#promethean knight palmer au

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Sad Knight Palmer speed-prompt inspired by the latest Halo short story, Halo: The Machine Breaks and bellygunnr and I's Promethean Knight Palmer Au

-

The Knight's connection to its battlenet conductor is gone. It is without the combat-wisdom of the Strategos command pattern states. It is alone.

There is silence in its thoughts save for the occasional ping it sends out. Query. Nothing. Not even an echo. It switches frequencies and tries again.

Something alien and not pings back.

There is warmth and icy fear churning in her core, both foreign to this frame of metal and hardlight. The signal is friendly but not battlenet. She knows him, because he announces himself with every message, with every data packet and brush against her mind.

Who is he? Who is this being in the data? There are so few stewards left floating in the Domain, so how does it live? Why are there no orders? Why is she alone?

It is a war machine. It needs orders. Knights follow orders, give orders to their schemas of crawlers and watchers. It is a battlewagon, it must have soldiers. She is a commander, where are her S-

Query. Nothing.

There is a human looking at her. Not even wearing any of their primitive human armor around its soft flesh. He looks worried. Pinched brow, lips in a tight line, and spine straightening out of remembered reflex when he knows she's seen him worrying again.

Query.

Who is he?

His face flashes through her mind. The Knight searches its databanks. This human's face is familiar and not.

Clarification needed.

Network isolation wreaks havoc on the Knight's functioning. It has its unit frame and nothing else. No rifle. No allies.

Query.

The being in the network that is not her Strategos wraps around her firewalls. He feels sad.

Query.

Why does this Ancilla[! He is an Ancilla!] act this way? Why does he not have orders?

Conjecture: It is wrong somehow. This unit has been abandoned.

Observation: This unit does not feel abandoned.

The Knight has been in this room with the wall between it and her watchers for multiple solar cycles. Many of the humans visit it, there are tests. Most even talk to her.

This Unit remembers something other than being this Unit.

This Unit has only ever had this frame. This Spartan misses her armor.

Tom won't stop visiting her even after she sent him away.

Roland answers her pings as best he can.

The fog dissipates for a moment and the memories surface.

There is the blunt hurt of recognition in the face of unceasing loss and then she is gone again.

Durance Membrane.

Failure at the time of Composition.

Davis deserved better.

Will they remember her?

Will someone come shut her off?

The Knight's connection to its battlenet conductor is gone.

[bellygunnr]

Cowardice

A Ko-Fi for @chloranthy-ring ! A piece about Promethean Knight Palmer and Thomas Lasky.

[TOP SECRET] [MOST IMMEDIATE]

"We are looking for a suitable-- I apologize, but something's come up-- yes, I understand--"

If his finger slips, terminating the hologram meeting early, he doesn't think twice about it. He turns his attention to his personal terminal instead, rereading the full contents of the message he'd just received. Immediate summons for his presence weren't common and he kept expecting ONI's stamp to be somewhere in the letter, but it was instead signed off by the Infinity's science team. 

He isn't sure why he dreads that more. If it was ONI-- or even someone from the Spartan branch-- then that'd be normal. Nothing had been normal in the xeno research labs since...

"Roland, what's the fastest route to the lab?" Thomas asks, canting his head in a vague direction. "Please."

He taps his data pad-- or tries to. A yellow alert consumes most of the surface, accented by a pixelated version of the aforementioned AI. It almost makes him smile, but the fondness barely cuts through the layers of anxiety in his chest.

"Wait for train #3. Fireteam Crimson will be aboard."

Simple enough instructions. Thomas runs a hand through his hair, sighing. He'd need to reschedule his meeting with Spartan Jun, lest the man disrupt his ship's entire mission and purpose. Not that that would be unwelcome, but there'd be difficulties in pulling out now. He'd just been about to float the idea of Spartan Locke as a viable replacement, after all.

But the summons-- the train, only now pulling into station-- delayed him. He straightens his posture with a deep breath, boarding the tram with more confidence than he feels. Immediately, he's made aware of how little space is left-- apparently, when Roland had mentioned Crimson, he'd meant all of them.

Their collective armor rattles as they hasten to salute him and he waves them off, shaking his head. Crimson One takes a step sideways, gesturing that he sits where she once occupied.

"I'll stand," he says. "If that's alright."

