#line of dialogue no. 5

[rain-candles-jazz]

Whumptober 2023 Day 5

"It's broken."

tw: referring to humans as objects, medical pain

The base commander leaned down to stare through the one-way mirror, down into a testing room painted walls to floor in a grid. On this floor grid, a human-shaped form lay, coated in a dark blue uniform.

The air condition in the observation room was all that could be heard. Dr. Gilmore felt himself growing more and more nervous the longer the commander said nothing.

He had been part of the 00 project for long enough to know that few things went perfectly when combining biology and synthetics, but he had come to expect a certain level of understanding about this from those above him. This latest project was testing that level, and Gilmore had spent many a night wondering what level of responsibility he felt for it.

The subject code-named 004 had been a rough case from the start. The project’s need for secrecy meant that no one had their first choice of test subjects, but this one had arrived terribly wounded, nearly dead. At the time, Gilmore saw it as a wonderful opportunity to help this man, to give his battered body back a functionality it might never have again with traditional medicine. He had imagined the scientific strides they’d make in nerve, limb, wound recovery, contributing to the medical sciences, the biotechnology possible to help victims of trauma and disease…

Unfortunately, his heady ideas at the time had failed to consider two things: 004’s mental and emotional state, and the Black Ghost organizations disinterest in anything other than weapon development.

These two factors had contributed to Gilmore and the other scientists compromising on what was added to 004’s design… everything added or fixed required a way for the modification to be deadly. The more these compromises were made, the more frequent Gilmore’s nightmares had become.

He was never under any illusion that Black Ghost was a philanthropic institution, but he had always hoped that his involvement with the organization would be able to steer it in a better direction. More disabling rather than deadly weapons; more shields, walls, armor for those in harms way; transportation technology; surveillance - these were the things he had tried to put more effort into. The 00 program, he had told himself, was meant as a deterrent - a way to ward off wars. No one wanted to fight a battle when the other side was manned by robot soldiers, right?

004 had forced him to come to terms with all of this. 004 was built back to be a weapon and nothing but. 002 and 003 had recon and surveillance capabilities: they were supplied with guns, sure, but 004 *was* a gun. Blades and machine guns and missile launchers had been built into him. Gilmore could not justify any of it.

These modifications had long been decided and implemented. 004 was still healing from the multiple surgeries these “remodels” had necessitated. He had been given a thorough physical just this morning and been cleared for a basic test of his progress.

And yet… there he lay, prone on the gridded floor, blank eyes staring straight ahead.

Finally, the commander straightened back up without breaking his gaze from the room beyond. “Hmph…. It’s broken!”

Gilmore stepped up next to him and glanced between him and 004. “Um… if I may, sir: He’s a human, not a robot. No one is ‘broken’-“

The commander leered over him and sneered. “IT,” he emphasized, “is a cyborg, and right now, its not working.”

Gilmore stammered, “He-It-it *can* work, sir, it-it just… he doesn’t *want* to-“

“Gilmore, what are you talking about?” The commander was obviously annoyed and not terribly interested in listening to some bookish scientist preaching about ethics or guns with feelings. “I had to clear my morning schedule to come and check up on your little pet project, and all you have to show for the astronomical R&D budget is-“ he flailed an incredulous hand at the seemingly lifeless cyborg in the next room. “That!”

Gilmore lowered his head as the commander turned to go. “I just don’t know how much longer we can indulge these expenditures, Gilmore.”

After he marched out of the room, Dr. Gilmore turned back to look at 004 for awhile before typing the code that allowed him in the room. He strode over, noting that at no point did 004 even acknowledge his presence. *He looks like he just got run down by a truck*, Gilmore noted about his pathetic position on the floor.

Staring down, Gilmore felt more than a little frustrated: though he didn’t like the direction of the project thus far, he knew 004 still had potential, and his performance today wasn’t going to help anything.

“004, you could have at least tried to hit a single target. This behavior isn’t going to get you any more help you know.”

004 was silent for a minute. Nothing changed about his demeanor when he responded, voice quiet and hoarse. “Everything hurts…”

“You had a full physical this morning,” Gilmore sighed. “Your chart mentioned nothing about pain.”

“They didn’t ask,” 004 replied.

The Doctor grimaced and bent down, reaching for 004’s metallic hand, lying softly beside him, intending to inspect the limb for malfunction.

He only had time to mumble a quick, “No-“ before the slightest touch from Gilmore made 004 breathe in sharply and yell.

