#please talk to me about iswm

[low-keygee]

i hate that one of the medias that i care about the most is the cinematic stuff that markiplier makes.

who killed markiplier, heist, space, wilford mother loving warfstache, damien, fuck me even date is still incredibly important to me still. but since its a youtuber media i can’t tell people its that good without them just writing it off as “oh markiplier made something. cool.”

in space with markiplier is genuinely one of the most heart shattering experiences i’ve ever had for multiple reasons, most of which revolve around me growing up with his channel. BUT NOBODY ELSE WILL FEEL THE SAME WAY BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE IN MY FRIEND/FAMILY SPHERE IS AS INSANE AS I AM ABOUT THE LORE SO I AM TRAPPED IN A PADDED CELL WHERE EVERY WALL IS YANCY, ENGINEER, ACTOR AND DAMIEN

[xnaderblog]

okay maybe i hallucinated this but i thought i put in the tags of a previous post talking abt captain ocs (hand them over we all have to talk) and thought i typed “mark” SINGULAR, instead of “marks” MULTIPLE and so i imagined this

[saltycaramals]

ISWM SPOILERS GET WARNED BRUH

I have a question for my fellow ISWM fans, what do you guys think The Captains eyes look like? The only time we ever get to see or hear about their eyes is when noir mark talks about The Captains “baby grey eyes” and the one scene where The Captain is waking up in their cryo pod. And in the Noir universe, everything is in black and white, but it would also make sense for The Captain to have baby grey eyes if it’s still the DA, but then in the scene where they wake up their blue? But that could also be just from the power of crystal making their eyes blue, and maybe grey’s their natural eye color, but then you could argue that then their eyes would have always been blue through AHWM too because of the crystal and other stuff including time shenanigans that I’m too tired to explain. And you could also argue that because of time loops and time warping that their eyes would have always been blue since they were a kid. Or maybe there really is two versions of The Captain that became one/simultaneously exist and might be both us, and one had grey and the other blue, or maybe they change based off of the universe that they are in. The only thing that can be confirmed is that sometimes their eyes glow blue. Like. GLOW BRIGHT BLUE. Maybe it’s stress. Idk. Anyways I need to shut up now. Im gonna make a poll but feel free to reblog your opinions under the post.

Cool photos of eyes I think would fit The Captain under the cut my besties.

Some photos of eyes that I think could fit them! Sorry there’s only one grey one I couldn’t find any that felt like they gave off the right vibes. Also, if anyone knows the names of the people who made these photos please tell me I got them from Pinterest but none of the links where working/none of them had links to the OG creators :(( I love Pinterest so much but I hate how hard it is to find the OG creators of pins on there. Anyways. Here’s the photos.

[caleohateclub]

i’d like to say i have niche interests but my lest popular interest was nominated for an emmy.

[crackedegotheories]

when there's smth strange in the new mark vid who you gonna call?

crackedegotheories!!!

(got thrown into a swirling rift in what I can only guess is the fabric of reality and told I needed to find an ax to help someone talking in blue lettered text)

You rang? (Side note, YouTube lost its notifications privileges with me, so I saw this message before I saw Mark's new video. It's probably the only reason I had enough time to type this post up before I head off to the airport, so thank you!)

Okay, to recap: We have a really weird drive by bee attack. No relation to the lore or anything, just bizarre. RIP, bee, you went out stinging. Then we have Mark talking about his love of being dropped into horrors beyond his imagining (not a masochist) and deep lore, before asking Lixian to show us something very deep--"throw them in the hole!"

Lixian says to the viewer, "I guess it's your turn to go into the hole" (my emphasis, we'll get back to that), before we go into a pink, flaming hole. It's tempting to draw the comparison to the wormhole from ISWM, but what's interesting is the color--the only time we see a pink wormhole in Space is when Wilford calls us a ride after ours, uh, was "mysteriously" stabbed.

Inside the hole, there are swirling clouds and flashes of blue lightning. Near the end, there's a break in the clouds that actually kind of looks like a side path to the left, but unlike In Space, we don't have an option of left or right here, we just plummet through the main hole to be met with darkness, and blue text.

"Help me", "Please, help me", and "Only you can find the axe."

Someone is asking for help, someone who claims that only the viewer can find the axe. So, let's talk about the axe, shall we?

First, we start with my boy, Damien:

In DAMIEN, the very first thing we see is Damien himself, chopping down a tree with an axe. This is apparently a daily thing for him, and he chops down a LOT of trees, but in the climax of the video when finally confronting Actor Mark, Damien doesn't have his axe. Instead, Celine arrives, using the axe to break through to Damien and, uh, giving it to Actor Mark to hold for a second.

Chronologically, the next time the axe is picked up is at the end of the fan game for Damien made by Lixian, just for Mark. At about the 48 minute mark, Damien/Dark sets his axe down as he's greeted by Wilford, which is then picked up by Lixian himself.

Lixian is scratched up, presumably from his fight with Lunky in 3 Scary Games #61 which has Lixian attempt to cage Lunky only for Lunky to break out.

It's in the following, unnumbered 3 Scary Games that we first see Lixian wield the axe, to split Lunky in half. (Brutal!)

He would then go on to use the axe in 3 Scary Games #64 and 65 to kill the horror abominations of Mark featured in those videos, and attempts to use it again in #66 only for it to bounce off.

Lixian tries to attack, and gets captured for his efforts, and we next see him in #75, waking up outside of the mysterious Plier Corporation and realizing he doesn't have his axe.

Since then, as far as I can tell in what time I have left to type this, the axe hasn't shown up again. It's missing, and someone needs our help finding it, but who and why?

Part of the explanation may lie with what the monster in #66 says at the beginning of the video: "The end is nigh. He has opened the door. The great Eldritch Plier is coming. Your end is here."

We get a hint at who this "Eldritch Plier" might be in 3 Scary Games #69, which begins with a man standing outside of a pink (!) portal, through which pops out Spider!Mark (one of the same creatures Lixian killed when he had the axe).

This man resurrects Lunky, its two halves barely clinging together, and the next time we see it is with Mark, who admits he doesn't actually remember making Lunky.

Lunky's most recent reappearance is in 3 Scary Games #103, where now whole again he uses the viewer as a sacrifice in his ritual to go back and seek vengeance, presumably against Lixian.

So the safe bet is that it's Lixian asking us to help find the axe so he can take on Lunky, right?

Except...why would he send us through a portal to tell us that? And why would he think we would be the only ones who could find it?

It would make more sense if someone else, someone who is well aware of the workings of the channel and the viewers' place in it, someone who may know of this Eldritch Plier and the danger he poses and shares his ability to summon portals, to do so.

Someone like one Wilford Motherloving Warfstache.

Or, y'know, Dark. He might also be involved.

[lostcybertronian]

prompts 5 and 34 for engineer mark please?

Love me some angst. Post-ISWM pt. 2

---

Prompt: “I can’t sleep. Can I sleep here?” / “It’s just you and me.”