She shrugs, but says nothing. The rest of the tram ride goes in a similar unnerving silence, save for the scream of the electric rails and the shuddering release of maintenance hatches. His brow twitches as he realizes Roland was overriding all manner of rules, regulations, and hardware limits.

As the tram groans to a stop, Thomas can only hope it's worth it. He disembarks on slightly shaking limbs, waiting patiently for the Spartans to step off after him. He watches the train cart rise several inches in response.

The Spartans were heavy.

"This way, sir," Crimson One says.

He falls into step behind her. It's strange that the Fireteam surrounds him, acting as a high security escort-- whatever for, he doesn't know. Just what was he being brought into?

He didn't have the heart to ask.

He finds out quickly enough, though, when Crimson leads him into the lower levels and ushers him past a powerful series of doors. Each body offers their biometric data before vocally confirming their presence and only then do the steel doors in front of them slide open, admitting a cool rush of air that makes Thomas' skin flush with goosebumps. He adjusts quickly to the temperature, but the sudden darkness as they duck into the lab catches him, making him take a moment for his vision to settle.

And what he sees...

Carefully, he shoves his way past Crimson One, just to open his surroundings up to a strapped down, caged Promethean Knight and a cluster of familiar scientists. Even Roland is there, standing at attention, one golden anchor among a dozen different gold-orange holograms. It's a familiar display, not because it mimics that of a human-built AI but because he's seen the innards of a Promethean Knight before. The structure.

The images.

The humanity.

"Did any of you think to warn me or did you think I wouldn't recognize--?" Thomas starts without thinking, jaw snapping shut on his own tongue. "What the hell."

"I-- well," a scientist starts, looking sheepish, "well, we didn't-- we just thought it pertinent you found out immediately."

Thomas rubs the space between his eyes, sighing. Could grief be reversed? Would this stop the loss, or make it worse?

Around him, reminders gleamed, flashes of his own face glittering in memory thread suspended in the air. Snapshots of the Infinity cast in amber, awkward in that patchy, uneven recollection way. He's not sure if the face of Jun or the bird's eye view of the moon is what seals the deal for him, however.

He forces his gaze away, wrenching his head around so he's staring at a wall instead.

"Ripping out her-- the core didn't kill-- didn't kill it, right?" He asks, voice strained.

"No! No, no! She- the Knight gave it willingly, actually. We have been sending you the reports, you know."

Dimly, he recognizes the voice. Dr. Glassman. When had he gotten here? 

"I haven't had time to read them," Thomas grates out. "Okay. Alright."

He hears someone try to speak. The warm, familiar heat of Mjolnir grows nearer to him, possibly a Crimson member attempting to approach. He lifts his hand, palm out, clenching his jaw.

"Allow me to take a moment, please."

"Of course, Captain," a scientist- not Glassman- says.  

Is it cowardice to leave? To turn his back on [her]? Should they have warned him?

He lets the warmer air in the corridor outside heat his lungs. Just five minutes. That's all he would need to brace himself-- either for the worst or whatever else they wanted to give him. 

Just five minutes.

[twilighthomunculus]

I know you want initial d for the ask game but i need to know what youve gained by osmosis alone

I really want to ask what halo characters you've formed opinions on/have thoughts about

bold of you to assume i remember names

ill try my best to go off of the format of the game but i dont think i have enough opinions

blorbo-in-law (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Roland is cool. He's a little puppy, he should be a stuffed animal friend or something, put him on my dashboard as a bobble head. A Chief/Cortana fic may have sparked my girl Bee's creation but Roland adds inspiration. From what I've seen his VA sounds wrong because the voice in my head for him is different. Softer, more polite or something. Still call him the piss minion AI tho cause i like causing psychic damage. make him unironically like the despicable me movies i dare you.

scrunkly (character that is So Shaped)

Mr Chef- I'm going blankie/i frew up mode is my favorite meme it gets me every time. He also looks slappable in a slaps the roof of the car, slap his bald head, slap his ass like a sportsball coach kind of way. I have a sticker of him in the master chef apron on my work locker for the memes. Also body armor is fun to paint.

one more bonus out of context thought: his suit may jerk him off but it doesn't let him pee his pants.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

Miller- no real thoughts kinda seems cool but some of the stuff I read were too ship-y for my tastes(regardless of the fact if they were intended to be romantic or not. im just weird don't mind my dumb thoughts). so no real opinions yet

