#one piece chapter 1010

[whipped-bean]

Working on a little something something :3

[algumaideia]

Law is amazed at Luffy power

Poor Zoro :(

Luffy will kick Kaido ass

[beaulesbian]

🌘☀️ Some thoughts on Zoro & Luffy and their connection to gods and demons☀️🌒

This post started at first with just a few points about Zoro in the context to Asura/ King of Hell but since then it somehow evolved into connecting bits and pieces between Zoro & Luffy parallels again, I just can't help it, sooo...long post ahead.

Wano + Egghead spoilers

I always love remembering this one of the very first scenes where we (and Luffy) first hear about Zoro, and in the context of Zoro being a Pirate Hunter, even described as a demonic beast or as Koby says "demon in human form." None of this discouraged Luffy upon hearing this, on the contrary - he thought that if he sees for himself if Zoro was a good guy, he would be a great addition to his crew, and then went out of his way to seek him out! And only later we got the explanation that Zoro just couldn't find his way back home. "Roaming the seas" meant surviving for him, bounty hunter meant getting by in life with the skills he knew the best - swords, which is kind of sad when you think about it, but all the more interesting that it was Luffy who found him in Shells town,

where Zoro, a nonbeliever of any gods of higher power, was bound to a cross, and the first thing Luffy pointed out was "he's smiling".

I like to think that the smile might have been one of the first signs important enough for Luffy to choose someone for his crew - not only the kindness that followed when Luffy saw Zoro eating the dirty rice ball, but the smile that's by itself also very connected to Luffy himself:

After that first fight they won together, already reading each other so well, Zoro was the first one to call Luffy his captain (and later at Baratie also the first one to call him the future Pirate King!). He was someone who already fully believed in Luffy's future of reaching his dream without questioning it, perphaps because their drive towards their goals and dreams was very similar. And Luffy was the one who freed Zoro and let him have his swords - his biggest treasures - and gave him back the possibility to go into the world to actually follow his dream!

"One day, he'll show up and take you out under the sun, to the freedom of the sea!" - ch. 1095, Buccaneers about Sun God Nika (flashback with Kuma)

Fast forward to Wano - it's incredible how entangled their stories are with belief in always striving to do better/be stronger/try again next time for Luffy, someone who doesn't care what others think - he just needs to do what he wants and to be free - only for him to awaken his Devil Fruit and his God Nika powers; and for Zoro (a non-believer/apatheist) with how determined he was to successfully wield Enma so he could defeat King the Wildfire even to the lengths of becoming the King of Hell if that was what needed to be done to get Luffy one more step towards being the Pirate King.

Which brings me back to Demon Asura Zoro and where we saw this form throughout the manga:

This whole post started at first as a parallel to my other post about Zoro not really being shown to react to Luffy's Gear 5 (yet, as of chapter 1109), and I kept thinking about Zoro's Asura technique and how he used it so far only three (!!!) times, and there weren't many reactions from the strawhat crew either.

First one was during the Enies Lobby against Kaku, who even calls that vision 'demon-god' (ch. 417). If I remember Zoro was there by himself with Kaku, his crew each fighting other opponents elswhere:

The second time was during their first visit to Sabaody Archipelago, ch. 510, where it was the whole crew against the Pacifistas. The only bigger reactions were Brook and Chopper ("So many Zoros!!" - how cute!)

Luffy went right after Zoro with his last attack against the Pacifistas, so he's either seen Zoro's attack or it just wasn't the time or place to react, which, fair.

and then, third and last time so far Zoro went into his Asura form, it was up against Kaido, ch. 1010, when Luffy was out of it and Kaido was threatening how he would end Luffy in various ways.. which only angered Zoro more ("That's my captain!" - yeah, tell him, Zoro!)

All of these three times we've seen Asura, it was against few of the most dangerous opponents and all three times Zoro had his bandana on, being serious about it. All three of these times he knew his whole crew was fighting for their lives too and were in very real danger. Enies Lobby really changed the tone of the next few arcs with how serious things were about to go; Sabaody was just after Thriller Bark with Zoro being still injured and he knew what Kuma/Pacifistas were capable of - there was real fear and despair. And of course, on Wano against Kaido,. he saw how much damage Luffy took, Zoro could only hope to put more wounds on Kaido to count in their favor.

Zoro knew he had one last attack to try and make some difference in this fight - and this was before his fight with King, so he wasn't fully in sync with Enma yet, but it was good enough to unlock Asura technique - with something more to it.

Apparently along with his haki - not just the armament or observation haki, but the supreme king haki, as Kaido himself is shocked to find out. Zoro wasn't even consciously aware of having/using this haki.

Even the wiki mentions this as Zoro adding the supreme king haki to his Asura attack to strenghten it, or possibly was only able to unlock this technique because of having supreme king haki - meaning he was possibly using it even in both of those pre-time skip situations mentioned above.

The supreme king haki is something people can't learn, but are born with, meaning Zoro probably didn't know until Wano (and still wasn't sure what he did), but possibly learnt to use it instinctively - very much like Luffy on Amazon Lily.)

I already made a post that touched a bit on King of hell Zoro, and other parts around Asura (clearly, i'm never done thinking about that), with a very big possibility/hints that he could come from lineage of people of the D. (asura - enemies of gods - people of D.) - especially if it's connected to supreme king haki as inherited ability (although that isn't confirmed in the manga, as far as I understood).

This brings me to Zoro's family, and specifically Ryuma.

Wano was a great arc that connected things from Thriller Bark -with Zoro returning the legendary sword Shusui back to Ryuma's grave where it belonged.

There was an interesting panel at the end of Wano, where people were celebrating Luffy's victory over Kaido, but were given the name Joyboy as their savior - possibly Momonosuke's doing as Luffy told him not to mention him by name because Luffy didn't want to be a hero.

And in this panel, the peple are comparing this feat of victory to the legendary "God of the Blade" - which is another title for Ryuma.

It's so curious how Zoro is connected to Ryuma, even through span of many centuries and countries across, but still there is that connection, on top of actually fighting Ryuma's zombie on Thriller Bark, and Zoro isn't even aware of it. We only know about it from the SBS corner of Oda mentioning Zoro's family. (SBS corner in vol. 105. Ryuma wasn't mentioned there precisely, but the name Shimotsuki being of Zoro's grandmother and others from Wano, it makes sense they're Ryuma's descendants):

Side note: There's also something really beautiful of how the Shimotsuki line was passed down on Zoro from his grandmother - and his promise he cherishes since childhood being tied to Kuina, someone who wanted to be the greatest swords(wo)man - and therefore Zoro carrying Wado and that dream and promise for her.

Zoro & Luffy

Now to tie it all back to parallels with Zoro and Luffy - I love that there are always these small moment in how similar these two are - in their honest words and actions, in them believing in one another and believing even more in reaching their dreams, their crew and their strengths. In both being so directionally clueless and sometimes outright stupid, yet in certain situations (more so in battles and fights), they are the ones sometimes smartest and most strategic.

Then there's these other similarities between them: how much they don't care about what's told about them or -be it by luck or fate- how things work out in their favor in the end, usually. How both of them don't wish to be heroes, because heroes had to share (food and sake).

How there's that fact that Zoro doesn't know the full context of his powers, especially with his supreme king haki- or that he doesn't want to know the truth or put a name to that ability, because he fights with his swords and doesn't need to put belief of any other powers beside his own strength. (Or maybe he will soon learn how to use it to his (and his crew's) benefit.)

and Luffy, who doesn't know probably anything about Nika- and most likely wouldn't care much about them beside the scope of his new powers. The whole meaning of being something like "sun god" for others didn't register with him yet, and it might never be that important to him personally. Time after time, people around him mention luck or fate, or how people of the D. are the enemies of the Gods - enemies of the celestial dragons, but those don't really matter to Luffy because it doesn't change why he fights and why he needs himself and others to be free and achieve his dream.

How Zoro and Ryuma could be parallels to Luffy and Joyboy - one living in the present, reminiscent of those that lived centuries ago - something about the history always repeating.

When Zoro got to fight Ryuma on Thriller Bark, or even Hyogoro compares him to Shimotsuki Ushimaru (Zoro's great uncle),

and how Zunesha was waiting for Joyboy, how Roger and Oden found messages from Joyboy of his promises to return.

The parallels between sun god Nika and demon god/king Asura are so interesting in their opposites yet similarities. There's still so much we don't know about Nika or Joyboy, but Luffy himself isn't just the perfect picture of responsibility or justice. He's free, and that's the most important for him. He now has the power to do what he really wants to do with his powers, he unlocked that new potential to make it even more fun and even more dangerous against his enemies.

Even if Zoro's saying he doesn't believe in higher powers he embraces the powers that unlocked with Enma and getting him the title of King of Hell, he knows it would be the things that would keep him fighting for another minute, hour, day when it becomes necessary to protect Luffy and their crew.

Zoro may not believe in any gods but he believes in Luffy with all his being.

And in the similar vein, Luffy is the one who always believed in Zoro's strength and capability to protect the rest of their crew when it was necessary, times after time.

It's feels like it's not at all a coincidence that Luffy's whole crew is full of otherness and beings connected to hell/monsters/demons more than anything divine - because lot of the gods in One Piece are mentioned in context of standing above others and above common people - it's a bit flipped of what's good or not, or even more it's never clear because that's life, and those people are just claiming some titles. Eneru being the first example of a "god" the Straw Hats encountered, celestial dragons being called Gods, the Gorosei having each titles of "Godhead" - it's no wonder that Luffy's crew all fights for freedom and reaching whatever each of them needs to achive as their dream,

and includes: a dead man but living skeleton Brook; a demon child Nico Robin; Chopper "I don't mind being a monster for Luffy.'"; Sanji with all his hell fire and "diable" kicks and attacks, along with his non human strength and other abilities; Nami wielding the powers similar to Eneru without the need of both Devil Fruit or being called a goddess, and bringing down lightning on anyone who threatens her crew; Usopp and his powers of nature and plants sprouting new life and strengths from long distance; Jimbei - fishman and former Sun Pirate and also "First son of the Sea"; Franky the more cyborg than a man; and of course, Roronoa "I might as well become the King of Hell" Zoro.