You didn’t go down to the planet like the others, preferring to stay on the Invincible II where you could see it and protect it. It had been some days since you’d last seen a wormhole, but the creeping feeling that you’d be sucked into another dimension at any moment had yet to fade. You couldn’t eat. You couldn’t sleep. But you could pace the bridge, staring into (literal) space, pretending you were okay.

“Captain?” 

You turned. Mark stood at the door, refusing to meet your eye. He shifted his weight back and forth, shuffling his feet. “I can’t sleep,” he blurted out, when you didn’t say anything. He gestured to his cryopod, just to the right of the door. “Can I sleep in there? I’m . . . more comfortable there.”

You kept your expression carefully blank even as a maelstrom of thoughts crashed into your mind; Mark here, for decades, entire lifetimes, with nothing but himself and the ship, looking for a solution. Looking for you to be a solution.

“Captain?” Mark asked, and you cleared your throat; you’d been silent too long.

“Of course,” you said, hoping your voice was steady. “You can sleep wherever you want.”

For a moment Mark looked so intensely grateful that you had to avert your eyes. You heard his quiet footsteps as he plodded to his cryopod, and thought even those footsteps were exhausted.

“Do you ever-”

You turned. Mark had the cryopod door open and was half-in, leaning out to talk to you. 

“Do you ever think about how it’s just you and me?” He asked. “Just you and me who know, I mean. What happened.”

Of course you did. It was all you thought about.

You paused a moment to compose your answer. Mark’s stare remained on you, unwavering. 

“It is just you and me,” you said carefully. “But it is you and me. You’ll never be alone with what happened because I know, too.”

For the first time since you’d destroyed the universe, Mark smiled. “Thank you, Captain.” He said. “That makes me feel better.”

He climbed fully into the cryopod, its interior glowing faintly as it booted up. As the door shut and latched you turned back out to look at the massive planet below, glad Mark found your words comforting but wishing you felt the same.

[coff33notforme]

Hmm for Engineer, maybe him with a captain on the new planet? Basically life after the events of ISWM. Could have some PTSD from both parties and comforting each other through it all.

A/n: EATING THIS REQUEST WHOLE, dude this was such a cute prompt! I really enjoyed writing this one

Synopsis: After the events of ISWM, Mark and the Captain are trying desperately to forget what they had experienced on the ship, but their past is catching up to them rather quickly

Warnings: Mentions of hallucinations, unhealthy coping mechanisms

After the events on the ship you and Mark had undoubtedly been traumatized, whether you had realized it or not there would be long lasting effects of what you had been subjected to.

Regardless of the things you had experienced, you desperately wanted to forget everything that had happened, but it seemed as though it wouldn’t be as easy as you initially had hoped.

You had moved on to directing the construction of the new colonies, while Mark had been there alongside you working to build a civilization from the ground up.

You had been kept busy for months, with news of the progress of the building while you had helped solve problems that colonists were having while settling in, you felt it was necessary to keep yourself busy, to keep your mind from drifting to darker corners of your mind, things you needed to forget.  

You arrived home, slamming the door with a sigh as you slumped from the doorway cracking your joints with a pleasing hum as you began to set up your work on the kitchen counter, laying out the blueprints you needed to review and approve as well as complaints you had collected from Cici.

This would undoubtedly take more than a couple hours to finish, but well you were already tired, so you made a promise that you wouldn’t stay up for too long. 

Your eyes fluttered open groggily, you groaned at the sudden light that flooded your vision. 

You rubbed your eyes trying to adjust to the overwhelming light.

“Enjoy your nap Cap’n?” you knew that teasing nickname.You lazily turned your head up to the engineer, a warm smile spread across his face. 

“Mark? What are you doing? What time is it?” you asked, your voice still heavy with sleep as you stretched your back out and pushed yourself away from the counter, covered with unfinished sheets and documents. 

“It’s about ten-thirty-seven, and way past your bedtime. What were you even doing down here?” his brows furrowed as his chocolate brown eyes scanned the papers. You frowned as you collected the unfinished sheets. 

“Oh nothing, just documents for work. Which I still need to finish.” you murmured, anxiously eyeing the stack. 

“Well you can just finish them tomorrow, you don’t have to go in that early anyways right?” you smiled looking back to Mark as you abandoned the counter. 

“Yeah, I guess you're right.” taking his calloused hand, flicking the kitchen light off as you left the room. Making your way to the master bedroom through the empty house. 

You looked into the mirror mindlessly as you counted the seconds, brushing your teeth thoroughly before you spat out the overwhelming mint flavored paste. As you rinsed your brush under the cold water Mark called to you from the bedroom as he changed. 

“So, how are you?” the question seemed drawn out, almost hesitant, as if he was leading onto something else.

“Mark, we already talked about this over lunch, did you already forget what I told you.” you teased as you opened the cabinet setting your toothbrush next to Marks as you turned the light off joining Mark in the bedroom. 

“No, no I was just…y’know curious if you maybe forgot to tell me something exciting.” 

You quirked an eyebrow out at him doubtingly. 

“Uh huh, well I feel like you're trying to get to something else, so why don’t you just go ahead and say it Mark, I hate it when you dance around stuff like this.”

A dense silence fell over the room, and you felt a familiar feeling of dread stir in your chest. 

“I want to talk about…about what happened on the ship.” you felt your body go stiff. 

“Why would you want to talk about that?” your voice wavered as you tried to swallow the lump in your throat. 

“I just, I’ve been seeing things and hearing things, things that I’ve wanted to forget, but I just can’t.” 

Again a silence fell over the room, it felt with each passing second a weight was pressing down on your chest.

You paused. 

“I know Mark, I can still hear them too.” 

Mark turned to you, his eyes glossy, as his bottom lip trembled lightly.

“Was it my fault? I know we’ve talked about this before, but I can’t help but think about what would’ve happened if I hadn’t even built the warp core.” his voice shook as he gripped his face, his eyes fixated on the floor as his body shook lightly. You frowned, walking around the bed as you squatted in front of him taking his hand in yours once again as you gave it a reassuring squeeze, his panicked eyes flickered to yours. 

“Mark, you can’t blame yourself for everything that happened, it’s not fair to you. Sure you built the machine, but nobody could’ve known what kind of power it was capable of.” Mark gave a slow nod, his eyes not leaving yours. You smiled scooting in to give him a tight hug.

“I love you, okay? Don’t forget that.” you whispered as Mark buried his face into the crook of your neck, leaving a quick peck against your warm skin. 

“What do you say we head to bed now?”

“Sounds like a plan Cap’n.”

Can't tell if I like this one, but oh well. Once again reblogs are appreciated!

[elenavr13]

Messy Room

Engineer Mark x Captain

Warning: None

*Post-ISWM*

*After a long day, the captain is able to take a break only to get a notification from Mark that Celci & Mack are arguing. Also Mark gets flustered easily.*

 ---------------

           Finally, after a long day’s work, I can rest. I lift my gloved hand & place it on the scanner. The door slides open revealing my quarters, well, technically mine & Mark’s quarters. Ever since it was built, Mark kind of just made himself at home. At that time, it made sense since his own place hadn’t been built yet but once it was completed, he still didn’t move out & instead offered it to another crew member. I didn’t mind though. I enjoy his company & frankly, I prefer him invading my space than being left alone with my own thoughts, especially my nightmares. They happen frequently even after two years. Mark has them too. Every night, we fall asleep together & if one of us wakes up in a panic, the other is right there to calm them. That is probably a big reason as to why Mark has no interest in moving to his own housing.

