#i didn't know there was some “S drone” theory???? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

danceofthephilos · 1 year ago

Text

Theory: Did Tadashi call the police on S?

The first beef between Langa and Adam gets famously interrupted by a police raid. It's the only time the police interfere with S specifically in the whole series and the plot thread is not followed up on, leaving this raid as a bit of an oddity.

What I'm proposing here is nothing but a theory - I consider it possible that this is intentional subtext woven into the show, but I would not be able to confirm it one way or another.

My proposition is that Tadashi called the police at this juncture, and that this is completely in line with how he expresses his concern for Adam throughout the whole series. Let's dive in!

Almost immediately preceding the police raid is this reaction shot of Tadashi looking stunned by Adam standing motionlessly under the flickering streetlight. It's when Adam decides that Langa not only could be but definitely is his Eve - even from a distance, observing through the live feed from the drones, Tadashi can tell that Adam is deeply affected by this.

When the episode aired and we didn't yet know a lot about Tadashi, I thought that this shot's inclusion was doubtlessly meant to imply that he is the one who put a stop to the race. With Kiriko's further involvement and the slow reveals about Tadashi's devotion to Adam, this could seem like it was a red herring. But... was it?

Let's dissect this bit by bit!

As I said before, this is the only time in the series that the police messes with S. But not only that! It is also the only time that S has been on the police's radar in recent memory of the characters:

So: why now? Why at this exact point in time? Is that really just some insane coincidence? Is it Kiriko? (It's not, we'll get to that.)

It's noteworthy that the S system shuts down immediately. As the police usually doesn't bother with S, this is not routine. It's a very swift response to something that is completely unusual if not unprecedented. It could be that Tadashi just has very quick response skills, but... It's undeniable that shutting everything off on time would be far easier for him to accomplish if he knew this would happen.

This is further supported by the way Tadashi just casually rolls up to pick up Adam, not stressed in the slightest by the unusual threat to their little operation (and Tadashi does stress about anything that could threaten Adam's reputation, we see it often.)

Adam also immediately points out the strangeness of this event, while we as the viewer are treated to a foreground shot of Tadashi's impassive, unconcerned face.

It is then Tadashi who looks into the matter. It is his word we have to trust if we want to blame the police raid on Kiriko. But... should we?

We know Kiriko as incredibly persistent in her pursuit of Adam. Would she really discover that Ainosuke Shindo walled off a whole area from police patrol, and then quietly accept it as that same area is removed from patrol once again? That should be raising huge red flags for her!

If Kiriko had a hunch of Ainosuke Shindo doing something illegal at the abandoned mine out of town, that should be her absolute first priority to investigate! It's her best bet at getting him to court!

But Kiriko herself never once mentions the abandoned mine, altered police patrol routes, or anything of the likes. To her, this is about perjury. She's only ever seen following the perjury and collusion trail; never once does she discuss anything adjacent to S. Even presuming that she's merely suspicious about the abandoned mine in general, without any reason to connect it to Ainosuke Shindo, the person whom Adam is in contact with to assure S's continued protection is the chief of police.

Kiriko is working with Chief Matsumura throughout the rest of the season, and until he intervenes to prevent her investigating the Shindo estate and sends her back to Tokyo in the finale, there's no indication that she distrusts him, nor anyone within the Naha police, at all. If Tadashi's account of events is correct, Kiriko grew suspicious of illegal activities at the abandoned mine, thought it had been removed from the patrol route by someone higher in the chain of command, and had it raided... only for her to think nothing of it when it was removed from the patrols again, and continue to completely trust the person who would have authority over these decisions without so much as following up with him about what happened.

If Kiriko is meant to be the culprit behind the raid, this is a huge plot hole. She should, by all means, have become a threat to S itself.

However! The only person who ever implicates her in this is Tadashi. If Tadashi was the one who called the police, Kiriko would have been an incredibly convenient scapegoat for him.

So then... isn't Tadashi a loyal dog? Why would he go against his master like this, so early in the show? Let me explain!

First off, it's important to remember that at the start of the show, Adam hasn't been attending S in years. People there treat him as a legend and many have never seen him. Recently, Adam has been focused on furthering his career and only consumed S passively via videos - no skater interested him enough to go out personally.

Tadashi supports this. Over and over we see him concerned for Adam's career and reputation. He believes that a 'normal' successful life is what is genuinely best for the man.

For years now, Tadashi has blamed skateboarding (and himself) for everything wrong with Adam's life. He believes that he led Adam astray and he is desperate to fix his 'mistake'.

Tadashi is not an outsider to the value system of the Shindo clan. As the child of a generations-long servant family, he grew up on the estate as well. He too spent his whole life internalizing the 'life lessons' taught by the Shindo adults. As Aiichiro's secretary, he might have spent more time with Adam's father than Adam himself ever did. Tadashi definitely listened to his views over and over and over.

And because of that, what Tadashi regrets about Aiichiro burning Adam's board is not that he didn't stop it or that he didn't stand up for Adam... It's that he taught Adam skateboarding in the first place and thus led to him 'needing to be punished'.

As such, it's no surprise that he opposes Adam's initial return to S. He wants to 'make up' for his 'mistake' by leading Adam into a normal life. Participation in S is to the direct detriment of that.

Tadashi feels no disdain for Adam, of course. On the contrary, he feels endless love and affection. He genuinely wants what's best for him. Well, what he thinks is best for him...

Which means that Tadashi is a product of the Shindo clan through-and-through.

And all of that wraps us back around to where we started:

After years of Adam doing well in Tadashi's eyes (no hospitalizations, yay!), this happens. Adam is affected in a way he's never been before - he's had objects of affection in the past, but none of them made him stop dead in his tracks like this.

Tadashi knows Adam. And he knows Adam is about to be obsessed.

So he panics and tries to rip Adam and Langa apart as soon as humanly possible. He wants to nip this obsession in the bud so Adam won't be distracted from work. So Adam will be able to live the perfect life that everyone wants for him.

It's even possible that Tadashi didn't stop at calling the police.

At the start of the tournament, we encounter a group of masked skaters who are hellbent on getting Langa out of the race. The way they talk about Joe here is dismissive. When they say to let him have the win they use the form くれてやれ which is rather rude and dismissive - they're not doing this for Joe's sake, they just don't care if he wins. It's Langa they're after.

Now, it's possible that they just want to take an arrogant rookie down a peg. That seems like something thugs would do. But there is one person who has a vested interest in Langa falling short of Adam's expectations and not making it to the finale - that person is Tadashi.

The assault on Langa in this race is a similar oddity as the police raid - it's never addressed before or after it happens, standing isolated as a momentary obstacle that doesn't contribute to the overall plot of SK8. Being 'out of place' ties these two incidents together - and thus may tie them to Tadashi.

It might not be coincidence that Tadashi enters the tournament as Snake only after the assault team fails to take out Langa.

Entering the tournament shows that Tadashi is not afraid to go behind Adam's back if he thinks it serves Adam's best interests. But becoming 'Snake' means alerting Adam of his betrayals - to me, that seems like a drastic final measure after the sneakier ones failed.

The tragedy of it all is that even though Tadashi is deciding over Adam's head, going behind his back, and generally repeating his family's abusive mantra at him over and over.... Even though Tadashi does all these things, he genuinely loves Adam. Everything he does is for Adam's sake. Unlike the aunts or Aiichiro, he does not see Adam as a representative of his own power. He just loves him, but he expresses his love in the only way he's ever learned to do it:

By forcing him to fit the mold.

#sk8 #sk8 the infinity #tadashi kikuchi #sk8 meta #meta

112 notes · View notes

ducktracy · 1 year ago

Note

Conspiracy theory I didn't come up with: Part of why Hollywood is so weird with Looney Tunes and Muppets is that they resent the voice work involved. Even dumbass execs know you need Kermit to sound like Kermit and Daffy to sound like Daffy and they HATE that they can't just recast them with some random celebrity.

HMMMMM… i unfortunately don’t know enough about the Muppets to throw my two cents in there, but with LT—i both see where you’re going with this and somewhat object at the same time.

i guess my point i’m about to bring up just as much proves you right, but they DID get away with some celeb stunt casting with Space Jam 2 (lol) thanks to Zendaya and Gabriel Iglesias. and hell even going back to TLTS, you have Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen… Frank Gorshin voices Daffy in Superior Duck.. so there IS the fair share of celeb stunt casting with these characters, which i guess does in a way sort of prove your point, but to me still makes me think it’s not entirely it

one of my biggest complaints with modern LT revivals IS, however, that they never seem to write the characters with Mel Blanc in mind. i realize the man has been dead for 35 years and we obviously can’t raise him back, but the originals were so often written to cater to his voice talents and his quirks and his specificities, and while you have incredibly talented voice actors like Eric Bauza or Bob Bergen or Jeff Bergman or Joe Alaskey (RIP), the one little ingredient missing from their deliveries is because they aren’t written with Mel in mind. Mel’s involvement is just as important to the characters and their personalities as the directors and writers and animators

which leads me to my next point in that i just think that nobody understands the Looney Tunes characters, simple as. they don’t! they are not some big happy family à la the Muppets, who, in turn, are not some big happy family. likewise they are not mindless drones who drop anvils and blow each other up and repeat the same 2 bits over and over and over again. i don’t think Space Jam 2’s ineptitude is a product of execs losing their minds over the inability to stunt cast—i just think you don’t know your Looney Tunes if you’re going to genuinely play up a Bugs Bunny death scene as a sincere, heart felt moment. come on!!!!!

i still think a lot about the excerpt in Jerry Beck’s 100 Greatest LT Shorts book where one of the contributors—whose name escapes me—had a WB exec tell him in the ‘90s that nobody likes Porky because “people don’t like pigs”, and his quip in the book was “well, i’m people and i like pigs!”. likewise the whole political correctness bit in Back in Action is true to life! the Speedy complaint surprises me less but the whole “first they tell me to lose the stutter, then they tell me i’m not funny” actually happened! WB hasn’t known what to do with these characters for half a century at this point and it’s unfortunately nothing new. i wish it were just a matter of grievances at celebrity voice casting, but i really do think it’s just because nobody knows how the hell to characterize or approach the characters.

likewise, that is very much by design. the original run is lightning in a bottle. its brilliance is the product of so many ultra specific circumstances and benefits and histories and trial and error that you just can’t really replicate. i mean, you can, but even with the most meticulous studying and planning and adaptation and mathematical calculations and all that other jargon, even if you put all that into your work… you’re still not Chuck Jones with Chuck Jones’ life experience, you’re not Bob Clampett with Bob Clampett’s life experience, not Friz Freleng, not Bob McKimson, not Frank Tashlin…

i am a loud proponent of thinking that honoring these characters correctly and accurately and respectfully is possible. i think it can be done. i think it is possible to study all of the quirks of the directors, of the writers, the animators, the characters, how the characters talk and walk and play off of each other, how the directorial tone is dictated. you have to be a complete nut to do it, but i think it’s possible. but that just goes back to the original question of: well… why try and make carbon copies of the originals when the originals are right there? (which, i admit, is another question that i myself get huffy about and am like “just because!!!! why not!” but i can’t act like i can fully deny it either. it’s a valid question.)

