#rubicon company
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mothhuuny · 9 months ago
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sorry if this may come across a little vent-ish, but i just wanna get my feelings out, so-to speak.
if you guys already dont know, ive been working on a little pet project of mine for awhile called Rubicon Company. its something that me and my friends are putting a lot of love and effort into, and I'm very excited to show it more publicly.
its been in the works for, gosh, almost a year now? I'm nearly ready to start posting about it more actively, since I'm about halfway done with the prolouge's draft.
... however, thats the problem. i feel like I've been putting so much work onto it on my own. i don't expect any of my friends to do the work for me, no, I expected to be doing most of it on my own, but because of that, I feel like progress has kinda... slowed to a halt? the process of the project getting done solely revolves around me, which kinda sucks.
i really wish i had some source of income, just so that I could commission an artist or someone else to do some of the work for me. i cant do that, though, because i don't even have access to my own money, and i can't get a job.
i love it so much, but i can't spend all my time working on it. not only do I have schoolwork, but I have other projects I want to work on too, but I don't want to just... let it die.
im not gonna, like, ask for money or anything because the last time somebody from the internet wanted to give me money, it turned into a whole argument with my dad, so I don't want to open that can of worms right now, plus i'd feel bad asking people for money without giving something back.
maybe i should just try and go talk to my parents about it again and try to open up writing/drawing commissions? but also, the every other time I've tried, it just gets pushed to the side, and my parents are already stressed with other money and medical issues.
it's just.
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this is probably my longest post yet, but I just wanna vent out some of my feelings. thanks for reading, if you did.
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mothreblobs · 1 year ago
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@notafamousindex
i definitely think minecraft won't be the game for everyone in the end and that's just how things are no problem but i do think *some* people who don't get the hype of it just need to play with their friends and build a house with them. its also for doing things like this.
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would-they-distort · 2 months ago
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G5 Iguazu (Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon)
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auraeseer · 8 months ago
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Someday, Roo be pro . . .
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mothreblobs · 2 years ago
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@notafamousblog
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headlinehorizon · 1 year ago
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Ford Motor Company and Team Rubicon Join Forces for Hurricane Idalia Disaster Recovery Efforts
https://headlinehorizon.com/Business/Lifestyle/1244
Read about how Ford Motor Company dispatched volunteers to support Team Rubicon in aiding local disaster recovery efforts in Florida after Hurricane Idalia.
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rex101111 · 1 year ago
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Things that happen within the first few hours of AC6:
1. You get shot with a huge-ass laser mid-atmosphere entry. You barely survive this, landing several miles away from your intended landing zone.  Welcome to Rubicon 3.
2. You have a mech built with bargain bin parts, barely held together with hope and spite. It has a energy sword though, so that’s nice.
3. Not even two seconds after your, very rough, landing, you get a call from your “Handler”. He is ostensibly in charge of your well-being. This begins and ends with him sending you off on missions he’s fairly certain you’ll survive and charges you for the damage you get to your mech, the bullets you use, and he’s also cut out a piece of your brain to put in augmentations that will make you a slightly better mech pilot. In the top Most Horrible People On This Planet contest, he wouldn’t make it to the top 10.
4. You make your way through a derelict hunk of junk that’s threatening to collapse on top of you. Not even two minutes into this journey, you’re getting shot at with missiles. 
5. You finally reach your intended destination, a burning husk of a city filled with scavengers and low lives who will shoot you on sight. You are here to grave rob.
6. The reason you are grave robbing is connected to the fact you got shot in orbit, you are here illegally, and you need to find a license from any fresh corpse so you can steal the identity on it and be able to do mercenary work.
7. You go through four corpses before you find one with a license that can pass muster.
8. Mid corpse robbing a gunship sent by The Space Police spots you and you have to shot it down so it can’t kill you or, even worse, stop you from stealing the identity you just found. 
9. As soon as you get registered in the Mercenary Rolodex, which takes less then a second of an A.I taking a look and saying “alright checks out”, you have two missions. One of them has you killing a bunch of resistance fighters from the planet’s native population on behalf of a weapons company that really wants to do business here. 10. The next mission has you going to a base owned by that very same company and blowing up everything you can find there. This does not anger that company one bit, if anything it just convinces them you are a very thorough worker. 11. Very shortly after that, you are tasked with destroying a prototype mech by another company before it can get into mass production. That mech is being piloted by what can only be described as an Anime Protag who is in the worst possible franchise for his type of character. You can murder him in less then two minutes if you know what you’re doing. You can hear him desperately fight for his life the entire time. 12. After that, before you even get to clean the blood and oil and broken dreams off your robot, you get a call from a merc group leader saying that he’s seen you murder that guy real good, a guy who was auditioning to join his group, and likes the cut of your jib. He gives you the callsign he was gonna give Anime Protag before you blew him the fuck up. He laughs and tells you to be careful since it’s an unlucky number. This is the least morally repugnant thing you’ll do all game.   
13. A while after that, you go into a power plant and destroy the generator, it promptly blasts you in the face with the red radioactive Super Fuel that toasted this planet a few years back.
14. You survive, somehow, and you get a disembodied voice of some girl in your ear. You tell your handler about this and he just shrugs it off with “oh yeah that’s probably a symptom of the lobotomy, don’t worry about it”. The voice is probably the most moral person on this fire blasted hell scape of a planet.
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radabeast · 6 months ago
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Why Aren't The Hornsent NPCs Named? An Essay On The Challenge for Compassion
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So easy answer. Neither our pal in the Miquella Brigade nor the Grandam actually tell their names to us. Case closed!
No no no but more like, why didn't the DEVELOPERS choose to let us know them by name? A whole chunk of The Point is that the hornsent are people too, right? So why would we not even get to know our two (mostly just one, even, as you're not likely to even find grandam) hornsent ambassadors' actual names?
Fromsoft did something similar to this in Armored Core 6 just recently. That game is PLAINLY all about the horrors of capitalism, colonization and war, albeit almost all of your time is spent not with the resistance, but with the companies trying to tear the planet apart for fuel. Your protag's motivations aside, the RLF, Rubicon Liberation Front, are hardly given any narrative ambassadors to you at all; your Rubiconian partner pleads with your on some occasions, but otherwise the emphasis is elsewhere. Their liaison with their organization isn't even named. You don't even get to MEET most of their ranks until the secret third route, and even then, half the time that's just when you're fighting against said individuals as opponents. So...
Fromsoft is unique in that they often don't spoon-feed you "this is right" and "this is wrong". By no means do they ever seem to say colonization and slaughter is correct, and in fact the very crux of the plot is in grappling with the justifications. BUT, you are placed directly in the role of the oppressors' side. All around you are people you will grow to respect, and fight alongside, and they will also help you tear down this planet if you choose that route. You do, very much so, have to FIGHT and CHOOSE to aid the people of Rubicon, even if it hurts. Even if it means fighting, abandoning and even killing the people who have been by your side. And I think that's much more realistic to many real-life experiences than just "starting out on the right side".
Back to Elden RIng and the hornsent, though. Grandam is found only under very specific circumstances, within a single location, and within a small time window of the game. You step out of that window? You lose her completely, including the lore she had, and the means with which to understand better the hornsent. Why? Why would Fromsoft even implement her, if it's that hard to even reach her words?
And again, I think it's... realistic. You, the Tarnished, are a human along Marika's progeny, barring your own personal character lore. You are a human and you are part of the race that had slaughtered the hornsent. Of COURSE the hornsent themselves aren't going to trust you, spoonfeed you WHY you should care about them. Shouldn't you care already about the pain and suffering of others? Why WOULDN'T you? If it's that hard to come to grips with the horrors Your Kind caused, then maybe you're no better.
And I think. The story wants to challenge you like that, past gameplay, past feeding you their intent directly. You have to SEEK OUT the answers and THINK. Is it truly justified to slaughter a whole race? Was this truly right? Should I think of these individuals as people, or as monsters?
Hornsent (NPC) is also a very interesting choice. Not only is he the only hornsent you're actually likely to find and speak with, but he actively hates your guts. Soon as the charm is off, even, he's back on his path of vengeance. He says time and time again, he's nothing more than this mission to Get Back on those responsible. Wouldn't the devs want to make you weep for someone far more pitiable, far more palatable?
