaller. You flail, you cry, you helplessly try to grab for anything that will get you out of this. The air feels like it's moving too fast for you to breathe.

"Help! Help!" You scream out desperately as your heart twists and your stomach flips inside out. Your hands finally grip something you can't see, and you squeeze as hard as you can, not caring when you feel tingling in your knuckles. You pray to Hylia for safety as you clench your eyes shut.

You wake in Kakariko, in your bed, in Link's arms. You tense, prepared to scramble away from him, and burst into tears when you process that this is your Link. Your hero, your best friend, your crush, not the monster that-

You choke at the thought. Link gently brings you into a full embrace, one you desperately want to find comfort in, but all you can think about is how many times that's happened to him.

"D- Does it a- always hurt?" You choke. Link lets out an audible breath and holds you closer.

When he departs for the temple again, you want to beg him to stay. You want to cry to him and tell him everything eating at your brain. Instead, you insist he at least takes your remaining healing items. Two fairies and five potions. You made him pledge to give the bottles back when they were empty, those things took years to gather. All you can do now is wait and hope he makes it back safe and sound.

Read the next chapter here

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usafphantom2 · 2 months

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B-2 Gets Big Upgrade with New Open Mission Systems Capability

July 18, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber has been upgraded with a new open missions systems (OMS) software capability and other improvements to keep it relevant and credible until it’s succeeded by the B-21 Raider, Northrop Grumman announced. The changes accelerate the rate at which new weapons can be added to the B-2; allow it to accept constant software updates, and adapt it to changing conditions.

“The B-2 program recently achieved a major milestone by providing the bomber with its first fieldable, agile integrated functional capability called Spirit Realm 1 (SR 1),” the company said in a release. It announced the upgrade going operational on July 17, the 35th anniversary of the B-2’s first flight.

SR 1 was developed inside the Spirit Realm software factory codeveloped by the Air Force and Northrop to facilitate software improvements for the B-2. “Open mission systems” means that the aircraft has a non-proprietary software architecture that simplifies software refresh and enhances interoperability with other systems.

“SR 1 provides mission-critical capability upgrades to the communications and weapons systems via an open mission systems architecture, directly enhancing combat capability and allowing the fleet to initiate a new phase of agile software releases,” Northrop said in its release.

The system is intended to deliver problem-free software on the first go—but should they arise, correct software issues much earlier in the process.

The SR 1 was “fully developed inside the B-2 Spirit Realm software factory that was established through a partnership with Air Force Global Strike Command and the B-2 Systems Program Office,” Northrop said.

The Spirit Realm software factory came into being less than two years ago, with four goals: to reduce flight test risk and testing time through high-fidelity ground testing; to capture more data test points through targeted upgrades; to improve the B-2’s functional capabilities through more frequent, automated testing; and to facilitate more capability upgrades to the jet.

The Air Force said B-2 software updates which used to take two years can now be implemented in less than three months.

In addition to B61 or B83 nuclear weapons, the B-2 can carry a large number of precision-guided conventional munitions. However, the Air Force is preparing to introduce a slate of new weapons that will require near-constant target updates and the ability to integrate with USAF’s evolving long-range kill chain. A quicker process for integrating these new weapons with the B-2’s onboard communications, navigation, and sensor systems was needed.

The upgrade also includes improved displays, flight hardware and other enhancements to the B-2’s survivability, Northrop said.

“We are rapidly fielding capabilities with zero software defects through the software factory development ecosystem and further enhancing the B-2 fleet’s mission effectiveness,” said Jerry McBrearty, Northrop’s acting B-2 program manager.

The upgrade makes the B-2 the first legacy nuclear weapons platform “to utilize the Department of Defense’s DevSecOps [development, security, and operations] processes and digital toolsets,” it added.

The software factory approach accelerates adding new and future weapons to the stealth bomber, and thus improve deterrence, said Air Force Col. Frank Marino, senior materiel leader for the B-2.

The B-2 was not designed using digital methods—the way its younger stablemate, the B-21 Raider was—but the SR 1 leverages digital technology “to design, manage, build and test B-2 software more efficiently than ever before,” the company said.

The digital tools can also link with those developed for other legacy systems to accomplish “more rapid testing and fielding and help identify and fix potential risks earlier in the software development process.”

Following two crashes in recent years, the stealthy B-2 fleet comprises 19 aircraft, which are the only penetrating aircraft in the Air Force’s bomber fleet until the first B-21s are declared to have achieved initial operational capability at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D. A timeline for IOC has not been disclosed.

The B-2 is a stealthy, long-range, penetrating nuclear and conventional strike bomber. It is based on a flying wing design combining LO with high aerodynamic efficiency. The aircraft’s blended fuselage/wing holds two weapons bays capable of carrying nearly 60,000 lb in various combinations.

Spirit entered combat during Allied Force on March 24, 1999, striking Serbian targets. Production was completed in three blocks, and all aircraft were upgraded to Block 30 standard with AESA radar. Production was limited to 21 aircraft due to cost, and a single B-2 was subsequently lost in a crash at Andersen, Feb. 23, 2008.

Modernization is focused on safeguarding the B-2A’s penetrating strike capability in high-end threat environments and integrating advanced weapons.

The B-2 achieved a major milestone in 2022 with the integration of a Radar Aided Targeting System (RATS), enabling delivery of the modernized B61-12 precision-guided thermonuclear freefall weapon. RATS uses the aircraft’s radar to guide the weapon in GPS-denied conditions, while additional Flex Strike upgrades feed GPS data to weapons prerelease to thwart jamming. A B-2A successfully dropped an inert B61-12 using RATS on June 14, 2022, and successfully employed the longer-range JASSM-ER cruise missile in a test launch last December.

Ongoing upgrades include replacing the primary cockpit displays, the Adaptable Communications Suite (ACS) to provide Link 16-based jam-resistant in-flight retasking, advanced IFF, crash-survivable data recorders, and weapons integration. USAF is also working to enhance the fleet’s maintainability with LO signature improvements to coatings, materials, and radar-absorptive structures such as the radome and engine inlets/exhausts.

Two B-2s were damaged in separate landing accidents at Whiteman on Sept. 14, 2021, and Dec. 10, 2022, the latter prompting an indefinite fleetwide stand-down until May 18, 2023. USAF plans to retire the fleet once the B-21 Raider enters service in sufficient numbers around 2032.

Contractors: Northrop Grumman; Boeing; Vought.

First Flight: July 17, 1989.

Delivered: December 1993-December 1997.

IOC: April 1997, Whiteman AFB, Mo.

Production: 21.

Inventory: 20.

Operator: AFGSC, AFMC, ANG (associate).

Aircraft Location: Edwards AFB, Calif.; Whiteman AFB, Mo.

Active Variant: •B-2A. Production aircraft upgraded to Block 30 standards.

Dimensions: Span 172 ft, length 69 ft, height 17 ft.

Weight: Max T-O 336,500 lb.

Power Plant: Four GE Aviation F118-GE-100 turbofans, each 17,300 lb thrust.

Performance: Speed high subsonic, range 6,900 miles (further with air refueling).

Ceiling: 50,000 ft.

Armament: Nuclear: 16 B61-7, B61-12, B83, or eight B61-11 bombs (on rotary launchers). Conventional: 80 Mk 62 (500-lb) sea mines, 80 Mk 82 (500-lb) bombs, 80 GBU-38 JDAMs, or 34 CBU-87/89 munitions (on rack assemblies); or 16 GBU-31 JDAMs, 16 Mk 84 (2,000-lb) bombs, 16 AGM-154 JSOWs, 16 AGM-158 JASSMs, or eight GBU-28 LGBs.

Accommodation: Two pilots on ACES II zero/zero ejection seats.

#b-2a spirit #usaf #aircraft #aviation

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somepsychopomp · 2 months

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Come Home To Me pt. 1

i still feel so fucking insane right now. Today I drafted the first chapter of my Edling royal marriage fic where Ling is down insanely badly and wants to have Ed all to himself. i'd make up a better summary if my brain wasn't a withered husk rn but i did my best. This and future updates will probs be posted to my ao3.

Excerpt:

“Edward Elric,” Shen repeated, stroking his beard, “For what purpose must we seek him out?”

The Emperor’s smile widened. “I’m going to make him my Empress, of course.”

(word count: 4,442)

+++

Edward was glad to be returning to Resembool.

The day was beautiful, the sky clear and brilliant blue. The rolling fields passed by his train window as he ached for a hot meal at Granny’s table.

He was tired after a long stint of nonstop field world, and in heavy need of some deep cleaning on his automail, but couldn’t be happier. He had a suitcase stuffed full of research notes and plenty of good anecdotes to share. He didn’t yet know if he’d publish his findings, but he had someone looking forward to seeing them.

Ed had spent the last four months in the northeasternmost fringes of Amestris, basically living out in the desert with minimal contact with civilization. He wasn’t opposed to the hard work, though. Not when the potential knowledge was so tantalizing.

He functioned as the alchemical expert for a group of archaeologists from Central. They found fragments of Xerxesian architecture buried in the desert and with them, signs of alchemy. When Ed arrived at the site, it was little more than a bunch of holes dug into the heavy sand and some scraps of stone the archaeologists and their students found.

Ed turned an archaeological graveyard into an oasis. He found the proof that approximately nine centuries ago, Xerxes had a small outpost near what was now the border of Amestris. The older researchers on the team proposed it was a trading hub or colony. Ed had reason to believe it was some kind of remote lab, so experimental alchemy could be conducted safely away from the main populace of Xerxes.

He wasn’t going to stick around long enough to fight for his point, though. He’d seen what he’d wanted to see and learned what he set out to learn. He was going to be proven right, eventually. So it didn’t matter if he stuck around or not. Even though Ed had done his part and even though the majority team begged him to stay on, promising him additional pay, he knew it was time to come home.

Alphonse would already be waiting for him, after all. And it’d been almost ten months since they'd last seen each other.

Ed felt the little warm flurry in his chest grow with excitement. Yeah, they were both adults now, it felt natural for them to want to do their own things. And they did, planning their own trips in pursuit of their individual interests. But they were still brothers and he couldn’t wait to see Alphonse again.

Not that he’d ever admit it to Al’s face, but Ed still kept a beaten up copy of Alphonse’s first published research paper in the lining of his suitcase, ready to shove it into the face of anyone who dared to not call Alphonse Elric the greatest alchemist currently alive.

And admittedly, doing so made Ed feel painfully like the late Maes Hughes. Maybe he finally understood why a man would be possessed to carry documentation of his family everywhere he went.

But that was all behind him now. As all things came to an end, so did his voyage. The train pulled into the station and Ed jumped off the very second he was able to, hauling his heft suitcase in one arm as he ran for the waiting figure on the platform.

“Brother!”

Ed smiled. The two of them embraced and it really did feel like coming home.

“I didn’t keep you waiting long, did I?”

Alphonse laughed. He looked about the same as before their split. Still so tall, still so strongly built. A happy far cry from the emaciated body Ed pulled out of the gate. It was insane, how Alphonse looked so much like their dad now. And he imagined that when Al looked at him, he saw Hohenheim in Ed’s face, too. As much as Ed was loath to imagine it.

Al kept his hair short as well, while Ed’s had only gotten longer and longer. Alphonse noticed, of course he did, and waved around the end of Ed’s braid.

“Are you ever going to cut this thing?”

“Never.”

Trisha Elric had long hair, so Edward Elric had long hair. Though maybe at this point, his was longer than even hers had been. It was getting hard to remember now. In his faint and watercolored childhood memories, it didn’t matter how long his hair was because hers always seemed longer. He was sure if he looked at one of Granny’s old photos of her, he’d see differently.

Funny, how the mind played tricks like that.

Alphonse tried and failed to take Ed’s suitcase as they walked to the Rockbell household. Ed swatted his hand away.

“Just let me carry it, Al. It’s heavy.”

“That’s more reason why I should take it. You’ve lugged it across the countryside, why don’t you let yourself rest for once?”

Ed blew the stray hairs from his eyes. Maybe his bangs could do with a trim, at least. He’d have to see if Granny or Al would be willing to take up the scissors for him, Ed didn’t trust himself enough to make it look halfway decent.

The two of them chatted about nothing in particular, saving their best stories for when they could put their feet up and enjoy a drink together. Or at least that’s what Ed thought was happening, but he couldn’t help but notice Al was relaying details about minute town gossip with more enthusiasm than expected.

“Everything alright, Al?”

“Of course, why do you ask?”

Ed shot him a sideways grin. “You’re a shit liar. What’s up?”

Al huffed and puffed but eventually, Ed needled the truth out of him.

“Well, we’ve got company, actually. They’ve been in town for a few days already. And once they found out I was picking you up from the train station, they insisted on seeing you today.”

“Huh?” Ed scoured his cramped head for any plan he might’ve missed. Did someone he know say they were coming to visit? He asked, “Who is it?”

Al smiled, mischievous in his own right. “You’ll see.”

That made Ed wonder if it was someone from the military. Probably not the newly-promoted Brigadier General Bastard, so maybe someone else?

When they arrived, he didn’t see an extra car outside. On the porch, Ed did his best to shake the sand out of his coat pockets and boots before stepping inside. Immediately, he was hit with the fusion scent of coffee and motor oil. Tension he didn’t even know he was carrying drained out of his body as Ed called out, “I’m back!”

No click-clack of mismatched paws came running in response. It was still hard to remember that Den wasn’t around to greet them at the door anymore.

Ed left his suitcase by the door as Al led him into the kitchen, where Granny was sitting at the table with a grouchy looking old man and a young woman with dark hair. They all turned to look at him and it felt like an electric current was sent through his entire body. No way…

“Lan Fan!”

She still had the same sharp, dark eyes that Ed remembered from when they were younger. She stood, her expression lighting up at the sight of Ed.

“Edward Elric!”

She bowed for him, which felt downright silly. They went so far back, after all. And if Lan Fan was here…

“What are you doing on this side of the desert? Where's Ling? Is he with you?”

The old man cleared his throat and stood. He looked like the kind of guy Ed could easily imagine in the upper echelons of the military or a Xingese court: gray hair and beard, humorless expression, one hand wrapped tight around the curved handle of an ornate, darkwood cane. He was wrapped in loose, emerald green robes while Lan Fan was dressed how Ed remembered her. All black.

“It is my obligation to accept questions and negotiations on the Emperor’s behalf,” the old man said. He spoke in an extremely thick Xingese accent, but enunciated his words with care. He shot Lan Fan a look, “Is it not?”

Ed’s mood soured slightly. Whoever the old fart was, he wasn’t interested.

And yet, the old man said, “I am His Majesty’s most senior adviser, Yao Shen. I was sent at His Majesty’s request to locate one Edward Elric and deliver a message.”

To me? Ed wondered.

The last time he spoke to Ling was when they were teenagers. The idea of trying to contact him again crossed Ed’s mind over the years, admittedly much more than once. After all, Alphonse kept in contact with Mei. He’d even made several trips across the desert to see her and study alkahestry in Xing.

But Ling just felt so different. He got crowned as Emperor when he was seventeen! And Ed remembered so well how news swept across Amestris of the child king in Xing, who apparently went on a sojourn through their country only a year prior to his coronation. Ed just had no idea how he could ever reach across the world to someone like that.

So he never did, as cowardly as it was. And seven whole years had gone by since they were a pair of teenagers fighting to save the world. Ed was twenty-two now and thought his chance to see Ling again, no matter how slim, was gone.

But now Ling’s closest and most loyal vassal was in his kitchen. With a weird old man to boot.

“Yes, yes. We’re all here for one reason or another,” a new voice said. Ed looked over to see Granny stirring a big pot on the stove. She said, “But all of that can wait. It’s supper time and my boys must be hungry.”

