#well what if that���s just how augmented humans look sometimes?

[cordyce]

(we are written) in the sand and in the stars

Neteyam x Reader

Fic Summary: Sullys stick together. That is something you have heard since the beginning. But when you are forced to uproot and leave your home, it is something you must learn to fully take to heart. You are not technically a Sully, but you fight like one. And that in turn is enough to be shielded like one as well. There is no choice but to openly accept that this family, these Na’vi, are your fortress. It is perhaps harder, though, to accept that Neteyam has seemingly appointed himself as your personal guard.

༄ CHAPTER ONE: THE TURNING OF THE TIDE

Chapter Summary: It’s quite normal for you to find yourself in a position where you’re forced to rescue your siblings out of whatever trouble they seem to get themselves into. This time, though, the trouble they stumble in has your life uprooting right out from under you.

Next Chapter | Read on AO3

Change is not always wished for.

Sometimes it just crashes in; ebbs and flows like the ocean waves as the tides attempt to conquer their never ending battle of easing against the grain. It does not give you much of a choice, does not care about your contentment in the moment, whether or not you are ready to embrace it. Fair amounts of times there is no warning, no siren to let you know of its approach.

It simply comes. And it uproots you from the comfort of where you find yourself to be planted. Your roots being forced out of the only soil that you know, that makes you who you are, that augments you.

And it plants you elsewhere.

Life on Pandora was the only life you knew, the only life you would ever know. You were born here, on the ship before the initial war happened. Apparently guns aren’t the only thing the human military doesn’t know how to keep to themselves, because you weren’t the only baby left behind either.

Growing up with Spider by your side as your off-the-record brother was a bit unorthodox, especially in the early years. You were older–by just a month, but you’d forever hang it over his head–and you felt that weight on you from the start. Which in turn might be where the guilt that settles so cooly in the bottom of your gut spawns from.

He has always been so curious, adventurous in his own right in a way that seemed to always tie him into trouble and get dragged down by it like a rope around the ankles. And you were always the one responsible for cutting him free, cleaning up his messes and tugging him back to reality when he would venture out too far in his escapades. The tether tying you two together was knotted and it reflected in how you felt the kinks tug at you like a bind on your wrist.

You were both human, exceptions that were allowed to run free in a fleeting sense among the Omaticaya clan and embrace it as you so chose. The Sully children were more accepting, more open to the thought of the two of you being there, than the rest of their people. You understood that–and you thought Spider did, too–but it was still so easy to selfishly question why you received such shunning looks as a child as you walked around their home.

Yet, it was comforting–to know you had someone who could really relate. Being orphaned in the same place really does wonders in bonding with one another. So maybe that’s why you felt so guilty, so contrite when it all went down.

You were still so young–just seven years old–when you started getting sick. The technology carried over by the scientists on Pandora was vast, sure, but it wasn’t like there was a research hospital planted there that could explain every medical outlier that occurred. So when they tried running tests, monitoring vitals and having trials with the different medicines they had on hand and nothing seemed to work, you came to mature conclusions at the brink of your childhood.

You were going to die, is what you had deduced. A month before your eighth birthday and your prognosis was due up by before then. And it was scary, of course, (the concept of dying is not an easy one to swallow, let alone for a seven year old) but you were more worried for Spider.

Leaving him there? Alone? As the only human child in all of Pandora when you yourself knew what it was like to feel like an oddly placed outcast? It hurt you, pained you, but even when you were bound to the confines of your bed you put on a brave face.

Because, after all, that’s what older siblings are supposed to do, is it not? Make sure their siblings never have to worry about anything? Make sure they think everything is okay?

It was then you learned the very dire lesson of what it meant to fake it until you make it. Smiling at Spider’s and Lo’ak’s absurd stories about whatever bind they had gotten themselves into this time and using your hand to cover up the blood you felt on the tip of your tongue as you laughed. Shielding him, protecting him, until the very last second.

But, as stated, the technology on Pandora was quite vast. And, while it was clear there was no human antidote that could cure you of whatever ailment was plaguing your body, there was a last stitch resort.

It was Kiri, who you heard propose it to Dr. Max.

To this day you think her origins are what give her such enlightenment about things, what opens her eyes to solutions of problems that always hold the best intentions and always seem to have ties to her soul. Even at such a young age. She’s connected to something, whether it be the pure humanity that Grace once held or something else, you’ve never been quite sure, but it has never failed to captivate you.

There was one singular unattributed Avatar that had been a sort of.. test.

Being the first abandoned baby left behind on Pandora in lieu of the resolution of war meant more opportunities. While the scientists knew full well how their prior Avatars maintained, there was a bit of a question in hindsight. Why not have one grow alongside you?

It seemed like more of a moral dilemma than it really was, but all you had to attribute was a sample of your DNA, which was really harmless enough. The Avatar would not be used–not while the driver was still young, at the very least–but it would be monitored, observed. They already knew how Avatars grew when being aided with rapid growth hormones during their flights from Earth, but this one would be left to run its natural course.

Unbothered, undisturbed, isolated from every outside force besides the scientists who were cleared to be in the room with its amnio tank, it grew freely. You had never seen it, never asked about it, because it was a touchy subject to address. After all, Spider didn’t have one, and while it seemed partially trivial to you (it’s not like you were going to be able to use it anyways), you could see how jilted it made him. So no one chose to bring it up into conversation.

That is, until you were dying. And suddenly Kiri’s seemingly innocent suggestion held more vital weight than anyone could ever imagine.

It took a bit to prepare and things like this tend to take some convincing. It was hard enough the first two times, bringing in one of the sky people for a consciousness transfer is never an easy subject to propose, understandably. But you were a special case. You were different; sick, innocent, familiar.

You were a dying child.

It wasn’t primarily easy but it was also easy enough convincing Mo’at to attempt the transfer when Jake carried you to her. You were frail, weak. It was clear your time was running out and running out fast, mere grains of sand away until your hourglass’s top half went empty. So it was set into motion accordingly.

After all, even if it was unsuccessful you were going to die anyway. It’s not like there was much to lose.

The night of your transfer was the first night you’d ever seen your Avatar. Looking over as Neytiri carried it, walking next to Jake as they took you to the Tree of Souls. Staring into a Na’vi-esque mirror is the best way your young mind could think to describe it. It looked like you, but it didn’t. It looked Na’vi, but it still had its flaws.

That was the last you saw of your Avatar before you were placed at the roots of the tree next to it. The feeling was strange, alien, as tendrils began to connect to you. You figured that was about accurate– alien. Though up until this point (and after) you realized that was how the Na’vi viewed all aspects of you.

Your last memory before you felt your consciousness slipping was the touch of each member of the Sully line pressing their palm to your temple. Jake, Neytiri, Neteyam, Lo’ak, all of their presences known to you. Spider wasn’t there, he was not permitted. And as your eyes fluttered shut and your consciousness regressed, you wondered what he was thinking about it all.

That was your last thought, before white light engulfed your mind.

Fast Forward - Present Time

“We will need to run another raid as soon as possible,” Jake states, looking to where the three of you were flanking him on your ikrans. “Keep them on their toes. Back to back blows will be the most effective.”

“Yes,” Neytiri nods, “Continue to cut off supplies.”

“More patrols should take place. Son, I need smooth patrols. If you are not up for that–”

“I am,” Neteyam interjects instantly, and your gaze flickers to him as he does so. His expression is serious, promising. “There will be no more errors, sir. Smooth patrols only.”

You study him, cinch your brows as he makes this promise as if he’s the one who chooses to stray from the marks. You suppose you get it though, understand the duty he feels to attempt to bear the chastisement for his younger brother. Still, it seems a promise too faltering to keep.

As if he senses your thoughts on this, his eyes dart over his shoulder to you. A side eye as if asking you to not comment on it, not pipe up. You hadn’t planned to but now you have the urge to retort something just because. However, you don’t have the chance.

“Devil Dog? Devil Dog, this is Eagle Eye. Over.”

Lo’ak’s voice over the comm brings all of your attentions back to hand. If not for his randomness, then his tone came through wired enough to have you all focused.

“Eagle Eye, send your traffic,” Jake answers, fingers to the button at his throat.

“I got eyes on some guys. They look like Avatars, but they’re in full camo and carrying ARs. There’s six of them. Over.”

The change in the air is instant. Despite flying it feels stiff, like the four of you are suddenly suspended rather than gliding. Lo’ak’s news means there’s people on the island, which you’re all obviously well aware of. But it doesn’t just mean that. It means there are Avatars, and if he doesn’t recognize them then it’s very clear on who they belong to.

Jake doesn’t miss a beat. “What’s your pos? Over.”

“Uh..” A breath. “We’re at the old shack.”

His father stiffens on the back of his ikran and sends a tense look to his mate. “Who’s we?”

There’s a pause now, at this question. A short one, a slight hesitation. You feel a tingle at the tips of your ears that doesn’t sit well with you. There’s a touch of static, a falter, then the silence breaks.

“Me, Spider, Kiri.. and Tuk.”

You see Neytiri’s eyes widen. You watch as Jake’s jaw clenches. You take note of how Neteyam’s grip tightens ever so slightly. And you become fully aware of the feeling of your stomach dropping as if you’ve fallen off your ikran from the peaks of the mountains.

“Son, you listen to me very carefully,” Jake instructs, no waver in his tone. “Fall back right now. Do not make a sound. Get the hell out of there. Move. Copy?”

“Yes sir,” Lo’ak hits immediately. “Moving out.”

Neteyam shakes himself free first and sends a glance back at you before moving up and getting in line with his father.

“Dad! I know a quick way,” he affirms, then instantly banks a hard right to which the three of you follow close behind.

For a moment you wonder how he knows a short cut. It was forbidden by Jake and Neytiri (especially the former) to go anywhere near the old fight zone, for anyone. So how would Neteyam know a way? If not that he had already been? Had not already broken that rule?

The thought turns trifling immediately after you have it though, because the weight of the situation finally hits you. It’s not just your friends turned family down there, it’s your brother. Your mindless, idiotic, always getting himself into these absolutely stupid situations brother.

The shortcut suddenly seems far too long to be considered as such.

As soon as your squad lands, you’re all immediately sliding off the backs of your ikrans. Jake and Neytiri are gauging up and you find yourself stepping right along with them, Neteyam as well.

“No no no. Stay with the ikran.” Jake lifts a hand to the two of you, looking at Neteyam a bit more intensely as he gives his order.

“But Dad,” Neteyam butts in, taking another step forward. “I'm a warrior like you. I’m s’pposed to fight.”

“Neteyam.”

Jake hardens his gaze. “I’m not gonna say it again.”

Neytiri gives her son one last look then shoots one to you before the pair turns their backs and brings up their weapons. You bite the inside of your cheek, clench the handle of the knife at your waist.

“Yes sir,” Neteyam mumbles back obediently. He turns around himself and brushes past you to walk back next to his ikran.

You stare after their retreating forms for a moment. Staying behind and doing nothing does not sit well with you. Not to mention the building up of anxiety in your chest that has your fingers twitching and your ears wanting to press back against your skull. Whirling around, you stalk back to your ikran and pull your bow off of where it's cinched to its side.

“Where are you going?” Neteyam catches you by your wrist as you go to follow the path your clan leaders have just taken.

With a shake of your hand you loose his hold and fix him with a glare. “I am not going to stand by while they are out there alone.”

It’s raining, and a drop hits you on your cheek that feels strangely cold. The pattering of rain in the forest normally calms you, puts you at ease. But it is different this night. This night, you can hear the artificial animal calls Neytiri and Jake are voicing to signal to their children. This night, you are on edge as you wait for your family to be returned to safety.

This night, you hear a blaze of gunfire.

Both you and Neteyam snap your heads in the direction of the noise. You suck in a breath, harden your hold on your bow at the sounds of yelling and machinery going off. You’re taking a step forward instantly, but just as quickly you’re being shoved back from your path.

“Let me go, Neteyam!” You hiss, bare your teeth at him as he locks his hands on your upper arms and pushes your back against the tree.

“You stay here,” he jeers right back. “Stay here in case they come back. You do not stray.”

You shove against him, get your back a few inches from the bark. “I will not– ”

“Stay here!” He barks in a tone you know to be his future leader voice as he forces you back again. There’s a squeeze to your arms, reassuring but also pleading. The look in his eyes is one you can only describe as desperate. “Rutxe.” [ “Please.” ]

Neteyam has this sort of air about him that tends to command respect, compliance. So maybe that is what steels you as he retracts his grip and runs into the forest. You watch him for a moment, hand still on your bow before your eyes flicker to your surroundings. Surely the ikrans would warn you if they sensed any incoming danger that you had not, but as you draw up your bow you think it right to be better safe than sorry.

It’s painstaking, the waiting. You twitch and turn at every creak and crack you hear around you. Wondering when and who is going to be coming through those trees first, who will reach the brink of safety in order.

The gunfire continues and unfamiliar voices mixed with those you know all too well seem to get closer and closer. It’s like everything begins to heighten, increase and expand like walls closing in. There’s a snap to your left and you ready your bow, pointing it in the direction your ears lead you just in case.

But it is no foreigner. You drop your weapon as Lo’ak and Tuk breach the small clearing and skirt in panting. Tuk jerks her hand free from Lo’ak’s when he stops to bend over and catch his breath, not faltering until she runs straight into you.

“Tuk,” you sigh in relief as she collides into your arms. As you’re kneeling to embrace her, checking for any injuries or damages on her young self, the second group of your clan comes through.

“You okay? Are you hurt?” Jake questions instantly as he and Neteyam make it into the clearing. Lo’ak shakes his head, and you do the same when he takes a quick glance to Tuk as she runs to him the next second, high sobs falling from her lips.

A bright light sweeps over the forestry and the Sully brothers step up to your sides as all of you look up to see an RDA aircraft come down to retrieve their men and then fly away. Just as they’re falling out, the missing segment of your family tumbles into the huddle.

Tuk makes an immediate bee line for her mother, who wraps her arms around her and exhales gratefully. You’re still on your knees as everyone begins embracing one another, holding and clinging and regaining themselves after too close of a call.

But not you, no. Slowly, you rise onto your feet and put your head on a swivel. Not everyone is here. Not everyone has been reconnected.

“Where’s Spider?” You ask, under your breath at first before his absence fully hits you. “Where’s Spider?!”

Kiri gets on her feet herself and a cry shatters out of her chest. She takes a step towards you, shaking and trembling as she reaches out.

“They took him,” she sobs. “They took him.”

As Kiri crashes into you, you feel all the breath evacuate your lungs as if you’ve been hit so hard your chest has concaved. You grip onto her, weeping and crying and gasping so harshly you feel as if you will never be able to breathe again.

