#so.. guess whos hyperfixated on hq again | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thesolarsurfer · 11 months ago

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Well, I once again tripped and fell into a prior hyperfixation. This time it was the often forgotten RPG, Megaman X: Command Mission. Mostly just about how neat the introductory cinematic is and also the bizarrely similar organization names in the English translation. And uhhhh whoops my hand slipped. Have a ficlet set just after the end of the tutorial area after that dramatic fall off a seaside cliff.

X awoke, silently and completely still, scanning the room and consolidating his fragmented memory cache up until the point of impact. Finding the room secure and occupied by a single non-combat reploid, he engaged his running lights and activity protocols, fans and gyros whirring to life as he sat up quickly and looked around as though for the first time. "Where am I? Who are you?"

The green and khaki reploid startled and swiveled its head around immediately, the rest of its body following suit in stages. He seemed harmless enough, with all of the indicators of a light-duty standard build and an updated transponder flagging him as maintenance staff. "Oh! You're awake. Welcome back, Mr. X. Well, I guess welcome for the first time to the Resistance HQ and welcome back to consciousness. You suffered some pretty serious damage there before we picked you up. I'm pretty sure I got you put back together correctly, though I must admit I've never worked on a system as old as yours. I sure am glad you include an instruction manual!"

X tightened his focus on the reploid's stance, assessing any signs of hostility or subtle signals to backup out of his own perception. There was nothing, no indication this was anything but a polite chat between allies. "The Resistance? Why would you-?" X started, servos in his wrist swiveling to shorten the delay between his fist clenching and converting to its buster configuration for a fight. The subroutine parsing the conversation for potential codewords and subterfuge flagged an inconsistency he had overlooked in his haste. "Right, no, Epsilon is the leader of the Rebellion. You said you're with the...?"

"The Resistance. We're resisting the occupation of Epsilon's forces after the coup he staged."

"Resistance, not Rebellion. Right. You all really could have picked a clearer name"

"We could be the Republicans? Since we support the world republic that Epsilon is trying to overthrow?"

"None of us are Irish enough to pull that off"

"...Sir?"

"Kids these days. Ancient history, don't mind me. Point is you aren't the ones building a super weapon to conquer the planet"

"Nope, no super weapons here. We're just an isolated island nation with minimal contact with the mainland. Which apparently makes this place a great location to buid a super weapon"

"Isolated is right. Getting here was certainly a hassle"

"Did they fly you out here in a bomber squadron? With reinforcements?"

"No, HQ used some low orbit platforms to deploy mobile teleporter platforms, which have since scuttled."

"So your ride here was one way only?"

"By design. We came here to put a stop to Epsilon's plans. Since we're dealing with a Maverick incident, this entire island is under quarantine. No one is leaving here without HQ's approval. We only get that after the Rebellion blockade is cleared and an investigation team confirms that there are no traces of the Maverick virus here."

"Wow, you all really take this stuff seriously. I thought so long as the mechaniloids and reploids working for Epsilon were taken down, everything would be fine."

"It's our job to be thorough. I've seen what happens when the Maverick virus escapes quarantine. Time and time and time and time and time and time again..."

"Hit your head a little harder than I thought, did you? You got stuck there, I think. That's a few too many times, isn't it?"

X stared, face pulled taut into an unreadable expression. It could be a grimace, if it weren't for every point of articulation being tensed into an uncanny imitation of neutrality. Small lights flickered in his head behind the lenses of his eyes, which were focused on a point some hundred meters behind the reploid speaking to him. The silence hung too long.

"...rrrrright. Um...I'm sure you're needed in the command room. Just follow the signs when you're ready, Mr. X."

#megaman x #megaman x command mission #fanfiction #ficlet #sorry but I enjoy X being deeply weird about his long life of combat both deliberately and instinctively #he'll crack a joke based on a dated reference and poke fun at the way history repeats itself #and also use that humor to cope with all his accumulated trauma and avoid contemplating his coping mechanisms #he's got twelve tabs open in a minimized window that are half memes and half field training manuals #meanwhile he's got trauma.exe running in the taskbar making the CPU go brrrrrrr

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hijinks-n-lowjinks · 4 months ago

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hiii i hope you're well, for the anime asks: 2, 6, 8, 11, 22, 23, 24, 29!

Oooooooo I am READY to answer all of these questions omg thank you for picking so many!!!!

2. first anime crush

Kyo Sohma from Fruits Basket. I watched the 2001 anime back when I was in middle school and I remember convincing myself I was genuinely in love with him, it was so bad. I wrote self-insert fanfiction about him falling in love with me on Wattpad. I no longer have those feelings for him lol but I do love him as a character, he's one of my all time favorites.

6. popular anime you didn’t like

I wouldn't say that I didn't like Kuroko no Basket, but it just didn't interest me. I watched about ten episodes before dropping it, I just didn't care for any of the characters and there wasn't anything that made me want to see them succeed.