Lan Fan didn’t seem to be in any rush. And if she wasn’t treating this like it was urgent, it probably wasn’t. The five of them sat down at the table, where Ed got to eat a heaping bowl of Granny’s famous beef stew with fresh bread. For a few glorious minutes, he forgot he was being a poor host by not participating in the conversation while he stuffed his mouth.

Subsisting off of dry rations for four months left one starved for flavor.

Once he had some proper food in his belly, he finally took note of Lan Fan’s arm. It had the super polished look of someone who’d just seen a mechanic, not like Ed’s brushed metal limbs.

“You’ve been taking good care of your automail,” he said.

Lan Fan smiled. She held out her hand to let it catch in the light. “Your grandmother has been generous enough to do some maintenance on my arm these past few days.”

“Is that right?” Ed asked. He didn’t even bother to correct her, that Granny wasn’t related by blood. It still surprised him. Ed knew Granny was partially retired these days; she didn’t take on new clients anymore, just did repairs and cleanings.

He was glad she agreed to take a look at Lan Fan. Xing, as he was told, sorely lacked automail mechanics. Too bad Winry was up to her ears in work in Rush Valley, he knew she would’ve loved to ogle at a good arm.

Granny said, “As someone who’s seen my fair share of automail in all sorts of shapes and states, it’s my professional recommendation that you have yours examined by a mechanic at least once a year.”

“That is simply not possible, given her immense obligations,” Shen said.

Ed and Al shot each other a knowing look. Why on earth was Lan Fan traveling with this old fart?

“The Emperor sends for an Amestrian mechanic whenever my arm becomes too damaged to operate,” Lan Fan said, as simple as if she was commenting on the weather.

Ed stared at her, mouth agape. As someone who’d gotten into far too many fights to count over the course of his life, some of which ended up in his automail getting completely shattered, he wondered what kind of things Lan Fan had endured in recent years.

And by extension, what all that meant for Ling. Ling, who was not here but felt the need to send Lan Fan in his stead.

Lan Fan turned to Ed and Al. “Now, tales of your exploits have been reaching Xing for years, but it’s often impossible to tell what’s fiction and what’s fact. I would love to know what the Elric brothers have actually been doing since we last crossed paths.”

It was a little hard to tell if she was actually interested or just changing the subject. Ed didn’t press either way. Alphonse, either by using some secret telepathic power or just knowing how Ed operated, stopped him from running to get his copy of Al’s research. He instead gave a summarized version of his studies on combining alchemy and alkahestry.

As their bowls ran empty, Ed figured it was time to broach the subject of why they had guests at all.

“So what’s the message meant just for me?” he asked, bracing an elbow on the table.

Shen seemed unphased. “Unfortunately, it directly involves the security of our Emperor and must be delivered in private.”

“Oh?”

Ed turned to Lan Fan. Up until now, she seemed warm and inviting, a huge difference from her stoic self he first met. But even she shook her head.

“I must agree. It can only be given in complete secrecy.”

Ed resisted the urge to grin. Whatever it was, he could easily imagine Ling landed himself in some sort of trouble and needed help from the former Fullmetal Alchemist. Ed might’ve quit the military and lost his ability to do alchemy, but he was still a force to be reckoned with.

“Fine, then. I know where we can talk.”

Bidding Al and Granny a temporary goodbye, Ed led his two guests out of the house and up a dirt path. The sun was starting to set now, just touching the horizon and bathing everything in blinding gold. The air here was warm but not dry like the desert. It was damp and full of life.

Ed guided them up a hill as the ruins of his childhood home loomed ever larger. He didn’t stop when they reached the derelict structure, stepping over scorched wood beams and the old stone foundation, leading them into the heart of his family’s house.

“What is this place?” Lan Fan asked.

Ed stopped just short of the stone stairs that led to the basement. No one in Resembool came up here. Maybe they were too afraid to, maybe it was a sign of respect. He noticed that no signs of vandalism or graffiti cropped up over the years.

He put his hands in his coat pockets and said, “This was my home when I was a child. Now why don’t you answer me this, what did you come all this way to tell me?”

+++

The order from her Emperor to travel to Amestris without him was quite a shock to Lan Fan when she first received it. Not to mention His Imperial Majesty wanted her to guide Advisor Shen. He was so old, she honestly thought this could’ve been a ploy to have him perish in the desert to finally be rid of him.

The old man wasn’t happy about it either, even though he did his best to conceal it.

Alone in a private audience with the Emperor, he bowed profusely and repeatedly while asking, “A thousand pardons, my Emperor. But what exactly do you wish an old man like myself to achieve in Amestris?”

Shen was a spoiled member of the Yao clan’s lesser nobility who used to be a close personal friend of Ling’s father. He climbed considerable heights by constantly praising the last Emperor, only to now find himself serving a much younger man with no interest in keeping his father’s past friends wealthy.

It was rare that Lan Fan was ever out in the open too, but as her Emperor specifically wanted an audience with her as well, she stood side by side with the old adviser.

His Majesty smiled serenely at Shen. “Your task in Amestris is to seek out Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric. Lan Fan is to escort you, seeing as she’s one of the… maybe two or three Xingese citizens who actually knows what he looks like.”

If she could speak freely, Lan Fan might have protested as well. She could never leave her Lord vulnerable, even if he did have other guards and the entire Imperial army at his disposal now.

He cast his gaze upon her, expectant. She knew precisely why he wanted to find Edward Elric. She was perhaps the only person in the world who knew, who he trusted to know.

And she took that trust very seriously. It was not her place to approve or disapprove of his desires, only to see them fulfilled.

“Edward Elric,” Shen repeated, stroking his beard, “For what purpose must we seek him out?”

The Emperor’s smile widened. “I’m going to make him my Empress, of course.”

Lan Fan was staring straight ahead when he said so, arms on her knees as she knelt and awaited further instructions. But she would have loved to see Shen’s face if his startled, haggard coughing fit was anything to go by.

His Majesty’s smile grew terse. “Something the matter, Shen?”

“Oh, well… I- I cannot… my Lord…”

“You cannot what? Condone my decision? You object, is that it?”

“No, no! I would never, your Imperial Majesty!”

He grew silent as the Emperor stood, his silken robes falling around his powerful frame. He descended the steps of his throne and Shen once more pressed his forehead to the floor in subservience.

“Stand up.”

They both did so.

The Emperor produced his right hand from the length of his robes and pulled a golden ring from his finger. It was newly made, polished to a mirror shine.

“Shen, you will take this ring and guard it well. When you find Edward Elric, you will hold my ring up to his image. And when you do, remember which is more impressive.”

+++

Yao Shen only ever wanted to live comfortably. And for many decades, he did exactly that. He wore nice clothing of moderate detail, had multiple sons, kept his head low in court, and was rewarded with a lifetime of servility by being named a chief advisor in the imperial court. Now, however, he thought he might just reach his end. In a foreign land surrounded by alien peasants, no less.

Because his Emperor was correct. Edward Elric was more splendid than gold.

At first, he hadn’t been happy at all to make the trip across the desert. He bitterly cursed his ill fortune under his breath, knowing full well His Majesty’s dog was his sole traveling companion. Then it was a matter of locating the insignificant village that the famed Fullmetal Alchemist came from. And even then, they could not rest until they found Edward himself.

And when they did finally see him in person, Shen had not been very impressed. Edward Elric was clothed like a simple traveler, in plain garments and a rugged red coat. No silk, no gold, no silver. His boots were caked in dirt and his gloves were stained a reddish brown from the desert. His complexion was less than fair, his face tanned by the sun to a degree that most matchmakers would deem unacceptable.

Not to mention the fact that the boy referred to His Imperial Majesty, the Son of Heaven, by his given name! Had that mistake slipped anyone’s lips within Xing, they’d be executed.

But everything changed when he saw Edward Elric in the sunlight.

In the glow of the setting sun, Edward Elric looked like a lion. His long blond hair framed his face and reached his lower back. Shen was aware that it was common in Amestris for men to keep their hair short, as preposterous as it was. One’s body was a gift from their parents and to cut any part of it was to disrespect them. Edward Elric had very respectable long hair.

And his eyes. The palace menagerie kept a host of exotic animals, including actual lions. The Fullmetal Alchemist had the eyes of a fierce and unflinching warrior, so bright and piercing. It was clear he’d seen and won many battles, but he wasn’t a brute, either. No, his were a set of dangerously intelligent eyes.

It wasn’t necessary, Shen knew when he’d been defeated, but he could never deny an order from his Emperor. So he reached into his pocket and produced a small bundle of cloth. With trembling fingers, he unwrapped the golden ring entrusted to him and held it up to Edward Elric.

Both shined with a sort of blinding brilliance, as if the sun itself wished to pour all its warmth over the boy’s shoulders. He perfectly matched the descriptions of the Great Sage of the West, the founder of alkahestry. Any dignitary worth their salt would know what an auspicious sign this was… and that the young Emperor tragically chose his future concubine well. Very well.

+++

Ed blinked, going cross-eyed as something small was held in front of his face. He leaned back, seeing that it was a golden ring. Thick and heavy-looking, too.

“Uh…”

He moved to reach for the ring, unsure if that was what they wanted, but the old man simply tucked it back into his pocket. He cleared his throat. “Thank you for humoring an old man. Lan Fan, tell him.”

Was it just his imagination, or was she smiling ever so faintly?

She stepped forward and said, “His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Xing will be arriving in Amestris in three days for a diplomatic mission. He will be arriving in Central City to speak with your Fuhrer and parliament and is scheduled to remain in your country for fifteen days. While he is here, he wishes to see you again.”

Lan Fan produced a small package from a pouch in her belt and presented it with both hands. “He asked me to give you this gift as a token of his earnestness.”

Ling wanted to see him?

Lightheaded, Ed accepted the gift. It wasn’t heavy at all.

Lan Fan raised her brows. Open it.

So he undid the twine wrapping. It wasn’t what he expected, not that he had any idea what it could be. Ed held up the length of silk to the light. It was a long, thin strip of crimson cloth embroidered with gold. It was beautiful. He didn’t know what it could possibly be for, but he appreciated it. After all,

Ling remembers me…

“Tell me something,” Ed said, running his fingers over the cloth, amazing as how smooth it was, “How has he been, all these years?”

“He has been well, thank you for your concern,” Lan Fan said. “He is looking forward to having your company once more.”

+++

Once Shen was excused from the throne room and it was just the two of them, Ling didn’t feel like sending Lan Fan back to her post as his invisible hand. He needed a friend right now.

Sighing, he said, “It’s been a long time, Lan Fan.”

She nodded. “It has.”

Almost a decade had gone by since they last saw Edward Elric.

He thumbed at the hem of his robe, thinking. “What if I’m too late?”

“You must not lose hope, your Majesty. He is still not married. Even if there was someone standing in your way, what real threat could they pose to you?”

He nodded, thankful as ever for her steadfastness. Unlike his endless officials, servants, and his stupid siblings all vying for his favor, Lan Fan had earned it long ago. He respected her opinion far more than many of theirs, as well. And if she had faith in him, perhaps that was a good sign.

He wandered over to the windows behind his throne, whose light reflected off his gilded ceiling and his crimson pillars. The imperial palace sprawled before him, more wealthy than any other country he knew of.

What would Edward think of it all if he could see it now?

He was going to see it, Ling reminded himself. He’d waited long enough, now was the time to finally act.

The last time they saw each other was as children at the tender age of fifteen. Ling’s father held onto his throne for little over a year by no small miracle, but of all his brothers and sisters, it was him who was crowned successor before he was even an adult.

He spent the first few years of his reign cementing his rule and keeping his country stable as power changed hands. He protected the Chang clan from extinction, elevated his own, improved trade and relations to the east, and chose peace treaties over war declarations. Now he was turning his efforts into improving relations with the west.

The common folk such as his farmers and merchants loved him too, he made sure of it. Edward was born of common blood, after all. And he was famous across the world for his efforts to help those that could not help themselves.

If he could, he would send Lan Fan to seek out Edward alone. She’d do it in half the time if she didn’t have a bag of bones tethered to her. Even though Yao Shen was a member of their own clan, Ling never really liked him. He was slow to adapt and too haughty for his age. But he was also a valuable pawn. Given his seniority among palace staff, if Ling could convince him that Edward was worth more than his weight in gold, the rest of his courts would follow suit without any effort on Ling’s part at all.

Yes, convincing his people was the easy part. The least predictable element in all his plans was Edward himself. Unsurprising, but Ling wouldn’t have it any other way.

At the age of twenty-two, he felt so old yet still so impossibly young. He knew he had a whole life ahead of him yet, but could not find it in himself to wait a moment longer.

He closed his eyes and made a promise to himself. No going back from this point, no more waiting. He was going to have an Empress, this he knew since he was fifteen.

So no matter the cost, Yao Ling was going to have Edward Elric.

#fma #fmab #edward elric #ling yao #edling #homo alert uh oh #down bad ling #the outline for this fic is like 40 pages long now #someone help me #not edited #will do that later #Ed keeps his automail arm #but he doesn’t have his alchemy anymore

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cognitivejustice · 3 months

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Revitalizing the ocean economy with transformative sustainability innovation in urban planning and architectural design

Image: © Haptic Architects, Oslo Works, and BOGL

A waterside scheme spanning 45,000 sqm with features including Fjordarium—an aquarium with underwater galleries capturing the fjord’s marine life and anticipating its future. The facility is part of a wider knowledge hub of workspaces for marine industry and ocean tech businesses. Haptic Architects and Oslo Works reimagine a disused parking lot as a global centre for sustainable oceanic practices.

Fjordarium featuring underwater galleries that peek into the marine life of the fjord

The Fjord area is designed as the educational centre of the scheme and will house the Fjordarium. This building will provide an immersive visitor experience by offering a window directly into the fjord. The Fjordarium will encompass various facilities such as a restaurant, bar, gallery, event space, research laboratories, workspaces, and teaching rooms above and below the water level.

In collaboration with the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), the design of the Fjordarium building has been created to safeguard marine biodiversity. The building, as per the design statement, will be engineered to withstand the fjord's waves and currents while maximising natural light penetration into the underwater areas. It will address the challenges and provide solutions for cleaning the heavily polluted fjord caused by agricultural waste. In partnership with We Are Human, the architects have conceived the Fjordarium as a destination that will seamlessly blend physical and virtual experiences. It will serve as a global learning platform, exploring the drivers of the new blue economy while promoting a shift towards environmental sustainability and a regenerative approach to oceans.

#solarpunk #solar punk #design #architecture #urban redevelopment #ocean sustainability #fjord #norway

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nogacheloveka-blog · 5 months

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The Bad Sanses somehow ended up in the Backrooms. №14

next 15

prev 13

This is the translation of the another post from Russian to English. I understand English, but it is very difficult for me to write in English, so I asked chat GPT to help me. I have corrected some parts, but there still may be mistakes.

There will be no romantic lines in this story. I don't think it's appropriate to introduce romance, the story just isn't about that. Perhaps there will be some hints (I love some pairing and polyamory in the gang), but this work is just a research and hobby for me, a platform for experiments. Killer is just fooling around because he gets an interesting reaction in return.

Well, now I want to experiment with the number of images. I will be adding more relevant illustrations to the text. For now, I'll start with two or three and see how it turns out. I don't think I'll have time to add the gang to all the images, but perhaps in the future, I'll do.

What Error identified as an "exit" turned out to be a broken arcade machine. The power cable was torn and led to a small dirty puddle, one of the walls was scratched with claw marks, as if a wild beast had sharpened its claws on it, and the coin slot was overgrown with moss. But Error was convinced that this thing could serve as a way out of here (he sees more than the others), when they look around. After all, they have just arrived. However, level 25, where the arcade machine presumably led, was a good opportunity to choose their own path ahead (Nightmare was happy to have the chance to predict his own life).

