#that mech needs some positive reinforcement

[transingthoseformers]

You know what Starscream needs? Gold star stickers and useful knickknacks every time he does something positive.

He would go fucking nuts for those i can just feel it

[in1-nutshell]

Bulkhead's daughter with the opposite personality

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Cybertronain reader

TFP

Buddy was a sparkling that would usually come around the construction sites to play around or look around for scraps.

Like Bulkhead, there were many bots that did have an optic out for the little one especially with the heavy machinery around.

He was not particularly fond of the kid being around.

Not because he didn’t like them, on the contrary.

He was quite fond of the kid.

She was a little genius and a nice bot.

Sure, they were a bit cold at first, but she was just a bit of a shy bot.

“Have you met Buddy?”--Bulkhead

Bulkhead shows Buddy to one of the new recruits,

Buddy just stares right into their optics.

“D-does she do that all the time? She looks like she’s going to rip my helm off.”—Random bot

“Buddy wouldn’t do that. She’s just a bit shy. Isn’t that right Buddy?”--Bulkhead

Buddy stares harder at the bot.

“…”—Random bot

“…Anyways, here is where the heavy machinery is placed.”--Bulkhead

When the team had to use some of the older equipment, she made sure to look at it before everyone else did, deeming which ones were safer to use than others.

How did she manage to sneak into the equipment shed before they did?

No one knows and she isn’t telling.

The kid slowly opens to the others.

But she never opened up about her living status or where were her guardians, they just knew they were never at home.

Bulkhead promised himself to look after the kid a bit more after that.

“Hey Buddy, did you fuel yet?”--Bulkhead

“Not yet, I still have to finish repairing Breakdown’s hammer, the blasted thing got cracked again… stinking Senate and their refusal for getting better equipment…”--Buddy

Bulkhead puts a servo on her shoulder.

“Let’s take a break. We refuel, maybe a walk around the site and then we come back to the hammer. I’m sure Breakdown wouldn’t mind.”--Bulkhead

Buddy looks at the hammer then at Bulkhead.

She abruptly stands up and grabs Bulkhead’s servo marching the fueling station.

Bulkhead just smiles and goes along with it.

The war breaks out soon thereafter.

Everything goes too fast for Bulkhead.

One minute he was waving bye to Buddy, the next he found himself an Autobot with the Wrecker’s.

He did his best to try and get in contact with Buddy, but he got no response.

Bulkhead doesn’t even know if she was even on the same side as him.

Breakdown running up to Bulkhead.

“Breakdown?”--Bulkhead

“You’re gonna want to see this.”--Breakdown

Both mech walk into the main room where Wheeljack was about to present someone to the rest of the Wrecker’s.

“This is our new equipment and weapons assistant of mine, Buddy.”--Wheeljack

Buddy looks around the group of taller bots until she spots Bulkhead and Breakdown.

“Bulkhead? Breakdown?”--Buddy

She fast walks to them both and hugs them.

Breakdown doesn’t get much of that first hug because Bulkhead practically scooped her up burying her in his arms.

Did her new position in the unit make Bulkhead worry?

Yes. Yes, it did.

But at the same time knew that Buddy wasn’t going to be seeing much action.

Buddy stayed mostly to herself in the workshop.

If she did go outside, she was mainly with Bulkhead, Breakdown and Wheeljack.

On the battle field…

“We need reinforcements!”--Breakdown

“We are the reinforcements!”--Wheeljack

“But we won’t last long with all this heavy fire—”--Bulkhead

The group sees a bunch of Con’s dropping at a fast rate.

The shots seemed to be coming from the bot’s side.

Wheeljack takes out some scanner and looks around.

“Did we have a sniper on the team? I don’t remember that…”--Breakdown

“Me neither.”--Bulkhead

Wheeljack’s optics widen with a smirk on his face.

“The kids really got some skills she needs to tell us.”--Wheeljack

Bulkhead turns around.

“You don’t mean—”--Bulkhead

“Look for yourselves.”--Wheeljack

Bulkhead and Breakdown take out their scanners and look where Wheeljack was looking at.

Sure enough, in a small nook, high above the ground was Buddy firing a rifle, taking out more Cons in the process.

“I don’t know how to feel about this right now…”--Bulkhead

“I do. Way to go kiddo!”—Breakdown

When Breakdown had defected, it was the same day Buddy heard that she would be moving to another department.

She didn’t want to leave everyone.

Especially Bulkhead, who had become her second father.

Bulkhead still remembered the night before she had to leave filled with tears finally getting out after a long façade of everything being okay.

Bulkhead made sure that he and Wheeljack were there to wave Buddy off.

Buddy giving her final good-bye.

“I’ll contact you guys as soon as I reach the other base.”--Buddy

“You better.”--Bulkhead

“Take care kiddo.”--Wheeljack

Wheeljack pats Buddy’s helm affectionately.

Buddy squeezes Bulkhead’s servo one more time before letting go and walking to the shuttle.

She turns around and gives one last wave.

The two Wrecker’s wave back sadly as the door shut.

The ship was off.

Wheeljack pats Bulkhead on the back.

“She’ll be fine Bulk. Buddy’s a smart one.”--Wheeljack

“Yeah… I’m gonna miss her though.”--Bulkhead

“Same Bulk, same…”--Wheeljack

A couple days later Bulkhead got a message saying that Buddy’s ship had been in the crossfires of enemy fire.

No survivors.

It tore the two Wrecker’s sparks hearing the news.

Bulkhead smashed so many things that afternoon…

Wheeljack couldn’t bear to look at Buddy’s spot in the workshop for the longest time.

Breakdown heard about the news the last time he was in combat with Bulkhead.

He had never seen the bot with so much hatred in his optics.

He yelled at him about what happened to Buddy, as if it was his fault.

Knockout remembers the somber face Breakdown had when he came back.

Meanwhile…

Buddy is not dead.

She managed to get into an escape pod before everything went Boom!

The pod landed on Earth.

There she was found by a small family.

The Fowlers.

The family decided to hide the poor scared bot and welcomed her into their family.

It was a rough adjustment, but they made it work.

Buddy in her alt mode in the garage.

The door opens.

“Mrs. Fowler? Mr. Fowler? William? What seems to be the trouble?”--Buddy

Mrs. Fowler has a bunch of blankets in her arms, Mr. Fowler has some small white machine in one arm and a sheet in the other, little William has a bowl full of popcorn and candy.

“Buddy, please, it’s Ma and Pa.”--Ma

“Okay, Ma? Pa? William? What is all this? Do you need a ride somewhere? Is there a playdate I wasn’t aware of?”--Buddy

Pa motions Buddy to move a bit.

She does move a bit to the side of the garage.

“William told us you’ve been a bit homesick lately. Missing your friends and family.”--Pa

“…Yes, just a bit…”--Buddy

“So, we decided to help that a bit.”--Ma

“How?”--Buddy

“Movie night!”--William

“Movie night? Here?”--Buddy

“You’re family to us Buddy, I think it’s about high time you join in on some of our human traditions, as a family.”--Ma

Silence…

“Buddy?”--William

“Sorry… If I was not in my alt mode right now, you’d see me crying and hugging you all.”--Buddy

William sets his popcorn and rushes to hug Buddy’s hood.

It feels warm.

The parents walk over and gently pat the alt mode.

Ma drapes a spare blanket on Buddy while the others grab their own blankets and wait for the projector to start.

Buddy made sure to protect the family with her spark.

She grew especially fond of the little boy, William.

William steps out of the house and into the garage where Buddy was in.

“William?”--Buddy

He just sits on the ground next to Buddy’s alt mode with his legs pulled close to his chest.

“…Do you want to talk about it?”--Buddy

William shakes his head.

“…You want to go out?”--Buddy

“But Ma said—”--William

“I’ll deal with Ma when she comes home with Pa. Right now, its you who I’m worried about.”--Buddy

Buddy pops the door open.

“What do you say, ‘special agent Fowler’?”--Buddy

The boy smiles a bit, wiping his tears and crawling into the back seat.

“Have I mentioned you’re the best sis ever?”--William

Buddy chuckles a bit getting ready to head out.

“Haven’t heard that too often, though I wouldn’t mind hearing it more.”--Buddy

Both laugh as they head outside the garage.

Years later…

“I guess I was right about that ‘Special Agent’ thing, huh? How are we going to celebrate today? Ice cream? Donuts? What about that Apple Pie you said you were craving earlier?”--Buddy

Fowler smiles a bit inside Buddy’s alt mode.

Buddy ended up becoming his vehicle throughout the years until eventually joining him in his workplace.

It was quite the story to tell.

Buddy was the one to suggest the silo as her new permeant place instead of the garage.

She started immediately making the place feel less hollow.

Working on devices that would help her try and contact her team as well as traps for any Decepticon dumb enough to land on Earth.

She had been at the ends of finishing a prototype for a groundbrigde when one of her receptors went off.

She quickly answered it hoping for someone she knew.

It was Optimus Prime himself.

She nearly leaped for joy hearing her leader on the other end.

When the team arrived, she nearly passed out seeing that Bulkhead was amongst them.

She held her composure welcoming them to Earth.

“Welcome everyone to—OOF!”--Buddy

Bulkhead had raced past everyone to hug Buddy nearly weeping in the process.

Buddy hugged back.

“Are we missing something?”--Ratchet

“That’s something I’d like to know too.”--Fowler

“What’s that?”--Ratchet

Much explaining to do.

Buddy was pretty much the human to bot relation expert having more years on the planet under her belt than they did.

The team is surprised at how a cold and calculated bot was someone Bulkhead considered a daughter.

But after a bit of time, they did see the dynamic and in a way it was nice to see.

[mercymermaid]

well here's my full season 5 (nezha edition) rant bc what did i just watch

obvious spoilers 💀

what the fuck was that

blah blah animation, blah blah main character sacrifice, wowee

first off, the mechs?? yeah, i know it's just product placement, and i've never actually liked the concept. in a world of mythology and magic, something to technological belongs in a sci-fi movie, not among gods. and in season 5 especially, they feel *so* out of place. the only people who end up actually using their mech are nezha (twice) and mei (once.) i can't be mad at mei, since yeah it's just one time to have an epic moment and goes away after that, but it's nezha that i'm mad about. that standoff at the festival? okay, product placement, epic moment, never brought up again. but then during the battle thing against the chaos guy??? he's the *only one* using a mech and it ticks me off. i wanna see the third lotus prince not the third lotuce mech!! i wanna see him being all badass with his staff and firewheels (like sealing off the jade emperor's power in s4)

i'm gonna be so honest, i only watched the season (and show) for nezha, as i tend to do to medias when i have a top unbeatable absolute favorite. and the show did not deliver.

tldr; nezha had so much potential and all of it went right down the drain

speaking of the power

so you're telling me that mr. "my job is super duper important and more important than my life" would take lightly to his dad going "lmao no" and just taking his seal and reinforcing it with his little magic house?

OH. THE LI JING SITUATION.

"i've always been proud of you" NO YOU HAVE NOT??? YOU HATED NEZHA SO MUCH YOU BURNT DOWN HIS TEMPLE AND LITERALLY YOU GUYS HAVE A BURNING HATRED TOWARDS EACH OTHER?????

i wanted a fucking fight scene SO BAD. SO FUCKING BAD. but noooOOOOOO you're DEFENDING YOUR BITCH DAD??? okay, i get it, power imbalance or something! give nezha a *reason* to be so buddy buddy with his dad, because he sure as hell wouldn't do it without one!!

that ties in to the whole pagoda thing, how fucking hurtful must it be for your dad, who you are far from on good terms with, to pop in, take the power you've put on your shoulders, deem you not good enough ("you got demoted!"), and push you around?? very! very very!

you do not understand what i would've done, what war crimes i would've committed in order for nezha to get some focus on HIM. specifically angst. with the shit that he went through in s3, being nerfed and having his long-term position as guardian of the map pulled out from right under him by his little friendly rival, and then *s4*, getting his ass absolutely kicked by the shit that went down with azure, being the most injured and put under the giant strain of containing the jade emperor's power, you're not gonna elaborate and give him some depth besides "big brother energy but distant and super 'regal'"?? (btw if you've ever EVER written nezha angst (or even some nezha-centric stuff in general) on ao3 i've probably read it and oh my god i love you so much for gifting it to the world, and if you read this far recs are always appreciated 😭)

actually on that note, mk is the one constantly making trauma jokes, and while i get that he's the main character, everyone's gone through shit. s5 at least kind of works with that, with mei's samadhi fire thing and wukong/macaque's death memory thing, along with pigsy's insecurity moment and sandy's little "i'm very very angry but i control myself" spiel, but like come on ☹️ (not a ruse to get nezha some angsty focus wdym)

ALSO mk breaking the seal? yk how in s4 we had that little thing where their eyes flashed and they felt the jade emperor die? i was lowkey expecting a little similar shot of nezha feeling his seal on the power break but no we needed the emotional moment 😒

i was so excited in the festival scene for nezha to go "yeah, okay, i see you", fight against his father, and join the MCG, but nooooOoo he gets sent to the celestial realm to not be seen until the end of the world

OH SPEAKING OF not nezha but red son??? what happened to the poor guy i feel so bad for red son enjoyers because he had ONE EPISODE of screen time. that's worse than us nezha fans. that little bit about the dog videos meaning help us could've so been used later, he literally joked about how this time he was invited and just. didn't show up?? there could've been such a sick moment of mei sending the dog video, and red son seeing it and coming in and being all badass with them but no he was just literally not featured again except for the 'world is ending/being saved' flash shots. (unrelated but please i want canon big brother nezha lil bro red son content those guys are Iconic)

ANYWAY it's coming to an end now, and boy oh boy

basically i have futile, naive hopes for s6 - please, PLEASE give nezha focus that lasts longer than 1-2 scenes. it literally does not have to be angsty, nor big brother energy, not even a badass moment!! just make it mechless and put the camera on *him*, and i will die a happy woman. (another badass moment, in which he wins for once, would make me cry for joy. a big brother, to literally anybody, specifically red son or mk, would make shake and snarl like a feral animal. an angsty moment would make me force the world to be puppies and rainbows. a nezha episode would make me implode and take the world with it.)

bring back li jing and do it *right*. make nezha bring up their horrible past, and at that point, i'd even settle for a corny talk-it-out session with wise words and an issue that gets resolved way too quickly, though an epic fight scene would be preferable. angst not optional, because you can't tell me that interaction would end without tears and breakdowns on nezha's end. (at this point, i'll write it myself)

LET NEZHA WIN. i do not care what he fights, who he fights, when he fights, why he fights, how he fights, let him actually cop a win for once. this fearsome general who was entrusted with guarding the samadhi map, is a protector deity, and managed to singlehandedly contain the jade emperor's power has never won a single fight within his show screen time?? bull fucking shit i tell you. stop treating this guy who carried the end of s4 like some shit side character who never gets his way, and start treating the guy right.

can you tell i'm mad about this

also ACTUAL s5 thing, not gonna lie, mk's decision is stupid. nüwa is trying to protect her creations like a good mighty goddess, and you go "erm actually me some random guy who you created to save the world and was about to do so is gonna undo all of your work and decide to make my own path and simultaneously create a massive crisis where i not only flip normal on its ass and give everyone magic but also potentially unleash the same cosmis horror you're protecting us from"

i'm kinda curious about this new magic tho... (pls have a negative effect or some sort of effect) (pls let nezha win)

yeah okay i think that's it if you've stuck around to the end here's a selection of desserts because you need it after the crash of the season ending 🍮🍭🍬🍫🥧🧁🍰🍪🎂🍩🍨🍧🍦🥠🍡🥮🍥

[the-clawtake]

“Clawtake Actual calling Kinship Control. I repeat Clawtake Actual calling Kinship Control, over.” Jehan released the transmit toggle on his comm, and scanned the terrain ahead of him.

He was, much to his dismay, not at the head of the convoy, the damage his Kodiak had taken relegating him to a position further back, just ahead of the heavy salvage trailer. It bore the wreck of a Dire Wolf andhad been hitched to the pair of captured Blakist LRM Carriers, the bulk of their crews riding on the trailer alongside the crippled Assault.

They were shivering in the cold wind, despite the heavy coats that had been found for them, although they were luckier than the drivers. Those poor fellows were sitting in the fighting vehicles cramped compartments, made even more cramped by the unarmoured Elementals riding shotgun with them, to prevent any trouble. Another Elemental was riding the trailer to keep watch on the prisoners, while their officer, Point Commander Eirik, manned the captured Dragon Fire, and the final member of their point had the crippled Fafnir, with both ‘mechs trudging along carefully behind the trailer.

Ahead of Jehan ranged the rest of the Battle Star, while Rauda brought up the rear with her Mad Dog and the two Stormcrows. The rest of the Clawtake, the remants of the Fire and Striker Stars ranged along the sides.

“Clawtake Actual, Kinship Control, we read you, over.” the incoming transmission startled him out of his reverie and it took him a moment to hit transmit

“Kinship, we are approaching on the south road. Count Fourteen battlemechs, two vehicles and a salvaged trailer, ETA...” He paused as he checked his speed, and the map on his display, and ran some quick calculations in his head. “ETA One-Zero Mikes. Road distance roughly four clicks, over.”

“Confirmed Clawtake. Have you any requirements, over?”

“Aff, Kinship. We will require a prisoner control team and technical support. We have one injured prisoner and most of our pilots could do with a once-over by the medical teams, over.”

“Confirmed, Clawtake. See you soon, Over.” With that, the comms went silent, and Jehan settled back to focus on movement. The missing left arm, from the elbow down, was throwing off the balance of his Kodiak, and while it was a minor inconvenience it did mean he had to pay slightly more attention to his movements.

Soon enough, the lights of Kinship came into view, shining against the sky.

As he approached the perimeter, his comm crackled again. An SLDF Lieutenant with a pleasant husky voice introduced herself as being assigned to Kinship Traffic, and guided him through the hustle and bustle of the base, and his unit with him.

Under her careful direction, Arrangements were made for the dispositions of the prisoner. A custody team (with medical staff, for the Nightshade pilot) met the recovery trailer at the salvage zone, and took the captured Blakists off to the detention area. Two of them stayed with the Elementals as they escorted the two LRM Carriers to their assigned parking area, and then directed them to their assigned quarters for their stay.

While that was being dealt with, she directed those Warriors who’s Battlemechs required simple rearmament and some armour reinforcement to one set of ‘Mech gantries. Here technicians were waiting to see to their requirements and then get their ‘Mechs moved to a mustering ground as soon as possible, to make room for the next such Pilots.

Those Battlemechs that needed more involved repairs – such as his own Kodiak – were directed to a second set of gantries where they could remain until the more difficult and time-consuming tasks were completed. As Jehan carefully brought the huge Assault Mech into place, and began the shutdown procedure, she wished him an uneventful stay at Kinship and signed off.