8. anime character you are most like

I heavily identify with both Yuki Sohma from Fruits Basket and Deku from mha. There are certain people pleasing aspects and a desperation to be liked and accepted from both of them that I really identify with. I also identify a lot with Megumi from jjk and Oikawa from hq, but that's in more of a resigned depression/fear of failure sort of way.

11. anime you didn’t expect to like but did

I don't typically start shows I think I'll dislike, but I was surprised by how much I loved Mob Psycho 100 and Seraph of the End. Both of those became instant favorites when I got into them when I was only expecting to have a standard enjoyment of them.

22. age you started watching anime/person who introduced you to it.

I was in fifth or sixth grade I believe? I had a friend that was a few years older than me that was really into anime and she got me to start watching InuYasha with her and that's basically how it started.

23. unpopular character you love

Gabi from AOT. I LOVE how complex and nuanced her character is. The hate this brainwashed child soldier gets is insane to me. I grieved when Sasha died, but I also understand how Gabi is specifically written to be a foil to Eren—she's has the same rage and hatred and drive that Eren does, but she's able to understand that the world isn't black and white much faster than Eren did. Seeing her slowly grasp that what she's been taught is skewed and twisted by ignorance and fear was amazing, one of my favorite parts of AOT.

24. popular character you hate

Hisoka. I have no clue how he's so popular, I barely gave af about him when I watched the show and he's such a creep, I was always glad when he wasn't around. His ability is cool I guess, but he's just so.... icky. The most interesting about him is his connection to the Phantom Troupe and honestly I can't remember much about their interactions after season 2.

29. anime that deserves another season

Seraph of the End, easily. The show became SUCH a hyperfixation for me when I watched it that I binge read the manga because I needed more. Honestly, I just want to see Mika again and I think the story really picks up from where the anime ends (it does sort of get jumbled and messy further down the line, but I can ignore that).

#thank you for the ask!!!! pleased and delighted to answer easy questions like these lol #jinx answers #jinx talks

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quandaryqueen · 2 years ago

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*metal pipe noise x2*

HI HELLOOOOO IM BACK AGAIIIIN!!!!

I am the very happy yippee about the cuddling hcs for HQ Scarecrow and my hyperfix hungers for more!

I want you to go have fun with this next one, write whatever HCs you want about him, whether it's angst, fluff, etc. you get the idea

I just love him so much he literally does the :3 face!!

Valentine's Day

Harley Quinn Series Jonathan Crane X Reader

Inspired by the Valentine's Day special.

Omg, I didn't realise you requested for HC's omg I got a little carried away when you said I was allowed angst 😅

You narrowed your eyes upon spotting something falling from the sky... Scratch that, it looked as though it was raining, except it was pink flowers. Having been living in Gotham with its sporadic fuckery, you didn't fuck around and find out what the pink rain was as you stepped into the nearest telephone booth and locked yourself in.

Everyone in the city just stood and stared as the majestic fall of what seemed like pink petals fall from the skies, as if the heavens were to celebrate the romantic day as well, while you stand wonder whether these people, the same people who opt not to drink from their sinks and spend extra money on mineral water just in case your husband decided to spike the water supply with his spooky juice, were standing and just watching? But for all you knew, this was just flower confetti to celebrate the day, might be some rich person romantically littering the whole city as a grand gesture of love, but you would rather not catch something today.

It didn't take long for your cautious ass to be justified when everyone around you started acting up. Just as you avoided being one of them, you nonchalantly hotwired the nearest vehicle and headed elsewhere to rid yourself of the eyesore that was public indecency in every turn. At the beginning of the day, you had bleach in your eye drops expecting the day will transpire as it would in Valentine's Day, but the simultaneous exhibitionism was a step too far than you had anticipated.

Your Valentine's Day has been going... Not so peachy. No one else to celebrate it with, not after your husband had gone when he collaborated with the Joker. The bitter resentment remain rested on your tongue as time and time again you witness just how the Joker began to have all happiness had to offer despite what he had done while you, whom he had left void of their other half, continuously burrowed in a hole with no chance to get out. Despite what Joker had done, all the atrocities, the lives he's taken and yet he gets to have a happy family.

Jonathan promised you the world when he asked you to marry him and his promise, he was beginning to give you, Gotham being the first of the world he had to offer. But you didn't want the world, you just wanted him. And in the process of giving you the world by helping the Joker take over Gotham, he had made a small mistake. It was ridiculous to call it a mistake, as it was just a little mishap that's easily ignored-- it was just in the mind of a fucking clown with a weather vane for a moral compass, cost the love of your life to be taken away from you.

You intended to dine in a restaurant where you first had your first date with your husband, reserving your table months in advance, when you were denied and told someone had taken it in your stead with cash you can only dream of making. Fine. That's fine. You could just take a walk in the park like what had happened after your first date with Jonathan... Guess who was there? Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy with their helicopter and hostage taking and whatever date they got going on. The park scratched from your agenda, you started to wander around Gotham... Which happens to be a bad idea, when all you do was sulk and scowl at every passing couple in envy. Then, it began to rain sex pollen... What a day.