The description of level 23 in the database described the ruins of a past civilization. Engaging in archaeology would not be amiss. Moreover, in addition to items, human organizations hunted for information (Killer understood their curiosity). Old bricks, ruins, a couple of rusty coins, sketches of various architectural styles - the group looked with admiration (except for Error) at their boss, who surprisingly well oriented himself in the value of archaeological finds.

Many of them sometimes forgot that their boss had lived a long life and loved learning new things.

The group's inventory, although it allowed carrying many items, was limited and had already been filled with essential items. They had to choose. Some things were discarded based on data from the Backroom database, some did not represent historical value. Mostly, the subordinates of Nightmare were engaged in the search: Killer brought everything he saw, while Horror enthusiastically searched for edible and medicinal plants.

Dust was the only one who purposefully searched for artifacts. He admired Nightmare's skills and was interested in learning more about history from him. Forest butterflies flocked to him. It even seemed to Dust that they were trying to help him in his search within their capabilities. Perhaps it was his imagination. But he managed to find a couple of interesting frescoes and fragments of some strange tools, which Nightmare identified as "valuable".

Some of the finds resembled musical instruments, some looked like weapons or tools. They seemed damaged, but Killer's attempt to break one of the ancient items failed: they turned out to be surprisingly strong.

Horror found wild grapes and a bunch of snails on them. It took him a couple of days to prepare the snails (each of them knew about snails from the old lady), but the berries tasted good. As if the plant came here not from the forest, but from the plantation. That explained the snails.

Error used strings to catch animals and let Horror cook it. It was just rational. The big guy could cook well. In a way, Horror bought Error's loyalty. For now.

Overall, they stayed in these forests for about two weeks and did not notice any signs of a possible way to get to their home dimension. It seemed that the human settlement was also too far from the place where they were (Enrico could have had a hard time). And everything that people knew, they immediately published on Reddit or the knowledge base, and they had not yet come across any secret communities. The latter was very disappointing Nightmare.

With some caution (the dimension-killer could play a trick on them, but going all the way back was too tedious. They were, after all, Sanses), the group returned to the arcade machine by a shortcut.

It was standing there.

Waiting for them.

Error could not make it work just like that. He saw the executable code for moving to level 25. But the Backrooms did not allow him to change or initiate anything. Fortunately, there was a real thing in front of him. And the code for moving was launched manually. He just needed to reconnect the wires and microchips that would do all the work for him.

Error stuck his hands inside the broken machine and released the threads. They slid inside, weaving through the broken parts. The power source was still working - the cord outside was decoration.

The mechanism seemed complex, but Error only needed to fix what was involved in executing the code. It took some time, but the Destroyer managed to do it. The machine still looked deactivated, and its screen remained dark. But inside, music could be heard, and the coin slot glowed with light bulbs. One of the ancient coins they found managed to squeeze inside. Now they just needed to press a few buttons, simulating the game. Killer happily pounced on the levers and keyboard. After a few actions, Error began to reboot, and Killer got into the game - it seemed that the arcade machine contained some kind of fighting game. It was difficult to orientate oneself by the sounds of battle, but the skeleton got carried away and played until the transfer worked.

They all appeared in the hall, level 25. The second crossroads of the Backrooms. Many arcade machines, billiards, mini-bars, soda machines, ping-pong and other entertainment.

Killer immediately offered to play something. He playfully used his body as a bet.

Nightmare belongs to Jokublog Killer belongs to RahafWabas Dust belongs to Ask-DustTale Horror belongs to Sour-Apple-Studios Error belongs to CrayonQueen Cross belongs to JakeiArtwork

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imdigitalvinod · 1 month

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Tumblr Content Mastery: What Resonates with Users and Why It Works

Creating content that resonates on Tumblr involves tapping into the platform's unique culture and understanding what its users gravitate toward. Here’s a breakdown of content types that tend to perform well:

1. Visual Content

GIFs: Tumblr is known for its love of GIFs. Animated GIFs, particularly those that are humorous, relatable, or fandom-related, are highly shareable.

Art and Illustrations: Original art, fan art, and creative illustrations gain traction. Artists often find Tumblr a supportive place for sharing their work.

Photography: Aesthetic photos, especially those with a distinct style or theme (e.g., nature, fashion, architecture), are popular. High-quality images are more likely to be reblogged.

2. Fandom-Related Content

Fan Fiction: Writing stories related to popular movies, TV shows, books, or video games. This content is often reblogged by members of the fandom.

Memes and Fandom Jokes: Content that captures the inside jokes of a particular fandom can spread rapidly within those communities.

Fan Theories and Discussions: Posts analyzing plot points, characters, or future events in popular media.

3. Text-Based Posts

Quotes and Poetry: Short, impactful quotes, poetry, and micro-stories are widely shared. Posts with a strong emotional appeal tend to resonate well.

Personal Stories and Anecdotes: Posts that share personal experiences or thoughts, often with a touch of humor or vulnerability, can attract attention.

Tips and Advice: How-tos, tutorials, and life hacks are useful content that gets shared, especially if they’re presented in an easy-to-read format.

4. Niche and Subcultural Content

Subcultures: Tumblr users often rally around niche subcultures (e.g., goth, cottagecore, vaporwave). Content that caters to these subcultures can gain a dedicated following.

Aesthetic Blogs: Blogs that focus on specific aesthetics (e.g., dark academia, minimalism) are popular. They often curate content that fits a specific visual theme.

5. Social Justice and Activism

Awareness Posts: Tumblr has a strong activist community. Content related to social justice, environmentalism, and awareness campaigns tends to perform well.

Educational Content: Posts that inform or educate about various issues, especially when combined with impactful visuals.

6. Rebloggable Content

Relatable Humor: Funny and relatable posts, often involving text posts with tags, can go viral. Tumblr users appreciate humor that taps into shared experiences.

Interactive Content: Polls, questions, and posts that encourage participation (e.g., “Reblog with your favorite…”).

7. Music and Audio Content

Playlists and Music Recommendations: Curated playlists, music recommendations, and audio posts featuring new or obscure artists can attract music enthusiasts.

Audio Clips and Podcasts: Short audio clips, especially those tied to popular culture or fandoms, can resonate with the community.

8. Tumblr-Specific Trends

Tumblr Challenges: Participation in Tumblr-specific challenges or trends (e.g., reblog challenges) can boost visibility.

Seasonal and Event-Based Content: Posts tailored to specific events or seasons (e.g., Halloween, Pride Month) often see a spike in engagement.

Tips for Success:

Engage with the Community: Reblogging, commenting, and participating in Tumblr conversations can help increase your reach.

Tagging: Use relevant tags to ensure your content is discoverable. Tags should be specific to your post's theme or subject matter.

Consistency: Regularly posting and maintaining a consistent theme or aesthetic can help build a dedicated following.

Tumblr's user base is diverse, so experimenting with different content types and paying attention to what resonates with your audience is key.

#Tumblr #Aesthetic #Photography #Art #Fashion #Vintage #Writing

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ibee00725 · 1 year

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YOUR YUU LOOKS SO CUTE LIKE A PENGUIN...

But beside that I would love to hear about her personality. is there any characters she particular likes(romantic or platonic) or any characters she dislikes? 🙏✨

SKFJSKF PENGUIN IBEEYUU 😭😭🫶🫶

i filled out this chart:

-ibee!yuu dresses in lolita, so shes def gonna be bffs w people active w social media and into beauty/fashion (cater/vil)

-friends w lilia (emo/goth solidarity fr)

-ambivert personality fs, opens up gradually but is hard to approach at first (rbf 😔 i promise shes not mean shes very silly)

-prefers savory things to sweets

-i live for ships where both parties have the same aesthetic/interests so i made my goth!malleyuu dreams come true 😭😭💪

-malleus and ibee!yuu bond over their love of gothic architecture, considers mal a close friend, understands his feeling of loneliness 😔🤲 def considers mal a person she particularly likes 😉they talk about the stars a lot, esp during their evening walks, cloudwatches in the daytime

-sebek finds her a little offputting 🫢 ibeeyuu thinks its bc of her outfit but its actually bc of how close she is with mal and sebek doesnt rlly trust her 😔 oo misunderstanding!! (sebek likes the fit tho, reminds him of dolls from Briar Valley) prob in the future the misunderstanding gets cleared up and he becomes a little brother to ibeeyuu (absolutely no sebek slander!!)

-halfway thru writing this i realized i forgot to put arrows for Jack 🧍‍♀️ theyre def more than acquaintances but less than friends, ibeeyuu likes people who are honest and uphold their values 👍

-absolutely scared shitless of floyd, no one in platforms can outrun the beanstalk of a dude😭 he thinks theyre friends tho LOL like its a game of who can run from who 😭

#twst yuusona #yuusona #twst yuu #twst oc #twisted wonderland #twst #malleyuu #twisted wonderland yuu

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lilymystica · 5 months

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Me and my friend made a mdzs prompt in the middle of the night and it came out much cooler than i thought when i read back on it in the morning. We both write but we have zero motivation so you may use this if you like it.

Anyways, the story revolves around Nie Huaisang, Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Cheng because we want badass Caiyi Trio. Our trio was helping an old woman in her house in Caiyi but ended up in a dungeon kinda thing where they face some challenges. Those challenges being:

The gang facing a pair of undead corpse but they all just ended up being a married couple that died in the cave and looking for their daughter who was also dead somewhere in the cave. It was Wwx to suggest they listen to the corpse because he heard them cry for their daughter.

Wwx and Jc falling in a maze, a boulder chasing them (chasing, as in it has a sense of direction and actually wants to flat their ass) with nhs on a high platform. In front of him is a some sort of tablet that shows the whole architecture of the maze. Nhs ended up saving them.

And lastly, a group of rabidd wolves chasing wwx. Wwx was scared af but he wants to just yeet himself to the wolves so nhs and jc could survive but jc said fuck no and let one of the wolf bite him instead, saving wwx in the process. Later found out the wolves need them because a female wolf was having a hard time giving birth.

After all those, they came into a room full of treasure. You know the drill, wwx chooses a flute, jc a whip (it's actually supposed to be a rope but let him have his thing, and, of course, nhs with his fan.

Later, they woke up in cloud recesses.

Now this is where the fun part begins.

A few days later, Wwx just woke up and suddenly he can see ghosts. How did he find out? His parents are sitting in front of him (although they're a little bit transparent). Jc and nhs thinks he's crazy but he insisted till they believe him. Oh, he could see Lan Furen as well. (Lwj saw him drawing instead of writing his punishment but ended up seeing his mother's face in wwx's drawing. Tbf tho, wwx doesn't she's Lan Furen.)

Then Nhs can have visions. My friend suggested we should use sand (nice symbolism since nie's are like– the ground, but nhs is like a flimsy ground so he's sand lmao) as his way of seeing the future. If he'll see a vision, he would hear sand pouring. Or if he looks at sand, there's just small visions. And of course, this is how they see the future war too. However, nhs's vision is not perfect so they only see glimpse of it.

Now jc. Look at our dude just insecure an all because his brother and friends have their cool powers but he has none. Then suddenly a weed in the corner just went, "henlo:D!". Yeah. Jc talks to plants. Not just plants tho, like the whole ass nature (aka every living thing).

So yeah! The bois have different abilities and such. We based these off of what could represent them. Like Wwx is death, Nhs with time, and Jc with Nature (wanted it to be human but kinda went meh).

#mdzs #fanfic ideas #jiang wanyin #wei wuxian #nie huaisang #gonna cry #we're so normal about this #AHHHHHHH

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huffle-dork · 1 month

Text

Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 15: Outer Space AU

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

SBTCV Masterpost

Glitching feels electric and tingling under the skin, making the others feel a bit jittery afterwards. But it was probably a big boost to Anti. They reappear in an awkward sort of place, a small alcove with a door behind them. In front of them is Layer Four of the Zypso Station. It looks a lot like the previous layer Bro was on, with the tall buildings and the walkways and railways. But there are fewer bright signs here, and fewer booths set up on the side for small street vendors. The buildings are in a slightly different style of architecture, more utilitarian, though they do at least have fun colored lights along the edges. Through these towering structures, the tallest building can be seen. The IRIS building.

Alt shakes himself off as they appear- and then his jaw drops as he sees Layer Four, “holy shit…!”

Bro grins, “pretty cool isn’t it?” He then squints at the IRIS building and looks towards Anti, “Why’d you make us appear so far away, dude?”

"This layer is covered in camera systems," Anti explains. "Even more so than Layer Three, where commerce takes place. This is one of the few spots where they are blind."

"Don't worry, we should be able to take a railcar there really fast," Chase says. He looks around. "There." He points. There's a sign hanging on a nearby wall, with a drawing of a rectangular trolley-car-like object, and then an arrow. There were a lot of those on the last layer too, though they were often overshadowed by the other signs. "That direction."

"Let's hurry, then," Marvin says.

Bro blinks then shrugs, grinning. “Okay sweet! Get to take some future transportation!”

Alt blinks and takes out his phone to nod at Anti with a smile. “Thanks, dude.”

Alt's phone lets out a squawk of white noise. "I'll help with the cameras as much as I can," Anti says from the phone.

"Not a problem." Anti gives a thumbs up on the screen.

The rest of the group leads the way, doing their best to look casual about it. Anti lingered in the back, head turning around. His expression is still that neutral one, but the rest of his body language says that he's nervous, on guard.

They reach a railway and find a platform that looks a lot like a train platform back home. The design is smoother, with rounded edges and a lot of silver and white, but it's still clear what it is. Chase walks up to a kiosk and taps around on its touchscreen, purchasing tickets. He almost swipes his card, but then hesitates and pays in cash instead, sliding some of those square metal pieces into a gap that looks perfectly fit for them.

"Looks like we're just in time," Jackie says, reading the train arrival times on a hanging sign. "One's coming in literally one minute."

"Okay, everyone, get your hands stamped," Chase says. There's a cylindrical device coming out the side of the kiosk, a small red light coming from the bottom. As Chase puts the back of his hand into the light--it's perfectly positioned to be at hand level--the red light scans his hand and a small stamp appears in black, that same trolley logo from the signs directing them here.

“Oooh neat! Very streamlined!” Bro says excitedly as he goes to put his hand under the stamp. Alt looks hesitant but he goes to let himself be stamped too.

The mark just appears, without any sort of feeling that it did. The others get stamped as well. The ink sticks to Jackie and Anti's metal hands just fine, as well as Marvin's furry one.

Almost as soon as they're all done, the railcar approaches, heading down the rail without much sound at all, only a slight hsss as it approaches. "Now approaching: Blue Line Railcars," says a robotic voice. The railcar is sleek and rounded. Its cabin is made of metal, but the rest of it is all glass--or at the very least some see-through material--showing benches and handrails inside. A door slides open on the side.

“Oohh it’s so quiet!!” Bro whispers as he hurries after the others. Alt also looks impressed- and tries to keep his glitches down as he eyes the people around.

The railcar is mildly crowded. This is Alt's first time seeing other aliens besides Schneep and Marvin. He spots a couple who seem to be the same reptilian species as Schneep--kritzeins--and a handful that are hovering in midair, insectile wings buzzing. There's one that looks like a pile of green slime with two lighter-green eyes. And a few scattered about who are really tall and have big eyes and pinkish hair.

Alt stares wide eyed at the aliens but tries to keep his composure. Thank god for his mask… even though he doesn’t like crowds he sticks close to Bro’s side. Bro chuckles and pats Alt’s shoulder.