It's not all so black and white, good or bad. Luffy is still everything that makes him Luffy - he's honest and selfish in his selflesness, kind and brave and stubborn, and always knows that Zoro (and his whole crew) has his back so he doesn't have to hold back.

And Zoro is still Zoro despite being able to wield some newer haki powers he's slowly discovering now. He's still getting lost and still is his stubborn self that puts the crew and Luffy above himself, and would follow Luffy into hell if that was needed.

Luffy and Zoro are "just" captain and his first mate, always throughout the story since the beginning. Orphans with such interestingly woven past and relationships around them, who grew up with a big dream they had to go and achieve it no matter what, and found someone just as honest, kind, powerful and trustworthy as they were. But there's that deep and fierce devotion that always borderlines on something beyond just good. They're pirates - because that means being free.

They can be chaotic and powerful, and find something divine in the loyalty of the demonic powers, and something hellish in the god-like entity bringing freedom.

It feels like something Roger said to Rayleigh when they first met - That it was a fated meeting.

[weyrwolfen]

Caveat Emptor: Chapter 2 - Corpus Delicti

Rating: T

Characters: Gen, Commanders Fox, Thorn, Thire, and Stone

Warnings: canon-typical violence; references to self-harm, injuries, loss of autonomy

Previous chapters can be found here on Tumblr or here on Ao3

“You’re going to let it in to see the Chancellor, but not me?” Senator Corval shouted at the Senate guard, red-faced and spitting. “Don’t you know who I am?”

The natborn guard, a lieutenant from the markings on his blue uniform, replied, “Of course, Sir, but there has been an incident, and the Chancellor’s schedule had to be cleared. Now, if you would just–” The rest of the perfectly polite, placating line of strill osik cut out as the door slid shut behind Fox.

He hadn’t been arrested on sight and dragged off for interrogation yet. So far, so good.

The CSF investigators had set up just inside the Chancellor’s front lobby, away from any awkwardly prying eyes. They took down Fox’s designation number, assessed his baseline biometrics (clone standard, but protocols were protocols), had him remove his gloves and gauntlets for full handprint scans, and then asked him to step onto a sheet of tacky flimsy to record his boot tread (also clone standard, who would have guessed). Then they handed him a pair of disposable covers for his boots, forewent the sterile gloves given his existing armor, and sent him on with terse, borderline rude instructions to not touch anything and to leave the investigation to the trained professionals.

Because of course the CSF would be all over this situation. Right up until it looked like something might go wrong or make them look bad, and then the responsibility and the blame would get dumped in Fox’s lap.

Except Fox needed Guard eyes on this investigation right from the beginning. He needed a way to guide the narrative, to protect himself and his men from the blowback he could see coming from a lightyear away.

He needed to know what he, what CC-1010, had done.

Breathe, in and out, and calm.

Without evidence, he didn’t know anything. Maybe they’d find the Chancellor sleeping off a tainted spice bender in a broom closet somewhere. That was a common enough issue around the Senate that Thorn had worked up a standard protocol for overdose clean up and cover up procedures.

Little gods, could they please find him drooling off a laced spice rip somewhere? At that moment, Fox couldn’t imagine a more ideal outcome. There was going to be a scandal no matter how this shook out, but at least that scenario would be effectively impossible to pin on the Guard.

Senate guards and the CSF were doing a pretty good job of keeping a lid on things so far. It wouldn’t last of course, especially with the way Corval was carrying on where anyone might overhear. Aides would gossip and rumors would spread until someone leaked the whispers to the press. Then someone would have to go make an official statement, and everyone would notice that the Chancellor still wasn’t in appearance.

And that was assuming the rules of Senate procedure wouldn’t force everyone’s hands even earlier. With the Chancellor missing, a timer was counting down. When it ran out, Mas Amedda would need to be sworn in, if only as a temporary guarantee of the continuation of powers. That would require justices and witnesses and a formal statement before the Senate itself.

Karking Sith-hells, today was going to be a nightmare. Maybe the CSF shabuire would welcome the extra manpower for once, instead of fighting over jurisdictional minutiae and acting like the Coruscant Guard all wanted to be here dealing with stuck up natborns instead of on the front lines, defending their brothers.

The covers barely fit over Fox’s boots; they hadn’t been designed with armor in mind. He had to lean awkwardly against the door frame to get them on correctly. Force karking forbid his armored shebs touch one of the museum pieces masquerading as ‘chairs’ in the lobby. He’d be decommed for his temerity on the spot.

Breathe. He just needed to sell the alibi Thire had prepped. Everyone was going to be on edge, given the circumstances. It was only expected that he would be too. He just needed to keep a reasonable handle on his composure, which was not too difficult a mission in the greater scheme of things.

Fox squared his shoulders, signaled one of the gloved CSF investigators to activate the door panel, and stepped into the Chancellor’s inner office.

For a moment, the only movement in the office came from the small camdroids that were scanning the opulent room to generate a three-dimensional model of the space. Fox found himself the subject of intense inspection.

Under the safety of his concealing visor, he returned the favor, scanning the space for potential threats as he made his way towards the front of the room and the expansive desk situated there.

Most of the people in the room were higher ranking CSF agents, performing tasks usually reserved for entry-level investigators and trainees. Every aspect of this case was going to be locked down for anyone without the absolute highest clearance levels. Fox noted their tension, their hostility towards him, but none of it struck him as particularly unexpected or noteworthy. This high-profile a case was going to make them even more territorial than usual.

Of more concern were the handful of Senate guards, who were watching everyone in the room with hair-triggered aggression. They also viewed the Coruscant Guard as unwanted competition and interacted with the clones only when forced. But now, something had happened to the Chancellor on their watch, and Fox would bet every credit he’d ever seen that the blame and finger-pointing was already being directed their way.

The ranking Senate guard on site looked to be Captain Axion, who appeared red-faced and furious at being pried from his cushy office by the unfolding catastrophe. Fox would need to handle this confrontation with extreme care. Axion would be looking for some third party upon whom he could saddle the blame, and as the last person on record having seen the Chancellor, Fox himself would be a very tempting target.

Even so, he was not the subject of Fox’s primary concern. The man standing in front of Captain Axion was.

From a distance, General Mace Windu looked like the very picture of Jedi composure and serenity. In closer proximity, there were lines around the man’s eyes and mouth that were hard to miss, if anyone cared to look beyond the stony expression, meticulously draped robes, and lightsaber.

Fox was usually very good at getting a read on other sentients, but he had only the most passing familiarity with the Jedi. He interacted with the Knights and Masters who liaised with the Senate regularly, but always at arm’s length. Despite his training, despite all expectations ingrained in him by the Kaminoans, he and his men had never been assigned a Jedi general. They belonged, first and foremost, to the Senate.

So Fox knew General Windu, but not well enough to get more than a cursory idea of his mental state. The Jedi’s faintly pinched expression could mean any number of things: annoyance, frustration, physical pain.

Fox just needed to remember his training, though he doubted the Kaminoans had meant for him to apply it to convincingly lie to a superior. Jedi could sense the emotional state of other sentients, and sometimes specific thoughts or intentions with focused effort, but they trained all their lives to block out that constant stream of psychic input. Fox just needed to avoid drawing enough suspicion to earn a deeper look. His primary hope was that his mental state would blend into the tense backdrop of fear and anxiety that everyone present was no-doubt leaking into the room.

Deep breath, stop two paces from the general, and salute. “CC-1010, reporting as requested, Sir.” Fox’s words, like his posture, were exactingly precise.

So much was riding on his ability to perform to perfection. All of his brothers were counting on him.

The General gave Fox a brief, assessing look, then nodded incrementally and said, “At ease, Commander… Fox, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Sir,” Fox said, not letting any of the surprise he was feeling leak into his voice. He was accustomed to dealing with Senators who insisted he use his designation number and others who preferred knowing his chosen name, but he had not expected the head of the Order to actually recognize him. That would require some adjustments. He settled into a crisp parade rest and waited for his orders.

The general’s mouth twitched, almost hinting at the very beginnings of a small smile, and he said, “Commander Ponds speaks very highly of you.”

This conversation was not going how Fox had been expecting. The last time he had seen Ponds, his brother had been signing four troopers out of the Corries’ drunk tank. Fox wouldn’t have described the interaction as particularly cordial, but he wouldn’t characterize their relationship as bad, per se. Just distant, these days, and not the kind of dynamic that would come up in casual conversation with a Jedi general. “We were batchmates, Sir,” Fox replied, because he had to say something and that piece of information seemed neutral enough.

“Hmm,” the general said, giving Fox a piercing, stomach-lurching look, but then he turned to one of the nearby CSF agents and gestured for the woman to join them.

The investigator, some near-human species with translucently pale skin, magenta hair, and widely-spaced, exceedingly large eyes, rose from where she had been scanning something on the floor and handed the device off to a colleague.

“Inspector Svaryoskya has been compiling a record of the Chancellor’s known whereabouts yesterday,” General Windu said, nodding to the woman when she stepped forward to join the group. “If you could please make your report to her?”

“Of course, Sir,” Fox replied cooly, forcibly crushing down the spike in anxiety he felt at the prospect. He pivoted to face the CSF inspector. “Ma’am?”

Inspector Svaryoskya looked thoroughly put off by having to speak to him at all, but she at least made the effort to school her features into something vaguely professional and said, “If you would come with me?”

Fox followed her to a pair of temporary folding tables which had been set up to hold and organize samples and equipment. No doubt it had been done to avoid contaminating useful evidence from the pre-existing surfaces in the office. It took her a moment to set up what looked like a compact, holorecording device and synch it with a datapad while Fox waited, again assuming a meticulously correct position of parade rest.