[searchingforatrail]

I’ve been thinking about Megatron’s high command in Prime, and his treatment of them vs. Starscream. I realize Starscream is the only one he singles out how he does, even more than Knock Out (who can be a joke sometimes). When others make the same mistakes that Starscream makes, it feels unfair that he’s the ones to face the full brunt of Megatron’s wrath. Like the physical brunt.

And the more I think if it, I realized some  important things that might contribute to why Starscream is treated the way he is. It’s  why Starscream makes his mistakes, his motivations, and the person he was/is.

Megatron in Transformers Primes comes from a place where he was denied basic rights and had to fight like mad to be where he is. His entire movement began on uplifting those who had nothing and who were pushed down due to societal privilege.  Starscream is the exact opposite of that. He is posh, he is arrogant, and he was the leader of the Cybertronian air command prior to being a Decepticon. He was in a position that gave him access to privilege, a comfortable life, and more. It is in his personality, and how he treats others, and how he is always grabbing for power.

He is the representation of the type of cybertronians who held mechs like Megatron down. Megatron didn’t want Starscream to join the cause. He needed him too. Alongside that, Starscream joined for power, not for the betterment of people who were below him.

Compare that to the others. We know Soundwave joined because he wanted a change in how other cybertronians were treated. We know Shockwave was welcomed into the Deception ranks because he’s “different” and a societal out cast. Knock Out, by all means, was as privileged as Starscream, but moved mountains and sacrificed much so that Breakdown could be comfortable and not discriminated against. In other words, through his actions he showed that he was willing to sacrifice important things to help someone less privileged than him. And even in the continuity where this doesn’t happen, he is the ships medic. Starscream tells him “no one wants your position”. He puts himself in a place where he deals with the entirety of the ships ailments, injuries, with no possibility of climbing the social ladder. When his fails to get power once, he doesn’t go for it again. I don’t know that much about Arachnid, but we know that insecticons are usually mistreated.

They all became Decepticons because of altruism, circumstance, and because their past actions have hinted at their values. And Knock Out becoming an autoboot, though done badly, reinforces this. It shows that he genuinely wants to do good. Same with Shockwave making better choices towards the end.

This might also be why he respects Optimus, who also came from a place of comfortably privilege, because of the reason he fights. 

Starscream did none of this, he just wanted power. This isn’t anyway saying that Starscream deserves what he goes through, this is just an analysis of why Megatron may treat him differently. He is against everything Megatron believes, but for security reasons and for the sake of military command, he needs Starscream to be kept around.

[sonicasura]

TF/M+R: Wrecker's Little Girl

A set of headcanons involving Wheeljack adopting Kanya from Mario + Rabbids from this post here. Enjoy!

Kanya

Species: Rabbid, Spark Hunter variety

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Occupation: Inventor/Wrecker

A Rabbid who literally crashed into Wheeljack's life after the events of Last Spark Hunter. He took her in and nursed her back to health. Kanya is still arrogant, manic and a bit mean but mellows into a nicer individual thanks to Wheeljack. She only shows kindness to those who she likes. Has therapy companions in the form of a dud Bob-omb named Bub and a Chain Chomp known as Nippy. (Wheeljack still doesn't know how she got em but let's them stay.)

-Daddy's little feral princess. Kanya is often spoiled by the Autobot with her own workshop, testing ground and all sorts of stuff like plushies. Even has a homemade star shaped stim toy she can bite when nervous.

- Often fights in a mech suit but her main weapon is a remote control yo-yo called the Ring O' Bomber. This item rolls around an explosive that becomes active once detached the string and has a 10 meter radius to move alongside a 10 second timer before detonating. A new bomb regrows in 10 seconds after detachment.

-Loves terrorizing calm leader types and grumps. Doesn't get much jollies with skittish people though since they're too easy to spook. TFP Ratchet is terrified of Kanya and she vows to break TFP Optimus Prime's calm persona. Ultra Magnus was a fun challenge.

-Absolutely kidnapped Breakdown from MECH just because she wants to know his beef with 'uncle Bulkhead'. He'd endured the most awkward tea party until Wheeljack had to let the Decepticon go after realizing what Kanya did. Breakdown will take that than vivisection from the MECH documents said Rabbid stole. (Prime only.)

-Don't put any fingers in Kanya's biting range. Many Cybertronians nearly lost a servo for doing so, Autobots and Decepticons. A much bigger menace to the latter since they don't learn. (G1)

Wheeljack

Species: Cybertronian, Autobot faction

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Occupation: Inventor/Demolition Expert/Wrecker

Kanya's foster father who cared for her since she crashed into his life. A fun loving inventor that tries to steer his Rabbid daughter to use her chaotic skills for something better than world domination. (He managed to get her to become neutral!) Be careful when visiting his workshop though. Wheeljack's inventions still have a tendency to explode! Even moreso with his daughter now around.

-Likes to spoil Kanya whenever he can. The Autobot figures some positive reinforcement will help with her mental issues. Especially after hearing about the Rabbid's origins. It works since she didn't bite him on the second week of recovery.

- Need to explain an invention or plan? Wheeljack usually lets Kanya go over it with the group and adds commentary when needed. It makes her happy so why not?

-Spray bottle. He always carry one as Kanya has a habit of 'overloading'. A nice spritz snaps her outta an episode and he can care for her accordingly. Only Wheeljack is allowed to handle Kanya during this period. He has made it an established rule for everyone's safety.

-'Get out of jail free card.' There have been MANY times he had to rescue someone solicited to his daughter's "tea parties". Autobots, Decepticons, etc. He casually warned Team Prime about it. They didn't believe him until Wheeljack gave footage of Breakdown's party. (Prime)

-Only person who can pick up Kanya without getting bitten. He always gives someone warning to watch their servos around his Rabbid daughter. Do they listen? NO. Wheeljack just pats a smug Kanya on the head afterwards. (G1)

That's it for now! Until next time folks, transform and roll out!

[my-writings-and-musings]

Hey, I hope you are 100% ok with found family theme? Because found family theme in Transformers are my favourite trope. For the request, would you do the headcanons for Ratchet, Drift and Windblade with the reader who is a techno-organic?

Found Family is the golden trope above all tropes and 1000% supported on this blog anon don't worry about it. Time for some fluff.

Windblade

·Though she's somewhat new to exploring the galaxy, she knows the value of close friends, and how they can become your greatest support when times are tough. She forges bonds that are deep with those she trusts, and she intends to keep those for the rest of her life. To a certain extent one might say she has a family that's always growing. Granted she doesn't just let anyone in, but her kind nature means she's always seeking out those who need companionship. For you, this worked out rather beautifully from the outset. Unlike so many others your nature didn't perturb her in the slightest. She was merely curious, but upon discovering you were being ostracized she took you under her wing and never looked back.

·Like any found family, she introduces you to the other members and explains to each one in private what you'd endured. The bots she'd never known a day without, Chromia and Nautica, stepped up immediately to help. This family is built on mutual support and protecting one another, so think of yourself as having just gained some very large and powerful but loving bodyguards. Chromia in particular has no patience for bullies. Neither does Windblade, but she prefers to sort things out peacefully if you ever find yourself the target of more bullying. That likely comes from her role as a Cityspeaker, given that communication is her greatest skill, and she extends that to you as well. You'll never find her anything but enthusiastic to listen to what you have to say, and she loves to talk and share her opinions right back.

·Speaking of Cityspeaker duties, however, there's someone else in her circle that you'll get to meet. Titan's aren't just her coworkers, she bonds quite closely with them too, and she likes to help others understand that these gigantic beings can actually be quite lonely. Thus, your newfound family turns out to be much larger than you could have ever anticipated. That's to say nothing of how boundless the love and acceptance proves to be, as for the first time you find yourself surrounded by a judgement free environment, and it's like a breath of fresh air. Anything on your mind can be spoken without fear of rejection! Windblade takes listening incredibly seriously, after all, and so for the first time in your life you speak and are heard. The lack of genetic relations does nothing to stifle the wonder of it all.

·Yet, for her incredibly soft spark, Windblade quickly proves she has no patience for the bias you've become accustomed to as a techno-organic. Comments you were once forced to just endure are now met with fiery resistance from your adopted family. Should anyone ever get the idea they can threaten you, that assumption is very quickly corrected. The Stormfall Sword rarely even needs to be unsheathed for them to learn you're under considerable protection, and even if it does Windblade won't hesitate if she fears you're in any kind of danger, and neither will anyone else on your side. When you ask why they reply as if it's obvious; family looks out for family. They're with you through thick and thin, and you don't have to endure any cross words so long as they're around. Each one promises that much.

·Having endured what you have, it takes some time for you to understand that they mean it, and that they'll never abandon you. Windblade has truly taken you under her wing, as she so often likes to joke.

Ratchet

·Being a medic for a species desperately understaffed with doctors can be exceptionally difficult, especially with such high mortality rates, but that's never stopped Ratchet from caring. He knows every life is precious, and he forms friendships with the intent of them lasting a lifetime. No one is ever going to be uncared for if he has something to say about it. Thus, you more or less find yourself "adopted" by the gruff medic before you can even blink. Though techno-organics often face exclusion from bots, Ratchet has spent enough time performing surgery to know that what's on the inside physically hardly matters in terms of character. He's held the sparks of Autobots and Decepticons alike, and at the end of the day they all look the same.

·That being said, he makes it very clear to you that if anyone gives you a hard time, he wants to know straight away. His famously gruff demeanor isn't all an act, and he can absolutely make a bot regret every single mean word they said to you. Not only that, but he knows how emotional health is just as important as physical, so he makes sure to check in on you quite frequently. It's not our of character for him to sit you down if he sees something is bothering you, at which point he'll gently ask if you'd like to talk and he'll listen. Being busy doesn't mean he won't do everything in his power to make time for you.

·Something people often forget though, and you'll probably be quite surprised to see, is how much he likes to celebrate positive achievements and praise your hard work. Like a proud papa, he'll absolutely gush when he hears you've succeeded at something you've been working on. Not just to you either, if you're okay with it, he'll brag about it to anyone that listens. Confidence is important, so he does everything in his power to make sure you know your worth. The other medics all freely join in as well. Everyone who works in the medical bay gets close to one another, so they become your extended family of sorts, like a gathering of aunts and uncles who all do surgery together. It makes for a surprisingly cheerful crew.

·Upon getting closer to him, you eventually see that Ratchet isn't just acting gruff to cover a soft spark, he's arguably the softest bot on the entire ship. On more than one occasion you've drifted off somewhere only to wake up mysteriously tucked in to your own bed, and when asked he'll simply get flustere and say the mattress is better for your back. Trust him; he's fallen asleep at his desk often enough to know. Should you ever come down with any kind of illness, however, all pretenses of gruffness will dissapear very quickly. You'll find yourself doted on by a very caring docbot, one who encourages you to relax and not strain yourself while he brings you anything you need.

·Being a techno-organic often means enduring so much isolation that receiving any kind of medical care is hard, as neither organics nor bots typically want to treat you. However, as you spend more time with the medic who's adopted you, something begins to become clear. Not only do you receive all the medical attention you need without hesitation, but all the care one requires to truly be healthy. As a family should, he and the others medics look out for your emotional wellbeing too. Your sense of self finally begins to heal as you never knew it needed to.

Drift

·When it comes to being alone, few bots have a greater understanding than a former Decepticon. Even on the Lost Light he's pushed to the outskirts, and thus his precious few friends become lifelong companions that are naturally his family. Having explored far and wide and knowing that the prejudice against techno-organics like yourself is awful, his first action when he saw you was to offer his protection. He'll never let anyone endure loneliness if he can help it. You're surprised by how incredibly warm and affectionate he is right from the start, as his reputation would hardly suggest a bot who welcomes you like a literal ray of sunshine.

·Yet in surprisingly short order you find yourself under the protection of a bot who's simultaneously the friendliest and deadliest being on the ship. Drift checks in with you regularly to ensure you're not being made fun of or even made to feel the slightest bit uncomfortable. He doesn't want to kick anyone's butt, but he makes it clear he absolutely will if you're at risk, and he has the go ahead from Rodimus on that front. Speaking of which, the captain of the ship immediately grants you his own protection as well, stating that anyone who befriends his bestie is good by him. You're happy but incredibly surprised to find two individuals with such different personalities acting like they've grown up together, and the two don't even care about all the ways their perspectives differ!

·Growing closer to Drift only makes you more amazed at how impossibly mellow and relaxed he is. Though the bot could easily best almost any bot on the ship in combat, he's only interested in being friends with his fellow Autobots, hoping to extend the tenets of his religion into all aspects of his life. Though he wants you to convert, there's absolutely no pressure to do so, and he happily accepts your refusal if you decline. The laid back mech shows you the kind of nonjudgemental support system you never knew was possible. When asked about it, he says that he wants you to have a place where you'll always feel accepted, and he hopes to provide that.

·Even more than acceptance, you find him to be incredibly encouraging of all your goals, no matter how small some of them may be. Every time you achieve something he's effusive in his praise. Though he doesn't say why, eventually you put together that he sorely lacked the same in his youth. No doubt, he wants to provide you with everything he was missing. Whether he's more akin to a dad, uncle or cool brother becomes irrelevant over time. In time you come to realize what matters is you have someone who will always be in your corner. Should you ever need positive reinforcement of any kind, it's merely a request away.

·It takes time for it all to really sink in that you've been adopted more or less, all without your new family ever mentioning as much. In fact, Drift so naturally welcomed you into his life you're not sure he realized it either. The ninja bot is simply so loving and accepting you could forget there's a harsh universe out there every time he pulls you in for some comfort after a hard day. The peace of having such a system of support is indescribable.

[poptimus-prime]

Here is what the kids call my highly disorganized, half-baked list of stuff that could have been done with Jack to make him a better character.

@yeetmetothehell I am sorry if you are disappointed by my ideas.

“Optimus was more like...Jack.” OK…so show us that.

In my opinion...Jack seems like he was intended to be written to be almost a parallel to Orion’s journey to becoming Optimus Prime, at least how he is used in the plot. Jack is described as “smart and responsible”, which can also be read as “hardworking and responsible” and really this can be achieved in narratively using a few points, IMO:

Long hours in his room/the library studying outside of work and school. 

Filling out the background of the garage more with sketches/print outs of motorcycle blueprints (to keep the idea that Jack really wants a motorcycle and show hints of extreme dedication, but they’re kept in the garage rather than his room to metaphorically show that distance he’s put between himself and what he wants)

“Man of the House”/”Grew up too fast” (This will be discussed more later but TL;DR “I’ll handle the electric bill this month, Mom”)

Somewhat fragile work/school/life balance that Jack somehow perfectly maintained before meeting the team

Orion was very physically passive. Jack seems to be intended to be written as passive but it comes off as an apathetic reluctance that Orion doesn’t possess (Orion may not believe in violence but he clearly wasn’t unwilling to communicate his thoughts; it’s how he got the title of Prime in the first place.) However, Orion had to learn to become more outspoken over time probably, so we can keep him as being aloof/reluctant at the start of the series.

“Man of the House”/”Grew up too Fast”

It’s no secret Jack came from a nonconventional home; June is very explicitly portrayed as a single mother with a dad nowhere in the picture. However the situation surrounding Mr. Darby is unknown. The way June talks about it makes me personally feel like Jack’s dad either ran out or divorced June and doesn’t bother with his kid. Dysfunction in the family really just goddamn changes you TBH. (can confirm bc hi, I come from a dysfunctional home) Sometimes you just grow up super fast. Jack probably spent his childhood missing his mom as she worked shifts at the hospital and seeing how lonely and hurt she was. He maybe went out and got a job the first day he could and helps with smaller bills (“I’ll handle the electric bill this month.”), or maybe other expenses like groceries and his own phone bill. June probably makes enough to comfortably support her and her son, especially given her job and the cost of living in rural ass desert Nevada. But Jack still does this anyways--it’s how he copes with his issues after what happened with his dad. Doubling down and trying to be what he thinks is the bigger man because his dad couldn’t be fucked. 

This would make the disruption him letting the bots into his life creates more staggering; June doesn’t expect her son to pay bills, but the sudden change in behavior (skipping out on work) would be a cause for concern because sudden shifts like that are Usually Signs that Something is Very Wrong. Especially because Jack is usually responsible and open with his mom; he would have told her if he was gonna cut hours at work, theoretically.

Jack feels like he has to constantly put his own wants aside to contribute to his household. Even if June doesn’t force this expectation upon him, it’s a feeling that he will have, especially if he watched his dad just abandon him and June. Maybe he has resentment towards his dad for this and that is causing some anger he’s keeping tightly under wraps? And maybe the bots give him an excuse to do something he actually wants to do for once or some excitement in his life and that’s why he goes along with it? Lots of options, people!

Clothing Choices: The Hoodie™

You are going to have to deal with me being a whore for costuming choices and what they can mean. The show has a problem with the humans wearing the same shit every time they’re on screen and I’d love to rant about all of them (yeah yeah I get it saving money) but I’m focusing on Jack right now. Give Jack a hoodie 2020. A grey one or some other dull and drab color. And make him actually always wear the hood (except like in scenes where he is working bc workplace dress codes obviously) As time progresses, the drab hoodie is changed to a more vibrant color, but he still always has the hood over his head. And then, at a pivotal moment, the boy takes the hood off. (You could even throw in Miko cracking a joke about Jack actually having hair if you really wanted TBH.) Why this? The narrative is that Jack is constantly holding himself under wraps because of his self-imposed responsibilities. As he starts to become more into his own, he decides to express himself more with brighter colors, but still has some reservations. When he takes the hoodie off, that’s when he’s fully realized himself in this process and thus completes the parallel.

Actually make him interact with Optimus in a meaningful manner.

Arcee can still be his guardian in the field and I think working on strengthening their relationship is vital. But also, if you’re gonna make Jack the confidante holding the key to Vector Sigma, there actually has to be...meaningful interaction. Optimus asking Jack what he’s so engrossed in reading and Jack explaining the book he’s got with passion before shutting himself up and saying “it’s kinda dumb though” or something. And Optimus just responds “I don’t think it’s dumb, tell me more.” Coaxing him towards more self-discovery and expression. Optimus maybe sees more of his old self in Jack and starts attempting to be a quasi-paternal figure without really thinking about it because he is, after all, Dadimus. Jack maybe lashes out about how he doesn’t need Optimus to be his dad and that makes the space between them tense for a while. Eventually Jack comes to apologize and maybe there’s an important Talk.. Just a few ideas I will expand on later. I feel like forgiveness and lack thereof is a good theme--I know I was held back for a long time because of how convoluted the concept of forgiveness is with family.