And you really had no one to turn to to discuss the crazy fucking day you've had. For one, everyone you knew abandoned you when it came to light you married the fucking Scarecrow. You tried to reconnect with them, but they just couldn't look you in the eye anymore. Two, you couldn't mingle with the crowd your husband was a part of, due to the fact you are not a rogue and you just could not get along with them with the knowledge of them potentially using you against Jonathan when it came to that chance. And they had. You really only had Jonathan but fate went 'Fuck you' and took him.

"Y/N!"

A certain old acquaintance of yours landed on the hood of your car, face pressed against the windshield causing you to swerve due to shock and almost crash. Acting upon nothing but adrenaline, your foot stomped on the brakes, causing a red and black jester to fly off... But Harley being Harley, brushed it off, before she ran towards your side.

"Perfect timing! I need your help!"

"Why?" Everything in your day has gone south, in one way or another, you couldn't bother to mask the annoyance on your countenance.

"We need to find an antidote--"

"I'll pass." You gave her a poor attempt to smile, before once again resorting to start the car again. Just when you were about to drive away, she stands in your way.

"Come on! You're Y/N Crane! The best chemist Gotham U has to offer! Highest ranking in your class!"

"I know what my credentials are, you don't have to recite them to me." What had intended to be an intrusive thought, slips from your lips yet you felt no guilt. "Now could you please," as you made another attempt to turn, she blocks your path once again.

"You're the only one I know who can help us!"

Finally having it, you revved the engine of the car before driving, uncaring enough not to look back to see what state you left Harley in from your potentially fatal stunt. But based on the loud profanities being hurled your way, she must have dodged it.

Harley Quinn... An old 'acquaintance' is a flexible word to use when describing your relationship with her. During her days being in a relationship with Clown Prince of Crime, she was a total cunt towards other villain couples and will do just about anything to be appear better than them. Why, she had came close to killing you when she found out you and Jonathan were nominated as best couples in the Villy's at some point, even if you couldn't care less about some Oscar's rip off. Besides, you weren't qualified as a Villain couple, due to the fact you aren't even a rogue. This nomination was only spurred by the revelation that Jonathan was in a relationship with you, which was a huge fucking surprise for everyone.

She was hostile towards you, went out of her way to pull strings to trip you and for months she tormented you, even when she and Joker won their stupid little trophy at that Villain's award show. You understand the fact she was a different person when she was in a relationship with the Joker, but that does not change the fact she had made your life a living hell for no reason. Come to think of it, she hasn't even apologized.

You had no destination in mind, all you wanted to do was to get away from the sex crazed city and escape the sights and sounds and everything... That was until you pass a chemical plant, did you start to make a turn and stop. The pollen had ceased to fall, but you made the precaution to wear a mask just in case lingering remnants might affect you before letting yourself out the car.

It was just an old, abandoned chemical plantation to others, but to you it is a sentimental piece. Aside from concocting the next Fear toxin to spike water supply that occurs in that abandoned plant, everything just started there. Just two college students coming from their own specialty in science coming together to create something and perhaps teach one another about their branch of knowledge. Until your exchange began to expand to your other interests, then your personal lives... Bond, relationship, marriage.

Scratching the surface was your only way to go if you don't want to cripple yourself with the pain of remembering what you may never experience again. But then again, after his death, living your every day life has nothing but a reminder of you never experiencing him again, it's just that today was multiplied by a hundred from the usual.

You thought you would heal by now, but the wounds still cuts deep as it had the first time you learned of his death. It just so happens you were too drained to shed a tear. Shuddering out a breath, you lean your weight against a tree, leaning your head backwards.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Jon."

#harley quinn series #harley quinn jonathan crane x reader #harley quinn scarecrow x reader #dc jonathan crane #dc scarecrow #request #angst

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etherealvoidechoes · 8 months ago

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An Unlikely Bond - Pt. 1 of 3

Well gosh darn I guess the hyperfixation has hit and hit hard again. Was organizing some files and saw the one on Geist and Zhang developing their psionic bond and my fingers ran away with it.

A lot has changed with the initial idea as I'm re-writing the earlier chapters of Wandering Souls and shifting the timeline. But takes place when Zhang is still forced to stay on base until his psionics are fixed.

Also some fun backstory diving for Zhang and me putting my own spin on the name origin for Geist. I am not using anything from that mobile game for Geist.

Parts: 1(You are here)||2||3 - Links will be updated as the chapters are posted. Currently in the queue.

May be posted on Ao3 and FF.net later.

Content warnings for the usual language. Accidental mental invasion. Part three is where they're violence via memories which includes murder(and faked suicide(it's more murder.)

Approx. 3.5k.

-------

The Barracks. Like every other section of the main XCOM HQ, it bustled with activity. Even more so because of the recent expansions, commissioned by Commander Reeves, to house more recruits to the cause and an overdue expansion for the Gym and Rec Room section of the Barracks that the soldiers (and other staff) needed to blow off some steam. The expansions were welcomed by all.