ANYWAY. i just went on a huge tangent, some of which is completely unrelated to your ask and your point so MY APOLOGIES! i do think you have something there, but i really do think the main perpetrator is just a lack of understanding and awareness. or, we do have adaptations that show potential and they aren’t given the light of day to be realized and help set the course a little because we need to think of our tax write-offs first. god forbid!

#i do like the timing of you sending this the day the Chris PraI Mean Garfield trailer came out #anonymous #asks

42 notes · View notes

krii-bolts · 2 years ago

Text

✨KHAN AND THE NORI CLOSET✨

IM BACK TO MURDER DRONES THEORY RANT!!! AND THIS TIME WITH ALL THE STUFF IN THE BEGINNING AROUND KHAN AND NORI!!!

And some-what the 1st of 2 parts, as I got things to connect revolving N's Flashbacks.. and trust me, Spirals are now my most feared enemy by the end of this

Ofc, This is Heavy Ep 4 Spoilers.. So I recommend watching that before continuing down...

Ya ready? Cause I feel like a Drone with a Malware sickness right now over this.. Lets go

^ I'll admit, I had to go back and rewatch this specific shot for What Khan said and it was " After the core collapsed, I didn't notice the collars.."

This photo, by my Speculation and by the Dialogue, Seems to Be a Expedition Team to search and find other drones (Especially with that downed Drone hanging from the trees)

Also, NORI!!! Trust me, We got a entire fucking Bread Slice with this episode when it comes to Nori Lore and not some crumbs

^ 1. We see both Nori and Yeva (From eye colors and hair to the Badges hanging from their necks) in this photo, along with other drones

I also see some backpacks on most of the drones here, including Khan (I think those are backpacks) so further evidence on a Expedition team

^ (Insert Comment on Khan having Dad energy from what he said on this photo)

^ AND HERES THE START OF MY SPIRAL MADNESS!! I know we get closer looks of these drawings but still, we do see drawings that don't pop up on the other shots...

And by that I mean that Very Bottom Drawing with the Spiral and Red Text. All I can read from that Red Text is "They ___ Everything" and could either be "See" or "Hear" in that blank spot, or even "Are"

But it sure does look like a Gravitational Field, doesnt it?

^ OH BOY. 1 . Theres Nori's ID Badge, making more and more clear of that "Employees" theory that I saw before, like with yeva's badge

2 . " Build Doors against the coming sky Demons!" so it was NORI who was all for the doors. That Makes Khan's obsession more.. traumatic (Poor dude)

3 . OK. MORE SPIRALS. And also Drawings of the Corpse Spire.

Along with the Spirals and Spires are many Drawings of Disassembly drones so Nori mustve knew before hand that they were coming (I KNOW SOMEBODY ELSE ON TUMBLR HAS SAID SOMETHING FAMILIAR, I DONT REMEMBER WHO)

There also seems to be Red Text on the Spiral drawings, almost Like a Equation... and Finally

^ This. This shot. This shot is the reason why Im terrified of N's flashbacks now. This shot is why Spirals are my Enemy now.

Khan DOES say something here, and while It was at first hard to notice the first couple of times, I now know what he says:

"The Singularity Awakens."

Trust me, this quote holds wayyyy more significance when I go over N's Flashbacks.

ANYWAYS, More Drawings of the Spirals and this time I can see those Equations some more on the Bigger Spiral on top! Starting with a "F=" with the other half being a Fraction of Two unknown Numbers /symbols

The Bottom spiral... the one thats covered in many small equations, that one intrigues me. I MAY BE DUMB, but that looks like a blackhole with Time Dilation and Rotational Spin (From the graphs above said spiral), with the spiral going inwards and not outwards...

I'm not gonna include the Funny S shot, as I got nothing on it BUT KNOW THIS: N's Flashbacks are next for my rants..

#murder drones theory rants #murder drones #WHY IT GOTTA BE SPIRALS. WHY.

74 notes · View notes

quantumshade · 1 year ago

Note

hi i feel the question must be asked - thoughts on the soundtrack and scoring from 13's era as compared to murray gold's work?

sigh... honestly? complicated. i have a lot of feelings and many of them are contradictory.

i'll start with this: it's one of my personal favorite things about thirteen's era, though admittedly the bar is low. i think segun akinola is an incredibly talented composer and when his music is good, it's GOOD. i loved all the times he played with the beginning and end credits to suit the episode, like in demons of the punjab and village of the angels, that kicked ass every time. i really appreciate what he brought to the show, i just wish.... hm. how do i put this. i wish his talents had been utilized better.

like. here's my absolute favorite song from the era. it's unbelievably great. it slaps so hard when played in the show AND when listened to in isolation.

and thirteen's full theme? one of the most gorgeous character themes i've ever heard, and it suits thirteen really well.

but a lot of the other stuff.... i just feel kind of meh about. i've listened to all of the scores all the way through in order to complete my ultimate doctor who playlist, and one thing i noticed is that there's a lot of songs on the album that just kind of feel like four separate songs stitched together with like 30 seconds of one droning note in between. at one point, i took notes on one of the songs to try and explain my feelings about it.

that was in regards to this song:

try listening to the song with my commentary if you get the chance, it's kind of the easiest way to see/hear what i mean in this post.

anyway here's an example of a song with very little of the silence that was boring bothering me so much:

"I'm Not Giving Up" is over 3 whole minutes shorter than "All Is Ending". can you guess how much silence there is in "All Is Ending"? (hint: if you guessed about three minutes and fifty-two seconds, you'd be correct.)

i listen to a lot of different orchestral music. i haven't run into any other composers who do this with full album releases, and it just kind of confuses me? i'm not a music theory person, so if there's some reason for this i wouldn't know it, but it makes some of these songs kind of suck to listen to in a playlist. if they were cut down into separate songs, i'd be far more enthusiastic.

the other thing i'm not crazy about are the character themes. the doctor, the master, the cybermen, and the daleks all have recognizable themes, and they're pretty good. except... imo all of them except the doctor's are massively overused. i don't think this is inherently akinola's fault, nor is it a problem exclusive to thirteen's era -- i seriously cannot listen to murray gold's "I Am The Doctor" anymore because of how much the show overused it, despite it being objectively a pretty great song.

but other than those four, did you know there are character themes for the companions? because i didn't until a couple weeks ago, and like i said, i've listened to all of these songs front to back with careful analysis AND seen all of these episodes at least twice each. i never picked up on these character leitmotifs 😭😭😭 i would say that that's on me for not perceiving them, except i know i'm not the only one. pretty much everyone i've talked to has been surprised to hear there are character themes. if you're curious, here's a youtube series exploring those themes and when they're used. it's a good, informative series with well made videos, but the whole time i was just kind of frustrated that i wasn't able to really pick up on these motifs. even now, i can't remember what yaz's leitmotif sounds like. i honestly have no idea, i would have to go back to the video and check. it just doesn't stick into my brain in the same way, say, donna's theme or bill's theme do.

furthermore, this is graham's theme. the whole thing. this is all of it.

for comparison's sake, here's rose's theme.

and if that's not the perfect microcosm of how these characters feel to me like. in terms of complex characterization and interesting arcs and feeling like real people. complex themes aren't always better, that's not what i'm saying -- more that the companions aren't really allowed to be important in the same way that they used to be.

graham's theme doesn't appear until episode four. and then doesn't reappear until the last two episodes of the series. meanwhile rose's theme is like. so recognizable from the very first note & it plays at crucial moments (first example off the top of my head is the ending of The End of the World). clara's theme is so recognizable that it can play in a scene that doesn't feature her at all After she left the show and yet in a way that completely evokes her presence. you couldn't do that with the thirteenth doctor's companion's themes, and even if you did, the audience uhhh. probably wouldn't notice!

i struggle to articulate my feelings about akinola's music, especially in comparison to gold's. gold's music is so important to me and i genuinely rank him among the best composers ever. i really, really like segun akinola... when he's allowed to make any noise. but most of the time with the sound mixing his music just fades to the background to the point of silence, forgotten entirely, and it's a shame.

tl;dr i dislike how akinola's songs are cut in the released albums, i think a lot of those songs needed to be cut down a little bit from the versions in the episode, and some of it probably could have stayed unreleased. i do wish his character themes were more recognizable, and i wish the ones that were recognizable weren't overused to the point of annoying me. i think he's a fantastically talented composer, and most of my problems with how his music on the show is used are not inherently his fault. i vastly prefer murray gold's music, but that's more a testament to how much i love murray gold than any amount of dislike of segun akinola. i'm excited both for gold's return to who and to see what akinola does next. if you prefer his music to gold's, i totally get you and i'm kissing you on the mouth. most of this is just personal preference!

sorry for how long this got. the doctor who soundtrack is, like, the ultimate autism topic for me. i'd love to talk more about it, feel free to send me asks or whatever anytime :3

#doctor who #doctor who soundtrack #segun akinola #murray gold #delia.txt

18 notes · View notes

lilywily143 · 2 years ago

Text

Murder Drones Theory Number 2

The First Theory

I think I have a better idea for how Uzi's flesh form could have happened and the program Absolute Solver. I think her mom was a prototype for a Murder Drone but didn't work and was discarded; sent to the planet so she would be killed by the better ones later one as a fitting punishment. A defective murder drone killed by perfect ones? How perfect~

I am not observant or the best at hearing, but I now know about Cyn, this fourth drone member. Thank you "things you may have missed" videos. So Uzi's mom probably isn't her unless she changed her name to distant herself from the Murderers. But I won't go that far.