The Character Arc

 So, what would Jack’s character development throughout the events of season 1 be? My basic idea for a Jack arc that mirrors Orion’s self-realization and coming into Prime-hood without being a carbon copy is essentially: 

Jack is portrayed as a responsible, hardworking, studious teenager who constantly turns down chances for fun and excitement to handle his responsibilities. Has clear dreams for after high school and for his own personal life; but he’s constantly contemplating and changing his mind about whether he will or not because he’s extremely dedicated to helping his mom and all that. However, he still gets super curious about Arcee and gets swept up by her in the Vehicon chase, and he still has whispers of courage and protects Raf during the altercation. He first tries to ditch Team Prime because he’s concerned about his responsibilities, but eventually returns because he’s drawn to the opportunity to finally go buck wild for once in his life (even if he spends his time being hesitant about everything.) His hesitancy and dedication to severe self-imposed responsibility is a result of his inability to move on from what his dad did to him and his mom; he’s under the impression that he 1) Has to forgive someone to move on, and thus 2) He cannot move on because his dad isn’t there to bother to say sorry and take on his position as Dad. In essence, he becomes less the character telling Miko to stop and more the character being pushed by Miko to be more adventurous. In lulls in action, Optimus starts to take interest in him when he notices his constant hesitance to express himself and is just being dragged along rather than going willingly. Has a conversation with him about a book Jack’s reading, which Jack attempts to shut down because it’s “dumb and childish,” but Optimus urges him to continue. The idea that June knows about Arcee as a bike and Jack explaining that he bought a motorcycle as a fixer-upper for dirt cheap can stay. (He probably still is saving up for his motorcycle.)

The longest portion, after Optimus starts interacting with Jack on a level of bonding and gently coaxing him to be himself— Jack becomes more outspoken and he’s shown as curious, analytical, quick witted, and has a deep sense of justice. Being young and craving a childhood lost to his trauma and self-imposed obligations to help his mom with running the household, he suddenly starts spending more time at the base pursuing hobbies and going on missions rather than studying and work, which concerns June. She tries to press Jack, and is met with what can be described as typical teenage headbutting that gets progressively worse. She grounds Jack after the fight, MECH takes her, the rescue happens. (That makes sense to stay in this narrative IMO.) Around this time, Optimus has effectively started becoming Jack’s own Alpha Trion—teaching him things that he’s picked up that he may feel apply to Jack. Jack interprets one of these lessons as Optimus trying to be “dad” and he’s not having it. Makes it VERY clear that he does not need a dad (“didn’t need one before and sure as fuck don’t need one now”) and definitely snaps at Optimus, which then pushes his progress in the arc closer to the end. He eventually comes back to apologize, and Optimus forgives him. He and Optimus have a heart-to-heart about one of the hardest lessons Optimus has had to learn—how to let go of the past without forgiving those who have hurt you and refuse to make amends, so that you may determine your own future. It’s very clear he’s talking about Megatron, even though he never says his name. Jack takes this lesson to heart.

His final bit of development before the hood removal thing probably happens during the events of “Rock Bottom” and reinforces that hard lesson, right when he’s faced with the option to off Megatron. Maybe there’s some taunting about how Optimus preaches softness and forgiveness too much when Jack refuses to kill him. Jack gets angry, and he’s about to fucking do it. But then he stops, takes a breath, and says “Optimus doesn’t preach forgiveness, he preaches moving on from those who refuse to move on themselves. He will never forgive you, but he’s learned to live on despite what you’ve done.” Soon after this, when Megatron comes to the base, Jack takes off his hood, stares Megatron right in the face, and says “This is not forgiveness, Megatron. Don’t you forget that.” Later, when Optimus gives him the key, he tells him something along the lines of “you have grown since we’ve met, Jack, and even though there is still a long way for you to go...” he hands Jack the key. “...Remember that even I am a work in progress.”

Anyways this is again, half-baked. And needs lots of polishing. But it’s something.

[theirrationalzone]

Yakkin ‘bout Games: Wolfenstein: The New Order

Yakking ‘bout Games is a series where I talk about games that I’m currently playing or have just finished. It can be new or old, console or PC, good or bad, it really doesn’t matter. If it’s a game worth talking about, you’ll see it covered here.

I think it’s fair to say that the FPS genre has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance over the last decade and a bit. The modern military shooters that dominated the late 2000s and early 2010s have become less common. We have seen the return of classic franchises like Doom and Half-Life, and we have also witnessed the influx of “boomer shooters” like Dusk and Amid Evil. A lot of cool stuff indeed.

With that being said, let’s take a trip back a few years. 2014 to be exact.

This was the first year of the (then) brand spanking new PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The two consoles were not off to the best of starts though. Their early exclusives like Killzone Shadow Fall, InFamous Second Son, Forza Motorsport 5 and Dead Rising 3 had failed to impress. The only games picking up the slack were multi-platform releases like Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag. The only FPS games available at the time (other than Killzone on PS4) were Call of Duty Ghosts (dull as dishwater) and Battlefield 4 (I enjoyed it but it was completely broken on release.)

Not exactly the most exciting of times for an FPS fan on console.

Wolfenstein: The New Order finally came along that May. It had been announced the year prior but it didn’t have much fanfare behind it. The initial E3 showing didn’t really impress anyone and there wasn’t really a great excitement for the game’s release. Perhaps it was because the previous Wolfenstein game was largely ignored by people or maybe because people were skeptical due to the game being MachineGames’ (the developer) first effort. People needn’t have worried though. The game turned out to be a massive surprise. It ended up being one of the best of that year.

Why am I covering this now? It’s because I recently got the urge to play it again after all these years. Plus I wanted to see how it would function in a post modern Doom world. So with that in mind, let’s get psyched and see how the game holds up.

Never has a smile brought terror to my heart so fast. Well this and my last dental appointment...

The New Order is set in an alternate universe where the Nazis won World War II due to their advanced technology being too much for the Allied forces. After an operation to try and assassinate the spearhead behind this growing technological evolution goes horribly wrong, Captain William “B.J.” Blazkowicz ends up taking a piece of shrapnel to the back of the head which puts him into a vegetative state. He ends up spending fourteen years in a Polish mental asylum before finally being awoken again due to witnessing a horrible atrocity committed by the Nazis. B.J. is now in the alien world of 1960 where the Nazis rule over the world with an iron fist. It’s up to B.J. to link up with the remnants of the Resistance and take the fight back to the Nazis once and for all.

The story was and still is one of the most surprising elements of The New Order. It paints a brutal picture of a world controlled by an evil and ruthless force who will stop at nothing to assert their dominance. The cast as well are very memorable. You have the plucky and likable Resistance fighters who you get to spend quite a bit of time with. You then have some memorable encounters with the evil figureheads of the Nazi regime at certain parts of the story. Anyone who has seen the train sequence in this game knows exactly what I’m taking about. I have to give MachineGames credit as well for the characterisation of B.J. himself. They managed to turn a character who was known for being a badass Nazi killer to a very sympathetic and likable Nazi killer. B.J. in this game is weary and tired after years of fighting evil and tyranny at every corner. The man wants nothing more than for the war to be over so he can hang up his guns and finally settle down. How could you hate the man after hearing something like that?

B.J. is such an upstanding guy that he would infiltrate a Nazi controlled train just to get you some coffee. Liberation and a Cappuccino, you can’t beat it. 

The real bread and butter of The New Order though is the gameplay. It has held up fantastically for the most part. Combat is a blast thanks to the very meaty arsenal at your disposal including assault rifles, shotguns, marksman rifle and a Laserkraftwerk which allows you to blast enemies to smithereens. You’ll have plenty of enemy types to cut through including rank and file soldiers, big mech suit soldiers with heavy weaponry and robots that have massive lasers. B.J. has a few abilities though to help turn the tide of battle. Leaning is one such ability and it’s implemented very well. How it works is that if you hold the L1 button, it locks B.J. in place and you can then use the left stick to lean at different angles. It’s super useful. Earning a well placed few shots at a Nazi from a very awkward angle never gets old. B.J. also has the ability to dual-wield certain weapons to deal even more hefty damage to his foes. Press up on the d-pad and prepare to bring the carnage. While this is a pretty fun feature, it does limit your movement speed and it can result in you burning through ammo quite quickly. It also is restricted to two types of the same weapon. You can also find upgrades for weapons which give them different ammo types and fire modes. The Laserkraftwerk, for example, can be used to cut through certain boxes and materials which is pretty nifty.

In terms of how health works, it’s a hybrid between classic pick-ups and regeneration. You can recover health by picking up health packs and food throughout the game. Armor can be found as well to allow you to take some extra damage. If you take health damage and managed to find cover, you’ll eventually get 10 health points back. You also have the ability to overcharge your health. How this works is that if you end up picking up a health item that takes you over your max health, you get higher health points for a brief period which is quite useful. You can increase your max health by finding hidden health upgrades throughout some of the levels.

AI is decent for the most part. They will attempt to find cover in the heat of a firefight and they do try to flank you. Some of the heavy soldiers will also attempt to rush your position. I certainly didn’t notice any unusual behaviour from them. Boss fights are a bit unremarkable for the most part. The game pretty much spells out how to take them out and they don’t really put up much of a fight. The main exception being the final boss but even then, it really isn’t that hard.

The secret painting boss fight was an interesting idea though. Definitely a canvas for them to work on in the future. (Apologies for the bad pun and joke.)

The game does have a basic stealth system and it works fine. When you enter most of the areas in the game, you will be informed that there are two commanders in the area. Take them out without being spotted and you can sneak through the area without having to worry about reinforcements if you get spotted by an enemy. You can take down enemies stealthily by using a silenced pistol, throwing knives or by sneaking up to them and performing a takedown. Stealth can feel a little overpowered during some of the early sections because the pistol is super accurate and it only takes one headshot to take some of these enemies down. The game does balance this a bit better later on as areas are populated with more elite enemies that harder to kill without being spotted.

Being a Wolfenstein game, you would expect exploration to be a big part of the gameplay and it does play a part for sure. There are hidden areas to be found with collectibles such as the Enigma codes which can unlock new difficulties and cheat codes. You can also find hidden max HP upgrades and other stuff as well. Maps can be found in each level which will indicate possible hidden secrets with a question mark. Levels are definitely more linear than some of the prior Wolfenstein games so don’t expect huge hidden areas or levels.

Key and item hunting still exists of course. You will find doors that require a key or a tool needed to progress which requires a bit of skulking around to find that key or item. You see this especially in the Resistance HQ sections which occur after most of the levels. In these sections, you will be tasked with finding a certain item for a character to progress to the next level. There are also side missions where you can do the same thing for other characters in the HQ and completing these unlocks extras such as artwork. I’m mixed on the Resistance HQ sections overall. On the one hand, they’re good from a lore perspective because you can overhear conversations from some of the characters and there are newspaper clippings and notes to find which do a good job of building up the world. On the other hand, they do feel a little bit like filler. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose...

I don’t really have many issues with the gameplay as a whole. My only real gripe is how the weapon wheel works. Weapon wheels are commonplace on console because a controller doesn’t have many buttons when compared to a keyboard. Makes perfect sense. The New Order’s one however can be such a temperamental thing to use. How it’s supposed to work is that you hit the R1 button to bring up the wheel and then you use the right stick to pick the weapon you want. Sounds simple enough. In reality what happens is that the game ends up giving you the wrong weapon time after time. I can’t even begin to count the amount of times that I tried to switch to the assault rifle and the game switched me to the dual-wield pistols instead. It can be a bloody nuisance. Part of this is down to how sensitive the stick is when using the wheel. It’s way too fast. Also why do the dual-wield options even need to be there? You can already hit up on the d-pad to dual-wield a particular weapon plus I didn’t really need to dual-wield all that much so it’s just clutter. They could have cleaned this up a lot better. I also had issues with swapping back to the previous weapon. It would sometimes default back to the Laserkraftwerk even though it wasn’t my previous weapon. Thankfully these issues didn’t get me killed but they certainly got on my nerves a little bit.

Textbook schadenfreude here from one of the villains. Shouldn’t be that shocked really...

From a graphics point of view, Wolfenstein: The New Order still holds up remarkably well. It runs on the same idTech engine that powered Rage before it and it certainly looks great. Character models are well detailed and they animate well. Cutscenes are well framed and the angles are perfectly done. Environments are beautifully crafted with amazing detail so whether you are in rainy soaked London or even the friggin’ Moon, you feel immersed in the world of the game.

I wasn’t kidding about the Moon. Look Ma, I’m in space! (In a video game...)

The game is quite aliased on the consoles. You definitely see sharp and jagged edges at times. Plus the textures look a bit low-res when viewed up close, but the game still looks great, and I imagine the PC version cleans up most of this stuff anyway so there’s that.

Tumblr’s image compression doesn’t do this environment justice. Oh well. C’est la vie, I suppose...

I can’t fault the game’s sound though. All voice performances are pitch-perfect with Brian Bloom (the voice of B.J.) being the standout. The music is incredible too with a great balance between atmospheric tracks and hard edged ones when the action really kicks off. It’s composed by a guy named Mick Gordon. Don’t think he’s done anything of note since though.

In terms of length, you’re looking at about roughly 8-10 hours for a first time playthrough. There is replay value with the collectibles and the Timeline system. To briefly explain, the Timeline system is related to a choice you make at the start of the game which changes some of the characters you encounter during the game. It doesn’t drastically change much. The events remain the same. You just get some unique dialog and a scene or two. Not much else.

So as you can see, I think that Wolfenstein: The New Order is still a bloody good time. The shooting still feels great with some really meaty weapons, the story and characters are super engaging, and the presentation and sound still kicks some ass. It has some minor issues here and there, but this game is well worth experiencing. You can pick it up pretty cheap nowadays on most of the platforms and it does go on sale quite often.

It’s nice to go back sometimes and revisit a classic, isn’t it? 

Check back here soon for Part 2 of this where I take a look at The Old Blood. Until then, stay safe, folks!

[kob131]

Oh and his ending, which is suppose to wrap all this up?

A. “They have the lamp that attracts Grimm, that won’t be masked by the Grimm! They’re so stupid!”

Fun Fact-When Ren and Jaune do their trick-It’s a split second so they can get in front of the Leviathan and Ruby can blast with her Silver Eyes.

“A pair of Manta aircraft are seen firing shots at the Leviathan. Suddenly, the Leviathan unleashes an energy beam attack from its mouth. It shifts the beam over to one of the poles powering the hard-light Dust barrier, destroying it. The Leviathan roars.

Ruby and her friends watch in horror from their aircraft.

Oscar: It tore straight through...!

Air Control: All squadrons, fall back to evacuation procedures. Disengage Leviathan! I repeat, disengage! Over!

Ruby: No, wait!Ruby runs up to the radio.

Qrow: Ruby!

Ruby: We can stop it!

Air Control: Who is this? Identify yourself!

Ruby: I'm a Huntress. My team and I are heading to the Leviathan and can weaken it for you to attack!

Everyone looks at Ruby in shock.

Jaune: We can?

Ruby: I can.

Maria: Ruby, when I said "trial by fire"--

Ruby: I did it at Beacon and at the farm.

Weiss: You really think you can do it now?

Ruby: I don't have a choice.

Air Control: Manta 5-1, your ship is currently flagged as hostile. You will receive no support, over.

Ruby: (picking up radio) Fine, we'll do it alone if we have to.

From her mech, Cordovin overhears Ruby's radio chatter.

Ruby: We can hit it while it's stopped at the next barrier. Ren, you're up!

Ren and Jaune proceed to combine their Semblances, masking the airship as it weaves between the air battles between Grimm and Atlas forces. The Leviathan makes its way to the next barrier and charges its energy breath again.

Qrow: We're too late! Pull up!

The Manta aircraft pulls up out of the way as the Leviathan fires its breath, destroying the next barrier and toppling a cupola off one of the buildings in Argus. Ren and Jaune collapse as their Auras are drained.’

The lamp wouldn’t matter. And it didn’t.

B. ‘Why is everyone shocked to hear Ruby suggesting to help? It’s sooo dumb!”

Wanna know why I gave so much context above? Because above- you see what FMF is referring to. ... Yeah, the shock wasn’t from deciding to help- It was from Ruby saying they can stall the Grimm.

So FMF just lied. Again. And used the commentary while misrepresenting the scene. Again.

C. ‘That’s what the Writers decide to remember? They talk as though the scenes Ruby referenced never happened!’

Yeah, remember what I said about FMF lying? Well, the commentary here isn’t edited over a scene from the show and look at the lines he choose-

‘I’m curious what the idea was, this is a pretty bold move right?’

“It came down to, they had to try.’

Doesn’t really should like they’re referring what was said right? And Kerry’s voice sounds different from how the other guy’s voice sounds like (as in, it’s as if Kerry’s voice doesn’t follow directly from what the other guy said). Considering that FMF has already lied in this segment- why should I trust that he didn’t just take a piece of the commentary out of context and sell it to an audience that buys outright lies?

Edit: Fun fact, I actually asked for a transcription of this part of the RWBY Volume 6 commentary and a user by the name of Changyuraptor did it for me.

Wanna see what was actually said here?

“Chris: "I'm curious what the idea was, like this is a pretty bold move right, like she had just not even 5 or 6 chapters ago talked to Maria about the concept of just using her silver eyes to begin with and she's looking at this massive Grimm."

Kerry: "It came back down to- there's actually some slightly different earlier versions of the speech that was a little bit different, but Miles was like (I think he's saying Miles' name here, not 100% sure) 'they have to try" you know, it doesn't look like anything else is working, if she can at least try and it works to any degree it's something you know, I think what was a bigger part of this message too is I think a lot of people probably would have told her not to do it but she needs to follow what she thinks is best."

They weren’t talking about Ruby’s idea specifically, nor is anything said here indicating they forgot anything.

In fact, he cuts off most of what was said (even cutting stuff said INBETWEEN what he used) JUST to make that point.

So yeah- definitive proof he lies using the commentary.

D. ‘Oh Atlas doesn’t want help after asking for help! How stupid!’

“Air Control: Who is this? Identify yourself!

Ruby: I'm a Huntress. My team and I are heading to the Leviathan and can weaken it for you to attack!

-

Air Control: Manta 5-1, your ship is currently flagged as hostile. You will receive no support, over.

Ruby: (picking up radio) Fine, we'll do it alone if we have to.”

Not what they said FMF.

Also he tries saying the group was surprised when Ruby said they helped when that’s NOT what she said. Again. So he made the same lie TWICE.

Also also, he misspelled Atlas as ‘Atlus’. As in, the SMT/Persona company. It would have even registered as an incorrect spelling when he made the spelling. This was a video in production over a YEAR.

E. ‘Atlas hates the idea of Huntsmen!’

*Shows Ironwood giving a bunch of teams the option to walk away from the Fall of Beacon*

That’s not even connected to anything here...well, here as in the review because this does reinforce the thematic idea the show presents that you should stand and fight.

... Did FMF just support Team RWBY’s stance in Volume 7?

F. ‘NO body would tell a Huntress to not save a town full of people!’

*looks over at the people calling Team RWBY stupid for trying to save all of Mantle in Volume 7*

Cool, now even his laziness is biting him in the ass.

G. “THIS FICTIONAL PERSON WANTED A HUNTRESS SO THE REAL PEOPLE WHO THE COMMENTARY IS REFERRING TO DON’T EXIST!”

Fuck, how does anyone take him seriously?