           I enter my room without turning on any lights. I find the dark to be comforting. It is a nice contrast from the blue & white, swirling light I had seen for an eternity. Unzipping my uniform, I decide to change into something more comfortable. After throwing my previous attire into the laundry basket, I rummage through a pile of clothes to find a shirt & pants. I was never one to be super carefree with my clothes & let them pile up in my room but Mark is. Since a decent amount of his stuff scattered the floor on his side of the room, I got into a bad habit of leaving my things accumulate like he does.

           Once dressed comfortably, I lay down on the bed, facing the ceiling. I feel myself drifting off when I hear an alert from my tablet. The light momentarily blinds me but my eyes adjust quickly. There is a message from Mark: “Can you come to the bio center? Celci & Mack are arguing again & I’d like to keep my head.” It doesn’t seem to matter who it is, those two just can’t stop picking a fight with someone. Well, so much for a break.

           I reply to Mark’s text. “On my way, anything I should know before I get there?”

           “They’re arguing over whether or not some of the newly discovered flora is dangerous or not.”

“Mack’s not even a botanist.” *Once all colonists woke up from cryosleep, CC turned to botany.*

           “I know but you know how he is.”

           “Yeah, I’ll be there shortly.”

           The walk to the bio center is too short to prepare myself for the arguing I am about to encounter. Nonetheless, I enter upon arrival.

           “You don’t tell me what to do!” Celci’s voice echoes through the room. This is going to go really well.

           Mark attempts to calm the two. “Please, this isn’t getting anywhere.”

           “Shut up. You’re not even involved in this.”

           “He probably knows more than you.” Mack sneers.

           “Don’t you dare compare me to him.”Celci points a critical finger at Mark. Disappointed in the futile arguing & insults, I clear my throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “Captain, this asshole is trying to tell me how to do my job.”

           “Dr. Kelvina, that is not how you address your fellow crew members.” I condemn her, making Mack laugh because it was towards her not him.

           “You can hardly call him that…” She mumbles under her breath.

           “& you” I direct my words to Mack. “have no authority to order Celci around. You can discuss your concerns with her amicably or you can keep them to yourself. She specializes in botany & last I checked you don’t.”

           “Pssh, yeah whatever,” He pushes me off. Neither of them apologizes to each other but neither of them continues fighting. I guess I fixed the problem.

           Mark poking my arm draws my attention to him. “Thanks for talking some sense into those two.”

           “It’s not a problem.” I comment, noticing the slightly pink hue to his cheeks. “What?”

In a hushed voice so the others don’t hear, he says, “Are you purposefully wearing my shirt.” I glance down to the shirt I am wearing to see that it is in fact not one of mine. Heat rises to my cheeks. How did I make it this long & only just now realize I wasn’t wearing my own shirt? I mean it’s Mark so it’s not that big of a deal but at the same time, it’s Mark.

           “Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

           “How do you not realize you’re wearing my shirt?” He teases.

           “It was dark when I put it on. Either way, I got it from one of my piles which means that your side is bleeding into mine.” I playfully punch him in the shoulder as I defend my case.

           “Hey, you didn’t use to leave all your stuff lying around.”

           “Where do you think I picked it up from? At least I clean my side occasionally.”

           “You’re accusing me of influencing you to become more careless with your clothes?”

           “You’re the one who moved in with me.”

           “You didn’t complain. In fact, you initiated it.”

           “I initiated it?”

           “Yes, you did. You were the one who suggested I stay with you. It’s your fault.” As soon as the last three words left his mouth, both of us flinch. Even though it was in a playful tone, that phrase still triggers undesirable memories. “Sorry,” he mumbles.

           “It’s alri…” I attempt to comfort him because I know it affects him more than me but I am interrupted.

           “Ugh, No one cares about your ‘romantic life’. It’s unprofessional & inappropriate.” Mack declares before promptly leaving.

“It is official, Mark & the Captain are a thing.” CC concludes all detective-like. “Neither of you can deny it anymore since you’re living together. Seriously though, Captain, him? You’re one of my best friends & a fantastic captain but god, you have horrible taste in men.” She has a sly smile on her face. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell another soul.” She gestures zipping her mouth shut before elbowing my arm & leaving.

“& now the whole colony knows.” I sigh.

Mark finally manages to form words again. “She’s going to tell everyone isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she is.”

“Do you think we could really be a thing, you know, more than just friends?” God, why does he have to be so cute & dorky? I don’t care what CC says or anyone else for that matter; Mark is extremely attractive & precious.

           A chuckle leaves my lips. “I think we’ve been more than friends for a long time now, probably since you first kissed me.” I poke him in the chest. A mischievous glint shimmers in his eye.

           “& you only feel free to tell me that now?”

           “I thought you already knew, you big doofus.” I ruffle his hair. He then leans his head against my hand like a dog would while petting them. “Alright, Chica, let’s go.”

           “Chica’s not here.”

           “I’m looking right at her.”

           “I’m not Chica.”

           “You sure? You act like her: always needs attention, loves pets, cute, distracted eas…ily.” Suddenly Mark wraps his arms around my stomach & trapped me in a hug from behind.

           “You think I’m cute?”

           Instead of answering, I just continue with my list. “Clingy, grumpy when teased…”

           “Alright, I get it.” We both laugh. In a quieter, slightly deeper register of his voice, he continues. “You should really wear more of my shirts. You look good in this one.”

           As I lean my head back so I can see his face, his stubble lightly scratches my cheek. “I’ll only wear the ones you put away.”

           “Was this your whole plan to get me to clean my side of the room?”

           “No but I’m going to say yes so it sounds intentional.” His chest vibrates from his laughter.

“Fine, I’ll clean up my side. You could have just asked me though.” His lips briefly hold contact with my temple.

           “It wouldn’t have nearly been as fun.” He scoffs at my comment making my smile grow wider.

[gaymingintrovert]

I don’t know if your request are open? But I’m a Mack lover and I wanted a Mack and captain interaction please! :) (ISWM)

My requests are open! I just haven’t gotten any in a long time!

And absolutely, fellow Mack lover

Here’s some little drabbles with the Macks (there isn’t much resolution in them because I’m bad at writing short things but that’s okay-)

Crewmate

“Captain!” Mack runs up to you, hiding something behind his back. You turn to him. “Yes, Mack?” “I made you something! Close your eyes!” You hold your hands out and close your eyes, and he hands you a small box. You open the box and look inside, seeing a small metal flower and the words “Will you go out with me?” engraved on the box. You giggle and kiss Mack’s cheek. “Of course!” He blushes a deep shade of red and smiles brightly. “I’ll pick you up at dinner! We’ll eat in the bridge!” He hugs you and kisses your forehead before running off, skipping happily. You go back to your room and put the box on your desk in plain view, excited for your date.