But I feel like her being a beta drone with Tessa's attempt to make a drone more human-like by using animal flesh instead of using human bodies. But when that didn't work, Uzi's mom was discarded but survived without the humans knowing. How would they find out? It's not like she'd contact them.

I feel like this is how she may know about the program, Absolute Solver and what can be made by it. She had drawings of creatures Uzi accidentally made when she used too much of the program. She may have known when trying to practice being a murderer and maybe use the creatures for killing...?

I feel like that's also why the joke with 'the cool S' fits. That's a human classic graphic, so a beta drone made by Tessa and around her may have known about a lot of human things.

And small thing, I do like how too much Absolute Solver can really change a drone. Doll may be an exception, but she only used it for attacking. Not like Uzi who used it to hold a flashlight constantly or J who had no control of the program fixing her body in the first place, that was pure program which is why she didn't have a humanoid shape like Uzi with her control still there.

So that's my idea. This next bit is basically fan-fiction but it's a nice read, I hope.

Uzi's mom was a beta murder drone with more flesh that Tessa tried to make so Nori wouldn't be so closely regarded as a drone and have her represent the hate to drones more. Nori learns about tactics the humans wanted the murder drones to use on normal drones during her time with humans.

But she doesn't work. So she's sent to the planet as the defiant drone she is. So when the better drones are sent, she can be killed off by them for a perfect punishment.

When the new squad is made, the flesh is lessened by a lot. The leftover parts that Nori also had was the human hair and a tongue with a realistic saliva but with the healing addition that Nori doesn't have [otherwise Uzi would have that trait if slightly, maybe].

Whether Khan really knows about Nori's state or not may be talked about in new episodes. But I feel like he knows it [if it's true]. He is terrified of the murder drones because he know how absolutely nothing they are to Nori. She was a beta who couldn't hurt anyone, but these 'better' versions of his wife are so much more violent.

And Uzi now has some features of her mother and when Khan finds out, he may get scared again of Uzi's safety. If a 'weaker' murder drone could be killed by the most recent murder drones, then a kid who doesn't even have all the parts of the murderer since he helped build her with parts like his normal self definitely won't be safe if the drones turn on her.

At least that's what he'll think, Uzi knew how to go against V.

#LilyWily Post #murder drones theory rants #Murder Drones #body horror #Murder Drones Spoilers #murder drones episode 4 #Nori Doorman #Absolute Solver #Uzi Doorman #Khan Doorman #Doorman Family

23 notes · View notes

roseofhybrids · 1 year ago

Text

With episode 6 on the horizon, thought I'd jot down some random Murder Drones thoughts I've had over the last few months. Mostly just get them out of my head by chucking them into the void.

So back in episode 3 Doll gets shot and survives with no long term damage that we can see. Just telekinesises the bullet out and her visor heals. Yeva also got shot in head by V, but Yeva was very much NOT fine after. So what happened for the solver to keep Doll alive after getting shot but not her mom? Current theories: 1. The solver was weaker in the older drones in some way. 2. At some point, the solver was turned off. 3. The solver isn't duplicated when passed down, but rather gets removed from the parent

Also, from episode 3. The missing drone posters show the murdered prom queen candidates and lists their ages. Of the 5 girls, 1 is 18, 2 are 19, and 2 are 20. Now, sometimes a school will have one prom instead of separate Junior and Senior proms, which can explain the 3-year age range. But also implies that the drones graduate at 20 instead of 18. Current theories: 1. These drones got held back 1-2 years for whatever reason. 2. Drones starts school later, or are in school longer than humans typically are. 3(mostly an addition to 2). College level schooling is compulsory for drones and the prom includes college level students.

With Khan calling Uzi's banishment a self grounding and Thad saying he didn't think the colony was serious about the "whole banishment thing." My first assumption was that the colony doesn't actually banish people, but that Uzi just kind of assumed that's what they'd do and so tried to beat them to it. This is a head canon I hold on to purely for its comedic value.

Uzi listens to an MCR ripoff/parody band. Now, the human MCR's initial run went from 2001-2013 and the show takes place 3071 or 1060 years after the 2010's. To put this in perspective, this is the same amount of time between the 2010's and 950's, smack dab in the Middle Ages. All of this to say, that time wise, Uzi listens to the future equivalent of bardcore

We see J refer to Tessa as boss and her parents as corporate in episode 5, which makes me wonder. In the pilot when she says that corporate wouldn't let her kill N (without a good reason) is she referring to JCJenson or to Tessa?

Speaking of J, while N and V now have Uzi as their admin, J should still have CYN as hers. A fact that I'm sure won't come back to bite them later

Depending on how you look at it, N, V, and assumedly J, have, in a way, died and come back twice now (thrice for J after getting blowup with the rail gun). The first time after the failed deactivation when they came back as zombie drones. The second time, when CYN decapitated them in the basement and presumably turned them into disassembly drones. It's hard to say how much of episode 5 is literal, since Uzi and CYN are both messing with stuff. But N's severed head does have the fatal error message, which implies the drones kinda died before being turned into robot vampires. Which is pretty in line for both zombies and vampires, so.

So we've seen CYN make holograms, mimic voices, and create the parts used to construct disassembly drones. We've also seen J get revived in a form identical to how she was before Uzi shot her. And CYN claimed to have back-ups of N when Tessa was worried about him being destroyed. That could just be referring to her resetting his memories inside of the "dream", but in the real world, she did have access to said memories and the ability to edit/delete them. Now, I'm not saying CYN's gonna make some evil clones, I'm just saying she may have the means to do so and has already proved she can and will mimic loved ones to trick people.

We know Uzi pirates anime, and possible some other Earth/human media? But how much can we say the drones (especially the younger ones) really know about Earth? Do the older drones bother teaching them about it in school? Maybe some of the main stuff, but there are a lot of small things that wouldn't mean much to a robot on a different planet. As such, I'd like to believe a lot Uzi's assumptions about what Earth is like are based on cartoons and anime.

#murder drones #murder drones ramblings

2 notes · View notes

shinxeysartgallery · 7 months ago

Note

so tell me about your other planet colbat 7. is it like copper 9 where people gotta be in space suits all the time? what are the natural resources like? why did people go there? is cyn gonna eat it lmao

It's an exoplanet very much like Copper-9. In my AU, JCJenson took over a lot of exo-planets, some also similar, and others not. mainly to spread their influence across the galaxy and mine elements from said planet. In Copper-9's case, it's probably mostly copper that's mined from it, as implied by its name. Cobalt-7's mostly getting cobalt mined from it. There's probably one exoplanet for each of the precious stones and metals, but my AU only focuses on two planets (being Copper-9 and Cobalt-7).

I don't think people had to be in spacesuits constantly on Copper-9 prior to the core collapse. The humans we see in Episode 1 and Episode 7 are in what appear to be something more akin to hazmat suits, rather than spacesuits.

Understandable, considering all the blood and gore that they were seemingly exposed to on a daily basis in the labs. More evidence is seen in Episode 3. Uzi's, V's, and N's prom outfits were all canonically stolen from human corpses littered around the planet.

Uzi's skeleton is even holding a popsicle! If the air was as toxic to humans prior to the core collapse as it was afterwards, why would these skeletons be wearing normal clothing (and the one eating a popsicle out in the open)? It's doubtful people would be wearing these underneath a spacesuit (and since these clothes weren't damaged/decomposed at all, why wouldn't they have been wearing a spacesuit?). I think the air only got toxic to humans after the core collapse.

So based on all that, I believe Cobalt-7's atmosphere is similar, making it habitable to human life. I think they were both similar to Earth's climate, having some warmer and some colder parts to it. Cobalt-7 has a ton of natural plant and animal life, very similar to what you'd find on Earth. In addition to mining for elements, JCJenson was also studying the Solver. I still maintain my theory that the Cabin Fever Labs were created to experiment on Drones in order to study the Solver, how it spread, and find ways to counteract, harness, or outright destroy the Solver. In my AU, labs were put on each of the exoplanets, and several Drones were sent along with - some to be experimented on in the labs, and the others to help mine. Much like Copper-9, Cobalt-7 also has its own labs where Drones were experimented on and the Solver was researched. There were no labs on Earth and they were spread out amongst the exoplanets in the instance that something escaped or the facility were to be compromised - they didn't want anything to happen to Earth (it's okay if something happens to another planet though! lol what are ethics and morals?). Oops, guess that didn't help them in the end. If the Copper-9 labs were compromised or the planet destroyed, for instance, the Cobalt-7 (and other planets') labs would be there as backup. Each of the labs were connected to one another, so the scientists in the Cobalt-7 labs know what happened to Copper-9 and to Earth. This also means there's a backup of the Cabin Fever Labs' data on their servers. This is part of why Cyn is sending Disassembly Drones to each of the exoplanets.