Luckily, they don't have to stay in the railcar for long. The thing is really fast, even as it stops at three locations on the way. The IRIS building gets closer and closer... Until it looms overhead. The railcar stops at the end of its line, at the base of the IRIS building.

There's a big empty square around this area, decorated with curving, alien plants in planters. Crowds mill about. Anti did say that this area was a tourist attraction. Pretty much all the remaining passengers get out of the railcar here. Others wait on the platform to get on.

Alt shrinks in more, “god there’s so many people…”

“Tourist attraction-“ Bro mumbles and starts to shuffle out with the crowd, holding onto Alt’s hand.

"Not a fan of crowds either," Marvin whispers.

JJ tilts his head. "Is that a felorr thing?"

"No. Just a me thing."

“Maybe I’m a felorr in another life,” Alt mumbles.

They make their way towards the building. There's a low fence surrounding it, waist-high and made of metal. There are a couple locations where the fence is broken up by an archway. People are filing through those arches to get into the building.

"Scanners," Anti says, nodding towards them. "If something strange appears as they scan, they start beeping."

"What's an example of something strange?" Jackie asks. "Weaponry or strange devices. Or, in a more extreme example, a robotic being."

Alt looks at the scanners, humming in thought, “… I might be able to disable the scanners from here… but I don’t think I can do it discreetly…. I might need to be able to touch them.”

Anti nods slowly. "Discreet would be better."

"What if... you go through first, and you touch the scanner as you do?" Jackie suggests. "That should keep it disabled for the rest of us."

“Oh! Good idea- I’m not hiding anything…” Alt mumbles. He takes a deep breath then starts to walk through the scanners. He briefly touches the arch wall and sends a discreet jolt of electricity as he passes through.

The interior of the gateway is lined with blue lights. As Alt sends electricity through it, the lights suddenly go out. The others quickly hurry through--Anti and JJ first, then the four others. A few other tourists manage to slip through as well. There's a short path leading up to a set of sliding glass double doors.

As they walk along it, Schneep asks, "Any new, ah... information?"

Alt looks back at Schneep then checks the tracker by holding it in his pocket, out of sight. “Lemme see…” Bro tries to scan around for any sign of trouble.The tracker tells him that it's on the twentieth floor.

Alt looks to Schneep, “It’s somewhere on the 20th floor.”

They head into the IRIS building. Everything in here is sleek whites and silvers, and there are holograms hovering in midair with information plaques about the history of IRIS, of the building, of Zypso Station. In the center is a big, rotating hologram of the IRIS logo. There seem to be a couple doors into this room, but most of them have signs that say "Staff" on them in varying languages. The one that doesn't reads "Stairs." There is also a set of elevator doors, which there seems to be a line for.

Bro looks at the elevator line and groans, “does that mean we gotta go up 20 flights of stairs??”

"Uh... I think the stairs only go up to floor ten or so?" Chase says. "So... no."

"Sam is reminding me of the diagram earlier," Anti reports. "There are thirty floors in the building. Thirty-one, if the roof counts. Sixteen through thirty are closed to the public. The visitor stairs go up to floor fifteen."

"Either way, we'll have to find some other way," Jackie mutters. "We could try to get through one of these Staff doors. Or we could... go up the stairs? See if there's a way from there? Or uh... wait in line for the elevator to see if there's a way from the roof? I mean, we could also take the elevator to floor fifteen, I think... still means we'd have to wait a lot."

“If we can find another blind spot- I can try to glitch us up there,” Alt says quietly, “they cause a flash of green light so… I can’t just do it now on my own and not be discovered.”

Alt's phone glitches. "I think there are blind spots on the staircase landings," Anti reports from the screen. "You just need to get to one that's absent of people."

Schneep sighs. "Climbing the stairs it is, then."

Bro sighs too, “Alright gents- stairs it is.” He heads towards them, grumbling, “you’d think the future would have abolished stairs by now…!”

Alt rolls his eyes with a chuckle and follows after him.

"Stairs are good for your health!" Schneep says defensively.

"Doesn't mean they don't suck," Marvin says. "I'm surprised they don't have more elevators."

Turns out, there are regular stairs and also an escalator running parallel to them as they spiral up. At each landing, the escalator becomes a moving walkway, seamlessly merging into the ground so that the escalator rider doesn't even have to step to transition to the walkway.

Bro blinks in surprise at the escalator, “oohh woah! Neat!” Bro climbs onto it.

Alt laughs, following him, “you’re complaining a lot for a superhero who can probably climb these stairs faster than all of us.”

“I can fly dude- you think I actually take the stairs? Fuck those things man!”

"I'm surprised that more are not flying, actually," Schneep says, looking around. There are a couple aliens with wings on the escalator, mostly smaller insectoid ones and those draconic-looking fellows.

"I suppose it would not be worth the energy?"

Bro hums, “Yeah- it can be kinda tiring sometimes. I like doing it as much as I can though.” He shrugs.

Jackie leans closer to Alt and mutters, "Where are the blind spots?"

"Always in the left corners, looks like," Anti reports from the phone. "You just need to wait for a landing empty of people."

More and more people get off as the stairs go higher. Apparently the more fun exhibits are lower in the building.

“Left corners… okay-“ Alt mumbles, eyeing the crowds of people as they get thinner and thinner.

Looks like the landing for floor fourteen is empty of people. There are more on floor fifteen though--maybe people curious about what's on the highest possible story.

"I don't think it will get better than this," Chase mutters, and steps off the escalator.

"Just need to wait for a moment when no one is in sight," Anti adds, also stepping off.

Alt nods and steps off, anxiously playing with his necklace.

Bro hops off and hums, “Wonder what’s in all these floors that everyone goes to see-“

"There was a directory on the ground floor," Marvin recalls. "They're a lot of exhibits. Mostly old inventions and belongings to historical figures. The place is basically a museum."

"Oh, I remember there was this one floor that was a recreation of old office buildings, that was so interesting," Chase says.

“Ohhh damn that's kinda cool-“ Bro hums.

“I never thought office buildings would be a museum exhibit someday,” Alt chuckles.

"You'll want to huddle up really close," Anti says from the phone. "The blind spot is small."

"We're about to look really suspicious," Jackie comments.

Alt goes to squeeze the best he can into the corner.

It's more than a little awkward as everyone presses into the corner. Fortunately, it's not long before a moment comes when the stairs are free of people. "Now!" Anti says, and everyone quickly links up.

Alt quickly closes his eyes and tries to focus on getting to the 20th floor.

They disappear in a flash of light and reappear in the middle of a white hallway, the light reflecting off its walls so bright that it's almost blinding. Everything in this hallway is that same color--though there isn't much in this hallway at all. Just white sliding doors, white plaques with the names of rooms, and... the one thing that isn't the white color. Some sort of... metal mannequin with a blank, featureless head. It stands next to one of the doors, completely still.

Bro blinks at the mannequin and points, “…don’t like that thing-“ he whispers.

“Chase, focus-“ Alt hisses as he checks the tracker again.The tracker tells them that the piece is in the Large Testing Room.

Alt pales a bit, “…it’s in a testing room,” he mumbles.

As Alt looks up from the tracker, his gaze lands on the mannequin again. And... that's strange, isn't it? For a moment, he thought he was looking at Anti. But that doesn't make sense.... does it? Now that he's looking closer, Anti's metal body is... a lot like the mannequin's. Except for the head, of course, but everything else... it's eerily similar to Anti's design.He blinks and then slowly looks between Anti and the mannequin. “…Anti… that- that mannequin…”

"It's a robot," Anti says quickly. "Don't worry about it. It cannot do anything without orders." Anti has trouble with expressions. He'd only been programmed with so many. So it's hard to tell how he's feeling. But it seems like he's deliberately not looking towards the robot.

"A... testing room, I see," Schneep says haltingly, noticing the same thing Alt did. "Ah... maybe there are... directions that way?"

"Let's just start looking," Jackie says. "Uhhh... I don't see directions, so let's just go this way." He turns in the opposite direction of the robot and heads down the hallway, forcing the others to follow.

Alt spares one last look at the mannequin before following. “It says it’s in the large one- maybe there’s only one of those.” Alt suggests.

“…it seems strangely empty up here,” Bro comments under his breath.

Just as Bro says that, someone turns a corner up ahead, appearing suddenly. It's a human woman with dark skin and frizzy hair pulled back by a headband. She's wearing a white coat. "Oh!" She sees the group and stops walking. "Um... sorry, I think you've got lost. This area is closed to the public."

Bro freezes and Alt elbows him with a murderous expression. Bro grins nervously, “Oh uh yeah! Must have gotten really lost! What… floor is this??”

"This is the twentieth floor." The woman laughs a bit nervously. "Um... here, let's get you all back to where you were heading. This way." She walks past the group, indicating they should follow her.

"Uh... we can find our way back where we came from," Jackie says quickly. "You're probably really busy. We'd hate to interrupt you."

“Yeah don’t worry!” Bro waves his hand, “hate to give you more work for a bunch of tourists!”

As Bro talks, Alt looks around at the rooms and tries to inch farther ahead.

The woman frowns. "I really shouldn't leave you all alone in here..."

"It will be fine," Schneep says. "It is not like we can get in any of these doors. They probably need keys, yes?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose so." The woman still looks reluctant. "But you might get lost."

"We're capable of retracing our steps, you know," Jackie laughs.

“Such a shame no one can come up here though! I bet you could tell us a lot of really interesting things!!” Bro laughs.

"Well, uh, not really," the woman says, laughing awkwardly. "It's all boring really..."

As the others distract her, Alt sneaks around the woman and peers around the corner she'd come from. There's a large set of sliding double-doors down the corridor. Those seem important.

Alt doesn’t hesitate- he glitches down the hall and then tries to go through the doors.

Alt's glitching is accompanied by a flash of light, and she frowns and turns towards it. "What was--hey!"

Unlike the doors in the bunker, these doors don't open as Alt gets close. But the plaque next to this set of double doors reads "Large Testing Room." This is the right place.

Bro’s stomach drops and he tries to grab the lady, “Hey no maybe we need directions after all!”

Alt immediately goes to glitch through the doors, going as fast as possible.

"Whoa, hey, no grabbing!" She shakes her arm free, turning back to Bro with wide eyes. "I-I can call security!"

Bro let’s go, holding up his hands, “sorry! …that’s usually okay on my … planet?” He says nervously.

Her eyes dart to the translator in Bro's ear. "Well... you get one warning. Now please, let me show you the way out."

“Alright sure-“ Bro says, eyes darting back to the door.

Alt glitches through the door easily, ending up in a large room, made of the same white material as the hallway. There are a handful of people in white coats--all human except for one kritzein. They're all gathered around some sort of instrument in the center of the room, dangling from the ceiling and reaching down towards a circular platform in the center. It's hard to know what the instrument is, but it looks kind of like GLaDoS from portal but without the face.

"Hey! How did you get in here?!" One of the scientists demands.

Alt ignores the scientists and checks the tracker, eyes darting around the room.The tracker tells him it's on the circular platform in the center.

“Fucking- of course it is,” Alt grumbles.

"We're going to call security!" Another one of the scientists shouts.

Then, Alt glitches towards the platform and tries to grab whatever is on it.The scientists all cry out in surprise as he suddenly glitches over. The item on the platform is a long, L-shaped bit of metal with a tiny microchip on the corner. As Alt scoops it up, one of the scientists reaches into their pocket-- And yellow alarm lights start flashing in both the Testing Room and the hallway.

"Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert."

Alt quickly puts it in his pocket then curses and glitches back out into the hallway.

"Shit!" Anti curses outside. "The plan was to be subtle!"

The woman blinks at his voice. "...wait a second. Are you--Septic?" She glances around. "Y-you're all with him, aren't you?!" Then she turns and runs down the hallway away from them.

“I’m not sure Alt had a choice!” Bro says to Anti. Then, he blinks at the woman’s reaction. “Woah-“

"I'm sure there were other ways!" Chase shouts.

“Link up!!” Alt shouts as he sprints down the hall towards the others.

As Alt appears, the others rush towards him, reaching out-- But then, behind them, the robot from the hallway appears, raising an arm. Part of its arm slides out and out shoot several blue bolts of light.

One of the bolts hits Chase and he immediately stiffens up, then goes limp, falling to the floor. Another hits Anti, and while he doesn't stop moving like Chase did, the blue light turns into electricity that crackles along his body, causing spasms.

Bro’s eyes widen as the robot starts to shoot and quickly ducks out of the way, rolling across the ground.

Alt gets hit and stiffens up, a reaction halfway between Chase’s and Anti’s as his muscles lock up but also crackle with electricity that has him crying out in pain and spasming. He soon enough falls limp too.

“Alt!” Bro cries out.

Schneep helps Chase up--or tries to, at least. He's gone completely boneless, eyes wide above the mask hiding his face. Jackie hurries over and the two of them support Chase between them.

The robot continues to shoot. JJ starts pushing the others around the corner, blocking its aim. A bolt skims him as he does so, causing him to stiffen, but he doesn't go limp like Chase and Alt did. But there are more robots showing up, identical to the first one, raising their arms in a similar way.

Bro rushes to Alt and scoops him up and Alt is just as boneless as Chase is- eyes wide and hands twitching with electricity. “Shit shit shit shit!!” Bro curses quietly as he backs up, holding Alt to his chest. He’s desperately looks around for some kind of idea- if there was a window maybe they could all- break out?? But it’s the 20th floor- the others might not survive!

"Attention intruders," a voice says over an intercom. Feminine-sounding with a slight British accents. "Our security bots are quite persistent. If you do not wish to be stunned, surrender the IRIS property you have and give yourselves up. We will escort you from the building."

Bro looks up at the voice and then growls, “The thing we took was ours anyways! So f-fuck off!”

"Our scans are reporting a bot that is IRIS property with you," the woman's voice says calmly. "Regardless of modifications you have made, it was built from IRIS technology and therefore must be returned for reprog--" Anti's head suddenly snaps up.

"I am not a robot!" he shouts. "I am not a robot!" He punches the wall, causing a crack, and the woman's voice cuts off.

JJ looks around wildly. He rushes to the nearest door. It doesn't open, of course. "Bro, your belt!" he says, typing quickly. "Hurry!"

His belt? Right! The devices!

Bro jumps at Anti’s anger, backing up and looking stunned. His attention is quickly turned back to JJ though as he scrambles to grab the deactivator and hands it to JJ.

JJ takes the hacker. It's a bit like a gun, if instead of a barrel it had a large bit of rectangular metal. He presses the flat part against the door and pulls the trigger mechanism. After a second, during which the robots get closer, the door slides open. He rushes in the room and gestures for the others to follow. The room beyond is filled with shelves full of boxes, some clear, some metal. As soon as everyone is inside Marvin hits a button on the inside, closing it.

"That won't delay them for long," Jackie says. "Wh-what do we do? Do we need to check Alt and Chase over?"

"Th-the stun will we-wear off in a few--few minutes," Anti says, his voice glitching slightly.

Bro hurries in and tries to shake Alt but Alt still doesn’t respond. Bro looks to Anti with wide scared eyes, “W-We don’t have a few minutes! Is there any way to speed it up?? Or c-cure this?! Something!!”

"I d-d-do not know of one," Anti says. "My--my call with Sam was dropped when the st-stun hit me. I can--cannot ask them."

"Great, now we've closed ourselves into some supply room and they're going to get us at any moment!" Jackie's head darts around. "Um--is there an air vent or something?"

Marvin points at a spot above a set of shelves. There's a square grate up there. "I don't know if you all could fit in there though."

“Damnit!” Bro curses, blinking back frustrated tears. “I-If Alt wasn’t hit we’d probably be back in the b-base by now! I-I can’t fly all of us out of here-“ He’s trying not to panic.