A hand comes to your head and you feel yourself and Kiri being tugged into a firm chest. “Hey, it’s alright, babygirls. He’s a tough kid. Shh, shh. He’s gonna be okay,” Jake comforts and shushes, hooking his chin over the tops of your heads as he pulls you in tight.

“We’re all gonna be okay.”

But you do not believe that for one second. You can not all be okay because you are not all together, you are not all safe. Your brother has been captured by the very people who destroyed this land and population decades prior. Nothing is going to be okay. Not everyone is going to be alright.

And the solution decided for this problem only reinforces that for you.

[youngpettyqueen]

2 garashir 👀

lessee 2 is... sick! YES. GARASHIR SICK FIC BE UPON YE I looooooove a good sickfic tysmmmmmmmm

please enjoy alien flower shenanigans, Julian being a big baby, and Garak dealing with the mortifying ordeal of loving somebody and wanting to be soft for them

"Doctor," Garak says, lovingly, patiently, with a smile, "You need. To eat."

Julian, lying amidst the tangle he's made of his sheets, pouts at him like a disobedient child and says, "Don't wanna."

Garak counts to 3 and reminds himself that he loves this man very much. "Julian," He tries, sweet as honey, "You haven't eaten a thing all day, and it's dinnertime. You need to eat to build up your strength, or else you're going to end up in the infirmary on a nutrient solution," He reminds him, "What would you rather have, a nutrient solution, or this delicious soup I replicated just for you?" He holds the bowl up invitingly.

Julian scowls at him, the way he always does when he knows that he's right. The sight is usually amusing, but right now, with Julian's face flushed red as Earth tomatoes with fever and every part of him soaked with sweat, it just looks... well. Pathetic.

"...Soup." Julian mumbles petulantly.

Garak's smile widens. "There's a good boy," He says, which only makes Julian's scowl deepens. He shifts how he's sitting, moving closer to Julian so that he can get a spoonful of soup and hold it out to him, "What is it Mrs. O'Brien says to the little one? Here comes the airplane?" He hums.

Julian looks at him like he wants him dead. Even so, he blows on the spoonful of soup, then lets Garak feed it to him. His scowl softens, as Garak knew it would- it's a curry soup, one of his favourites- but he does make an uncomfortable face to indicate that the nausea hasn't fully passed.

Garak tries not to let his concern show as he feeds his doctor another spoonful. Julian came back from his latest away mission sick, after inadvertently triggering the defense mechanism of some sort of flower, which had stuck his hand full of thorns. Jabara told him the thorns were coated in some sort of toxin, which had infected Julian and left him delirious with fever and stuck at a dangerously high temperature. The antidote, synthesized from the toxin itself, has brought his temperature down enough that his brain won't boil, but the fever still stubbornly refuses to break, and Julian is still uncomfortably overheated nearly constantly. The toxin has been potent enough that Julian is still sick two days later, but he's slowly getting better with regular injections of the medication.

Even seeing Julian get better before his eyes, Garak still can't help but worry. Humans are so very prone to toxins, especially those of the fatal varieties, and Julian's augmented immune system can make things... unpredictable. Sometimes something will barely faze him, and other times it will hit him even harder than it would another Human.

"'S hot." Julian mumbles after another spoonful. There's a sheen across his forehead again.

Garak grabs for the cloth he's taken to keeping handy and gently wipes at his face. Julian's hair curls and sticks to his forehead, and he takes a moment to brush it away before it dries. "I know, dear," He says sympathetically, "But you won't eat the gelatin because it, quote, feels bad, and anything else turns your stomach. Soup is the only thing you've been able to keep down," He glances at the bowl, which isn't steaming, but he knows it's warm because he can feel the heat through the bowl, "I could always ask the replicator to make this cold if-" Julian makes a face, and he sighs, "Never mind, then."

Julian winces, looking very much like a little animal that's been kicked out into the rain. "Sorry..." He offers miserably.

Garak sighs quietly. He can't be annoyed with Julian when he's this pathetic. "You've nothing to apologize for," He tells him softly, "It isn't your fault you aren't well. Just a bit more, that's all I ask." He holds out another spoonful.

Julian hesitates, and Garak braces himself for an argument. But, then, Julian puts on his best brave face and eats. Garak balances the bowl on his lap so that he can dab at the doctor's forehead again as he feeds him a few more spoonfuls, getting about halfway through the bowl before Julian finally shakes his head and refuses another bite.

"I can't," He says, "'M sorry, I can't..."

"That's alright," Garak soothes, with a tenderness that would've turned his stomach a year ago. He's never been the softest of people, but this situation requires a certain gentleness. He's found, in the months since their relationship became official, that being gentle is easier when one is hopelessly and dangerously in love, "You did well. I know it wasn't easy." He sets the bowl aside on the bedside table, to be taken away and recycled later.

He turns back to Julian. "How's the temperature?" He asks.

"Hot," Julian groans, "God, it's so hot... are you sure it can't... it can't go lower?" He asks.

Garak can only nod. "I'm sure," He replies. The temperature in here is as low as it can possibly go. He's been freezing his tail off, even bundled in a plush jumper that Julian had gifted him, but he'll gladly suffer the cold if it means his partner might get some relief, "I could get another cold compress, if you like." He offers. He's been running so hot they only stay cold for a short period, but it's better than nothing.

Julian shakes his head. "No," He mumbles, "No, don't... don't want you to go." He reaches out blearily, fumbling through the tangle that is his sheets before he finds Garak's hand, which he weakly grabs hold of.

Garak can't help but chuckle softly. "Really, my dear, I'll only be gone for a moment," He gently frees his hand, and Julian whines softly and tries to take it back, to no avail, "I'm sure you can spare me for just a brief moment, if it means you'll be able to cool down a bit." He suggests.

Julian rolls over towards him, and Garak is hit with the full force of what he's come to know as the puppy dog eyes. An expression so named for how it resembles an Earth puppy, and for how completely disarming it is to anybody who looks upon it. Julian is very good at this expression, especially when he's feeling poorly.

"I don't want to be alone." He tells him, and his voice is so sincerely miserable that Garak can't even be annoyed at how ridiculous the sentiment is, because Julian would literally be alone for less than a minute.

"Alright," Garak concedes in a sigh, if only because he thinks Julian might actually try to get up and come with him if he insisted on going, which would only end in disaster seeing as how he's had to practically carry him to use the fresher, "Alright, I'll stay. But," He reaches over, rests his hand on Julian's cheek in a gesture of sickeningly sweet care, "If it becomes unbearable, I expect you to-"

Garak's hand makes contact and Julian shivers in response. He starts to pull away, alarmed, but Julian moves the fastest he's moved these few days to grab hold of his wrist and plant his hand right back against his face.

"Julian?" He prompts, way more concerned than he should be.

Julian sighs contentedly, rubbing his cheek against Garak's palm. "Cold." He says simply.

Ah. That would... that would make sense. The room is cold, and despite the jumper, Garak still feels as cold as ice. Were he on Cardassia he would be able to retain heat from the sun, but here on this station, getting warm is a hero's journey in and of itself, and it's nearly impossible to stay warm. Add in a room that is, to him, freezing cold, and he imagines he must feel like one great big ice pack.

He brings his other hand up and, hesitating only momentarily, he places it on Julian's other cheek. Julian murmurs happily, also grabbing hold of that hand and holding it in place. Garak can feel the fever heat radiating off of Julian's skin, and it feels... nice. Alarming, to feel that he's still so warm, but Garak is a simple Cardassian and he can't deny that the heat is pleasant to his frigid hands.

How hadn't he thought to do this earlier? He can forgive himself for the couple days prior- Julian's skin had been hypersensitive and anything rougher than his blanket had him gasping in pain, so Garak had scarcely touched him- but since yesterday that particular symptom had dissipated. He could've been doing this all day. It probably would've worked better than the multiple cold compresses that have hardly touched the burning fever that rages through his doctor's system.

"Better?" Garak asks, unable to help a smile. Annoyed as he is with himself, he's far more pleased to see Julian content and happy in his hands, a silly smile on his face as he squishes Garak's hands against his cheeks. He looks rather like a Cardassian who's found a nice patch of sunlight to bask in.

Julian nods. "Much," He hums, very nearly purring like a cat might, "Can you do this... forever?" He requests.

"You have an hour until I need to get your next dose." Garak replies.

"Aw," Julian whines. Garak just raises a brow ridge at him, and he relents, "Alright, alright," He sighs. Still holding Garak's hands against his face, he smiles again, and adds, "Sorry for being... such a handful."

Garak softens entirely, melting like he's been left out in the sun too long. "My dear doctor," He murmurs, his thumbs brushing over Julian's lovely cheekbones, "If I may borrow one of your sayings... you may be a handful, but you're my handful," He leans in, and presses a sweet kiss to Julian's forehead, "And I wouldn't have you any other way."

It's not particularly pleasant, kissing Julian like this. He's sweaty, and sticky, and the smell of infection hangs around him like a sickly sweet perfume. But it makes him smile, draws a raspy little chuckle out of him, so Garak finds he can stomach the unpleasantness. In fact, he finds he can stomach it enough to give Julian a kiss on the nose, just so he can hear that huffy little laugh again.

How hopelessly soft he's become. Not for the first time, he thinks it wonderful that the thought no longer makes him want to retch.

[strykingback]

G5 Iguazu vs Cinder. One Casts The Die While the other doesnt...

So. I just recently finished up Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, amazing game by the way~! Well there was one villain that just came to mind when one of the characters from AC6 stood out to me the most and how I realized that he was more like another CERTAIN character from RWBY but written a lot better.

Now before we begin!

Warning! There will be Spoilers for Armored Core 6's True Ending Path! If you have not played AC6 or watched a playthrough of it PLEASE LEAVE THIS POST NOW.

1. Backstory

So we might as well get the bullshit out the way for Cinder's past. Basically she was a random orphan that was picked up by some random ass hotel and was abused by the proprietress and her two daughters that look like they got rejected from the Shining. However, Cinder would find comfort in a Huntsman who would train her and even show care for her like an actual father figure. To which Cinder would put in an application to one of the academies in Remnant.

But the two Shining rejects basically end up finding out....somehow and burns her application which pisses Cinder off as she kills both of them and the proprietress of the hotel.... and thats it? I mean we dont see how she is later on adopted by Salem.... we dont see anything else... I mean. For fucks sake... this is why RT needs to put more effort in this shit. Like I get it you have to do fairytale allusions but if you're doing a twisted version of it atleast make it more twisted than going the generic "Cinderella" route.

Now onto G5 Iguazu. Oh and fun fact. Iguazu's name actually comes from the Iguazu River in Brazil and Argentina! Anyways, Iguazu was once a backstreet gambler always betting big and trying to go for anything that would go his way. However, he would usually bet big and lose, which he consistently did until his misfortune landed him in debt which he had to undergo generation 4 surgery making him part of the C4 Augmented human series. Which he would pilot an AC making him part of Balam Industries, Redguns which is commanded by G1 Michigan.

However, Iguazu being a prideful little shit, would try to fight Michigan but would lose.... like LOSE BADLY. Which ended up permanently disfiguring him. However he would find camraderie in the Redguns through Volta as both sported beetles on their AC's (Armored Cores) and would even have quarrels sometimes..... But the two seemingly made a pact with eachother to punch the crap out of Michigan and leave the Redguns to go where the wind will take them.

Now with Cinder and Iguazu it is kind of understandable where both came from. Both had shitty upbringings but, one of them was trying to bet big in order to win (Which will play A HUGE part later on in Armored Core 6's story) and Cinder just had the worst luck ever and could not find her freedom leaving one shitty family to enter in another.

Now while not much is known about Iguazu's upbringing but by the means of a backstreet gambler, I can only assume that he lived in a place that was in poverty (judging by how the Armored Core franchise is mostly but dystopian) and the only way he could escape it was by gambling.

For Cinder it was to escape her abuse only to be once again sent to another place to face abuse... but with merits.... thus do we enter their motivations.

2. Motivation *Cue the Vergil Voice!*

Cinders motivation is pretty simple, she want power. Thats it. Power to stand above those who stood above her. Even made worse with how she is 0-2 in getting Maiden powers just like a Cleveland Browns 0-16 record back in 2018(?) Even how though she "tries" her motivation is just waaaay too simplistic man. Like I get it. You want power so you can be all powerful just like what Salem said yadda yadda-fuckin' yadda.

Instead, Cinder keeps getting bodied and tricked up and even she got owned by Watts for her stupidity and willingness to NOT LEARN and use strategy! Like seriously how you just gonna be a villain that I feared in Volume one and become the most cheapskate wannabe Vegeta that I know!

Now for Iguazu, his is kind of simple but it is VERY well done. Both 621-Raven (Basically you) and him are both Generation Four Augmented Humans. You would think he would be a bit excited or interested in 621, but no. He's not simply calling him some freelancer that would get blown away immediately.

Instead, this would earn Michigans ire and even as 621 exceeds Michigans praise and honor. Which would make Iguazu pissed off that some independant merc got more praise than Iguazu the same person who fought Michigan and lost. Which would become a recurring theme later on in New Game++

However.... we dont see him until the Ice Worm mission because when we climb the wall during the mission briefing we find out thatG4 Volta died. And his final words were all but depressing.

Volta wanted Iguazu to change and listen to Michigan and its true. Michigan does care about his soldiers and despite his Drill Sergeant attitude towards the Redguns, he really does care about them. I can only imagine the sorrow and the anguish, Iguazu felt knowing his only friend in the Redguns had died....in combat and when he even teased 621 about being the first to climb the Wall in the mission Operation Wallclimber.

Only for him to lose a dear friend and partner in crime, I can only imagine him getting pissed off and now having a motivation to try and beat Raven (NOT RWBY's RAVEN!). Yet, him being a little shit as always he would end up stating how he wont participate in the Ice Worm mission only to be nominated. and if you hit the shot with stun cannon on the Coral Weapon...

Iguazu is left in shock and awe...but this does not last forever as he is taken down FIRST and adding salt to the wound he would made fun of by V.II Snail and Michigan, while Raven would take down the Ice Worm

Raven, an augmented human from the same Generation as Iguazu was, hit something harder than what he can hit. This only added fuel to the fire (Ha get it....since the title is Fires of Rubicon..... ahaha. Screw you Im funny....) as when you are exploring the depths of Watchpoint Alpha you get a final encounter with him...and beat the crap out of him but. He makes some interesting points.