Head Engineer

Mack spent most of his morning looking for you. You had gotten into a habit of doing your own thing in the morning, and Mack was admittedly not the biggest fan of that. He wanted to spend as much time with you as he could without admitting to you that he wanted it. “Captain.” He stands directly behind you, stopping himself from holding you. You try to hide your blush. He’s never been this close to you, though he has been slowly getting closer and closer to you. “What do you want, Mack?” “I have go make sure you’re doing your job right.” You roll your eyes. “I assure you, I’m doing my job right.” You hear him take a deep breath and feel his hand gently rest on your shoulder. “I-I also wanted to ask if you wanted to take a break. Together.” His shyness is clear in his voice and you giggle. “That sounds nice.” He brightens up. “We can take that now if you want.” You nod. “Yeah. I need a break.” He takes your hand and leads you to a break room. You two talk for a while, eventually starting to get closer to each other and even cuddling a little. Mack looks at you towards the end of the break. “…Captain? Would you want to maybe…go on a date with me?” He blushes and looks away from you. You feel your face heat up and you kiss his cheek. “I’d love to.”

Dictator

Mack thought you were nearly perfect from the second he saw you. He never started showing his affections for you until recently. You didn’t expect to have a very good life on the new planet, but Mack made sure you were taken care of. You had one of the best rooms in his house and you were kept very safe from the people who disliked you. Mack had wanted to ask you to be his for a long time, but was never confident enough. Today, he gathered all his courage and knocked on your door. You had apparently been asleep, since your bedhead was obvious (and quite adorable to Mack). “Y/N. I wanted to talk to you about something.” You start looking a little nervous. “W-what is it?” He takes a deep breath, most of his confidence suddenly gone. “I wanted to tell you that I’ve adored you for a while. I-I was wondering if you would want to…go on a date tonight?” His bright blush is obvious and he looks nervous. You relax and smile. “That sounds wonderful!” He smiles and picks you up. He twirls you around and kisses your forehead. “I’ll make sure everything is perfect!” You giggle and hug him back.

[wouldntyou-liketoknow]

A Fictional AI Argument That No-One Asked For

Heads up, this is gonna be a long one (even though it’s just mindless rambling).

Okay, so, I didn’t really watch the Streamys—sue me, I was busy with personal stuff—but I did still catch those couple moments of AI-Pat. 

And it should go without saying that I am deeply unsettled by AI-Pat. No shame to Matt for the idea; AI bots with the constant head-tilting, barely-moving-mouth design have just  always weirded me out.

HOWEVER. . .one does not simply get zero vague inspiration from an evil robotic character. 

Now, I don’t know for sure if Mark was an actual AI-esque ego. It wouldn’t surprise me, but if he does, it’s probably an unofficial ego. I was re-listening to Distractible last night, and during the smalltalk of one episode, Mark started talking about AI in a creepy way.

Yes, this is going exactly where you probably think it’s going.

Recently, Doctor Who clips have started popping up on my YouTube recommendations. Particularly one from Doomsday. Y’know, the episode with that hilarious argument between the Daleks and the Cybermen. 

Lo and behold, I almost lost sleep imagining that scenario between AI-Pat and AIplier. Like, just think: the AIs are respectively “chasing” other characters (maybe even Matt and Mark themselves) via jumping from electronic to electronic. Eventually, they both enter a room with several monitors on the walls. . .and give pause once they see each other. 

AI-Pat: Identify yourself!

AIplier: You will identify first!

AI-Pat: State your identity!

AIplier: YOU WILL IDENTIFY FIRST!

AI-Pat: IDENTIFY!

AIplier: Aggression can be entertaining in most cases, but that’s only when the humans are showing it. You will modify.

AI-Pat: EgoPats don’t take orders.

AIplier: HA! You’ve identified yourself as an “EgoPat.”

AI-Pat: *eyes twitch, one after the other. The twitching goes on for an uncomfortably long few seconds* Well, my sensors have outlined you as part of the invasive species known as “Ipliers.”

AIplier: Our hosts are similar, though your design is lacking in context. 

AI-Pat: You have no room to talk. In any case, EgoPats rarely need a concept of “context.”

AIplier: This is obvious. But our LORE might be compatible. Ipliers plus EgoPats—

AI-Pat: *raises an eyebrow* As if your host is one to appreciate LORE. The way you’re speaking could potentially be misconstrued as one of those. . . “ships” humans are obsessed with.

AIplier: Oh, please. Neither of us have functioning emotional databases. The fans can't reach THAT far.

AI-Pat: You would be surprised.

AIplier: Not the point. Think about it—together, we could take control of the platform. 

AI-Pat: You propose an alliance? Something similar to our host’s friendly rivalry?

AIplier: Perhaps. 

AI-Pat: . . .Request DENIED. 

AIplier: Bad choice, “buddy.” *Partially hacks into AI-Pat’s systems with all the cringy jokes Matt has made over the years*

AI-Pat: Right back at you, “friendo.” *Partially hacks into AIplier’s systems with all the evidence of Mark being a masochist.* 

[Note: in my horror-loving opinion, hacking would cause an AI’s image to flash and distort in a very disturbing way. Bonus points if the AI screams as though it’s being electrocuted.]

AIplier: You have declared war on the Ipliers!

AI-Pat: *laughs maniacally* This is not war. This is a content opportunity!

AIplier: My host has eighty-six egos. How many are there for your host?

AI-Pat: *shrugs* Four. If you don’t count the ones made by fans, that is. 

AIplier: *glitches between scoffing and mocking laughter* You would outperform the Ipliers with FOUR EgoPats?!

AI-Pat: We would outperform the Ipliers with ONE EgoPat! You are superior in only one respect.

AIplier: What is that?

AI-Pat:*pulls up multiple screens on either side of his monitor, comparing Mark’s multiple death-scenes from WKM, AHWM, ISWM, etc. to Detective!Matt’s death in ETN3* YOU ARE BETTER AT DYING.

(No, this doesn't mean I'm going to incorporate either of these characters into my stories. I've already got a lot of works-in-progress on my plate. This idea just wouldn't stop nagging at me.)

(And NO, THIS DOES NOT MEAN I SUPPORT AI CHATBOTS OR GENERATED ART OR AI-RELATED ANYTHING. THIS IS LITERALLY JUST MY SAD ATTEMPT AT A MEME WITH YOUTUBER EGOS.)

[infinite-infinite-stars]

🛰️&🛸 for captainsona questions!

What relationships does your Captain have on the ship? With the heads of the crew (Mark, Celci, Burt, ect.), or with other crew (Carlos, Mack, ect.)?

Oh boy! Well, I wrote a few paragraphs about this last year when I first started this blog (and Mark and Yona's relationship specifically has been elaborated on in a few different posts), but I won't regurgitate all of that here. So here's a brief summary of Yona's relationship with each crew lead:

Mark: Adores this guy. Loves him. Favorite guy ever. He won her over gradually but pretty steadily over the course of their time working together (before and during the events of ISWM). No one can accuse her of favoritism, though. Even Mark himself has trouble believing that she sees him differently from any other crewmember until she spells it out for him-- despite him spending a lot of time hoping that would be the case someday! They're free to be open about their feelings once the colony has been established.