Well, if you bother paying attention to him enough, and aid the man in his questline, you'll understand then that he's someone who lost his whole family to Messmer's crusades. Mother, wife, child, in addition of course to the innumerable others slaughtered. Is that not enough to want all-consuming vengeance? Wouldn't YOU want people dead because of that? Regardless, even, of whether or not he was even a perpetrator of the original jar slaughters (and I've seen enough feasible evidence against that)... Is he not pitiable enough for that alone?
To you, he is just a Hornsent. To he himself, the man is a Hornsent, likely a title he wears both in defiance, as well as the only scrap of identity he has left. His people were killed because they were Hornsent. His family was killed because they were Hornsent. Would you even ever see him as anything else? Would it matter, even, if he HIMSELF has nothing else?
And, clearly, if you've been seeing anything anywhere in the fan discussions: this challenge to Think is lost on many people. Some people, somewhat understandably, take these aspects as Fromsoft caring little about the hornsent at all, and claiming them as The Original Evils within their own story. Others don't even bother to take anything not fed to them, and claim that the slaughter of hornsent was duly justified, and that this is undeniably supported within the game. But even barring the consistent themes of dichotomies, dualities, and the cycles of abuse ever-present throughout the game-- yeah, I'd say a good deal of reflection could and should be found in the self, first. Who are YOU when challenged for this compassion, first?
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moons-among-distant-stars · 8 months ago
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gonna scream and cry actually
also shoutout to this iterator playlist for going so hard and being the thing i loop for hours on end
(more in the tags cause i'm a coward)
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#screaming crying throwing up#pebbles i am not as strong as moon#i dont think i could forgive you#but gods#thats so argh!!! im gonna scream#was crying /not really to my friends about pebbles in saint's campaign just last night#was sobbing over the moon and pebbles rubicon dialogue again too#but also like aaa five pebbles how could you but also i get it#how could you do this and you were so far in#any lost ground would have felt like failure to you#and when you have spent your everything to work towards that#when you have damned yourself and the ones you love to pain and suffering and isolated yourself so entirely#you could not possibly back down or give up until it was too late#it is that he was once a god and also a child#and now he is in the cold and the snow#and although he cannot feel it we wish to give him lampterns and warmth and company#and so we sit while he plays a distorted song he does not remember#and if you freeze he asks why you stayed#also i think that by the time of rivulet's campaign pebbles has accepted that what he did was horrid and hurt so many and i think that is#one of the times he acts truly selflessly (at least in canon)#because he has killed his big sister#for a goal that he failed at because of he desperate plea to live#and how could you not hate yourself after that how could you bare to face her#so you send her your heart in hopes that you may make a small small dent in the anger and hurt and pain you have caused#pebbles please forgive yourself#it is the only way to heal#but he will be nothing but a puppet without strings by the end#with barely enough consciousness to talk
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moiderahart · 1 year ago
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The Fires of Raven, or Why I Side-eye anyone who claims it's the "good ending".
I keep on seeing takes about how the Fires of Raven ending is the Actual Good Ending and not gonna lie it makes me kind of sick. Partially because "Wow do you literally just believe the first thing people tell you? No wonder propaganda works as well as it does."
The other is that as far as I'm concerned, Coral is a People. Not human by any means but personhood is hardly the kind of thing that's exclusive to humanity. If it can communicate, if it has a culture, if it has agency and emotion, then it is a people. It's basically the concept of a nonhuman person. Coral is depicted as having clear sentience. And at that point I think it's essentially just a people.
It's why I think the idea of AI becoming self aware is one that we're not prepared for, not because of paperclip factories or skynet (which is an inane fear as far as I'm concerned) but because we will have made a person, and we're not ready for that ethical question. Not by a longshot.
The initial Fires of Ibis weren't a spontaneous Coral event. It was a deliberate act; it's why Walter brings up the story in Chapter 4. The story of the man who burned it all who, as we come to learn in the logs, was Professor Nagai. Coral Collapse is a consequence with a scary name but it's one that is not defined; we don't know what Coral Collapse actually entails.
This isn't a mistake on Fromsoft's part; it's a deliberate choice. That ambiguity is part of the point. The lack of a known quantity to Coral Collapse is a big driver of the fear behind it. It's a fear great enough to cause Nagai to burn the stars, in favor of the world that is.
And yet the world that is was also the one that lobotomized C4 621.
The world that is has a company like Arquebus wage war against civilians. Send them to re-education camps which, if you know anything about real world re-education camps, you would know that they are an abomination, and there is no exception on Rubicon.
This is a world that saw Rubicon, a planet of endless possibility and natural beauty, and built towering, continent-sized oil rigs to suck it dry.
Coral was allowed to live for eons before Humanity fucking colonized it. Coral was allowed to grow, to exist, to evolve into its current form until humanity began to shove it into a container.
And Coral was allowed to live before one of the colonizers decided a people was too dangerous to let live based on a chance.
This sounds like an excuse that I have seen too many times.
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shewroteaworld · 10 months ago
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Detached
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Premise: You think you're alone in a storm of feelings. There's one person who won't let you get drenched in this downpour alone.
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader (relationship can be read as purely platonic or as a budding romance)
Approximate word count: 650
Warnings: Self-deprecation
“I just want to feel things. And not feel bad about feeling them.” 
Tears fall and splotch the lines of your notebook paper. You’re relieved your writing was spared. But you're also annoyed. If it washed away the graphite evidence, maybe you could shy away from this. Maybe you could not feel this.
How could you feel such contradictory desires at the same time? How could you hold both in your heart? You couldn’t. You literally couldn’t.
It was only inevitable. You were meant to destroy yourself. You had brain power, sure. But connection to yourself? Your soul? A real knowledge of self?
You sniffle. You bite your knuckles to choke the sobs. If someone caught you here, crying in the BAU bathroom on the toilet…you could never live that down. 
You sigh. Everyone was busy with work, packing up to go home, or already in the parking lot.
You were fine. You were safe. This was safe.
Of course, as if you were in a sitcom, as soon as the thought passed your mind, there was a goddamn knock on the door.
“Are you okay in there? I was passing by and couldn’t help but hear…do you need help?”
Spencer.
You shiver. You pull on your sweater as if you can squeeze warmth out of it. 
“I’m-I’m fine Spencer.” And just like that, the portal closed. You detached. If you could get him to leave quick enough, maybe you could touch it again– actually have a chance at feeling it. Releasing it.
Oh, why did you have to go to therapy?
“(Y/N)? You’re definitely not fine, open up.” 
“Spencer, I’m…” You shut your eyes tight. “I don’t want to worry you, so you should just leave.”
His scoff cuts through the mahogany door. “I’m not leaving you. You’re not okay.”
“Spencer, please.” You wipe snot from your nose on your sleeve. Like a toddler. “Leave, please, I just want to be alone.” You beg.
“I–” A dart of hope cuts through your heart. He sighs. “I don’t believe you.” It’s dashed. “Please, let me in, let me help.”
You can’t piece together enough words to form a rebuttal. When did you get a rubber tongue?
“(Y/N), I care. I’m your friend. Let me in.”
You sniffle, a smile tugging at the corner of your lip. He didn’t have to remind you of who he was. 
The smile slips away faster than the millisecond it arrived in. You couldn’t do this alone, and he wouldn’t let you.
There was finally someone in your life who wouldn’t let you.
“You can come in, Spence.”
You stare at his khaki–slacked knees as he slips through the door of the woman’s restroom. 
“I think we’re breaking company protocol.” You say to his patent leather shoes.
“For once, I’m putting personal protocol above that.” He says softly. “Letting you cry in the bathroom alone is against my protocol.”
You close your eyes. “I think I’m damaged goods.” 
“I think you’re way too harsh on yourself.” He pounces.
You open your eyes. “I don’t know how to feel things.” You croak.
“You know more than you know. That’s how the greatest intellectuals feel when they touch feelings. You’re not alone.”
You scoff. “Am I some great intellectual?”
“Stop that.” He cuts in. “You know you are.” He crosses the Rubicon between you, the tips of his toes stopping centimeters from yours. 
“I’ve been there. You have never been alone. And I’m here. To hold this with you.”
You meet his eyes. They’re soft and cold with worry yet there’s a warmth– like the warmth from the taste of home baked cookies. You feel it in your bones.
“To hold this with me?” You ask.
“To hold this with you.” He affirms.
For the first time in a long time, the cork pops from the bottle in the pit of your stomach.
You speak. 
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That you Keep
Author’s note: More Random shit. So- Malum Caedo in Boltgun was all like "I shall finish what Captain Titus Started!!" and that was adorable, for a Veteran Murder Machien of a Man. And like. Titus and Malum meeting in Space Marine 2 would be great since, clearly, he adored his Captain.