Gilmore fell back in surprise and felt all of his annoyance float away. 004 was breathing heavily, now tense on the floor and seeming to struggle to wait for his nerves to calm down. Gilmore shook his head, concerned. “I-I’m sorry 004,” he spoke softly as 004’s breathing regained some regularity. “No one told me” He made a mental note to make sure he was alerted to any further discomfort from the cyborgs. “I’ll get some analgesia,” he stood quickly and turned to head to his lab.

Before he got too far, however, he heard the door on the other side of the room shift open. A pair of heavily armed guards entered and headed straight for 004.

“No wait!” Gilmore moved to stop them. “He’s having a reaction, he’s very painful-“

Before he got any further, 004 was roughly grabbed up by his arms. Gilmore cringed as he yelled, being dragged roughly back to his holding cell, not fighting at all in a vain attempt to remain as still as possible.

“Stop!” the Doctor yelled, still trying to catch back up to the guards.

He heard a truly heartbreaking sob from the cyborg, just as the door closed. Gilmore was left standing alone in the gridded room, feeling suddenly drained…

[floweroflaurelin]

BigB is making me lose my mind.

—

My buddy @salemoleander made a post going over all the weird stuff with BigB’s unusual Secret and it got my mind racing. The red icon... The isolating, grindy, antisocial task... The strange phrasing… Makes you think 👀

(Even if it turns out to be nothing I WILL be headcanoning lore about it hehehe)

[axoqiii]

☕️🥞 sketch dump

[qwakque]

beach o(-(

[jmgangel]

I’m going to be entirely honest with you: I hate you. Your deft handling of your unfortunate circumstances, your uniqueness, your ability to surpass me—all these irritate me… You’re the one person I refuse to lose to (Affectionate).

[deku-verde]

“Is This A Date?” Part 2

(part 1)

the end~

[pass3ra]

cressida's storyline was genuinely shameful tbhhh it's like they started rewriting it in the first half of the season then completely forgot about the changes they'd made to make it fit the book plot and it just ends up making everyone else look bad😐 every character in the second half got a "penelope did nothing wrong" lobotomy so we ended up with eloise completely ignoring cressida being sold off to an horrible man (when she made every effort to support her in the first half of the season) and for some reason resenting her for pretending to be lady whistledown? Then they somehow frame her ignoring colin's offensively bad pleas as it being her turning away from redemption when all she's trying to do is escape being trapped in the country with her likely abusive aunt... and it ends with her meeting her horrible fate and it still being framed as tragic only to immediately juxtapose it with the bridgerton family winning the idgaf war while gleefully seeing off francesca and her future dead husband. The bridgertons were the villains of the season frfr

[katagawajr]

“No matter where I may be, I’ll always come running to lend you my aid.”

[qtubbo]

Did you guys know morning crew would kill for each other did you guys know that ☺️ did you know they are so very family did you

[inafieldofdaisies]

15 Lines of Dialogue Tag | Tagged by @la-grosse-patate @g0dspeeed @direwombat @aceghosts @sofrosine @nightbloodbix @kyber-infinitygems @corvosattano @voidika @thesingularityseries

Deputy Sabrina Donovan | WIPs: In Hope of Tomorrow / A Trial of Errors (AU; Lines 9-15)

1. "Who the fuck ties a person to a chair on wheels. Did they rob an office?"

2. Sabrina narrowed her eyes, the corners of her mouth twitching, "Did someone try to drown you, Seed?"

3. "Yep. I'm still here, didn't teleport through the steel walls, ain't going anywhere, so you can fuck right off." She waited for his footsteps to recede, but they never did, "Like seriously, you're now gonna watch me while I sleep? Fucking creepy."

4. "It was either the radio or I start singing off-key, and I doubt you'd like that."

5. "I will have you know I've been throwing knives since I was 15,", she nodded towards the knife block at the counter, "keep talking and you would find out my actual aim."

6. "Your face is kind of hard to forget." "Was that a compliment, Deputy?" Sabrina rolled her eyes, "You wish."

7. "Are you taking us there?", she repeated, her voice taking an edge, "You have to know, I won't let you take HER."

8. "Didn't strike me as a lace type of girl, Deputy. Are you taking that one, too?", he cocked his head, eyes darkening as he examined the piece. "Oh, you know, I have to win the Miss Universe competition somehow."

9. Her hazel eyes shone as she let out a laugh, "If I had to bet, I'd say you'd be the one getting cold, Mr. Duncan, stolen clothes and all that. I feel like I can skip on asking to see what you're wearing." "Ouch.", he rubbed at his chest at the jab, "That one hurt." "Too soon?"