I haven't gotten that far in my AU to develop it further, but there's vague plans to have Uzi's group find out about the backup and head to Cobalt-7 to retrieve the data. Also, in canon, it seems like the series is gearing up for Copper-9 to explode or otherwise be completely destroyed in Episode 8, so there's vague plans to include a bit of that as a plot point and get my OCs on there off the planet, too.

But anyway, that's a bit off-topic. Back to my AU.

In order to hide what they were doing, JCJenson sold seats on spacecraft and gave away free trips in raffles in order to send normal people to the exoplanets, too. With them doing this, it seems just like they're trying to solve population issues by colonizing other planets; why would you think they're doing something more nefarious? From the outside, people wouldn't think much of it or be overly suspicious of what they were planning. The general public didn't know about the labs, and normal people getting sent there to live helped to camouflage their existence. A few Drones were sent with them to further cover their existence as well. "What? You think they're doing crazy experiments on the Drones they're sending to the exoplanets? Naw, look! Those two Drones that boarded that spacecraft are helping that lady with her coffee shop!" Everyone, human and Drone alike, appeared to be accounted for, living a normal average life on the planets, according to the outside perspective.

Then the gala massacre happened... Then Cyn sent the Disassembly Drones to destroy Earth... Then she sent them to destroy the exoplanets...

Since we know now that the Solver wants to destroy (and seemingly consume) the planets, we can infer that once Cyn has finished her job with Copper-9, Cobalt-7 is going to be one of her next targets.

However, Cyn is a bit behind schedule with taking over Cobalt-7. She hasn't obtained a proper host to collapse the core there yet, so the humans are still alive for the moment. In order to speed up the process, she sent one of her abominations to try taking over, but that hasn't gone well yet, so she sent out a team of a Disassembly Drones to assist. But because she's so far behind, they've gotten a bit suspicious and are starting to ask questions...

Aaaaand that's about as far as my development has gone as of now! But yeah, Cyn is planning on destroying (and likely consuming) Cobalt-7 eventually, too.

I should write out a full, proper timeline for my AU when I've got the time.

#anon ask #shinxey's asks #murder drones #shinxey's ocs

1 note · View note

deluluass · 4 years ago

Text

What bliss, domesticity.

for: @tink2kagome. i’m sorry it took me so long to work on ur pretty setter squad request T^T i’ll probably do like another one in the future!

& @lady-tokugawa-of-mikawa @belpomme @chaichai-the-weeb for being such lovely mutuals <3 <3

Content warnings: rape/noncon; nsfw; yakuza/organized crime; gun mention; a lot of (non-sexual) food references in this one

Jun’ichi Saikawa was obviously the kind of man who liked to laugh. Not unlike most people in their world. The kind who use their entire body when they do, announcing to the entire world with a bellowing “Ha Ha Ha!” how pleased they are with whatever’s going on in front of them.

Which, in all honesty, was pretty admirable, that the old man could still do it considering how bored to tears Wataru was.

That it’s a humid afternoon didn’t help either. He could feel the sweat on his back even when the doors were already slid open, exhibiting a verdant garden filled with blossoms and shrub peonies. From his place he could see the school of koi swirling in the shallow pond, their scales iridescent under the warm rays of the sun.

“Didn’t know you were the funny sort, 'Kaashi!” Saikawa blurted out, the sake in his hand spilling to his fingers.

This wasn’t Wataru’s first day on the job, but this is the first that he gets to do something this important. And with someone he highly respects, too.

So he gave his collar a light tug, steeling himself to endure as he tucked his legs further beneath him, and resorted to thinking about the many things he would absolutely surrender just to lie down on the warm mat.

His car, maybe.

The brand new noise-cancelling headphones he bought, if pushed.

Wataru saw Akaashi nod.

“I appreciate a joke every now and then,” he said.

The larger man laughed again.

“Here, here!” Saikawa thundered, snatching a tiny, yellow box from the maid who appeared as swiftly as she’d left.

“I heard you like sweets. Here,” he said, grinning as he handed it to Akaashi. “My youngest son just opened a cake shop. I know what you’re thinking, but who am I to say no, eh?”

Akaashi passed the box to Wataru.

“Mind it for me, please,” he whispered.

How unexpected. Akaashi-san has a sweet tooth.

Huh.

That’s pretty neat. Wataru himself wasn’t partial to cakes, but he does love pudding.

“You are a good father, Jun’ichi-san,” Akaashi told him.

This time, Wataru didn’t bother suppressing a yawn as Saikawa fumbled for his phone, hiding it behind his hand as he stared at the birds chirping and hopping about outside.

“Wanna see him? He’s much like you! Good head on his shoulders, that one.”

“I am honored, Jun’ichi-san,” Akaashi echoed back, peering down at the photos Saikawa showed him.

“He sends me a lot of these- uh,” Saikawa snorted, his nose reddened by the alcohol. “What do young people call it, the- pictures-”

“Selfies?” Akaashi politely supplied.

“That’s the one! Look. Precious, ain’t he?”

His earpiece crackled to life.

Konoha’s voice emerged from the static.

“We’re ready when you are,” his senior murmured. “Man, this is taking too long. Let’s get some burgers when we’re done.”

“Akaashi-san,” Wataru croaked, feeling his cheeks heat up as he continued, “K-Komi-san and the others are waiting for you.”

Saikawa perked up. “Ah, of course! Of course!”

He stumbled when he attempted to stand up. Akaashi was quick on his feet to assist him.

“I knew I could count on you, son,” he muttered, patting Akaashi’s back. “Now, you tell Bokuto that what happened between us- it’s all in the past! All in the past! And if those bastards mess with him again, you tell him to run to old Jun’ichi!”

Akaashi clasped Saikawa’s hand.

“Thank you,” Akaashi said. “I’ll be sure to relay your sentiments to Bokuto-san.”

“You do that, my boy.” Saikawa’s belly shook as he laughed. “Your generation’s a smart one, indeed. The in-fighting and wars, bah! All that trouble for nothing; that’s not your style. Your lot’s the future now!”

Then, Akaashi stepped a few meters back and bowed.

Wataru followed behind him.

“We will be taking our leave,” Akaashi said. “It has been an illuminating talk, Jun’ichi-san.”

The sound of the bamboo drip trickling water into another stalk permeated through the silence.

It collapsed and clunked against a stone.

He heard the birds flutter away.

When Wataru raised his head, Saikawa had already been lying face down on the floor.

And, of course, Wataru’s used to it: the crack of a gun muffled by a silencer.

He’s been practicing his entire life, after all. He actually doesn’t flinch anymore and Wataru thinks he should be proud of himself.

It’s just that... how could someone who used to be there, suddenly...disappear? Saikawa was right in front of him a few minutes ago. Laughing and showing off photographs of his son. And now he’s...not.

But, Saikawa didn’t disappear. Not really.

The blood seeping through the tatami is proof of it, but Wataru chooses not to look. In theory, he knows what a bullet through the skull looks like. He’d just rather not see today if what he’s taught reflects true in the real world.

Maybe some other time.

“Wataru.”

Wataru flinched. “Y-yes?”

Akaashi looked back at him. “The cake?”

His body was still trembling and it took a lot of strength to not let it show in his hands when he gave it back to Akaashi, the box pleasantly yellow with doodles of doe-eyed eggs dancing along the handle. Unblemished, unlike Akaashi, who was sporting a splatter of blood along his cheek.

It’s surprisingly still cool to touch, too.

“No, thank you,” he said, rejecting the handkerchief that Wataru offered.

From afar, Wataru could hear the faint melodies of an old love song being played by a car radio. No doubt Konoha’s doing. It followed them, growing louder the closer they walked back into the parking lot. The others bowed and sent gruff salutations along Akaashi’s way as they dragged bodies out of the Saikawa mansion.

(It was nauseating and Wataru wanted to pass out.)

He pressed his nails harshly into the meat of his palm.

“A-Akaashi-san,” Wataru began. “I didn’t know that- that um, you liked... sweets.”

Akaashi halted.

“No, I don’t,” he said, blinking. “But my wife does.”

Wataru stared at him.

Akaashi went ahead.

He stayed that way— staring and wondering, until they stopped by the fast food restaurant that Konoha loved so much. Wataru couldn’t even finish his burger and fries.

By the time that they hit the freeway, Akaashi had already cleaned himself up and Wataru was still grappling with the word “wife.”

Of course he knows the man is married.

But, how, exactly, do you reconcile his reputation with the sight of him, every passing headlight sharpening his features, quietly humming along to Aki Yashiro? Who was longing for Shinjuku at night, the beauty of it, and oh, how wonderful it’d be, she said: a rendezvous with her lover, waiting for her under raining cherry blossoms.

Wataru figured that he was tired and starting to see things.

That small smile that graced Akaashi’s lips couldn't be real, either, especially those hands of his that held the box of cake like it’s worth more than gold.

He wasn't really particular when it comes to music. A song's a song, in Akaashi's opinion. Another form of noise that helps when the silence gets too overbearing.

But you, on the other hand, liked music. Listened to it the same way one eats their favorite food: memorizes the lyrics; goes out of your way to collect unearthed photographs and newspaper clippings that made the singer seem more human.

You loved music— was probably the right way of putting it.

Especially the old variety. He didn't get it at first. The sounds are dated; no one speaks in that language with that cadence anymore; the singer's probably dead.

Well, Akaashi still doesn't get it, if he were to be honest.

Yet here he is.

His hands were wrapped around your waist, coaxing you into a slow— albeit clumsy, waltz.

"Kei-kun!" you squeaked. "The dishes!"

You dragged your slippers beneath you, struggling to wipe the suds off your hands.

"S-seriously, Kei-kun..!"

Sure, he doesn’t fully understand what’s great about it, music.