That he is just being laughed at for his failures and how he wonders why Raven is more special than he is. But behind his jealousy and vitriol is someone who wants to shine as bright as Raven as they are just carrying out orders.

However his inferiority complex and pride would lead to his final defeat. To which it is solidified in the mission Intercept The Redguns that he would desert the Redguns and is possibly killed offscreen by Arquebus.... which would continue in the New game+ route until hitting the Alea Iacta Est Route... is where we see some differences in Iguazu and the payout for these two characters.

3. Payout *KACHING!*

Cinders Payout was definitely her getting the powers of the Fall Maiden, via Volume 3. Now you would expect her to become the biggest threat in Volume 4....nope. It was bit of her learning how to train with those powers. Which is understandable you have a new power that you need train and get more familiar with now that you have it at its maximum output. In Volume 5.....ahh.. you know what time it is. DJ! Play the music please!

Cinder ends up getting her shit rocked!!! Not once by Raven, but even is made into a STRAIGHT BITCH by the Winter Maiden who was about to pass away and then into Ruby following up with a Silver Eyes blast and then in Volume 8 she gets ROCKED AGAIN by Penny!!!

Like this is just embarassing and only for Watts to tell it straight to her face like: "Bitch you AINT SHIT!" holy fuck some RWBY stans expect me to feel bad for her. I DONT. cause once again Volume 1 I expected her to be queen badass here. Only to be made Queen of gettin' packed up! GOT PACKED UP SO DAMN MUCH THAT THE ONLY WAY SHE WAS ABLE TO "Win" was to have Neo do all the heavy lifting for her and when she finally was needing to throw her die.... and yes she did "win" but to me she took her chance to gamble and it failed. I do agree with many people and I wish Salem killed or possibly tortured Cinder right there and then for her wasting the last question on petty vengeance rather than taking a strategic standpoint.....

Yet she rolled the die and "won" but in reality lost.

Now... with Iguazu it takes a dark dark turn. By the time you are exploring Watchpoint Alpha, you come across the boss room where you are supposed to fight Iguazu only to find it littered with destroyed MT's and one of which holds an archive log....

And it is revealed that IGUAZU WENT AS FAR AS TO HIRE AN ASSASSIN AFTER YOU BACKSTABBED HIM AT THE DAM , BODIED HIM DURING A SECRET DATA BREACH, FLAUNTED AGAINST THE ICE WORM IN STYLE BY THE WAY.

only for this man to literally call you at saying that I should have went easier on the poor lad , which you didnt. You basically gained fame as an independent mercenary after climbing the wall in turn was a jab at Iguazu's pride which was only becoming more and more fragile by the second. Especially with the insults being shot at him by his commander and other Redguns.. something was about TO SNAP.

And when we finally beat him during an alternate mission of Reach the Coral Convergence.... and reach the final boss of the Alea Iacta Est ending......

Iguazu Casts The Die....and decides to make one LAST gamble.

Iguazu.. in a desperate and insane need to restore his pride. Sacrifices his humanity to Allmind and becomes one with the very machine..... and actually puts up an INCREDIBLE fight. Even so during the second phase....

Iguazu goes balls to walls crazy! Even in some cut lines that those C-Weapons are also being piloted by him because of his hatred and how salty he is that the Coral (the sentient fuel) resonates with him! (due to how Armored Cores own orbits also need to be piloted by the AC pilot as well!)

Yet even with all that power, he still cannot kill Raven because he gets outclassed by them and even better is how his AC in the second phase has "wings" when he is flying meaning that he is also flying on "Borrowed Wings" unlike Raven who had to prove himself to the predecessor to claim that name.

And even to the point where ALLMIND calls Iguazu a mistake and Irregular.... which sets him off EVEN MORE, and when he is finally defeated...

He simply admits he always envied Raven... a freelancer who had all the skills and weapons necessary to outclass him and in the Japanese dub.

Iguazu begrudgingly ADMIRED Raven. Going to show that he actually did have a soft spot for Raven even if he didnt want to admit it. Because Raven was brave enough to face off against all odds and come out of it either unscathed or on the verge of defeat. Even how Iguazu during the final bits of health you have states that "This is where that grit of yours comes in"

Which Iguazu admits defeat and passes away peacefully while ALLMIND states one last time about their plan for Coral Release..... that finally Iguazu is at peace...

Thats why I think Iguazu was a better villain than Cinder. Even with many AC6 fans being surprised with Iguazu being the FINAL BOSS of the true ending rather than ALLMIND. His pride, his backstory, and his motivation all outclasses Cinders....

Because whenever we think of Cinder we think about her drive to be powerful and to stand above all else. While for Iguazu it is a need to prove on why he is strong and going as far as to hire an assassin, fight Raven four whole times, and still be outclassed only to admit defeat and attempt one final attack only for it to blow up in his face....

Gun Five Iguazu is a definition of a Tragic Villain done right... and there is enough evidence supporting this as well.

Now I know that I may have made some mistakes in this and if I did please let me know and the two videos I linked above this does a much better job explaining this than I did. Anywho... get in that AC pilot... and I'll show you how to pilot it and cross the Rubicon.

[aug-archive-1]

An Amature History of Solaris, Section #2

Day 90

I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but the devastation we’ve witnessed in this phase of our lives makes me want to have a long conversation with the big man upstairs.

Though I try to remain stronger than the flesh, the buildup of mold and moss and cracks on the sidewalk wear on me. Things don’t work anymore. Most of my apartment in the government district is destroyed. Everyone else can’t even get to their homes. It’s nice enough here, but it doesn’t feel like home, and it’s starting to grate on me.

It’s starting to grate on everybody. What’re we doing here, where should we be going?

I mean, 3 went on the expedition. It spooked the devil out of him.

Corpses and feral animals and buildings growing dank and musty from a lack of use. The fetid, decaying corpse of a city, ravaged by us as desperate scavengers to bring ourselves to what is left of human dignity. The city’s not just out of power - it’s been ravaged by desperation. It’s been destroyed, the utopia truly gone. Solaris feels dead, outside of this one restored corner we’ve been kept in, blind to the true extent of the damage. 

3 was rattled. The rest of us are nervous to see what’s out there.

Solaris was so… grand. I remember when the buildings gleamed and greenspaces were well tended and beloved. I remember the days when every automaton’s ceramic mask face was shined to perfection. Nowadays, 23’s is dull, flowers fading and eyes looking more and more hollow - considering they were hollow in the first place, it isn’t much of a help. 

The sheen of the apocalypse has ended, friends. It is now the mundanity of waiting and hoping and rebuilding; perhaps, we become something like what we remember. Or maybe we just claw at the dirt until we can’t claw anymore. 

Speaking of dirt, the garden is doing well. It’s the bright green patch we possibly control, and occasionally take mint and cherry tomatoes from. I tend to it more and more, learning things from 8. The others are good teachers, and good listeners too - I’ve been keeping a study, to keep my own cool. A few of them are indulging me, but some of the others believe. 

14’s been working on the radio, sometimes in the middle of the night (yes, dear, I’m aware). I’m glad she’s keeping busy. It’s hopeful, what she’s found so far. I’m proud of her, it’d be good to find more human survivors; I’m amazed there’s more of us.

Being down for 2 years was a blessing as much as it’s been a curse - I wish we’d had those years to get used to us all. Now all we have is 90 days worth of electricity, maybe more or less, depending on how 1’s expedition goes.

Imagine, the power district back - the light rails up and running. Freely charging all of our helper bots, getting the other automatons up and running, being just… happier, I guess.

I’ve got a guitar scavenged from out there, some music to keep my soul, but we need more than that, you know?

The automaton and the other bots are fine like this. Well - they’re a little off, different from how they used to be, more likely to leave you alone and do their own thing unless asked something. But they’re fine, better than we are. Unsurprising. 

It was fascinating to talk to 23, the radio interview. I remember the long conversations we’d have over the automata - are their souls our obligation to save? To try to save, if they even have souls? Do we love them like we love our neighbors? 

There’s no doubt that 23 loves us. That it cares for us and wants to fulfill its duty to us. Do we owe 23 for this? To paint its mask back to perfection? I can’t paint. Maybe someone else can.

Theology was easier when we only had extensions and augments, to simply consider them parts of us. 23 enjoys humor, has memories and a sense of self. Does it have a soul? Is it one of us? Did it have a soul when it was a prosthetic arm, leaning into the needs of the person it was attached to? 

Did we simply not have the ears to hear what it would have said?

I don’t know. I want to do something about this.

I’m sorry, whoever’s reading this. It isn’t much of a history of Solaris anymore, so much as it’s a eulogy for the city, an update on our lives.

We’re all trying our best, right now.

Press enter for next...

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #130: Marie Antoinette (Caster)

The encores keep coming on Fate and Phantasms with today’s build, Marie Antoinette! A volleyball player in D&D is probably one of the weirder things we’ve done so far, but I’m sure we can set up something good for y’all. Charm everyone you can, and smash those you can’t in the face with your beachballs!

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet here!

Next up: Met a girl(s), crazy for me!

Race and Background

As a variant of Marie, you’re also a variant human, giving you +1 wisdom and charisma. You’re a bit more active than your rider counterpart, so you also get Athletics proficiency and the Fighting Initiate feat, which nets you the Thrown Weapon Fighting fighting style. Now you can grab and throw weapons in the same move, and you deal +2 damage with thrown weapons! Sadly, WoTC forgot to weaponize balls in D&D, but light hammers are the closest thing we have to work with. Yes, that does mean Tortle Antoinette is dangerously close to being a Hammer Bro.

Like always, you’re a Noble, giving you History and Persuasion proficiencies.

Ability Scores

If you know anything about Marie, you know her Charisma is pretty high. If we want to be good a sports we’ll need some Dexterity though, make that second. Your Wisdom isn’t half bad, you were a queen once. Your Constitution isn’t amazing, but hey that just gives you an excuse to order one of those umbrella drinks and relax. Your Intelligence is rather low by elimination, (again, no one wants to think in the summer,) but you’re not stupid so we’re still dumping your Strength. Surprisingly, beach balls aren’t heavy lifting.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: Remember when I said not all of the summer servants were going to be beach ready? I’m starting to think that might not be true. As a monk, you get proficiency with Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as two monk skills. I’d grab Acrobatics for more volleyball skills and Insight for better rulings.

You also get Unarmored Defense, making your AC based on your wisdom as well as your dexterity, and Martial Arts. Now you can use dexterity instead of strength when attacking with monk weapons (light hammers are simple, so they count), and you can make an unarmed strike as a bonus action after attacking. Also, all your monk attacks do a minimum of 1d4 damage, which scales as you level up. The good news is it only gets better from here.

2. Monk 2: Second level monks get a number of Ki points each short rest equal to their monk level. They can use these to make two attacks, dodge, disengage, or dash as a bonus action. You also get Unarmored Movement, helping you get across the court thanks to an extra 10′ of movement speed that also increases as you level up.

3. Monk 3: They probably wouldn’t tell you this, but it turns out Way of the Kensei monks are super into beach volleyball. That’s why at third level you learn the Path of the Kensei, a totally not confusingly named feature that’s really four features in one. You get Kensei Weapons, a melee (Light Hammer) and ranged (Darts? It doesn’t really matter much) weapon that will be used by later features. One of those is an Agile Parry, giving you a bonus to your AC for a round when you make an unarmed attack with a kensei weapon in hand. Use the volleyballs for ranged attacks, hands for melee attacks, they’re pretty mutually exclusive. Another way to use your deadly weapons is a Kensei’s Shot, which normally doesn’t come up in these builds. Using your bonus action you can deal an extra 1d4 of damage each time you make a ranged attack that turn, effectively doubling your output. You also learn the Way of the Brush, which will be super useful when you’re stuck making manga over and over again in summer 3.

Finally, you volleyball skills come in handy by teaching you how to Deflect Missiles. Using your reaction you can set a ranged attack to deal less damage to you, and if you mitigate it entirely you can spike it back at the attacker.

4. Monk 4: Your very first Ability Score Improvement will go towards Dexterity. Being able to aim your shots helps. You can Slow Fall to reduce sandburn from those dives, and you get some Quickened Healing for a bit of that sunflower power, spending ki and an action to heal yourself.

5. Bard 1: Despite everything, you’re still you. And You is still a bard! This means you get Performance proficiency to get the crowd on your side, as well as some Spells you can cast using your Charisma. You can also give Bardic Inspiration to your allies a number of times per long rest equal to your charisma modifier. This lets them add a d6 to one of their attack rolls, saving throws, or ability checks.

Speaking of spells, Light will make you the center of attention, either creating a light source out of thin air of turning an object into a free torch. You also get Friends, Charm Person, and Animal Friendship to wrap the world around your finger, because some things never change. If you have to get a bit forceful, you can also use Command, or Cure Wounds if you’re in a more merciful mood.

6. Bard 2: Second level bards are Jacks of All Trades, adding half your proficiency bonus to checks that don’t already use it. As a queen, you have to be well-versed in just about everything. You also get a Song of Rest, adding 1d6 to healing done over short rests. Finally, your Magical Inspiration augments your bardic inspiration. It can now be added to spell damage and healing. 

Speaking of spell damage and healing, Bane does neither of those things. However, it does force a charisma save (DC 8 + proficiency + charisma modifier) on a couple creatures, and the ones that fail subtract 1d4 from all attacks and saves they make for the duration. You’re pretty distracting.

7. Bard 3: Your bard levels aren’t changing things up much from your original setup- yes, you’re still going to the College of Glamour. As a glamour bard, your Mantle of Inspiration can be built using just a use of Inspiration and your bonus action, giving a couple of friendly creatures 5 temporary hp, and the ability to react to move without causing opportunity attacks. 

You can also put on an Enthralling Performance. After you play for at least a minute, you can try to charm a couple people who saw the entire thing, basically turning them into your groupies if they fail a wisdom save. You can use this once per short rest.

Finally, you get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus in Acrobatics and Performance. You’re good at what you do, and even better at making it look good while you do it.

You can also cast Calm Emotions to soothe enemies or friends alike. Like Guda always says, “An enemy is just a friend that’s still trying to kill you.”

8. Bard 4: Use this ASI to bump up your Charisma for stronger spells and more inspiration.

You can also cast True Strike this level for more accurate strikes, or Enhance Ability to inspire greatness in an ally, giving them advantage on one kind of skill check for the duration.

9. Bard 5: At fifth level your bardic inspiration grows to a d8, and you become a Font of Inspiration. That means your inspiration pops back up on short rests and long ones!

Being a queen isn’t easy. Even if you’re nice you still gotta punish people sometimes. Sometimes that punishment is curses. Bestow Curse can help with that. This is one of those open-ended spells- if your DM’s cool with creativity, you can probably do some nasty stuff with this spell.