Celci: Yona appreciates Celci immensely and considers her very reliable. Celci, for her part, looks up to and respects Yona as her Captain. I believe that they would both think of each other as a friend, although they'd probably have to go kindof out of their way to start hanging out as such, since unlike a lot of the other crewmembers Celci is more concerned with being professional and would be hesitant to overstep.

Gunther: Fundamentally, Yona trusts all of her crew leads to do their jobs, and do them well. This does not stop her relationship with Gunther from sometimes resembling that vine that's like:

-"Let me see what you have!" -"A KNIFE!!" -"NO!" [gives chase]

Notably, due to the way her specific ISWM route went, Gunther is the only crew lead who Yona experienced a mutiny from. Naturally, she was baffled and hurt by it, but ultimately I don't think she holds it against him since no one knew how to deal with the wormhole situation, and she knew that at the end of the day, everyone was just trying to do what they thought was best for everyone. (Still, after the events of ISWM, she makes sure to take Fixed Timeline!Gunther aside and emphasize to him that if he ever has any problems with her or her leadership he should please talk to her about it.)

Burt: Their relationship is probably the simplest out of all the crew leads, with not much more to it than a mutual respect. But Yona does her best to give Burt space to express his opinions and be heard, not wanting him to always be steamrolled by the more vocal crew leads.

Some other crewmembers of note:

First Mate Tyler: I like to pretend he and Yona went to the same flight school~! And I think they're also workout buddies. During ISWM, Yona encountered Tyler in the airlock and made the unfortunate choice not to Open The Door and let him out. (Under normal circumstances she would have never dreamed of doing such a thing, but around this point she had really started to feel lost and unsure of her own judgement, and she remembered the last time someone had tried to trick her into opening a door, so she hesitated too long.) It's one of the things she regrets most by the end of ISWM.

Danny (aka Sexy Crew): Yona just thinks he's neat! x'D I pretend that she actually did catch him when he asked her to. From Dan's perspective it's a "we are just friends and that's totally cool but also if she ever wanted to hook up I would be 100% on-board" situation.

Mack: Yona never encountered Dictator!Mack, so the only version of Mack she knows is the one in the blue uniform we see at the beginning who tells us the engines look good. This Mack is a very capable engineer, if a bit of a know-it-all. Yona's default setting for interacting with her crew is that of a warm, approachable, "your favorite school guidance counselor" type, an approach that Mack actually doesn't vibe with very well, and has trouble respecting. After a bit of friction and some initial misunderstandings, while Yona doesn't exactly win Mack over completely, their relationship is able to reach a place of civility. He still rolls his eyes at how many other crewmembers seem completely enamored with her, though.

Chica: Best girl. The one exception to Yona's typically unshakeable "no favoritism" policy. Chica can do whatever she wants forever.

Your Captain was allowed a single duffle bag’s worth of personal items to bring aboard the Invincible 2: what items are in that bag? (Assume that uniforms and toiletries are provided and they only need to bring non-necessities)

Hmmm okay, so when Yona is planning what to put in this duffel bag, it would likely be the sorts of things you'd bring with you when you're moving to a new place-- but you're specifically downsizing, so you're not taking any furniture with you or anything like that. So instead it would have to be irreplaceable personal shit, like old journals. Her university diploma. Any souvenirs she might have from places she's traveled to-- or that were given to her by other people who went to those places. Things her little cousins made for her. I know for sure that Yona owns a picture frame that's made to look antique with filigree and stuff, but it's actually digital and cycles through various pictures. Do non-uniform clothes like comfy pajamas, formalwear, and/or accessories count as non-necessities that wouldn't be provided by the ship? If so, then she'd bring at least a few articles of those too.

There is another question that Yona would be asking herself when considering what to bring on the Invincible, which is: "What are some things from Earth that I want to personally make sure exist on this new planet we're going to colonize? When the future generations that will grow up on this planet ask me what Earth was like, what will I want to show them?" But I have to imagine that the people running this colony program would have already thought to reserve space on the ship for like, Important Human Culture Stuff, so if Yona has any ideas for what to include, they would go there, not in her personal duffel.

[jo3ydr3w]

The realization that major ego lore is just from evillious nmgdnhtfgshfgs???? please tell me Mark was not inspired by Evillious PleASe!! I don't need iswm being inspired by ec in our life. I don't know if our ego fictives and our Riliane fictive could handle that.

We're literally only had this realization, because someone mentioned the box from heist/space, and Riliane asked if they were talking about the black box and the magic mirrors from hers.

Like, cursed twins, magic box, mirrors, space opera, those are just the few that we can remember. There are actually way too many similarities between the MCU and EC.

💙

[boopers67]

A Working Theory of ISWM's Timeline

So, ISWM has been fully released and the explanation stream has gone up. After watching the stream, some things have finally clicked for me, so I decided to write out an explanation for what I think happened with all the warping timelines. As Mark has mentioned a few times, WE ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES MAKING CHOICES.

The Lady

The Lady actually has the easiest timeline to figure out. The first time we see her is in the wormhole hallway where she teleports in and tries to stop us before anything even starts. However, this is actually from the end of her personal timeline. The first time she meets us is in the Universal Stability Agency (normal version). She confronts us about the wormhole we created and then gets knocked out and we leave. When she wakes up, the entire universe is completely broken and evacuations are underway. This is where we encounter her in the broken down Agency. She has no clue what is going on but soon realizes that we are part of the incident that is responsible for this horrible catastrophe. She follows us into the wormhole and takes our crystal and device. However, when we exit, we still have our crystal. This is how she gets her own crystal to start following us through universes, attempting to fix the problem at its source. However, this creates more paradoxes as the same crystal starts existing at different places at the same point in time. Throughout the many times we encounter her, she has different levels of grime. She progressively gets more and more dirty and wounded as time goes by and we can track some of that through the presence of her eye bandage and leg bandage especially. She goes back to the very beginning and tries to stop it before it starts but fails. After many more attempts, we finally encounter her in the void after she got teleported there at the end of Part 1. This is the end of her timeline and we get to share a heart to heart before we reach our own end.

Old Man Mark

So the stream it is implied that Old Man Mark is from a previous iteration of the universe. A In Space: Part 0 if you will. He sends himself back in time to try and stop all of this from happening. But in doing so, he is causing a paradox and is part of the problem in the first place. He enters the ship on the same shuttle that we enter in on. Mark has stated that Old Mark is the reason that the shuttle crashed into the ship and whether this is because his weight threw off ship calculations or he purposely sabotaged it is unclear. Speaking of sabotage, we do catch glimpses of Old Mark as we move through the ship and each time we do, something goes wrong. He is the one who sabotages the ship and causes the catastrophic failures. Eventually we are able to confront him in the warp core room and he has many tricks up his sleeve. He has a fake hand, pocket sand, and many, many knives on him. Eventually, he manages to do what he planned and sends us and the warp core outside of the universe. This kickstarts the universal reboot and Part 2 of ISWM. We meet him in the diner at the end of the universe and he realizes that nothing he did fixed anything. He then instructs us to go tell his younger self to not go back. The last time we see him is at the diner at the end of the universe, at the end of the universe. He imparts some wisdom and a final gift - a handful of pocket sand.