The device beeped once and then lit up, scanning the immediate area with a wave of blue light before recognizing the two sentients standing in closest proximity to it and focusing in on their positions. Looking over the investigator’s shoulder, Fox could see a time stamp and a blinking record icon appear at the top of the datapad.

She pressed the icon and straightened, facing Fox head on and said, “Inspector Yana Svaryoskya, interviewing.” Her eyes settled somewhere on the level with Fox’s respirators, and she continued, “Please state your designation and rank for the record.”

“CC-1010, Marshal Commander of the Coruscant Guard,” Fox replied evenly. She did not request his name, and he did not volunteer it.

“Please explain the nature of your meeting with Chancellor Palpatine yesterday afternoon.”

Fox nodded and launched into the narrative Thire had provided for him, stitching together a few carefully crafted fabrications with as many verifiable facts as possible. “I was one of the commanders on site in the Senate yesterday, overseeing security for a scheduled press conference, when I received a report of surveillance outages affecting the security cameras in sector Thesh 16. Protocol dictates that such anomalies should be treated as intentional acts of sabotage until proven otherwise, so I transferred responsibility for the press event to a subordinate, forwarded a preliminary security alert to the Senate Guard, and went to assess the situation personally.”

So far, so good, but then everything Fox had relayed thus far had been entirely truthful. He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out the datastick Thire had pressed into his hands on the turbolift ride to the ground floor of the Guard’s compound. He held it out to the inspector, who took it gingerly and eyed it with some suspicion.

Fox clasped his hands behind his back again and continued with his report, leaning into the cooly professional tone and cadence he generally used around hostile natborns, “It rapidly became apparent that the outage was not the result of enemy action and was instead caused by an infestation of Scyvian barrow-rats in the conduits. That datastick contains a copy of the Guard’s report, detailing the steps taken to identify and mitigate the interruption, until repairs can be completed.”

And then, it was time to start in with the lies. Fortunately, Fox was a very talented liar. “I received a request for an update on the security alert.” Bless Thire, who was downstairs right now, coaching Odal on what to say if any CSF agent showed up looking for independent verification of Fox’s account, and bless Sear’s team of slicers, for seeding the Guard’s records with fabricated evidence to back up this story. Security alert confirmation requests were generally automated, so they were easy enough to falsify. His men had done the hard work, Fox just needed to trust them and do his part to drive the blade home. “The situation on site was stable, with repairs in progress and extra Guardsmen assigned to patrol the affected areas, so I was able to respond to the Chancellor’s summons immediately.”

“Are you often asked to make such trivial reports in person?” Inspector Svaryoskya asked, looking up from the datapad where she had been taking notes. Her tone hinted at disbelief and thinly veiled accusation.

“No, Ma’am, but the Chancellor does not consider security threats to the Senate to be trivial in nature,” Fox answered smoothly, which made the inspector’s fair skin flush with obvious displeasure. “May I continue?”

The inspector’s mouth thinned ominously, but she simply said, “Please do.”

Lie. Lie believingly, because more lives than his own depended on it. “The Chancellor was relieved that the outages did not represent an intentional security breach, but he was highly displeased about the infestation of vermin in a historic section of the Senate dome.” Fox could almost see it, the way the Chancellor’s mouth would turn down at the corners, the way his eyebrows would drop low over his too-cold eyes. How his voice would sound gently concerned, but also faintly disgusted. Even scornful. Mocking.

How the skin down the back of Fox’s neck would start to prickle with unease. How his heartrate would pick up and his vision would tunnel a little, instinctive reactions to a perceived threat.

Breathe. He was overreacting, as usual. This office always set him on edge on the best of days. He just needed to complete this report.

“He had specific questions about the nature and duration of the repairs. In total, the meeting lasted perhaps twenty minutes.” It had lasted twenty-three, Thire had made sure he was aware of the exact times he entered and exited the suite, but a rounded number sounded more casual, more off the cuff. More believable.

Inspector Svaryoskya tapped her stylus on the datapad, narrowed her eyes at whatever notes she had taken, and then continued her line of questioning.

Where had he gone after the meeting?

Back to Guard headquarters, to put together the report on the incident and to reorganize the day’s patrol assignments, to maintain the extra security in Thesh 16.

Had the Chancellor left the main office space, during the meeting?

No.

Had he recorded any aspect of his meeting with the Chancellor?

No, that would be a violation of Senate and Guard security procedures.

Had he seen anyone unusual or suspicious upon leaving the Chancellor’s office?

No.

Had the Chancellor seemed uncharacteristically nervous or distracted during the meeting?

No.

Can you take off your helmet?

No, that is against Guard protocols when a trooper is participating in an active, ongoing security crisis.

She peppered in questions about things Fox had already described, playing dumb in an attempt to trick him into revealing an inconsistency in his story. The strategy was a common one, and often effective, even to someone who was aware of the parameters of the game.

But Fox was very good at this. He always had been, even as a cadet.

When had his men realized the damage to the electrical conduits was not external sabotage?

What route did Fox take to get to the Chancellor’s office from Thesh 16?

How many Senate guards were stationed at the Chancellor’s door, when Fox arrived?

Fox answered them all, varying his words to make them sound less rehearsed. Not that he’d had time to rehearse anything, not with the Jedi insisting on his presence as soon as physically possible. But Thire’s foreshortened briefing had still been exceedingly thorough, and Fox had an excellent memory.

After a while, Inspector Svaryoskya started to look and sound vaguely impatient to have this interview over. Fox got the distinct impression that whatever she’d been hoping for, he hadn’t given it to her.

He did not sigh or let his shoulders droop with relief. He did not smile, even inside the privacy of his sealed bucket. He simply stood at a perfect parade rest and waited. The words which marked the end of a formal interview came fairly quickly after that.

Could he think of any other observations which might be pertinent to the investigation?

No.

Would he be available, if the CSF required any further statements from him?

Of course.

Finally he was given a comm code, to contact her if anything occurred to him at a later time, and with that, the inspector curtly tried to dismiss him.

It would be a sunny day on karking Kamino before Fox took orders from any CSF agent. He reminded her that he had been called here by General Windu, and so he would remain until he was dismissed by the ranking GAR officer on site.

The inspector had not been well pleased by that, but she also didn’t have the legal authority to kick him out of the suite. She also couldn’t demand that General Windu order him to leave, because the Jedi was currently having a very one-sided fight with Captain Axion. One-sided in that the captain was almost frothing at the mouth over something the Jedi was saying, while the general himself seemed just as sedate as ever. Perhaps a little darkly amused, if the way one corner of his mouth was twitching upwards was any indication.

Fox cooly agreed to take up a post in a very out-of-the-way corner of the room to await further orders.

He was happy to do so. The position gave him a rather good view of the space. He was very accustomed to fading into the background while standing a watch. Maybe these CSF agents believed the gossip that clones were basically droids wrapped in flesh, or maybe they just weren’t aware of his helmet’s capabilities, but it took them all of five minutes to start treating him like a piece of inconvenient furniture.

Fox just dialed up the input on his external mics, split his HUD so the left side was magnified ten times, and settled in to observe.

General Windu wanted to open the Chancellor’s desk and private quarters. Apparently he could feel something concerning coming from both places, even though his senses were being obstructed or confused for some reason. Captain Axion was of the opinion that the contents of the Chancellor’s desk, much less his personal rooms, were to be treated as state secrets. The Jedi informed the captain that he had already dispatched a representative to obtain a security release from acting Chancellor Amedda. Apparently the captain felt that this was an attempt to circumvent the Senate guard’s authority.

The two were clearly locked in a stalemate, waiting for those documents, so Fox shifted his attention elsewhere.

Two CSF agents were running samples through a very familiar field chem-analyzer. Maybe it still had all four of its supports and wasn’t propped up on one end with a broken piece of scrap floor tile, but it was functionally the same model Thorn had smuggled into Guard headquarters. Even the vials and evidence bags were the same, although these had bar-coded labels already affixed to each of them.

Apparently they weren’t finding much of anything interesting. The room was nearly spotless. They’d found a small patch of spilled liquid next to one of the chairs, but it appeared to be some kind of high-proof alcoholic beverage. There were occasional smears of mixed organics and aromatics on the desk and chairs around the room, all consistent with high-end lotions and perfumes. Interestingly, they had found a very small smear of blood on the front lip of the Chancellor’s desk, but it appeared to be weeks old and very degraded by cleaning agents, suggesting that it wasn’t relevant to anything that might have happened within the last planetary rotation. That wasn’t stopping the two investigators from speculating wildly about its source.

Two Senate guards were stationed in front of the side door, which led to the Chancellor’s private rooms. They weren’t talking and seemed just as tense and angry as the rest of their colleagues. Fox could only assume that the on-site security team had already swept the space for life signs, but to exclude it from the current investigation seemed idiotic.

Then again, he certainly didn’t want to be the officer responsible for giving the order to toss the Chancellor’s underwear drawer if he showed back up alive and well and furious about the invasion of his domain.

Another investigator was positioned just to the right of the room’s main door, doing something to the decorative sconce on the wall and muttering profanities to himself in mingled Basic and Pantoran. Fox was aware that there was a concealed exit behind that wall panel providing access to an emergency escape turbolift. It had been part of Fox’s initial security briefing back when he first arrived on Coruscant, but he’d never actually had need to enter the space.

He knew that the access button was concealed under a sliding panel, worked into the side of the decorative wall sconce. That had been part of the security briefing.

The fact that the panel tended to stick unless jiggled just the right way had not been part of that briefing. Apparently the CSF investigator did not know that. Fox had no reason to know that either.

Why did he know that?

The prickling down the nape of Fox’s neck increased, crawling down his back. A headache, the kind that never seemed to fully go away these days, sparked and flared behind his eyes, no doubt triggered by his increase in heartrate and his corresponding spike in his blood pressure. He needed to get a grip on himself.

Fox breathed slowly and deeply through his nose, as he’d been trained, but he nearly choked and coughed instead when that sent an unexpected trickle of hot, copper-tasting liquid down the back of his throat.

Blood.