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Sarah Palmer- cause she showed up in my dream i feel obligated to talk about her, no real thoughts other than I enjoyed the Promethean Knight AU. body horror my beloved

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Cortana- I haven't really read anything that made her stand out. She is still the "Siri" on my laptop that I can accidentally summon if I press the wrong buttons to me but I still wanna see her as an I'm sorry john, Garfield

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

THEY'RE COPYING US AGAIN

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Thomas Lasky & Sarah Palmer & Roland | RLD 0205-4, Sarah Palmer/Roland | RLD 0205-4, Sarah Palmer/Thomas Lasky/Roland | RLD 0205-4 Characters: Sarah Palmer (Halo), Roland | RLD 0205-4, Henry Glassman Additional Tags: Major Character Undeath, Comes Back Wrong, Angst, Character Study, Spartan Ops (Halo), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort Series: Part 4 of Promethean Knight Palmer Summary:

Retirement isn’t a top priority when you’re 25, hospitalized from an alien gunshot wound, and every other world you’ve learned the name of has been Glassed since before you were born. Taking Jun’s offer had been the only way forward. The next step that made sense.

Now at 31 and no longer human, Sarah Palmer wonders for the first time what paths her life might have taken.

-

Palmer sits and deals with test after test as Infinity Science wonders how she's still in control. Roland helps.

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Can you love a machine? That's what Lasky wants to ask the Master Chief as he sits in front of Sarah's new promethean form. The Chief, immune to the Composer, but not immune to the suffering he feels about dragging her on this mission. In return, she is immune to his guilt because - well, does she even cycle emotions.

He hated seeing both of them like this. Halsey had come up with a "radical approach" for integration. To see him readily sacrifice himself once again, laying on an operating table face down with his spine exposed.

All to give him back Sarah. "Electrophysiology synced, Doctor." Roland's somber voice says from his pedestal, serving as an intermediary between the Chief and Sarah.

"John?" Halsey asks, as she monitors his gamma and beta waves to see if it dips.

He doesn't say anything, face down, probably being in the worst pain that he's ever been in with the multitude of probes across exposed nerves.

After a tense thirty-seconds, before Halsey could ask again, this time a thin underlay of panic in her voice, the Chief took a deep inhale as he, Roland, and Sarah started to make the same twitching movements.

Lasky almost leapt to stop Halsey before the monitors lit up with various things: a Forerunner, the matrices, the inner workings of Roland's complex decision trees and matrix transformations, flashes of Sarah -

"Memories, Captain Lasky." Halsey muttered, as if it was obvious, "They are in synchronization. They are attempting to rebuilt Commander Palmer's humanity from a mixture of organic electroimpluses through the filter of Roland's ... matrices."

"Halsey-" Glassman interrupts as a myriad of alarms start go off, and Roland starts screaming, "Master Chief's bios - they're all over the place and they're fluctuating wildly - he's going to go into arrest. You need to stop."

"We are almost there." She said through gritted teeth.

Memories of flashing lights, Roland screaming that it burns as the Chief started to seize on the table.

"End it, Halsey!" Lasky said, "We can't lose three people on one day."

"Almost there." She replied, her hand making a stopping motion between him and four other Spartan IVs.

"Halsey!"

"Sir, we're losing anti-grav on decks four, seven and eight. Local hydroponics have sprung leaks and S-Deck is reporting power outages."

"His Gamma waves are reaching critical values, even for an integrated Spartan, Halsey!"

"You're going to fry them all!"

"Almost there."

Cortana's face flashed on the screen, and Roland asking the question: "promise us you'll figure out which one of us is the machine"

The helplessness that Lasky felt was something that he hadn't felt since Cadmon's death, or fuck, even Chryler's death. What did he do? Just stand there and let it happen?

"Catherine Halsey, I'm ordering you to -"

A watcher deployed from the Promethean's back and in a screech, it and Roland said: "Beginning neurological reconfiguration. Recomposing harmonies. Our song has changed. We sing Alone."

Memories started to flood screens, children fighting each other, a small hand reaching for a bell. A woman in a playground asking to flip a coin.

"For heaven's sake, am I medical now?" Halsey proclaimed, grabbing a syringe and flicking her finger to turn over the table.

Then, Roland asked, whether it was Sarah, Chief or Roland himself:

"Am I a machine?"