H. ‘DUr Atlas man being stupid!’

Oh so not backing up the STOLEN SHIP that was JUST IN A FIGHT WITH THEIR COMMANDER and NOT KNOWING THE PEOPLE ON BOARD PERSONALLY is stupid huh? He should just risk his men’s lives for an enemy that SAYS they can help but they don’t KNOW that.

Gee, what were you saying about logic again?

I. ‘Maria flies into a dangerous spot, so stupid!’

Gee, not like point blank range would be a good idea or that they were already on that course but that’d require FMF to not edit a scene to suit himself and we all know intellectual integrity is toxic to his very existence./s

J. ‘How do the shield generators get hit if the shields are up?’

*Shown: the shield generators NOT BEING BEHIND THE SHIELDS*

K. ‘Hey, why try to get it’s attention when you have lamp!’

*Episode 1: shows that a bunch of panicking people would attract the Grimm over the lamp*

L. ‘DUR, REN’S SEMBLANCE!’

*Shown: Ren’s AURA AKA SEMBLANCE FUEL SOURCE BREAKING*

M. ‘Ruby takes lamp despite distraction!’

Hm, gee, almost like her plan was to FREEZE the damn thing and it didn’t notice her even while flying around with the lamp.

N. ‘THEY FORGET LAMP WAS DANGEROUS BUT REMEMBER IT STOP TIME!’

*points above*

O. ‘DUR< MECH FIGHT ONLY STOPPED FINAL BATTLE FOR LESS TWO MINUTES!’

You know...and taking out the weapon made to kill the Grimm for a long period of time...and Cordovon’s actions SUMMONED the Grimm...and all the shields were down and the breath attack that could level half the city in one shot takes about five seconds to charge up.

Gosh, it’s almost like he relies on his audience not knowing any better...

P, ‘SALEM THINKS HER PROBLEM SOLVED WITH FLYING MONKEY WHICH COULD HAPPEN IN EPISODE 2!’

1. You cut out the WHOLE REST OF THE ARMY.

2. ‘Hazel: There's an old saying. 

he two notice Hazel Rainart enter the room and stand next to them. 

Hazel: If you want something done right... do it yourself. 

Salem looks up to the army of Grimm she has gathered, before turning around and using her magic on the black pools again, engulfing the entire scene...’

3. Salem’s problem is the news Ozpin lived...delievered to her in Episode 4. Not Episode 2.

Q. ‘THEY GO TO ATLAS LIKE BAD MAN OZPIN SAY THEY DO! THEY NO QUESTION ANYTHING!’

Question.

What the fuck are they suppose to do?

Can’t wait anywhere, you yourself admitted that they showed the lamp attracted Grimm AND you never stopped bitching about Volume 5.

Vale is out.

Mistral is out, no Raven.

Vacuo is clear across the other side of Remnant.

Can’t even talk it out because people wouldn’t stop bitching about the talking in Volume 5.

You act like there’s any OTHER logical choice, FMF. Or that Ozpin’s lies would change ANYTHING about his decision about going to Atlas being bad.

But then again, that’d require your brain to function in regard to RWBY.

Then he goes on to say some shit about how everyone is just back to the way they are and how the Volume was pointless. I’d discuss that...but I want you to look at everything he said here. All the lying he did. All the suspect shit he pulled. All the crap he ignored. All the positions he abandoned in Volume 5 to bitch about here.

All the piss he spewed for nothing.

Look at this and think to yourself: Even if I saw the whole thing and heard his reasonings-

Would you believe a word he says?

I had to stop myself from wheezing I laughed at him so hard. This is the video equivalent of that drowning meme

He CREATED every single bit of his situation. He CHOSE to see things this way even after it took mental gynmastics to see it so.

It’s hilarious he acts like he’s in so much pain that HE INFLICTED TO HIMSELF.

I gave FMF a chance. His first point and his last point to impress me even a little. What did I get?

 An ironic comedy routine that makes Beavis and Butt Head look like Steven Hawking. 

[naturalcritfail]

Ironwood Sucks as a General.  You can’t change my mind. (Warning spoilers if you haven’t seen Vol 6 and Vol 7.)

Okay this has bothered me a lot and I don’t normally post but I felt this was needed. James Ironwood should not be a General. This isn’t just stemming from the sheer rage I feel for him as of the most recent episodes. This goes all the way to before Beacon fell. Right off the bat, Ironwood was way too dependant on one of his resources. Atlas Technology. He figured well nobody else has shown that they can keep up with him that must just mean that a threat doesn’t exist. Even a General in peacetime should prepare for what COULD happen.  There should have been plans for WHEN somebody hacks the military not IF. (especially if all your systems are inner connected. That’s asking for trouble).  Then there’s his approach to the White Fang. He wanted to instantly make a show of his toys. Show everyone. (even the people of a foreign kingdom) Just what Atlas could do. he wanted to send his men (Yes I’m counting androids in his army.) in blind on enemy territory. You know what is often involved in wars? Maps. Even if you wanted a bomber run you still look at the area. Yes, it was Mountian Glenn and it was probably mapped out before. But if you say that an enemy has moved to a certain position you triple check EVERYTHING. A mountain is a big place. (Doesn’t do you any good to bomb the top of a mountain if your targets are living in caves at the base of it now does it?)  Wars are won with two things. Resources and Information. You can have all the guns, dust, Megazords and nukes you want. But if you don’t know where your enemy is, or their basic command structure you won’t be able to put down an enemy for good. (How to win a war 101 dude come on) Now that, that’s done let’s look at the Ace Ops. Five members of his inner sanctum. Each of them the “best” in Atlas. All of them loyal and filled in on what they are up against. Nothing wrong there. However, what were the criteria for how they were selected? Cause five soldiers that are best on their own don’t necessarily work the best on a team. Clover seemed to be a lurker. Watching the enemy and waiting for the right opening. Good thing for a leader to have. Harriet was the speedster. Her whole thing was hit fast and keep the opponent off their feet so they don’t get a chance to recover. Again nothing really wrong here, and if you pair her with just Clover they’d be the best for sure. Clover pointing out weak points for Harriet to hit would be a great strategy for those two to use. Next up is Marrow. His whole thing is freezing and essentially matrixing out of the way of his opponent’s attacks while also giving him time to land in his own blows. Pairing him with either Harriet or Clover would be an amazing idea. Then We have Vine and Elm. These two work well together on their own. Vine is a lot like Clover sits back and observes before making his move while Elm goes in and engages the enemy and exposes any weaknesses it may have that she couldn’t necessarily see/access on her own. However, there is a small problem with them. What happens if all five of this team aren’t present under ideal circumstances. Say for instance Vine and Clover where stuck working together on a mission that requires a hard hitter. I’m sure the two could take it down from a bit of strategizing and Clover’s Semblance working overtime, but that’s not a guarantee. Vine’s “reach” (for lack of a better term that I’ve seen for his semblance) and Clover’s weapon aren’t going to be effective against something like Cordovin's Mech, Same could be applied to Harriet and Elm in a situation that requires a softer touch. Harriet is impatient and figures if she can’t get touched she can't lose a fight. But what happens if she’s in a limiting area that doesn’t allow her area to run in. A tunnel with a dead-end perhaps, or the edge of a cliff where she can’t run anywhere, she doesn’t carry a weapon like a pistol or anything meaning she wouldn’t be much of a help to Elm, who is also more of a hazard. Elm’s weapon is meant to break things, add that with her semblance to make her nearly an immovable object. However, put her in a small confined space and she’s limited in what she can do. She could use her hammer to keep the enemy at bay but if it’s a close-range fight against someone like Neo who uses a bit of light footedness and a bit of mind games in a fight she doesn’t stand a chance. Marrow can work on his own solo, his semblance gives him the best chance to either take out his opponent or fall back and regroup after a few attacks don’t work. But add in multiple targets from multiple areas and he’s on his own. So Just because someone is loyal and good in one circumstance doesn’t mean that adding them to a group of four other strangers doesn’t mean that they’ll be the very best (like no one ever was) Cause guess what. As the mighty Qui Jon Jinn once said, “There’s always a bigger fish” which I think we can all agree. Salem is currently that said fish. Next on the list is THE RELIC HE’S GUARDING! You know the one holding up Atlas. Seriously He had nothing guarding it. He just left the door completely exposed.  HE EVEN HAD AN ELEVATOR BASICALLY TAKE YOU TOO IT! No identification needed. No security systems nearby to make sure that if somebody snuck in there like I don’t know Cinder (who snuck into your office) They could try and get the relic, or rig the place to blow so nobody could get access to its power and literally have Atlas crash into Mantle. Here’s an idea for you. HAVE ARMED GUARDS NEARBY AT ALL TIMES! Or better yet. Have your top of the class go and guard the thing the second you found out that Cinder is in Atlas. Cause A) you could have stalled for time for reinforcements to get there and just overwhelm her before she could even touch the door. B) it wouldn’t be easy to get to if you had a Winter Maiden go full Vader and Join Salem along with Cinder. C) you like showing the world your tech. Why not keep some of your best toys down there cause then no one would see it coming. D) It would stop anyone from getting access to it period. (you know like a farm boy you shot.) E) it makes a great hiding place for a particular Winter Maiden so you could move the relic if you had too. Plus you’d be in better control when it would come time for her to either give the powers willingly or rip them out and force them into your chosen warrior. (while also limiting her exposure to people in general). Last but not least. His ideas of what he needs to do. He’s having issues dealing with the Grimm in Mantle. You want to know how you take care of that? Well, first you don’t arrest anyone that’s killing the Grimm that break into the cities. Then you send your resources to your defensive line. (You know like Robyn wanted you to do.) Then you worry about contacting the other kingdoms. Yes, I liked the idea of a floating communications tower and using Amity was perfect considering all you had to do was some “basic” modifications, But it doesn’t do any good if everyone in the kingdom who is probably your workforce (Mantle) is dead or scared which are bringing in more Grimm. Want to know what else would help limit the Grimm a bit... Not leaving the people who are technically your superiors and/or your equals in the total dark. People have questions genius. Give them what you can. This is not a situation where no news is good news. People are scared and want to know what you are doing to make them feel safe besides having a single robot flying around killing Grimm after they get past your shitty fortifications.  Sorry for the long post. Thanks for coming to my TED talk/ Ironwood hate post. Here’s a picture I found that I hope you enjoy.

[witharsenicsauce]

Chosen Stories From the War #4: Operation: To Catch a Predator

The sun was sinking into the lake of rock that extended out as far as the eye could see. Red desert surrounded them.

The ADVENT guards stood at attention. Waiting.

A purple flash of light, and footsteps. That voice like silk floated out around them in a chuckle.

“Staying up to wait for me? You really shouldn’t have.”

The guard on the right of the great stone arch jumped, as their colleague fell to the ground beside them. A gunshot went off, and then they were down.

“Get outta here.” The Hunter said. “I can walk my damn self.”

As the guard turned and walked briskly out of sight, Gur-Rai slid down the nearby cliff face and dragged to a stop in front of the archway. A few soldiers were patrolling on the levels above, but the Priests were nowhere to be found.

He strolled inside, the open hallways twisting like a maze toward two huge, old stone doors, carved with ancient symbols and reinforced with Cydonium Alloy. With barely a nudge, it opened for him, and he slipped through the antechamber and into the tunnels that led upward to his personal apartment.

The tunnels were dark, growing darker as he moved away from the light and into the darkness. For a moment it was stifling until he reached out, putting his hand on the stone slab before him, and pushed.

There was a scraping noise as the stone swung open with great difficulty, pushing aside the shit he forgot he’d left in front of it. Gur-Rai squeezed inside, closing the door behind him, and dropped his gear on the floor, letting out a loud groan.

“What a day.” He sighed, plopping down in his chair. The multitude of screens around the room lit it up with an ethereal blue light, washing out almost all color.

Gur-Rai glanced at his nails, then behind him at the small cot of skin and fur he called a bed. As tired as he was, sleep wasn’t on his mind. At the moment, he was bored.

He blew a raspberry, spinning in circles in his chair and looking around at all the half-finished projects around him. There was a partially disassembled GREMLIN unit a few feet away from him, and some Archon parts next to that...

He reached behind him, feeling around on his desk, and grabbed a screwdriver.

.

.

“You’re sure you want us both down there, Commander?” Elena asked.

“I’m sure.” Senuna giggled. “You and Mox make a great team. And I assume you’ll work together just as well outside the bedroom.”

Elena grimaced and Mox muttered “A bit inappropriate, Commander…”

“Sorry, I can’t help it.” She stood from her desk. “The Hunter is no pushover, as much as we may think he is. I need my best out there today.”

“But to clarify, we’re not to kill him.” Elena said.

“Right.” Senuna clapped. “As per The Assassin’s request, he will be brought in alive if possible. If something goes horribly wrong…” She shrugged. “Just do your best.”

“Understood.” Both husband and wife saluted their Commander and retreated from her office, leaving the other three soldiers standing in front of her.

“Tiss.” Senuna approached Tisiphone, where she seemed to avoid eye contact. “I was wondering if you could use-”

“No.” Tisiphone snapped.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Sorry Commander. I don’t…” She put her hands on her hips. “I’d prefer to use my guns.”

Senuna looked angry for just a moment, but her expression softened before anyone could tell. “That’s fine, Tiss.” She moved on to the young man standing to Tisiphone’s left.

“Anything for me, Cap?” He asked. Despite the stubble and scar, the shaggy blonde hair hanging in his face made him look as youthful as a boy.

“No, Tiwaz.” She shook her head. “You know what to do.”

“Grenades?”

“And…”

He sent a sideways glance to Tisiphone. “I’ll make sure she stays out of trouble.”

“Boy, you ARE trouble.” Tisiphone stuck out her tongue.

Senuna smiled at the two and moved onto the last one, a dark-skinned, dark-haired boy who stood silently at attention.

“Mithridates.”

“Commander.”

“What is your role?”

“Hack.”

“What else?”

“Nothing else.”

“Good. The others have fire power. Keep yourself safe and try to turn his own defenses against him.”

“Understood, Commander.”

“Wonderful.” Senuna stepped back to look at the three. “We’re on route to San Pedro, Chile. Your target is the ruin of Pukará de Quitor. The Hunter has turned the site into his stronghold. Try not to break it if you can. Or him.”

“Understood.” The three saluted her, and she returned the favor.

“Now begins Operation: To Catch A Predator~”

The soldiers collectively sighed.

.

.

Night fell, but the Hunter was oblivious to it, lost in his work. The soldiers outside were doing their rounds and a few times he heard them get a bit too close, but no one dared knock on his door. The last person who did that paid dearly.

Gur-Rai bit the inside of his cheek, focused intently on trying to get this one piece of Archon armor to connect around the outside of the GREMLIN camera, that he barely noticed the bit of movement in his security monitors.

As he looked up, there was a loud and sudden “BANG.”

Gur-Rai damn near jumped out of his skin, dropping his screwdriver on the floor with a clack, as the perimeter alarm blared around him. He sighed and reached over his keyboard, pressing a few buttons and clicking on his security system. The camera feed switched instantly to the front archway, showing five or so XCOM soldiers standing right outside his door.

“Oh?” His brows shot up. “Well that’s interesting.”

.

.

Pukará de Quitor. An ancient monument built by a long dead civilization, one of the greatest in human history, was now swarming with alien troopers and reinforced with space-age metal under the millennium-old rocks. If the Hunter had wanted to offend humanity in the deepest way possible, this was a good start.

They wasted no time. Outrider capped off a nearby grunt with barely a flinch, and three others went down by Tisiphone and Tiwaz before the alarm was even triggered. Mox grappled a nearby goon and tossed him over his head, where he landed in the desert sand with a dull thud.

The group pushed through the wall of incoming shock troopers with only a few near misses, finally coming to a stop by the ancient stone archway, and waited for a moment. The alarm was blaring, but no other reinforcements seemed to be joining them…

Elena suddenly gasped and grabbed at her ear. Mox rushed for his wife before he heard it too, in his comm unit.

“So, what’s the plan for today? Storm the fortress, face the godlike immortal on his turf, break for lunch! Sounds like fun~”

Elena was starting to shake, and Mox grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close. “It is not him.”

“I know.”

“I am right here.”

“I know.” She pressed her forehead to his, and cocked her gun. “I won’t hesitate.”

Mox smiled. “You are my wife.”

Elena chuckled, but her smile dropped as she looked over Mox’s shoulder. “Honey, we have company.”

Mox turned, and Tisiphone and Tiwaz closed the distance between them and the ADVENT priests that were approaching. Tisiphone hit the closest one with a shotgun blast that blew his helmet (and face) wide open. The other soldiers didn’t falter, but Tiwaz popped a nugget in his grenade launcher and with a boom, that was the end of that.

“Fucking Christ.” Tisiphone spat. “Priests. We should have brought a Templar on this mission.”

“We can manage.” Tiwaz assured her.

“Cover me.” Mithridates pushed forward. “I’m going to get the next door open. And let me know if there are any mechs.”

“Roger roger~” Tiwaz winked at the boy, who seemed to blush.

“I LOVE to see soldiers getting along.” The Hunter sneered through the comm. “It makes it more interesting when one dies~”

.

.

They sprinted through the winding stone hallways, the fortress of stone melding with the cliffs itself. Elena could feel the spirits of the long dead Inca warriors in this place, and it almost calmed her.

“I chose this place because of the view.” The Hunter said over the comm. “I actually had no idea it used to be a stronghold for the old world. I suppose I'm returning it to its roots.”

Elena took a deep breath and mentally counted to ten. If the Commander wasn’t so likely to flay her for doing so, she’d love nothing more than to put a bullet between that fucker’s eyes.

They soon came to an obvious metal door in the stone, and Mithridates sat down with his little laptop, plugged in, and got to work. His typing was slow, but when he opened the Command Prompt and began working, his code was like poetry. Elena began to relax.

“So what are your names?” The Hunter asked. “I’d love to know what to tell the tabloids when they ask me about this.”

“Fuck you.” Elena spat.

“That’s your name? Your parents must have hated you.”

Mox pried Elena’s fingers open and squeezed her hand, but Elena was seething. 

“Listen here, you goblin.” Elena hissed into her comm. “Your end will come from the gun of Elena Dragunova.”

There was a brief silence. Then…

“Oh, it’s you.” He chuckled. Elena felt her heart jump into her throat.

“Tiwaz, do you have your pocket knife?” Mithridates asked.

“I ALWAYS have my pocket knife.” Tiwaz flicked it open and tossed it to the young man, who popped open his disk drive and began messing with some of the wires inside.

“It’s been a long time.” The Hunter continued his taunts. “We just have to stop meeting like this.”

“If we should ever meet again after this, you will be dead, and I will be cooking your corpse.”

“Well, you’re feisty. Smile, sweetheart, the boys don’t like a resting bitch face.”