Great, and now his kriffing nose was bleeding again, and there wasn’t a karking thing he could do about it with his bucket on. Hopefully it’d just stop on its own before he made too much of a mess of the inside of his helmet.

The main entrance from the lobby swished open, and a second Jedi strode into the room with a swagger like he owned the place.

Fox didn’t recognize this general, but his appearance was certainly distinctive enough that Fox shouldn’t have trouble figuring out the Jedi’s identity later. He was perhaps a shade darker complected than the average clone, with locs half-tied up to keep them out of his face, and a gold tattoo across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

The general held up a datapad as he neared General Windu and the still-incensed looking Captain Axion. “I’ve got the security release right here,” he said and then extended the ‘pad to General Windu.

General Windu turned the datapad around and briefly read its contents. “Everything seems to be in order,” he said, handing it to Axion to look over as well. He then walked around the desk as the captain looked at the document.

“I’ll get Verus to bring up the spare access keys,” Axion said, sounding very disgruntled about it.

“No need,” General Windu replied, and sure enough, there was a faint ‘snick’ sound and one of the side-drawers slid open, seemingly of its own accord.

Fox wondered if his brothers on the front lines ever got used to this kind of casual Force osik. He certainly found it uncanny as all kriff.

General Windu reached down to shift something aside with his actual hands this time and then paused, eyebrows rising slightly. “Vos, I need you to look at this,” he said, low enough that Fox’s bucket almost didn’t pick it up.

“Look at it, or touch it?” the other Jedi, Vos, asked, walking around the desk to stand next to his superior. Whatever was in the drawer earned a sharp intake of breath and a softly whispered, “Well kriff me.”

General Vos tugged off one of his gloves and reached for whatever it was that had the two Jedi so concerned.

“Now, see here…” Captain Axion started to object, but was almost immediately interrupted.

“I know the procedures,” General Vos said, hand hovering above the open drawer. “You can exclude my prints later, but this requires bare skin.” And then he reached down and grabbed… something. Fox couldn’t really see well from this angle, but whatever it was, the item was cylindrical and made of polished metals that simply screamed of extreme expense.

Fox was about to zoom in the view of his HUD further to get a better look, but General Vos gasped and, despite having just said that he was familiar with evidence collection procedures, proceeded to drop, almost throw, whatever the thing was back into the drawer.

The interaction had drawn the attention of several of the CSF investigators, a few of whom gasped out protests at the handling of… whatever it was, but neither Jedi seemed to be paying any of them the smallest bit of attention. General Vos’s head whipped up, expression shocked, and caught General Windu’s eyes. Something passed between them in silence, some understanding or communication, because General Windu just nodded and looked back at Captain Axion.

“We need to clear this space,” General Windu said in a tone like beskar.

For once, even Captain Axion seemed to recognize that arguing was probably not the best course of action. “You mean, all of us?” he asked faintly.

“Yes.”

“Into the lobby, or…”

“Out of the suite entirely.”

That did not sound promising. So much for not making an obvious scene in the public hallway outside of the Chancellor’s office. What the kriff was the problem?

For the CSF agents and Senate guards for whom General Windu’s stern gravitas didn’t quite do the trick, General Vos’s charming cajoling and occasionally unsubtle shooing got them moving. Fox hung to the back as General Vos herded the others out, until he could approach General Windu with some expectation of not being overheard.

“Sir, the Guard has specialized bomb disposal units, biological contaminant gear, sniffer massifs. Should I comm for backup?” he asked, trying to cover the most likely circumstances which might require evacuation of the entirety of the Chancellor’s suite.

He also actively tried not to think about how whatever that thing was had gotten into the Chancellor’s desk. And whether he, or rather CC-1010, had had something to do with it.

General Windu gave Fox an odd look, but he answered readily enough. “Thank you, Commander, but this will be a matter for the Council to handle. If you could set up a perimeter to isolate the rooms, that would help us greatly.”

“Of course, Sir,” Fox replied, wishing the reply had been a little less cryptic.

Seeing as how the general did not seem to be interested in leaving his current position, Fox turned to go execute his orders. However, he did spare a quick glance behind him on his way out of the room. General Windu had turned to face the wide windows behind the Chancellor’s desk, looking out over the sprawling cityscape of Coruscant. His hands were clasped firmly behind his back.

Fox palmed several pre-labeled, empty evidence bags from the supply table and slipped them into one of his belt pouches on the way out of the door.

“For kriff’s sake,” Thorn said when Fox pulled off his helmet. “You’ve just been bleeding in there, all day?”

Fox didn’t dignify that with a response. He could see exactly how bad he looked in the ‘fresher mirror without the helpful commentary. The lower half of his face, most everything below his sluggishly dripping nose, was covered in tacky, half-dried blood.

He just glowered at Thorn and held out a hand, silently demanding the cannister of pressurized armor cleaner his brother was holding.

“Fix your karking face,” Thorn said, handing him a small first aid kit instead. “I’ll clean out your bucket.”

Fox glowered at Thorn, but he wasn’t about to turn down an offer like that. He handed over his bucket and snatched the kit. His face felt sticky and itched ferociously. He dumped the kit, his gauntlets, and his gloves into a neighboring sink, and turned on the fancy faucet in front of him.

Thorn flipped Fox’s helmet over and took a look inside. Whatever he saw earned a low whistle, audible even through the vocoder. “You know, I could have grabbed you new filters if you’d told me it was this bad.”

Fox cupped his hands under the stream of water and splashed it on his face. It swirled down the drain, red-streaked and flecked with dried flakes of blood. He wet his hands again and started scrubbing at the worst patches. “Why, when I’m just going to keep bleeding into a fresh set?” Fox snapped, at the end of his rope with just about everything. He’d managed to stanch the flow a few hours back, when he took a quick fifteen count for a ration bar. It hadn’t lasted.

“Have you told Scav?” Thorn asked, shaking up the cannister and then spraying it into the interior of Fox’s helmet over one of the sinks. The internal electronics were sealed against breath condensation and other types of moisture, but there were limits, and this was going to be pushing them. Fox didn’t have the down time for a full work-over of his helmet, maybe Mags could loan him a spare. He hated the idea of wearing a shiny bucket, but it was better than a glitching HUD.

Fox opened up the medical kit and found the sterile astringent wipes inside. “And when, exactly, do you think I would have had time for that?” he growled, using one of the wipes to scrub at a patch of mostly dried blood in the bare beginnings of stubble on his chin.

“Find the time, or he’ll kill both of us and use our bodies for spare parts,” Thorn said, almost conversationally. Fox knew him too well to miss the legitimate concern riding under the dark humor.

And he also wasn’t wrong. There were all sorts of rumors around the Guard about how Scavenger had earned his name. Fox hadn’t ever bothered to confirm any of them.

Fox just grimaced. “I will, as soon as I can head back to base.”

When that might be was anyone’s guess.

It had been hours, and the Chancellor still hadn’t turned up passed out in some corner of the Senate dome.

Nor had any Separatist group claimed credit for either kidnapping the Chancellor or assassinating him, and they certainly would have if they had. It would be a massive morale boost for the CIS.

No ransom letter had arrived in the Senate’s mailroom.

No questionable stench had started wafting out of the air vents.

There had been a few developments though, not that Fox was able to put the pieces together into a coherent picture.

Several additional members of the Jedi Council presented themselves at the Chancellor’s office soon after Fox had left the suite and set up a defensive perimeter. He could not be certain, but he thought the group represented every councilmember currently on planet.

Perhaps half an hour later, three more Jedi arrived with crates on a hovercart, all emblazoned with warnings so aggressive they might as well have been overt threats.

An hour after that, acting Chancellor Mas Amedda had come to the office, with two extremely harried-looking aides, fresh off announcing his unexpected ascension to the office in front of the sitting Senate body. It was a zoo out there, but Stone was handling the security instead of Fox, because somehow that fragmentation grenade of a situation was still only the second most incendiary event currently erupting in the Senate dome.

He'd looked sour upon arriving and even more so when he left, aides straggling along behind him with two boxes overloaded with flimsi files and datapads. Fox assumed they were the confidential contents of Chancellor Palpatine’s desk.

Well, most of them. He was pretty certain the Jedi wouldn’t be turning over the mystery cylinder.

The containment crates left a few hours after that, each with two Jedi as escorts. Thorn had shown up in the middle of their departure, along with the next shift of fresh Guards. It had been as good a time as any to slip away for a quick conversation in the service ‘freshers.

At least his face was now semi-clean, even though a new streak of blood was starting to trickle out of his left nostril. He fished a few gauze pads, a tube of bacta gel, and two pain tabs out of the first aid kit. He could dab a little ointment on two scraps of gauze and stick them up each nostril. The vocoder would probably cover for the worst of the stuffiness that would cause, but at least he wouldn’t be bleeding into his filters anymore.

“Did you bring the other items I requested?” he asked, dry swallowing the pain tabs and then tearing off the first bit of gauze and rolling it into a sort of conical, plug shape.

“Yeah,” Thorn replied, eyeing Fox out of the corner of his eye. “But are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“If you’ve got a better idea, now would be the time to share it.”

There weren’t security cameras in the Senate bathrooms. Thank the little gods for natborn modesty.

Except Thorn apparently couldn’t think of a better plan.

And Fox had run out of ideas hours ago. The Jedi weren’t telling him anything, and it was only minimally comforting that he wasn’t being singled out. They weren’t briefing the CSF or the Senate guards either.

Fox made the exchange in one of the ‘fresher stalls. The sterile gloves and empty bags were hidden safely away inside one of his belt pouches.

When the CSF agents were finally allowed back into the office suite to retrieve their equipment and samples, they unknowingly left with three extra bags with intentionally incorrect labels slipped amongst their other evidence. One contained a swab with the unidentified blood from Fox’s pauldron, one held the two silver hairs they’d found on his blacks, and the last had the sample of the odd, organic residue from the bruises on his face.