Even with several squads sent out to deal with the ever-evolving alien menace terrorizing the Earth, each floor in the Barracks had a fair amount of activity going on. On the lowest floor, the bar was full as always, with some “reasonably” drinking away and chatting with friends. Others were playing a game of pool. And some were fighting over who could watch what on the largest TV. Typical soldier behavior.

The floor above, the Gym, had a fair amount of activity. New equipment, designed specifically for the enhanced abilities of their Gene-modded soldiers, had arrived and was being tested by some soldiers. Zhang was one of them.

12:03. The Hazard Course was occupied with Gene-modded soldiers fresh out of the labs, already putting their new abilities to the test, so the Gym was the next best place to stretch his legs. His still mild pariah status because of the psionic incident some time ago, which mostly eclipsed him being a former Triad, meant most still gave him a wide berth. Which he didn’t mind, as it meant he wouldn’t have people working out next to him.

13:18. Currently, he was breaking in one of the new reinforced treadmills that could handle that “Muscle Fiber Density” leg mod.

It had been about an hour’s jog and everything was working perfectly. The steady tread of boot heels hitting the belt and running deck. The muscles in his legs contracted and relaxed at a steady rhythm. There was a nice bounce back from the suspension, which kept his stride nice and smooth. It was so much better than the old treadmills that would stutter if he came down too hard, which would break his stride. He was happy he could be less conscious about that and exert nearly as much force as he wanted to his heart’s content. But he didn’t want to push too far. He didn’t want to be the first one to break the new equipment.

“This is the best shape that I’ve ever been in my life.” Zhang chuckled under his breath as he adjusted his headphones. Sometimes he felt like that was an overstatement, but it was true. He had considered himself “fairly” healthy, minus his smoking habit, before his recruitment to XCOM. Now, he had lost weight and put on a lot of muscle. And then those Gene Mods and other tweaks the science division was experimenting with. Sometimes he had trouble recognizing himself when he looked in the mirror.

A glance down to check the time. 13:32. About 30 more minutes and he would call it. He had some psionic training he needed to get to later and couldn’t tire himself out.

Psionic training. He rolled his eyes. What did Geist and the others have in store for him today? Knowing Geist and Sam, something headache-inducing, especially if it was learning how to teleport again and some other odd psionic concept. Teleporting. He felt his psionics, those synaptic connections, bristle with annoyance. That task and another were impossible for him. Just thinking about teleporting made him want to skip out on training again, but knew he couldn’t.

“Wonder how much more I have to endure before I’m back on full active duty and don’t need one of these collars when on the field.”

He still had a fair deal of work to stabilize his psionics, so he didn’t have to wear a modified dampening collar on the field. A faint growl slipped from his lips as his hand went up to his neck and tugged on the collar that was there. He hated the thing, but it was required for all psions to wear one at the base. At least the newer models caused fewer headaches.

“How much longer?”

The chains of command were suffocating, but he was doing his best to be patient and play nice.

For now, all he could do was wait and jog. A new tune began to play through his ears. Something with a faster, more electric beat. His footfalls quickly matched the rhythm. Negative thoughts melted away.

The latest tune entranced Zhang. He hadn’t noticed faint voices slowly intruding into his mind. Or perhaps he subconsciously noticed as a grumble or two slipped out as he adjusted that collar on his neck a few times. As quickly as the whispers came, they disappeared.

As he was entering the final cooldown phase of his joke, he felt an all too familiar jolt run up his spine as his eyes flashed purple. Then a more familiar touch before it became blurred by other sensations. The voices were back and much clearer than before.

“Ah, Vixen! You’ve made it.” Geist’s voice was strong in his mind. Though the name Vixen was distant to him.

“Cheery as always, huh Geist?” A female voice spoke next. Geist just chuckled in response. “How has training been for this branch?”

“Ah, training. Where to begin?”

Oh, hell no. Zhang cursed in his mind. Either the collar had a fault or Geist was purposefully using his bypass trick to tap into his mind. He figured the latter was happening due to the mention of training. He had been avoiding some sessions. Not in the mood for a guilt trip. His fingers quickly checked every part of the dampening collar. It was cool to the touch. No signs of overheating. One good sign. Must have been the bypassing. Figures.

Steadying his pacing and breathing, he concentrated on the psionic wavelengths to block it all out. Within seconds, the voices faded from his mind. He smiled. No guilt trips now. He would do some psionic training later, but would not be bothered right now. Just as he felt like he could relax his powers, the voices came back in full force.

“We have more soldiers cooking down below. I’m sure the Commander filled you in on that before your arrival.” Geist spoke of several potential psions in the making. It was always a delight to add more to their ranks.

“I read up on a few of them during my flight over.” Vixen said. “The science division has been making strides.”

“But back to training.” Geist almost seemed to hiss the word. “Truthfully, I’m a little disappointed with how things have been developing for researching how the — — — and function. That aspect is still escaping me. But I believe your fresh mind should be able to help.”

Zhang concentrated again to block out their voices, but his attempts failed once more. The discussion continued, though parts of it cut in and out. But the words “disappointed” and “training” frequently came through clearly.