"Okay, okay." Jackie is trying to take deep breaths. "We--we have to try the vent, it's the only way out of here."

Anti backs into the corner of the room, crouching down and putting his hands over his head. His expression is stuck on fear as his irises flicker. "I can--I c-cannot get stuck here," he says in a quiet voice. "I cannot--there is s-so much more to do--I cannot leave S-Sam--they cannot c-continue his work on th-their own--"

Bro seems to shake out of his panic by hearing Anti’s. He takes a shaky breath then tries to sit Alt up against the wall. Then, he looks for heavy things he can start to push against the doors. “We’re not gonna let them get you Anti-“ he says, determination bright in his eyes. “…w-we just need to stall until Alt recovers. You guys try to get into the vent-“

"I do not think I can climb up there," Schneep says, looking at the vent.

"We can use the shelves as a ladder, we just need to get the stuff off," Marvin says, starting to move the boxes off the shelves.

Anti watches him do this. Then he takes a deep breath--or, well, imitates taking a deep breath--and stands up, walking over to help move the items. The heaviest things in the room are the shelves and the boxes. And wouldn't you know? Some of the shelves have ball-like things on their feet, like wheels. There are also small switches near each sphere, with the words "locked" and "unlocked" written on them. They're currently in the "locked" position.

Bro hums as he sees this and unlocks them, going to move the heaviest feeling ones in front of the door and locking them back in place. “…I-if they try to break through- I can probably hold them back… super strength, you know?” He laughs nervously.

"IIIII don't think you mentioned the super strength earlier, actually," Jackie says.

“Oh- well… yeah!! I got that and super Speed- flying… can sometimes shoot some electricity but Alt is wayyy better at that.” Bro says, pushing more stuff in the way.

Chase, lying on Schneep's shoulder, mumbles something indecipherable.

"Uh--that's cool, though!" Jackie continues. Once the shelves are clear,

Marvin quickly scrambles up to the vent and pulls at the vent. "JJ, will that unlocking thing work on this?"

JJ frowns. "It disrupts electronic locks. Do you think that has one?"

"...not suuuuure."

Bro looks back at Marvin and then hovers a bit to look, “…want me to try?” He asks. “Maybe I can pry it open.”

Marvin nods. "Might as well." He climbs back down so Bro can have access. Bro curls his fingers around the vent and tries to pry it open, bracing his feet against the wall for better leverage.

"Attention intruders," the intercom turns on again, the same feminine voice speaking. "This will be your final appeal to surrender. If you do not surrender now, we will have to use force to reclaim our property and have you vacate the premises."

Brolooks up at the announcement then looks back at Anti, “H-How much longer do you think they’ll be stunned??”

"Average amount of time to recover from a stun bolt is five minutes," Anti says. "It has been about two."

Chase groans. His fingers twitch a little. "'m... f'nn..."

"If you are saying you're fine, you most certainly are not," Schneep says.

Alt’s arm twitches a bit and he tries to move, “mm- ngh…” but nothing is responding. Even though he feels himself panicking and his heart pounding so hard against his chest.

The vent really seems to be stuck on there, but little by little, it gives way, until it suddenly pops off. “I got it!” Bro exclaims as he gets the vent open. “Marvin you wanna give it a try?”

Marvin nods and quickly climbs up the shelves again. He slips into the air vent easily, tail waving and feet kicking until he disappears out of sight. "No room to turn around," he reports. "And I don't think the bulkier ones of you will be comfortable. But it will probably work for an emergency. I think it slopes instead of drops."

“Okay… hopefully we won’t have to use it…” Bro mumbles as he nervously looks towards the door.

The intercom turns on again. "Attention intruders. You have not surrendered, and thus, we will begin using force. We waive all responsibility for any injuries you gain while resisting."

Alt grunts as he tries to get himself to move again- but all that moves is his fingers. He makes a frustrated noise.

Bro glares up at the ceiling and flips it off, “Fuck off ya IRIS pricks!!”

Marvin scrambles back out of the vent backwards. But he slips on the edge of the shelf and tumbles down with flailing limbs and a loud "MRRAAH!" He lands on the floor and quickly gets to his feet, brushing himself off and looking around embarrassed.

Jackie bursts into laughter. "What the fuck? I thought felorrs always landed on their feet, comp!"

"I'm not literally a cat," Marvin mutters. "Cats don't even land on their feet."

Bro jumps in surprise then blinks in confusion, “What?!! Cats landing on their feet isn’t true?!” Alt makes an exasperated noise.

"Yeah, what?" Jackie says.

Marvin sighs. "Do you really think any animal can defy gravity like that so expertly?"

"Where does the rumor come from, then?" Jackie says in rebuttal.

"I believe it's because Terran cats are quite flexible and were often--but not always--seen correcting themselves in midair," Anti says.

“I swear Glitches always lands on her feet…” Bro mumbles, crossing his arms.

“Nnnnr-“ Alt grunts.

“…are you okay though, Marv?” Bro asks.

"Yes, are you okay?" JJ asks as well.

"I'm fine, more surprising than anything," Marvin says. "Even if I don't always land on my feet, I can recover fast."

The relatively light-hearted moment is interrupted by a banging on the door to the room. It then slides open--but thankfully whatever's on the other side is blocked by the shelves.

"Surrender," says a robotic voice.

Bro startles then curses, “Damn future doors! I forgot it could just slide open!” He holds out his arm protectively and steps in front of the others. “Take cover guys!” He quickly looks around for something he can use as a shield.

"Cover?! Where?!" Schneep asks, eyes darting around.

"Here, we'll move some of the shelves!" Jackie hurries over and pushes a shelf away from the wall, sliding into the space behind it.

Schneep hesitates, then gently puts Chase down and moves over, helping to move the shelf. JJ joins them as well, and together the three of them manage to get a couple shelves away from the wall. Marvin scrambles back up the shelves and into the vent again. There's not much that can be a shield. But some of these boxes are big, maybe their lids could work?

Anti stares at the door intently. Waiting. "They will push the shelves over," he says in a quiet voice. "Then they will fire directly ahead of them. Get out of the line of fire." He moves to the left of the door, pressing against the wall and picking up a smaller box, gripping it so tightly in his hands that the metal warps slightly.

Bro grabs a lid off a large metal box and holds it. He then blinks at Anti in confusion. “H-How do you-?” He doesn’t question this for long though. He ducks out of the way to the right.

Though… Alt is still stuck up against the wall in front of the door, staring at the robots with wide scared eyes.

"Shit!" Jackie curses from behind the shelf. "Alt and Chase--!"

"They were already stunned, we can protect them," Anti says. "Now get--"

The shelves tip forward and the robots fire their stun bolts into the room. They were aiming at chest-height for the average person, so luckily the bolts don't hit Chase or Alt sitting on the floor. Chase flinches and manages to slowly move an arm, grasping vaguely at the floor to try and pull himself out of the way. Alt vaguely glitches around his shoulder and hands but it’s not enough to do anything. He tries to move his feet or legs- something!

The robots start walking into the room-- And Anti yells out, smashing one in the head with the box. Bro quickly follows Anti’s lead and sends a super charged punch right into another robot’s head.

Bro's punch goes straight into the robot's jaw area, sending its head snapping to the side with the sound of something snapping. Anti's blow manages to dent the head of the bot he attacked. Both of them fall backwards into the two bots behind them, knocking them over.

But then the second pair of bots get up again and aim their stun bolts again. Anti swings for a second time. Bro yells and sends another punch. This time, he smacks the robot in the shoulder and manages to push its aim off course, but it doesn't break like the last one. "Aim for joints or the head!" Anti shouts, bringing the box down on the other bot's arm and disrupting its aim in the same way.

Chase's head slowly turns to Alt and he tries to pull himself towards him.

Alt jerkily looks at Chase, his hands starting to grip better and sparking with some of his magic. …he’s been able to dismantle stuff by just barely moving before- maybe he can do that now. He looks towards one of the robots and twitches his head to the side as his eyes flash bright blue-green, trying to take apart its stun gun.

The one Bro hit raises its stun arm again, aiming directly at him—but instead there's a flicker of blue-green lightning as it doesn't fire. Not exactly collapsing like Alt wanted, but momentarily jamming it.

Bro nods and his eyes widen as he recognizes the sight of the magic. He grins then grabs the robot by the arm- on its joint- and then tries to flip it to crush it against the ground. The robot flies through the air, landing hard on the ground. Something snaps again and it goes limp. Bro whoops and gives the downed robot the finger, “Yeah take that, bitch!” He quickly moves to try to take out another one.

Alt’s eyes widen too and he slowly squeezes his hand in determination. He flares open his eyes to try to jam or take apart more of the guns.

Anti can't help but wince—he can't help but see himself in these bots—and almost misses another bot running forward to take the fallen one's place, aiming its stun arm. But then... its arm falls apart, pieces falling to the ground. Anti looks back, expression shifting to surprise, and then a smile. Alt also seems surprised. But he smiles a bit at Anti- but slowly. Anti grips his box weapon tightly and smacks it to the side.

"Alt..." Chase manages to say. "Wh'n... c'n y... gl'sh?" He's asking 'when can you glitch?'

Alt turns to Chase and grunts, squeezing and releasing his hand with a lot of effort, “ne’d t’b… a-ab’l t’m’ve..!” ‘Need to be able to move’. His hand glitches a bit- but not to the degree he was able to earlier.

"...sucks," Chase says. Alt lets out a choked chuckle.

If there's one good thing about this situation, it's that the doorway forms a bit of a bottleneck, only allowing two robots at a time to get through. Anti grabs one as it passes through, wrestling it to the ground.

Bro misses as the robot moves- making him strike its torso. He growls a bit then tries to kick the robot back into the others.The robot staggers backwards from the unexpected super strength of Bro's kick, falling into the others outside and knocking them down in turn.

“Yeah! Strike!!” Bro laughs as he jumps up and punches the air.

"Nice!" Jackie shouts, leaning around the shelf to watch. JJ grabs him and pulls him back.

Meanwhile, Anti manages to take out the bot he'd been fighting on the ground. These things were ordered to swarm in and subdue the group. They're not good at thinking beyond that goal. Not with their actions being limited by the priority of the orders.

Even so— "They will keep coming," Anti says. "IRIS has many of these models. Even the ones not designed for combat will be thrown at us."

“We can handle them,” Bro says cockily, adjusting his hat. “Just until Alt can glitch. You doin’ okay, baby bro?”

“M’ f’nn!” Alt tries to call. Feeling is slowly, slowly coming back. Still… there’s gotta be more he can do. His eyes wander to the door button. …if he destroyed it- could it keep the door shut? He narrows his eyes then jerks his head to the side- trying to short circuit it before the next wave of robots recover.

Two more robots surge into the room. Anti smacks one in the head. Bro throws another powered punch to the other’s head.

That green lightning flickers around the door button... but nothing happens. "...you?" Chase whispers. "K-keep... try'n...!"

Alt grits his teeth and tries to push more power out, magic sparking around him a bit more. He tries to short circuit the door again. Green lightning sparks around the door button, and for a second, he feels connected to it. He somehow knows that if he short circuits the door it will stay in the state it's in, so he manages to trigger the close state before the short circuit fully goes through.

Shortly after, Anti and Bro knock down the two bots they were fighting, denting their featureless heads in the process.

Bro pants as he backs away from the last robot he downed and looks at the door shutting. He grins back at Alt, “Hey!! Good idea dude!! Hopefully that’ll keep the rest of them out!”

Alt attempts to smile.

Jackie leans out from behind the shelf again. “That. Was. So. COOL!” He says, grinning. “I mean—it was scary and life-threatening but it was cool! Man, I bet I could have helped. With these metal fists of mine.”

Bro grins wide, “Maybe bro! But fighting is hard if you’re not used to it!”

Jackie, Schneep, and JJ all come out from behind the shelf. Marvin also appears, carefully backing out of the vent and making sure that he has secure footing this time.

“How are you both feeling, Chase, Alt?” JJ asks.

Chase tries to sit up. He fails, but he manages to get about halfway before he falls back, groaning. “Sucks.”

“Right, I should’ve expected that,” JJ says, embarrassed.

Bro knocks a friendly fist against Anti’s shoulder, “you did great dude!”

Alt also tries to pull himself up, glitching a bit but soon slips back down with a groan. “Hate… this…” he grumbles.

“Stunning is very inconvenient,” Anti agrees. “But it is painless and leaves no side effects after it wears off, so it is the preferred way of subduing someone in most places in the galaxy.”

“How do you know all that?” Marvin asks. “You’re a ro—an android!”

“That doesn’t mean I cannot read and learn,” Anti says. “And it doesn’t mean I don’t know something similar.” His eyes dart down to the disabled robots for a moment.

“…because you… ah..” Schneep hesitates. “You are…?” He trails off.

Bro furrows his eyebrows and looks down, and it dawns on him. “…because you’re like these guys…!” He looks back at Anti with wide eyes, “…did you like- go rogue? Like a deviant in that… one robot game-? Detroit… something- …wait that’s like ancient now-“

“Chase…!” Alt groans in exasperation.

"Detroit: Become Human, developed by Quantic Dream, released in 2018." Anti shakes his head, puhing away the robotic response. "It is not exactly like that. I was..." He hesitates. For a moment, that same fear expression crosses his face. Then he makes a sighing sound. "IRIS likely already knows all this. And I suppose I owe an explanation--to Alt and JJ, at least." He folds his arms, leaning against the wall, not looking directly at anyone. "I was... repurposed."

"By the human who lived with you and Sam?" JJ asks.

Anti looks at him in surprise. "How do you know that?"

"You have a room in your bunker with a bed and facilities for a human," JJ says. "But neither you or Sam need that. They were there before you found me. It's not hard to put together."

Anti laughs, then looks down again. "There was... a man named Jack," he continues in a soft voice. "He broke into an IRIS facility and took one of their robots. One that had been fully built and programmed, but not activated. He would feel bad about deleting any memories. He took it home, and switched out some parts--notably the head--and reworked the programming using the IRIS protocols as a base. Keeping simple code that allows for movement and language formation and such, but taking out other code, such as the orders protocol, and... adding a lot, lot more to it. That was... how I was made." He pauses. "In the early days, I was... there was conflict. I thought I was an experiment, or a servant. I didn't want to be either of those things. But that's not what Jack intended. He asked me what I wanted. He... always asked me what I wanted."

Bro’s safe softens, “… Jack helped make you into a person. Not just a machine…” he smiles. “I think he did a great job too.”

Alt tries to sit up more, looking at Anti. “…where’s… Jack…?”

Anti pauses, and his expression becomes sad. "He's disappeared. It's likely that he's either been arrested or... died. But Sam doesn't want to think about that possibility. In either case... he asked us that if anything ever happened to him, that the two of us continue his plan."

Alt looks sad too, eyebrows knitting together in worry.

Suddenly, Schneep gasps. "You--was Jack--was he Se--" Then he stops himself. "R-right, there are probably cameras watching us."

"I can only assume what you assumed," Anti says. "But... yes."

Bro looks between the two of them in confusion. “…you’ll have to catch us up when we get out of here I guess…”

"Right, I actually forgot you guys weren't from here for a second," Jackie says. "Uh--I think we brought him up at the table in the restaurant? Before your screen assistant friend appeared."

Bro scrambles his brain, “Ohhh! …I’m not sure I get it but I think I remember-“

"Alt wouldn't know, though," Marvin points out. Seems like all the guys have come to the same realization as Schneep.

Chase tries getting up again. He manages to hold himself up for a bit this time before collapsing.

Alt tries to pull himself up too, glitches collecting around him- and he manages to glitch to his feet. Then he braces himself against the wall for a second before his arm gives out and he falls too.