“Maruf, open this damn door.” Elena hissed.

“Oh that’s a good idea, Outrider, I should do that.” Mithridates closed the disk drive, and the computer shorted out as the doors swung open.

The five readied their weapons, exchanging glances. Mox kissed Elena on the cheek, and Tiwaz grabbed Tisiphone’s shoulder and gave it a hearty shake.

“Remember: It is Wednesday, my dudes.” He grabbed his grenade launcher, and sprinted inside. “eeeeeeeeeeeAAAAAAAAAAA!”

“I hate it when he does that.” Tisiphone sighed as they followed him in.

.

.

Gur-Rai crossed his arms and bit his lip. This wasn’t supposed to happen, at least he was pretty sure it wasn’t. They should have been stopped by security and patted down harder than the TSA. His troops were clearly failing.

“I am a child of the gods.” He muttered. “Their servants should never leave me unattended.” He picked up his rifle and…

There was a clatter. He’d knocked an old machete of his off the table. The blade was slightly dull, he’d never actually used the damn thing, but…

Why had he kept it all these years? Because it was a gift.

He reached down and picked it up slowly, feeling the grip in his palm. It fit his small hands perfectly, though they’d been modeled after someone else’s. She had done her best to make it work in tandem with him and he felt...a bit bad. Kon-Mai had never even seen him use it.

“Oh, Sister.” He muttered. “What dirty trick did they pull on you?”

.

.

Mithridates held up his hand. “This place smells like static.”

“It’s brimming with psionic energy.” Tisiphine muttered, seeming to bristle. “Let's hope this bastard surrenders quickly.”

“Let's hope not.” Elena cocked her gun. “He owes me a fight if nothing else.”

“Lenka…” Mox whispered worriedly, but she seemed to ignore him.

As they walked through the antechamber into the main area, the light of the moon shone down through the open ceiling. At the end of the room and at the top of a few stairs stood a large stone altar, decorated with Mesoamerican carvings, behind which stood the Chosen’s metal sarcophagus. Stone columns seemed to hold it in place, rising up to the top of the chamber. The circular walls around them made the soldiers feel like they were at the bottom of a barrel.

“Hope we aren’t the fish.” Tiwaz muttered.

“Where the hell is he?” Elena growled.

There was a flash of purple light, and on the other side of the room, on the ancient stone altar, the Hunter appeared in a crouch.

“You’re not supposed to be here. You were never meant to figure out our little...trick.” Gur-Rai stood, gesturing to his sarcophagus behind him. “Full of surprises, aren’t you?” He pulled his gun off his back. “Soon to be full of holes.”

“SCATTER!” Tisiphone pushed Tiwaz to the side, and the others all ran in different directions. Gur-Rai’s eyes darted between all of them, finally settling on targeting the youngling, who was trying to lug his burnt computer with him.

He pointed and aimed his gun, but just as he pulled the trigger, a bullet whizzed past his arm and threw off his aim. His own bullet went careening into the wall, and he whirled around.

There Elena Dragunova stood, practically frothing at the mouth as she stared him down.

Gur-Rai smiled. “Nice shot. I’d suggest hitting me next time.”

Elena raised her gun again, and Gur-Rai vaulted over the altar and crawled behind cover. The back of his mind told him pissing her off had probably been a bad idea, but he was on a roll and didn’t particularly care.

Elena ducked down into the shadows, disappearing in a way not unlike Kon-Mai used to. Hunter felt himself hesitate just for a moment, but quickly he shook off the feeling. He dashed across the room, quickly honing in on his target again.

Mithridates clumsily jumped over one of the old stone benches and felt along the metal paneling, looking for an outlet of some kind he could plug into. If he could, that sarcophagus would quickly be toast. His fingers finally brushed a loose panel, and he slid it aside and jammed the USB into the outlet.

This was one of the many times Mithridates wished he’d learned to type with more than just two fingers. He prattled away slowly, carefully reading every line of code once, twice, three times. His Commander had faith in him, and he took a deep breath and typed in the login code.

Access granted. Just as he hit the CTRL key, he heard the click of a gun being primed and looked up to see The Hunter staring down at him, through the ironsights of his giant gun.

Gur-Rai smiled. “How old are you, kid? You shouldn’t be out here.”

“Tiwaz!” Mithridates screamed out for help, crawling backwards.

Gur-Rai laughed. “Calling for daddy? The Commander should know better than to send children into battle. But I guess she’ll have to learn the hard wa-”

He was cut off as Pratal Mox swooped in on his grapple and hit the Hunter with a hard punch to the face. Gur-Rai staggered back, blood dripping from his lip where he had accidentally bit himself. His gun had slid across the room, out of his reach.

“Leave the boy.” Mox declared. “By order of Commander Senuna of XCOM, you are under arrest!”

“Tell it to the judge!” There was a glint of steel, and from his belt, Gur-Rai pulled the machete and swiped at Mox, catching him off guard. The blade cut through his padded armor and sliced a long gash into his arm, sending him reeling in shock. He managed to dodge the Hunter’s second attack, but it barely grazed his cheek, still drawing blood.

“NO!” Gur-Rai heard Elena shout, and he smiled.

That smile soon dropped as he heard the sound of an explosion, and his sarcophagus shattering. He looked at it, the cracks beginning to spread in the once smooth metal.

“That...that’s not...that shouldn’t be possible…” He looked to Mithridates, who was clutching his laptop and repeatedly pressing the CTRL key, then to Tiwaz and his stupid fucking grenade launcher.

“You should have shot the laptop instead!” Mithridates shouted as he stood, backing away. “Thank you Mox, for allowing me to disable the shields.”

This was bad. Gur-Rai made a dash back for the altar, only to trip as a bullet whizzed just over his head. Elena Dragunova was on top of him and, oh boy, she was pissed. He tried to reach for his gun but it had scuttled off into gods knew where. He grabbed the machete again and swung, just as Elena cocked her gun and shot.

Gur-Rai felt a searing, stabbing pain in his left hip, right above his leg. If he hadn’t seen it still attached as he fell to the ground, he would have sworn the limb had just exploded. With the last of his strength he teleported behind the altar and crawled to a sitting position, leaning against it. 

He’d managed to leave a trail even when he’d teleported: blood was gushing from his wound like a red water fountain, and it was beginning to run down the stairs and pool on the floor. His heart was beating faster than he had ever felt it, and no matter how he tried to slow his breathing, it wouldn’t stop. 

The other soldiers were starting to come out from behind their cover, and Hunter wondered why they were hesitating. He looked around and grunted “Well, what are you waiting for? Finish the job.”

Then he heard a voice.

“Gur-Rai Madron, this is John Bradford of XCOM Central. Surrender immediately and no further harm will come to you.”

Gur-Rai laughed, but his voice was shaking. “That’s funny...that’s really funny.” He was starting to feel light headed, and slapped himself to keep his eyes open. “You just want me out in the open. Easy target.”

“I can assure you, that’s not it.” Bradford said. “Our orders are to bring you in alive if at all possible. Someone very special wants you back safe.”

“Oh…” He chuckled, his hands beginning to shake. He could barely move his fingers. “Does the Commander have a crush on me?”

“It’s your sister.”

Gur-Rai froze, his heart racing.

“She’s alive. She’s on the Avenger. And she wants you brought back safe and sound.” Bradford insisted.

Gur-Rai felt sick to his stomach. It was nearly impossible to breathe, and stars were beginning to swim in front of his vision. “...You’re lying…”

“I think you know I’m not.” Bradford sounded insistent. “And even if I am, can you really afford to refuse help?”

“I’ll...be just fine.” Gur-Rai tried to stand, but the second his left leg made contact with the ground, he cried out and collapsed again, wheezing. He couldn’t even manage a witty retort as Bradford spoke again.

“Look, by the amount of blood I see down there, Outrider probably severed an artery. You have about 7 minutes before your organs start shutting down from blood loss, and about 10 before you kick the bucket entirely. I don’t know much about you Chosen but if you’re anything like us, you don’t want to die. So get off your butt and surrender, and we will save you.”

Gur-Rai was silent, mostly because he had no strength to speak. But he did have the strength to understand that this was probably his last shot.

He wasn’t like his siblings who had been willing to die for the Elders. He was mortal, just like the rest of them.

Gur-Rai used his right leg to push himself into a kneeling position, and slowly crawled out from behind the altar. Using it as leverage, the carvings of human sacrifice seemingly mocking him, he pulled himself to his feet and looked around at the soldiers who were waiting for him to speak.

“I don’t want to die.” Was all he could whimper. Then he lost all feeling in his legs and tumbled down the stairs, rolling to a stop on the hard stone floor. Blackness crept in at the edges of his vision as he saw Tisiphone and Tiwaz standing over him, pulling out makeshift medkits and ripping their uniforms to make bandages. Tisiphone grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him up, reaching around behind his head. He felt a tug, heard a pop…

Then the world went black.

.

.

.

.

.

( @kawakona‘s husband makes his grande debut. The Hunter is always a joy to write even if the Assassin is my favorite (by a slight margin).

Please do let me know what you guys think! If you like it, what your favorite part was, if you want me to quit writing and get a real job, I appreciate all feedback!)

Archive: https://chosenstories.tumblr.com/

[heligooddeals]

There's a kind of love...

Over yonder in the land of Discord, via the Sanctuary Social, Blackguard and Sideswipe ( @wily-red-and-galeforce-gold​ ) do something... special. ♥

Transcript undercut.

NOTE: I’m leaving mun and muse user handles to help distinguish who wrote what (although I think it’s easy to tell @wily-red-and-galeforce-gold​‘s mastery apart from my mess). I am user Muddy, and Blackguard is user flyingbusiness. Wily is user Wily, and Sideswipe is user Recklessinred.

Muddy

flyingbusiness: I need to see you flyingbusiness: ASAP

Wily

Recklessinred: of course! As soon as I get released. What's up?

Muddy

flyingbusiness: I need to talk to you in person.

Wily

Recklessinred: is everyone ok? Recklessinred: give me like half a day. I'mma talk my way out of the medbay. I'm like 90 Percent better Recklessinred: that's a passing grade

Muddy

flyingbusiness: We're okay. It's not an emergency. flyingbusiness: I just... realized I need to do something and it's important you're around for it.

Wily

Recklessinred: oh! Surprises! I like those =D

Muddy

flyingbusiness: Good flyingbusiness: I hope this one lives up to the hype

Wily

Recklessinred: I'm free \o/

Muddy

flyingbusiness: Good! flyingbusiness: Now get your aft over here

Wily

Recklessinred: yes ma'am. OMW

Muddy

[coordinates, because their position of space has changed slightly]

Wily

Recklessinred: o7 Recklessinred: gimme like 30 minutes and I'll be there

Muddy

Thirty minutes; The perfect amount of time to make something feel short yet agonizingly long at the same time.

Blackguard tries to keep herself busy and distracted from the wait time by tidying up the various livable rooms of Crossfire, starting with the mess hall because it had initially seemed like the best place to sit down with Sideswipe. When it dawns on her just how trashy the room is for what she intends to do though she hurries to the office-living room, cleaning there until she realizes it's just too big and not nearly private enough. Then she glances over at her berthroom, wondering if would be appropriate to invite him there since it was the most private she had available but also HER room.

Lug stretches out on the floor behind her with a great big groan and sigh, drawing her attention over to him, and her optics naturally pass over the viewing windows as she looks. As she gazes out into the stars, wondering just how and where she's going to bare her soul to Sideswipe, an idea hits her and she eagerly looks to the ceiling. "Crossfire?"

"Yes, Blackguard?"

"Can you still do the magnetic thing? You know - when you keep someone grounded to the floor or to your form if we're outside?"

"Yes." A thoughtful hum passes through the whole ship before he asks, "Are you intending to go outside, Blackguard?"

"I am. If Sideswipe's clear to go anyway. So we'll see, okay? And don't say anything to him."

"Your secret is safe with me, Blackguard."

Wily

It doesn't take him too long to make his way over. In fact, for once he's actually early, and hadn't been sidetracked or turned around. But there were a couple of reasons for that.

For starters he genuinely just enjoyed hanging out with Blackguard. So heck yeah he was gonna come over when invited!

Secondly, he was curious.

Curious about what she wanted to see him about. He had an incessant to know, and curiosity was a constant driving force that ate away at him. You can't just ask him to come over, then cryptically proceed to tell him nothing. That could have meant a plethora of things. Was something going on? Was this all code to proceed with the loose haphazard plan to bust Blackguard out of her house arrest sentence?  Was something wrong? Was it something innocuous like "hey I was bored, wanna watch a movie and eat this cool new snack I ordered?"  Maybe it was a fun surprise.

Honestly though? Regardless of the reason,  her asking was enough to summon him.

So here he is.

Arrive he does, popping in to the ship, only mildly nauseous from the bridge trip. He announces himself with a weak but cheery, "Knock knock!

Muddy

A low rumble rolls through the ship when Sideswipe materializes within the supreme and Blackguard trills at the noise; Curious as to what had Crossfire making such a noise, then excited when she realized what/who it was.

"Coming!" She makes haste for the stairs to meet him on the lower deck, eager to get things going but now also mildly concerned for his health. He didn't sound so hot a moment ago and considering the state he had been in not that long ago...

"Hey." She walks up to him with as much casualness as she can muster, kneeling down to give him a loose hug and take a quick inspection of his shoulder. "How are you? Are you okay? You sounded kind of off earlier."

Wily

Don't worry, Blackguard. It's kind of difficult to tell if people are acting a little antsy when your world just tilted sideways. But he'll be fine. He needs a moment.

"I'm fiiiiine," He says a little airily and leans heavily into the hug. Maybe she meant to keep it loose and casual, but he's going to cling a little. Because it helps keep the world from spinning. "All fixed up!" And a little motion sick but maybe if he pretended he wasn't it would go away quicker.

But even after the vertigo ebbs he doesn't let go right away. Instead he tips his helm up, and offers a cheeky grin. "Hi."

"Sooooo," He stage whispers, "Gonna tell me the secret before I actually combust? I wanna knoooow."

Muddy

"Sure, sure." If Sideswipe wants a HUG then, by god, he's getting a HUG. It's not like they're hard to give (especially with their drastic size difference) and Blackguard is always happy to give and receive those kinds of hugs. She'll be mindful of his shoulder though and keep the squeezing around it to a minimal. Everything else on the other hand? It's all getting squeezed to death and then some until he starts wiggling around. Then she'll ease up, look back at him, and hum affectionately.

"Hi." She shifts, easing back on the embrace and carefully resting her hands over his shoulders, then gets down on both knees and sits back on her legs. "So... You're... One of the best mechs I've ever known, and probably one of the best friends I've ever had." A humorless laugh escapes her and she looks at the floor a moment before forcing herself to look back at him. "And that's not really saying much because I've had some really worthless ones too. But, you're good. You're more than good. You're... You're perfect honestly. You're kind, and wonderful, and--" Air hitches in her vents and she lets out another laugh, this one genuine. It's hard to speak with all these emotions bubbling up and getting caught in her throat, so she blurts out: "Will you be my amica endura?"

Wily

They're almost optic to optic like this. Him swaying as he stands, while she kneels and puts them at a more equal standing. Their size difference is comical but the companionship is comfortable. Especially now that the last waves of vertigo have burned away. Instead that tilting sick feeling fades, and it’s replaced by curiosity, and a breezy sort of excited energy.  He’s not sure what for yet, but there’s anticipation. He’s smiling boyishly, excited by the things he might be told whatever that might be. Secrets? Something new? Was it time for plan 'jail break.’? Maybe it was nothing important at all and even that was fine. Whatever it was he was ready. He was- …

He wasn't ready for that.

First it was the nice words. Sweet words that even now were always like little surprises. He craved them the little positive reinforcements.

The positive things, and assurances... that he was good. That someone important saw him that way, despite seeing some of the worst of him. That gave his spark a squeeze.

He didn't let his thoughts linger on that too much. Instead he basked in the nice things, albeit a little confused, his grin making his cheeks hurt.

But as much as it warmed him to hear, it was... he wasn't sure what to say? So he ducked his helm, and laughed a little sheepishly. "Pffffft, you've got a weird definition of perfect. Ha...."

A pause. "You really consider me one of your best friends? Wow, I don't know what I did but go me! I mean you're pretty great your-"

And then he hears what she asks.

And then he thinks for a moment to remember what that is.

And his face does something complicated. Bemusement. Realization. A smile, because he figures it out! The smile gives way to shock as it hits him what it all means put together.

And then articulately-

-he proceeds to say nothing.

And in stunned silence he stares.

Muddy

She figured he would be like this - to a point. After he cried and submitted to her temporary grounding because of the last confession she gave to him, it was easy to anticipate a similar reaction to this confession. She didn't think he'd fall victim to a blue screen of death however and became mildly concerned when he suddenly cut himself off, giving no indication that the thought would continue or be derailed by another any time soon. Part of her even began to worry that this was a calm before a storm and rejection was looming on the horizon, but she did her best to ignore the insecure thought. She and Sides were good.

Probably.

Hopefully.

"Sides?" Tilting her helm, she rubs her hand over his good shoulder and brightens her visor. "You still with me?"

Wily

He blinks almost owlishly, the hand smoothing over his shoulder nudging some life back into him.

"Uhuh," He answers softly, with a distracted nod.  Still, even hazy as he sounds, his optics are still wide and locked on her.

It's a weird sensation. A swelling in his chest, and a knot in his throat, and like all of his systems collectively seized into uselessness on him.  It's warm, and cold, and he likes it, but he doesn't understand it and it's a lot. It's a lot, even if it's not showing that it's a lot. Not yet. The bewilderment is keeping everything at bay.

Eventually his brows knit, and a thousand things are flitting through his head, but the only thing he can snag from the chaos is-

"Why?"

The 'me' is unspoken, but hangs there.

Muddy

"Why.. what?" She mimics his question with her one, tilting her helm a few degrees more before straightening it out. "Like, why do I want to do this? Or..?"

Wily

"I...yeah? But... Why me?" He's still looking at her with that confusion in his optics. There's a fight in his head. Some creeping warm thing at war with incomprehension. It's an odd strain and maybe that's why his voice cracks in a way that's equally confusing. "Why would... why would you want this with me? I don't-"

Muddy

Relief washes over while a dagger simultaneously twists itself in her spark chamber. This wonderful, thoughtful, kind, loving, caring, fun, hilarious, and energetic mech was asking because he didn't understand why he'd qualify for such an honorable position? Clearly she needs to be a better friend - amica - to him then, so he'd understand exactly why he and he alone was the best mech she's known.

"Sideswipe." She cooes, dimming her visor to a gentle 'smile' as she cups the sides of his face, ready to whick any tears he might shed. "Why wouldn't I want to do this? Out of everyone I've ever called my amica, you're the only mech I've really felt... Good about saying it too. The only one I'd be saddened if I lost forever because it'd mean I failed SPECTACULARLY at being a worthy friend. And I would like to keep you around forever, if at all possible." She laughs, visor glowing a shade brighter. "There's literally no one else I'd want to bear my spark to either. Out of everyone, you deserve that part of me. I owe you that much, I think."