10. Bard 6: Sixth level bards can waste an action on Countercharm, giving allies advantage against being charmed or frightened for the round. Alternatively, you can use your Mantle of Majesty as a bonus action, allowing you to cast command for free each bonus action and upon use. Any creature charmed by you automatically fails the save, but this feature uses your concentration, so it’s only really useful with teamwork or your Enthralling Performance. You can use this once per long rest.

We can duplicate the effects of your noble phantasm easy, but none of these really make you a giant glass jellyfish, do they? Major Image can help with that. This creates an illusion that fits within a 20′ square, and you can move it with you too!

11. Monk 5: Bouncing back to monk for an Extra Attack each attack action. You can also make a Stunning Strike, forcing a constitution save (DC 8+proficiency+wisdom modifier) or they’re stunned for the round. (This only works on melee attacks tho, boo hiss.) 

For something more useful, Focused Aim lets you spend 1-3 ki points to add 2-6 to an attack roll. Volleyball is all about that aim.

12. Monk 6: Sixth level monks get Ki Empowered Strikes, making your unarmed attacks magical against resistances. You also become One with the Blade, which makes your kensei weapons magical against resistances, and you can use a Deft Strike to add your martial arts die to your damage once per turn.

You also get another kensei weapon, but it doesn’t really matter what you pick bc we’re still volleyballing here.

13. Monk 7: Once again, you get the super useful Evasion, halving damage from failed dex saves and removing damage from successes. You also get a Stillness of Mind, letting you spend an action to shut down frightening and charming effects.

14. Bard 7: Bouncing back to bard again for some fourth level spells, like Charm Monster. Fish love you, women love you, basically everyone loves you.

15. Bard 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Dexterity for more AC and better attacks. Turns out, monks like dexterity! Who’da thunk it. Your glass dress also gets a bit scarier at this level, turning it into a Phantasmal Killer. If your target fails a Wisdom save, they become frightened, and at the end of each turn they have to make another save or take psychic damage. Technically this makes one of their worst fears, but I bet glass chafes something awful, so I’d count it.

16. Bard 9: Ninth level bards get a stronger song of rest, and you can cast fifth level spells! Dominate Person forces a wisdom save on a creature or they get charmed. While charmed, you can issue commands to the target or take total control of them. You’re a celebrity, you do what you want. And other people do what you want too.

17. Bard 10: Tenth level bards get a d10 for their inspiration, and they get Magical Secrets, two spells from any spell list. Also a cantrip, which makes introducing the spells succinctly a pain in the ass. You get a Thunderclap if you spike the ball hard enough, but the stars of the show are Conjure Volley (yes we got it entirely for the pun) and Find Greater Steed. Horses aren’t practical on a beach, but glass horses aren’t about practicality.

You also get Expertise in athletics and persuasion to truly master volleyball and the popularity that comes with it.

18. Monk 8: Use your last ASI to bump up your Constitution for 18 free hit points.

19. Monk 9: Your unarmored movement improvement lets you literally walk on water, for those dramatic Baywatch-style shots.

20. Monk 10: Your final level gives you a Purity of Body, making you immune to disease and poison. Not the flashiest way to end a build, but I def wouldn’t complain about that right now.

Pros:

Throwing hammers around gives you a range advantage on most melee enemies, and your monk mobility gives you plenty of speed to abuse it with.

Your high dex and kensei features make your shots accurate, and your damage consistent. 

Despite trading half your bard levels for monk, you’re still charming as all hell- literally. Fighting still isn’t your strong suit, but you’ve got plenty of ways to avoid them where possible.

Cons:

YOU ARE USING LIGHT HAMMERS. There isn’t even a stereotype about them in those “what does you favorite weapon say about you” videos because NO ONE USES THEM. Even with being a monk, you still won’t be doing much damage with them. Pulling out all the stops nets you 2d6+1d4+6 Bludgeoning damage at level 20. Let the fighters take care of the fighting, you’ll be a lot happier for it.

A lot of your abilities are tied to inspiration and ki, both of which are limited resources. 

Unless you’ve got an artificer in your group or a generous dm, throwing weapons are a pain to use. You’ve either got to carry around a lot of them (which might be an issue with your dumped strength) or get used to picking them up between attacks.

[canvas-the-florist]

Just a Little Flir-Tea

Ship(s): Romantic Moceit,

Warnings: food mention, misunderstandings, a lot of puns

Summary: Patton and Janus are enemies of the mindscape. Except, are they? Janus thinks so but could he be wrong? No… They must be enemies. Who else would tenderly make tea with him?

Word Count: 1.3k

-

   Patton walked throughout the mind palace, humming a song without memory of the lyrics. In his hands he held a plate of chocolate chip cookies and passed by Janus who was sipping tea and sitting calmly at the table. Well, he looked calm but he was really seething. How did Patton have the right to be so serene and happy and cute while they were obviously about to fight about something?! Janus could swear that Patton didn’t understand rivalries at all, it was very frustrating.

   Everything he did was absolutely infuriating. Patton would stare at him sometimes, and always seemed to “accidentally” become more clumsy. Janus would usually get back at him by responding to his puns without a reaction or pretend he was fine with it all. But something about Patton always riled him up and Janus couldn’t understand. Even with how Janus was treating him Patton would go out of his way to see him. What was his deal?

   “Oh, hey Janus! Fancy seeing you here!” Patton greeted, tilting his head to the side as he smiled. Janus’s face grew hot… FROM RAGE thank you very much and he put down his cup of tea. “Well, I guess you’re always fancy with the hat and cape and all.”

   Janus raised an eyebrow as Patton sat down next to him. “Wow Patton, what a delight to see you… in my personal space. That doesn’t bother me at all.”

   “Oh, that’s good! I wouldn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.” Patton placed the cookies next to Janus’s cup of tea, which spilled off the table, almost hitting Janus’s leg. He jumped up with a whelp, summoning the rest of his six arms before regaining his composure and coughing to lose the exaggerated expression. The arms didn’t disappear, instead Janus wrapped himself in a very dramatic arm crossing that only he could pull off. Patton put a hand over his mouth, with concern? Was he laughing? Janus couldn’t really tell but felt embarrassed anyways. “You okay, Jan? I’m so sorry I didn’t tea that coming!”

   Silence followed after the pun, with Janus staring blankly at Patton. Janus closed his eyes, the extra arms disappearing in a golden light before looking back at morality with an unenthusiastic expression. “That was a stretch, even for you.”

   Patton got up, smoothing the wrinkles in his pants with a small laugh. He walked over to Janus who stepped back a little bit. “Yeah, my bad. I won’t get oolong face about it though. Seriously, are you okay kiddo? I can get a towel or something.”

   Janus felt the human face of his face heat up again, possibly from the tea. Maybe it had gotten him after all? Patton furrowed his eyebrows, his head tilting to the side again. Janus looked away. Then, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned back. Patton didn’t have any malice in his face. They were rivals though, Janus felt really confused. They were supposed to be RIVALS. Not friends or anything. That’s how it was… Patton smiled and Janus’s shoulders relaxed. Wait no, he had to keep his guard up. It could be a trick or something!

  “Let’s go to the kitchen okay, I’ll get you a different cup of herbal tea. You like the mint lemon one, right?” Janus was so confused that he just nodded.

   “How did you know that?”

   Patton blinked and thought for a moment, contemplating. He dropped his arm back to his side. “Why wouldn’t I notice that, Janus? You drink a cup every morning. You’ve been making it at the same time I start baking! Now, c’mon I wouldn’t want my favorite reptile to get a stain on your cool cape!”

   That’s when it happened. Patton kissed Janus’s cheek and walked in the direction of the kitchen, after picking up the overturned tea cup. Janus felt like his brain was short circuiting. He blinked a few times in the now empty room. His hand hovered over his scales, imagining what just happened repeatedly in his head and then turned around to head into the kitchen after Patton. What happened to being rivals? Patton was humming the same song from earlier while washing the teacup in the sink so Janus could presumably use it again. He put the cup on the counter.

   “Do you want to help make it? I don’t want to mess it up.” Patton gestured to the cabinet to the right of him. He didn’t mention the minute he was standing idly in the other room and Janus was almost grateful. Almost. Janus walked over and filled the kettle with water and started to heat it up. His head felt heavy as all the thoughts in his mind seemed to be wrong. From a kiss on the cheek? He should gain his composure. He’s deceit! The scary snake boy with a wonderful aesthetic! Janus needs to calm down. “Hey Janus, not that I don’t love your enthusiastic hisses to yourself, the water is boiling.”

   Janus quickly lifted the kettle off the stove and hissed at Patton. “You didn’t think to mention that earlier?”

   “Sorry! I just-”

   “Patton why did you kiss me?” Janus asked, putting the kettle down. He looked back to Patton who seemed startled. Janus didn’t mean to bombard Patton with questions but he was really confused.

   “Chai don’t know what you mean?” Patton clapped his hands. “Oh, earlier? Was I not supposed to do that? I’m sorry but we’ve been dating for a couple months now and I-”

   “Stop with the puns- wait… dating?” Patton nodded. Janus thought back in his memory, thinking back to any moment he agreed to date his nemesis. It would’ve been. He suddenly remembered the start of the rivalry. Patton asked him to… go… out… “Oh.” OH.

   “Janus?” He sunk down the floor hiding his face in his hands. “You okay, bud?”

   Patton knelt down into a squat next to Janus, who mumbled into his gloves. “I think I… need to stew in my own emotions and regrets for a moment.”

   “Don’t you mean… ‘brew’ in your own emotions?” When Janus didn’t respond, Patton sighed quietly and stood back up. “Okay, bud. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I’ll leave you to that.”

   “Actually-” Janus grabbed Patton’s hand. When Patton looked at him, he blushed and looked away. Patton gave a soft smile that Janus didn’t see. “Actually, I wouldn’t mind some company to spend it with. If you want! I, uh, be-leaf that we have something to work out together. But for now… want to just be here for a moment?”

   Patton slid down the counter, still holding Janus’s hand as he joined him on the floor of the kitchen. They didn’t talk for the first few minutes as Janus was mentally beating himself up over it. But eventually they started talking. Patton was more endeared than offended by the one sided rivalry. Janus even laughed a little as Patton described his side of the story. In the end, the tea was forgotten on the counter. Janus decided that a romantic partner would be nicer than a rival. Well, if the second kiss said anything about that.

-

   Roman walked into the kitchen, looking behind him with more interest “Hey, Patton I noticed there were some cookies left on the table and I was wondering if I could have-” He saw Patton asleep on Janus’s shoulder. “OH MY I’M SORRY FOR WALKING IN ON ANYTHING BYE.” He walked out quickly, passing by Logan along the way.

   “Why did you augment your volume-” Roman grabbed Logan’s arm and walked them out of the dining room. “Roman, Roman stop ignoring me what’s happening-”

Taglist: @theeeami @made-of-love-and-loneliness @yourfellowsmolgay

[gamelpar]

A Second Chance

Red Team origin story.

Jerome never stopped fighting; he just chose to fight for something else.

Characters: Douglas-042, Jerome-092, Alice-130, unnamed Spartan-II trainees, Dr. Haley (mentioned), Chief Mendez (mentioned)

Warnings: a little angsty i guess, death (minor unnamed characters), guilt, sorrow, suffering, my writing at its finest

a fanfic for my lovely Red Team babies and anyone else in the Halo fandom who adores them as much as me. they truly do not have the amount of content they deserve.

edit: read it on ao3

______

A few years had gone since Jerome woke up in an unfamiliar bed in an unknown facility on a planet called Reach, and a woman---Dr. Halsey---had gathered him and a big bunch of other kids his age in a room and told them that they were to become the protectors of humanity and Earth and all her colonies. Him and 74 other candidates  were to be trained to become soldiers of the UNSC.

He’d resisted. Others had as well. Some tried to escape. Jerome tried to escape many times despite knowing Mendez and the other DIs would always be waiting for him, always using more physical force and different tactics to throw him off from attempting again each time. He refused to be intimidated, though, and there were recurring instances where his violence towards the DIs that tried to stop him exceeded way past the limits that other trainees generally didn’t dare attempt to reach. He’d managed to even send a few to the infirmary with injuries that required immediate medical attention. He swore to himself that he would never stop fighting.

However, he eventually came to accept this new life, this new responsibility that was put on him. There were people---Dr. Halsey foremost---who held faith in him. Who believed he was capable of so much more, and what if he was? He didn’t stop fighting, no---he just chose to fight for something else, and in the last months he’d risen quickly among the top candidates.

In the absence of his real family back on Minister, he’d become close and forged a friendship with some of the other trainees, and eventually they became a team---something like family---most of them no longer remembered the family they’d originally come from. They became Red Team, with Jerome as team leader.

------

During a game of Capture the Flag, Jerome and his team faced off against another team in which a certain trainee, Douglas-042, was a member of.

During one of the rounds he’d advanced for Jerome but Jerome had evaded his blows and moves and beaten him, and advancing further Red Team ultimately won the game. The anger that he’d seen blazing in 042’s eyes was something he would never forget. The anger was familiar. He’d felt that same anger himself. It is still there, seething around inside him but he has control over it. Something that 042 yet had seemed to master.

Jerome had watched him sometime afterwards, and it quickly came clear that it was a serious issue of 042 that he struggled to fix and control, and was often berated by Mendez and the other DIs for it.

You have to learn how to control it, Jerome told him once during lunch, after Douglas’ and his team lost another game. It was the first words he said to him. You need to adapt sooner or later. Like I did.

-------

Jerome-092 remembered pain---unexplainable pain, and crying and screaming as his limbs thrashed around and he tried to move, tried to escape. And then nothing.

He woke up high on painkillers; mind fuzzy, body throbbing with pain, skin dry and cold, insides burning like a blazing fire. He couldn’t breathe. Soon there were doctors and nurses all around him.

Washout. That was what they had called him. You have been washed out of the program.

You failed.

They told him his body had rejected the augmentation procedures but that he was lucky. He survived.

Many others didn’t. Jerome was the only member of his team who’d survived. His friends---people he’d known as family---were dead. Their deaths, slow and painful.

Gone.

A knife twisted its way into his heart and he felt broken.

They told him the procedures had crippled him but that he was lucky.

There were others who’d been crippled in worse ways than he had. Those who barely looked human anymore. The knife twisted deeper and waves of guilt, sorrow, anger---emotions Jerome couldn’t distinguish---hit him on and on.

33 survivors fit for duty. 30 dead. 12 crippled, Jerome included, and it all left him with a great sense of failure, guilt of a survivor, a soul and body shattered and wasted.