Mehs, I am going to get you. You attack me in my own inbox, trying to hurt several of my guys at once. This is beautiful. We are getting operating tables involved? Okay Mehs okay. Hi friend

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Ok iirc I think in promeathan Palmer au she has her memories but what if she could never quite remember them right, or they started the fade? :^]

Oh fuck. Memory shit harms me. I will do this. It will probably not be "canon" or whatever to this au

-

Query.

She was pinging him again. He tried to not let it unsettle him when she got this way.

Different. Confused. Robotic.

The Commander he knew and loved would never preface a question with "query". That's too nerdy - something an egghead would say.

He answers before she can ping again.

"Yes, Commander?"

She asks him where she is and what her objective is. Roland answers kindly, she's in the Science Wing and her objective is to hold tight while they run some tests. Harmless scans. He doesn't tell her that later they want to look at her "heart" to check for decay. If he did, she'd get upset, but then forget. And then she'd ask again - while still feeling upset but she wouldn't know why.

She acknowledges that information over their private channel and then she resumes her pacing. It's less organic and more like a patrol path set by some unseen hand. Gone are the little fidgeting motions or the raptor like gaze.

Gone is most of her personality.

There's reinforced glass on one side of her room. The Captain stops by it sometimes. Roland can watch her watch him and tilt her head. She knows him.

Her data-pulses spike. Enemy! Confusion. Ally. Something more. Something not in her code but from her donor - from who she was before. His face appears in her memory banks, fuzzy and glitching at the edges.

She gets tired and agitated easily. Going into a stand-by mode rather than stare at the walls of her enclosure. It makes sense, Roland tells himself.

It lets him watch her sleep - watch her dream.

He thinks about Iona. He thinks about what comes next.

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

By the way, @bellygunnr and I have uploaded the Promethean Knight Palmer AU to ao3. Check it out!

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Knight Palmer for the fic bingo!

I love Palmer so much. She's literally on the same tier as Roland for me, and I'm sorry you guys see us harm her so much. It's from a place of love and wanting to explore her character more. We have the Palmer gets Composed into a Promethean Knight AU that I have all the posts for here and also that time I went into a state and churned out 2k words in a single sitting about it. Fun times. I like AUs that could almost be canon and explore things the universe sets up but doesn't explore.

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

could i have promethean knight palmer breaking out of her cage doing just fine?

hello I went into fugue state and accidentally made 2k+ words happen. you're welcome. this is your fault

-

The knowledge that the strangely docile Promethean Knight currently quarantined in the Science Wing of the Infinity was actually the Spartan Commander thought to have died in the attack on the ship weighed heavily on all parties unlucky enough to be in the know. Fireteam Crimson was tightlipped and the science team members working on the issue were sworn to secrecy.

Captain Lasky had not taken the news well, but had managed to dodge questions from the higher ups about the delay in finding Palmer's replacement and the new anomaly they had discovered on Requiem. Part of Roland was aware that the man had finally retired to his room, and then he had turned his eyes away to give his captain some privacy. Grief, while familiar, changed to this twisted sense of hope and recovery can only be borne for so long before one breaks. Her twin magnums still laid on his bedside table, unloaded at Roland's request, even if he felt the mementos might be too much at this time.

For once, Roland didn't have the words.

His consciousness once again focused on the Knight in the prison of glass and steel, so calm on the outside, but the code, the onslaught of rushing programming and thoughts and messages calling out and buffeting his senses. Her Spartan ID and file number and access codes being thrown against his firewalls like pleas to hear her, see her, know that she came back, that she really tried, that she's sor-

He pushes those messages away and sends back his own code, a small packet for her to unlock. Something to keep her busy since she's awakened again. After having let herself be captured and offering her very heart willingly, opening herself up in order to be known and seen after she was taken from them.

She's forerunner now, but much more simple than the engines he interacts with. Her programming seems to call for obedience, for certain orders to be followed and yet she came to them of her own free will. A bright blue amongst a sea of vibrant violent orange.

He can see her fiddling with the data he sent and watches her process and pick apart his questions before she sends it back, a bit slow and clumsy, with her own questions and what few answers she has.

She paces with heavy metallic footsteps, sword arm tucked close and unarmed metal one grasping the air as if missing the lightrifle she surrendered. Her smaller secondary arms clasp their hands together as she marches along the room they gave her, all the while she hisses and groans, warbling vocalizations that echo eerily until she clacks her faceplate in displeasure and silences herself save for the inner workings of her new body. Her body language and behavior more like a raptor than the data he has on the typical knights they've encountered, but her inner processes settle out into something he can comprehend and translate now that the humans are done poking at her.