Wily

He stares at her in awe.

She thought all of that about him? But...he was chaotic. Impulsive. Naiive about some things, and too practiced in others. Practiced in not great, destructive things. To hear what she had to say so succinctly like that? It was-

It wasn't surprising though.

She had such things to him before. In snippets. In a longer sparkfelt moment. Still, to hear it now with such earnestness and warmth... it hit him square in those vulnerable things, soothing over them with the reminder that people thought he was good. Even though he was flawed.

She knew he was flawed. And still cared for him. For the all of him.

Like he cared for her. The all of her. The wry humor, the patience, the worry she showed in her own way, the exasperation, the silliness, the vulnerability and highs and lows, the give and the take-

People he cared about, cared about him too. And he knew that. Of course he did, but sometimes a reminder had a way of sneaking up on you before blindsiding you with something raw.

Affection. Wonder. Why wonder though? He knew these things didn't he? But sometimes things being spelled out-

She thought all of that of him? She deemed him that important to her?

That was kind of amazing. But it was a surprise, and not a surprise in equal measure.

Because they were friends right? Slowly, gradually, over time they got to this point. Somewhere odd, but strangely comfortable and obvious right?

"Oh," He manages to get out a watery laugh. His vision is misting but he's all grins again. A bright smile has broken across his face as the confusion is blown  away by something giddy.

He slips past the hands on his cheeks, and gives her a hug again. Because why not? How could he not? Not with this odd happy buzz coursing through his lines. The tears would just have to get free reign for a bit. "Neat. Cool. So what do I have to do? Does this mean I get to be one of your 'super best friends?'"

Muddy

Arguably, she was rushing into things - like she had done before and always seemed to do, especially with amica endurae. Jitter had earned the title from her because they were both mechs stumbling into the multiverse and wanted to have an amica to count on if they ever got lost or overwhelmed. Blackout was rewarded with the title after he had taken initiative to search for her while she was lost in the grey and took care of Rigel and Starflare in her absence. Megatron became her amica because he was always willing to act as a pillar of strength for her when disaster struck.

But then Jitter found love and ran away while Blackout became jealous and hateful, and when Megatron got busy with rebuilding Cybertron Blackguard started to wonder if it was them or her. In some cases fault could be found with them, but in all of the cases she was at fault. She rushed into everything, she declared love for them because they had helped her, and made that dependency the foundation of their relationship. It was why she started pushing Sideswipe (and others) away when Redstrike left to go to war; She didn't want to be dependent on them, to fall back into the cycle of rushing into things, and making a moment into a bigger deal than it actually was.

But Sideswipe pushed back. He insisted he was capable of helping her, of comforting her, and doing whatever she needed if she'd only ask for it first - or nothing at all if she truly wanted that. Whatever she needed, he'd provide because they were friends and that's what friends did for each other.

And she cracked.

Maybe this was another disaster in the making. Maybe she was rushing into something again. Maybe they were doomed but she didn't care. She loved him now and he loved her in return, and that was all that mattered at the moment.

"Oh." She mimics him, teasing because it was such a simple word that somehow said so much. Oh, that's why. Oh, wow, you really do care. Oh, this is really happening.

Her arms quickly wrap themselves around him again, falling back into the usual position of an all-consuming, lovingly crushing hug that she had grown use to giving him. A little extra squeeze was given as she chuckles, tickled by his adorable questions and feeling a wave of warmth spread through her frame. "Yeah, you're going to be one my super best friends. And all you have to do is stand back from me a bit, okay?"

Wily

He shakes his helm at the request, but makes no move to let go. Not at first. He allows himself to remain anchored to her for at least a good couple of minutes before he finally relents, tries to wipe his face on his shoulder (the tears just smear), and shuffles back.

Amica Endura. This isn't a title that existed where he was from, and he only learned about it recently. And maybe that unfamiliarity didn't give the words the same weight that they held elsewhere. The same kneejerk meaning.

They didn't need to.

No, the fact that they meant something meaningful to Blackguard, was enough to make it meaningful to him. It meant something to her, and was something precious from where she was from and she was willing to share that with him. That spoke volumes.

Even if titles weren't as clear to him friendship was.

Friendship was a simple yet complicated thing after all. An intricate collection of thousands of little moments and feelings, good and bad that summed together made a bond. A meaningful bond. Through thick or thin right? Like a collection of little threads that could strengthen or fray. It wasn't always easy to maintain them, but they could be added too and the resulting bonds were more than worth it. The care and love and shared experiences good and bad were worth it.

So he didn't know what to expect. He didn't know the customs, and barely remembered the title 'Amica Endura' meant a moment ago. But nevertheless, as a giddy anticipation burned through him. As the knot in his throat grew, he stood expectently and waited. Albeit a little antsy. "Like this?"

Muddy

A couple of seconds versus a couple of minutes versus a couple of hours; There's not much difference between the three beats of time in comparison to the long lasting lifespan of a Transformer. So when you've got two mechs who thrive off of physical affection, extended hugs are bound to happen without anybody noticing or complaining about them - especially in rare moments like these where trouble was put off to the side and happiness was brought to focus. Happiness, and love.

"Just like that." Blackguard assures, 'smilingly' brightly, and resettles into her knelt position before closing her optics. Drawing in a long cycle of air, she holds the breath in her system for a moment before slowly releasing it, the multiple layers of protective metal and plating on her chassis folding back as she exhaled until there was nothing - absolutely nothing - between her spark and Sideswipe.

She opens her optics then casts away her visor, looking directly at him as the light of her spark illuminates his face.

"I bid you stand in the glow of my spark that you may feel the heat of my words and know them to be true. I invite you to receive my light and in doing so becoming Amica Endura—from now until forever. For your kindness and your love of life, both your's and everyone around you. For your boundless energy and your endless humor. For your optimism and your hope." Her digits twitch and in an act of impulse, Blackguard takes Sideswipe's hands in both of hers, then squeezes them. "As you are to me, may I be to you—today, tomorrow, and always."

Wily

He's stunned.

It takes a moment for his helm to catch up with what he's seeing. He hears the mechanisms in her plating unlatch and fold back. Then there's a light washing them both out, bleaching their colors pale.

Oh.

It's the light of the all of her. And he doesn't know what to do.

Plenty of people had seen Sideswipe's spark before. Mostly during medical checks or as they peiced him back together. So for the longest time Sideswipe knew that exposing it was something that should be avoided simply from a survival perspective.

In the last few years he had learned that there could be more to it than that. He had learned the other implications. What it meant to others to show this part of you. In a variety of ways. He learned through listening, talking, and growing with a love.

Your spark was everything you were. Your core. Your soul. If some were to believed an imprint of your memories. Showing it meant you were at your most vulnerable. To expose it to someone willingly...that meant trust, right? An immense trust.

He didn't know what to expect for this, what she would do, but he hadn't expected this. So, snaps back to the present, pieces together the implications, and it makes him feel lightheaded. Bowled him right over again.

So he stands there brows knitted, optics wide as the air catches in his vent. He tries to say something, but can't. But that's fine because Blackguard is talking instead... Making a pledge of friendship that thunders in his helm, and makes his bottom lip wobble.

So he sucks in a breath, and forgets the curtain of cleanser welled in his optics because it doesn't really matter if he can see. It's really bright anyways.

"I," there for sure are tears but he's never been one to be ashamed to feel things. Why should he? Especially when those things are happy. "I... I don't know what to- You mean all that? I- what am-? Am I supposed to do something back? Like trust falls? I-"

So for a moment he fidgets and panics, and flusters about feeling suddenly on the spot because he's not sure what he should be doing with himself. But if it's a show of trust-

He finally exhales, and his own plating fold back exposing his own light. Spinning like a young star behind the crystal casing, before that shifts back too.

He suddenly looks a little unsure and teary, but still awed under it all. "Um. I'm not whole like you are, and I just have the pieces but..um... samesies?"

A pause.

"....Wow. That was lame of me. Did I just  ruin the thing?"

Muddy

In hindsight, Blackguard realizes a little too late that she should have gone over the intricacies of the ritual with him and spare him the feeling of being lost and overwhelmed in a foreign ceremony. It would have been the polite and intelligent thing to do anyway, but her eagerness to move forward with him pushed aside any and all forethought she could have had at the moment and hurdled them both into the ritual without any hesitation.

That kind of made things a little more special though too, in its own unique way. No two proposals she had previously gone through were the same, but this one was now a special little case of its own because she chose to bare her spark to him and cite the amicable chant, which she hadn't done for the others, and he returned the gesture. It was an unnecessary but wholesome move that forever made the moment special in her spark.

"No." She laughs and pulls one of her hands back to wipe at her optics a moment, whisking away the joyful tears that refused to stop leaking out despite her best efforts to keep them locked down. "No, you did great. What you said was perfect, Sides. Thank you."

And with nothing left to say, with all their love and their truths and their souls laid out, Blackguard pulls Sideswipe in for one last hug - carefully, to keep her spark from lining up with his and doing things it needn't do between them. It still reacts to the presence of another though, glowing brighter as if to reach out with its light, and burning hot in her core. She ignores the urges it feeds her and squeezes with all the strength she dare to use on the little lambo, turning to 'kiss' the top of his helm. "Thank you, Sideswipe. For everything."

Wily

The hug is more than a relief. It's an assurance that he didn't mess up. But more than that it gave him something to do with all that building excited energy. So he clings to her again, teary and laughing even though he doesn't completely understand why. But this feels important.

His crystal casing folds back over his spark, shattering the light through it's surface. And eventually chest plates follow, but even with the light of the room dimmer he's still so very bright.

He feels the press to his helm and laughs, watery as it sounds. "Thanks? I should thank you too." For not writing him off as a dumb kid. For listening. For being there.

He cuddles closer before tipping his helm up, "Sorry for improvising. So is it official? Super special friend status?"

Muddy

"We're official." Another 'kiss' is pressed to the side of his helm and Blackguard gives him one last loving squeeze before pulling away - if only to get enough space to cover up her sparkchamber without pinching him in the process. "Super special best amica friends for life. Or until you get sick of me." She hums, pulling him back in and rocking him around for a bit. "Cause unfortunately for you, I like you too much to get tired of you. So you're stuck with me forever."

Wily

He's laughing, and teary. Once her chest closes back up, as if magnitized, he falls right back against her so those hugs can resume. He doesn't want to let go. Not yet, when he feels flooded by that affection he so desperately craves. "Usually *sniff* I'm the one saying that. So I guess that means you're stuck with me until you get sick of me too."

And you know? He was fine with that. For the long haul, if it meant more moments that felt like this

[ptw30]

Are you happy with Shiro settling down to get married and “leaving the battle” or whatever as his ending? Because I really thought he should’ve gone back to being a piloting instructor at the garrison and maybe staying on standby as atlas commander or something like that. He loved piloting too much to become completely disconnected from it and it feels like he never dealt with his trauma imo.

Short answer: No. 

Long Answer: Somehow, this transformed into, “Obligatory Post-Season 8 Meta: Shiro is still the Black Paladin. No, I’m not delusional. Really.”

The Black Paladin & PTSD Treatment

It’s important to know, especially for @dreamworksanimation​ and @voltron, that someone doesn’t “get over” PTSD, as Lauren Montgomery said in an interview.

I’m not trying to be harsh or “call someone out.” I’m stating fact. According to the Mayo Clinic, PTSD symptoms can be treated by opening up to others and seeking the help one needs. 

Getting timely help and support may prevent normal stress reactions from getting worse and developing into PTSD. This may mean turning to family and friends who will listen and offer comfort. It may mean seeking out a mental health professional for a brief course of therapy. Some people may also find it helpful to turn to their faith community.

This ties directly into Shiro’s story. In Seasons 1 & 2, Shiro hid the majority of his symptoms from the others. In Season 3 - 6, those symptoms were exacerbated by Haggar, and though Shiro reached out to Lance, he did not get the help he needed. Shiro then was attacked in battle by Haggar/The White Lion, and again, he suffered alone. 

In “All Good Things,” the Void scene revealed that Shiro wasn’t as close to the others as he could have been, and that ended up being the truth.

Like Allura never regained her confidence to lead, Shiro didn’t open up to the others and bridge that connection to strengthen it, which is one of the treatments for PTSD. 

Here some of the Mayo Clinic’s advice:

You don’t have to try to handle the burden of PTSD on your own.

[…]

Spend time with supportive and caring people — family, friends, faith leaders or others. You don’t have to talk about what happened if you don’t want to. Just sharing time with loved ones can offer healing and comfort.

Shiro handled his suffering alone, and he did not reach out to family and friends. We didn’t see him working out with the Atlas Crew. We didn’t see him hanging out with the paladins. He was all alone.  

This is also why “Knights of Light” is such a traumatic episode for Shiro fans and those struggling with mental illness. It completely dismissed all the suffering Shiro endured. The original paladins went insane in the Void. Shiro survived and came back stronger. 

Even then, he went through the struggles in the Void alone. The paladins went through it with each other. That two-parter episode originally - I have no doubt - was for Shiro to open up to the others, receive support for his past torture, and even receive help from Zarkon, the original Black Paladin. 

That’s why Shiro’s core fear - I’m too broken to be a paladin - focused on him returning from the Void, reconnecting with the paladins, and forming a stronger bond with the team. In this way, he would have begun to cope with his PTSD as the Black Paladin, proving he wasn’t too broken, and the story would have embraced the found family aspect, where Shiro and the paladins are truly “stronger together.” 

Instead - Shiro was alone. Even in Atlas. 

Even in Atlas/Voltron.  

The rest are all bonded to their lions. We know from “Genesis” that the White Lion isn’t in Atlas with Allura’s crystals, thus Shiro isn’t the White Paladin.  

Furthermore, the others don’t even speak to him in Voltron any longer. 

He asks, but no one answers him. (There was one time that Allura responded, but that is only once. The only other time someone actually answered Shiro, it was Coran, who is not in Voltron.)

Throughout the season, there are instances of this. Here, Shiro and Keith are on the bridge, and they don’t even look at each other. 

They don’t talk to each other. No matter how you see their relationship, they are important to each other. And yet…nothing. 

Another time, Shiro was sad to be left behind when the team went forward. You can’t tell me he’s happy here. 

But Shiro desperately doesn’t want to be alone or left behind. 

How do we know?

Shiro’s only win since Season 2 was an arm-wrestling competition, and he only won because he took strength from his one-time team. (Notice: Future hubby isn’t in the above shot.)

Shiro’s Marriage

Shiro is married, so he’s not alone, right? 

Well, yeah, but…Shiro’s story wasn’t for him to be married off to finally have a family, when Voltron was supposedly a story about found family. 

By Shiro’s happiness coming from marriage, Shiro was reduced to his sexuality. Shiro is queer and nothing else, but being queer is a part of someone’s entire person. If they would have shown Shiro “finding his happiness” on board the Atlas with no-name-dude with a tag like, “Shiro continued as the Atlas’ commander and found his happiness in space,” then fine. Do I still think it would have been random and forced, and all that? 

Yeah. It’s 2018, and it’s baby steps, and I can’t believe there hasn’t been a mlm kiss in all of American cartoons already. But putting my own shipping preferences aside - it is progress. 

However, Shiro’s core desire was to be a paladin, to help, to explore space. Say what you want about the paladin’s guardian spirits, but Shiro’s was the cosmos. Tell me again why Keith has a dog that can teleport and is called Cosmo? Oh, right. Cuz Shiro was supposed to be able to teleport.

Shiro enjoyed being paladin. He wanted to be a paladin, and if one wants to embrace his captaincy or admiralty or commanding office of the Atlas position - all right, but even then he was someone who wouldn’t leave behind the “good fight.” The good fight was where he wanted to be. 

What’s also disturbing to me about “Shiro’s happiness” is that - it’s the ending Adam wanted. If you follow my blog, you know I wasn’t a fan of the “Shadam” pairing, mainly because Shiro and Adam wanted different things. That’s mature. That’s a good representation of an adult relationship. Each wanted something different, so they broke up and moved on. I like that DreamWorks showed that, and I wish they wouldn’t have killed Adam. It would have allowed viewers to see how relationships can have a healthy conclusion. 

But for Shiro then to do what Adam wanted years later, leave behind “the good fight” and settle down, is a complete reversal of Shiro’s character. That also says Adam wasn’t enough for Shiro, but no-name-husband is. To be honest, if Adam hadn’t died, Adam could have filled that role, which is disturbing as well because Shiro is now “cured” of the degenerative disease, supposedly. (Technically, he’s not in the context of the story, but I’m ignoring that for now.) 

So if Adam would have waited for Shiro, okay. But for Adam to want Shiro once cured, is a terrible message to those suffering from degenerative diseases. (Full disclosure - I was a caretaker of a person with a degeneration disease for sixteen years.)

Therefore, Shiro’s ending comes down to three things:

Shiro was married off because the EPs wanted him out of the story since the get-go, and if there is a sequel, Shiro is out of the fight - both the Black Lion and Atlas. 

It was tacked on to fix the BYG trope in Season 7.

It reaffirms that Shiro is “old,” which the EPs just love to say, even though the dude is younger than me. 

Shiro’s Role as the Atlas’ commander/captain/four bars 

If one wants to say Shiro’s heads the entire coalition as a disabled man, which is empowering, I get it. That is a powerful position, though he hasn’t won a fight since Season 2. (The Alteans beat him up in “The Zenith,” and Zethrid’s Olkari tech is the reason the team wins in “Genesis.” In Season 7, the Atlas doesn’t beat the Altean mech, so Shiro in Atlas hasn’t won a fight by himself.)

But my argument is - Shiro’s core fear was not being worthy of being a paladin, and his position in Atlas proves his fear true. (Even though Altas and Voltron merged at the end, Shiro was still not a paladin - as I explained above.)

Also, it’s important to note Shiro was happy as the leader of Voltron and the paladin of the Black Lion. Plus, he was the garrison’s best pilot. (Keith was the garrison’s best up-and-coming pilot.) 

Why would you ever sideline your best pilot? He’s one of your strongest fighters. He’s one of your best skilled fighters, and you take him out of the fight and put him on the bridge? That’s a terrible battle strategy. It’s like having the most winning goaltender in NHL history and taking him out to put in a no-name second-stringer. 

What happens? The franchise collapses. 

Yes, take that both ways, as I intended. After all, it’s no coincidence that Shiro was the Hot Topic exclusive Funko Pop! figurine. 

Not only did the storyline sideline one of its stronger fighters, it continuously reminds fans of this and undeservedly praises itself for doing so. 

Shiro had the strongest bond with his lion, and since the lion swap, almost none of the paladins talk to their lions. I think Keith is the only one who actually directs a comment to his lion - the “you’re back” line, in Season 8 and “I know you’re hurting,” in Season 6. The clone asked Black to trust him, but all the rest of the paladins refer to their lions and haven’t actually spoken to them in seasons. 