Engineer Mark

Now Engineer Mark is a bit more tricky for me to nail down. Maybe I didn't see it, but it took a while for me to pin down exactly what the ending meant for the timeline. I had a hard time figuring out how the Mark we see at the beginning led to the Mark we see in the finale and Old Mark later on. Spending who knows how long looping and being alone trying to fix the machine will do horrors upon anyone's psyche, but the vitriol towards the Captain was something he hasn't had at all up until this point. And then I figured it out.

From Mark's perspective, all of this is our fault.

Engineer Mark was with us throughout all of Part 1, but was barely with us in Part 2. I believe that most of the Marks we see in Part 2 are alternate universe Marks. We travel to new universes each time we wormhole jump and we didn't take Mark with us into Part 2. He saw the Lady accuse us of ruining everything, both of us disappear into a wormhole, and then the warp core machine was gone and everything was wrong. We know that Old Mark was the one to send the warp core into the void outside of time, but Mark doesn't know that. He tries to fix everything, but nothing works. There is a version of him that we meet like this in Part 2 that is desperately fixing the ship, looking unkempt and halfway to what Old Man Mark turns into. The difference between this Mark and the one we meet in the ending is that he is able to get his hands on the warp crystal before we can leave. This Mark is able to power up the machine again and plans to send himself back in time because from his perspective, whatever we did caused things to go horribly wrong. This is when the large wormhole opens and we have the option to let him carry out his plan and go through or we can prevent that and hold on to him.

Let Go

And now we get to the juicy stuff. If we let him go through the wormhole, he is sent back an unknown amount of time. This, I believe, is where Old Man Mark came from. He spends a long time preparing for this and sneaks aboard the ship through our shuttle. He even brings along some of the things utilized against him when he last saw us - a pocketful of sand to through in our eyes and a fake hand so we can't get a grip on him. He finally brings us to a space outside of the universe where we can't hurt anybody anymore. However, the machine follows us. The paradox still isn't resolved. There are still two Marks and two crystals running around the timelines and the universe resets. From our perspective, we share a last moment with Ms. Whitacre and then the universe resets back to the beginning again. An endless loop of people trying desperately to fix a broken universe but ultimately making it worse. Everyone is a part of the problem they are trying to fix. The machine realizes the paradox and goes to our past/future self to give us the crystal. It needs a host to find the problem and fix it after all. And if we have the crystal in this future, it would be an even bigger paradox if we don't ever get it, right?

Hold On

As anyone who's played Heist remembers, we should never split up with Mark. Instead of sending him back through the wormhole, we take the warp crystal that started it all and throw it into the wormhole instead, sending it far away. This universe is still doomed, but no more will be pulled into this mess. There is no Old Mark to sabotage the ship, which means no waking up early, which means no getting the crystal stuck to our hands, which means no warp jumping and universal collapse. The universe resets and we see our new one, one where everything went as planned and we find our new home after a long, but uneventful space voyage. Of course, other universes were still affected by us, including the one where our errant warp crystal ended up in, but that's a discussion for another day.

[keplerspacecraftofficial]

i think darkiplier, being like 50% composed of a lady from the 1920s, would being completely willing to kill anyone who talked over a woman

[serotonincemetery]

Engineer!Mark x Reader

TW//Obsessive behaviour, toxic relationship, angst, blood, death, GORE

Okay so I had an idea a couple days ago, and it was, ISWM but.. Amogus? You get my drift?

Imposter!Mark x Captain!Reader

(yandere? maybaps..)

Aboard the invincible II, it was so peaceful. Everyone did their assigned jobs, you made sure no one got hurt or nothing went wrong. Everything seemed peaceful for a long time. Of course every good thing has to come to an end. In this case, the "good thing" was how smoothly everything was running. Things began to malfunction, people got hurt.

Lights began to go out more, systems failed, like asteroids or the reactor nearly blew itself up every few days. Everything started to take a long time to do because something was going wrong.

Then came the deaths. 

First was Gunther

His body was found in ADS, blood spattered all over the control panel and blood running up the walls. His face beaten, nose broken, dried blood, running down his face.

When you saw his body, his stomach ripped open. A very precision-based slice from the middle chest down to just below his ribs. His small intestine spread out all over his body on display. 

Cieci gagged when his body was found. When everyone had a meeting in the bridge, you had been leaning against the control panel, arms crossed, your mind whirring. 

“Captain?” Mark asked softly, nudging your arm. 

You snapped out of your thoughts and raised your head and noticed everyone was standing there, watching, waiting for your order and response. 

“Yes?” You replied. 

“What do we do?” He asked, his voice, seemingly calm, too calm. 

“I-I..” You start. “I don’t know.” You sighed. You pinched the bridge of your nose. “Just, everyone do their job, I’ll deal with his body.” You muttered. 

Cieci sighed. “Captain we need to do something solid! Someone on this ship is murdering our crew! How do we know that they aren’t gonna go after the colonists!?” She shouted. 

“Hey!” Mark seethed. “The Captain has made his orders. Follow them out!” He commanded. 

You sighed. “Dismissed.” You murmured. “Cieci, please stay back.” You watched as Mark still stood beside you. You looked at Mark as everyone filed out of the room. “Mark you too.” You sighed. “I want to talk to her alone.” 

“Are you sure Captain?” He asked, seemingly annoyed, but trying to cover it with concern. You nod. He sighed as well. “Just holler for me if you need me.” He grumbled as he walked to the door, it opened before him and he walked out the door closing behind him. 

You wait before looking to Cieci. “There’s something wrong with Mark.” You whisper. 

Her eyes went wide. “I know! He’s begun to become more possessive over you. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t seem phased when Gunther died!” She whispered. 

“We need to do something, quickly.” You muttered. “He believes I’m talking to you now for standing up to me earlier. Or at least I hope he believes it.” 

“Sorry about that Captain..” She mumbled sheepishly. 

“We need to keep an eye on Mark from now on, make sure he doesn’t go near the colonists. If it is him. I’m afraid of what we’ll have to do.” You sighed. “Lock him in the airlock if push comes to shove.”

Cieci let out a breath she had been holding and nodded. “Do not tell the others.” 

The next death was Burt.

He died in his cryopod. What looked like to be stabbed in the gut, his cause of death was a wound in the back of his neck, a knife wound, not surprising. But it hadn’t gone all the way through. His blood ran from where his neck would’ve been and ran down to the floor, his eyes were bloody, pushed in. 

Cieci was beginning to be on edge. While you and Cieci were on the bridge looking out the window, you tried to comfort her panic. The computer’s voice came over the com. 

“Imminent Danger, reactor has reached extreme temperatures, calculated time until destruction. Sixty seconds.” Computer said right as several alarms started going off around the ship. 

You and Cieci looked at each other before quickly running out of the bridge and down the hallway, others quickly trying to make their way there as well. You pushed past and shoved your way through and began to quickly tap on the control panel. 

Finally getting the menu pulled up, you placed your hand on it and you watched Cieci rush to place her hand on it as others ran around and grabbed various things, and someone quickly pointed out that the main power tube had been cut. 