Yet here he is.

Perhaps it’s because he immediately recognized the first few notes this time, that’s why he’s doing this. He didn’t even wait for the DJ to finish saying, “You’re still listening to Vintage F.M. Here’s a classic for you couples out there. Have a romantic night with Nat King Cole’s L-O-V-”

Perhaps it’s because your cream stew tasted extra special that it made him shrug the fatigue off, giving in to the urge of pulling you close and taking your damp hand in his to sway and bob along the skipping bassline. Your bashful objections went in one ear and out the other.

Sure, he’s not the type to do this, either, dancing.

Yet here he is.

Perhaps it’s because he knew that it’s your favorite song.

Perhaps it’s just what marriage does to you.

"Did you like the cake?" he whispered against your neck, inhaling the scent of cinnamon and the way your skin jumped as he did.

Your breaths were shallow against his chest, but you managed a soft, “Yes, sweetheart. Thank you.”

Akaashi caressed your back, kneading the tensed muscles as he huffed.

“Good,” he murmured, trembling. “Good girl. What a relief."

It was endearing, how offbeat the both of you were. A shame, though, considering that Nat King Cole’s fervently insisting on love; that it’s all that I can give to you; that it’s more than just a game for two.

So Akaashi makes up for his two left feet by joining in. He pressed his lips to your forehead. How strange, your presence in his life. What did he do to deserve you by his side, for this contentment that thaws away the chill?

(He put a ring on your finger, is what he did. He deserves this.)

“Two,” he droned, made giddy by the sparks in his belly, “in love can make it.”

You looked at him, wide-eyed.

“Take my heart and please don’t break it.”

He spun you around.

“Oh my god, Kei-kun,” you gasped. “You can’t sing.”

Akaashi’s aware of it all too well. He can’t carry a note; not him: the guy who’s had monotony ingrained in his very being. But that’s why he has you.

A startled giggle left you as he guided you into a box step, the trumpet rising and falling over the strings. You stepped on him a few times, so he lifted you up, just so, and kicked off your slippers. Then, he set your feet atop his own.

He took you with him as he moved, waddling and careful not to hit his back against the countertop. It came as no revelation that both of you weren’t any better dancers even after this maneuver.

Akaashi continued. Starting with L—

“Is for the way you look at me.”

“Stop, stop-” Your eyes crinkled at the sides. “You’re flat.”

Akaashi persisted, anyway, taking your cheek to pepper kisses all over your face.

“O is for the only one I see.”

Your laugh was airy— light and buoyant all over the kitchen, like a fairy leaving stardust in its wake. Not gratingly booming nor demanding. After all, you weren’t the kind who felt the need for it: an audience to witness how pleased you are; how strong and powerful you are over everyone else.

Besides, your laugh was just for him. A private and intimate thing. And he was so lost in it that he almost forgot what’s been gnawing at him for the entire morning.

Akaashi rested his chin on your shoulder, nuzzling the downy fabric of your dress as he gripped you by the hips.

“Where did you go earlier?”

The orchestra was in a joyous uproar, joining the rapid beating of your heart; the trumpet bright and clear, singing in harmony with the bass and saxophones and trombones, as Nat King Cole repeatedly guaranteed, as if an oath, that love was made for me and you.

Love was made for me and you.

“I had to buy some groceries!” you piped up. “We ran out of ingredients. Sorry, I forgot to bring my phone with me. Oh, I have to run you a bath. I’ll tell you when it’s done, alright?”

You broke away from him with a beaming grin, but Akaashi wanted to ask, despite the evidence of it before him.

“Are you happy?”

It has already ended, the song. The DJ was signing off for the night.

You nodded, playfully jabbing his arm with a fist.

“Of course,” you told him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Perhaps it’s because you were never really good at pretense, no matter how much you hid behind needless noise.

Music. Laughter. Running water.

Akaashi sighed as he slumped down the nearest stool.

Of course you’re happy. Why wouldn’t you be?

After rubbing his eyes with clammy fingers, Akaashi fiddled them together beneath his temples. He released a heavy breath and fished for his phone in his pocket.

He spoke after the first two rings.

“Wataru-san, I’m sorry for bothering you,” he said. “Can you do something for me?”

His subordinate didn't ask him why, neither did he react when he'd stated his request. Akaashi knew, however, that the question was sitting in Wataru's clipped replies. The boy’s “yes, sir” and “understood, sir” were far too enthusiastic than normal.

Akaashi didn’t mind, though, if he did ask. And despite that familiar pang of dread, Akaashi would answer him like the common— just like the average, everyday husband— with that characteristic, bordering on irksome pride that they have when they talk about their wives.

Why?

“Well, Wataru-san,” Akaashi would answer. “Perhaps this is just what marriage does to you.”

The house was a house like any other.

There was an old pickup truck parked outside the freshly painted gate, carrying crates of fruits and vegetables in its trunk. Along the bricked walls was an overgrowth of vines and ferns. It extended around the windows and crept up the balcony.

A large Shiba ran outside and jumped to your lap as soon as it saw you by the driveway.

Wataru heard Chiaki stir at the back of the car.

“Pay up, asshole,” he grunted, waking a disheveled Ryota who’s still holding a half-bitten melon bread.

His lackey cracked his neck and gave the scenery a cursory glance. “Could be a front.”

Ryota grumbled and went back to sleep.

“Idiot,” Chiaki clicked his tongue. “She traveled all the way to Miyagi just to give intel? And here? Of all places?”

Three days.

They’ve tailed you for three days. Akaashi-san never said anything else, besides that within the week, while he’s gone and sealing deals in another country, there was a high likelihood of you folding and getting out of Tokyo.

To run right here. In Miyagi.

He didn’t say why, really, but Wataru supposes it’s better that he didn’t. Because during the days of absolute, mind-crushing boredom, of watching some suburban wife go out for a morning walk, chat with her neighbors, and shop around the market, rinse and repeat, coming up with the Why had been their only salvation.

The betting pool has two answers: cheater or snitch.

Chiaki was insistent on the former, while Ryota stood by the latter.

And Wataru...Wataru could only watch, waiting with a bated breath as the door finally opened.

“I bet it’s someone younger,” Chiaki said. “Usually is.”

Seems that none of them were winning anything today.

The man who emerged from the house was far older— who, oddly enough, resembled you. An old woman soon followed behind him. Both of them looked at you as if they were witnessing a specter, or someone who's crawled back from the dead. An appropriate comparison, especially since they’re both wearing somber black clothes.

It wasn’t his place to assume. Though he’s been promoted to a slightly higher position, it will never come close to the place that Keiji Akaashi occupies. Wataru knows all of these, but nothing was stopping him from putting the pieces together, no matter what little he has.

They could only stare when all of you broke down into tears, locked in each other’s embrace as you knelt on the pavement.

Don’t let her stay too long.

That had been one of Akaashi-san’s orders.

So the three of them didn’t wait it out. By the time that the sun had set, Wataru had already stepped out of the car, taking Ryota with him. He made sure to remind the boy, just in case he’d forgotten.

“Be gentle, alright?” Wataru reiterated.

There hadn’t been any need for that, it turned out.

He’s sure you’ve never met before, but Wataru saw bitter understanding flash in your eyes when you caught them loitering in front of your house. Fear was there, too, of course.

Wataru was convinced that surely it’s a good thing. It saved everyone a lot of time, that way.

You didn’t even say a word, only giving Wataru a stiff nod when he’d introduced himself, and remained like so on the ride back to Tokyo, with the strap of your handbag trapped by a clenched fist. Wataru didn’t try to initiate small talk; it felt unnecessary.

It took a while for Wataru to realize that you also hadn’t bothered to change out of your pajamas, though he gave you a couple of minutes to say your farewells.

Pajamas, obscured now by a thick, gray coat.

Akaashi-san was right.

You had no plans of coming home. Not tonight. Maybe not for a while.

Wataru decided not to linger on it anymore.

He ignored the blank stare that pierced right through the rear-view mirror. And then, Wataru wondered, hand sweating in his pocket, what the three of them should have for dinner.

Thick chunks of pumpkin melted in your mouth with just the first spoonful of broth.

It'd been a while since the last time Akaashi cooked. So, more than anything, it was the sight of him setting plates and utensils that took you aback, greeting you with a, "Welcome home. You're just in time. Food's ready," his sleeves rolled to his elbows while donning your baby owl-printed apron.

The taste didn't. Surprise you, that is. He's a good cook. Unlike you, who only became marginally better one hundred burn scars later.

It also didn't surprise you that he flew back home at the drop of a hat. Even when he said he'd be gone for a week.

"How is it?" Akaashi asked after chewing. "Took me a while to make it."

It obviously did, you thought. When you arrived, Irma Thomas was already begging through the record player.

"Do you need me, like I need you?" she implored, straight from the heart. "Look at me, I'm crying from holding you."

The last song on your favorite record. It was cheap and had the best from the artists you loved.

Etta James. Ella Fitzgerald. Aretha Franklin. The Mills Brothers. Bessie Smith. All in one vinyl.

"Yeah," you replied, clearing your throat when you realized how hard it is to speak. "It's delicious."

You looked back down to your bowl. The tofu had gone untouched. Your food was still close to spilling to the brim, while Akaashi was almost finished with his, scrolling on his phone laid on the table.

"So no one coaxed you into it," you heard him say, and that had ripped your eyes away from the broth like a bandage on an infected wound.

Akaashi was holding your phone, reading the messages- his number was the only one there, as pealing bells resonated in the dining room.

"I'd think of all the things that I wanted of you," cried Irma Thomas. "To make me forget the pain that you caused."

"I would've known if anyone else talked to you, anyway," he huffed, locking the screen before blowing steam off the morsel.

"You would," you conceded. The tofu was soft when you bit into it, sinking into your teeth.