Summary: Veteran Sternguard Malum Caedo hears tell of his previous Captain, now Lieutenant Titus having survived and returned back to the Ultramarines.
Warnings: Smut. NSFT. uh... let me know if you need me to add anything here? Thanks y'all!
Tagged: @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @egrets-not-regrets, @kit-williams
Tagged: @sleepyfan-blog, @ms--lobotomy , @thevoidscreams, @i-am-a-dragon34, @gra93fruit-blog
He had been walking from one part of the ship to the other when he'd heard some of the younger brothers who'd been initially created as Primaris Marines complain about their new Officer.
Gadriel complaining to Chairon about Lt. Titus, Malum paused and looked at his younger brothers in the Second Company and asked if they meant Demetrian Titus- and asked them certain questions about the identity of this Demetrian Titus.
Realizing that the Demetrian Titus that they are talking about is his Demetrian Titus has him asking them where he could find their Lt. They are a little taken back about his questions and vehemence, but they told him.
He thanked the younger brothers for telling him all of this as he headed to where Titus, his Demetrian is. Part of why he'd taken the Graia mission all those long years ago was to see if he could recover his body, since he had been told that Titus had died on that mission.
Part of him thought that had been a lie, and he's glad to know that his instincts on such a thing were correct. His Demetrian turns when he called out his name softly, a smile soft and gentle appears on Titus's face, if a little cautious.
Malum pulls of his helmet, "I am so glad that you are alive Metri."
"You thought I was dead?" Titus asks.
"Yes," Malum says, "Stars above, I have missed you, I had grieved your loss. I am glad that you have returned to us."
Something colder and harder in Demetrian's eyes softens and warms at that. An almost sparkle of something flashes in the other's eyes as he strides towards Malum as they move closer towards one another.
Malum reaches out and grabs one of Demetrian's arms who clasps his hand back as they tug each other lightly into a deep embrace. Titus notes out loud, "You feel stronger."
"Indeed- the benefits of crossing the Rubicon Primaris, successfully," Malum says proudly, "You too- seem stronger."
"I have also crossed the Rubicon Primaris," Titus says, pausing a little, "Did you choose to cross, or was it that or being turned into a Dreadnaught or death?"
"I chose to try to Cross the Rubicon," Malum says, "... What about you?"
"... Chapter Master Calgar chose for me to cross the Rubicon." Titus says.
"Ah, you are not the only Captain that our wonderful Chapter Master has decided such medical decisions for." Malum says quietly, lowly, "I have missed you, so much."
"I have missed you deeply Mal," Titus says as he lightly tugs his fellow turned-Primaris Marine with him to his private rooms.
Malum follows him eagerly as they go into Titus's room, Demetrian lets go of his hand for a moment and goes to his armor stand and hits the quick release button on his armor and steps out of it.
Malum follows suit with his own armor and within a blink of an eye, Titus is upon him. A clash of lips, tongue, and the clack of teeth as they press kisses and touches, desperate fingers touch and tease their paramor's skin and body.
"I have missed you, all these long, lonely years," Malum whispers, moaning into Titus's lips.
"Never chose another to bed?" Titus asks, half surprised, half pleased.
"None could compare to you," Malum said with a shake of his head, honest in his words as they continue to kiss and touch.
Demetrian presses his fingers to Malum's lips and he opens his mouth eagerly as he sucks on the other's fingers- helping lubricate them as Titus teases their cocks, by rubbing them against each other.
Malum groans in pleasure and the delicious friction as Titus flips Malum over and pulls his fingers away as he stretches Malum open with his fingers.
The pain and pleasure run up his spine in equal measure as he pleads, "Titus- fuck me, Please."
"In a bit, love, In a bit," Titus murmurs, "It's been a century for us both, love."
Malum whines a little at that and grinds his backside against Titus' fingers and cock. He hides a little smirk as he hears Titus's swearing of pleasure and the way the other picks up the pace on stretching him.
The feeling Titus's other hand lightly smacking his ass in punishment only enhancing the pain-pleasure-need-desire and he groans in pleasure as Titus pulls his fingers out of him.
He whines at the loss and Titus chuckles a little as he thrusts in, he had wanted to do so slowly. But the hot, tight feeling of Malum around him. Fuck it really has been so long. Has him thrusting all the way in fast.
Damn. This new body of his really is an upgrade. Stronger, faster, it's impressive. As he presses biting kisses into Malums neck and shoulder as he starts to thrust in and out of him.
Malum eagerly matching his pace rolling his hips and groaning in pleasure, while Titus groans in pleasure and murmurs filthy praise. It's embarrassingly quick how fast he cums, but is pleased that Malum doesn't take long to cum either.
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blackbeautyray · 3 months ago
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Gym Bae
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Warnings: 18+, oral (giving & receiving), fingering, intercourse, dirty talk, etc etc)
Word count: 5500+
Planted in front of the mirror as I admired how these new Nike Support High-Waisted leggings hugged my thick thighs. Deciding between wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves cut out over my sports bra or only wearing my sports bra had me dazed. I chose the first option, sliding my black and white Air Max 90's on, walking out of my room.
Gliding down the hall, I grabbed a towel, my keys, gym bag and closed the door behind me.
"I wonder if he's going to be there", I said to myself as I leap into my Granite Crystal Metallic Rubicon. ‘I Like It’ by Cardi B blared through the speakers taking up all the few minutes of time it took to arrive at 24 Hour Fitness. Glancing at the clock, it was 10:10 pm and the parking lot was fairly empty. Though the lot was bare, much to my excitement, his shiny all black Challenger was parked near the door. The mere thought of him shirtless, glistening, bobbing his head to what I assume to be some 90’s rap caused rambunctious butterflies to fill my stomach.
Today was arm day. Walking over to the free weights, which were directly in his view, I reached for a 12 pound dumbbell. Cleaning off a workout bench, I adjusted the back so that I could sit up straight, and see him in the reflection of the wall to wall mirror in front of me. I tried not to make it obvious that I wanted him to watch, but shit, I did.
My arms truly did need the workout. I increased the volume of my ‘Work It’ playlist and began to curl 3 sets of 15 on both sides. Once this set is complete, I have my eyes set on the resistance area for some pull ups.
The cool guzzle of water gave me the push I needed to complete the next half of my arm workout. Walking over to the chest press machine, I glanced in his direction. He was on the treadmill running, staring at me.
Yeah daddy, keep watching.
My mild obsession with this guy who reminded me of Ghost from Power began 3 months ago when I first took a tour of this gym. Seeking to improve my overall consistency and clear my mind from work, I immediately signed up. Spending the past 2 years working at a Public Relations firm was pleasant until our recent leadership change. My new ‘manager’ is a woman who seems like there is a stick permanently lodged up her ass. During her second month at my job, I knew that if I wanted to keep my job, I would need a frustration outlet. Having been involuntarily celibate means that there isn’t a man around to fuck the frustration out of me.
After my workout was complete, I decided to take a swim before heading home. Those beautiful butterflies showed up again as I walked right past him on the way to the ladies locker room. A side-eye smile on my left, he nodded back. Goddamn, his energy is strong.
Always keeping a swimsuit in my assigned locker along with fresh panties, deodorant, facial cleaner and moisturizer, I peeled off my t-shirt, sports bra and Nike pants placing them in my gym bag. Slipping on my Nike Slides, I move through the shower area, sauna and finally toward the pool door.
The water is nice. It isn’t cold as hell like a normal outdoor pool. No this a little to expensive gym membership included a heated pool, many lanes for relay swimming and water aerobics. After swimming to the opposite side of my abandoned lines, I heard footsteps approaching.
"Do you mind company?"
"No." I smiled back at him as I wipe the water running down my face.
"Aight, I'll be back in a second.”
Since the pool is only accessible through the locker rooms, I assume he was either looking for me since I hadn’t come back out the front door of the ladies room, or he genuinely wanted to take a swim.
Fuck, I thought to myself as he returned. He has on some black swimming trunks that rested right below his V cut abs. His left arm has a full sleeve of colorful tattoos and the rest of his body looked bare. He definitely spent his time on that body. He looked at least 6'3" or close to it.
Moving back toward me as I sat on the raised seat inside the pool, ”Do you mind if I turn some music on?”
"No, I don't mind."