[juniperika]

You and I bathed in eternal summer's glow (15889 words) by KindOfASorcerer Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi Characters: CC-2224 | Cody, Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-7567 | Rex, Anakin Skywalker, Dexter Jettster, CC-1010 | Fox Additional Tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Miscommunication, I agree with the popular notion that Anakin needed therapy, the Jedi interpret attachments rather liberally, POV Alternating, Past Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, because Obi-Wan is a bi icon, new version of sabacc just dropped, this is the most uneventful fic ever but pls consider that there's a war on, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Hopeful Ending Summary:

“Let me summarise this, Commander,” Obi-Wan said slowly, feeling like he was still missing a piece of the puzzle. “Are you seriously asking me whether I told Anakin that the both of us were romantically involved?” “That is exactly what I’m asking, sir.”

or, Obi-Wan's attempt to lecture Anakin backfires in unexpected ways.

I'm like one of those annoying mums, but I can't believe it's been 6 months since I've posted this, so yeah, I'm sharing this again

[smittenroses]

— To Adore

Carrd | Ko-fi | Patreon | Archive of Our Own Mirror

Fandom No Straight Roads Pairing 1010/reader Chapter Summary You've taken an interest in their music, Rin wants to fuel that flame

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To say Rin was a bit flustered was an understatement — he was overloaded with emotions that he couldn’t quite catch by himself. Having been forced from the situation more times than he wanted to, being dragged around to different events. He knew he was technically the face of the band, being the leader and the one that did most of the talking on and off the stage, but, every time he found himself in a place he couldn’t help but fake a smile, he found himself being more and more drained every time.

It was never-ending, the camera flashes that would mess with his vision, the people that would swarm him for photo opportunities, sometimes, it was just too much.

The door closed silently behind him as he reentered his home, the lights turning dim at his arrival, lining the way for him to get to his charger. His battery was low — he didn’t get much time between events to even charge himself up and so the cord in his bag just ended up as more weight he had to carry, sitting heavy in his bag and almost begging to be used with each alert he got; 50%, 30%, 20%, the numbers kept climbing down as he dragged his feet across the floor, running a hand down his face as he struggled to keep himself up right.

Was this how people felt when they took themselves to the limit, unable to do the things they wanted to and just wanting to sleep?

A flicker of abnormal light was picked up in his receptors, Rin turned on his heel to face the intruder, seeing the maid standing in the kitchen, wearing clothing that wasn’t hers.

“What are you doing here?” Rin was able to check his system clock, but, his eyes flickered to the analogue clock on the wall instead, seeing that it was two in the morning, well pass when the princess should have left to return home, yet, she stood there, holding a torch and a glass of water in hand.

Rin watched as the princess yawned, head tilting back as the pink flesh of the root of her mouth was shown off, sleep decorating her lashes as she took a sip.

“My car wouldn’t start,” She muttered, gaze focusing everywhere but him as she spoke. Maybe she was just as shocked as him, standing in the middle of her workplace, dressed in someone else’s clothes, but, as Rin pinched the bottom of her shirt, fixing it where it had caught on the pants, he noted how the temperature in her face rose with the action. “Zimelu and Neon J tried to fix it, but it just wouldn’t start.”

“Maybe it just couldn’t handle our charms.”

His battery was growing lower, he had to make the conversation quick, but, as he listened to the sleepy giggles of the woman in front of her, he wished somewhere in mind mind that he had a full battery just to hear her giggle like that over and over again.

“Funny enough,” She said, “I was listening to you guys on the way over; you came up on my streaming service.”

Streaming service? If Rin had the energy to do so, he knew that he would physically recoil at the concept, the idea of not being able to own the music you listen to so absurd in his mind, yet, it was overtaken by the fact she had begun to listen to the songs he sung. Tapping his fingers on the bag strap slung over his shoulder, he couldn’t stop the smile that grew on his face. “Knew we’d get you someday.”

The silence in the air was thick as material ran out, the two staring at each other until her eyes flickered down to his hand, noting the fabric wrapped around the fake flesh. It had been an accident when filming a commercial, one of the employees had a malfunction that resulted in a camera breaking. Rin had tried to help pick up the pieces but hadn’t realised how sharp they were until someone had pointed it out.

While he couldn’t feel it, the fabric stopped it from snagging on anything else and making it worse.

“Can I touch you?” The princess whispered and Rin couldn’t help but oblige, nodding his head once before she freed a hand to touch his, her fingers warm as she lifted his hand to her face, laying a gentle kiss to the cloth. “Try not to get hurt,” She smiled, Rin hearing the fans in his body begin to kick in as he warmed, “I’d hate to see you get decommissioned even for a day, I’d miss you.”

Rin really had a hard time deciding if the princess was playing with him or being genuine, excusing himself with the excuse of his battery being low as he began to walk towards the charging room, feeling the fans rumble within his skeleton with the effort to cool him off. He was the flirty one, he was the one that made the girls swoon, yet, the maid had been the one to flip the script and make him swoon.

And she had done so seamlessly without as much as a hesitance along the way. He could hear the guest room’s door shut even from his room, the silence of the world allowing for the noise to carry further as he opened the door, seeing the others in their own pods, asleep, charging.

Maybe he just wasn’t thinking straight, maybe he just needed to charge, but, writing down a note for himself on a sticky note and sticking it to his pod, he decided to deal with it tomorrow.

Along with that darned streaming service.

Rin knew that Neon J had always been someone who was sentimental of his work, so it wasn’t even a secret that he had a large collection of ways that they had published music that he wasn’t meant to walk into. Stepping into the storage room had been one thing, but attempting to carry out multiple heavy boxes was another as there was only so much that his skeleton could hold.

Was Rin going overboard with gifts because he wanted to catch up to the others? Maybe, he couldn’t deny that, but, as he tapped his foot on the ground, looking at the boxes that he had packed with music, a shadow overtook the light that streamed in from the door, Rin turning his head just enough to see Purl-hew standing in the middle of the doorway.

“Where are your glasses?” Rin couldn’t help but feel a bit unnerved at the sight of Purl-hew’s blue eyes as they scanned the room, yet, as they made eye contact with his again, he watched as the blue member shrugged.

“Eloni wanted to borrow them for a live stream. I’ve been watching him through the feed.” Rin pulled up the live feed in his HUD as Purl-hew talked, watching as the green version of themselves seemed to be having fun with opening the few letters he had, glasses firmly pressed into his hair as he read out each of the letters. It wasn’t something he usually got to see his friend do often. “He promised he wouldn’t break them.”

Pushing the live stream away from his view, Rin turned back to the boxes again, looking between them and Purl-hew, noting with each turn of his head that the blue 1010’s eyes were narrowing with each rotation.

“Did you get permission?”

“Please?”

With a sigh, Purl-hew joined his fellow band member, helping him pick up a few of the boxes as he hoisted them onto his shoulders. “You could ask for a skeleton upgrade so you can carry more, you know?”

“I could, but, I don’t want to re-calibrate myself to one.” Plus getting a new frame to fit his outer shell seemed more complicated than it was worth — he wasn’t going to be fighting in any wars any time soon, the reason behind most of their design choices, but, as they walked through the halls, Rin walked by the windows.

Sometimes, Rin wished he was able to feel the warmth on his skin just like the princess did.

A flash of red joined soon enough, Zimelu taking one of the boxes that Purl-hew carried under his arm, the hall becoming a bit more crowded as Zimelu inserted himself into the duo’s time alone.

“I thought you hated listening to yourself,” Zimelu finally commented after a bit of walking, though, it landed on death hearing processors as Rin turned the corner, the dear princess standing on a ladder to reach one of the ceiling fans in the lounge.

The light hit her perfectly, highlighting her in every way that made Rin’s fans whirl, not even the chattering of Eloni on the couch was able to knock him from his trance as he called her name, watching as her gaze settled on him and him only, flashing him a smile that was meant for him. It would have been perfect to stand in time and just watch her smile all day.

But things like that didn’t happen around here, especially when there were things hidden in the dark.

An explosion, a ball of streamers and confetti bursting out from behind the couch, Rin’s vision filled with a million warning signs about being under attack that screamed a bit too much like their creator.

And she was falling. The confetti and streamers hit the bottom of the ladder at the perfect angle to send it swinging out from underneath her feet, Rin heard the screams over the sound of the box he was holding crashing as it hit the ground, running forward with his arms outstretched.

Catch her.

Catch her.

Rin caught her.

The sudden weight on his frame had him twisting his body so that he took the impact, the soft silicon of his skin cushioning the fall as she landed on him, his arms secured around her waist as he rolled away from the ladder, the ladder bouncing off a wall before it crashed where they had been.

She was shaking.

The princess was shaking in his arms as he looked down at her, seeing her beautiful eyes so wide, fingers ensnaring his jacket as she eyed where they had been only moments before. “Hey, look at me,” Rin muttered, watching as those beautiful eyes met his, seeing the water that rimmed her lashes and it broke his heart, “You should warn me before I need to catch you, princess…” He knew that there was something in his coding that should shoot forth a predetermined line, but, deep within his consciousness, he knew that line came from himself instead, gently pulling the princess into a sitting position, feeling the back of her head for any sort of injury.

The laughter that came from her mouth was probably the shock that he shrugged away, yet, as her arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him close, he… didn’t know what to do with his hands for once. “Thank you, my knight.”

Noise erupted as Haym and Neon J tore around the corner, the two of them wielding tools in their hands as they stood in the doorway. They must have heard the explosion from where they had been, but, once the danger was seen to be over… the yelling began.

“Eloni, is that your confetti gun?” Zimelu began, the red colliding with green as he grabbed Eloni by the shirt collar, beginning to shake him around, “What have we said about keeping your crap in safe places?”

“I genuinely lost it!”

“Get off of him!” Haym soon joined the struggle, the yellow’s hands attempting to free his best friend from the wrath of the ‘bad boy’, though, it only started a small fight, their hands flying at each other as there was a mixture of slaps and weak punches.

If they really wanted to hurt each other, Zimelu could have had Eloni’s head flying across the yard by now.