"I found that in our cabinet. Last time it was in the kitchen drawer, wasn't it?" Akaashi helped himself to a bowl of rice. "Don't leave it in stuffy places. What if you forget where you hid it and you won't know when I call?"

"And I can no longer keep track of where you are for every moment of the day?" you could hear him say. Though he didn't; though all that could heard, besides the scraping of utensils, was Irma Thomas declaring:

A fragile thing, like life. It just don't last so long.

It could be for a minute or an hour. Or then again, from now.

Your lips tightened with a grin. "I won't do it again, sweetheart," you said, spoon hanging limply in your hold.

He didn't need to say it.

That your phone has a tracker. That this house is still the same cage that it'd been before. That the only difference between then and now is that silver band on your finger.

Akaashi’s blinked back at you as he sipped what remained of the soup. You tried to do the same.

The savory taste was cloying and it burned in your throat, so you didn't attempt to finish the bowl. It cut down to your heart, sinking heavily on your stomach, bile rising as the song came to a close.

You gulped it down, though. You had to. And in the final moments, Irma Thompson told you what she really wanted.

"Make me forget," she said, "the pain that you'd caused."

The chorus joined her. "Understanding is a great thing," she concluded. "If it comes from the heart."

Akaashi was on his own phone this time. Most likely checking on the business that he left, judging by those furrowed brows and that long-suffering look in his eyes.

Fizzling noise came at the heels of the fading music. Then, it stopped. And there was nothing left anymore but silence.

It's over now. Akaashi’s making a move to clean up. You were supposed to say, "That was a lovely dinner, honey." Or, you could tell him to sit down and watch a movie with you when he's done.

"I'll help you with the dishes," you wanted to say.

I'll help you with the dishes. It was so easy to say.

Instead, what came out of your mouth was a hushed call for his name.

"Kei-kun," you repeated, brittle and weak and dry.

"I'm so sorry," you might've mouthed.

You could barely hear your own voice as you looked at him. Akaashi paused from tidying the table.

You're parched and a lot has happened today. Gathering the courage to take that first step out of the city had taken what little strength you had. The fear never left you. Seeing your old house almost ended you.

It should be physically impossible for you to still be able to cry. And yet there doesn't seem to be an end to your tears now, the same way your apologies unfurled in an embarrassingly infinite string.

"Don't lock me inside here again," you whispered, clinging to him as he shushed you, wiping your cheeks with his thumbs as he helped you drink a glass of water.

He carried you to your room and sat you down on the bed, right between his thighs. You sobbed into your hands, tears and snot on the sleeves of your pajama top.

"I- I just wanted to see them. That's all. Just one day, Kei-kun. One day. I was gonna come back, I swear."

You're rambling. You're a madwoman pleading and bargaining with a stone-cold judge because playing house is the only thing keeping her alive.

And you messed that up you foolish, foolish girl.

"Please don't hurt my family," you heaved. "They're all I have left."

Akaashi doesn't speak, not for a while, but when he did, you bawled harder.

"I can kill them all," he said, matter of factly.

It is true. Hearing him say it does not make it easier to take, though.

"I can hurt you the same way that you hurt me."

Your neck strained as he tipped your chin towards him with a slender finger.

"I can break you," he muttered, not batting an eye.

That, too, is true. You know it all too well. He said it with such serenity, still and undisturbed by the shaking of your head, because it goes without saying.

Except, you, too, know it.

When he is breaking. When he is falling apart.

He smothered you, taking your entire body to curl against you, making himself small as he pressed his face on your back.

"Yet- and yet I-" Akaashi sniffled. You felt your shirt dampen. "I've given you everything."

When he finally brought his face close to yours, he looked so lost. Almost like a little boy who's on the verge of drowning, clinging desperately onto a lifesaver and too shocked to shout for help.

You hated him all the more for it.

"Each other," he said, snarling, almost, through tears as he grabbed your face with both hands. "That's all we have left, you hear? You and I. Husband and wife."

He seized your jaw and turned it towards the vanity mirror.

The room was dark save for the light in the hallway, peeking into the crack through the doorway.

But you could see yourself. And you could see your hand intertwined in his, your rings gleaming like muted starlights.

"We made a vow," he whispered, kissing your ring finger.

A detached part of you is astonished with how inescapable it is. Whether it be a reward or a punishment; a good day or a bad one.

No matter what happens, you always end up like this, don't you?

Begging to him with your legs spread wide.

You did as you'd always done when he began unbuttoning your top.

You go back to that autumn morning, when you first laid your eyes on him, a cup of coffee in his hand, and you thought that he had the prettiest face you'd ever seen.

You go back to when he was just this really romantic guy who sent you flowers every day. There was a letter, every time.

Nothing too grandiose. Just short messages hoping that you'd have a great day ahead.

He kissed your neck, wet smooches and long, flat-tongued licks dipping down your shoulder.

He watched you through the mirror, his eyes a pair of darkened blues daring you to look away.

Akaashi Keiji was your boyfriend, you told yourself. You dated him for quite some time before you married.

Akaashi Keiji got along well with your father and doted on your mother. On Sundays, you visit them and they send you back to Tokyo with ripe watermelons.

Akaashi Keiji has never hurt you.

The man tracing the hem of your bra, cupping your clothed tits and drawing lazy circles over nipples, however, did.

(And he still will in future. He still is, right now.)

This man is the real one.

And you have angered him, so he will not make this easy for you.

"What did you promise me?" Akaashi whispered as he lightly bit the shell of your ear. "Or have you forgotten?"

Of course, you haven't forgotten. You were chained to this very room when you made them, after all.

"N-no, I remember," you said, catching your breath. "I remember, Kei-kun."

"Then say it," he said. "Look at me."

You shivered as his palms swept over your stomach; as he unfastened your bra, letting it fall down your arms.

"Look at me when you say it."

You felt your nipples harden, gooseprickles spread all over you, as the air hit your bare skin, cooling the sweat that made it glisten.

"Please," he rasped.

The eyes of the woman in the mirror was hooded, threatening to close as she puffed with each squeeze and caress to her tits, swiveling her hips against her husband’s crotch as he grinded into her.

"I will be happy," she said.

Akaashi nuzzled your temple, using his rough fingers to tease your nipples just as he did, brushing them to and fro, then grazing the bumpy skin around until you're squeaking out his name.

And when he began pressing down on the stiff peaks with his thumbs, before rolling and pulling at them, the heels of his palm digging into your tits, you saw the woman claw at her husband's hair, a graceless affair that almost scratched his eye out, making him reach for both her arms to wrap them around his neck.

"I- I will..!" Her lips parted in a breathless scream and it was disgusting how lewd she appeared. "I will not run away!"

The streak of tears on his cheeks touched yours when he kissed you. His lips were soft and warm, his wet tongue gliding in so slowly as he deepened the kiss with a throaty groan.

His other hand crawled down to your soaked panties. You couldn't contain the mewl that left you.

Both of you gasped and struggled to breathe again after you parted from each other.

"You understand, don't you?" he rasped.

Two of his fingers slid down your folds, only to slither back up, then down again, smearing your cunt with its own slick.

But he never touched your swollen clit, even though it's throbbing and aching to be rubbed and the hard bulge sitting between your ass grew harder the more you squirmed in his hold, whimpering like a bitch in heat.

You heard your husband sigh, his hot breath tickling you when he said, "This isn't about you now."

Belly pushed into the edge of the dressing table, rattling and battering against the wall with each forceful thrust, and your leg perched atop it, made numb by Akaashi's grip on your thigh.

That was the first thing that you could recall when you opened your eyes.

But your entire body was screaming in pain, so you knew that everything else that happened last night would come back to you soon enough.

The flesh had a memory of its own.

You sat up with a groan and you didn't have to see the marks to know.

His teeth were still nipping at you, biting you until they drew blood, only to follow with an apologetic lapping of his tongue.

You could feel him beneath you, his hands clawing you down to him, palms kneading your ass cheeks as you bounced up and down on his cock.

You could feel him above you, gripping your wrists not unlike the cuffs that once kept you shackled. He had your legs wrapped around his waist, pulling you close to him, filling you up with loads and loads of cum, squelching every time he sank down your weeping hole.

And when your vision began to blur at the edges, he carried your body, mere seconds into fainting, to the dressing table.

The evidence of that stared back at you in shameful streaks and smudges, traces of your fingers on the mirror when he rammed your cunt from behind.

"Are you happy?" Akaashi whispered.

You don't know.

When he's just your husband who comes home to your arms and brings you sweets because he knows how much you love them; who dances with you in the kitchen and listens intently to you when you talk about that cute dog you saw at the park, were you happy, then?

You don't know, but the woman in the mirror, in that moment, surely was.

She even said, "Yes, yes, Kei-kun, right there, fuck me right there!"

Her pupils were blown wide, eyes rolling almost over to the back of her head. And despite the cries that escaped her, there was a wide, dissipated smile on her lips, spit trailing down her chin.

"Look at you," Akaashi said, grunting when your walls tightened around his shaft. "You're clearly happy with me."

"So why? Why'd you even think of leaving?" He rocked his hips, grinding his thick cock against that spot that had you holding onto the mirror. "Don't ever do that to me again."

You told him no, no, you won't run away again, but it didn't seem to placate his unease, nor his tears.

"I'm so scared, everyday, that you'll leave me and- and- it feels like hell. I would rather die."

He kissed your nape as he huffed and said, "Because I don't know what I'll do without you."

You never really understood why; what about you had caused him to single you out in the sea of people that had vied for his attention. Especially now as you looked at yourself in the mirror.

There were dark circles under your eyes and Akaashi’s t-shirt was rumpled on your body, engulfing you whole with its size— a far cry from that lovely, dazzling bride that his best friend, Bokuto, had described you as on your wedding day.

But you’re aware, more than anyone, that Akaashi Keiji is the last person to care about appearances.