Several disgruntled mumbles slipped from Zhang’s lips as he slammed his hands against the handrails to the treadmill. His grip tightened until his knuckles went white.

“For fuck’s sake…” He was glad no one was next to him to witness his sudden change in demeanor. Straightening himself back up, he brought his jog to an end. “Fine. You win this time, Geist.”

————

With more than a pep in his step, Zhang made his way deeper into the base towards the Psionic Training Grounds. However, he was mostly mindful of his steps, as he felt like kicking a few holes into the concrete because of his disturbed mood. Cracks would be barely noticed. Anything worse and he would get written up.

In about 7 minutes, he reached the main room. It was sparsely populated, a few psions were meditating or sparing here and there. Off to the side, he spotted Geist and who he figured was this Vixen he was speaking to. Both looked to be in a rather pleasant mood. Geist hadn’t noticed him yet.

Zhang took a moment to still himself. He didn’t need to go off on Geist. Feeling somewhat calmer, he headed over to them.

As he got closer, Geist noticed him. His eyes always seemed to brighten when the old man came around.

“Ah, hello Zhang!” Geist gave a friendly wave. “Early for once. No teleportation training for today.”

Zhang stifled a snort even more so when he felt the voices in his head diminish. Once he was next to them, he gave Vixen a nod before looking at Geist. “You rang?” Though he tried his best to hide it, irritation riddled his words.

He was about to reply until he caught the annoyance in Zhang’s voice and then noticed the faint rage in his eyes. “Is something the matter?”

Is something the matter…? “Are you fu—” Zhang bit his tongue before shaking his head. “Is something the matter?” Shifting his pitch up an octave, he sarcastically repeated the words before shifting back to his normal voice. “Are you serious?”

Geist’s expression shifted to a more puzzled, if not, concerned look. Though he was still slowly becoming more aquatinted with Zhang, this attitude was out of character for him. “I’m sorry, but you’ve lost me, Zhang?”

Zhang’s brow twitched. “Don’t play coy with me!” He finally snapped. His eyes flashed before he jabbed a thumb at his own head. “You did your damn bypass trick to get into my head!”

The sudden outburst disrupted the tranquility of the room. All eyes were on Zhang.

Geist raised his hands and took a step back. This felt greatly out of character for Zhang to just snap like this. He wanted to probe his mind, do a quick check to make sure none of their hard work to fix his psionics was unraveling, but the man was accusing him of already probing his mind. ��Zhang, I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but I have not made a connection with you.”

“Really? Really?” Zhang sneered. “You’ve been sure to repeat the words “training” and “disappoint” frequently in my mind since I missed the last few sessions.”

“What?” Geist looked more confused. That made little sense. He was more mildly annoyed with Zhang occasionally skipping the training sessions, but knew the man needed his space. But the words more or so matched what he had been discussing with Vixen. He glanced at her. She looked more annoyed at the matter. “I haven’t contacted you. I knew you would be coming around here within the hour… hopefully.” He muttered the last word under his breath. “In all seriousness, I haven’t done my psionic bypass to contact you.” Cautiously, he took a step forward as his eyes began to glow purple. He began to reach out. “You have me concerned. I could check to see if—”

The denial only seemed to infuriate Zhang, and then feeling the man’s touch in his mind only made him angrier. “You think for a sin—”

“Stop.” Vixen stepped in between the two, with one hand imbued with psionic energy placed against Zhang’s chest. “Let’s get this settled. Since you’re about to bite his head off, let me check for any connections. If there’s a connection from him to you, then Geisty has been lying. If there isn’t, your collar needs to be checked. Fair?”

Zhang glanced at her hand on his chest before looking at Geist and back at her. He let out a huff as he took a step back. “Fair.”

Vixen looked at Geist. “Cut your connection and get your collar.”

He nodded, quickly severing his powers. With a faint ping, he teleported his collar into his hands but didn’t put it on just yet.

Vixen then gestured for Zhang to it down, which he begrudgingly complied, before moving behind him. She raised both hands to either side of his head before letting her psioncis envelop his head. “Okay, let’s see what I can find.”

The room was a near dead silent as Vixen went to work. Most wanted to see how it would all play out as Geist did have his trickster tendencies, but a few wanted to pretend nothing was going on just in case there was a blowup.

Zhang did his best to keep his calm as Vixen searched his mind. It was always strange having an unfamiliar psion go through one’s mind, but he took notice of Vixen’s soft touch. Though she had to work around some of those locks he and Geist had created and the still unstable part of his psionics, she was doing so with care as she looked for those threads of a connection.

“Hm…” Vixen’s eyes narrowed. She found something. Or at least felt it. “Geist, collar on.”

With no hesitation, he put it on, and it snapped into place.

Minutes passed.

“Collar off.” She said. He took it off.

Some more time passed.

“Hm. There’s something, but it doesn’t fully feel like Geist.” She stopped her psionics and moved her hands away.

“Doesn’t fully feel like Geist.” Zhang questioned, doing his best not to scoff. He shook his head a few times to shake off the faint buzz coursing between his ears.