I could now see his back had black and grey wings and rest in peace in the middle with someone’s name and year of death. A glass covered speaker and attached aux cord, he plugged it into his phone. He began playing some shit I never heard before. I’m not too concerned with the music though. He is enough of a distraction.
Diving in at the 10 foot end of the pool, he swims over to me.
“Hey," Wiping the water from his face. "I'm Taurus."
"Hi Taurus, DeLorean."
"Nice to meet you, DeLorean."
The way he said my name, He had me.
"That's an interesting name, Taurus.”
Chuckling, “Yes, I get that all the time. You can call me Tory. My mother named be that because my pops was a Taurus and she is in to that zodiac shit heavy. I was born shortly after my dad passed away so she thought it was fitting to name me Taurus. My father didn’t want a Junior since his name was Thaddeus.”
“OMG! Yea you don’t necessarily give off Thaddeus vibes, but I’m sure he was a cool dude.” We laughed together is comfortable unison.
“He was. She said of all the men she ever dated, he understood her the most. I think that earth energy is what she loved.” Tory became caught up in his thoughts.
Finally back to this reality, “I’ve been seeing you a lot around here.”
“You’ve been watching me?”
“More like returning the glances.”
“Oh, so you noticed?” I could feel my face become warm with slight embarrassment, but I also feel my pussy twitch with excitement.
With the warmest smile, “I noticed you 3 months ago when you were on your gym tour with Anthony. I play the long game baby girl. When I saw you come in tonight acting like you were really lifting weights, I decided that I would finally approach you.” He playfully laughed while calling me out on my fake workout.
“Oh don’t do me like that, I really was working out.” I shot back while flexing my triceps.
“Yea okay. So, you wanna do some laps or were you fake swimming too?”
“Now, how do you fake swim?! Come on, let’s swim the length of the pool and back.”
We make it a few feet over to the top and begin. Little does he know I was the swim team captain in High School and College so fake arm workout or not, he’s in for a beating tonight.
-
After a brutal loss, Tory asked if I wanted to get some food. It is almost 12 am but we're in L.A. so I know some shit is open.
"Can you pass me the ketchup?”
“Sure, here you go.” Tory passes to me while holding my gaze. Aside from the few glances and the dimly lit pool area, this is the true first time being close enough to see Tory’s eyes up close. His eyes were light brown and hooded shaped eyes. Full beard and plump lips to match, now i’m in a daze.
"DeLorean?" He motioned the ketchup my way as I am lost in his lips.
"Thanks." I smiled taking the bottle from his hand. "You can call me Lori.”
Wow, now we’re Lori and Tory.  I felt corny for a second but whatever. He's gonna be daddy most of the time depending on how this plays out.
"So where you from Lori?" He asks before taking a bite of his breakfast burrito.
"I'm from L.A. Been here all my life. Where are you from?"
"I'm from Detroit. I moved here two years ago for a job. Plus I was tired of the cold weather."
"I'm sure. I've never experienced snow but I don’t even like to be cold in my own house."
He cackled, ”You should visit and experience some snow girl, it's nice if you don't have to drive in it or be in it for too long."
"Maybe," I said as I eat a fork full of hash browns.
"So, can I call you some time?"
"Took you long enough to ask."
Tory smiled at my response.
Damn that smile.
“Here, put your number in my phone.” Tory hands me his phone.
“You forgot to unlock it.” I move my hand back across the table for return.
“4566.”
Typing the code, his background picture is a beach.
“Beautiful photo,” I compliment navigating to his contacts.
“Thank you, I took it on vacation last year. I take a solo vacation each year to clear my head and visit a new place.”
Adding my name to his address book under Lori with muscle arm emoji next to it, I hand it back to him.
“Here.”
Smirking at his screen, “Oh, you funny, let me fix this.” Flipping the phone around to show me, He replaced the muscle arm emoji with the lips emoji. Smiling, I give him a questioning look.
“I want to always be reminded of your beautiful lips when I speak to you.”
I could feel my nipples stiffen. Tory didn’t even say with a sexual undertone. It was genuine.
We finish our meals and I wait for Tory to return to the table after paying our bill at the register near an old school Juke box. Shortly after, we were standing at my car door.
“So Lori, I know we just formally met, but i’m hitting up this party tomorrow for my homie birthday, would you like to accompany me?
“I could probably fit that in my schedule.”
“Oh, I don’t want to impose if you had other shi…”
Cutting him off before he could finish, I was not about to talk myself out of dick.
“Naw. I’m sure I’ll be able to go.”
“Aight, do you mind if I pick you up and we ride together?”
“Yea that’s fine.”
“Cool. I’ll text you so you have my number and you can give me your address. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow Lori.”
“Same here Tory.”
We part ways and I drive home.
Drying off after a refreshing shower, I hear my phone ding with a text alert.
“This is Tory, did you make it home?”
“Yes. Just stepped out of the shower.”
Yea, I wanted him to have a nice lil mental picture of me, wet and naked before he went to sleep.
“Aight ma, sleep well.”
“Thanx, same to you.”
I adore Saturday nights in the summer. Tory texted me an hour ago to let me know he would be at my house around 9 pm. The party will be at a nightclub they rented for the entire night.
To start, I took a relaxing bath, followed by a shower, shaving almost my entire body. Deciding on a wash and go hairstyle, I generously applied my conditioner to my hair. Siri announces Tory’s update, “Do you want anything from the store?”
“Hey Siri, reply to Tory, can you grab me bottle of water and some jolly ranchers?”
She announces his reply, “Tory says aight, see you soon.”
Just as I was zipping up the side of my dress, the doorbell rings.
Peeking through the peephole, I braced myself. Tory looked delectable.
Daddy had on this forest green custom fitted suit with a black button-down underneath. He has two buttons at the top undone with some black loafers. Line up is fresh accompanied with Gucci frames.
Trying my best to steady my breath, I open the door. Tory stands stuck for a moment before uttering a simple, “Hi.”
“Come in, I just need to put my shoes on.” I feel his eyes on me as I walk down the hall. My dress, a hot pink bodycon that had triangle cut outs between my breast and stomach. The same pattern in the same spot around my lower back.
After stepping into my sparkly open toe heels, Tory kneels to help me fasten the straps around my ankles. We make eye contact, “Damn, you are beautiful.”
“Thank you. You clean up nice yourself.”
Crowned passenger princess for the evening, I enjoy the impending sunset as we cruise toward the not too far venue. He plays a mix of slow jams and smooth rap while we ride in silence. Just as the last few rays peered over the horizon, we park in the lot adjacent to the building.
Tory and I dance for hours. He only has a couple shots in comparison to my 3 watermelon long islands. I hold my liquor pretty well and tonight, he’s making me feel so safe. As we periodically meet his friends, he introduces me as DeLorean. I figure two things: He didn’t want to explain that I am basically a stranger or he didn’t want other people calling me what he calls me.
It is almost 1 am and He whispers in my ear, “Are you ready to go?”
“Absolutely,” a seductive look in my eye tells him I’m ready for the second half of our date.
Holding my hand, he leads me out of the party while he waves his goodbyes to his closest friends. He guides me to the car door, opening it, allowing me to slide in.
“You hungry?”
“Hell yea, but can we pick up something and eat at my place?”
“No problem, do you have a taste for anything?”
“Uh, lets get some tacos from this spot near my house.”
Due to the late hour, I ask Tory to park in my garage so that the birds do not ruin his car with poop. With the alcohol having a ticklish effect on me, I laugh through each breath explaining that I have angry birds that like to poop on cars at night when parked on the street.
Fully aware that we just met, our connection seems otherworldly. I want his company and if he spends the night, I’m content with it.
He places the Bart’s Mexican Bistro bags on the counter.
“Make yourself at home, I’m going to change into something more comfortable. You are more than welcome to help yourself to something to drink. I have juice, soda or water.”
“Aight, I’m going to grab my jogging pants from my car.”
Changing into some navy blue yoga pants and a matching navy cropped racerback top, I descend the stairs to see Tory in a white undershirt and grey jogging pants.
I quickly glance down at his dick print and see a nice size one. Licking my lips in approval, I place our tacos on plates and pour myself a glass of water.
“Have you seen Oceans 8?”
“Nah, not yet.”
“Okay, I’m gonna put it on. I’ve been meaning to watch it.”
After we eat, I snuggle next to him on the couch. With the only light in the room coming from the screen, he wraps his arm around my waist with his hand resting on my thigh.
We laugh at a few parts and I begin to drift off. Before I knew it, I felt myself being gently placed in my bed.