“J-Jesus!” Bro exclaims and comes over to help the two of them. “Don’t push yourselves too hard guys- I think we’re safe for now!”

"'s fine," Chase grunts.

Schneep hurries over as well, giving them both a cursory examination. "Can either of you move your legs? That will be the important part."

Chase tries, jerking one leg into the air.

"Even if they can move it, doesn't mean they can support their weight." Anti walks over to the door, tilting his head to listen through it. "I hear no movement outside. I suppose they know their doors are quite sturdy and are not going to bother to brute force it down."

Alt also tries to move his leg, but it’s shaky and jerky in its movement.

Bro sighs in relief, “Okay… so we have time again- how much longer till the stunning wears off do you think?”

"Perhaps about two more minutes," Anti says. "It varies depending on species and body weight."

"I don't think they'd be able to get in here in two minutes," Marvin says slowly.

"Yeah, big organization like this?" Jackie nods. "They're probably debating what to do."

“Hate… waiting…” Alt mutters. Bro pats his shoulder. The hero looks back towards the door and hums, “…I wonder if… they’re more worried about the TRVLR piece or… getting Anti back. …maybe both. Technically… the TRVLR was made by IRIS- just… from another universe.” He shudders, “…I hope they didn’t get too much info from it..”

JJ raises his eyebrows. "The IRIS from another universe was able to make a multiverse travel device? But ours hasn't?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they tried," Anti says. "But such a device would likely take a great deal of power."

“To be fair- we found ours in an abandoned lot. It was defective but we found out Alt’s magic is enough to work it. We thought it was just cuz of his electricity…but it’s cuz he’s also a Glitch.” Bro says, “which… I kinda get but also don’t. Somehow… Alt broke through some barrier of our world and… that’s how he can glitch and do this kinda stuff, apparently.”

Alt’s body glitches a bit in place as he nods.

Anti tilts his head. "Interesting. Very interesting."

"Do you think something like that could happen in our world?" Jackie wonders.

"Maybe!" Marvin says, eyes dilating wide. "Well--we don't have magic here--or not magic like you all do. But I do think there's something more to the world. Maybe that could be called magic."

“Magic… is… a-anywhere-“ Alt says quietly.

“But we’ve met glitches in several other places! Ones that didn’t have magic too I think- so it’s totally possible!” Bro says, “But I’m one of those people that believes anything is possible sooo”

"Hell yeah, anything is possible!" Jackie says excitedly.

"Well." Schneep's brows lower as he looks thoughtful. "I would not say anything is possible. If your planet has a blue sky, it will not suddenly become, for example, green."

"Killjoy," Chase comments.

Bro bursts into giggles. “I dunno man- I’ve seen some pretty impossible things. …this place is definitely one of them.” He smiles.

Schneep blinks. "Well if it happened then it is clearly possible--"

"Schneep. Think about it." Jackie says, grinning a bit. "Look at yourself and remember they've never seen other planets."

He looks down at his hands with their scales and claws. "...ah."

Chase laughs a little. Alt and Bro laugh too. Chasetries to sit up again. His head lolls but he's able to keep his balance.

Alt sees Chase able to get up and shakily tries himself. Bro helps to support him. Alt grits his teeth then shakily reaches out his hand. “I-I… think I can- glitch!”

"You can?!" Marvin's eyes widen. "W-well then we should probably get out of here then!"

Anti puts his head near the door again. "I can hear movement outside there. It is probably for the best."

Jackie grabs onto Chase and Alt. "Okay, let's link up to try!"

Alt nods and closes his eyes once everyone is linked up. It takes a second- like a program loading. Magic and glitches zing and zip around Alt as he struggles to get his glitches to work. Then finally, they manage to glitch out of the closet and zip back down to Anti’s base.

It's a big jump, but they make it, landing in the middle of the intersection beneath the exit.

Chase yelps in surprise and starts to topple over, but Schneep quickly catches him.

Alt’s eyes roll up a bit from the jump and starts to topple but Bro is quick to catch him. Alt mumbles incoherently, pressing up against him.

Sam flies out of a room at the end, some sort of long metal pole wrapped in their tail, the end crackling with electricity--then they drop it and the electricity goes out. "It's you!" they type. "You're back!" Then they fly over to Anti, bumping against him and wrapping their tail around his arm in a big hug. He looks surprised, then smiles.

Bro blinks at Sam’s reaction then smiles at Anti too, “Aww! They missed you!”

Sam pulls away again. "I was so worried when our call got cut off! Are you okay? Is everyone okay?"

"We are all fine," Anti says. "Relatively. Chase and Alt were stunned but they should be recovering."

"Are you okay, Alt?" Schneep asks worriedly. "Do you need something?" He glances at Bro. "That did not happen the last times we teleported."

"It's probably the stun bolt," Marvin suggests.

“I think it was just a big jump when he’s still recovering- so… can’t reach all his magic and it drained what he got back.” Bro says, lightly tapping Alt’s face to keep him awake.

Alt blinks blearily out, “‘m fine- mmmm good…” he mumbles. He half collapses against Bro, the adrenaline from being trapped wearing off now that he knows eveyone is safe.

JJ looks at him worriedly. "Let's get him to lay down," he says, and walks back towards his room.

"What about Chase?" Marvin asks.

"I'm fine," Chase says, raising a hand. "I'm... getting there. Alt just... used magic. More important."

Bro nods and goes to scoop Alt up. The younger Brody tries to protest but doesn’t get far- Bro follows after JJ.

Back in the room, JJ presses a hand against a metal section of the wall and part of the wooden paneling slides up, revealing a bed in an alcove. The blankets and pillows are a pale, cheery yellow. "Sorry it's not made," JJ says, despite the bed looking pretty 'made' already.

Bro chuckles, “Don’t sweat it, bro.”

JJ blinks. "Don't sweat it? What a strange expression."

“Huh? …I guess it is kinda weird-“ Bro laughs, setting down Alt on the bed and Alt sighs, showing his exhaustion. Hopefully once all the stunning effects go away he’ll get his energy back. He hadn’t even use much magic…Bro sits down to him on the bed.

The others file in. Schneep puts Chase in one of the chairs at the table and he slumps forward.

"Do you all need anything?" Sam asks. "We have an old medkit."

"I think everyone is fine, besides the stunning," Schneep says.

"So..." Jackie looks at Sam and Anti. "You guys knew Septic, huh?"

Sam's eye widens. They spin on Anti. "You told them?!"

"There were a lot of those IRIS bots, they noticed the similarities," Anti says. "I told them about Jack, but they figured out who he was on their own."

Bro blinks out at the others, “Oh yeah what’s the deal with that? Jack was… Septic? I thought that was Anti!”

"I suppose technically, Septic is all three of us," Sam says thoughtfully. "But Jack is the face."

Anti picks up the holo projector. His eyes become loading circles for a moment. "Uploading." And then they stop. Anti presses a couple buttons and the holo projector flips on, projecting a video into midair. It's of that same man Jackie had shown Bro a video of. The man with one mechanical green eye and metal plates on his face.

"Are we rolling?" he says, messing with his hair.

"Rolling," Anti's voice comes from out of sight.

"Great. Why do we say that, anyway? You ever wondered?"

"Perhaps it is linked to film rolls."

"Ah, right." The man shakes his head. "Okay, from the top."

Anti pauses the video. His sad expression is back.

Alt and Bro watch the hologram with wide eyes. Bro looks back at Anti and his expression turns sympathetic. “…you really miss him, huh?”

Anti nods.

"We both do," Sam says. "It's... strange how he disappeared. He went out, and never came back, and we haven't heard anything about him since. You would think the Station Security would announce if they arrested him."

“Hmm.. yeah… you guys- mentioned a plan of his, right?” Bro asks, “What was that? I know you said Septic was like… an anarchist?”

"Yeah, he disrupts a lot of stuff on the station," Jackie agrees.

"He disrutps things that are run by IRIS," Anti states. "Which is quite a lot, given how the Zypso Station was built by them. But he always said that the Station could run on its own, without depending on them." He pauses. "The goal was always to cause enough chaos to force them out."

"Um..." Marvin raises his hand. "I understand why you'd have a personal flyer to shoot with IRIS, but... they seem alright otherwise?"

"They run the station well enough, I suppose," Anti acknowledges. "But that is not all they do. Jack was convinced for years that there was something behind their mask. And he was right. Even if they are not actively malicious, they are, at the very least, very negligent and willing to bend rules."

Bro’s expression darkens, “Just from what we saw today- IRIS is bad news. They were willing to forcibly reprogram Anti- something they saw themselves has sentience and emotions. That’s… that’s evil. But… we have our own bias with them.”

Alt shakily sits up and nods, “…in other worlds… IRIS has kidnapped our friends… t-treated people like experiments… if we had g-gotten caught… they might have d-done the same to us.”

"...well. That doesn't speak well to their character," Schneep says slowly.

"They would not even do a good job at reprogramming," Anti says quietly. Sam pats his shoulder with their tail.

"We... all live on... the station, though," Chase says slowly. "That's... is that... bad?"

"It is not the station that is the problem," Anti says. "There are plenty of businesses here that could sustain the place." He nods at Bro and Alt. "From the information Jack has discovered, there's a chance that might have happened."

Jackie shivers. "You guys should probably get out of here soon, then."

“Probably…” Bro sighs, but he looks out at the others, knitting his eyebrows in worry. “…will you all be okay? I hate to leave if we just got you all into… deep shit. Just for helping us…”

"They didn't see our faces," Marvin says. "We'll... probably be fine. There are a lot of humans, kritzeins, and felorrs on the station."

"If worst comes to worst, you can stay with us," Sam says. "We can expand the bunker. I've been thinking about doing that for a while, actually."

"Heh. Thanks." Jackie grins.

"The masks should have scrubbed your appearance details from most camera systems, including what species and gender you are," Anti says. "You will simply appear as spot of white noise."

Bro sighs in relief, “That’s good then…” He looks down at Alt. “Well, lil bro? …you ready to head to the next one?”

Alt tries to shake himself out, flexing his hands and shaking off the numbness. “I… I think so…?”

Alt's phone turns on. "Actually, there isn't a next one," Anti says. "Not really. We have all the parts together. Now we just have to head back to the world where you first got the TRVLR, since they're likely the most well-equipped to repair it--"

"Is̢ t̡h̕at ̀s͟o?" The familiar voice echoes from every corner of the room.

Alt and Bro both freeze- their faces going pale.

“No-“ Alt whispers in fear.

XD Bro springs to his feet, “Anti! Sam! Get the others out of here! Now!” He shouts with authority.

Anti and Sam immediately spring into action. Anti grabs Chase, still slightly stunned, and pulls him out, while Sam flies around and starts pushing the others out.

"Are you going to be okay?!" Jackie shouts, resisting being pushed.

"I-if we don't see you again--goodbye!" Marvin says.

"It was nice to meet you!" JJ gives one last smile before grabbing Jackie and pulling him out.

“We’ll… we’ll be okay-“ Bro tries to smile at them reassuringly but there’s that tension in his body- he’s scared. Alt tries to look back at them and smile but his falls short as his eyes snap to the locked door and the red Anti.

As soon as they're all gone, the door shuts, and a light by its doorway turns red--locking it. An image forms in front of it as several of the light squares go out. It's that same red Anti who had been stalking them the whole time, his smile wide beneath static-filled eyes. "My business isn't with them, anyway," his voice says, though his mouth doesn't move.

Bro gets into a fighting stance and bares his teeth at Anti. “If you think we’re just gonna hand you over the pieces, bitch, you’re wrong! You might as well just give up!”

Alt backs up, holding the bag and the newest piece still inside his hoodie pocket. He tries not to show how much his heart is pounding- how much his hands are shaking.

His laugh echoes throughout the room. "You're not going to? Well, alright." Suddenly his image is right in front of them--two, one for each. "Let me ask you two a question. Or, maybe let me ask you three a question. Why... why haven't I been able to delete anything?"

Alt staggers back but Bro stands firm, glaring down the image of him. Alt’s eyes glow as he growls, “You don’t have enough power- no body does. You’ve been chasing a false goal this whole time!”

"Nobody does? No... no, that can't be right. These worlds are infinite." His voice lowers. "Do you know what it means? To see infinity? To see infinite pain? Do you know what it means to be a copy of a copy of a copy?...no, you don't. None of you understand."

Alt glares more at the red Anti and bares his teeth. “Even if that’s your pain… it’s not enough to destroy infinite lives…!”

There's a bit of static, and suddenly, Alt is not alone. Someone is next to him--it's Anti, the same Anti who's been with them the whole time. Out of the phone and glaring at this red other version of him. "It's you who doesn't understand anything. You're the one who thinks you can destroy infinity."

Alt blinks and looks back at Anti before nodding at him and looking back.

“Listen, Anti-“ Bro tries to say, “If you’re… feeling jealous or angry… this isn’t the way to go about it! Revenge hurts everyone- but especially yourself! You don’t have to do this…” he says sympathetically. This guy… he’s evil but.., deep down he’s still Anti right? Somewhere… there has to be a part in there that’s like his brother.

Anti stares at Bro with wide static eyes. He blinks. And then he laughs. "Like I said. None of you understand.

“C’mon man-!” Bro tries to say, reaching out.

“Chase what are you-?!” Alt shouts.

“Hey... lơo͞k d̀o̢w̛n͡."

The ground beneath them is tearing open, a crack forming in the fabric of the world, a black rift. Suddenly, there is no support beneath their feet.

The brothers gasp as they look down and before Alt can even think of glitching- they both scream and fall straight into the rift.

Anti looks at them and dives down, slipping back into Alt's phone before they disappear into the space between worlds.

The other Anti, the red Anti, grins. "There must be someone who can do it," he says to himself. "We have to go back far. Where it all started." And then his image disappears as he also goes through.

#SBTCV #Swap beyond the crystalverse #SBTCV outer space #outer space au #YEAHH IRIS TIMEEE #fighting robots and getting stunned- so much fun agjahb #i loved learning all the lore here! super cool1 #it'd be so fun to visit this again in the future!#but for now- uh oh! Rift!Anti is here!!

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im-writing-again · 2 months

Text

Loves never seized, instantly lost on station platforms, Watching you look back at me as you board your train- The one I am not getting on. And you're off, to Liverpool, to Edinburgh, to Neverland, Wherever I will not be...

I should have asked you about the roll of papers, that fell to the ground, That I picked up for you. Was it an art project? Important work documents? Architectural plans? God, why didn't I speak to you? Beyond the polite 'thank you' and 'it's alright.' Why didn't I speak to you?

I wonder what could have been, if I'd gone your way When we were on the station platform, Or if we'd sat together on the train seats... Would you have the same music taste as me, And like the same songs I would play on our anniversary? Would I map out your gleaming smile, Like the moles on my body you'd join the dots of? Would I have met your friends coming off the train, And seen the confusion in their eyes, As I looked at you with the stars in mine? Would you have known my parents, In this distorted future, Would they have become just like your own?

But I didn't, did I? Go your way- I could have done, you know... Changed my destination, Followed your blue eyes across the country, Across the sea, Across the globe... I would have done. I should have done. Do you think? Would you? Did you want me to? To follow you- You looked back at me like you did...

But I didn't, did I? So I sit glumly on the platform and wonder: Are you seeing my eyes among the falling leaves, Like I'm seeing your smile throughout the station stores? Are the rolling hills the shape of my cheek, Like your hair is the warm colour of the heated lights? Are you thinking of my face, the one you glimpsed, On a nowhere station, Like I am thinking of you, Looking back at me as you board your train? The one I did not get on. So, when my train comes, I take my seat, Excusing, cursing, my ignorance, All the trains I didn't take, And all the you's I will not keep.