LEFT ME ALONE WITH EGGHEADS

"I'm sorry Commander, they wanted to be thorough. We needed to be sure." He offers back. Roland's thankful for all of his processing power and the ability to juggle so many trains of thought. His own backburnered grief would be overwhelming in this moment if not for the conflicting threads of joy at this strange reunion or the inherent curiosity that is part of all AI. He and the Commander had gotten along before with their similarities as tools and being viewed as not quite human. She had joked about the augs in front of him, and a distant part of him wonders if she'll compare this loss of autonomy to that one.

DOES HE BELIEVE ME?

If he had lungs, the air would have left them, but Roland is quick and his short career has led to him responding as best he can to catastrophic situations. Time for more damage control. No need to play dumb.

"I think the Captain does...he's just adjusting. He's missed you. We've all missed you, Commander."

She stops pacing and looks over to his avatar's projection. The usual confident pose is gone and he's clasping his hands together in a mirror of her own externalized anxiety. His cameras take in the subtle shift in her stance and he notes an increase in her internal processes. The mechanisms that now make up her being chug and stutter, ramping up and venting heat as she stands frozen in the center of the room.

"Commander? What are you doing? Are you planning something?"

AM NOT

"Palmer, please. I can see you calculating. Are those slipspace coordinates?"

GO AWAY. I'LL FIX THIS.

"Commander!"

He's fast, faster than her, which is the only reason the dumb AI can't send the ship into high alert with a detected slipspace rupture inside the vessel. He tracks her as she messily warps into her old quarters, then her office, then the captain's quarters within a matter of seconds. His matrix stutters with stress and still part of him wants to laugh. She's still human, still his Commander Palmer with actions speaking louder than words. He follows as best he can to help with damage control and formulates a few plans to get her back to the science wing unseen. Somehow he feels lighter for it, as if this string of events is less terrifying than when she tried percussive maintenance on the artifact Crimson retrieved.

-

Their bottle of scotch sits untouched on his kitchen counter, the light over the sink shining on the amber liquid he hasn't allowed himself to touch since before. His eyes glaze over the distant details of his room as he lays on the unkempt sheets. Dishes in the sink and cups lining the counters, half charged datapads blink from the workstation and garbage overflows onto the floor near the bin.

Sarah was alive, technically.

She had died in front of him, or so he thought.

Bright flecks of orange dance behind his eyelids, her last scream echoing through the halls and in his mind.

It should have been him.

The weight of her armor, once again pushing him out of the way, a memory ghosting against his tired and bruised form. The real target had been sheltered, nearly cradled to the floor, while his companion disappeared before his eyes. He was so tired of watching the life leave people he cared about.

There was nothing to bury.

There had barely been anytime to recover and now-

Now there was a thing they brought back that held her memories and he had read the reports from New Phoenix and he knew and he had to be strong. He was a Lasky, he was used to being strong. Tom was so tired.

He sighs and stares at the ceiling above his bunk, and closing his eyes he can see the ceiling above his bunk from Corbulo, can almost reach his hands and trace the words in the air all these years later. He swallows thickly, grief unstoppered by the reopening of wounds new and old. Grief for lives lost and lives lived and mangled.

Becoming captain did not make things easier, in fact, it felt like taking a step back. All his hard won experience, all of his stalwart kindness in the face of war and secrets and nightmares, thrown back in his face. How were they going to move forward from this?

He drags his hands over his face, rubbing at burning eyes and uneven stubble and letting a small hysterical laugh bubble up and escape into the silent room.

The silence is broken by a warped burst of sound and light and then looming over his bed is a Knight, brilliant and terrible. His room is too small and he's unarmed but her pistols are on his nightstand and the rage bubbles up in him lightning quick. The unfairness of it all, the tragedy, the desperate animal fear rolling off of him in waves as he cries and leaps at the monster from his waking nightmares and bludgeons it across the face with her weapons.

The thing backs off, and sits. Blue lights dimming as it makes itself smaller and chirps at him, faceplate clacking as its smaller secondary hands wave at him. Tom stands there, uniform half removed and disheveled, chest heaving as he drops the guns.

It's her.

"Jesus Christ." He pants, voice choked and he doesn't know if he wants to scream or cry or run out the door.