Even the final moments of the paladins with their lions reinforce the original line-up, which does indicate that the lions and paladins haven’t spoken to each other because the lion-paladin bonds ceased to exist following the lion swap. In fact, I would go insofar as to say the lions themselves were not happy with the swap.  

After all, Pidge and Lance never do the eye-glow thing, and Allura only did it with Voltron, not Blue. Also, Allura only used her bayard once in Voltron, in conjunction with Hunk’s. Neither Lance nor Allura ever use their bayards alone in Voltron, and also - the Blazing Sword does not return to Voltron until Zarkon is in Voltron with Keith. 

So yes, according to “Knights of Life” - Keith is not the Black Paladin. Zarkon said Keith is a leader, not the Black Paladin, and Shiro, too, never told Keith in Season 2 to fly Black, just to lead. 

Keith, Shiro & Leadership

Disclaimer: I love Keith. He’s my second favorite character, but I love Keith, not Keith acting like Shiro.

I wasn’t going to go into Keith and Shiro’s leadership dynamics, but after seeing this - 

- I felt the need to touch upon it, as Shiro now reflects Keith in Season 2. 

Keith’s leadership is based on two things - his race, as deemed by Zarkon, and two years on the back of a whale leading no one. (This is a story’s fault, not the character’s.) Keith’s connection to the Black Lion is based upon his relationship with Shiro, first asking the Black Lion to fly to save Shiro, then taking up the mantle of leadership because Shiro asked him to, and then again, flying Black to save Shiro.

Shiro, on the other hand, had the strongest bond with his lion, died to save the universe, was saved by his lion, existed in an environment that drove the original paladins insane, and came back to take leadership of an entire coalition.

Yeah, he’s just going to give up? And he’s not going to be the one talking miracles and getting up and moving again?

One can say, “But Keith has developed into the leader Shiro is/was,” which… okay, but then one has to also acknowledge, “Shiro has regressed after all he’d been through”

If one is discussing endgames for characters, this is a terrible place for us to say good-bye to Shiro.

Also, despite Keith’s insistence - 

- it wasn’t. How do we know?

Allura died, saving the universe. In a universe where Voltron wins, it’s because the team is stronger together, and the team wins together. The paladins wouldn’t allow the universe’s survival to hinge upon only one of their shoulders. If Allura went to sacrifice herself, the other paladins would find a way to save her. They would talk her out of it. They would find another solution. 

The Season 8 Voltron line-up cannot save the universe, let alone each other. 

But with Shiro in Black, Allura in Atlas/the White Lion, Keith in Red, Lance in Blue, Pidge in Green, and Hunk in Yellow - we have a team that has saved the universe and a team that won’t let each other die. 

We’d have a true found family that together, would win.

And Shiro would have found his happiness, in Black and in his family.  

TL;DR: 

[sandstonesunspear]

Storm

Mass Effect!AU Director Sanvers

Found a prompt chart for Pride Month and figured I’d try my hand at it. I’m extremely behind and just filling them out as my schedule permits at this point. Parings are random.

Thanks to @nerdsbianhokie, @avidreaderffn, and @syllabicacronyms for looking it over.

AO3

2181 Desponia

Alex stared out to the stormy seas that surrounded her. Rain lashed at her armour. She reached up and wiped rain of her face.

“Vasquez, how long until the shuttle repairs are completed?” she asked over her shoulder.

There was some clanging, followed by a loud pop. She closed her eyes when Vasquez immediately started swearing up a storm.

“It’s gonna be a bit, Commander,” they said. “Whatever that pulse was, it fried a few systems.”

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. Thunder rumbled up above, as if the sky itself was expressing an annoyance similar to what she was feeling.

“Can you fix it?” she asked.

She heard Vasquez scoff. “Have you met me?” they asked. “Of course I can, I’m just gonna need like an hour or two.”

The sky rumbled again. It sounded different than before, catching Alex’s attention. She glanced up to see fireballs falling from the sky. Her jaw clenched. She knew exactly what those were.

“You have 30 minutes,” she said.

-

Alex charged into another Brute and quickly rolled back as the sound of a biotic explosion reached her ears. It was accompanied by a thunder crack from the sky half a second later.

She heard the moan of a Husk behind her. Before she could even take half a step back to regroup, a streak of red whizzed right past her and connected with the Husk, sending it flying back.

“A little too close for comfort, Luce!” she yelled over her shoulder.

“Quit your bitching and move, then!” the sniper shouted back.

Alex did just that. She saw another blue projectile hit a Cannibal. She took off towards it, setting off another explosion when she connected.

“Vas, how are those repairs coming!” she shouted over her shoulder.

“I’M STILL WORKING ON IT!”

Alex unloaded her clip into an unlucky Cannibal who had come up to feast on its fallen friend.

“Is contacting the Normandy an option?” Alex heard Maggie ask over their shared radio.

Even though she was halfway across the battlefield, Alex still heard Vasquez scoff.

Vasquez’s voice crackled through, “Are you kidding, Sawyer? The same thing would happen to her, but the landing wouldn’t be nearly as pretty as ours was.”

Alex looked at the giant skid mark that marred the surface of the Ballard-class ship they were currently fighting on. If Vasquez considered that landing pretty, she didn’t want to know what they thought an ugly landing would look like.

A small mob of Husks started groaning. They didn’t make it very far before a Singularity, courtesy of Maggie, had them airborne. Alex brought her fist up and leapt, unleashing a furious Nova that shredded the Husks.

She wrinkled her nose as Husk guts splattered against her armour. She could already see herself down in the cargo bay for hours cleaning her armour. That was, of course, assuming she and her squad ever got off this godforsaken rig and planet.

“Commander, might want to pull back!”

Alex glanced at the Reaper forces that were gathering at the far end of the ship. She raised her gauntlet to her lips.

“On my way.”

She was gone in a flash of blue.

-

Alex wiped rain water off her face. “Alright, talk to me Vas, any improvements in our situation?” she asked.

Vasquez shook their head. “Unfortunately no. The shuttle’s still a no go. We’re not going anywhere,” they said grimly.

Lucy glanced over the small barricade that they were all crouched behind for cover. Alex saw her grimace.

“We sure that we can’t just call the Normandy down?” Lucy asked.

Alex looked at the shuttle that had brought them onto this stormy planet. Said storm was growing worse. She knew that the Normandy has flown in some pretty rough conditions before, but this storm and this planet were something else. Even if they didn’t have the pulse to worry about, something told her that the Normandy entering the atmosphere wouldn’t end well.

“I’m not going to risk it,” she ultimately said. “I’ve already lost the Normandy once. I’m not losing her again.”

I’m not putting you and Maggie at risk again, either. Not like that.

“Vas, I need a new plan,” Alex said.

Vasquez looked to their right. Alex followed their gaze to see another mech.

“You use that thing, Commander,” they said. “It’s pretty outdated compared to what the Alliance normally uses, but if the seawater hasn’t completely corroded the seals on it, you should be able to use it to get down to where the last signal pinged.”

Alex stared at them. “Go underwater. In that thing?” she asked, incredulous.

Vasquez shrugged. “From what I can tell, it’s an old Triton model. Old as it is, it can handle the depths. It won’t be easy, but there’s really no other option here, Commander.”

From Alex remembered, older diving mechs had one major flaw: their clunky nature meant they were only really supposed to be deployed when the seas were calm. These seas were anything but calm. Still, it was better than nothing. The way home was through Leviathan, and they weren’t getting off this planet unless they found it.

Alex stood. “Well, if that’s what we have to do, I’m in,” she said. “Let’s get started.”

She heard Lucy make a noise of alarm.

“Wait a minute here, are we actually seriously considering…” Lucy started.

Vasquez hopped onto the platform where the shuttle was. “First, we’ll need to restore power to get those cargo doors open.”

“I guess we are,” Maggie muttered.

Alex ignored both of her lovers. “How?” she asked.

“These old Ballard-class ships have exterior power sockets for emergency repairs,” Vasquez said. “We can strip the backup cells from the shuttle and use them for juice. Give me a sec to grab a set.”

They disappeared into the shuttle, leaving Alex standing alone with Lucy and Maggie.

“Alex, are you sure about this?” Maggie asked.

Vasquez emerged with two large power cells. “Here you go, Commander.” They handed the cells to Alex.

Alex quickly holstered her shotgun and grabbed them. “Not really, but at this point, I don’t see another option,” she said.

She turned on her heel and flashed away in a streak of blue to the nearest power socket before either Maggie or Lucy could say anything else.

-

“Alex, you know I’m all for crazy ideas but this one’s off the charts!” Lucy shouted over the sound of her Lancer ripping through Husks.

Alex climbed into the mech. “I know!” she shouted back. “But there’s no other choice!”

Reaper forces were falling faster and faster. If there really was a Reaper killer beneath the waves, she had to find it. Now. Otherwise, they were all as good as dead and the war would all but lost.

She pulled the cockpit shut. She didn’t miss the helpless look Lucy and Maggie shared. It made her stomach clench. She hated that she was the reason for that look. She remembered the last time she had seen that look: right before she had died the first time.

She clicked the comms to sync back up with Maggie’s and Lucy’s. “I’ll be okay,” she said.

Maggie threw up a barrier to keep a swarm of Husks from closing in and looked back at her. “Come back to us,” she said.

Alex nodded, even though neither woman would be able to see it through the reinforced glass.

“I will.”

Then she was gone beneath the waves.

-

Alex had to remind herself to breathe as she sank down into the depths. She grit her teeth the mech shuddered around her due to the storm raging above.

“How’s it holding up, Commander?” Vasquez’s voice crackled through the comms.

“Good so far.” She had to fight to keep her voice even. She had grown up on the beaches of Midvale and surfed in weather that most people would pale at, but that wasn’t enough to stop her stomach from rising to her throat.

“I’m getting some comm interference on this end. Hang on.”

Alex frowned. “Copy that,” she said.

“Commander, can you read me? We’re losing your signal. Something’s blocking your comm. Please respond.”

“I can read you, but it’s getting harder by the minute, over,” she said.

“Alex? Alex can you hear us? Alex can you respond?” Lucy’s voice this time. There was a note of desperation in it that Alex hadn’t heard since the Battle of the Citadel.

“Yeah, I read you, Luce. Do you read me?”

“Alex! A--ex, res--d!” Maggie’s voice was just as desperate as Lucy’s was.

Alex’s frown deepened. She tried to clear up the interference but to no avail. The static grew worse and worse until there was nothing but silence.

-

With nothing but silence and dark ocean water for company, Alex had no idea how long it took for her to reach the bottom. She grunted when the mech’s legs touched the ground. Right around the same time, she heard one of the light’s on the mech crack from the pressure.

She sighed and fired a flare. Her eyes widened at the sight before her. Giant, bioluminescent jellyfish floated in the distance. A giant piece of something was just a little further away. The xenobiologist in her was in awe, but quickly tamped down by the soldier in her. She was on a mission. She needed to get it done before she, and by extent Maggie and Lucy, were dead.

She queued up her omni-tool while also reopening her comm channels. She might be on a mission, but she was sure as hell going to record this for posterity.

Alex slowly started walking forward. “Not sure if you can read me up there, but it looks like I’ve finished the major descent. There appear to be some large bioluminescent organisms down here, but the visuals aren’t that great,” she said. “The suit’s...holding up.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. It had survived the descent down, though whether it would stay that way with the way the pressure gage was starting to creep into its upper limits was beyond her.

“Emergency systems have come online. Life support is operational.”

She tapped away on the on-screen display and frowned. That couldn’t be right.

“Scanner’s indicating that the probe is...below my position. I’m gonna look for a way down.”

Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to go much deeper. She doubted the mech would be able to handle it.

She came to a small ledge. She took a breath and leapt down. She exhaled harshly as the mech connected with the ocean floor.

Alarms started to beep.

She glanced at the depth indicator and winced.

3100 m.

“Shutting down all noncritical systems to preserve remaining power for the emergency thrusters.” She tapped her gauntlet. “Also redirecting armour systems for emergency life support.”

She figured that, in the event the mech did crack, the move would give her at least an extra 30 seconds before the ocean’s pressure crushed her and her armour like a soda can. She couldn’t worry about it now, though. Right now, she had to keep moving.

Alex did her best to ignore the depth gage as she continued her way down. She only had so much oxygen. She wouldn’t be doing herself any favours hyperventilating because of how deep she was going.

“Getting some strange readings from the probe. There’s something definitely down there.” She hoped it was Leviathan. “Mags, Luce, I really wish y’all were with me right now.”

She would give anything just to be able to hear their voices right now.

It wasn’t long before Alex came to yet another ledge. She rechecked her scanner readings, then let out a frustrated breath.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she grumbled. “All right, readings are putting the probe directly beneath me. Looks like I’ve got one more drop before I get there. Wish me luck.”

There was no response, not that she expected one.

She maneuvered the mech and slipped down into the chasm. Even though the descent was slower than the first one she had made, Alex still had to resist the urge to use her thrusters to slow it even further. She needed every ounce of energy she could get in order to make it back up.

She grunted again when the mech landed. The alarms sounded again, louder this time.

She heard a small little echo, almost like a whale cry. She looked up to see the probe.

“Found the probe. Looks relatively intact.” A surprising fact, given the depth she and it were at. “I’m gonna keep moving, though. See if I can--”

A thunderous rumble cut her off. She looked up to see bubbles rising.

“The hell is that?”

Alex made her way forward about three steps, before she froze. There, emerging from the cracks, was something huge.

God, please let this be Leviathan.

She watched as not one, but three, figures rose up before her.

‘You have come too far.’

It took Alex a moment to realise their voices weren’t coming from her comms. They were coming from her mind. Before she could react, she found herself standing in an endless void.

The fuck?

She closed her eyes in an attempt to focus. When she reopened them, she was back in the cockpit of the mech.

“I had to find you,” she said.

‘This is not your domain. You have breached the darkness.’

Alex glared at it. “You killed a Reaper! I need to know why!”

‘They are the enemy. One that seeks our extermination.’

“Yeah, that’s kind of their whole shtick. It’s in the name,” Alex said. Then what Leviathan said registered fully with her brain. “Wait, I thought you were a Reaper.”

After all, what else could kill a Reaper, other than another Reaper?

‘They are only echoes. We existed long before.’

“Then what are you?” she asked.

‘Something more.’

A massive pressure inside her skull was the only warning she had before she found herself back in the void. This time, she was knee deep in dark stormy waters.

Alex crumpled to her knees and retched.

“Your mind belongs to me,” Leviathan's voice thundered. “Now breathe.”

She looked up blearily to see Lena walking towards her.

Alex swayed as she rose to her feet. “Lena?” she slurred out. “What’s going on?”

Lena opened her mouth, but the voice that came out was entirely Leviathan’s. “Your memories give voice to our words. Your nature will be revealed to us. Accept this.”

Alex didn’t have time for this. She shook her head to clear it. “The galaxy’s at war with the Reapers,” she said. “You defeated one, so why aren’t you fighting back?”

Leviathan shook its head. “There is no war, only the harvest,” it said.

“Then help us stop it!”

“None have possessed the strength in past cycles.” Alex turned around to see Winn coming up behind her. “Your own species could be destroyed with a single thought.”

Leviathan changed into the man who had been impersonating her father. “But you are different,” it said. “I have witnessed your actions in this cycle: the destruction of Sovereign, the fall of the Collectors. The Reapers perceive you as a threat.”

Fake-Jeremiah turned back into Lena and looked into a microscope. “I must understand why.”

Alex grit her teeth and pushed back against the force in her mind. She wasn’t going to be trapped in her own mind, communicating with cheap imitations derived from her memories. She had come down here to speak with Leviathan itself and she was going to do just that.

A few moments later, she gasped. Her vision swam as she looked around the cockpit. She felt something trail down from her nose. She had a feeling it was blood.

She looked up at Leviathan for half a second before the pressure returned and forced her back into the void.

She and Leviathan had moved from knee deep waters to a beach with pitch black sand, surrounded by the same dark waters as before. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Leviathan, back in Winn’s form, sat next to her. “Before the cycles, our kind was the apex of life in the galaxy,” it said, staring out at the ocean. “The lesser species were our thralls, serving our needs.”

The cliffside from Namakli took shape.

“We grew more powerful,” it continued, “and they were cared for. But we could not protect them from themselves. Over time, the species built machines that then destroyed them.”

“And that’s a problem,” Alex said.

Leviathan nodded. “Yes, tribute does not flow from a dead race,” it said. “To solve that problem, we created an intelligence with the mandate to preserve life at any cost.”

“Well that backfired spectacularly.”

Leviathan shifted into Lena’s form right before her eyes. It was unnerving, having Lena’s gaze bore into hers while knowing that the woman before her wasn’t the same scientist she had saved just weeks earlier.

“The intelligence evolved,” it said simply. “It studied the development of civilisations, and it’s understanding grew until it found a solution.”

“I can guess what solution was.”

Lena-Leviathan stopped and morphed into real-Jeremiah this time. It turned around. The grief in its face was so much like her father’s, it made Alex take a step back.

“Yes, in that instant, it betrayed us,” it said. “It chose our kind as the first harvest and from our essence, the first Reaper was created. You call it Harbinger.”

Alex couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. “Let me get this straight, you built a machine to solve your problems despite what you saw happen to the other races,” she said. “Why?”

If Leviathan was really “more” as it claimed to be, how could it not have seen such a betrayal coming?

Lena-Leviathan looked up. Alex followed its gaze to see countless planets descending from the storm clouds above them.

“You cannot conceive of a galaxy that bends to your will,” it said. “Every creature, every nation, every planet we discovered became our tools. We were above the concerns of lesser species. As such, the Intelligence was simply another tool.”

Now Alex could see where Sovereign and the other Reapers got their dismissive attitude from.

She scoffed. “And now we’re all paying the price for your fucking mistake.”

“There was no mistake. It still serves its purpose.”

“You consider the slaughter of trillions of people over countless millennia as it fulfilling its purpose?” Alex demanded. “Are you kidding me?”

“Each harvest ends with the birth of something new, something that represents the endless search for a solution to that slaughter.”

“You mean a Reaper,” Alex said.

“Yes. It is perfect in its design, each formed in Harbinger’s image. Our image.” Lena-Leviathan tapped the side of its head. “Each has the power to influence organics. Over countless cycles, this ability was refined, perfected, and gave rise to what you call indoctrination.”

“You made the Intelligence, so there has to be a way to stop it, a way to stop these cycles,” Alex said.

“We do not know. The Intelligence has one purpose: preserve life. Until it finds a way to do that, the harvest will continue,” it said.

Alex ran a hand through her hair. “Will you at least help us try to stop it?” she asked.

It’s lips twitched into something resembling a small, grim smile. “I have searched your mind. You are an anomaly, yet that is not enough.”