10. "And you're alone?" "No. A whole harem of guys is keeping me company, actually. They're currently fighting who will be sleeping on my tiny bed, and who's taking the ground, pillowless. A true form of punishment, I tell you."

11. "I'm dealing with a… situation." Her expression was unreadable, "I can see that." "Roughly estimated, how much did my chances sunk with?", [John] asked, flipping back to the view of his face. "Who says they did?"

12. "There's a bat.", he whispered like the creature would hear him and put an end to his game of hiding. "A rat?", she echoed incorrectly. "Sure, Detective,", he hated how his voice shook even as he spoke quietly, "but the type with fucking wings."

13. "Soo..", she began slowly, "why are you without pants? Don't tell me they got stolen while you slept… was it the bat? Should I call Stockton? Though, I think crimes committed by animals are out of his jurisdiction, you can probably vouch for that."

14. "What were you doing up so late?" "A girl has to have some secrets, John."

15. "You could always march over there and threaten to sue them for harassment… Your poor ears would thank you." "Don't tempt me. Because we might end up with a different situation on our hands." She raised an eyebrow, "Them asking you to join?", all he could do was blink as she laughed quietly, "Kidding. Oliver isn't rubbing off on me, I promise."

Deputy Calahan Hartley | WIP: In Hope of Tomorrow

1."I WILL GIVE YOU PURGE, YOU FUCKERS! What timing to be out of dynamite."

2. ["You ready to work?"] "As ready as I can be after crash-landing, almost drowning and getting shot at. Just another Monday, really."

3. "I'm not a leader, chief, hell, it's a miracle I'm still a Deputy. Fuck. Am I even one anymore?"

4. "Zorro will be on his best behavior, I promise. You won't even notice he's around. Plus… he gives mean foot rubs." "Rookie.", disbelief seeped into [Mary May's] tone. "Fine. The foot rubs were a lie. Though, I can take up on that task." "You ain't coming anywhere near my feet, Rookie."

5. "I couldn't leave him behind, gorgeous. He's my son." A huff escaped her, probably at the pout he followed his words with, "He's a raccoon."

6. "One day, you're gonna realize what you're missing, gorgeous. And I won't be looking for payback for these insults. Too much."

7. "Your plan.", Leslie corrected him, "That you devised after getting drunk yesterday." "Most of my plans are conconted that way, chief."

8. "Oh, Leslie, bold and brave, agree to march over to Johnny's GATEEEE…", Hartley sang over the usual lyrics, meeting Zorro's dark gaze, "He looks like John, right, my boy? Even the universe agrees, Parish."

9. "Good old Joseph, oh, how he'd lose his mind if he learns 'God' has been showing visions of his brother fornicating to someone else, he'd probably die from the shock before I have the chance to kill him."

10. "I'm having the worst time of my life here. Humor is what keeps me going, besides Mary May's hidden stash… and well, my anger."

11. "You have the hots for [John], and me… I want to turn him into a human creme bruleee. Two types of people, Gray."

12. "[John]'s been calling me daily, I'm leaving him some friendly notes in return. The start of a beautiful friendship."

13. "Hope you don't mind sitting in the back. Zorro loves riding shotgun."

14. "Go meet your God, tell Him I will send Joseph soon, too."

15. "You're in a bar in Montana.", Mary May rolled her eyes and set a new empty glass in front of [Sébastien], "Closest you'd get to me making you tea, even at lunch is serving you lukewarm water with some of my spit in it. Organic. So count yourself lucky." Calahan leaned in, whispering loudly, "Also known as blatant disrespect. Which I would advise against. Though, I'd take her spitting in my drink anyday."

Tagging, @socially-awkward-skeleton @strangefable @strafethesesinners @purplehairsecretlair @finding-comfort-in-rain @dumbassdep @josephslittledeputy @marivenah @josephseedismyfather @trench-rot @simonxriley @wrathfulrook @shellibisshe @gearvmac @amalkavian @cassietrn @carlosoliveiraa @simplegenius042 @onehornedbeast @theelderhazelnut @katsigian and anyone that would like to do the tag <3

[jinxed-ninjago]

you might think the funniest thing to me about jay's appearance in dragons rising is the fact that they gave him, a notoriously hyperactive ball of anxiety, a desk job, but it's actually the fact that when he shows up they make it seem like he's gonna have a massive role in the last 3 episodes of the season but he shows up for 20 seconds, immediately goes back to his office to keep playing video games, and is never seen or heard from again

[emostunttwink]

help, i totally forgot about the youth pastor!maruki au

transcription: If your situation ever becomes too painful to endure, remember: it's okay for you to escape your problem.