"Fuck." He exhales and slumps down, missing the end of his bed and sliding all the way to the floor. He watches through his fingers as she tilts her head to the side.

He shudders a breath, inhale catching as he struggles to fill his lungs. "Give me a moment. Please."

She stays still. He can only hear the sounds of his breathing and the quiet humming mechanisms of her new body. His room is small despite his position as captain, so he can feel the gentle heat radiating off her chassis.

Inhale. Hold. Exhale. Repeat.

He hit her. She had teleported into his room, breached containment, and he hit her so now she was sitting on his floor and letting him have a breakdown when she was the one who died saving him and he was spiraling like he was 16 again and his breathing was uneven and all he could see was orange sparks and the deadly pink shine of blamite and-

A warm hand touches his face. It startles him enough he stops. Stops thinking, stops hyperventilating. She rumbles a noise at him and pats him again. Her vocalizations strain softly as she tries to form words, but gives up in frustration and settles for moving to sit next to him.

The smaller secondary arms continue to pat at him while she tucks her primary limbs out of the way to lean closer to him. Warm, living metal bumps his arm and he flinches for a moment and then accepts the touch. It's almost like the Mjolnir, if he doesn't think too hard.

"I'm sorry." He starts, swallowing the rest of the sentence.

She hums, and vents hot air that dries his face and ruffles his hair.

They sit like that for a while, adjusting maybe or just not wanting the moment to end. But his legs start falling asleep and somehow a yawn escapes before he can stop it. She pushes him gently to bed and he goes, chuckling under his breath at the insanity of it all.

"You weren't supposed to be able to teleport out like that. Scared the shit out of me, Sarah."

She warbles at him and throws a blanket over him, the lights on her chassis glowing as she vocalizes and gets frustrated. He can tell because her body language shifts into something more familiar.

"I thought Roland would have warned me though, especially since I don't know how we're going to get you back there without everyone finding out." He speaks up a bit, eyeing the camera in the corner of his room.

The AI in question finally pipes up, his voice more lively than it had been in days."Sir, in my defense, you would have been too slow to tell and she was very determined. I didn't realize she figured it out until it was too late."

"Oh really?" Tom asks around another yawn. Sleepless nights suddenly catching up.

Sarah vents more hot air next to him and waves a hand at Roland's camera.

"She was worried about you, and I wasn't giving enough information."

A metallic thud hits the floor.

"She also says you look bad and need to take better care of yourself."

The thud repeats, a bit louder and she turns her faceplate fully to the camera.

"Apparently I'm not supposed to paraphrase. Apologies captain, she says 'You look like shit Lasky, get some sleep. We'll figure it out later, we always do.'"

Tom barks a laugh at that and another yawn escapes him, jaw cracking at the force of his exhaustion.

"No one's as stubborn as you."

"Get some rest, idiot."

"Hey now"

"Just translating, sir."

"Stop enjoying it so much."

And then he's out like a light. Roland dims the cabin lights as Palmer hunkers down next to the bunk and watches the door. Her blue lights dim as she rests a hand on the bed over Tom's sleeping form.

-

Days later, there's a shipwide announcement. Everyone had felt the change in the atmosphere after the Commander's death and then there was something weird going on in the Science wing. Secrecy was hard on a ship but something was going on and no one had cracked.

The announcement starts with Captain Lasky on camera looking haggard, but nearly back to normal. He explains the situation as calmly as anyone can and then the camera pans over to a Promethean Knight. It's blue instead of orange and kitted out with an assortment of warning labels and signs and familiar red emblems on its chassis.

It waves and then taps something out on a datapad.

A TTS voice can be heard robotically saying "I LIVED."

The captain rubs at his forehead and looks as though he's fighting a smile as he wraps up the announcement and ends the video.

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

@bellygunnr and I make only the most serious, heart-breaking AUs - featuring ideas from the Promethean Knight Palmer au

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

More Promethean Knight Palmer because I’m a sucker for reunions

-

Roland's given her camera access, as if it'll somehow make the meeting go better.

It won't. She knows it, knows him. But it's kind of Roland to do and it helps her nerves. She shakes her head and gently clacks her faceplate together as she watches Tom go to meet him with a handshake.

Her dad looks older, smaller.