He’d accepted the new turn of events of being raised and trained as a soldier. He never imagined that something inevitable would happen to render him unfit for that purpose after fully committing his life to it.

He went into rehabilitation and a few weeks went by which were spent performing different types of exercises, scheduled for several medical appointments, undergoing therapy sessions and more, all as part of a scheme created to help him recover from the failed augmentations.

One day Chief Mendez had come to speak to him, curious of how he was holding up. Jerome had told the Chief the truth but didn’t express the sense of guilt and failure he was constantly tortured by. The Chief had nodded in response and told him his rehabilitation was going well. So well, he told him that he would be given a second chance.

A second chance.

A second chance to become a soldier, a second chance to become a Spartan. Become what he had spent his life since he was six training for. Jerome could hardly believe it, mostly because he feared it was false hope. Mendez explained to him that his failed augmentations hadn’t crippled him as severely as it had for others, and that the progress of his rehabilitation had been shown promising enough for a second attempt.

A second chance; he’d do anything for that. If it meant that he had to be re-trained and suffer through re-augmentations, then so be it. He’d dishonor his dead and crippled comrades if he didn’t take it.

Mendez had also told him that he wouldn’t be the only one. There were others like him who would be given a second chance. Jerome felt a bit uneasy by that. It still felt like only days had gone since he’d lost his friends---his whole team, and their deaths were still fresh in his mind. But perhaps building up a new team would give him something else to occupy his mind with.

------

It was during his first day of the retraining in one of the facilities that he had been joined by another trainee. One like him, who’d failed the augmentations but been given a second chance.

Jerome immediately recognized Douglas-042.

His gait was still a little stiff from the failed procedures despite having been through rehabilitation like Jerome, and his skin was paler than ever. His jaw was clenched and Jerome suspected he was still in some pain; Jerome’s own bones still ached and his mind was a little dizzy sometimes.

“Hey,” he greeted him.

“Hey,” Douglas greeted back, his gruff voice carrying a sense of wariness of the current situation. 

“Jerome-Zero-Nine-Two,” Jerome introduced himself. He didn’t know if Douglas recognized him; it had been a long time since their first interaction when Jerome had offered his advice. And the air was tense with uncertainty and uneasiness. Just something small and simple to tone it down, maybe.

“Douglas-Zero-Four-Two,” he replied curtly, scratching his neck. Jerome scratched his arms, the silence pressuring in on them.

They remained quiet for just a few minutes when another trainee joined them. Alice-130.

Jerome recognized her as one of the most capable and determined trainees he’d ever faced off against in training. 130 had quickly become known among the 75 of them as being one of the few who didn’t seem as traumatized by the sudden change in their lives like many others were.

Rather, she seemed to thrive on it. The hard and difficult training had been a series of seemingly impossible challenges for all of them, but 130 had been as determined as always to succeed, seemingly taking each lesson she was taught to the heart. Jerome held no doubt that out of the three of them, she’d been first to embrace the new path presented in her life while Jerome had whole-heartedly refused to accept it and Douglas had struggled with the grave differences his new life presented in contrast to his earlier.

She was driven by her yearning for action and lived for the combat and challenges she faced. Never one to be driven and blinded by anger.

He admired her for that.

They introduced themselves to her and she did the same, before things went quiet again. The air was still as tense as before.

“So…” Douglas tried but quickly trailed off. None of them really knew what to say or do. It was scary to believe that they’d been given a second chance when the program had labeled them as washouts.

But they had that in common. They were washouts, who failed the augmentations, who were given a second chance while wondering what had gone wrong, why they failed the first time, why they survived when so many others of them didn't. It wasn’t fair.

Life hardly ever was.

Jerome fiddled with his fingers on his arm. The three of them would supposedly become the new composition of Red Team, and he would again serve as team leader. He better get comfortable leading a team consisting of members he hardly knew.

“They gave us a second chance,” he began carefully, eyeing Alice and Douglas, attempting to draw out a response from either of them to better understand their take on the situation.

“Neither of us wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t the case,” Alice replied hesitantly, her strained voice betraying the hopeful excitement glimmering in her green eyes.

Jerome took a deep breath; at least he wasn’t alone in this.

This had to be a second chance.

He’d lost people he’d considered family and he missed them every day dearly. The knife was there again and twisted into his heart. There was pain and guilt. Douglas and Alice probably felt the same. They’d lost something as well. The three of them had been through the same events with similar losses. The three of them were the same.

It was a second chance.

“Yeah,” Douglas said warily after a moment, then quickly cleared his throat and spoke again, this time with more confidence and optimism. “It has to be.”

“Despite everything,” Alice continued, her voice a little stronger.

Jerome nodded. They hardly knew each other; they were still in pain but despite everything they have a second chance here. They should take it.

“A second chance,” Alice voiced his thoughts. “I’d take it.”

“Yeah, me too,” Douglas said in agreement and Jerome nodded his. A second chance.

Alice let out a breath and when she spoke next her voice didn’t sound as strained as before, her tone more that of confidence and determination. “Then let’s make sure we make it count.”

Make it count. A second chance to create something for what each of them had lost.

Don’t waste it.

Jerome no longer felt as wasted as he did before.

“Agreed,” Douglas replied, eyes shining now with the same determination and he rolled his shoulders a bit to loosen them up. “I’d say we better get started then, eh?”

Alice nodded at his proposal, challenge burning in her eyes.

Jerome looked at them. Each of them had suffered and lost much but it didn’t mean it was the end of things. They didn’t know each other well, but that would change.

It was a new beginning, maybe.

“Yes,” he said, loud and clear with confidence. A second chance for something new. “Let’s get started.”

[just-char]

In which this is a Steampunk AU, Meryl is a medic/detective, Percy is her robot partner, Ramsey is a wanted con-man, and Molly is an over-worked mechanic. Extreme detail under cut; you have been warned.

It is the 1800′s-But-With-Advanced-Technology and anyone with the brains to build one or the money to buy one has a robot to do their bidding. While some A.I.s become more than humans’ servants, it’s not easy to garner respect from the people that built them, and they are treated as second-class citizens in fear they will revolt. The government intentionally releases incorrect statistics and funds propaganda to fearmonger citizens into believing a robot-rising could happen any day. In this universe, you have: Meryl Lockhart: A young medic working as a detective in Sweet Jazz city. She has an anxiety disorder and frequently experiences anxiety attacks at work. Because of this, she is often underestimated and treated with a lack of respect, something that greatly bothers her. As far as androids go, although she is terrified of them, she does try to treat them as well as she can. However, she is terrified that if she works with Percy and says/does the wrong thing, she will malfunction and possibly hurt her. Percival King: An android made originally for detective work specifically, Percy has carved her way in her work as an independent worker that doesn’t need an owner and is the only android working in the police station. Despite this, she is not given her due respect by other officers (Who often refer to her as ‘Detective Defective’ as she does not always work as intended) and is rarely treated equally by her peers, who are mostly jealous she is so good at her job and afraid they will be replaced. Recently, she has been upgraded by Sylvester Ashling to have an ‘Anxiety Assistance’ feature specifically for Meryl.

Ramsey Murdoch: A sneaky rat man and salesmen, Ramsey Murdoch is an ‘augmentation’, a human who has been given mechanical parts in order to help him live an easier life. Unfortunately, the easy life these days is in crime, and his main occupation is swindling unsuspecting shoppers in the market with his fake jewellery. He claims to have knowledge on the whereabout of Zora Salazar, a known augmented terrorist who wants to free androids completely of human control.

Molly Blyndeff: An overworked child mechanic. Molly works in her father’s shop (though he is never around) fixing robots and androids, as well as building and tinkering with her own creations. Unfortunately, her ears were hurt terribly in an accident when she was younger, and she is not old enough to be augmented to fix it. For this reason, anyone who enters the store must respectfully remain as quiet as possible. She is a strict Robot Rights Activist, and believes androids should be able to choose what they will be. She has a special place in her heart for Percy, who is her second favourite robot.

Giovanni Potage: Originally created to cook and serve soups in a fancy, over-priced restaurant, android Giovanni quickly gained sentience and defied his creators. Now, he hides out in Molly’s store, begging her for ‘cool’ upgrades to his robot form and frequently leaves to protest for rights by inconveniencing humans. For the most part, he is harmless, though he has been in trouble with the law. He believes Percy is foolish for working for the government when they actively oppose android rights. He is Molly’s first favourite robot.

Zora Salazar: An augmentation who has experienced the unfairness of the law first hand, Zora Salazar uses her constantly improving mechanical parts to violently protest the treatment of androids and augmentations. However, she is not opposed to hurting and killing those she believes stand in her way or work against her, and her methods are barbaric. While at one time her point may have been good, her anger has clouded her judgment, and she is fighting for no one but herself.

Sylvester Ashling: A psychologist who dabbles in mechanics, Sylvester Ashling usually spends his time researching the effects of growing dependence on robots in the society on the psyche of others as well as how sentient androids think and feel.

Mera Salamin: Rich engineer who wants to fully augment herself in order to cope with her crippling illness. Does not really care about the state of the population or the Android v. Human mess, just wants to not be in pain.

Indus Tarbella: An Android built by Mera to protect and defend. Likes humans and androids and just wants everyone to get along! :]

Basic Plot

Meryl is partnered with ‘Detective Defective’ Percival King for her anxiety. After being put on the case to find a con-man, the two of them head to the town square and split up. While Meryl deals with ‘Big Crowd Panic’, Percy runs into the very friendly Ramsey Murdoch, who introduces himself as ‘Larry Biggs’ and attempts to sell her fake gold. When she reveals she is looking for a con-man, he offers to help. ‘What a lovely salesman,’ thinks Percy, whose facial recognition processors do not work. After apparently neither of them have found anything, Percy drags Ramsey to meet her partner. Ramsey, realising he has doomed himself, is immediately apprehended by Meryl. However, he insists he has information about a Anti-Android Terrorist, Zora Salazar, that will be much more valuable to them than his arrest. While Percy is initially hesitant, Meryl, who wishes to prove herself to the other Officers, convinces Percy it will be beneficial for her mental health and the two of them embark, alongside the Rat Man, on a steam punk adventure, during which Meryl overcomes her fear of robots and learns there is more to them than meets the eye, and Percy learns that sometimes laws are unfair and she is more than what she is made for. There is, somehow, even more to it than that, but I will save you from spending years reading this. Thank you if you did get to the end of this post, you must be insane. If you any questions about this AU, please feel free to ask them. :]

[luckofthecosmos8]

Raven Among Crows

This is something I wrote forever ago for a class but I figured I could put it here, It may not be the best, but I’m satisfied with it.

--------

Lourraine unconsciously shrunk in on herself, the jeering laughs around her seemed like they were concentrated on her, instead of the poor soul her friends had targeted. This constant fear was starting to get tiring.

“P-please.” The pixie pleaded. A little thing really. Pale, with some of the brightest red hair Lourraine had ever seen. “Don’t hurt me.”

The pixie’s bright blue, diamond shaped irises alighted on her’s and Lourraine had to tighten her fists. She comforted both herself and the pixie by reassuring herself that her friends wouldn’t hurt the pixie. Pixies were highly empathetic, so the bullies could think as many violent thoughts towards her and overwhelm her, but so long they didn’t cross any lines she would be fine.      

“I don’t know,” Nickolas, the unspoken leader started, “I heard that wings cost a pretty penny these days.” He rested a foot on the small girl’s back, directly between the delicate wings.

Lourraine’s heart seemed to stutter in sync with the wings, the thought of that beautiful kaleidoscope being forcefully ripped off the girl’s back momentarily knocking her out of breath.

“Guys.” Somehow, she kept her voice steady, so much for those aforementioned lines. “It isn’t worth it. Leave the thing alone.”

Nickolas and the rest of the group turned to her, and Lourraine resisted the urge to hunch in on herself, or to check on her ears. Instead she held their gazes unflinchingly.

Nickolas sighed. “I suppose you’re right, come on guys.”

The pixie seemed to be saying thank you with her eyes.

 ---

 Lourraine didn’t often fall asleep in class, but when she did, it was always suddenly and heavily. She had always likened it to an enchanted sleep.

It was cold in the forest, or at least what appeared to be a forest. It was so realistic, Lourraine had to remind herself that this was just a figment of her imagination, the chill settling into her, bone deep.

“If you believe in yourself, the cold might prove to be less of a problem than it actually is.”

“Who’s there?”

Lourraine felt a tap on her shoulder and she whirled around. She was expecting to find a lot, but for some reason coming face to face to a man that couldn’t have been older than her didn’t include itself in the list of possibilities.

“You can call me Kura.” He gave her a warm smile, despite the harsh weather. He was pale, and his dark hair only served to intensify it, his dark clothing seemed to have the same purpose, all blues and purples and the occasional red, though he was wearing nothing that could be counted as warm in the winter. His eyes were the palest blue she had ever seen, almost white in their intensity, it made Lourraine self-conscious of her own brown eyes

“Hi?”

Another warm smile. “You can be quite fierce when you want to be.”

Lourraine gaped at the man, Kura, momentarily. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your independency.” Like that was the most obvious thing in the world. “It’s obvious you can support yourself, you are your own person with your own personality and values and yet you decide to depend on those you call your ‘friends’. Like a sheep following the herd because it doesn’t know any better.”

“That’s not…”

“Not what? The truth of the matter? We mythological creatures have been oppressed by humans the entirety of our existence, we have learned to put aside our differences and stand together for our rights and yet here is a Fae. Half-human you may be, Fae blood still runs in your veins and you are standing with the humans despite your own desires.”

“What do you know of my desires?” An admittedly stupid question to ask a figment of her imagination, but she could care less at the moment.

Kura shrugged. “Perhaps nothing or maybe I know more than you’d think. My only role here is to help you be truthful to yourself. To acknowledge the person you want to be, instead of the person your ‘friends’ want you to be.”

Lourraine clenched her fists, this guy was so annoyingly cryptic and yet… ”Why do you even care?”

“All snowflakes fall under my domain, it`s my duty to help them, it brings me pleasure to see them thriving.”

Her brows furrowed in confusion. “I’m not a snowflake.”

“No. But like them you’re unique, and I would hate for that to be stripped from you.”

“Thanks for caring, I guess.” She said aloud, underneath her breath however, “what a weird dream.”

Kura chuckled. “Whoever said it was a dream?”

“What?” Lourraine abruptly shot up in her seat, the wintery forest gone from her senses. All that remained was the hard seat of her chair and the sudden attention of her classmates and teacher. She sank back in her seat. “Sorry.”