As the fighting grew louder and bolder, Rin couldn’t help but join in, attempting to get between each of them, though, the fighting returned into roughhousing, Rin finding himself remembering that even when he was the leader, he didn’t have as much control as he liked, his head being pinned under Eloni’s arm as he started to laugh.

“You’re all acting like male beetles attempting to woo a mate.” Even when he was speaking, Purl-hew came into the fray, beginning to push each of the boys away from each other.

Though the laughter that was heard from the only human in the room made everything pause, Rin turned his head to the princess as she doubled over laughing.

“I should’ve guessed this!” She giggled, “You’ve all got a crush on me.”

It was meant to be the other way around, she should be the one that was telling them that she had a crush on them, yet, as she pushed past them to go to where she kept her equipment, a crunch was heard as she stepped over something, Rin’s gaze dropping down to the mess on the floor which had once been music disks.

“Also, your live stream is still running, Eloni.”

The laptop that had been knocked away from the explosion lay next to the mess of music, Neon J stepped forth as he picked up the device, his screen dark as Rin assumed he read the chat as it rushed by.

With a quiet close of the laptop, Eloni and Zimelu were off first, Zimelu riding on Eloni’s shoulders before the rest followed.

They were in trouble now. At least if they got caught that was.

[penkuramain]

A Scene per One Piece Chapter I've Read, Part 11

Chapters 1001 through 1010

[linalavender]

[Spoilers] One Piece Chapter 1010: The Vegapunks and their fruit

Fuuuck I love the Vegapunks so much, the Lillith and Brook combo is so funny I kinda wish it will continue, And Lillith does seem like one of the only Vegapunks that actually would make it out of Egghead? But Im not convinced the Satelites would like... Work outside of a certain radius of Punk Records? I initially believed it would be fine since they would have had Stella but uuh.... Yeah. But I might work differently than I thought of it initially, If Lillith IS an aspect of Vegapunk, and presumably has his brainmatter in her, Would that Make her Vegapunk still? Would the Nomi Nomi no Mi still work despite Stella most likely being dead? It could be a very cool very literal interpetation of "A Man dies but not his ideas" sort of thing. Im pretty interested in how this will play out now.

[erigold13261]

📢Psychonauts NSR AU, Chapter 12: VS. Ford📢

After heading back to the sewers, Milla and Sasha remembered the enemies they have faced.

DJ Cold Comet Crispin, the egotistical DJ.

Raz, the digital idol.

Lili, the piano prodigy.

1010, the super hot robots.

Lucky, the artistic diva.

LARS, the rad dad of rap.

All of them were defeated… except one.

~

“You’ve both made it so far! I knew it from the start. I’m proud of what you’ve done. Bunk Bed Junction has the power to return the rights of Vinyl City’s artists to them!” Gristol spoke.

“Right! Just a bit more to go!” Milla responded.

“Only one more to go, in fact. The last pillar of NSR. Ford.” Gristol explained. He turned on a screen revealing Ford, who wore a dark green suit.

“Easy-peasy, he doesn’t even play music!” Milla responded.

“That does seem to be the general impression, but he does, in his own way.” Gristol explained.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Milla asked.

“You’ll find out when you face him head on.” Gristol hinted. “Anyways, on to business. Ford may seem unbeatable at first glance, but I happen to know his greatest weakness: his past. If you come across fragments of his memories, I would suggest using them against him. That’s the only way you can beat him.” Gristol explained.

“Use his own past against him?” Milla asked.

“Of course! You’ll do well. It comes down to this, fellas. Beat Ford, and victory is ours.” Gristol explained.

“Got it.” Milla responded, she turned to the poster of Septentrion. “This is it, Vision Quest. Thought you should know that we are close to bringing down NSR. I wish you were here with us now. I wish you could see that… some of us still care about your legacy. Will bring back Rock for you.” She said to the poster.

“I’ll be heading out first. See you guys at the NSR Tower.” Gristol spoke.

“Got it.” Milla spoke.

The three headed out, preparing to face Ford.

~

When the two rockers arrived inside the NSR Tower’s elevator. They heard Ford’s voice.

“People of Vinyl City. This is Ford. You all have been brainwashed by these so-called music revolutionists. All they have done is promote uncertainty among us, which has resulted in huge congestions in the junctions of progress. In other words, they have left us with nothing but chaos. And with chaos comes destruction. Look around you. See all the districts these rockers have invaded. And now, they are using you to start an uprising at NSR Tower in order to pressure me to step down. But I will not do so. Because despite the darkness that has enveloped this city, I still see hope. A hope for us to return to greatness. I believe that deep down, this is what we all want for our city. Thus, I stand before you to ask for one final request. You still have the power to rectify this anarchy. Reinstate the NSR artists and bring back true democracy. In the meantime, for the good of this city, I will hold my ground. And I urge you to trust in my judgement. Together, we will restore… ORDER. Order leads to progress in Vinyl City. That is all, have a pleasant evening.” It spoke.

When the elevator stopped moving, they slowly entered Ford’s office and saw Ford. Not looking at them.

“I can’t believe someone like you two were able to beat my artists.” Ford spoke.

“It’s over, Ford! Step down from the throne!” Milla spoke.

“Never. The way you kids influenced the votes was deplorable.” Ford responded.

“I don’t give a piece of crap about what you think!” Milla replied.

“You have set a bad precedence for how the politics in this city will function from here on out. Through chaos.” Ford spoke.

“So? And what’s so bad about that?” Milla asked.

“Short-sighted as usual, I see. Because of you, any future opposing parties can just start a riot if things don’t go their way. How are we to build a progressive city if it’s in constant disorder?” Ford explained.

“You started it! You abandoned us rockers from performing!” Milla responded.

“I only restricted rock after you misbehaved at the audition. The fault is on you.” Ford replied.

“That's… that’s not fair!” Milla replied.

“You tricked the people into voting for you by instigating their hatred towards us. Tell me if that’s fair.” Ford spoke.

“They voted for us because your energy output is crappy! The people have had it with the blackouts!” Milla explain.

“There you go again. So zealous about being able to supply more energy than us. Where in the world did you get that notion? From your rear end?” Ford sked.

“Hey! We’ve beaten your artists! Surely that means something!” Milla responded.

“It means you have no clue how this city works. You didn’t compete with my artists on a level playing field. You merely set up a circus act by hijacking their concerts. It swayed public opinion alright, but it was all flash! In truth your ‘music revolution’ agenda is nothing more than an act of impulse! Tell me, how do you intend to run the city if you win? What about the hundreds of NSR employees who will be thrown out of work? Hav you considered the inevitable insurgence from the people who still genuinely love EDM? Can you really run the city under those circumstances?” Ford asked.

“Well I’m sure we’ll figure something out after—”

“Forget it! This is going nowhere! I’m just gonna finish you off right now!” Ford interrupted. Milla was prepared but also unprepared. The battle was on.

~

“I brought order and progress to this city. I had each district vote for their own Charter.”

Milla attacked a glowing thing that circled around the floor. In order to grab the attention of Ford.

“You have no chance against me. For I have time on my side!” Ford spoke as he summoned a clock hand as a sword.

“There will be no democracy if NSR only favors EDM!” Milla argued.

“It’s the people who favor EDM, until you ruined everything!” Ford argued back.

“If chaos is what is needed to get things done here, so be it!” Milla responded.

“You fail to see how much this city has improved since NSR took over!” Ford replied as he summons flames.

Milla and Sasha dodge the fires that Ford summons from his clock hand that he uses. As well as dodging Ford’s slashes when he teleports. Then, he summons purple flames, to which Milla parried, causing a key to form and Ford to be frozen.

“That’s the key! Let’s give him a taste of her own medicine!” Sasha spoke.

“Got it!” Milla responded as she launches the key straight a Ford.

Ford winces in pain, causing the murals in his office to break.

“What? No!” Ford spoke as he saw the murals break.

~

“With the rapid expansion of the city. Comes higher demand for energy. NSR has gathered the best EDM artists in the world. The city is oh so bright now.”

Suddenly, the golden and shiny thing that rotated around the floor. Milla and Sasha attacked it. Which attracted the attention of Ford. Who summoned another clock hand as another sword.

“It’s been years and we still have blackouts!” Milla argued.

“Because people like you distract us from fixing it!” Ford responded.

“Rock can solve it! Even if there are distractions!” Milla argued back.

“Never! Rock no longer belongs in any ambitious work!” Ford responded as he summoned flames. To which Milla and Sasha dodged. Then Ford summons purple flames to which Sasha parried. Causing a key to form.

“The key’s good to go! Let’s show him!” Sasha responded as Milla launches the key.

“No! You… arggh!” Ford screams as a stage formed. “I… I don’t believe this!” Ford spoke.

~

“My NSR artists are the best of the best. Their music is in a league of their own. We have amassed countless adoring fans over the years. There are no better candidates to perform to the Grand Qwasa.”

Milla and Sasha attack the glowy thing again. Which angered Ford, as he changed into a magma-like green version of himself.

“No! No!” Ford shouted. “You hijacking their concerts was a cowardly act!” Ford spoke.

“If they’re so great, then why did we defeat them so easily, huh?!” Milla responded.

“How dare you show disrespect towars NSR’s elites!” Ford argued back.

“I show respect to talent, something which none of you guys have!” Milla responded. As she dodged Ford’s attacks with his clock hand swords and flames. Which summons a key.

“We got them all! You’re going down, Ford!” Milla shouted as she launched the key.

“No!” Ford screams as the stage shows… a poster for Septentrion?

~

“Rock is no longer relevant! Septentrion once commanded this city with their music. But we beat them with EDM. So, shut the hell up and let this city prosper!”

Milla saw the golden shiny thing out of reach, and all what she and Sasha could do is dodge Ford’s attacks.

“Enough!” Ford shouted as he lands on the floor. “I’ve had it with you and your trivial choice of music!” He shouted.

“Why do you hate rock so much?!” Milla asked.

“There’s no future in rock! Rock is done! Finished!” Ford shouted.