Maybe because it's been too long since she's been home, maybe it’s because she’s only seen him on the other side of a screen for so many years, or maybe it's a trick from the angle of the cameras, or the pinched way he's holding himself. Bracing for the hit, retired but ready for what comes with having a kid in the Corps. 

At least Tom is good with small talk, even if her old man waves him off. She thinks he's impressed with Lasky's handshake. He even gets a pat on the back.

"Good to finally meet you in person. Sarah's told me a lot about you."

She chitters from the next room over and even though the humans can't hear, she's starting to panic. Roland brushes her code and starts speaking to her but she's trying to catch everything they're saying. She focuses the cameras and studies the footage until it's time for her to go in.

"Now sir, you've been briefed and shown the videos, but I want to warn you, it's a lot to take in in person." Tom makes his kicked dog face but her dad isn’t affected.

"Son, I signed your paperwork, I'm ready. Let me see my girl."

If she could still cry she would.

"She's a bit taller than you might remember, but she's really glad you're here." Roland pipes up from the holodisk, betraying her right before her own doors slide open.

Tom and Roland are there, right next to her father. The Spartans assigned to her, to them, are outside in the hall because of course Lasky is breaking protocol for this. Her new eyes take in all the little details the cameras couldn't quite catch.

More gray in his hair and beard, more lines on his face, and a look in his eye she could never master reading the right way. Former Corporal Palmer steps forward gracelessly, wipes a hand against his mouth, and clears his throat with a wet rattle.

His eyes waver for a moment, looking for something. He raises his hand out.

"Sarah dear, what have you gotten into now?"

She ducks her head like she's 12 years old again and getting scolded for clambering around in the vents on Luna rather than 30 and made of metal.

He barks a laugh and closes the space between them, coming to a stop before reaching out to touch her arm. She extends it, letting him place a warm wrinkled hand on her steel skin.

"Same as you always are, so tough in front of the boys, but you know I can see right through it." His eyes waver more and shine, and then he's crying. Her dad is crying.

She warbles and he startles a bit, before attempting to wipe his tears away.

Tom and Roland are giving them space, so she nudges his free hand with one of hers.

He's so small compared to her. It's more of an adjustment than after becoming a Spartan, but Palmers are made of tougher stuff. They'll be alright.

She leans down and pushes her faceplate against his chest and he chuckles and pats the back of her head. His hand was still as warm as she remembered it.

They'd be fine.

-

Like my writing? Check out my writing tag! I also have a ko-fi and I’m taking comms!

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

More Promethean Knight Palmer au snippets

-

There’s images of Luna, of Earth, and various military personnel and fireteams, being suspended in air as the Promethan’s heart projects them. Lasky’s own face is only outnumbered by an older man with patchy facial hair and a scar. near his left eye. He’s shown in the most memories at a few different ages.

"Roland, run that man through the UNSC file search."

"No need Captain, he's familiar."

Lasky spins on his heel and bears down on the holodisk where Roland's avatar stands unflinchingly morose. His arms are at his sides and he doesn't want to meet Lasky's eyes.

"That's Corporal Palmer, former marine."

Lasky freezes. There's no air in the room.

"They had a call scheduled for tomorrow evening. She tried to keep it at least bimonthly."

-

"Can you play it again, please Roland?"

"Sir, I-"

"Please Roland, one more time."

"Then you have to eat something, when it's over."

"Of course." The video starts, the angle is all wrong, a high perspective making her look smaller. More human. But it still takes his breath away.

A smaller copy of him lights up when she enters and they speak, voices trading barbless banter in a familiar fashion.

"You know I come up here for my peace and quiet."

He makes it through the rest of the clip without breathing and when it ends Roland turns off the screen.

"Sir..."

He swallows and looks at the hologram. Roland's been putting on a brave face too, but now the little golden pilot seems worn down and nervous. He wipes his face and his desk, and clears his throat.

"Thank you, Roland."

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Also give me your angle on Promethean Palmer au :) - gunny

Oh you wanna do this huh? After what you wrote. Sorry this is all over I’m not good at staying focused.

Palmer is The Spartan Commander, she is the last remaining Spartan IV from the first group that got augs (Not the experimental Ilsa Zane, don't come for me lore nerds.) She's been helping hold the Infinity together for 6+ years. And then you killed her in a fiery blaze of data sparks and composed humanity. This was your idea.

Her sudden death and then horrible return would be devastating not only to Lasky personally but the whole crew as well! Wouldn’t that be so neat to explore?