 ---

 Nickolas was bullying the poor pixie again. It was becoming worse, Lourraine could tell. When she had shown up, she could spy a bruise staining the delicate skin of the pixie’s cheek.

Nickolas laughed uproariously. “How weak, and to think that humans once feared your kind.” Lourraine glanced away at the remark, she was ashamed to admit that sometimes she wished for those days again.

Lourraine gritted her teeth. Those days were long gone and yet the words of her manifested dream persona kept ringing in her ears.

Nickolas suddenly grinned and planted his foot in the middle of the pixie’s back, to both of their surprise, and gripped one of the colorful wings. “How about this? A sign that humans have nothing to fear and my next allowance.”

The pixie cried out. “No! Please, anything but that! Please, I’ll do anything!”

But to Lourraine’s mounting horror, Nickolas only grinned wider and started gently tugging. Thankfully, pixie wings were stronger than they looked, but that still must have caused incredible pain.

“Stop! Nickolas, she gets it! That’s far enough!” Lourraine almost surprised herself by shouting in defense of the pixie, but her words rang true in her own heart. It was enough.

He only chuckled in response. “I’ll decide when it’s enough.”

The pixie screaming only worsened her anxiety and within the next second something within her had snapped.

“Stop!” Her shout, augmented by sudden wind was nearly deafening. Nickolas was pushed away violently from the pixie by a sudden flurry of hail.

Nickolas gaped at her, eyes shooting to her revealed pointed ears before meeting her glaring eyes, ignoring the sudden downpour of rain indoors, a fact neither seemed to notice or care for at the moment.

“You?” He matched her glare with one his own when recovered from the shock. “I trusted you and all this time you were one of them?”

“That’s right. And now I’m telling you to back off, before we both do something we’re going to regret.”

Nickolas faltered, looking up at the indoor storm and suddenly scoffed, stomping away. “Whatever.”

Lourraine sighed, before turning to the crying pixie. “Hey, are you okay?”

The pixie suddenly launched herself at Lourraine, burying her head into her chest and sobbing for all that she was worth. “Thank you. Thank you so much.’

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay now. My name is Lourraine, what’s yours?”

“Nala.”

It was a bit difficult to understand at first, with the sobbing, but she understood well enough. “Nala. That’s a pretty name.”

When Lourraine looked up she could have sworn she saw a pale shadow with dark clothing.

[soyosauce]

Cyberpunk 2077: Is This To Be An Empathy Test?

Cyberpunk 2077 is an adaptation and extrapolation of the popular tabletop pen-and-paper role-playing game Cyberpunk, originally published in 1988. The video game uses an extrapolation of the setting and Interlock system, translated to video game format.

When I finished the game, credits rolled. And rolled. And rolled. More than 15 minutes went by.

Now, days later, as I reflect on more than 70 hours of playtime, Cyberpunk 2077 feels like many people have had their hands in the pie. Its strengths and weaknesses stem from its massive ambition, marketing, and promises.

Different Experiences

I played CP2077 on a Ryzen 7 3700x with 32 gigs of RAM and an RX 2700 GPU. I was able to get around 35 FPS at 1440p without noticeable drops (except when looking in mirrors), and I played on ultra-settings without ray tracing on. I began playing it with the rest of the PC consumers with the day 1 patch.

As a crafted experience, I can say that it is the most impressive looking game I've ever played, and my playthrough seems to be a fortunate one, with maybe a handful of glitches or bugs across the entire 70 hours. None of which were remotely game-breaking. I was never unable to progress in the story. I never had a crash. The most annoying thing I experienced was sometimes crosshairs from a gun would continue to stay onscreen after it was holstered.

I mention this because I think a major component of why I come away with a positive experience is because my computer could deliver the intended experience. And Cyberpunk 2077 is unrivaled in its execution of a funneled narrative. Characters and environments have never felt more genuine and cinematic.

The sound design is some of the best I've heard, and it's perfect in every aspect of the game. From the sound of a throaty exhaust to the scraping of metal-tipped hands against hardwood, the sound is superb and adds to the immersion.

 The World

With a setting as old as Cyberpunk, there will be consumers who are familiar with the setting and have a grasp on the worldbuilding. For the uninitiated, however—of which, I think most customers will be—the aesthetic and gameplay elements the marketing team used in advertisements will be the primary hook. The game doesn’t go out of its way to communicate that it is anything more than that, either.

What was most compelling about Night City was the meticulous detail and care devs clearly put into every nook and cranny of the city. Distinct and disparate, no part of it feels reused or like its filler. It is the most gorgeous and well-realized environment I've encountered in a video game.

Yet the gangs, fixers, and side jobs located within it feel one dimensional when viewed from a macro, worldbuilding perspective.

Typical fixer missions are varied enough and have different small bits of story, but usually just elucidating that specific mission and its characters. You’ll find little bits of lore some of the time, which augment the siloed stories, but often don’t give a wider context to help situate the faction you’re interacting with.

The gangs seem to have a central theme, but I never learned why they were actually there from a worldbuilding perspective, beyond the fact that the game wants you to be looting and shooting.

Culturally, the gang elements are too often a pastiche and don’t feel real. They have scripted lines that are often dehumanizing and feel unrealistic. Some of them don't even make any sense. They'll find a dead body and start yelling for you to come out, "cunt", or some other misogynistic pejorative. How do they know it's a woman? Making them all say and act that way feels so cheap, encouraging you to take them out because they're demonstrably “bad” people. And it doesn’t matter what kind of mission it is. Context doesn’t matter.

With the bits of lore you’ll find all over the place (often repeated), it feels like a missed opportunity to not humanize and characterize the gang identities as a whole; even if you are spending most of your time mowing them down, at least you’d come to understand why the city is the way it is and what its general makeup is better than just knowing which gang claims which area of the city.

The world feels overly concerned with aesthetics that the player never gets context for, so it feels like a caricature used for aesthetic purposes only.

For instance, Arasaka, the megacorporation controlling/running Night City, has a highly traditional, tyrannical, Japanese businessman who has had his life extended with cybernetics. He’s over one hundred years old and controls Arasaka with an iron fist. The inference on my part is that locations in Night City with heavy Asian aesthetics are there because of this megacorp’s influence. But it still feels strange because, in other lore given, the city has been run by other corporations not that long ago and had other cultural influences asserted. So why is Little China, Japantown, and Kabuki a weird pastiche and the only place that seems to assert its cultural influence on the city? When you enter other areas, they don’t look like they’re trying to recreate foreign cultures. Is it because of the Arasaka influence? Possibly, but I never found any lore that explained it. Visually, this aesthetic dominated my playthrough.

The result is a siloed microworld that feels like it might be there simply to justify some of the predominantly Asian gangs, who seem to be basically just cyberized yakuza and come up fairly often in fixer missions. The main story also springboards off some of these locations, so the game really wants this look to make an impression on the player.

When you explore in-depth, all of the interactable, consumable portions of the city have a faux quality because you can only look at them. Sometimes you can buy food from a couple of vendors and clothes, but everything exists solely to be interacted with in a hyper-specific way, rather than extrapolated from a perspective divorced from what would be merely aesthetically interesting and actually realistic enough to let V feel like a character that is a part of this world.

You can sleep with and date a few different people, depending on your gender presentation, but the relationship's extent beyond that varies. There are some texts between characters, but you don't get to, say, go home and do anything with them. Their interactions with you in person are the same as though you had phoned them.

You can talk to people on the sidewalk, but they have a regurgitated one-liner and then go back to what they're doing. You can't go up to a gang member and talk to them because once they see you, they’ll attack you if you get too close.

The only things that feel genuinely next level are the prescriptive story elements. And that's okay! It just doesn't jive with the level of detail or how much you think you'll be able to interact with things when you first see them. Marketing makes it seem like the world at large may be something you can interact with, but those all end up being the curated narratives.

Because the worldbuilding framework is from a first-wave cyberpunk perspective, unfortunately, pitfalls like techno-orientalism are prevalent.

The themes around the commodification of those things that make us human, from our body, faith, and art, are all interesting themes present in the genre—but here they are skewed toward fetishizing minorities and subcultures, just as first-wave cyberpunk texts tended to do.

V is ostensibly a cyberpunk and it follows that they would be a part of the same subgroup as the minorities who are underrepresented and lacking nuance in the CP2077 world, but V is actually traversing the story with their only integration into a subculture being that they’re a mercenary. With few exceptions, they all seem to not really share punk values, either. Some take jobs from corps (you certainly can if you want), some don’t like the corps but aren’t particularly anti-establishment or pro direct action. Most just seem to hang out at a bar. You don’t hear about what they do on the news or in the world. You don’t get jobs from fixers that are ideologically aligned with being punk. And you don’t integrate with any other subcultures when out of the main narratives.

The exploitation of people and the world's general themes and sensibilities still feel firmly rooted in the late 80s, early 90s. It is not aware enough to fully realize an actual subculture or even the dynamics of criminal elements in the city, so it frames the story from a mainstream perspective for mass appeal.

The problem is that, with so many people consuming the game, this becomes the default that those consumers will adopt. It has a responsibility precisely because it is so popular and will become a part of the general intellect. Rather than be progressive with its themes and push mainstream depiction of cyberpunk to something in line with what can be found in literature today, it is regressive.

Ultimately, the worldbuilding is the most disappointing aspect of Cyberpunk 2077. The main narratives, however, are a different story.

 Story

Arguably, the most important thing for a role-playing game experience is the story. In 2077, you play V, a mercenary on the edges of society trying to make it big in Night City. In classic cyberpunk genre fashion, a chance at a big score drops into your relatively inexperienced hands, and you seize it. A heist is planned; it doesn't go as planned—and Johnny Silverhand, a long-dead anarchist and misogynistic jerk—basically a proto-typical embodiment of 70’s rock ethos—ends up in your head. He has his own agenda, and V can either go along, get along, or make their own decisions about what to do next. For the most part.

The story beats are as meticulously crafted as corners of Night City. The character animations are the most advanced I’ve ever seen—: they’ll smoke a cigarette for a portion of the conversation, stub it out, then get up and pace nervously while delivering their lines. Their emotions will be written on their face and flow naturally. They'll touch items or other people in the scene. They look and act like real people and sound like it too.

There’s a 4-part storyline with a trans character in which you just won’t ever learn their story unless you talk with them and earn their trust. You can go through the whole narrative and help them out (or not), and never learn much about them. But if you spend the time and ask questions, you'll always get something from these storylines, even if they initially seem to be just another gig on the map.

Because the game's worldbuilding, including in-game ads, is blind to its own defaultism, stories like this are absolutely vital. I wish there were more of them and I hope the free DLC forthcoming are things like this.

2077 is populated with genuine, human moments. They communicate why you should care about the city and the people you encounter. And most importantly: these moments define V as much as the main storyline.

Whether intentional or purely a byproduct of how each facet of the game was developed, these stories augment the play experience a tremendous amount.

What I remember most is finding out if Johnny can, and will, actually change or if he's just trying to manipulate me, discovering how my decisions alter the way he interacts with me, and going down a rabbit-hole, sex trafficking narrative that initially feels a bit too archetypical, only to have it morph into a multi-part story that rooted V's narrative in an emotional and impactful way.

These are the stories that you can actually, meaningfully change. And because I did them all before the main storyline, they all felt like they meshed well with my V’s overall story.

Of course, you could do the main story right away and then go back and do these side stories. I think the experience would be quite different because of the knowledge and relationship you have with Johnny at the end of the main story experience, though.

The main storyline has multiple endings; I've experienced four of them, and they all deliver fairly well on expectations. These endings do not consider anything that isn’t a main or side job, which is labeled as such in your log. Your relationships with the main characters do change the endings slightly, but they don't change the overall outcomes for V and Johnny. This made the game's main attraction for me the fleshed-out side narratives and a few other mysterious side jobs that crop up without a fixer giving them to you.

These other stories were more enjoyable because I felt like I really mattered and could actually mess them up. The main storyline is only preoccupied with whether or not you did X and, if so, you can see the Y ending. It felt like it had lower stakes.

 Conclusion

I do feel like 2077 is a new way to consume an immersive role-playing video game experience. It's unfortunate and unfair to many people that multiple promises the game makes cannot be fulfilled unless they can experience it on a particular platform (with a fairly sizeable amount of money in the investment). A decent computer to play it on is the best way, and it’s expensive if you want to max out absolutely everything. Next-generation consoles aren't even optimized for it yet. Last generation consoles are struggling. Crashes, bugs, poor textures, and framerates.

What is Cyberpunk 2077 when it can’t replicate the ideal delivery for its desired experience?

So much of what made the experience singular and noteworthy for me comes down to how life-like and human the people I came to care about the most in the game looked and acted. Take that veneer away, and the cracks in the façade appear.

Doing most of the side content before the main jobs gave my V a meta-narrative: they were a ruthless killer that would do pretty much whatever a fixer asked of them. Those were the expectations set by the world outside of the story. But then V morphs into a person confronting that life, questions who they want to be, and what it takes to thrive in Night City when you hit the main narratives. That’s why I had a positive experience. And that’s why I’ll return to the city and do things differently.

Ironically, Cyberpunk 2077's overall game experience relies on technology to build empathy between the player and the main cast. Yet, the world outside of the main narrative denies that same empathy to the denizens and factions it populates Night City with. If the platform you’re playing on can’t effectively utilize the demanding Red Engine developed for Cyberpunk 2077, the most likely outcome is an experience devoid of the only substantive thing it has to offer.

[vole-mon-amour]

OTP tag game.

Tagged by @captainjowl. You know for sure than I'm struggling to pick only 10 & fit them in here. But hell, that’s fun, thank you <3

Rules: Choose 10 OTPs BEFORE reading the questions, and then get to answering

1) Harry James Potter & Sirius Orion Black

2) Daniel Le Domas & Grace (Ready or Not 2019)

3) Samuel & Nathan Drake (Uncharted 4)

4) Corvo Attano & The Outsider (+probably Emily Kaldwin; Dishonored series)

5) Steve Grant Rogers & Bucky Buchanan Barnes (Marvel)

6) Tony Edward Stark & Peter Benjamin Parker (Marvel)

7) Handsome Jack & Rhys (Borderlands video game series)

8) Damon Salvatore & Elena Gilbert (TVD Books & a tv show)

9) Batman & Joker (in every universe, really)

10) Adam Jensen x Francis Pritchard (Deus Ex video game series)

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

I believe it didn't hit me before Spider-Man: Homecoming. Civil War was about Steve & Bucky for me, but when I saw that growing up Peter with Tony, their dynamic, chemistry. Tom & Robert are really just like that.