“The only thing that is finished is you and your empire!” Milla shouted back as she parried the flames of Ford, defeating him.

“There’s only one thing left to do Milla.” Sasha told the guitarist.

“Let’s bring back the glory of rock!” Milla responded. She set her guitar on attack mode, while Zuke prepared his drum sticks.

“BUNKA”

“JUNKA”

“SHAKALAKA-BAM!” they shouted. Causing a blue light to attack at the CEO.

~

As Ford was launched, landing on the golden shiny thing. It sparked.

“Oh no. No! No!” Ford screams as it launched him back to the floor in an explosion.

Milla and Sasha saw what was inside, it was a green guitar… preferably Vision Quest’s guitar.

“It's… it's… it’s Vision Quest’s guitar!” Milla shouted in glee.

“It was in that crown? And it was powering it?” Sasha questioned. Suddenly, Milla felt… suspicons, preferably on why it was here in the crown.

“Wait a minute…” Milla spoke as she turned around to Ford. “WHY IN THE WORLD DO YOU HAVE HIS GUITAR IN HERE? ARE YOU THE REASON WHY VISION QUEST IS GONE?” Milla asked.

“There is no way you are that stupid. Why do you think I have that thing?” Ford asked with annoyance.

“Your his dad?” Milla guessed.

“No.” Ford responded.

“His best friend?” Milla guessed again.

“No.” Ford responded again.

“…his secret gay lover?” Milla guessed the third time.

“Milla he's—”

“I’m Vision Quest you nitwits!” Ford interrupted.

“You're… you’re Vision Quest?!” Milla asked. “Th… this can’t be! You’re joking right?” Milla asked again.

“That doesn’t matter now. What’s important is for the city to—”

“It matters to me!” Milla interrupted. “You’re Vision Quest! THE Vision Quest? How… how did you become THIS?” Milla asked. “It’s because of Septentrion disbanding right?” Milla asked again.

Ford sighed and explained his story. “If there was one thing The Goolings taught me was that a good leadership requires strength! I was too soft back then, always listening to my bandmates, always welcoming their ideas. And what did that amount to? Nothing but utter chaos! Nobody could agree on anything! And that’s the reason why we disbanded. But… that is all behind us. I’ve learned my lesson, and now I lead with ORDER! And look how Vinyl City has flourished under my new rule!” Ford explained.

“You hated rock so much, that you decided to fight back with EDM…” Milla spoke.

“I fought back with what is best for this city.” Ford argued.

“So you’re saying that it’s the 'best’ to have blackouts?! Your crappy EDM is barely keeping this city alive!” Milla argued back. “Just let rock do its thing and—”

“Can you shut up about rock? Aren’t you getting tired of this nonsense of your 'Rock vs EDM’ agenda? Sing a different tune, will ya?!” Ford interrupted. “Rock is dead. Forever was. And it will always be like that!” He argued.

Milla felt so hurt by those words, how could her idol say that?

“Why did you have to change? You were my idol. I worshipped you. I did this revolution… for you!” Milla spoke.

“Ok, three things. One, I didn’t ask for your admiration. Two, take your responsibilities for your actions. And three, never have heroes. Trust me, it’s better to have fewer disappointments.” Ford responded.

“Oh you think you’re so cool with your bullshit of bullet points, huh?” Milla asked. “I’m just… done! I’m done with this! I’ll let the results speak.” She spoke in a huff. “Sasha!”

“On it!” Sasha responded as he checked the results.

“What was your output again? It was forty-seven precent, right? Pretty easy to be that amount.” Milla taunted.

“I’d like to see you try!” Ford responded.

“Oh we’re gonna! And we’ll make you eat your words!” Milla replied back.

“I’ll eat my whole suit if I have to!”

“Fine, you… suit-eating moron!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

“Fine times infinity!”

“Do you even know what you’re saying?” Ford asked.

“Look we had a long day, jeez?!” Milla replied. “Well Sasha?” She asked her partner.

“It's… forty-seven percent… still.” Sasha responded.

“What.” Milla replied.

“Oh BRAVOOW! You sure showed me. Shall I go get the champagne?” Ford responded sarcastically.

“Wh… where did we go wrong?” Milla asked.

“I don’t know… but the numbers don’t lie.” Sasha responded, suddenly the door opened.

“Ha! You did it guys!” A familiar voice spoke. Milla turned around, and saw a familiar face… it was Gristol. “That was smashing! Look at you now! You’re the new king and queen of Vinyl City.” He spoke. “Ford, you’re useless now. Such a nice way to lighten up the dull night.” Gristol smirked.

[hellfire-fist]

Luffy and Zoro's relationship makes me so emotional, it's fucking ridiculous. I really am getting old.

[nnvv3]

One piece Chapter 1010 was fire!! Zoro is a goat!!

(Pls give sanji a cool moment too! oda, please! 🥲)

[theladyofsorrows]

Can't belive Zoro's Ashura was so strong it killed Prince Philip 😔

[beaulesbian]

i'm caught up with end of wano, so here's some parallels from one piece that could be or don't have to be connected, but are still pretty cool.

long post ahead & wano spoilers

protecting new era:

rayleigh protecting zoro at sabaody from an attack by kizaru, ch 511

luffy protecting law from an attack by doflamingo, with same move as rayleigh above, dressrosa ch 782

at the end of wano, ch 1055, shanks telling ryokugyu a similar thing as rayleigh above ("don't pick the buds before they sprout. their era is only just the beginning"),

shanks "when the new shoots that just changed pirating history are exhausted, (..) are you that afraid of the new era?!"

---

zoro king of hell

same page as luffy protecting law - with haki clashing against doflamingo, the panels after that talking about supreme king haki - qualities of a king,. in this context for doflamingo, ch 782

at amazon lily ppl reacting to luffy using supreme king haki, while he doesn't know he just did, ch. 519. "that's the haki of the chosen ones' only one in millions has that spirit!"

vs, zoro unknowingly unleashing haki of supreme king for (possibly) the first time, ch 997

and later during his rooftop fight against kaido, (and still denies/ doesn't know what they're talking about, which is very interesting). ch 1010

then during his fight with King, unleashing haki, which makes others around fall unconscious (as mentioned above to doflamingo is a sign of supreme king haki), ch 1033

and some more chapters later, claiming the title of King of Hell (funny in this context it was told to doflamingo he was chosen by the heavens, and for zoro he became the king of hell. smth smth about the character work there).,

and as always - connected to luffy and his dreams!. ch 1036

then there's the asura figure surrounding zoro's powers,

and i find it so interesting that on wikipedia about asura (which zoro's sword and fighting styles are also based on with hindu and buddhist religions) is mentioned they're "considered enemy of the gods"

i like how it's the same phrase as we also heard in the manga before form law's flashbacks about corazon, ch 764

this is in the context of the people with the D. name, and then mostly used for law himself, and luffy and how far he's come to truly wreck the world government, as well as them being a threat to the celestial dragons.

luffy and nika:

from point above, i like how the "enemy of gods" being applied to people with the name D. is also interesting in the context of luffy awakening his devil fruit powers, which are named sun god nika. (i know that in the phrase "enemy of gods" mean gods as the celestial dragons, but it's still interesting)

which doesn't take away from luffy's character as i was a bit worried at first.

he's testing the new skills and powers, and he sees how he can reach the new limits he couldn't before. it might have been the devil fruit that chose who would eat it, but it's luffy and his dream that make the decisons., ch 1045

and ch 1049

luffy in ch 507 & 1053, his core ideals are still the same

---

not fighting someone

shanks not fighting the mountain bandits, and luffy not understanding it, ch 1

jaya arc, luffy and zoro not fighting against bellamy, and nami not understanding at first, ch 225

and ch 1054, momonosuke telling yamato not to fight the navy guy because he wants to be able to protect wano, and let yamato go to the seas as he wants to - it's just that similar energy that luffy has when he tells someone not to fight (or when to fight), without almost any explanations.

also loved this usopp moment!, - could be paralelled to his whole character arc. ch 1036.

he's so real for saying this to kin and kiku (and samurai in general). he's always scared and sometimes can be acting like a coward, but he always, always, stands up for his crew and fights to live through whatever hell luffy puts in front of them.

-- wano was so good and there are so many thoughts about one piece in my head now, about each of the characters and their development/meanings/themes! OTL

[purplehairedwonder]

Chapter 1010

I know everyone’s going to want to talk about Zoro and Luffy (I’m kind of whatever about these developments, but that’s neither here nor there), but I really enjoyed Law in this chapter (I know, shocker).

For one thing, Law just keeps being the best bro. He pulls Zoro out Kaido’s way

because

Law is incredibly loyal to those he cares for. He spent 13 years plotting to avenge the man who saved him, he sent his crew to Zou to protect them from Dressrosa, he gives himself up to save Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo from Hawkins... the examples are numerous. is just another example of Law showing how much he cares for the Straw Hats. 

And it’s clear from Zoro’s reaction that the loyalty is returned, as he has no hesitation in leaving the fight to Law once makes his last attack while Luffy down:

The development of the alliance is probably my favorite part of the series right now. Law better be staying with the Straw Hats post-Wano, and there is a good indication in this chapter that he will be, namely this panel:

which mirrors Oden’s reaction to watching Whitebeard and Roger fight. If we like parallels with the previous generation, Law could arguably be being set up as Luffy’s Oden, traveling with another crew to Laugh Tale without being a full-fledged member of the crew.

ANYWAY.

Law may not be a Conqueror’s Haki user, but he’s still showing how ridiculously strong he is. For one thing, he just keeps hitting the Emperors with attacks that do damage:

AND Law tries to protect Zoro after he’s fallen and takes a Thunder Bagua for his trouble:

But he takes it and is still conscious afterwards. Because he’s a lot stronger than a lot of people seem to give him credit for. (I’m looking at you, Reddit.)

I’ll also be interested to see how they animate “Curtain” to see exactly what that did, though I’m guessing it blocked some of the force of the attack.