“It feels like a mixture of threads here. Feels like it’s coming from the growing,�� she gestured with one hand, “background psionic radiation permeating the base.” She explained. “Not feeling a direct one from Geist per se. Just a mix. Perhaps your… odd psionics… amplified something.”

“That partially clears things up.” Geist mumbled as he tapped his chin. One thing cleared, but Zhang still didn’t look happy, which had him concerned. “Anything feel out of place, Vixen?”

She shrugged. “His psionics feel odd, but I bet you know them better than me to determine if something is truly wrong.”

“True.” He looked at Zhang only to sigh, seeing the man was glaring at him. He took a step towards him. “Zhang, I can check to see if—”

“Don’t.” Zhang cut him off. He got up.

“Zhang. This could be your psionics ac—”

“No.” Another terse answer left his lips. He turned to Vixen and gave her a half-hearted “thank you” before he made his leave.

Vixen raised a brow at him as she watched him leave, before turning her attention back to Geist. “Is he always like this?”

“No. He can be difficult at times, but this is… different. It concerns me.” He spoke truthfully. He wanted to follow, chase after him, but knew that would only lead to a fight.

With a faint ping, he teleported a tablet into his hands. “I’ll make note of this. Give the Psionic Division a heads up just in case.”

“And Commander Reeves?” Vixen asked.

“Eventually… her.”

“‘Eventually’?” She questioned.

“Eventually. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt. But I will tell her if something happens.” He said. He just wanted to keep Zhang off the Commander’s radar. Things had gotten better between the two, but he didn’t want to risk it with this.

————

Zhang proceeded to skip the 14:30 Psionic training session he was going to attend. Despite Vixen’s findings, he didn’t believe her nor Geist. It felt all too convent that their conversation stopped intruding on his mind when he entered the room. He knew what he heard and felt.

He needed to cool down and what better way was there to cool down than by allowing himself to get dragged into some silly card game with Akemi, Kim, and Jarvis as the three happened to come back from some fieldwork. He refused to elaborate on what had him irritated, only stating “Geist being Geist”, and they mostly respected that. The trio helped him push the day’s events to the back of his mind with the card game and updating him on the latest alien threats. More of the same ol’ variants and some new ones were being fielded. The aliens, well, Elders, were probing for weaknesses and how they would react.

The hours flew by until it was either time to get some food, shower, or get dragged off by one of the science teams. Zhang was ready to hit the shower until Akemi pulled his teeth to join her in the Psionic Training Grounds. Though her psionics were still developing, she had been assigned to join in on psionic training sessions. Dr. Vahlen’s and Dr. Marin’s teams wanted to experiment with various ways to unlock a soldier’s psionic potential without having to rely on the weeks-long process of psionic energy saturation inside of the sarcophagi.

He was loath to go there as he wanted to avoid Geist and the man practically lived in there or in the Psionic Labs. Yet, with some playful banter, begging, and mild guilt tripping — as he was the reason she was psion now—, she convinced him to tag along. He had noticed she was less nervous when he was around when she trained with one of the elite psions.

“You’re going to hold that over my head for forever, huh?” Zhang questioned.

“I may.” She smirked and playfully nudged him with her elbow. “At least you didn’t fry my brain.”

He let out a sigh, shaking his head. “Don’t.”

Much to Zhang’s relief, Geist wasn’t there when they arrived. As Akemi went to her instructor, Zhang found himself talking to a fellow psion, John Tanner. Someone who was a witness to what happened earlier in the day. Tanner probed a little to find out exactly what the issue was, but Zhang kept most of the details terse. But he trusted Tanner enough to probe his mind, and the man felt nothing was amiss. Just a mixture of threads faintly connected to the psionic background radiation in the base. That still didn’t sit well with Zhang. It was something to stew on for later.

With little convincing, Tanner roped him into some psionic meditation and defense strengthening so he would have some psionic training marked down for the day and off the Commander’s radar.

Moving to a side room and finding a place to sit, he gladly took his dampening collar off. It took some time for him to enter a “calm” state of mind as the irrational side of him felt Geist would show up at any moment, but once he did, he felt a great deal of the day’s irritation melt away. A quick check of his own mind with his powers unrestricted; he barely felt any active traces of Geist. The usual connections were a near-dead silence. Anything else resonated with the psionic background to the base.

Hm. That was still strange, but maybe his psionics were acting up again and the overly friendly psion didn’t connect to him.

For the next hour, Tanner carefully pushed and pulled at Zhang’s psionic defenses. It was a delicate and dangerous game of finding the cracks that needed to be reinforced and avoiding the traps that could lead to a nasty psionic backlash.

“Aaah… Okay. Okay, think we’re good… we’re good for the eve’ing.” Tanner said as he recalled his psionics. Body wavering from side to side, he raised a hand to his face and rubbed it.

“Mhm.” Zhang let out a sharp exhale as he came out of his meditation. As his pionics receded into himself, he picked up his dampening collar. He finally noticed Tanner’s wobbliness and the faint purple sparks buzzing around his head. “Are you alright?”