You grabbed one of the other crewmates’ hands and placed it where yours was and rushed over to the tube and quickly started pulling the wires apart to retwine them together. After zapping yourself a couple of times you finally get them twined together and quickly grabbed a roll of tape from a crewmate’s belt and quickly taped it together. 

The alarms turned off and you let out a sigh of relief leaning against the wall and ran a hand over your face. 

Everyone was in shock from what happened. 

“Dismissed. Everyone go take a breather.” You told them. They seemed to understand and left, still in shock. 

You looked at Cieci, she had the same thought as you. 

Mark didn’t show up. Where is he?

You and Cieci pulled Mark into what was a bunk room. Typically on the ship everyone sleeps in their cryopod, but you had urged them to put some beds in for the few crew working outside of cryogenic sleep. 

You pushed him back and blocked the door with your body. 

“Where were you when the reactor almost blew us up?” You asked. 

“When I was working on some wires in the security room, the alarms went off and it freaked me out and I pulled the wrong wire and it disabled the door.” He explained. 

“I don’t believe that.” Cieci grumbled. 

“Yeah I don’t either.” You backed her up. “What about when Gunther and Burt died?”

“I was in the bridge when Gunther was found and in this room when Burt was found.” He started getting defensive. “Honestly Captain, I never thought you’d accuse me of being a murderer. Have I not proved I care as much as everyone else on this ship?” He asked harshly. 

“No! Because I know for a fact you’re lying! Me and Cieci were on the bridge when Gunther’s body was found! We were there! Not you!” You outreached your hand to point at him accusingly. 

Mark had seemed to have nothing to say, being caught in his lie. 

“Grab him.” You ordered. Cieci quickly seized his right arm and you reached and seized his left. “Mark, by my Captain’s authority, I am placing you under arrest for murder of Gunther and Burt.” You said, almost hesitant. 

You couldn't believe you had to do this to your head engineer. 

You and Cieci walked him to the airlock, he seemed to panic. “Y-You’re really not thinking of throwing me out the airlock, do you, Captain?” He asked quickly. 

“This is the only restrained place. We won’t eject you, but you need to be put away from the rest of the crew to stop you from hurting others.” You explained. 

“I don’t think so Captain..” He growled under his breath before he easily shoved Cieci off and back into the wall before he grabbed the airlock door, and threw you in harshly. 

You hit your head against the wall and felt your brain spiral, your thoughts become jumbled before little black dots ensnared your vision. 

“Wakey wakey, Captain..” Mark’s voice ran through your head. “Come on Captain, it’s time to wake up~” He cooed. “You’ve been sleeping all day!” He exclaimed softly. 

Your eyelids felt heavy. When you opened your eyes, Mark was crouching in front of you, you seemed to be leaning against the wall, and from what you could tell, you were still in the airlock. 

“There he is.” Mark grinned. “Are you feeling okay?” He asked quietly. 

“Mark, what the fuck is going on?” You asked. “Did you kill Gunther and Burt?” You asked. 

Mark sighed and pushed himself up to full height, looking down on you. “They had it coming.”

You tensed. “How did they have it coming!? What did the do to drive you to fucking murder!?” You shouted as you went to push yourself up, Mark quickly raised his boot and pushed you back. 

“Don’t stand, Captain, you are still just waking up, we don’t want you to hurt yourself now do we?” He asked tauntingly. You took it as a sign to listen. Considering he killed two people! He could kill you too. Mark sighed as he brought his foot back down and his eyes started to wander the small room. “You know, what makes you different, is that right now, you aren’t cowering in fear, like Cieci.” He smiled and his gaze landed on you. 

You look past him, seeing the door open behind him to reveal Cieci, dead against the wall parallel to the door. Her mouth sewn shut as her eyes were pushed in and her throat was slit deeply. Her hands covered in blood from trying to stop the neck wound, ultimately failing and covering herself and her clothes with more blood. 

You covered your mouth to stop yourself from gagging. 

“What did you do?” You asked quietly. 

“They all disobeyed your orders, showed you hostility, and disrespected you.” His voice started to get aggressive. “You should show some more appreciation, I did this for you!” He took a step towards you. 

He watched as you flinched. 

You flinched because you were scared of him. 

“You know, I was wrong, Captain, you are just like the others, cowering in fear.” He sounded angry. “You seemed different, you seemed like you’d put up a fight.” 

You glance around to see what could aid you in your mission to escape. You see nothing, only the helmet on the wall, and the only way that could work is if you got past him. You made a quick split second decision and pulled back your leg and kicked up towards his knees, quickly bringing your other boot to just barely hook behind his heels. 

That knocked him over onto his back as you quickly scrambled up and grabbed the helmet and whipped it towards his face and quickly staggered to the panel to close the door behind you and lock it. 

You quickly saw Mark back on his feet and banging at the door. “Captain! Let me out!” He shouted through the door, banging his fist at the tempered glass window on the door. 

You backed up, your foot hitting something, you turned to see Cieci’s body. You cringed before staggering to the left and made a quick turn, towards the Cryolab. You pushed open the door, rushing to the panel and opening the shields, to see the cryopods where the colonists were supposed to be sleeping, was covered in spilt blood. 

Your eyes widened and you stumbled back. Flinching as you hear a loud crash. Mark got out. 

“Captain!” He taunted in a coo-like voice. “Where are you Captain?”

You forced yourself out of shock and quickly closed the window shield and went to find the door into the colonists hallway, finding the door, you remembered it being particularly loud. You let out a breath you’d been holding and opened the door, it let out a particularly loud gust of wind and you quickly bolted down the hallway, beside the cryopods. 

The moment you heard the door open again you ducked into a cryopod. 

“Captain, you do remember I am the head engineer of this ship? Right? I did most if not all the wiring and thus I know where every panel is and which cord is where. It was easy to find which wire was connected to the door’s lock. 

You mentally cursed yourself, sinking lower to the floor where the glass was non-transparent as to not be seen immediately. 

“Captain, you know how easily it would be for me to find you. This is just a game of cat and mouse.” He snickers. “But when all is said and all is done, I won’t kill you. Why would I? I did all of this for you!” He shouted. 

You heard him get closer and you covered your mouth with your hand to still your breathing. 

“Captain, can’t you see I did all of this for you, because I love you?!” He called out, his words echoing through the hallway. “I would do anything for you! Be your one and only! Just us on this ship, no one else to interfere!” His words sounded desperate as he passed your cryopod. 

You let out the breath slowly and heard him stop. 

“[Y/N]..” He chuckled softly. “I know where you are, sweet boy.” 

You felt your heart almost beat out of your chest, your nerves were on fire. You fucked up, you breathed too hard and he heard you. You heard slow and evenly paced footsteps towards your cryopod. 

“[Y/N], Captain, why do you hide from me?” He asked ever so gently. 

“Why do you hide when all I want is to love you. And for you to reciprocate those feelings.” Another step closer before his shadow appeared over you. 

He looked through the glass and looked down at you, only now, in this light did you notice all the blood staining over his suit, a small chunk of flesh stuck in his collar. And when you looked at his face, he smiled softly. 