“Oh, you could’ve woke me up, I could have…”
“Ssshh, don’t worry about it.”
Tory turns to exit the room and I stop him. Moving the covers back behind me signaling him to join me, he doesn’t hesitate and lays right next to me.
He doesn’t hesitate and laid right behind me. I drift off to sleep, periodically feeling his dick jump.
It is the next morning and I rise to an empty bed. For a second, I question if he actually stayed over until I smell food coming from downstairs.
Taking a pit stop to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I walk into the kitchen, “What’s all this?”
“Well, I could tell you were resting peacefully so I decided to cook us breakfast. Luckily, you have everything.”
“Yea, I just went grocery shopping yesterday. Thank you.” I voice my appreciation as he hands me my plate.
Eggs, biscuits, turkey bacon and strawberries.
Damn this shit looks good.
Asking Alexa to play my morning playlist, we dig in and share our favorite music genres, facts about our jobs and weekend habits. Once we were done eating, Tory placed both our plates in the sink and washed them.
“Oh, I can get that later.”
“Nah, it’s cool, I can knock them out before I leave.”
Damn, he cooks and can clean. Daddy is earning his points today.
Escorting Tory to his driverside door, we embrace with a nice long hug. He spoke low into my ear, “I had a great time, I won’t be a stranger.”
As I pulled back form the hug, “you better not be.”
He peels out of my driveway and I close the garage door as soon as he’s no longer in sight. Now in my room, undressing to take a shower, I notice a note on my nightstand. It was a drawing of a sunflower in pencil with the words below it that read “As you slept, your hair was sprawled out on your pillow and you were at ease. You reminded me of a sunflower. Have a good day beautiful.”
I propped the note up next to a bouquet of tulips on my nightstand and got in the shower.
-
Unlike Saturday nights, Sunday nights were reserved for preparing for my work week. I deep condition my hair, finish laundry, and meal prep for a few days.
I hear my phone buzz on the counter, “Whaddup Lori, how are you?”
“Hey Tory, I’m alright, just getting ready for the week, how about you?”
“I’m chillin, getting ready to head to the gym in a few.”
I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth wondering if he mentioned it because he wants me to come up there.
“Oh, nice. I could definitely use a workout after all that good food we’ve had the past couple days”
“Same here. I’ll be there around 10:00pm. It would be a pleasure to see if you if you decide to come workout.”
“Okay, I’ll see you there.”
I had on my pajamas for the night but I can put that shit back on later. Rummaging through my drawers, I found some jogging pants and a sports bra. I opted to go without the T-shirt this time. Leaving the conditioner in my hair, add the rest of my food to glass containers, grab my jacket and head out.
Tonight, the parking lot was much more crowded. I arrived at 9:50 and sat in my car for a second.
Answering my sister’s call, “Hey sis, what’s up?”
“Hey Lo, what you doin mama?”
“About to get this workout in.”
“Oh nice, you finally speak to that guy you’ve been eyeing this whole time?”
“Yes, he actually approached me.” I decided to leave out the part about him staying the night for now. My sister can be overprotective and I don’t want to hear that shit right now.
“Ok well, I want to hear all about it later. Go ahead and workout girl. Talk soon.”
Raising the speed setting on the treadmill to 4.2, I jogged catching up on YouTube videos. Feeling his presence near me, I remove my headphone just as he greeted me, “Hey gorgeous.”
“Hey, are you gonna run with me?”
“Nah, I’ll let you work out in peace. I’m gonna hit the weights then play some basketball for a while. Come see me before you leave if you’re done before me.”
“Okay, I will.”
Damn, he remembers me speaking about how my workouts ideal times for me to clear my head and brainstorm my ideas for my future business.
I would love to have a work out session with him one day, but I really do enjoy this quiet time for brainstorming.
After about an hour and a half, I see Tory walk toward the water fountain, “Hey boo, I’m about to head out.”
“Aight, let me grab my bag and I’ll walk you to your car.”
Waiting in the vestibule, he did not make me wait for long. Placing his hand on the small of my back, he guided me out the door to my driver side door.
“How was your workout?”
“It was needed. I feel good and I have some new ideas that I need to document before I sleep tonight. How about you?”
“I think I burned off those tacos.” We share a laugh. “It was nice to see you today. I’ll hit you up sometime this week.”
Tory leaned in for a hug and he placed a kiss on the skin just to the right of my lips. He smelled so fucking good even after an hour and a half workout. It has been a few full moons since I embraced someone I am attracted to.
Thinking about him my entire ride home, I barely remember how I got home.
Rinsing out the conditioner, I stand beneath the shower head recalling how Tory felt laying beside me the night before. My hands trail from my curls down my neck, landing on my breasts lathering the soap. Switching back and forth between pinching each nipple, I yearn for Tory to be behind me now. Even though I am not against fucking “early”, I don’t want shit to get complicated by fucking too soon. Finger tips now applying pressure to my clit, it begins to swell. I cannot stand any longer, I sit down, feeling pressure from multiple causes, hearing myself moan louder than Usher coming from my bluetooth speaker. This will have to do until Tory is present to replace my hands with his.
Wednesday morning came and I realize I have not heard from Tory since Sunday. I am not worried, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little salty about it. Just as quickly as I had the thought, my phone buzzed.
“Whassup ma, how’s your week going?”
Damn, speak of the devil.
I can’t help but smile, “It’s going well so far. I’ve been listening to music all morning at my desk, which has made it bearable so far. How about you?”
“Things are good today, I was in the airport most of yesterday. My flight was delayed.”
“Damn. Where are you? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“You can ask me anything ma. I’m in San Antonio until tomorrow night for work. It’s hot as hell here.”
“ahahhaha, I know. My cousin lives there and you basically need to be naked during the summers to get any relief.”
“Lol, I’ll have to be with you on that next trip.”
“Lol silly. That would be nice tho…”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I would love to see you when I get back to L.A. if you’re not busy.”
“I would like that too. I’m off Friday so just hit me up.”
“I will. I have to get back to my meeting, but I will speak with you soon babygirl.”
Thursday night is here and I find myself laying in bed watching an episode of ‘Girlfriends’ from my box set that was gifted to me from a friend at a past birthday dinner. This is my shit. I check my phone, 11 pm and a recent text.
“Whaddup Lori, I’m back in town. Let me know if you’re available for breakfast tomorrow. I know it’s late, if you don’t see this until the morning, let me know.”
“I’m awake, just watching Girlfriends. Breakfast sounds nice. What time?”
“Okay, okay, Girlfriends. I used to watch that all the time. Mya was my favorite character, lol. I can pick you up around 10 am.”
“Lmao, Mya? Really? She’s funny, but Joan is my favorite. I still call her Joan when I watch Blackish. 10 is good bae.”
“Hahah, Joan is cool too.”
“How was your flight?
“Smooth. Quiet for the most part. I’m glad to be home tho. My bed is way better than that hotel shit.”
“I’m sure. What area do you stay in?”
“I’m about 20 minutes from you near downtown.”
“Nice, I need to pick up some items downtown, do you mind if we run a couple errands after breakfast?”
“We can do whatever you want.”
Little do you know, what I want to do isn’t what I need to do.
Drifting off, I must have left him on read because my phone started buzzing.
“Hello,” in my most unsexy voice.
“You fell asleep on me girl?”
“I did baby, I’m tired.”
“Get some rest ma. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Mmhmmm. Goodnight baby.”
I can’t recall his reply, I was gone…
9:30 am and I am seated at my kitchen island opening mail in a strapless yellow maxi dress paired with gold sandals and a gold crossbody Gucci bag. One last mirror check, I danced to my morning playlist in full excitement to spend the day with my “man.” My skin is glistening from my favorite body oil full of shimmery shit making me look like a bronzed goddess. Spraying Fabulous by Tom Ford on my neck, wrists, back of my knees, and ankles, I snatch my phone off the charger.
My doorbell rings and my heart pounds through my chest. Breathing and walking, I shake the anxious feeling just in time to turn the knob. Tory has the most beautiful spirit for him to look so dominant. The man is fine as fuck and every time I am around him, I have to squeeze my legs together hoping that my thighs will impede the slow trickle of nectar that I know will soon spill from my juice center.
Smiling wide, “Whaddup girl,” Tory leans down hugging me, kissing me on that soft part near my lips that I’ve grown to adore.
“Are your ready?”
“Yea, let’s go.”
A gentleman always, he opens my door. His car smells so good, I know that smell anywhere, it is ironically ‘Gentleman’ by Givenchy. I lean back and inhale.