“I’m… good. Just a little mind spin trap of yours I triggered as were were finishing…” He said before hunching over and vigorously rubbing the back of his neck. “That’s… nasty. You’ve improved.”

“Ah.” Zhang chuckled. “I’ve been adjusting them as those Elders make their calls to me from time to time. Something to push them out.”

A few moments later, the psionic disruption around Tanner disappeared. He straightened himself back up and let out a sigh of relief. “I can see that annoying them. They deserve worse. Need to take notes and get the others more prepped.” There was always work to be done. “Those are some green checks for you. A few more sessions and,” he paused, knowing mentioning Geist would be a sore subject, “you know who is doing his own tests and you should be back on the field before you know it.”

Zhang’s mood didn’t immediately sour. He simply nodded along. Talking to a Geist about the incident earlier and apologizing would have to happen, but he still wanted some distance. “The sooner the better.” He was ready to get back into the field.

With his training session wrapped up, he returned to the main room to see how Akemi was doing. Her session was just about coming to an end. Once she was done there, the two left and went their separate ways for the night.

#writings #Xcom #Xcom 2 #Xcom wotc #Fic: Wandering Souls #Shaojie Zhang #XCOM Zhang #xcom geist

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spoopywhiskers · 1 year ago

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My online alias is Spoopy or Spoops

pronouns are They/He or They/Them depending on how the spaghetti feels

My main toon is Cap'n J. Trashman (118 laff) I play Corporate clash im currently grinding to fight Chip and Cosmo doin other misc grinding on the side for drops/suit progression. Cap has evolved from just a funny toon to a full blown OC with a book of lore (which i plan on throwing at this blogs wall later :})

This blog is kinda a mix of an art blog and a general hyperfixation shouting blog with the occasional lore rants and random thoughts

Racoons, armadillos, pigs, bats and i guess i have to say deer too since im being held at gunpoint rn /j /silly

For corporate clash specific smiles >:) C.O.O Thomas saggs my (platonically) beloved but general cogs go to backstabbers due to a certain silly oc of mine

Cashbot HQ cause TRAINS!!!!!! and Mezzo melodyland (idk what is called outside clash sorry) i love riding the mechanism and breaking all my bones!!! The brrrgh is a close second cause i get to deck people in the head with snowballs

ooof that's a hard one i love most of the clash kudos manager boss fights sm but im mad biased against Daves (major players) rn cause I'm grinding him for drops and its so fun

I discovered clash around January and started playing on Valentines day (Feb 14th) i had not heard of tewtow before i discovered it thought random fanart on twitter which is sad cause smol me would've loved tto

My toon has a whole arc around Throw so it has a special place in my heart also pres throw my beloved

oh geez how do I sum this up quickly i LOVE LOVE LOVE trains but im a general hyperfixation metronome notable ones are Pokemon, Splatoon, NITW, A hat in time and Professor layton and another random irl interest is volcanology cause hehe volcano go kaboom.

Don't play any currently but ive played sigh... Ponytown and Hypixel skyblock in the past and also Flightrising if that counts idk lol but yea i dont play any of those anymore...

Depends on my brains mood mostly online, IRl? HELL NO lol i have my social battery limits but i do enjoy playing with others who are chill its cosy!

Depends again sometimes i take weeks/months breaks but like rn I'm playing daily cause hhaha brain on a roll

Like I said I really like the clash manager fights thier so fun and unique plush the shiny hunter in me is very dopamined by the prospect of chance funny drops

I have an entire folder of unhinged things I've said when the daemons took over quipping back and forth with others is so fun i cant pick a fav.

people who aren't nice and chill and generally show the yikes red flags in game....

SMILES VERRRY EXPLOSIVELY IN SUBMAS i (platonically) love the goofy guys sm, also Mae from NITW just speaks to me too much and has a special place in my heart forever

people are so cool and chill here ALSO THE FAN/OC art *chefs kiss* yall so talented

I maybe have a Department/Playground AU blog in the works teeeheee but nah im done thanks all for reading!!! :}

MEET THE TOONBLR

(started by toon-ager)

ik a few of you already know a bit about me, but if you’re new, there’s some questions you can ask, and i’ll try to answer as many as possible.

1: What’s your name? Do you have a few other names you go by, whether its your name IRL or an alias?

2: What is your gender and/or the pronouns you use?

3: What is your main toon you play as (or whatever your most developed is)? Is it an OC? A sona? Your toon from Toontown Online all those years ago? Where are you in the game? (playground,gag,suit-wise). What game do you play (Rewritten, Fellowship, Offline?) Feel free to tell as much about them as you want and even include pictures if you can/want!

4: What type of blogger are you/do you consider yourself? Someone who makes fanworks of your ocs or others’? Someone who just reblogs what they think is interesting? Someone who posts fun/dumb screencaps? A person who develops entire stories/headcanons/lore with their own toontown characters/fan ideas? Or something else entirely?

5: What is your favorite toon species?

6: Your favorite cog?

7: Your favorite HQ and/or playground?

8: What about cog boss fight? Which one is the most fun to you?