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azspot · 10 months

Quote

Between 2012 to 2022, we came to believe that the natural structure for online interaction was for billions of people to all use the same small number of privately-owned social platforms. We’re increasingly realizing now that it was this centralization idea itself that was unnatural. The underlying architecture of the internet already provides a universal platform on which anyone can talk to anyone else about any topic. We didn’t additionally need all of these conversations to be consolidated into the same interfaces and curated by the same algorithms.

Neil Gaiman's Radical Vision for the Future of the Internet

#internet

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truthseekerthedragon · 10 months

Text

Eyes of a Writer: "Duties"

After having written a ~10k oneshot, I've decided to write a post detailing my thoughts on the story, inspirations, extra lore, and the like. I'm hoping this post helps other writers with their own stories and offers insight into their personal creative processes. There's a good chance I'll make more of these in the future, so keep your eyes peeled.

The story in question is "Duties," a Wings of Fire fanfic set within my Bloodbright AU (a comprehensive AU that involves overhauls to the canon, expanded worldbuilding, and events that occur centuries after the Wings of Fire timeline). The fic itself is about Winter getting tangled up in a coup, then discovering thousand-year-old secrets deep within the IceWing palace.

The fic can be found here. I recommend reading the fic first, as this post will spoil the entire thing.

Both the fic and this "annotation" have a content warning for verbal abuse and minor body horror. This post also contains images of hostile architecture.

Let's start with inspirations.

The design and atmosphere of the depths of the Shimmerspire Palace are heavily inspired by NaissanceE, a French indie game released in 2014. The game is a puzzle/platformer that takes place within a labyrinthine superstructure that defies words, a setting that I find extremely difficult to describe.

Image Description: The interior of a superstructure. It looks like the interior of a skyscraper if hollowed out, or perhaps an enormous rectangular tunnel that extends deep underground. The walls are lined with large, industrial blocks and overhangs and struts that may be pipes or supports. The walls sink down into a greenish-gray fog, and the occasional light or archway can be seen. Every surface is a smooth gray color.

Image Description: A... monument, perhaps? There are several sculptures all lined up in a row, each consisting of four overlapping cubes that point upward. The sculptures are lined up in the middle of a walkway with short walls inlaid with small lights to the sides. To the right a large building and light from an offscreen source can be seen. The monument is surrounded by enormous cube-shaped structures rising from a blue-gray mist or light. Rows of tiny lights shine from the cubes, making them resemble buildings. Some of these structures stretch to the ceiling, from which catwalks can be seen.

Such is the game's setting. The game has no real plot, only puzzles and platforming as you try to escape this place. NaissanceE is deeply unsettling to play (when you're not frustrated by failing the same jump 30 times, that is). Many parts of the Shimmerspire Palace's interior are lifted straight from the game's visuals.

If you want to know more about NaissanceE, you can find a video about it here.

The idea for the fic itself was something I had been tossing around for some time. I've wanted to write something with Winter in it, partially due to my frustration at how fanfics often portray his character (i.e. as a generic bully with no depth). I wanted to include Icicle as well, since I don't often see her in fanfics--and when I do see her, it's usually so the fic can treat her badly. I had the writer itch, or drive, or whatever, and I wanted to explore these characters.

I also had the idea for the eldritch IceWing palace. The Shimmerspire Palace's nature was part of my AU's lore and I had always intended to explore it in a story, but it was hard for me to come up with something. In the end I decided to tie it with Winter and the Protector Coup, another event that occurs in my AU (more on that below).

I used some music while writing. I've found that music can be an excellent tone setter for writing scenes, although I tend to be very picky with my music--for instance, songs with lyrics are a hard no, since lyrics are very distracting for me personally.

Here are the music/tracks I used for the fic:

The score of Swan Lake and, to a lesser extent, The Nutcracker for the scenes that occur in the normal sections of the palace. I find the Swan Lake score in particular to be quite fitting for the IceWing aristocracy. The music is grandiose, perhaps wistful.

Prométhée Part 1a for the sequence when Winter first enters the strange parts of the palace up to him meeting Foeslayer. It's part of NaissanceE's soundtrack. This track is beautiful yet unsettling.

The Deep Listening album for subsequent scenes deep in the palace interior. These ambient tracks are unsettling and, at least to me, convey a sense of scale. These are also in NaissanceE's soundtrack.

I used part of the Scanner Sombre soundtrack for the scene where Winter and Foeslayer crawl into the tunnel beneath the memorial. Scanner Sombre is a 2017 game about exploring a cave using nothing but a scanner, and the track does an excellent job at conveying what claustrophobia feels like.

Now, let's go over the fic itself with my notes in hand.

First, Winter's characterization. I spent some time trying to figure out how I'd write him. In canon, we rarely see Winter on his home turf; most of the time he's out and about in Pyrrhia. The way I see it, Winter's jerk behavior is a mask of sorts that he projects to gain a sense of security. He blames himself for Hailstorm's capture, so he tries to hide how weak he sees himself as by putting on a big, mean, tough-guy persona. We don't really see any jerk moments from him while he's in the Ice Kingdom, which makes me think that he drops the persona whenever he's placed in a situation where such behavior would be considered deeply inappropriate.

In this AU, there is no feud between the IceWings and NightWings, because in canon it was essentially a poorly done race metaphor and I decided to nix it to avoid bad implications. In addition, Winter never went to Jade Mountain Academy--in this AU, it was a failed project that didn't account for the fact that no one would want to go to school with dragons who were their mortal enemies less than a year ago. The wounds were still too raw.

Anyways, in the fic Winter is also quite knowledgeable in various subjects, such as history and his High Speech studies. This is all stuff he learned to climb the rankings and to make up for his subpar fighting skills. Him reciting the list of queens was an opportunity to show how hard he's working to climb the rankings, and it also let me sneak in some worldbuilding.

While there are IceWing guards in canon, I decided to add an elite imperial guard that was in charge of protecting the palace and the royal family. Looks like they're not very good at doing the latter.

If you're wondering why Winter had to wait so long, it's because coups in general can get very chaotic. It took a while before Hoarfrost could get everything in place for his dramatic little skit.

The Protector Coup itself is another AU event. I'm not a fan of The Dangerous Gift, especially not the scene where Snowfall destroys the rankings and most dragons respond to it by clapping. Why would most IceWing aristocrats respond like that to the destruction of the bedrock of their society? Absolutely ridiculous. It's more likely that we'd see a coup occur pretty much immediately.

Here's a little secret for you: Hoarfrost had actually been planning a coup for months, but seized the opportunity to depose Snowfall after she destroyed the rankings. Now he could definitively say he was doing it because of how utterly unfit Snowfall was to be queen. While Hoarfrost is doing it for the power, Taiga sees it more as a necessary evil. She's convinced that if Snowfall is queen for any longer, she'll destabilize the country.

Snowfall still destroys the rankings and the Great Ice Cliff in this AU, but there's no gift of vision (or, as I like to call it, the torture ring) that influences her here. So why did she destroy two animus gifts? That's something I might answer in another fic. Or not. I'll just say for now that it's related to Snowfall's PTSD.

You may have noticed that I changed the names of some countries in this fic, which I did because frankly, "Ice Kingdom" is just incredibly boring. "The Iceshard Hierarchy" is not only more distinct, but the name itself tells you something about the country's principles and how it sees itself.

In my AU, the High Speech works a bit like Latin: it's not spoken anymore, but it's still a prestige language that every dragonet in the Circles has to learn, ostensibly so they can read thousand-year-old archival documents. Translation is for suckers. Many aristocrats like Hoarfrost occasionally drop into High Speech for prestige/pretension points. I also wanted to add a sense of age, the sense that the IceWing aristocracy was very old, and I figured that introducing an extinct language was a good way to go about it.

Something else you may have noticed is Winter's comment that animus magic is "notoriously difficult to work with and [is] prone to error and misinterpretation." Animus magic works a bit differently in my AU, being more like a "soft" magic system that is difficult to shape to the caster's desires. You don't really see much of that in this fic except for, you know, the eldritch palace.

So. For those of you with the burning question, Is the palace alive like Winter thinks it is? Well, I have a definitive answer for you.

Yes.

Winter says the twins who made the palace died shortly after making their gift, but this isn't technically true. It would be more accurate to say that the animus twins (whose names are Quartz and Shimmer, by the way), disappeared after casting the spell and were presumed dead. However, my AU's animus magic operates by Fullmetal Alchemist rules in that you cannot create life from nothing; you have to use something that's already alive. I'll let you connect the dots from there. As a bonus, this also answers the "is the palace self-aware?" question posed by Foeslayer when she and Winter find the monument.

Speaking of Foeslayer, her introduction in my fic is very different from how she meets Winter in canon. For one, the nature of the enchantment that Diamond placed on her is much more horrifying! I decided to include Foeslayer in the fic because I didn't want Winter wandering through the eldritch palace by himself; that wouldn't be very interesting, and I knew I needed another dragon that Winter could talk to. I figured Foeslayer would be a good option.

The problem was, the nature of Foeslayer's enchantment in canon was extremely specific and didn't fit the rules of animus magic in my AU. I had to change it while keeping the spirit of the enchantment. So I thought to myself, "What is the most spiteful, petty thing Diamond can do to Foeslayer?" And I came up with "How about taking away her body autonomy while making sure she can't die?" And this is how I came up with mannequin Foeslayer.

This is how I imagine it went: After capturing Foeslayer, Diamond kept her around as a punching bag. Around this time Diamond also had lots of dragons who didn't like her style of leadership or that she had petty vendettas against, so she had these dragons locked up in the IceWing palace. Once these prisons were full, she realized she could feed these dragons to the bowels of the palace and never have to worry about them again. She got bored of Foeslayer and threw her into the deep interior as well, making sure to shred her wings so she couldn't leave by flying out the exit. And there Foeslayer remained for two thousand years.

When she meets Winter, Foeslayer says she had nearly forgotten how to think. Given how long she was down there by herself, no wonder. This also doubles as a JoJo reference.

Winter being able to understand her thousand-year-old language is both foreshadowed (when Hoarfrost spoke in High Speech) and serves as a worldbuilding element. Again, I use the High Speech to indicate age, but this time it's to show that Foeslayer speaks a long-dead language.

Foeslayer at one point says "longer than you think." This is a reference to Emesis Blue, a 2023 web horror film that is a dark reimagining of the lore of Team Fortress 2. The same phrase is repeated throughout the movie. In Emesis Blue proper the line references Stephen King's 1981 short story The Jaunt. References within references! Fun! Little does Winter know, Foeslayer has been alive for two thousand years, and she's been conscious the whole time, unlike in canon. She spent an eternity in there.

In case you're wondering why Foeslayer gave a fake name, it's because she was rather infamous in her own time, having eloped with a prince and all. She didn't want anyone to recognize her, because she'd rather just put all that behind her. The name "Discretion" comes from one of the NightWing diplomats in Runaway.

The part where Winter talks about his life was a tricky one. I kept going back and forth between writing out what Winter says as opposed to just telling the readers. I eventually settled on the latter since explaining Winter's character to people already familiar with him would be repetitive, but it wasn't an easy choice to make.

The panic attack scene was also tricky for me to write, but for a different reason--I've only experienced one panic attack in my whole life. Luckily there are lots of blog posts about what a panic attack feels like (thank you so much internet), and I think the scene turned out fairly well.

Given the mental and physical exhaustion that comes after a panic attack, I needed a scene where the characters could unwind. After some thought I settled on Foeslayer asking to hug Winter, sort of as a found-family thing. While Winter in this fic has an arc about learning to be himself and throw off the weight of the expectations placed on him, Foeslayer also has a mini-arc about learning to be a mother again. Having a mass murderer for a son and 2000 years with nothing but your thoughts for company tends to make you introspective. Winter needed a mother figure to support him, eventually allowing him to support himself, and Foeslayer needed a son figure after... you know. Foeslayer gets a do-over like in canon, but it's with Winter instead of her mind-wiped mass murderer son. The whole Peacemaker thing just never sat right with me, but then, I consider mind-wiping to be pretty heinous in general.

Hopefully you enjoyed the hugging scene as much as I enjoyed writing it. Warm fuzzy feelings for everyone!

Okay, now to the escape scene where Winter feels like he's being chased. This part is another shout-out to Emesis Blue, specifically the scene near the end where Soldier is running from an unseen creature that may or may not be a hallucination. If you're wondering what the Watsonian explanation for this scene is, I'll tell you that the palace feels bad about Winter and Foeslayer leaving. :(

Icicle in this AU really likes ruby earrings. They represent the blood of the Hierarchy's enemies.

Alrighty, now for the fun part: my breakdown/explanation of Icicle's character! In canon it's very clear that Icicle doesn't care for Winter, and the only dragon she seems to truly respect is Hailstorm. I extrapolated that Icicle has a personal honor code that she adheres to rigorously, one based around her view of strength. She sees herself as the ideal IceWing aristocrat: regal, intelligent, and deadly. Anyone who can meet her standards have earned her respect, perhaps even admiration and love; anyone who doesn't she views with nothing but contempt. I think Icicle's little monologue in the fic explains pretty much everything else about her character.

I think automatons warrant a quick mention. Automatons have been around for thousands of years, and during the early modern period were capable of complex tasks such as drawing pictures and playing chess (similar to what Winter knows automatons are capable of). Fans of The Magnus Archive will be familiar with the Mechanical Turk, which was actually operated by a human during chess matches.

Winter's metaphor of society fitting him into a mold is a nod to the manga short The Enigma of Amigara Fault. There's an excellent video that breaks down the cultural context behind the story, which can be found here.

And my final note for the story: The phrase "the cold does not forgive mistakes" originates from the Jacob Geller video essay "Fear of Cold," which can be found here. An excellent video about... pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

Thanks for reading my fanfic annotations. If you have a burning question about "Duties" that wasn't answered here, feel free to send me an ask.

#fanfiction #wings of fire #wof #wof winter #wof foeslayer #wof icicle #wof au #bloodbright au #writing #eyes of a writer #wof fanfic

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usafphantom2 · 2 months

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USAF Should Look At China’s Future Multi-Crew Fighter Model For F-15EX

The F-15EX's currently empty rear cockpit needs to be taken advantage of by adding a new kind of second crewmen, an Air Mission Commanding Officer.

Major Joshua “Soup” Campbell Posted on Jul 25, 2024 11:24 AM EDT Edited By Tyler Rogoway

F-15EX and J16, both two seaters, but one uses the second crewman in a different capacity than the traditional weapon system officer role.

PLA/USAF

Amidst strategic shifts in its force posture, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) faces pivotal decisions on the deployment of its next-generation fighter fleet. With plans to retire aging F-15C/D Eagles and scale back F-15E Strike Eagle operations, the USAF is poised to integrate a limited number of F-15EX Eagle IIs into the fleet. Yet, while the F-15EX boasts advancements as an evolution of the F-15E Strike Eagle family of fighters, current strategies overlook the aircraft’s rear cockpit potential.

The first F-15EX Eagle II delivered to the Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Wing, the first operational unit to receive the type, touches down in Portland in June 2024. 142nd Wing/Oregon Air National Guard

Meanwhile, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) advocates for multi-seat configurations to manage data-rich combat environments effectively. USAF plans, on the other hand, currently exclude utilizing the F-15EX’s rear cockpit, limiting its role to air-to-air missions and possibly limited air-to-ground missions sometime in the future.

In this era of transformative air combat, as the PLAAF pioneers new operational concepts with multi-seat fighters, the USAF stands at a crossroads, balancing legacy strategies with the imperative for adaptive, integrated command and control of unmanned systems and network-centric operations. With the F-15EX, however, the USAF has an opportunity to lead the way regarding future air combat by fully embracing the Eagle II’s two-crew capability.