“You good?” Watching me with my eyes still closed. “Yea, I’m good. Let’s go, I’m hungry.”
We arrived at a new to me breakfast spot that Tory says he frequents a few times a month. A mimosa and veggie omelet for me, bacon and french toast with a Lemonade and Vodka for the handsome king across from me.
We visit each store on my list downtown ending our trip at the grocery store on the way back to my place. I tell Tory I will cook him dinner to repay him for cooking my breakfast last week. I would not accept no for an answer. He carried all my bags in including the groceries, my shopping bags and my mail. This gentleman shit is exactly how I’ll end up choking on his dick tonight.
“Damn that was good. Where you learn to cook like that Lori?!”
“Aww thank you. I grew up with my mom and grandmother in the same house. They had be start cooking at the age of 8 and I’ve been cooking ever since.”
“I’ll have to thank them one day. I haven’t eaten like that in a very long time.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed.”
He leaned in for a kiss. I froze, but kissed back.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time now.”
Tory kissed me again, this time, it lasted a long time. Hands guiding me from beside him to now straddling him, his hands were under my dress planted, gripping my thighs while my arms stayed glued to his face.
I stop the kiss, sitting back down next to him.
“Tory, I am really feeling you and I would like for this to go further. I just don’t want anything to change if we were to have sex this early in our… whatever this is.”
“I understand that. And I’m feeling you too. I think about you all the time. I’m not speaking to any other women and our time together is always something I look forward to. Seeing where this goes is a priority for me. If you want to just chill tonight, we can. Ain’t no rush baby.”
Cruising through my streaming channels, we decided on Equalizer 2. My new favorite spot on the couch is currently in the corner between the chaise lounge and the love seat, laying on him with his arm around my waist. And this time, I wasn’t sleepy. I was horny. Thinking of a way to curb my urges, I considered going to my room to play with myself and act like I was in the bathroom for a while. Then, I thought that maybe we could just do everything but intercourse. I even considered holding out until he left to satisfy the pressure building in my sacral.
Glancing down, I saw his dick twitch in his jeans.
Licking most of the lip gloss from my lips, I told myself that no matter what happened next, I wouldn’t regret my decision. I needed him.
Standing slowly, I faced him. He looked up at my concern before seeing the lust in my hooded eyes. I told him to unzip me. A sexy smirk lined his lips as he slid my long zipper down the middle of my back just above my ass. I let the dress fall. Completely naked, he gasped. I side stepped over the fabric and grabbed his hand to lead him to my bedroom.
“Close my door baby.” I instructed as I rest on my back spread for him.
He walks closer unbuckling him pants, “You sure?”
“Yes. I held out as long as I could,” a laughing sigh between us. We both knew that was all of one hour and 20 minutes.
Equally as naked as me, Tory met me beneath the covers and slowly kissed me. I reached for his almond brown thickness but he whispered “Don’t rush it, let me take care of you” while holding my hand.
Melted into the sheets well before I felt him inside of me, Tory rubbed my inner thighs as he made his way to my dripping center. I was so close to climaxing, if his pinky brushed against my clit, I was going to squirt. He licked my inner creases praising, “Mmhhmm, you smell so sweet.”
All I could muster was a constant moans as he went to work devouring all the juice I built up over the past few days. As if I could fall further, I released the loudest moans as Tory sucked my clit like he owned me.
“Tory! I can’t take it.”
“Yes, you can baby. Give it to me.”
“It’s yours baby.”
“That’s right girl, don’t hold back from me baby.”
My body began to shake, giving in to him. Tory didn’t let up either. He kept slurping taking everything I was wiling to offer. Another orgasm in route, Daddy slid his middle and ring fingers in to massage my g-spot.
With divine precision, Tory brought me to my second release of the evening.
“I can’t take it daddy, please… please, please, ahhhhh”
“Mmm, Daddy? I like that baby.”
That was clearly the first time I called him that out loud. It slipped out, but I he earned the title and much more.
“Daddy, please give me that dick.”
“You ready for me already?” That beautiful smile pressed into my neck before he peppered kisses to my glowy skin.
“Yes, baby, please.”
Tory dragged his thick head up and down my folds as I braced myself for impact.
He slid in and I came again.
“Oh shit, baby, you’re so fucking wet.”
“You’re filling me up baby.”
“Yeah, too much baby?”
“No baby, I can take it. Let me turn over.”
Tory gave me exactly 5 seconds to lay on my stomach before he pulled me into the deepest arch. He came back with vengeance. I wrapped my hair around my own hand, pulled and cried into the pillow as I took each inch of his solid pipe.
Daddy pushed my hand away to grab a fist full while letting out the sexiest moan to ever grace my ears.
“Fuck I’m about to nut.”
“Nut for me baby. It’s mine.”
“Ugh shit ma. You’re drownin’ me. I’m-“
I felt that vein in his dick pulsate and immediately maneuvered to suck his dick clean. Tory fell back onto the bed in a daze.
“Fuck baby, stop, come on. It’s sensitive.”
I didn’t pay him no mind. I earned this treat and when I had my fill, I joined his side.
Our breathing began to slow. It was Friday night and no work in the morning. I drifted off in his arms.
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kyoswimm · 1 year ago
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one last armored core post for now— nobody ever talks about how coral is called ‘coral’. on the surface, you might not get why it’s clever, maybe they just thought the name was cool.
but coral- real life coral- are colonial organisms. there are solitary species of coral, but their reefs are more iconic. they love their own company, which is the exact wording Walter uses when describing rubicon’s coral.
not to mention coral has a symbiotic relationship with a species of algae- just like 621 and ayre.
it’s such a clever usage of coral and gosh darn it does that tickle my neurons
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kivaember · 9 months ago
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it's maid day so here's 621 in a maid dress and rusty suffering
-
Every so often, Rusty would manage to convince Raven to "meet up" outside of sorties to "hang out".
The reason for the quotation marks there was that Raven didn't know that they met up to hang out. Rusty usually had to couch his requests in mission speak... and, admittedly, pay Raven afterwards to maintain the innocent deception. It was always a pittance, and Raven was under the impression that he was doing Rusty a favour by giving him a "buddy discount" (his words, not Rusty's), which made it seem like it was Raven manufacturing reasons to "meet up" by accepting clearly bogus missions for 100 COAM a piece-
Okay, this is getting complicated.
To simplify: they were both two very messed up guys who had no idea how to make friends normally, so Rusty did triple layers of subterfuge to hang out with the one person who was unrelated to the tangled hot mess that was his spy life on Rubicon, while Raven was unable to socialise outside of mission objectives and parameters.
They went on a lot of 'geographical surveys' together, is what he's saying.
It was enough to have the Vespers notice, but not exactly suspicious. From what Rusty had gleaned from Pater's sly jibes and Hawkin's poorly concealed smiles, they thought he and Raven were running off to secluded areas to have wild, passionate sex in each other's cockpits. Technically it was against company policy, but they were out on the frontiers. It was likely considered an acceptable misdemeanour to let Rusty blow off steam harmlessly - and a potential hook to sway Raven more towards an Arquebus bias.
Rusty didn't disabuse them of their assumption. It made things easier, really. He said 'I'm going on another geological survey with Raven, he requested my presence' and O'Keeffe would wave him off with 'okay just don't take all night again'. Snail would take one look at 'geological survey' and 'V.IV Rusty' and 'Raven' on the mission report and promptly lose interest - by now it was a short hand for 'V.IV is making a booty call'.
It let him take his time. He'd meet Raven, but then move on and spend a few hours elsewhere without needing to think of an excuse - because everyone would assume he was fucking Raven.
Honestly - he wished.
But no, their meetings were as chaste as things could be. They had scoped out a few good locations to meet - shielded from the wind, the snow, and allowing them to spend a few hours outside of their ACs - but they made sure to alternate them in a random pattern, just in case Balam or some enterprising independent mercenary got any ideas. Every time they met up, Rusty would bring what little he could for entertainment, a few bottles of smuggled Rubicon moonshine, and they would just... talk and chill.
...and then one meet up, Raven turned up in a dress.
-
The meeting spot they chose this time was an old yet mostly intact building situated in the shadow of a sky grid. The building was built of concrete and insulating material, the interior lukewarm compared to the frigid climes outside, and had likely been a school, once upon a time.