9: How long have you been playing? Have you been here all the way back from Toontown Online’s original release up until its closure? Did you just start playing recently?

10: What is your favorite gag?

11: What stuff do you like besides Toontown? Other fandoms you’re in? Hobbies? Bands/music artists? Whatever you can think of.

12: Do/Did you play any other MMO’s/MMORPG’s/Other Multiplayer games?

13: Do you consider yourself social?

14: Do you play Toontown frequently?

15: What’s your favorite thing to do in Toontown? (try to max your toons, play trolley games, talk to people, do fashion shows/parties, help new users, ect. ect.)

16: What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you in the game?

17: Is there anything that really annoys you that happens/people do in the game?

18: Not Toontown related, but usually this tells a lot about a person- what’s your favorite fictional character(s), if any?

19: What’s your favorite thing about Toonblr?

20: Anything else you’d like to share? Your main blog/other blogs you run? Fun facts about you? What you ate for breakfast? Go wild.

#There we go i did it #wooo #toontown #prompt answer #toonblr #rb

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wildishmazz · 5 years ago

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k I don’t usually do this for Voyager

But I don't think I'd actually seen "Pathfinder" before and it gave me Emotions.

Oh my god Barclay is adorable and autistic and wasn't that Harry Kim's apartment when he got thrown into an alternate timeline? Troi's accent has become so much less alien. Not polite for a cat to eat the guest's food, and not healthy either, when it's chocolate. Neelix may be an unusual name, but I'd say it's close enough to Felix that it's less unusual to give to a cat The awkwardness is so accurate and so is the hyperfixation. I am almost certain that I haven't seen this one before. And the inability to gauge the level of another person's knowledge of one's special interest. Poor grasp of time… how is he so accurate? It's kinda hard to believe that they did it knowingly and deliberately. We know what happens when tv writers try to write an autistic character. Terror in the face of a high-risk social situation with little warning. Oh, honey, reverting to his bad holodeck habit from the first time we met him… says a lot about how hard a time he's having, how isolated he still feels, and the fact that he is autistic so of course he would rather live in a fantasy world where the other people are predictable and safe and if he gets something wrong with them, he can delete the mistake and no harm done. Cunning that he's got some of the details wrong, it's a constant reminder that it's not real. Bit ADHD too, because comorbid. Can't keep his thoughts to himself, then when given the spotlight, second guesses every word that comes out of his mouth and ends up incoherent from the pressure. "Did you talk to him afterwards?" of course he fucking didn't, are you insane? Why would you even ask that? Oh right, because you may be half Betazoid but you're still neurotypical. It's not intuitive to you that the absolute last fucking thing he's going to want to do after being emotionally shredded by a superior while knowing he was right to rebuke him is voluntarily face him again. Is that Sisko's baseball? "What I need is for you to pay attention to my ideas!" Truth in outburst. "Do you have any idea how lonely that must be?" because Reg does. Loneliness is his life. I don't know if I've ever seen that establishing shot of Starfleet HQ before, but it seems weird that two of the extras in it are wearing TNG S3 uniforms. The other two are in dress uniform, so that's different, but who was wearing black shoulders on coloured torsos at that point otherwise? Why was that picture of Tom Paris mirrored? And is it actually a still of Nick Locarno, from when he was on trial in "First Duty"? No neck opening makes that costume look like a cadet uniform, and it's the right style of combadge for either of them. You can practically see Reg smacking himself for forgetting to sit down because that's what people are supposed to know to do automatically and he got it wrong. Am I projecting? How much am I projecting? Someone realised NickTom's combadge was on the wrong side in time for the closeup. Aw, bless you, Deanna. How long have you been there? Was anyone else just as obsessed with the missing Equinox? Actually welling up at Reg describing why Voyager is all he has. Um, yeah, Counsellor? Do you remember how he started making friends on the Enterprise? Other people were verbally smacked upside the head and ordered, against their will, to stop bullying and dismissing him for being weird. They were shamed into giving him a chance, and yes, then he was able to prove himself and be accepted, quirks and all. He does not have the power to make people give him a chance when they don't want to. Good luck overriding Barclay's interactions with the holodeck, no-one knows it like he does. Or is as fiercely protective of it. Safety protocols are on. He's going to be saved by a reply, isn't he? Establishing shot of Voyager… I'll know which one it is when I see B'elanna in uniform. Yay, they got through! This one's making me all emotional. Ooh that's subtle, Janeway blinking tears out of her eyes. Like, proper subtle, like they didn't even realise she was doing it. "Anyone know this Barclay?" Don't you remember that time the Doctor went doolally and you looked up the team who designed him, and had to convince him that that's who the man saying he was his assistant and that he had to destroy the ship had taken his appearance from? Or did that somehow happen in a different timeline that got rebooted? That last bit doesn't quite ring true. Or am I just a crab in a bucket, refusing to believe that a high-risk social interaction could have gone so well for someone like me?

#Star Trek: Voyager #Pathfinder #Voyager 6.10 #Voyager S6 E10 #reg barclay #Reginald Barclay

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