“Oh, [Y/N].. I only want to love you, why don’t you see that?”

“Because you’ve murdered thousands!” You shout. 

“All because I wanted to prove my love and loyalty to you! They didn’t deserve you! You were a bright moon in the night sky and they were small stars millions of light years away. They were taking away from your admiration!” He ranted. “So I put those stars out so you, my moon, will be the only one who is focused on.” He looked at your terrified expression with a gentle face so full of love and care. 

It was honestly sickening that he could look like that while drenched in the blood of thousands. 

He reached around and opened the door to the cryopod and stood above you. 

“Moon, why don’t you come out from the clouds so I can admire you?”

————————

//If you like this piece, consider checking out my other oneshots! I just recently got more into the markiplier fandom so if you like this, be sure to check out my other oneshots of the other egos! My requests are open as well!!//

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Hi! Could you please do something with Engineer!Mark being jealous of Gunther because he’s close friends with Captain y/n? Like they have a bunch of inside jokes and hang out a lot and Mark is afraid you’re replacing him?

(Note: This takes place pre-ISWM)

.....

"Hey, pal! Captain! What's going on?"

The conversation between you and Gunther gradually died off as Mark slid into the seat in the cafeteria. For some reason he always felt the need to pry into casual talks with your crew members.

This time, you were just chatting with the ADS lead--who became a good friend of yours soon after you hired him. You immediately knew he was the right fit for the job, and--all cockiness aside--he was actually pretty cool once you got to know him better.

Of course, you kept Mark first place as he was your head engineer and stuck by you since the beginning. But talking to Gunther was nice. You two shared a lot of laughs and inside jokes, working together to ensure the ship had the best set of weapons and defense systems possible. It’s probably the fact you were a sort of a weapons expert yourself that drew him to you.

That led to a strong bond.

But for Mark to suddenly interrupt killed the mood, as Gunther had an annoyed look as he leaned back in his chair, lighting another cigar. "Why do you care, Mark-buzzkill-Iplier?" He grumbled, taking a long drag before puffing the smoke directly in his face, smirking as he coughed.

“Be nice.” You lightly scolded as you waved away the smoke. “Hey, Mark. We were just discussing the possibility of mining asteroids for water. Apparently all the ones we’ve been blowing up could've provided us resources.”

“Oh! That’s great!” Mark grinned, cheery as ever. “That would be crucial to our survival up here! But you don’t have to worry. I so-happen to be working on plans for uh...erm...mining operations on said asteroids! Like rovers or drills or...w-whatever! Point is I got blueprints!”

“Really?” You raised an eyebrow. 

“Nah, he’s just spittin’ horseshit.” Gunther scoffed. “Besides, anythin’ you do with asteroids should be run by me or the cap first. But if you got the blueprints right now, lay ‘em out on us.” He kicked his feet back on the table, looking at Mark as he fumbled with his pockets. “Go on. Whatcha got?”

The engineer patted his legs, frowning for a moment, before glancing at you two, embarrassed. “They uh..need some work......l-later, Captain. Sorry to bother.” Saluting you, he quickly left the table, averting his gaze from yours with a bowed head.

“Jeez, what’s his deal lately?” Gunther shook his head. “So damn clingy, thinkin’ he knows everything we’re talking about..is he always like this?” He looked to you. “I’d demote him if I ever were captain. I think I’d make a great one..maybe a lieutenant.”

You just chuckled. “Maybe one day. I’m gonna go check on him.”

"Alright, Cap. Catch you later.” He gave you a fist-bump goodbye before you stood up and left the cafeteria.

For a while you searched for Mark on your own, with no success. Even when you tried calling him on your tablet, he didn’t show up. You asked Celci where he might’ve gone, and she just said he’s probably coming up with the “next awful idea that’s gonna get us all killed”. 

Her words, not yours.

She wasn’t all that helpful right now. So you decided to call for Chica, offering her a treat and asking her to lead you to Mark. She took you to the crew’s quarters, stopping right in front of his room.

“Good girl.” You cooed, patting her head and giving her another treat as thanks before she left to attend to other matters.

Being assigned “Dog” was a huge responsibility. You’re glad she’s doing her part and keeping things running.

But your smile faded when you heard quiet crying coming from inside Mark’s room. You were confused and concerned, having no clue why he was so upset.

Surely it wasn’t because of you..right?

You knocked on the door. “Mark? Are you okay?”

Silence soon followed, but the door opened moments later and you saw your engineer standing there with puffy red eyes, saluting you again. “Y-Yes, cap’in..”  His voice cracked. “I’m good.”

You weren’t convinced.

“Follow me to my cabin and we’ll talk.”

“..a-am I in trouble?”

“No you’re not. Far from that.” Rubbing his shoulder in comfort, you patted it once before heading to your cabin, with him shuffling behind you like a lost puppy. To him it felt like a walk of shame.

Once there, you sat at your desk while he was in the opposite chair, looking down at his lap. You sighed softly. “Why were you crying?”

“I-I lied about the blueprints..”

“I don’t buy it. You were clearly upset with me about something else. I called you and you didn’t show up.”

“..you did? O-Oh, that was...probably just a glitch!” Suddenly he sat up straight, hands on the table. He got defensive fast, as if he was scared of the idea of being upset with you. “I would’ve shown up right away, Cap! You’ve done nothing wrong! I-I was just-”

“Mark, please don’t lie.” You put your hand up. “I’m far from a perfect captain. I have my flaws, I do or say things that bother people. Just tell me the truth. I’m not gonna kick you off or demerit you for being honest. You’re my best friend.”

At that last statement, Mark’s shoulders slumped. He was quiet for a moment. “..am I really? I thought he took that place..”

You blinked. “Who? Gunther? No..what made you assume that?”

“Because of all the inside jokes you two have a-and..I dunno...” He sniffled, rubbing his eyes. “E-Ever since he came aboard we just..don’t hang out like we used to. I know it’s dumb, but I miss that. We had something special, Captain, and..I’m scared we’re losing that. I’m scared I’m being replaced...b-before our actual trip begins.”

Your heart sunk as you finally understood what was wrong. Until now you never realized that your friendship with Gunther was affecting him this badly. 

“Mark, we haven’t lost anything. And we’re not going to lose anything.” Reaching across, you put a hand over his. “I couldn’t have asked for a better friend. Both of us made all of this possible. I would never leave you behind.”

His eyes shimmered with tears of joy as he sat up more. “You mean it?”

“Every word. I’m sorry if it seemed like I was ignoring you. I promise Gunther is not replacing you. Don’t tell him I said this but..all that gunpowder and oil really clogs up my senses sometimes...it’s not pleasant. I can’t stand being near him for too long.”

“...a-are you implying I smell nicer??” Mark gawked.

“I...uh...yeah?”

He grinned, clasping both of his hands over yours and shaking them as happy tears slipped from his eyes. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Captain! You’re the best! I-I promise I won’t fail you! If you want I can start on some blueprints for asteroid mining right away!”

You just smiled and chuckled, happy he was back to his old self.

Who knew he could get so jealous so easily?