The Eagle II Opportunity

With the pending divestment of the F-15C/D and reduction of the F-15E inventory, the USAF has committed to purchasing a relatively small number of F-15EXs to replace the F-15C/D in Japan, as well as at three National Guard bases with units tasked with U.S. homeland defense. The Eagle II, however, evolved from the Strike Eagle and subsequent F-15 derivatives, is capable of far more than what the legacy Eagle fleet previously provided to combatant commanders.

Given its modernized sensors, self-protection suite, fiber optics, future integration of an open mission system and digital open architecture backbone, more powerful engines, increased computing capabilities, and the inclusion of a rear fully-missionized cockpit, the F-15EX represents a significant advancement over both the F-15C/D and F-15E. Yet, current operational plans do not involve taking advantage of the rear cockpit, leaving it empty and unused, assigning the F-15EX to perform long-range and medium-range air-to-air only missions with minimal expansions into other missions sets the F-15EX is purpose-built to fulfill.

From left to right, an F-15C, an F-15E, and an F-15EX. USAF

The evolving character of air combat, however, demands that platforms do more amongst the growing complexity of high-end warfare. When considering the future of air combat, which places information at center stage in a high-end conflict, failing to utilize the rear cockpit would be a missed opportunity to expand future roles and responsibilities of the F-15EX, disregarding the investment that already exists in the aircraft’s capabilities.

By contrast, People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) assessments of the anticipated complexities of forthcoming high-end combat environments have led them to identify multi-seat, multi-role configurations as critical to operations.

Available information suggests that the PLAAF believes an additional operator offers the potential for more effective interpretation and utilization of the vast sensory data that could overwhelm the cognitive and processing capacities of a single individual, particularly in the future of contested air combat environments. Having made this assessment, the PLAAF is now moving forward in developing operational concepts for how best to employ multiple operators in a single tactical aircraft, like the J-16 and the two-seat J-20S variant (also referred to variously as the J-20B and J-20AS), beyond their traditional roles. The USAF could benefit from adopting a multi-operator approach like the PLAAF’s with the F-15EX.

A picture of a two-seat J-20 during testing. Chinese internet

Information Saturation

Any future high-end conflict will produce vast amounts of data that need processing. Both the U.S. military and PLA continue to develop robust integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) networks to facilitate combat operations and support long-range kill chains. As such, sensors within the land, sea, air, and space domains will provide more data than can be consumed by human operators to process — and make accurate — real-time tactical and operational decisions. Due to the rapidly changing environments in a future contest, these decisions will need to be made quickly and potentially at the forward edge of the battlespace.

In an anticipated information-saturated environment, the USAF advocates for the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-to-human collaboration to alleviate the workload and cognitive demands on operators. While the incorporation of AI may process and distill information to provide operators with pertinent data, a saturated, complex combat environment full of adversary ships, aircraft, and coastal defenses employing deception and denial tactics will still likely result in an overwhelming influx of information for operators to process, leading to task saturation. Performing a multitude of missions and tasks — including controlling collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) and managing other aircraft in formation — all the while making air-to-air and air-to-ground engagement decisions within a contested, degraded, and operationally limited (CDO-L) environment will challenge and could exacerbate cognitive processes for both humans and their AI agents. The PLAAF, on the other hand, seems to be intent on leveraging AI integration with more human operators, not less.

Public Domain

Moving Beyond Traditional Roles

A recent article published in January 2024 by Chinese state-owned outlet Ta Kung Pao Online in Hong Kong, titled “J-16 Leads the Air Force Aircraft Fleet in Preparations for Future Air Battles,” sheds light on the evolving role of the J-16 back-seater and its implications for the future role of the J-20S back-seater. The article outlines the traditional division of responsibilities between front-seat and back-seat operators in the J-16. It also underscores how, due to evolving characteristics of air warfare, the role of the backseat operator has evolved as combat has evolved, informing future J-20S operations.

A Chinese J-16. Japan Ministry of Defense A stock picture of a Chinese J-16. Japan Ministry of Defense

According to the article, the J-16 stands out as the primary two-seat fighter in the PLAAF’s combat air force. While the two-seat Su-30 Flanker exists in the PLAAF’s inventory, its fleet is smaller in size, whereas the J-16 contains more advanced avionics and is in continued domestic production exceeding 245 aircraft, leaving the PLAAF to rely heavily on the J-16 and its more advanced capabilities.

A Chinese Su-30MKK Flanker. Dmitriy Pichugin A stock picture of a Chinese Su-30MKK Flanker. Dmitriy Pichugin

Equipped with asymmetric, outsized weapons that don’t fit in the J-20’s weapons bay, the J-16 provides a broad array of operational capabilities, making it a versatile asset in various scenarios. Similar to the F-15E, the J-16 conducts long-range air-to-air engagements and attacks on ground and maritime targets where the back-seater serves as a weapons controller responsible for employing different types of weapons. The PLAAF, however, is beginning to adapt the J-16 to the expected information-dominated combat environment and evolving manned-unmanned teaming by developing new roles and responsibilities for the aircraft and its operators.

Information-Dominated Combat Environment

In the context of the evolving landscape of networked and unmanned warfare, contemporary air combat will incorporate a multitude of systems where all combat elements are interconnected with vast amounts of information. Through data transmission and intelligence-sharing platforms, collaborative operations based on interconnected systems have become the predominant operational model, with the J-16 capable of assuming the central command role for entire formations. According to the Ta Kung Pao article, the J-16 back-seater, in this new environment, evolves from simply a “weapon controller” into an “air mission commanding officer.”

A close-up look at the pilot and the back-seater in a Chinese J-16. China Military Online/Liu Chang and Liu Yinghu

With this new evolution, the air mission commanding officer (AMCO) encompasses multiple roles and responsibilities in a high-tech conflict that includes overseeing air-to-surface weaponry, managing and disseminating multi-platform intelligence, and issuing operational directives. While this may seem similar to the USAF’s airborne Forward Air Controller-Airborne (FAC[A]), there appear to be differences in employment concepts between the PLAAF’s AMCO and the USAF’s FAC(A), particularly regarding the operational environments with which they are utilized.

Primarily employed in close air support (CAS) or strike coordination and reconnaissance (SCAR) missions, the FAC(A) is the airborne version of a joint terminal air controller (JTAC) in which both can nominate and mark targets, deconflict airspace, relay critical ground schemes of maneuver, and authorize airstrikes. The PLAAF’s AMCO, however, seems to focus on roles and responsibilities that leverage the PLA’s sensing network in a contested air interdiction environment.

Utilizing the PLA’s expanding sensing network to build situational awareness in the battlespace, the J-16 back-seater, assuming the AMCO role and plugged into the sensing network, is intended to direct coordinated efforts among various aircraft, in conjunction with ground and naval units, to execute comprehensive aerial attacks. Additionally, the back-seater’s role is to command and coordinate multiple drones acting as ‘loyal wingmen’ with the intent to amplify combat effectiveness through combined manned and unmanned operations.

Whether or not the PLAAF is actually proficient with this type of force package integration in a high-end combat environment remains to be seen. There is a distinct possibility that the PLAAF is overstating its capabilities in such an environment and much of this training is nascent or scripted, or this is the aspirational plan for future operations. However, the article points to recent footage from state-run CCTV that claims to showcase joint exercises involving GJ-2 drones under the command of J-16s enabling swarm attacks. Analysts, however, suggest that the articles and CCTV coverage of these events do not match reality given current PLAAF capabilities and likely reflect a desire for future capability. But while the PLAAF may be unable to conduct the defined roles and responsibilities of the AMCO in the current state, the PLAAF continues to move forward in preparing its endeavors. More importantly, however, the J-16’s implementation of an AMCO also serves as a testbed for future two-seat J-20S operations.

While the J-20S may lack the payload capacity of the J-16, the PLAAF anticipates that “stealth, high-speed, and advanced situational awareness” allow the J-20S to “penetrate enemy territory, gain air superiority,” and subsequently assume command over trailing aircraft like J-16s and J-10Cs. Moreover, the J-20S, like the J-16, will be able to coordinate and control CCAs to compensate for its magazine depth and weapons limitations, a task overseen by the AMCO in the rear cockpit.

Drawing parallels from the expanding roles of J-16 and J-20S back-seaters, incorporating a Weapon System Officer (WSO) into the F-15EX’s rear cockpit would expand its capabilities and enhance the lethality of USAF strike packages. With the advent of large, integrated sensing networks providing a vast amount of data, an F-15EX WSO, assuming a role similar to an AMCO, can coordinate and direct fires, provide mission-critical intelligence in the midst of mission execution to other platforms in a strike package, pass information of evolving situations between pulsed operations, and even coordinate with various naval or ground forces.

As highlighted in this picture, a two-person crew did fly the first F-15EX jet to Portland in June 2024. Oregon National Guard

Additionally, the F-15EX’s weapons array integration, including outsized weapons, allows it to perform an array of missions already being fulfilled by the F-15E, which includes long-range air interdiction. Moreover, it can be deployed to other environments in the event of horizontal escalation or low- to medium-tier conflicts, providing global firepower reach against smaller, maligned nation-states while still providing key capabilities in the high-end fight. Furthermore, the lack of stealth allows the F-15EX the ability to carry highly specialized pods that stealth assets simply can’t, or won’t, carry. Advanced pods can provide many warfighting-enhancing capabilities, from communications to sensing, electronic warfare, network redundancy, and edge computing.

A US Air Force F-15C Eagle carrying an infrared search and track (IRST) pod. This is one of many specialized podded capabilities members of the F-15 family, including the F-15EX, can carry. USAF

Finally, an F-15EX WSO can oversee the employment of groups of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) or swarms of other drones.

CCAs, AI, and Command and Control

Both the USAF and PLAAF view CCAs as a way of generating cost-effective mass. The intent is to augment attack formations with low-cost, AI-infused robotic wingmen to increase capabilities in the realm of firepower, sensing, electronic warfare, communications, and other capabilities that manned aircraft bring to the fight. Though both air forces promote heavy reliance on AI in CCAs, AI currently lacks intuition and the ability to infer information in a complex CDO-L combat environment that it is not accustomed to and lacks the ability to break from its given prescribed parameters to adapt. It is therefore expected that some level of human-to-machine interaction between manned aircraft and CCAs will be required to make decisions in a combat environment for some time. Due to the anticipated human interaction with CCAs, the PLAAF foresees multi-seat fighter platforms as an operational requirement.

In a document titled “Study on the Combined Manned Aircraft/UAV in Air Operations,” published around 2021 by Wang Danjing and Liu Ying of the Department of Combined Tactics Air Force Command College in Beijing, the discussion of command and control of CCAs described the task intensive nature of managing combat operations and CCAs simultaneously. When deciding the optimal manned-to-unmanned mixed formation characteristics, task management and cognitive performance were at the forefront of the author’s conclusion that the ideal formation to employ CCAs consists of pairing a two-seat aircraft with a single-seat aircraft.

Wang and Liu note that “U.S. scientists show that there is a nonlinear relationship between a person’s workload and work performance,” suggesting that adding management of CCAs to a pilot’s tasks could impact performance. The authors conclude that “the manned aircraft formation scope is better as a two-aircraft formation, with one being a two-seat aircraft tasked with tactical control of the UAVs, while the other is a single-seat aircraft tasked with executing the task of standing guard and attacking.”

While USAF tactics will almost definitely differ from the PLAAF’s regarding CCAs, utilizing an extra body in the backseat of the F-15EX can enhance the employment of CCAs, allowing the front-seat pilot to focus on other tasks or coordinate various functions in a combat setting.

Moreover, it is expected that CCAs will not always launch with their manned platforms to conduct missions in an Agile Combat Employment (ACE) scheme of maneuver or disparate basing environment like in the Pacific. Positioned between forward assets and bases, an F-15EX could take command of CCAs and transfer to forward fighter platforms or launch or recovery locations.

Take Aways

Although the U.S. military typically does not examine adversary strategy, operations, and tactics with the intention of replicating them, it is crucial to recognize the strengths of developing adversary capabilities and evaluate how they align with U.S. military operational principles.

Given the information provided above, it is imperative for the USAF to recognize and address the limitations of human cognition in future information-intensive environments and consider deploying additional operators to process the vast data available and manage new cognitive demands and new responsibilities like CCAs in a high-tech warzone. The PLAAF’s ambitious approach to utilizing its two-seat J-16 and J-20S platforms in complex, high-end combat environments may provide insights into how to maximize the F-15EX’s enhanced capabilities by incorporating a back-seater.

Similar to how the PLAAF intends to use the J-16 to cooperate with other fighter platforms, C2ISR platforms, and its kill-web to employ its outsized weapons, the F-15EX provides the range, payload, and sensors to do the same for the USAF. Additionally, with its fully missionized rear cockpit and large-area display, the F-15EX is capable of doing everything the multi-seat F-15E can do, and more.

The F-15EX’s fully missionized rear cockpit allows a WSO to conduct a multitude of mission-related functions, freeing the pilot to focus on other tasks at hand. Incorporating a WSO in the F-15EX would thus harness the intended capabilities the F-15EX is designed for. With no one in the rear cockpit, however, the F-15EX’s potential expansion of roles and responsibilities and overall effectiveness cannot be realized, leaving the Air Force unable to capitalize on the investment that is already paid for with each aircraft rolling off the line.

With every new set of roles, responsibilities, and mission expansion, however, comes new training requirements. For the F-15EX to adopt similar roles and responsibilities of the AMCO, the F-15E training pipeline can leverage existing training plans either by restructuring F-15E training flights that develop these specific tasks or by creating a new AMCO training pipeline in concert with the F-15EX syllabus being constructed to prepare future Eagle II pilots. Taking qualified F-15E WSO instructors into an AMCO pipeline that runs in concert with the F-15EX syllabus, the Air Force can fully realize a cohesive multi-seat aircraft ready for the high-end environment.

Unfortunately, however, the USAF has chosen to focus the utilization of the F-15EX on a single mission: long-range air-to-air. While capable of conducting close air support (CAS), combat search and rescue (CSAR), long- and medium-range air interdiction, maritime air interdiction, defensive counter-air, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), and more, leaving the rear cockpit empty in this high-tech piece of machinery and conducting only long-range air-to-air engagements leaves all this potential capability on the table.

USAF

Equipped with outsized, long-range weapons and specialized pods, and the ability to command CCAs and swarms of other drones while directing combat fires and disseminating multi-platform intelligence from a multi-crew platform, the F-15EX offers a broader spectrum of capabilities beyond solely engaging in long-range air-to-air combat. Additionally, much of the necessary technology for these functions is already integrated into the aircraft.

For these reasons, it is imperative that the Air Force not let preconceived notions of traditional roles and responsibilities obstruct decision-making concerning the future of air warfare and the potential evolution of roles and responsibilities.

The character of warfare is evolving, necessitating the utilization of both machinery and personnel in innovative ways that align with the changing environment. The multi-operator platform direction currently pursued by the PLAAF yields operational insights worthy of consideration by USAF planners for the near- and mid-term, even as the USAF continues to develop advanced AI solutions for the long term.

Major Joshua “Soup” Campbell is an F-15E Weapon System Officer (WSO) and graduate of the distinguished USAF Weapon School with 1,500 hours in the F-15E which includes 630 combat hours. He spent the last year as a Fellow at the USAF’s China Aerospace Studies Institute with a strategic and operational focus. He is currently attending Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies through the Department of Defense’s Strategic Thinker’s Program. He has worked in a variety of capacities at both the squadron level and MAJCOM staff positions.

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