I don’t want a single one of you to think that an unfair reality you've been forced into is the only one that you have to live...

You can be reborn through Christ’s Love.

He died so that we can have an eternel, everlasting life free from pain and suffering. A perfect reality.

All He requires is your belief in Him.

[iridescentmirrorsgenshin]

I love all of your analysis of these two losers ❤️ I have yet to read the full essay (soon! I just need time) but have you done a part on this NPC who talks about (supposedly alhaitham) a big guy buying crates of wine and muttering something about it being enough for an apology?

I can't remember exactly where but it was a merchant in either sumeru city or port ormos. I'm leaning on the city and possibly in the inner market near the theatre. I'll try looking tomorrow and send you another ask

Hiya! Thank you so much for your ask! I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying the haikaveh brainrot hehe, we’re all in the basement together! <3

I know the one you’re referring to! This should be it, it’s from a vendor in the Grand Bazaar:

I didn’t mention this in the essay because of it being speculatory, but I’m more than ready to speculate here. I agree, this is most likely an inference to Alhaitham, not only considering his status as a Mahamata but also due to the fact that it’s an integral part of Alhaitham’s character that he prefers to be unknown. Even when he serves as the Acting Grand Sage, people don’t typically recognise him due to how little known he is despite his primary role as the Grand Scribe, as seen in his story quest. This would align with why the vendor admittedly has no idea who this particular customer was.

Drinking, particularly wine, can also relate to both Kaveh and Alhaitham, as this is an activity they both partake in together. Alhaitham’s voice-lines express that he likes to have a drink after work, along with his demo showing him drinking wine with Kaveh, Cyno and Tighnari, and him apparently stealing Kaveh’s beer in A Parade of Providence. Similarly, Kaveh also states his preference for drinking in his voice-lines, as well as his overindulgence in this hobby being highlighted in his hangout. Additionally, the furniture item ‘Monthly Frustration Be-Gone’ references Kaveh buying expired wine in order to get a discount.

Since this is an NPC conversation, it’s also worth noting other external worldbuilding details, such as the bulletin boards of Sumeru. In the three exchanges Alhaitham and Kaveh have, all of them reference drinking in some way, in that Alhaitham typically indulges Kaveh by paying for his tabs – revoking this only when they have a disagreement. Lambad also notes that Alhaitham and Kaveh go drinking together, as well as Kaveh picking up wine ordered by Alhaitham.

Alhaitham buying wine for Kaveh to make up for some disagreement between the two aligns with all these established details. When considering the typical exchange of Alhaitham refusing to pay for Kaveh’s drinks when Kaveh disagrees with Alhaitham’s views, it makes sense that it would also work in reverse – as in, when Alhaitham trespasses on Kaveh’s views which leads to Kaveh’s upset, Alhaitham would buy him drinks to make up for it

Alongside this, character description wise, there is no other convincing contender as to who else this could be? Alhaitham uses the tall male model, and is the only tall, relevant member of the Mahamata that the player is aware of.

Given all these context clues the game gives us, I’d say, yeah, this is our resident loser Alhaitham!!

If I’m honest I think about this dialogue a lot :DDD so thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about it hehehe I hope you enjoy the essay when you find the time :’) <3

[isaacathom]

i have genuinely so many thoughts about how the book Lieutenant Hornblower was adapted and how most of the changes work, when accounting for the fact it must necessarily leave Bush's POV in order to work as television, and how those changes end up fucking over Bush's character in the movies, and how he was further pilfered by the series' decision to maintain characters like Styles and Kennedy. There is so much going on in there. Unfortunately, I don't yet own a copy of Lieutenant Hornblower, and having to constantly borrow it from my library is a faff and prevents me using post its to mark important passages. :(

[estellaestella]

The only bright spot in MAESTRO is Carrey Mulligan. Cooper's LB is all surface, no substance. Matt Bomer does more in his 5 minutes of screentime than Cooper does in the whole movie.

The movie covers smth like 50 years of Leonard Bernstein's life and even though it namechecks a lot of his achievements, i didnt get a sense of the person at all. Its more infodump than entertainment. There's some lovely camerawork in the b/w part of the movie (first 30 minutes?) but that's about it. Kinda sad that Bradley Cooper cdnt deliver another beautiful musical film like A STAR IS BORN. His instincts were so much better there. This felt like a mess. A powerpoint presentation of a movie.

[topherbutts]

finished the season. why does he do that