When he entered the room, carrying a tray in his hands, he gazed at that disheveled girl with eyebags big enough to be dragged around the same way he looked at her when he waited for her at the end of the aisle.

“I made you pancakes,” he muttered, clearing his throat as he sat down beside you.

You were tired so it didn’t dawn on you as quickly as it should that he made them the way you preferred. Four fluffy pieces stacked atop one another, sprinkled with powdered sugar, whipped cream and a smattering of berries on the side.

He fiddled with his fingers when you only stared at it, so you immediately took the fork in your hand and sliced the pancake in half.

“I’ll be taking some time off work,” Akaashi said as you took the food in your mouth. You only nodded, having noticed that he wasn’t wearing the usual bespoke suit as soon as he entered the room.

You felt him near you; felt his hand, warm to touch, cup your face.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” His eyes were misty and, this close, it seemed that he, too, wasn’t in a good shape. “So please-” Akaashi licked his chapped lips, “Please don’t go.”

“I won’t,” you replied, giving him the smile that you knew he needed. “I promise.”

Then, as you moved to kiss him on the cheek, the chains that tethered you to the bedpost clinked softly beneath the blanket, and you didn’t bother to keep the tears at the bay.

Akaashi wiped them for you when you said that you loved him. And when he asked why, you only shrugged and told him that the pancakes were so sweet that they could make anyone cry.

#tw noncon #tw non con haikyuu #akaashi x y/n #akaashi x female reader #Dark content haikyuu #yandere akaashi keiji

289 notes · View notes

wuxian-vs-wangji · 4 years ago

Note

So like you said, in the show they say flat out that Wei Wuxian didn't die, he was injured by the fall instead and the sacrificing curse used Mo Xuanyu's life force to heal him completely (even his scars other than the four slashes). Why do you think Nie Huaisang kept Wuxian in a coma for so long without trying to heal him?

Hum...

First off, highlighting this ask is about the S-H-O-W (that means *not* the novel)

So just to state it a little more clearly:: In Episode 42(?) when Wuxian unsheathes Suibian in the Jin treasure room, Jin Guangyao says he remembers an old scroll written by Wei Wuxian himself showing a spell in which “a severely injured person can be healed” by someone else’s sacrifice.

Making this change has a cascading effect on the story, since Wei Wuxian does not resurrect into a different body but back into his own (thank god, because we got to keep staring at Xiao Zhan an extra 19 episodes). In general what I think happened is that Huaisang was either instructed by Mingjue to stand in wait or that he just was watching from afar when the Battle of Nightless happened. If anyone understands the dangers of out-of-control resentful energy it is a Nie.

The writing was on the wall, they couldn’t stop Wei Wuxian’s death even if they wanted to. He was going to die sooner or later- by execution, suicide, his own magic destroying him, etc.

So the Nie- probably unknown to anyone else- were prepared to contain his soul and the resentful energy therein as they do their ancestors. No other sect deals with explosive resentful energy, it was always going to be on the Nie to handle that one (but not in a way the other sects know about because that would risk exposing the Saber Tombs).

Now, in the NOVEL- putting little clues together- it looks like Wei Wuxian was contained in a Spirit Trapping Pouch, like what Xiao Xingchen’s soul is contained in. He’s bound in some way- no one, not even Wangji, could reach him with any form of spirit inquiry.

So since his body wasn’t destroyed in the SHOW, context clues here say that Huaisang found Wuxian around the same time Jiang Cheng came down the side of the cliff to look for the body. Jiang Cheng has Chenqing at the showdown in Guanyin Temple- so he found the flute. Again, a Nie knows how dangerous resentment is, and they’re EXPERTS at containing spiritual weapons. That Huaisang took Wuxian but didn’t/couldn’t search thoroughly enough to find Chenqing suggests he was rushed.

Wei Wuxian was presumably on death’s door. He burned away the arrow wound to his heart, but I’ll dip to the novel to say that it clarifies that the Stygian Tiger Seal drains Wuxian’s spiritual power VERY quickly. Between that and just how long his attack on Nightless ran, the boy’s batteries were on empty and he probably couldn’t heal a granite belly-flop.

================================

So, Huaisang leaves with Wuxian’s body (probably with Mingjue’s knowledge because Huaisang couldn’t do this all on his own), then what happened? I straddle the line between two schools of thought on this one.

#1 :: Keeping him in a coma was the safest way to contain him

If Huaisang somehow froze Wei Wuxian so that his injuries neither healed nor bled out, it would be like entombing him in his own body. Generations of Nie went insane at the end of their lives and turned into violent rage monsters. Huaisang- and probably Mingjue because, again, you’d need the Clan Leader on board for this- wouldn’t look on Wuxian in the same light as the others because of Nightless. They don’t consider their father/grandfathers/etc. any less because of how their lives ended, they’d understand Wei Wuxian wasn’t the problem, the Yiling Patriarch was.

Wuxian was so lost and so powerful, he was going to be HARD to contain when he died. If that was possible at all. So while they looked for a solution or delayed the inevitable, it is safer to prevent Wei Wuxian’s death at all. If there is a way to freeze someone (that time stop spell Wuxian uses but on a long-term scale), they could pin him at his last breath to buy time.

Then Mingjue disappears, Huaisang keeps Wuxian sealed away, and eventually Mo Xuanyu brings up the sacrificing curse and Huaisang realizes that unleashing Wei Wuxian might be the way forward against Jin Guangyao.

******* Click HERE for my post arguing that Mo Xuanyu might be the original mastermind (Though “Fatal Journey” rendered some of it moot, the overall logic is still sound) *******

I also want to note just somewhere in this whole answer that Nie Huaisang seemed supremely confident that Wei Wuxian wasn’t going to go full Yiling Patriarch when he emerged, either because Wangji was nearby with baby Lan or he trusted that Wuxian wasn’t the monster he was painted to be. Either via a friend’s intuition (Huaisang never seemed to really fear him) or perhaps he had someone playing something like Cleansing over his body to make sure he was calming down. IDK, but the boy doesn’t seem worried in the least. He’s even right next door throughout the resurrection and Saber Spirit Attack, not worried about getting away from the crater in case Wuxian goes nuclear again.

OK, back to my answer---

#2 :: Sometimes they just don’t wake up

Xiao Xingchen had no will to live, even trapped in the soul pouch. Wei Wuxian was very much in the same state mentally.

Physically though, it might not have mattered WHAT his mental state was, he was simply too injured to ever regain consciousness on his own. Even if Huaisang tried from Day 1 to heal him, helped re-set bones and stitch his wounds closed, Wei Wuxian’s body was too shattered.

It is possible for someone to simply sustain too many injuries or suffer too great a trauma to wake up from a coma. It happens IRL too. People will even wake up after YEARS in a coma. So Huaisang might not have intentionally kept Wuxian out of it, he may simply have been unable to wake without massive healing work to re-set the body to where it was when it was first injured (like if Wuxian was brain dead).

I will say this theory has a flaw, IDK how fatal it is though:: Jin Ling isn’t dead yet, but Wangji still reaches his soul via Inquiry in the Saber Tombs. So if Huaisang healed Wuxian and just let him lay in a coma undisturbed for 16 years, Lan Wangji should have been able to reach him. I mean, even if it’s hard and the odds of success are terrible, he played Inquiry every single night for 16 years. Even a blind squirrel finds nuts sometimes (unless distance played a factor, or any other protections the Nie had up, which is why I say this may not be a fatal flaw).

===============================

**I do want to make a note about the Sacrificing Curse as a healing tool that wipes out ALL of Wei Wuxian’s injuries. Watch the Doctor Who two-part episode set “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” (from Season 1 of the reboot). Sorry, but to make my point I need to spoil the big twist:: The “monster” wreaking havoc on London during the 1940s Blitz is actually a crashed medical ship with healing drones who find a dead child but aren’t programmed to human DNA, so they create terrifying creatures with gas-mask faces because that’s how they think humans are (they save the child, don’t worry).

At the end of the 2nd part, the Doctor reprograms them with human DNA so they burn themselves out healing the individual people and turning them back to normal. There is a line where a physician is approached by a patient who shockingly says her long-missing leg has even grown back.

It is wrong to say the Sacrificing Curse healing all of Wuxian’s injuries- even his scar- is “convenient” (as some people did on a previous post of mine). I think it’s like the drones in the Doctor Who episode- you tell them to heal, they’ll heal abso-fucking-lutely everything that is imperfect or incorrect. Think about it- Wei Wuxian even got a Golden Core out of the deal. The curse used whatever it needed from Mo Xuanyu to heal Wei Wuxian. No exceptions. If he had a PAPERCUT it would treat it as an imperfection no different from a crushed skull.

A powerful healing spell like that is powerful precisely because it works on a massive scale. Mo Xuanyu was dying to save Wei Wuxian, so he was going to get his money’s worth. Yeah, Wuxian’s burn scar disappears. IDK why that’s so hard for some people to process when they can easily accept that he’s no longer puddle-shaped.

TL;DR:: IDK, but I’ve put a ton of thought into it.