But first Lasky, because wow holy shit his best friend went down in front of him (again) and now she's back but wrong. How is he supposed to deal with that? They just learned/ have to deal with knights being composed humans but now she's back after he thought he lost her but she’s not human and it hurts and is this worse and it's Palmer. That’s his best friend however you look at it, she saved him from being spaced, they served under Del Rio together, they regularly drink and bitch to each other, but all of that is gone now because she died and he was alone again but now.....now.

 I also like writing that the shot was meant for him and not her, she just pushed him out of the way (again). Wouldn’t the captain be an excellent target to get his memories into the forerunner soup. Hivemind domain nonsense maybe? :3c

Jumping around I really want to write different povs and how the the crew, her spartans, and Roland all react to these events. Who’s hurt and who steps up and how do people react?

We nebulously set this during Requiem iirc, it exists whenever until we write it down, but still Roland is new in town, and oh boy, that weird Knight they brought back is trying to communicate. Oh boy that looks like a Spartan ID. He already has to interface with forerunner engines wouldn't it be neat if he has to interface with other forerunner tech? Wouldn’t it be great that his first time running the ship in combat and enemy territory goes this wrong?

Wouldn’t Spartan Ops be great with Majestic and Crimson solemn and trying their best but with fraying nerves and spirits that the things theyre fighting are mindless husks that once were humans? That also might before former crewmates. Wouldn’t it be neat if Miller had his character development (there is some! idc im insane but i have probably played spops more than any normal human being) earlier, like he had to step up and help lead because Palmer is gone. Oh no she’s back. Oh no.

BUT ALSO!

It’s not all soul crushing! There’s the warming up, the rediscovery of her humanity and soul. The reconciliation, the cut-short grief that changes into something else, a life lost to a life changed, possibly irreversibly. 

The Commander is back she’s just metal and taller and has extra limbs and can teleport.

Lasky has to make an announcement about the Infinity’s latest incident and now there’s a docile forerunner Knight with warning signs plastered to its chassis hovering behind him on the video announcement. They can give her a TTS device! She can slap Miller’s bald head with her lil gooey looking ghibli arms!

She can dramatically teleport or gently headbonk people. She can deal with once again losing autonomy over her body and becoming even more of a weapon and less of a person.

This is all from what I remember off the top of my head but I think it’s neat and I want to write so many situations of various flavors.

Sarah Palmer is everything

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

I want to point out her lil hands that will be used to grab Lasky’s face and also Slap Miller’s Bald Head

Can we talk about the au idea we kicked around that started with you going "Oh I have a concept that's gonna harm you." and then you went "Promethean Knight Palmer?"

Digitize/Compose our Commander and give her the funny lil ghibli hands and also sword arms. And also make Lasky watch another person close to him die...

but! she gets to come back wrong. So it's fine. It can be funny.

permit me if u will the gentlest bending of halo lore to digitize one Commander Sarah Palmer, preferably in the line of fire, preferably whilst defending the Captain, and later, in short order, while the grief is still fresh but repressed, returned to the Infinity--

in armor, yes, and armed to the teeth, and taller than the rest, more distinguished than the rest, but human only where it counts. the Infinity obtains a live- "live?"- example of the Prometheans they've been fighting, but not a watcher or a crawler. a bona fide Knight. oddly docile. oddly patterned. ask for Roland's opinion, he'd call the poor thing confused.

oddly docile. weirdly forthcoming. familiar, yet not, with human architecture. crack it open, take a peek at its matrix-- far more lively and dangerous than when examining a separated core-- and discover the memories in the center, forming a glorified spinal column that, when broken, shows the warship's own hallowed halls and a debilitating scream of "SARAH!"

them's the breaks.

anyway she has lil gooey shadow arms and she latches onto Lasky and makes him feed her bits of meat. why a Knight can eat he is not going to ask but his wife is now 11 feet tall and he isnt abt to start telling her no

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

10!

10. how many wips do you actually have right now? 

oh boy!

chapter 2 of roland and miller's bad day

chapter 2 of chief and cortana's bad day halo 4 au

smoke break.....2 (I will make miller and lasky kiss)

promethean knight palmer au

halo infinite rewrite thing part 2/?

halo infinite finding the infinity

ancient surprise inspired by something and 75% finished

(yes there is a pattern or two here I know)

and those are the ones I will try to post no matter how long it takes.