Anyway, the end of the chapter also had me chuckling:

because I couldn’t help but think of chapter 1001:

Law doesn’t like taking orders, so I doubt he’ll actually leave the rooftop. (And I’d be disappointed if he did. Luffy and Kid are fighting with the Emperors, so Law should be too.)

[gayathefierceknight]

Haoshoku no Haki 👑

Colored by Greiish: https://twitter.com/greiish?s=21

[smittenroses]

— Noticed

Carrd | Ko-fi | Patreon | Archive of Our Own Mirror

Fandom No Straight Roads Pairing 1010/reader Chapter Summary Eloni and Haym decide to see what the new maid is all about. Haym also gets around the firewall again.

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Haym couldn’t help but think this was similar to one of the fanfictions he had read. He knew it was weird to read fanfictions about yourself by your fans, but, he had been curious — at first, at least — of what his fans were doing for fun. One turned into two, and now he consumed fanfiction like it was his morning breakfast.

Rivals to lovers, high school alternative universes, even ones where the reader would be picked from the crowd to be their one and only, Haym had read them all. Cute misspelling to works of art, he kept them downloaded onto backups to reread over and over. It was a secret that he would take to his grave, away from his fans that no doubt would stop creating them if they knew he read them.

So, sitting on top of on the bench top of one of Neon J’s workshops across the mansion, Haym watched the maid work, Eloni not too far away from him, tinkering with something he found on the floor.

There were many genres he could think of that would fit the style of scenario he found himself in; slice of life, romance comedy, even shojo, but, he wasn’t able to pin the one, resting his chin in his palm as he watched the maid sort through the nuts and bolts. “Is this really on your list today?” Haym questioned, watching as the maid’s eyes flickered to him, watching her shoulders shrug.

“It was on the list for today so I’m just following through.” Extending his arm to take the paper that was offered to him, Haym read over the neat handwriting of their creator, scanning down it to see the different tasks she was assigned. Sweeping, mopping, dusting, it was all the typical stuff, including where in the mansion he wanted her to do it, but, he couldn’t help but make a clicking noise from his voice box as he finally spotted the sorting of the nuts and bolts, eyes flickering to and from it before giving it back.

It didn’t take a super robot to figure out that it was Eloni who had forged the handwriting, but, he gave the benefit of the doubt — keeping his mouth shut as he watched Eloni in the background shake his head in a plea to stay quiet.

“It’s quite relaxing, actually,” The maid said, the piles of the nuts and bolts that had grown into one pile decreasing as she organised them into the boxes they actually belonged to, “Just us and the sound of the metal.” As if to make her point, the maid reached for one of the boxes and rattled it gently, filling the otherwise quiet space with pleasant noise before returning to her sorting.

Eloni shifted beginning to sort with her one piece at a time.

“So you don’t mind repetitive tasks?” Eloni said and Haym swore he was able to see the cute bubbles that would appear in the fan comics begin to blow around the green robot’s head, Haym moving closer himself, slowly beginning to follow in his footsteps as he dropped a few nuts and bolts into their own piles.

“I wouldn’t have become a maid if I hated them.” The simple jest in her voice as if she had been asked this question a thousand times was obvious, one that made Haym’s hand hover a bit as he listened to the giggles that came from her throat.

He had heard many types of giggles, from sweet ones to ones that were forced, but, Haym couldn’t help but want to hear it again and again, something about it tickling his servos in a nice way.

“Well, that���s good,” Haym couldn’t help but join in the laughter too, his voice box rattling slightly with laughter as he turned his LED eyes to look at her, taking note of the way she held eye contact with them so easily, how she looked him in the eyes when she was talking to them.

Just like in the fanfics, just like they were on the same level.

“We get bored sometimes with our shows,” Eloni said, using one of the bolts like a coin as he flicked it into the air, watching it twirl around before catching it again, “We do love our fans,” as much as they were programmed to love them unconditionally, “But sometimes we have to find a way to make things interesting, you know?”

“Last show Eloni started to do things behind Rin to make the audience laugh. I joined in after a bit.” Nobody had laughed much at Eloni’s antics, but, he remembered it fondly, how the two of them used the fact that during one of the dances to poke fun at the white one — It had earned them a scolding later, but, at least Rin had laughed when he finally was able to see the clips of everything he wasn’t able to catch them doing. Pulling out his phone, Haym’s fingers flew across it, pulling up the video before he flipped it around.

Watching her face shift with each second was something he would keep in his memory bank forever. From subtle gasps to laughter that could brighten a room, Haym allowed his eyes to flick over to Eloni, watching how he vibrated in excitement.

Nobody had ever shown interest in his antics like she was from just watching the video, nobody had laughed along with him when he was being a goofball.

Nobody had ever shown interest in Eloni and Eloni alone before.

“And you came up with this all on your own?” The maid said with a grin, turning her head to Eloni, watching as the gears turned in his head before he realised she was talking to him directly.

“Yes!” Eloni said, the green robot beginning to prattle as Haym put his phone away, being careful that it wouldn’t keep playing in his pocket as he listened to Eloni begin to recount his entire thought process from the beginning, from his boredom to his thoughts on everything he did.

Including the fact the entire thing had started because Rin’s neck panel had opened up behind his neck. The panelling was meant to last — it was meant to be good quality, too — but sometimes things like that just tended to happen, especially when your shows were as high energy and full of things.

Though, he was still surprised his system hadn’t picked up on it in the first place. Haym couldn’t help but scratch the back of his own neck, feeling the panel’s ridges on the back of his neck as

“And so, I thought Rin’s not noticing that, what else can I get away with? And It went from there. He got it fixed after the show, too, so I consider it a win for the both of us.”

Haym would take it to his decommission that he had done it in order to help out his brother, but, as he pulled himself back onto the bench top he had been standing next to, propping a leg up on the bench just beneath his hips, he couldn’t help but rest his head on his knee, pulling up his stats to make sure he wasn’t running low. He wanted to sit, to observe, to watch as the maid and his best friend chatted and sorted through the nuts and bolts.

All systems were normal, his coolant didn’t need to be changed, so, why did he feel so warm and fuzzy? He made very minimal movements with his fingers as he flicked through all the screens, checking everything he could think of before his email went off, abandoning everything to flick over to that. While they were talking — distracted away from his warming body — he may as well find a way to… he couldn’t put it into better terms than ‘cool off’ as he opened his emails, beginning to scroll through the new ones rapidly.

“Eloni,” Haym muttered, watching as the green robot perked up at his name, barely seeing his eyes through the pop up as he shifted his gaze to look at him, “Want to do a commercial with Sayu later?”

“It’s Zimelu’s turn, he’s been putting it off for too long.”

As much as Zimelu pretended that he didn’t like the bright pinks and blues of the commercials, he had seen him pull out a plushie of her he kept behind his charging pod. Forwarding the email off to Zimelu, Haym went back to scrolling his inbox, replying to some that interested him—.

Stopping his fast scroll and respond mid email, Haym scrolled back up, feeling his handshake as he saw a familiar username, forcing his body to keep still as he clicked on it. Rivals to lovers, fluff, a coffee shop au? He had been waiting for this fanfiction for months, watching the author’s social media silently, buzzing with excitement whenever they teased what was coming next.

“Neon J and DJ share a bed?”

The clinking of nuts and bolts stopped, Haym feeling the stares on him before he removed the HUD from his vision, seeing Eloni and the maid staring at him. He saw her mouth move, but, no noise came out, Haym blinking a few times as he rebooted his hearing module.

“What did you say, bebe?”

“Baby?”

“Programming!”

Whatever had been stirring in the pretty maid’s mind seemed to simmer down, yet, her brow was raised just a bit, her body turned to him enough that she was completely square, 0° of angle between their bodies as she stepped in front of him.

“What was that about sharing a bed.”

Haym’s servos ran hot as he realised he had been caught out, eyes no doubt glitching as he attempted to find a way out of the situation. It was one thing to be reading fanfiction about yourself and the people around you, it was another to be caught doing it in front of someone that wouldn’t know what it was like — would she call it narcissistic, he didn’t know, but, he quickly rummaged through his memories, pulling up one that would fit.

“Just a fan using a photo from a few months ago for some gossip,” making more exaggerated movements to pretend like he was checking on his oil levels, he kicked himself off the bench, beginning to walk backwards, “I need to go get some oil! See you later.”

It was only when he had been halfway down the hallway did he finally remembered, taking a moment to reboot at his stupidity; they had changed away from oil-based lubricant months ago.

Living in such a large home, you found yourself not running into anyone on purpose unless you wanted to. It was the perfect environment for Haym when he was busy reading his daily fix, huddled up in a corner that had been freshly cleaned away from dust as he entranced himself into the story a fan had come up with. It was fine that he wasn’t in it, nor was he the main star, but, reading things from his producer’s point of view and getting to laugh about how wrong they got certain parts of his character, Haym had been trapped before he had known it.

In one part of the interface, he had his comment ready, his thoughts written down as he read through the chapter, in the other was the story, slowly taking his time reading each line as he drew the tech coffee shop in his head that rivalled the moody cafe.

‘They’re not American’ blinked next to the story, each part of the Americanised ‘Neon J’ causing him to roll his eyes and groan, Haym for once taking a break as he closed out of the fic, leaning back against the cushions of the chair as he stared up at the ceiling.

Though, nearby, Haym couldn’t help but perk up the microphone sensitivity in his ears, listening to the far-away voices that drew closer, and closer, catching a glimpse of the maid uniform and a head of green as they finally passed by the door.

Yet, it wasn’t the thought of them still hanging out together that made Haym smile, it was what he overheard instead, knowing that his best friend was beyond giddy inside.

“Well, I guess I’m your new number-one fan.”

Snuggling back into the cushions, Haym smiled to himself as he muttered “Strangers to friends…” before pulling back up the fanfiction, though, as he glanced at the next line, he stood up rapidly, knowing that if he had the muscles of a human that they would contort in anger that could not be healthy.

“That is the worst Google translation I have ever read!”

He would not be finishing this one.