2. Have you ever read a fanfic about 2?

Lmao. I've read like 50% of the tag on AO3, I wrote my own & started a few wips on them. They are amazing. Plus, with that shitty canon? We didn't get enough of them & they deserved better, so it's only logical to save yourself with fanfiction.

3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr screen saver?

I was living with The Outsider icon on my twitter & tumblr. That one is still my Google profile picture I believe. Don't remember about having an icon with the two of them. Also had The Outsider as my lockscreen on my smartphone for a while.

4. If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

Funny how it fits canon, lmao. Rhys literally tried to erase Jack's AI in TFTBL, so I guess another day on Pandora, nothing new. They torture each other, they kiss each other, they kill other people in the process. It'll be fiiine.

5. Why is 1 so important?

I love them since the first time I met them, which was much more than 10 years ago, I don't even remember when. At some point they were the reason I was waking up & forcing myself to eat just to read more fanfiction & feel something. Even if I was drowning in pain (I was extremely depressed), it was still something. I read every fic I could find at that time. The depression that Harry went through, all these feelings, his love for Sirius. I was living through it, I could relate.

I'm currently drowning in these two again, though in a much healthier & happier state. I see their flaws & I know as much as I can. I see them differently as an adult. They saved me, they keep being my number one, I still consider making a tattoo of Padfoot/Sirius or of both Harry & Sirius together. I have many headcanons, ideas, I write fics about them. They are everything, you see? They were my choice when there was nothing, no one. They are HOME.

6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship?

Both. There goes the dynamic of Jack & Rhys: torture, fighting, flirting, a lot of trauma. I'd definitely say that they are wild and comical sometimes, but they are definitely serious. With the Asylum, the mental health issues. There is so much more to it, the complexity of their relationship. The struggle of loving who you probably shouldn't (but hey, when does it work like that?) Thinking about Tettlate's Batman, about Batman: Europa & how Joker was: "You must be crazy, putting me in charge of the plan, letting me decide. Okay, well..."

Nah, they are entertaining, but this is a serious ship.

7. Out of all the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry?

Are you kidding me? They are all the definition of CHEMISTRY. I'd say 5, but then go 2, 6, 7, 8. Come on. I'm not choosing. Most of they are WILD.

9. How many times have you read/watched the 10’s fandom?

The fandom itself? Idk. I found one of my favourite artists through this fandom. If it's about the characters themselves, I played the first game with the DLC from start to beginning, looking around every corner. Spent more than 60 hours in there. Watched a second game (my laptop can't run the game) and the DLC (obviously), since Francis is in the DLC & not in the main game. I have a tag for them on tumblr, I read fanfiction, I tried to write my own. I still follow Elias & want a third game. Elias liked my tweets about Adam and Jensen being an actual couple a few times. I'd say I interacted with all of this a lot? Still do, actually.

10. Which ship has lasted the longest?

5. Best friends since childhood, fought & died for each other, still found their way back to each other. "It would break your Captain's heart, to see what they did to you." That only the MENTION of Steve can pull Bucky out of this brain washing(ed?) state, distract him in the middle of a fight. When Steve died in the comics because of Sharon & Tony sent Natasha to take Steve's shield from Bucky because even Tony knew how much Steve means to Bucky. And Bucky was like: "Oh, I see what he did. Not happening!" Fought Natasha (that is his ex in the comics) & kept going for Steve's sake.

Well, you see the point, I can go on and on.

11. How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up?

They're not actually canon so none? They had a few fights: In Civil war (the comics), in Homecoming (the movie).  That only means that they’ve got history & love each other.

12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8?

As fierce Grace is, they wouldn't stand a chance against Damon & Elena. Those two had to deal with worst thing than brainless stupid zombies. On the other hand, if there were no alive humans to drink their blood... It's either an animal diet that Damon hates so much or I don't know? Still, they're faster & more powerful. Their bodies have advantage of healing the wounds as well.

13. Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

From some people, yeah. Don't tell Athena, don't tell Vaughn, don't tell Fiona. Though Rhys wasn't very subtle about it & Jack just doesn't give a fuck. You will probably end up dead if you disagree or bore him, or if you're useless.

"I can take you to the top, but you gotta know where the top is" & Rhys doesn't tell anybody until Jack makes him the President for like whole 20 minutes lol.

Fiona & Sasha: "This can't be happening." Sure it can, darling.

14. Is 4 still together?

I have a headcanon about The Outsider finding Emily & Corvo after Billie frees him from the Void. He doesn't have anybody & they are his only friends aside from a potential friendship with Billie. And if we don't consider TOTO dlc, they definitely are! The Outsider visits them both when they sleep & takes them to the void sometimes. How could he not?

15. Is 10 canon?

Not really but also sort of? Let's say that they really care about each other in canon, despite Adam pushing Francis away because of his trauma & fear that Megan caused him. :/

16. If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

Can you imagine wizards fighting extremely powerful vampires? Superheroes with venom in their bodies that make them super strong with people that made a deal with the Devil himself (hi Le Bail)? 5000 y.o. God and his lover that share his powers and an augmented human protecting his tired IT guy? Combine mental health issues to that, Jack and Rhys with Batman and Joker. Corvo & The Outsider would probably slay them all as Corvo and Emily did in both games with entire islands, though it will still be a slaughter anyway.

17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 5’s ship?

All the fucking time, lmaooo. I’m not even talking about it.

18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond?

I feel like I already did with Steve & Bucky after many Marvel movies (we're not even mentioning Endg*me, I fucking died & was dead for full 4-5 months).

19. Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s tumblr page?

I used to do that a few years back, but not anymore. There is not much content since the trilogy is finished.

20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all forever, which ship would you sink?

1 already went through it & fandom lives, so I'd say maybe 7? Rhys will find a way to bring Jack back & they are both so wild. It’s what happened in canon anyway. Jack kidnapped Lilith & forced her to do Angel's job, so I'd like to see that witch try at first. Jack is an immortal bastard. <3

Now that I think about it, Corvo would also deal with her in seconds as she waits to curse them.

As a conclusion: no one breaks up forever, we're killing the witch.

I tag: @ianmillkovichgallagher​ & @aledbr​

Whoever else wants to join the game, please do.

[eiirisworkshop]

InuYasha Fic (working title “Sesshomaru The Babydaddy)

For Good Intentions WIP Fest, details of which can be found @goodintentionswipfest

Years ago I had an idea for a fic about Sesshomaru having a half-demon kid; like I think I might have been in middle school when I first started this.  I’ve poked at it a few times over the years, but now that the InuYasha sequel is out and brushing close to my idea in some key ways I doubt I’m ever gonna find the motivation to finish it, just feels redundant since it’s been so thoroughly jossed.  And I also don’t want to watch the sequel, because it’s too close and I know I’ll like my idea better, because it’s my idea.

***

He ran his fingers through her long, raven hair and she ran hers through his white.  No one in the world could see them—no one needed to. Only the sliver of moon bore witness as it shown through cloud and canopy, bleaching the earth in pools of silver.  She was soft, fragile, unafraid.  She very nearly frightened him, and she knew it.  He liked it.

In the dark it was easy to forget—or, at the very least, ignore—that they were from opposing worlds.  In any case, they didn't have to forget for long.

She woke to the warmth of morning sun filtering through the boughs of the wild cherry tree beneath with she lay on a white kimono that was not hers.  She knew without opening her eyes that she was alone.

Inuyasha yawned and stretched as he walked.

[The gang talks, Kagome is on break from school.  They get to a little, remote villiage.]

Sango glanced around, eyes narrowed.  “You know how people tend to stare at InuYasha like they're worried he's gonna eat them?”

“Yeah...?” Shippo said.

“The people here are hardly noticing him.”

[IY says something about prefering this situation to being attacked/chased]

“Sure, but it's strange.”  Sango frowned.  “It makes me nervous.”

[Miroku drags IY over to question an old lady at a well.]

Miroku: “Hello, ma'am.  My friend here is a half-demon, did you know that?”

The woman set her now-full bucket on the ground.  “Mhm, figured so, him looking like that.”

“Hm.” Miroku released his grip on the squirming honyou.  “And that's not....interesting or alarming or anything?”

The old woman shrugged.  “Sort of used to it.”

InuYasha stopped himself a hair's bredth from throttling the monk.  “What d'you mean you're used to it?”

“Inn keeper's daughter's the same way.  Pretty little thing, real sweet long as you don't make her mad.”  The woman laughed, grabbed her bucket and started down the street.  “Folks 'round here can't agree if that girl's fire comes from her mama or whatever dark thing begot her!”

[The gang decides to go to the inn]

#

InuYasha kicked the inn door open with a bang.  The only person in the dimly lit room didn't even jump.  She just looked up with a smile from wiping down a table and bowed politely.  “Good afternoon, welcome. Do you need a table, a room, or both?”

The girl was slim, young—no older than thirteen—but tall for her age, with a thick white braid hanging down to the small of her back.  She was dressed in pale blue umanori over an orange kimono with tied up sleeves, a bright spot of color in the mostly drab room.  Small, canine ears poked out from the bandana tied around her head, and she looked through her too long bangs with large tawny eyes.

InuYasha stalked up to her, invading her personal space, and started sniffing. She leaned away from him, eyeing him like he was crazy.  “Uh, I'll get my mother.”

She darted to the stairs and out of sight.

“You didn't have to scare her like that,” Kagome chided.

“It smells like my brother.”  InuYasha crossed his arms and made a face of disgust.

[The girl (Hoshi)'s mother comes down, introduces herself as Akiko, mention's Hoshi's name too]

“Why the hell does your kid smell like my brother?”

“No idea.”  Akiko crossed her arms.  “Why does your brother smell like a twelve year old girl?”  She shifted her focus to the rest of the group.  “You here for supper or for the night?  Or are you just here for your friend to make trouble?”

[So much stuff and things happen.  Not sure how long passes.  The gang leaves town.  They're not far out of town when they happen to run into Sesshomaru]

“You!” InuYasha stabbed a finger at his brother.  “You hypocritical son of a bitch!”

Sesshomaru leveled a look of disdain at his father's younger son.  “What are you talking about?”

“You've got a half-human kid!”

[Sesshi has a “pics or it didn't happen” reaction so they all head back into town.]

Akiko looked up from were she was keeping book at one of the dining tables. “I thought you were heading out of town.”  She spotted Sesshomaru.  “Oh.”  She stood gracefully.  “You.”

Sango tilted her head toward the demon.  “Told you.”

“It means nothing that this woman recognizes me,” he said coolly.

“You're full of shit.”  Akiko rolled her eyes.  “What the hell happened to you arm?”  After too long a beat with no answer forthcoming, she shrugged.  “Well, I guess you only need one....”

InuYasha cringed, catching the [sexual] side of her meaning.  “Do you have to say things like that?”

“Can you get over it that I slept with your brother?” she shot back quickly then crossed her arms and turned to the full demon.  “

[Stuff and things.  Hoshi comes in.]

“I'm done with inventory—”  Hoshi stopped talking abruptly and went very still.  One of her ears twitched.

Beside Kagome, Sesshomaru stiffened, eyes widening.  For a long moment, no one breathed.  Then, in a single flash of motion almost too fast to follow, Hoshi had crossed the room, stepped up onto a chair to augment her height, smacked her sire across the face, and fled upstairs.  Instantly, Sesshomaru bristled and snarled; a drop of blood oozed from one of the three long welts on his cheek where Hoshi's nails had caught him.

“Hey!” Akiko shouted and banged a hand on the table.  “Calm down.  You break anything in this building, so much as gouge a table, and I'll take your other arm off.  You put a single scratch on my daughter and I will end your life.  You hear me?”

He clenched his fist but otherwise feigned composure.  “I hear you.”

“Good.” Akiko headed for the stairs.

[much stuff and things, IDK]

[Sesshi gets drunk at some point]

“Can we talk?” Akiko asked softly.

“Cruel, giving me the illusion of choice.”

“Oh, you have a choice.”  She crossed her arms.  “You can say no and walk away.  I wouldn't suggest it, though.”

He inclined his head slightly.

She nodded.  “Walk with me?”

“Very well.”  He offered her his arm.  She took it and they set out along the path.

[Akiko explains that Hoshi does have valid reasons to resent Sesshomaru for]

“I don't blame you for not being here, even if I sometimes wish you had been.  I never expected you to stay.  I knew when I lay with you that you wouldn't.”

“Then why did you?”

She smiled.  “It was exciting.”

They stopped on the path in the shadow of a large conifer.  He disengaged their arms and touched her face.  She met his gaze unwaveringly.

“Why aren't you frightened of me?”

She shrugged.  “My mother used to say that you don't avoid the river just because you can drown.”  She smoothed one of her sleeves. “One need not fear something just because it's dangerous so long as you respect its power.”

“Mm.” He studied her a moment before leaning to kiss her.

She pulled away.  “Don't do that unless you mean it.”  He started to respond but she cut him off.  “I mean, unless you care.”

He took a small step back.

“Things are different than they were.  I'm different.  I'm a mother, a business owner.  I have obligations and responsibilities.  Before, I was girl with next to no prospects and no expectations.  All I wanted from you was whatever you were willing to readily give.

“For now, you're just passing through.  But if you kiss me, or anything else, you make yourself a part of things here.  You do that, and you'll be making a promise you had better not make unless you've every intention of keeping it.”

The corner of Sesshomaru's mouth twitched.  “I want you.”

“Too bad.”

He grabbed her shoulder roughly.  She smacked him across the face and took several steps back, away from him.

“Don't you dare!”  Akiko shouted.  She lowered her voice to a snarl.  “Do not manhandle me.  You've no right.  You get to touch me only if I let you and only how I say.”  She straightened her clothes, drew herself up regally, and started back toward the inn.

InuYasha hopped up over a bolder, and there was Sesshomaru, sitting on the ground, eyes closed, back against a cherry tree.  A soft breeze blew through the clearing, stirring both their hair.  Without opening his eyes, the elder brother said, “What are you doing here?”

“Heh.” InuYasha crossed his arms.  “I was sent to go make sure you're not killing anything important.”

“I'm not killing anything at all.”

“Good. So, tell me to fuck off and I'll go back and say you told me to fuck off and I'll leave you alone and you can leave or whatever.”

Sesshomaru opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.  “Humans are soft.”

“Uh.” InuYasha blinked at the non sequitur. “Yeah, they're squishy and fragile and weak—all the shit you give me hell for being when I'm not. So what?”

“I didn't mean to frighten her.”

“So tell her that.”  He snorted.  “I don't care.”

“I could kill you.”