Rooms with desks and chairs, hallways with lockers, an old gym where the wooden floors had long since rotted and the ceiling half-caved in, and dark labratories where the chemical cabinets had been broken into, their contents long since emptied and leaving bare shelves and discoloured, empty glass jars.
It was one of their more favourite meeting spots, and Rusty had arrived first this frigid evening. He had parked STEEL HAZE outside the building, the AC sat in a low squat and partially concealed behind the multi-story building. Rusty had clambered out and trudged his way inside, makign for their usual meeting spot inside: the headmaster's office.
It was still relatively intact. An old, oaken desk that had withstood the ravages of time, a sofa where the springs had gone flat but wasn't moth-eaten, and a large window where the glass was frosted over but still intact. The carpet was stained, though, and the bookcases lining the wall were lacking books - moisture had gotten in here at some point, and the books had decayed into something mushy, but otherwise the room was serviceable for their meeting.
Rusty sat down on the sofa, resting his boots on the creaking coffee table, and stared out the window. The building sighed and creaked around him, the wind howling as it rattled the window, giving a sense of lonely isolation. Rusty just cracked open one of the moonshines he had brought with him, drinking straight from the bottle. He didn't like thinking about why Rubiconian settlements were so eerily abandoned.
He got through half the bottle by the time he heard the telltale growl and rumble of an arriving AC. His confirmation came when a data exchange request zipped to his implants, coming from Network ID: 04-23-621. Raven.
Rusty accepted it. There was no verbal communication or anything like that, and admittedly Raven was the first and only time he'd ever used his implants like this, but it was just an.. acknowledgement? Regardless, he accepted the request, Rusty felt a vague sort of 'okay', and the connection dropped as quickly as it was formed. Raven's way of saying 'hello', he supposed.
Made him wonder if there was a level of incompatibility between Old and New Gen. Rusty had heard Old Gen had a weird sort of 'telepathy' capability with each other, but no such thing existed with the New Gens. Rusty didn't know the science behind it, but Coral was well known for being able to store insane amounts of data and transporting it near-instantaneously across vast distances, whereas the 'Coral Substitute' used in New Gens could... not do that. A fact that the UEG was eternally sour over, after Arquebus had unveiled it with much fanfare.
(In fact, the 'Coral Substitute' was barely a substitute at all. The only thing it could do was successfully augment a human... to a fraction of what an Old Gen's performance was like, yes, but it was still something. The massive amount of energy, data storage, and quantum characteristics were still a work in progress)
In any case, the "telepathy" would've been useful to have, but ultimately Rusty was relieved. There were all kind of horror stories about Old Gens being susceptible to 'neural-hacks', and Rusty quite liked having complete control over his own mind and thoughts, thank you. It was the only thing he could claim to actually own in this capitalistic hellscape of a galaxy.
He continued sipping through his bottle of moonshine as he waited. It was quiet, Raven no doubt parking up STALKER beside STEEL HAZE and likely making his way up here. He was a slow walker - incredibly slow - so Rusty had all but finished the bottle by the time he heard footsteps shuffle towards the office.
Rusty felt loose and relaxed, pleasantly warm, and he slid his boots off the coffee table and set the empty bottle down on it just as the door creaked open. Tone light and slightly drawling, he looked up with a: "About time you-"
He stopped.
Raven stood in the doorway, staring at him with that bland, emotionless stare of his. That wasn't what gave Rusty pause. It was his- outfit.
"Uh, buddy. Your... clothes..." Rusty said very slowly, his gaze fixed on Raven's torso. The moonshine hadn't been that strong, had it? He knew some batches could cause hallucinogenic effects, but Rusty was Rubiconian. It'd take more than one bottle to cause that in him.
Raven looked down and plucked at said clothes, black fabric pinched between gloved fingers.
It looked cheap - the sort you'd find on the rack at a local supermarket on Earth. It was too shiny, and Rusty could see how the fabric had creased horribly from where it had been neatly folded up in its packaging, giving it the look of a crisp packet or something similar. It didn't fit right either - a bit too baggy at the chest, since Raven lacked the assets to fill it, and loose around the hips, since he barely had any. It was long at the knee too, the skirt stopping just shy of an inch above his ankle - not that it showed any skin, as Raven was still wearing his usual steel-capped combat boots, the laces loosely tied up and dangling messily.
After another few seconds of shocked staring, Rusty belatedly realised that Raven was in some fascimile of a maid outfit. The 'sexy' kind, except it was clearly for someone taller and, um, curvier than him, so it negated the 'sexy' and came across as homely instead. Either way, the effect was the same: stunning Rusty into silence.
Raven looked up, his blank expression saying he saw nothing strange about all this. He pulled at the hem of his gloves - his usual ones, black leather with steel stitched over the knuckles - before crossing his arms. The only saving grace was that he was wearing a jacket, unzipped of course, but it just clashed with the whole ensemble.
Weirdly, Rusty couldn't help but be reminded of those animated shows Pater covertly watched in the office when Snail wasn't around: anime? He was pretty sure he saw a character in one of his shows dressed like this, except it had been a female maid armed with an ancient AK-47 shooting zombies, not an AC pilot.
"Um," Rusty tried. After another pause, he cleared his throat and said: "What's with... the outfit?"
Raven just shrugged, and unfolded his arms to shuffle towards the sofa. Rusty just watched as Raven sat down on the other end... and slouched, his legs spreading. Rusty had to fight the urge to lean over and pull the hem of his skirt down from where it hitched up.
Thankfully, it at least revealled he was wearing thick, woollen stockings underneath... Raven wasn't wandering around without any form of pants, thank god.
After a pause, Raven dug into his jacket pocket and typed languidly on his communication's device: "I was told this is customary to wear on 'Maid Day'."
Rusty didn't know where to begin.
"Who- told you that?" Actually, he knew exactly where to begin. "Walter? Did- did Walter put you in that?"
He knew there was something skeevy going on between him and Raven, but to think he was forcing Raven - who had no choice but to obey him, thanks to his indentured servitude - to dress up to satisfy his desires... was he even-!?
"No." Raven gave him an odd look. "It was the men."
"The- men?"
"The men."
Rusty stared. Raven did not elaborate.
just leave it alone, Rusty, a voice that sounded a lot like Uncle muttered, just leave it alone...
He couldn't, though. Once you dumped a mystery, no matter how bizarre or comical, Rusty was compelled to peel it apart and devour it. He had to know what the fuck was up with all this.
"What men?" Rusty pressed. "Do you know how many men are on this planet? You're not narrowing it down."
Raven shrugged again, but he did, thankfully, elaborate this time: "The men Walter hires to maintain my AC. They belong to RaD."
Oh, okay. That makes se- no wait.
"So, those RaD guys put you in that dress?"
"They told me it was traditional."
"Were they wearing maid dresses?"
"Some of them."
Well, at least it wasn't a pack of perverts ganging up on the clearly very attractive yet naive Raven, Rusty thought darkly. Though, they could still be perverts. Did Walter not vet any of his hires? Then again, pickings were slim on Rubicon if you wanted neutral workers that wouldn't rob you blind the moment you had your back turned...
"Is that all they did?"
Raven just looked increasingly confused. "...is there more to this day? Did they forget to do something?"
"No, no, just..." Rusty sighed. "I wanted to make sure they hadn't done anything, uh... like, you know..."
He dithered over his words. Raven blinked guilelessly at him.
"...inappropriate," Rusty finished in a mumble.
Raven made a small noise of acknowledgement. "I see. No, they didn't sexually harrass me or anything like that. Walter would kill them."
"Ah. Um." Well, okay, maybe Raven wasn't as naive as he thought. "Well. Um. Good?"
Raven gave him a somewhat evaluating look. "Do you like it?"
"Ah?"
"The dress."
"Well, it..." Rusty faltered, then decided he needed another bottle of moonshine for this. He fished out two, handing one over to Raven while keeping the other for himself. "They clearly didn't get your size right."
"It is baggy in places."
"Uh, yeah, I noticed."
"Around the chest."
"Yeah..."
"And the hips."
Rusty coughed. "I noticed."
Raven was staring very intently at him at this point, like he was trying to telepathically convey something to him through sheer force of will, yet was coming up against the impenetrable wall that was called 'frustrating obliviousness'.
"It's basically falling off. The zip doesn't go up all the way on the back."
"Really? I can give you my jacket if you need-"
Raven cut him off with a loud, gusty sigh, and took a large swig of his moonshine. Rusty felt like he'd missed something embarrassingly obvious.