#ask #long answer #Anonymous #mine #nie huaisang #mo xuanyu #wei wuxian #i've actually put very very little thought into this #most of this was off-the-cuff #my brain fills in and spirals out while I type which is useful when I'm writing but not great when I'm trying to answer an ask #in less than 150;000 words

132 notes · View notes

lillyblogs · 7 years ago

Text

[Insinuation 2.7]

(Sorry about posting these out of chronological order; I didn't have a Tumblr blog yet when I first posted this one. Also, consider my liveblogs of 1.1 -> 2.6 lost to the ether.) [Insinuation 2.7] Brian and Alec were good looking guys, in very different ways. Lisa was, on the sliding scale between plain and pretty, more pretty than not. So Taylor admits to checking all of them out and also to finding them all attractive. Undersider harem when? Bug Please don't stick please don't stick I still want her name to be something cool like Myriad, but there's bound to be something of a joke to it. Lisa, though, put one of her arms around my shoulders and gave me a one-armed squeeze of a hug. She was a little older than I was, so she was just tall enough to be at the perfect height to do it. What caught me off guard was how nice the gesture felt. Taylor is attracted to girls theory: Confirmed?????? Actually, I get the impression that Lisa is supposed to be this but it's not quite coming across right and makes it seem like she has a thing for Taylor. We passed a twenty-something artist and his girlfriend, sitting on the sidewalk with paintings propped up around them. The girl waved at Lisa as we walked by, and Lisa waved back. Guessing she's an important character, a cape probably, but not one of the Undersiders. Circus? Spitfire? IDK I know too few names at this point. Alternatively, that was Uber and Leet. If that's the case, Leet was probably the girl and Uber the artist. If Tattletale's really a hacker, it'd make sense for her to be friends with someone named Leet. I supposed they might have a TiVo, though I’d never seen one. TiVo?????? Seriously, though, the Undersiders have a pretty fucking sweet loft. Also, Alec's an artist apparently. Knowing young fiction, this will either be the only thing he talks about ever or he'll never mention it again. ```“I’m jealous,” I admitted, meaning it.

“Dork,” Alec said, “What are you jealous for?”

“I meant it’s cool,” I protested, a touch defensively.

Lisa spoke before Alec could reply, “I think what Alec means is that this is your place now too. This is the team’s space, and you’re a member of the team, now.”How all great friendships start.“Last time he went up against Shadow Stalker, he came back here and bled all over a white couch,” Lisa groused, “nine hundred dollar couch and we had to replace it.”

“Fucking Shadow Stalker,” Alec commiserated.OOOH! Shadow Stalker sounds like they might be a rival villain. (Part of Faultline's group, maybe? Or perhaps the Empire, though the Undersiders don't seem to have major issues with them yet.) Can't wait to see them.Brian came back from the other end of the loft, raising his voice to be heard as he approached, “Rache’s not here, and neither are her dogs. She must be walking them or working. Dammit. I get stressed when she’s out.” He approached the couches and saw Alec sprawled on the one.OK now I'm 99% percent sure Brian and this Rachel girl are a couple, or he wants them to be. Or alternatively, she really is a mass-murderer with a dog fetish and that's why he's worried. Either way, isn't her identity public? If so, _why_ does she walk her own dogs, instead of having the other Undersiders do it for her? Indication of obsession? Possessiveness? Or maybe they have someone who can disguise people; Regent, maybe? Not sure if it would fit with his name, though. Regent, to me, suggests he might be part of some sort of Parahuman lineage (not sure how far back it could possibly go, since didn't Scion only appear in the 80s?) and that his power is _really fucking good_. He's their heavy hitter, the one who packs the most punches. Maybe he's a mini-Superman, complete with the "powers as the plot demands".“We’ll get you one,” he said, like it wasn’t even a concern. It probably wasn’t. “We generally haul in anywhere from ten grand to thirty-five grand for a job. That gets divided four ways… five ways now that you’re on the team.”Sounds like Taylor will be rich very quickly; she'll probably be against spending the money at first but give in after a little. She is the Queen Of Slippery Slopes, after all. In fact, I suspect the Undersiders are aware of that, b/c of Tattletale and are actively baiting her into falling all the way down and becoming a villain. However, they probably won't like the new, unrestricted Taylor Hebert.“I do know everything,” Lisa said, “It’s my power.”Still thinking superpowered hacker, possibly with some sort of tinkery flavor to it, with a probable focus on spying on and tracking people.“What?” I said, interrupting Brian. My heartbeat quickened, though I hadn’t exactly been relaxed to begin with, “You’re omniscient?”

Lisa laughed, “No, no. I do know things though. My power tells me stuff.”

Swallowing hard, hoping I wasn’t drawing attention by doing so, I asked, “Like?” Like why I was joining their team?

Lisa sat forward and put her elbows on her knees, “Like how I knew you were at the library when I sent me the messages. If I felt like it, and if I had the know how, I’m sure I could have figured it out by breaking into the website database and digging through the logs to find the address you connected from, but my power just let me skip that step like that.” She snapped her fingers.Damn it. I was wrong, wasn't I? But honestly that's a _horrifying_ power; she just _knows_ things she shouldn't. Like "everything about everyone ever", apparently. Perhaps it's some sort of weird form of clairvoyance; her power sees everything going on at once, but she can focus it on a specific person/area and it'll relay whatever it finds to her for her to make sense of with her deductive skills. Like having an omnipresent, invisible and intangible drone. Heck, maybe she's lying and she's just a Tinker with a specialty in surveillance and cloaking; would certainly explain how Rachel's able to regularly go outside, seemingly.Not giving him a chance to reply, she turned to me and explained, “My power fills in the gaps in my knowledge. I generally need some info to start from, but I can use details my power feeds me to figure out more stuff, and it all sort of compounds itself, giving me a steady flow of info.”Honestly I'm not entirely sure what she means by this, but it definitely seems like _every single one_ of my guesses as to her power was wrong.Lisa’s smile widened, “I’ll admit I cheated there. Figuring out passwords is pretty easy with my power. I dig through the PHQ’s digital paperwork and enjoy a little reality TV by way of their surveillance cameras when I’m bored. It’s useful because I’m not only getting the dirt from what I see, hear and read, but my power fills in the details on stuff like changes in their routine and the team politics.”At least I was right about her tendency to spy on people. And the PHQ's the _Protectorate_ ENE HQ, right? So essentially where the heroes work, and possibly live. Makes sense that Taylor wouldn't want to join the Wards if it's actually like that; she rather seems to enjoy having _something_ of a normal life and the ability to just go home and get away from this, to just be her father's daughter for a while. (Angsty plot twist: He's actually her stepdad, in addition to being a cape (maybe Armsmaster if he isn't a villain; tinkers seem sufficiently bullshit for that to work, and he was relatively nice to Taylor, if a bit businesslike-- _just like her father_.) and she learns both of these secrets at an inopportune time (perhaps after her first mission with the Undersiders?) and ends up leaving him and her civilian ID behind and moving in with the Undersiders full-time.)she grinned her vulpine smileNo way this isn't a fandom meme. Honestly, this just feels like such a memetic phrase and Wildbow _just keeps using it_. There are other ways to call someone sly and mischevious that don't involve how foxlike their smile is. Still thinking she's going to end up with Taylor, eventually and probably only temporarily. Unless she's also a double-agent. Would explain why she hasn't been the nicest to Taylor (she went out of her way to mess with her...), despite seemingly wanting her to join the team and seemingly caring about her. Grue, Alec and Rachel probably aren't going to double-cross the team, however. They seem like they're actually villains, albeit probably sympathetic ones. I can't wait to hear how despite seeming to only be in it for the money, they all have tragic backstories. Actually, perhaps having a tragic backstory is part of gaining powers; Taylor's got a lot of trauma and the Danny interlude did suggest that things turned from idyllic to tragic rather fast. And logically speaking, it makes sense that the villains would all have a lot of mental trauma; they're the people who society has chewed up and spat right out. Calling it right now that every Undersider is some kind of minority or other oppressed group: Brian: Black, possibly not straight. Possibly a single (adoptive?) parent? He seems close to the other Undersiders, so it doesn't seem like he'd live away from them by choice. If he's got a kid who he's desperately trying to keep away from this, things suddenly make sense. Or maybe a little sister/brother (I'm leaning towards sister), if he's too young to even be adopting children? Either way, he's definitely doing this for someone else's sake. If said person is old enough (i.e. 13+; I don't think the Undersiders would employ such a small child), they'll probably join the Undersiders after a few arcs of melodrama. Or if they're not, they'll do it (complete with the melodrama) after they grow up. Which Wildbow may only do so they can be paired with whichever Undersider doesn't get paired up, since I'm 100% sure they're going to end up a set of three couples, instead of a proper team of five. Bonus points if this hypothetical sister thinks Brian's a hero before learning the considerably more unsavory truth. Alec: He's definitely either gay or bi. There is no way that boy is straight. Also, he's got a French name, which is a pretty good sign he's going to be a Flamboyant Gay, especially if he picked it for himself. Lisa: A woman, also gay (probably). Possibly asexual, maybe? (She's definitely not aromantic, though; there needs to be at least something to use for shipping bait and "will-they-or-won't-they" tension, as Worm is basically YA.) Rachel: Maybe she's transgender? I'm guessing here. Didn't Taylor describe her as unladylike in appearance or something like that? Also possibly a butch lesbian* / gender non-conforming in some other way. *If she's a lesbian, Tattletale isn't one. It's a rule of how these things work. Though in that case, Tattletale wouldn't be a proper token character and would instead exist as a plot device / excuse for exposition and probably only exists to avert the Smurfette principle.They didn’t get a chance to tell me. I heard barking from downstairs. A matter of heartbeats later I was standing, three paces from the couch. Three snarling dogs had me backed against the wall, drool flying from their mouths as their teeth gnashed and snapped for my hands and face.``` Rachel can't control her dogs = confirmed? Or maybe she's a bit more unhinged than I was thinking, or both? I'm currently thinking that she's actually the sweetest and most innocent of the Undersiders, appearances be damned (it also makes her alias of "Bitch" rather ironic), but I could be extremely wrong. Since she works with dogs, she also probably has some skill as a vet, and probably acts as the Undersiders' medic as well.

I'm also starting to think that the Undersiders are using their actual names, and that they really do trust Taylor. Unless they're all lying about their names to each other as well as to Taylor, though they seem too much like fire-forged friends for that.

#worm #worm serial #wildbow #worm wildbow #parahumans #liveblogging

2 notes · View notes