It started to walk away, but Alex reached out and gripped its arm tightly, forcing it to stop.

“Wait!”

It’s head snapped back to look at her. “The cycle will continue,” it said coldly.

Alex thought about Lucy and Maggie and how hard the two of them had fought. How hard they were fighting, just to make sure that they could all see the end of this damned war. If the women she loved were going to fight that hard, then she refused to accept Leviathan’s own refusal to join the conflict.

“No,” she growled. “You’ve had to have been watching this cycle. You know that this cycle is different.”

“We will survive. You will remain here as a servant to our needs. The Reapers will harvest the rest.”

Like hell.

Alex’s grip tightened around its arm. “You release me, and no one else has to be harvested,” she said.

“Nothing will change.”

Thunder rumbled above them.

“The Reaper forces know where you are,” Alex said. “You can’t just keep watching anymore, you have to fight!”

Seeing no reaction from it, she tried a different angle, “The Reapers are your mess! The destruction of your race, that’s on you, but you can help us fix it. You can help us fight. You can help us stop the cycle from progressing.”

There was still no reaction from Leviathan.

Alex clenched her jaw. “Even if you survive the battle today, the Reapers won’t stop. Ever. Release me, and we have a chance to stop this once and for all,” she said.

More silence from Leviathan. It turned away from her, then it vanished.

Alex blinked. She looked up when even more thunder started to rumble. She flinched and instinctively closed her eyes when a crack of lightning ripped through the air.

“Your confidence is singular,” Leviathan’s voice echoed from behind her.

Alex opened her eyes. “I’ve earned it out there fighting, where you should be,” she shot back.

Warm laughter rang out.

Alex turned to see a memory of her with Maggie and Lucy. Maggie and Lucy were both smiling, eyes warm. The smile she was giving them was equally as warm. Despite the storm she found herself standing in the middle of, Alex found herself smiling right alongside her memory.

The memory shifted to her at the end of the Charge, colliding with a hapless Cannibal caught up in one of Maggie’s Singularities. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw Leviathan nod.

“It is clear why the Reapers perceive you as a threat. Your victories are more than a product of chance,” it said. “We see that there is more to you than most of your species. We will fight, but not for you or any lesser race. We were the first, the apex race. We will survive.”

“And the Reapers?” she asked.

“Those who trespass on this world will understand our power. They will become our slaves.” Its eyes started to glow. “Today, they pay their tribute in blood.”

Leviathan reached up and touched Alex’s face. She grit her teeth to fight back a cry of agony as pain raced through her skull.

Everything went mercifully black moments later.

-

Alex came to with a gasp to the sound of alarms going mad. She blinked twice before quickly tapping away at the onscreen display. It was time to get back to the surface, back to Lucy and Maggie.

She fired up the emergency thrusters, ignoring the way her biotics wisped across her armour. She would worry about it later.

‘You will be the storm that heralds our arrival.’

Alex had no time to process just what that meant before she was shooting up towards the surface.

-

Every shot Lucy’s Black Widow rifle cracked out seemed to echo right alongside the bursts of thunder in the sky.

“How long has Alex been down there?” she shouted.

Maggie threw a Warp at her Singularity, setting off an explosion that staggered the Brute. “Too long!” she yelled back. “Vasquez!”

“Still working on it!”

“You said that five minutes ago!” Maggie shouted.

“AND I’M STILL WORKING ON IT!!”

The loudest crack of thunder yet shook the entire ship right as the sound of something emerging from the sea caught both Maggie and Lucy’s attentions. Maggie turned to see the Triton mech slowly shambling its way across the deck. It took two steps before coming to a halt. The cockpit cracked open and out slipped Alex.

Maggie and Lucy both watched in horror as Alex tried and failed to get back on to her feet.

“Shit, Sawyer!” she heard Vasquez call out.

“I see it! I see it!” Alex’s return had caught the attention of the horde of Brutes, and she was in no condition to fight back. “Lucy!”

Lucy primed her rifle. “Go get our girl, Mags, I’ll cover you!”

Maggie was off like a shot. The driving rain stung her eyes but she did her best to ignore it. Alex was her priority right now. She might not have been a Vanguard like Alex was, but she had enough control over her biotics to zip around the battlefield almost as fast. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the mech go crashing backwards into the sea. She felt her stomach drop at the sight; if Alex had been in that, there would have been no way she or Lucy could get to Alex in time.

“Mags, on your right!”

Maggie swung her hand and threw up a barrier that sent a Cannibal flying across the deck, into the raging sea. She slid the last few paces to get to Alex’s side and put up another barrier around the two of them just in time for a Brute’s claw to slam into it.

The Brute stumbled back. To Maggie’s dismay, though, it recovered faster than she would have liked it to. Before she knew it, the Brute’s claw was raised again, ready to strike.

Maggie grit her teeth and poured everything she had into her barrier. It wasn’t going to get Alex, not if she had anything to say about it.

The Brute swung down again. Maggie braced herself for the impact, only for the Brute to freeze in its place. The Brute behind it paused too, as if it was confused about why its fellow had stopped. The next thing Maggie knew, the Brute in front of her swung around and slammed into the one behind it.

Maggie blinked. It was an unexpected turn of events, but not unwelcome. She glanced back at Alex, who was by now had made it to her knees, but was otherwise still very much unfit for combat. She quickly dropped her barrier and picked Alex up. She wasn’t going to stick around while the Brutes fought, especially not when Alex needed to get back on to the Normandy.

“I’ve got Alex! Vas, status?” she yelled into her comm.

“We’re good to go!” Maggie looked up to see the shuttle up in the air and coming back around for a pick up. “Dunno what the Commander did, but the pulse is offline!”

The warring Brutes came crashing down in front of Maggie. She threw a biotic barrier around her and Alex and used the rest of her biotics to quickly slide them across the deck.

She skid right past Lucy just as the shuttle came down. She dropped Alex inside while Lucy continued to provide covering fire.

“Lucy! C’mon!”

Lucy fired off three more shots then jumped into the shuttle. “Vasquez, get us out of here!” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Maggie braced herself as Vasquez punched it. She reached out and used her biotics to keep Lucy from falling over.

Lucy crouched down next to Maggie. “What’s Alex’s status?” she asked.

Maggie quickly waved her omni-tool over Alex. “Fuck, she’s freezing,” she said.

Lucy nodded. “She’s likely hypothermic. Get her out of her armour.” She looked towards the cockpit. “Vas, are there any blankets in this thing?”

“Yeah, check the bulkhead!” the pilot called back.

Maggie worked fast to get Alex out of her armour while Lucy went to grab blankets. She flinched at how cold Alex’s skin and armour were to the touch. She pressed Alex’s seals as quickly as she could to pull off Alex’s armour.

By the time Lucy was back at her side, Maggie had managed to strip Alex down. She drew up her biotics as Lucy wrapped Alex in a blanket.

“What’re the biotics for, Maggie?” Lucy asked.

“Biotics are energy, and energy means heat. If I can get a barrier around Alex, it should promote heat generation for her,” she said.

Lucy nodded. “That’s a smart idea.”

Alex suddenly sat up coughing. Blood dripped down her nose.

“Get her in the recovery position so she doesn’t choke!” Maggie ordered.

Lucy quickly rolled Alex onto her side.

Alex retched, but nothing came up. She continued to cough and dry heave while Lucy rubbed her back.

“Alex, can you hear us?” Lucy asked. “It’s okay, you’re on the shuttle, we’re headed back to the Normandy now.”

Alex slurred out something incomprehensible.

Maggie and Lucy traded looks. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Vasquez, radio the Normandy and let Henderson know that we have a hypothermic patient inbound, and have her prepare for a possible barometric emergency,” Lucy said.

“Aye, aye, ma’am.” The fact that Vasquez was all business right now instead of their usual dry, sarcastic self, was a sign of just how worried they were as well.

“SSV Normandy, this is Lieutenant Vasquez, we are returning with Commander Danvers, inbound ETA five minutes, have the medbay prepare for a hypothermic patient with a possible barometric emergency…”

Maggie ran her fingers through Alex’s hair. “She’s gonna be okay,” she said.

She didn’t know who she was trying to convince: herself, Lucy, or the both of them.

Lucy held Alex tighter. “She damn well better be.”

Neither of them could handle losing Alex. Not again.

-

Alex noticed three things when she came to. First, she was laying on something much more comfortable than the medbay tables. Second, she was warmer than normal. And third, something was tickling her face.

She wrinkled her nose. “Mmmph,” she grumbled. “The fuck hit me?”

The tickling sensation vanished almost immediately. She felt the surface she was laying on shift as someone, or someones, quickly got up.

“Alex!” Lucy’s voice.

“Oh, thank god!” Maggie’s voice.

As much as she loved hearing the both of them, Alex still winced at the volume. She blearily opened her eyes to see her lovers on either side of her, but quickly regretted the move as pain lanced through her skull.

“Mmph...too loud,” she mumbled. “Bright.”

The beeping of fingers across an omni-tool signaled that someone was turning the lights down. She counted to three then cautiously reopened her eyes.

“Better?” Lucy asked, voice soft.

“Yeah.” Alex looked left, then right. “Why are we in my cabin?”

The bed shifted again as Maggie sat back down next to her. “Because it’s the only area of the ship that could be pressurised in excess without impacting the crew,” she said.

So they had turned her cabin into an improvised barometric chamber. Nice.

“Guessing it’s since been pressurised back to normal?” Alex asked.

She saw Lucy nod. The bed dipped as Lucy came to sit on the other side of her.

“Yeah,” Lucy said. “Brainy and Henderson started yesterday. They took it slow because they weren’t 100% sure how your body would react given...everything.”

Maggie started to run her fingers through Alex’s hair. “Speaking of which, how’re you feeling?” she asked.

Alex closed her eyes at the feel of Maggie’s fingers carding through her short-cropped hair. “‘M fine,” she mumbled. “Hell of a headache, though.”

She found Lucy’s lips on hers moments later. She made a small noise of surprise at how hard Lucy kissed her, but she kissed back nonetheless.

Lucy ended the kiss far sooner than Alex would have liked. Before she could voice her displeasure, Maggie was kissing her. If she thought Lucy’s kiss had been hard, Maggie’s was bruising, almost desperate.

This time, Alex was the one to pull away first when she tasted salt on her lips. She looked up to see tears starting to roll down Maggie’s face. She reached up to wipe them away while Lucy reached out and took Maggie’s hand.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Maggie whispered.

The sheer pain in her voice made Alex’s voice clench. It reminded her of the first time she had seen Maggie following her revival. She hated knowing that she was the cause of that pain. She and Maggie were the same kind of people: scientists turned soldiers. The only difference was that Alex had been a soldier far longer than Maggie had.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“What happened down there, Alex?” Lucy asked.

She looked at Lucy. “We found it,” she said.

“Leviathan?” Lucy asked.

Alex nodded. “Yeah. It’s real, and it’s a lot more than we ever imagined.”

She glanced back at Maggie when she heard her swallow.

She watched Maggie wipe her eyes. “Was, was it worth almost dying for?” Maggie asked.

Alex’s jaw clenched. “Yeah, it was,” she said truthfully. She didn’t miss how Lucy’s grip tightened. “We exposed it, pushed it into the light. Whether it likes it or not, it’s part of the war now.”

“You think it’ll help?” Maggie asked.

“Yeah. They don’t have a choice. This war is everywhere,” she said.

The Reapers were in just about every system now. Every species was fighting for their very existence. They were giving it their all just so that they could see another day.

“That’s amazing,” Lucy said.

Alex’s lips twitched into a small grin. “It’s definitely gonna be one for the history books.”

Maggie sighed. She laid down next to Alex and wrapped an arm around her waist. Half a beat later, Lucy did the same thing. Alex closed her eyes at the feel of the two of them around her.

She felt Lucy start to rub small circles on the back of her hand. “We’re so glad you made it back, Alex,” Lucy whispered.

“I am too. Being down there by myself was…” Alex trailed off.

Maggie kissed her shoulder. “You’re back up here now, with us,” she said. “You’re back.”

Alex smiled a full smile this time. “Yeah, I am.” She yawned. “God, I’m tired.”

Her head was still killing her and her body felt like she had been hit by a Mako.

Lucy brought her hand up to play with Alex’s hair. “You should get some more sleep,” she said.

Sleep was the last thing Alex wanted right now. It wasn’t because she had spent what appeared to be the past several days asleep, but rather because she was afraid of the inevitable nightmares.

Her face must have said as much, because Maggie came up and kissed the side of her head while Lucy gave her hand a squeeze.

“We’re right here, Alex. We’ve got you,” Maggie whispered.

Alex nodded. She could already feel the exhaustion starting to reassert itself. “Love…’ou,” she mumbled.

Twin kisses to either side of her head.

“We love you too, babe.”

Alex’s eyes slipped shut.  

For the first time in ages, her sleep was uninterrupted by nightmares.

[gascon-en-exil]

FE16 Golden Deer Liveblogging

Chapters 21-22. Magical ballistic missiles, EDM, and zombies - it’s like they threw every random thought they could come up with at the wall to see what would stick.

Now that I’m finished with them I can say that the Deer do have overall more complicated map design than the other routes (and I know I haven’t done the church yet, but I’m pretty sure all but their last map are reused from one or more other routes), but for these two “complicated” did not mean hard. Chapter 21 reminded me of Shadow Dragon’s endgame, with your army split into the four corners and the boss in the middle, but even with that division and all the same gimmicks from the Fhirdiad chapter of Azure Moon - the giant mechs, the lightning turrets that in this case you can’t deactivate - it was pretty simple to tackle. I got surprised by Thales’s Quake spell killing Raphael from halfway across the map as soon as I opened the door to his room, but that’s what Divine Pulse is for.

And for all that I’d heard bad things about Chapter 22, it was the easiest last chapter of the three I’ve played so far (although I did have three fliers...). You can remove the poisonous swamp covering most of the terrain by killing one of the casters in the north, and killing one in the south cuts off the beast reinforcements. The reanimated Ten Elites were for the most part not very threatening either, and once they’re down Nemesis has only one HP bar and is locked to the attack range of a normal unit. He’s more in line with how FE typically handles its final bosses, in that they’re far from the hardest challenges of their respective games.

Oh, this was something I forgot to nitpick for Crimson Flower, but what is it with this game sticking treasure chests in its final chapters? I could understand if there were a postgame, but there isn’t - and I’m going to wager DLC isn’t going to add one somehow. What’s even the point?

Story/Character observations

Alright, let’s tackle the Agarthans, which is what I’m going to call them from now on in place of Hubert’s stupidly clunky title. After some thought it doesn’t bother me that Shambhala is a metallic monstrosity of LED lighting, robot mechs, and some kind of techno rave backing track. This is for a few reasons: one, that it distinguishes them aesthetically from the numerous other dark cults in the series (particularly the Loptyrians, with whom they share a similar backstory of seeking revenge after being driven underground long ago), and two, that the other characters in the game see their technology as alien and nearly impossible to put into terms they understand. The playable cast consistently refer to the missiles as javelins of light, Lorenz looks upon Shambhala and declares it impressive but not beautiful, and Claude can’t find a word for the Titanus mechs other than “things.” And anyway, repackaging modern technology as ancient to squeeze it into pseudo-historical settings is a time-honored gaming trope. For another recent example, Breath of the Wild provides the same handwaving excuse to all its ancient Sheikah technology - tablet computers with cameras and GPS, laser-touting killer robots, and all.

Now, when Thales’s secret Plan B is revealed to be an army of corpses led by Nemesis and the Elites, all complete with replica versions of their Relics, that’s classic Fire Emblem right there. It’s specifically a callback to Jugdral’s Deadlords, which saw later revivals (pun intended) in spirit if not always in name in Blazing Sword, Awakening, and Fates. Odd how the Elites manage to be less threatening than the Deadlords of Genealogy and Thracia even with fake versions of legendary weapons....

The jury’s out on whether Byleth being named ruler of a united Fódlan in this ending is more or less stupid than Corrin becoming ruler of Valla (plus territory from the other two nations arbitrarily gifted to them) in Revelation. At least Fódlan is in the position of needing a ruler and not an empty, desecrated country in another dimension where the laws of physics are kind of screwy. Of course Byleth is unqualified, but everyone loves them and Rhea (whose fate in this route is uncertain, but it never says she dies?) probably put in a good word with everyone. Make no mistake, it is still stupid, but in my opinion there are fewer leaps of logic required.

As for Rhea, she surprised me by spilling her true history and the origin of the Relics and the Crests in this story, and even that Byleth has Sothis’s heart/Crest stone inside them. The whole spiel doesn’t absolve her of the large-scale deception she’s been perpetrating for centuries and I can absolutely see why she’d step aside in the epilogue after blowing her cover to someone with Claude’s particular ambitions, but it does make her more sympathetic. It also puts an even worse spin on the entirety of Crimson Flower, with Edelgard instigating her rebellion based on a bunch of misinformation that she never learns about because she kills Rhea before the truth ever becomes known. But at least she gets Byleth’s heart beating? Not that I care, naturally.

If Verdant Wind makes Edelgard’s crusade and death seem utterly pointless, it’s even crueler to Dimitri, dying offscreen in a feral rage and leaving his vassal to carry out his vengeance. Dedue’s fate - destroying Edelgard’s body, then leaving for Duscur or parts unknown - is approximately equivalent to Finn wandering the Yied Desert after the war, except he would have nothing to come back to even if he ever does*. In hindsight I’m glad I played these three routes in the order that I did, because with each one the scope of the story has gotten successively larger. That’s not to say that Verdant Wind’s story is more satisfying than the other two, but it’s got the narrative space to look beyond the heavy personal dramas of Dimitri and Edelgard.

In the end I still don’t buy that Claude is selling exactly what he claims to, and that he doesn’t have some further scheme to control Fódlan himself after the credits roll - hell, several of his endings including the all-important S rank with Byleth imply just that. But I think that’s part of his charm, witty and inspiring even as he’s manipulating everyone around him. Claude is unique among FE lords; what a shame he’s straight.

(But if you asked me if I would rather have not had all the heavy subtext surrounding Dimitri in exchange for a romantic S support between m!Byleth and Claude, my answer would always be no. Even setting aside that Byleth is a non-entity to me, I don’t see Claude’s big ambitions not including a wife with whom he can produce heirs to rule over whatever the scope of his eventual dominion turns out to be - and Three Houses already features two instances of Byleth not being allowed to be a homewrecker.)

Speaking of which...Alois’s S support. It’s not even slightly romantic, or interesting. Their ending in Verdant Wind doesn’t see Byleth marry someone else, but that only means it’s about as romantic as their paired ending with Gilbert.

*There’s room for a fix-it fic where the ginger warlock NPC who tells you what happened to Dedue tracks him down in Duscur after the war, and the two of them establish a rapport where Dedue learns to love again and ginger warlock learns to love being a size queen. Hey, if everyone’s going to stan the hell out of that unnamed gatekeeper the sky’s the limit right?