For a few moments, nothing but the howling wind could be heard. Rusty frowned as he sipped his own drink, peeking at Raven and his ill-fitting maid outfit and the general weirdness of the whole thing.
These meetings tended to go like this: they'd sit together, share a few drinks, and Raven would ask him rather strange yet innocent questions about perfectly normal things like they were incredibly alien. What was it like going to school? What was his fondest childhood memory? Had he ever pet a cat before? What was it like working in an office?
Rusty vaguely understood that Gen Fours didn't have pleasant lives in this galaxy, but those kind of questions... it made it seem like Raven had never had a normal life at all, not even a childhood. It made him uneasy to think about, but he indulged Raven all the same. He fed him a pack of lies of course, spinning a yarn about his days growing up on one of the Tau Ceti colonies, but Raven ate it up all the same. It seemed harmless, Raven's curiosity and Rusty's blatant lies.
So this? This was outside the norm. Or it could be Rusty overthinking things. It was probably some silly prank the RaD lot pulled on Raven, unaware that the pilot didn't comprehend the concept of 'social shame'. Raven also lacked social skills, and on more than on occasion accidentally said things that sounded inappropriate, but was just him either being too literal, too blunt, or just unaware of the double entrente he came out with. This was likely one of those times.
"They called this a date."
"..." Okay, well. So much for that. "Those RaD guys?"
"Yes."
Rusty lowered his bottle, resting it against his thigh. He stared straight ahead, thinking about the pointed comments of the other Vespers. It was just that, except Raven lacked social awareness. That's all.
"...this is a geographical survey."
"We're in a building drinking illegal moonshine together."
"We're surveying the interior of this building very intently," Rusty continued, not daring to let himself think this was what he was suspecting it to be. He'd told himself, from the first time he and Raven had met face-to-face and fully understanding just how lacking in agency he was, that he wouldn't dare cross a single line with him. Not like that in any case.
"I even pay you," he added belatedly. He could see Raven typing on his communication device in his periphery. "Because this is a mission."
"I assumed it to be pleasure escort pay."
Oh god. Was that what Raven had thought this was the whole time-!?
"But you don't need to pay me anymore," Raven continued while Rusty internally disintegrated out of sheer horrified mortification (and bewilderment that Raven willingly accepted such low payments he was definitely worth a hundred times what Rusty paid for pleasure escorting). "I enjoy our time together. It's mutually enjoyable. So, it's a date now. That's what the men said."
The men knew too much about Rusty and Raven's personal affairs what the fuck.
"It's okay if you're shy. I'll go as slow as you like, Rusty."
Rusty couldn't even say anything in defence of himself, mute with embarrassment and bright red from mortification. Raven turned his body slightly towards him, and gently rested a hand on his arm.
"I'm sorry if using the dress as a seduction attempt was too risque for you, though. The men said guys like you would like it, and I trusted their judgement."
The men knew too much about Rusty and Raven's personal affairs what the fuck.
"I... uhhh..." Rusty somehow managed to engage his brain. "Um, like- fine. Okay. That's okay. The dress is good. Okay."
Raven's blank expression gained a minutely baffled edge to it.
Good god he wasn't going to be able to look at anyone in the face after this. Rusty rarely misjudged a social situation, and never did he do so this disastrously. He was going to crawl into STEEL HAZE and not come out for days after this.
"I mean." Rusty forced out a sigh. "I'm- you just took me off guard. I'm. Fine with this. Date. Yup. This is a date now. If that's how we'll roll it, I'm cool with that. Cool, cool."
"Rusty. You do not sound or look cool."
"Totally cool," Rusty said tightly, his face feeling hot enough to fry an egg on it. "As a cucumber."
"It's okay, Rusty. I don't mind you being uncool."
Girl, help.
"I thought I was being slick," he suddenly said, unable to keep up the act(?) any longer. "I had it planned out, that you thought these were missions and we both had plausible deniability about the whole thing. We're not emotionally well-adjusted at all, buddy. We're supposed to be weird about this."
"I know."
"But you turned up in a maid dress."
"It is maid day."
"Why didn't you say anything about me paying you like you're a- a feelings prostitute?"
"Because we're not emotionally well-adjusted."
Rusty had no argument against that. He just admitted it, after all.
"It's okay." Raven patted his arm and then leaned back. "We've communicated now, like the men told me too. Next time, we can progress. I'd like to try hand holding."
"...okay," Rusty said, because what do you say in response to such earnestness? He was still grappling with the realisation that Raven thought he was being paid like a prostitute for the past few months.
Raven nodded, like that was that. "I was hoping you would dress up, though."
"For maid day." Rusty didn't say it as a question.
"You would look cute."
"Cute."
"And attractive. You have the waist and hips for it. In fact, this maid dress could fit you? It would be tight, though."
"Raven."
"Hold on. Let me strip."
"Raven-!"
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randomthefox · 12 days ago
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So in Armored Core humans never appear on screen, only robots. So the pilots and handlers et all could really look like whatever you might imagine for them.
So I choose to imagine the cast of Armored Core 6 as the cast of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Raven 621 is Shadow the Hedgehog I feel like that shouldn't even require further explanation. They practically have the same backstory of just being products of engineering and science. And 621 has a similar vibe to what Shadow had in his titular game, where he just kinda goes along with what the most recent person ordered him to do for lack of any better ideas.
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Handler Walter is Eggman. Could also be Gerald but I think Eggman fits better because Walter didn't create 621, he just bought him. Feel like this fits because Eggman does think he has an entitlement to Shadow and a sense of ownership over him, Shadow being one of "Eggmans Hounds" is pretty on point for how Eggman views their ideal relationship. He also gets to be a final boss in one of the endings.
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Ayre is Amy Rose. Because they're both pink. And I'm sure I can think of some other reasons, but really it's mostly the pink. But yeah, also Amy is like the only person who can reach out and touch Shadow's heart and lead him down the right path, which is also Ayre's whole thing. She's also willing to throw down if push comes to shove.
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V.IV Rusty is none other than Sonic. He's the primary rival character, he's very jovial and good natured and has a very positive view of 621. And his rig is all about being a fast mobile speedster, and he even has a primarily blue color scheme. He's also actually a member of the Liberation Front and wants to free the planet from the tyranny of the corporations, which is absolutely a Sonic thing. Also Walter kills him in one of the endings, so Eggman killing Sonic is a nice little thing.
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Cinder Carla is Maria. Hear me out. She has a pretty positive and amicable relationship with 621 all things considered. She has a somewhat familial connection with Walter. She has a personal connection to the tragedy of Rubicon as a whole. WHICH HAPPENED FIFTY YEARS AGO. I say it fits.
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Chatty is Omega. He's a robot built by Carla. Omega is a robot built by Eggman. It fits. You agree.
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V.II Snail is Infinite. He's a sadist, the leader of a mercenary company, had a tit for tat with Shadow, and in one of the endings really fucks up Eggman which is a fair bit of turnabout for the way Eggman fucked up Infinite in Forces. The rest of the Vespers (aside from Sonic) are the other members of Jackal squad. There's six of them, so it's perfect.
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G1 Michigan is Zavok and the other Redguns would be the rest of the Deadly Six. Iguazu is Zazz. There's six Redguns so it's too perfect. They also absolutely start to fall by the wayside as the plot goes on until being the definitive losing side of the corporate war. That just sorta feels appropriate. Sonic is even the one who ultimately takes out Zavok if you don't take on that mission yourself.
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Thumb Dolmayan is Knuckles. Thumb is the leader of the Rubicon Liberation Front. Knuckles was the leader of the Resistance in Forces. Natch. He also has a psudo mystical bent and seems to have his own Coral Companion like 621 does, which is a good analog for Knuckles relationship with the Master Emerald.
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Little Ziyi is Cream, because she's considered the little sister of the Liberation and is likely the youngest character in the game. Rokumonsen is Blaze.
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Middle Flatwell is Tails. The military leader of the Liberation and second most important person in the organization. He's capable of subterfuge as and fighting smart, implied to be the one responsible for inserting Rusty as a double agent into the corporations in the first place. This also makes Sonic Tails and Knuckles the most prominent members of the Liberation Front.
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Branch is the Babylon Rogues. Chartreuse is Wave. King is Storm. And Nightfall Raven is Jet. Independents with their own agenda, uninvolved and yet instrumental to the conflict going on around the planet.
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Allmind is Sage. They're both AI's. I dunno what you want from me.
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If I didn't mention a character it's because I didn't think they were significant enough to warrant a direct comparison.
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