“Sure you could.”  Akiko put away the freshly scoured cups.  “So could your brother or any of his friends or my brother.  The ability to kill is not unique, Sesshomaru.”

“I would enjoy killing you.”

She rolled her eyes and reached for more dishes.  “Are you trying to make some kind of point?”

“I could kill you.  I know I would enjoy doing so.  But I don't want to.”

“Mhm?”

“I would prefer you remain alive.”

She snorted, halfway to a laugh.  “If you're trying to be affectionate, I appreciate the attempt, but you're really bad at it.”

“I've little practice.”  He stood, crossed the room, took a bowl from her hands, set it down, and touched her face.  He stroked her cheek with his thumb.

“Watch the claws.”

“I know.”  He tilted her chin up gently.

“You've done much for me,” he said softly.  “Borne and raised my child, when you need not have kept her....”

“If I'd given her up, who would have taken her?  Most childless bakers aren't looking for hanyou babes.”

“That's not what I mean by 'kept.'”

“What do you mean then?”

He fingered the ruff at his shoulder and glanced at her sideways.  “I know women have methods for...handling situations.”

Akiko looked to the floor.  “Yes.... But they're unreliable and dangerous and, I decided, not worth it.”

[deliciousscaloppine]

hi! is it too late for the author asks? i'm curious about 1 & 26. (btw, you're not a native speaker? my second language foundation is so weak, sigh, i'm meng-yaoish envious)

Hi And It’s Never Too Late For Asks! Also there’s nothing to be envious because in exchange for my english proficiency i was cursed to botch all my following attempts at learning other languages.

1. Where do you typically get your ideas?

E V E R Y W H E R E. Writing takes being curious about the world, and being curious about the world means devouring everything and anything that comes out of the world. To narrow it down a bit, think to yourself what interests me? What moves me? Where do I come from, and what was hidden from me growing up, where will i find out more about the things i don’t know, but want to learn. That’s a big starting point for every writer. 

Then you get to pick and choose from your huge arsenal of tidbits, what matches best the world, the themes and people you want to write about. If you are on tumblr, you are already incredibly lucky, because there are so many archives, projects, artists and scholars sharing content on everything. From architecture and fine art, to history and archaelogy, clothing, poetry, anything and everything. Between us, the people who are big “foreign” cinema watchers, are the best bloggers, they blog about films, political sciences, art, photography, by osmosis you are bound to pick things up.

Another good idea is to go to bookstores, and libraries in big metropolitan areas- consider it a trip. U don’t have to go looking for the book of your life, but just looking at titles, and picking up books that u can’t even begin to recognize what they are about, is a great start to augmenting your world. Old films from all over the world are so pivotal to acquiring a wider perspective.

And one last tip. If you write, the best place to look for ideas is literature - you’ll have to read. But I get how that can be daunting. So secret tip, for people with short attention spans, that don’t have a lot of time, R E AD plays. Read theatrical plays, they come from every era, and every place of the world, they are short and succinct, and don’t rely on abstractions. Their best feature is that they actually are written for an audience, so they are much more considerate to the reader, as opposed to S E R I O U S literature which can be as obscure and difficult to wade through. 

26. How do you go about world building?

1. Choose a setting. What kind of world does your story take place into?

2. Ask yourself how will this world facilitate telling your story.

3. H A V E   O P I N I O N S. Everyone might rave and roll about how every part of your personality must be perfectly curated to fit some globalized image of what the internal human landscape should look like. So many young people, they will drown and overload themselves with all that background noise before learning to hone their own inate sense of what works best for their circumstance. So learn your circumstance, learn it well, and learn to advocate for your self and your worldview. That’s a major starting point for an author. And the internal inconsistencies that you encounter on your way there, are the shadows that are going to make the world you are building pop.

They are not to be avoided, if anything they are the talking point.

4. Research. Now that you sort of know where this takes place, and why you’ve chosen to set it there, undoubtedly there are black spots in your knowledge of this place. Is it some long gone time? Historical? Or fantasy? Some other country? Some allusion for our globalized times (sci fi and all its derivatives?) Find out more about it, by diving into what other people have written. AND don’t make it easy on yourself. Don’t try to just get the general idea, really dive into the logic that governs these places. That is what you are building when you make a world, a new logic under which your story will be understood.

Sometimes this research will make new worlds and new stories for you down the line.

5. Immerse yourself...in the history of objects. Ultimately what is left to describe a world, are the objects in it. And objects speak of human actions. So douse yourself with how gloves used to be made, how people made the mixture for a porcelain teacup, or how they used a chamberpot. All that doesn’t have to inhabit your world, but it will inform it. It will teach you about how the characters value their time, what landscapes they come across. A maid closed up in a house that has to clean and wash things, sees up close all the dirt of her employers. 

 Her world is completely different from that of say a university professor living in a campus not having to physically take care of anyone but himself.

These things give dimension to one’s writing.

6. Finally, a world allows for inconsistencies, the people in it resist definition, as we too resist definition in our time. Obvs some characters might just be cardboard cut outs, and there is nothing wrong with that. BUT avoiding to write for types - this characters is like so, and they behave like so all the time - creates a more nuanced human landscape. And ultimately your world is the people in it. 

[kurtty-drabbles]

Lovecraft/ LOTR AU

N/A: Canon is a polite suggestion here and yes, I´ll use the name Sauron here because I associate this character with this name...if you think is not fitting think this way: the main villain of Lion King is a dude called Scar and that wasn´t his original name...

@djinmer4 @dannybagpipesarecalling @bamfoftheundead @everykurt

Zaorva is the mother of all-not exaggeration or augmentation of the truth. Just the pure and undulated facts. Zaorva is the Mother of all- but it doesn´t mean necessarily that she owns all(maybe she does, maybe she doesn´t it. An Outer God´s will is hard to understand) and while she´s one of the few Outer Gods that can be label as saintly, still is an Outer God and no one ought to forget this.

Zaorva crafted carefully each piece of the Middle Earth. The skies (both of the mortal realm and the godly realm), the grass, the animals, the tress(Zaorva took a great consideration for the ents) and everything else the eyes could land on.

Zaorva has little rules and little patience for some cases, but, Sauron can say one thing about his mother (they call her Yavana even though they know she has several, if not endless, names. She was amused by the name that she allows it) is that she believes in free will.

"Once you make life...that creature can make its own choices" Sauron repeats her words that are still recorded in his mind. Sauron is one of the maias- a race she crafted after Pheonix aka Varda, as she likes to be called lately, makes her own race to worship her-who seems to be her favourite for some reason.

Well, she loves the ents and the ents love her, so, Sauron is not sure what to think in regards his mother preferences...well, truth to be told, not even Gandalf seems to understand their mother very well. ("if she likes ents, she likes ents. What´s there to understand Mairon?" "That´s not my name!" "Oh, you change...just like our mother")

His mother is here. She´s in every place in this garden, in this planet-sometimes, Sauron wonders about her own existence. The cosmic power is both frighting and truly wonderful and he can only imagine what his mother does with such power-and materializes when she wants or needs or both or maybe neither.

"Thinking about me again" she appears in her Yavana´s mask. Her presence is humanoid enough and yet is far from human (or elf or maia or anything that exist in this planet) and she giggles. Why? She can see something Sauron will never be able to and he ponders if this is a good thing or a bad thing. "Still a question, good...I like to see where it will lead" and Sauron does not get his mother.

"You have a mission for me" he changes the subject and she gentle- too gentle as a mother should but with little patience to give a full speech on why they´re looking a new garden that materialized now- points at the bluish flowers.

"Yes, I do..." and his frown broke a little as he can always count with his mother´s flowers being outwardly beautiful. He thinks in Galadriel -for a brief moment- and how she would love to see such sight. She serves and lives with Pheonix (or how she likes to be called here. Varda) but always loves Yavana´s flowers. "They´re prettier" and he smiles at this image. His mother knows how to craft a scenario.

Zaorva claps her hand pleased at his reaction. "I have a question for you, Sauron, and is very important" she beams at him and then makes her question without hesitation. "What´s the opposite of blue?" and again, Sauron does not understand what this question could possibly be or even mean.

"Oh Zaorva, love, how capricious of you!" a new voice joins the conversation and Zaorva turns to see him. Sauron knows his name as Melkor, but, really that´s not even his first name nor the last. IT is the void or he controls the void? No one truly knows...no one wants to know.

It gentle touches her long hair-the flower in her hair gets bigger and brighter as her face offers a pink hue-playing with the long lock of hair with his fingers slowly and forming a small brand on it- as he looks at the flowers and at the young and impressed Sauron.

"Any colour could be the opposite of any colour, love, it could be green, yellow ...but I think you want a thematic here. So, red is the answer" IT responds amused.

Sauron knows what IT is. No, he does not(needs to improve his lying skills a lot to be able to say this with a straight face). But people can agree on how powerful he truly is if nothing else.

His mother rolls her eyes. "Much better than the off colours" she mutters looking bemused at him for a moment. "What happened in Arkham?" and now IT is cuddling with her, still ignoring Sauron completely, and Sauron is not happy by this display.

"What I was supposed to do there...ended up quicker than I thought, so, I resolve to spend my time" and they can´t help to chuckle at this. Time is a joke for them and Sauron envies them. "with my dear Zaorva. Doing a new project?" his tone is loving.

(Galadriel wouldn´t believe him even if they were friends. Varda hated him  so much and is not above in sharing bad lies about IT)

His eyes are on Sauron´s form. And Sauron is truly fascinated by the jewellery display on IT´s helmet. Nothing comes out of his mouth or maybe there´s no chance for him to speak as his mother speaks for him.

Sauron is looking mesmerized at IT as his mother take the lead on the conversation. "Well, I was about to ask Sauron to guard the flowers, my blue roses. Impossible love, at is, is very good in helping create arts" she speaks and Sauron frowns at that.

Again, I can´t understand what she is saying.

"Will you protect your mother´s flowers?" and Sauron nods solemn hoping this would impress IT. Maybe it did, maybe it didn´t. All Sauron knows is that IT is taking Zaorva away using a hushed tone (he got a few words of their unique language: show something. But Sauron is not sure if is correct) and they´re gone.

And now Sauron is looking at the blue roses. "Impossible love? I don´t believe it..."

He´ll make IT notices him more than his mother. no matter what.

[racefortheironthrone]

Thoughts on Powers of X #6

It’s Not A Dream If It’s Real:

We start with an extended return to Powers of X #1, which might come off as somewhat self-indulgent if so much of the issue didn’t come down to an exploration of how this encounter between Charles Xavier and Moira X radically transformed Xavier’s life. We need a full page of Xavier walking happily through the forest, in other words, because we are seeing the last truly innocent moment in his life. 

One thing that I find more than a little frustrating is that, given their prominence in the circular framing device that Hickman uses, we’ve seen remarkably little of Rasputin, the Tower, and Cardinal. I’m really hoping they show up again in Dawn of X, although I recognize that it’s early days yet, because I feel like there’s a lot of unexplored potential there. 

One thing that really changes on this read is how we read Moira’s expressions in light of what the current and previous issue/s reveal about her motivations. You can really see that Moira feels way more ambivalent and regretful about what she’s about to do. 

What Happens When Humanity Stops Being Beholden To Its Environment?

But before we get to any of that, it’s time to close the books on our X^3 timeline. And while I’ve been rather critical of the pacing and characterization of this timeline in previous PoX issues, this is a significant improvement.

It begins with the Librarian going off to “feed the animals at the zoo,” confident that he’ll be unharmed because “my augmented brain is far more advenced than yours.” The Librarian’s intellectual arrogance and superiority complex - which (spoilers) will be his ultimate undoing, and quite possibly that of the Phalanx as well - is a running theme throughout this section.

Speaking of which, we get something of a debate where the Libratrian conintues to think of mutants as essentially mindless animals acting in “their nature,” whereas Logan insists on a language of resistance against slavery. Not surprisingly, the Librarian doesn’t have much have time for that kind of debate and instead wants to talk to Moira.

As befits both of their scientific natures, the two of them discuss the tension between “preservation” and “observation” in “controlled habitats” - and I’ll freely admit that I don’t know enough about zoology to have much of an opinion here. 

However, the Librarian really changes tack from the scientific to the reliigous when he lets them know that “the Phalanx will descend and absorb the entirety of our post-human society...what was once our post-human society will exist forever as part of that godhead.” Again, I think it’s majorly counting your chickens to assume you’ll be part of the godhead rather than food for the godhead, but that’s what happens when you really go in for Pascal’s wager in a serious way.

In a surprise no doubt built on eavesdropping on Moira to understand her mutant powers, the Librarian doesn’t want Moira to die before the translation, because he needs to make sure that “if you live past my becoming god, then -- existing beyond space and time -- we will know you, forever. And I think it very likely we would not tolerate something like you having any power over something like us.” Here is the first real threat to Moira since Destiny in Life 3, that for the second time there would be a hostile force that would know about Moira’s past lives who could act against her before she has a chance to prevent it. And the Phalanx/Dominion are way more powerful than just Destiny, which suggests that Moira’s motivations may be driven now by her perception of the ultimate threats to herself and mutantkind.

In a fitting end that pays more than a little homage to the philosophy of identity, the Librarian is undone by his doubts over whether "the universal machine state” is “a fake existence,” because his post-human abilities allow him to perceive material reality on a deeeeeper level, maaaan, so would he be as happy as just an uploaded consciousness, even one that he sees as godlike?

And here we get the link between the transhumanism/singularity stuff and Moira/Krakoa’s mission of preserving mutantkind: can mutants prevent post-humanity from arising, and escape the cage into which science has placed them? I think a lot of Krakoan policy, from the offer of Krakoan pharmaceuticals on down, is aimed at keeping humanity happy in its cage.

At the same time, we shouldn’t feel too bad about the Librarian’s burgeoning existential crisis, because he is still a pseudo-intellectual racial supremacist who’s just as convinced that technology makes him superior to the racial minority he’s holding subordinate as an Victorian or Enlightenment-era phrenologist. 

Let’s start with his argument that “mutants are an evolutionary response to an environment. You are...naturally occurring.” This is only kind of true, depending on which version of mutantcy’s origins one subscribes to. Even still, a reverse naturalistic fallacy is still a fallacy.

The more interesting idea, and it’s one I didn’t quite see coming is that post-humanity won when it used genetic engineering to make themselves superhuman, and used merely mechanical transhumanism - the Sentinels and Nimrods - to give themselves enough of a lead in the race against mutants that they could never catch up. Notably, this is not the scenario that took place in Life 9 - Nimrod the Lesser clearly didn’t have human afvancement in mind - so perhaps this is why humans need to be so careful about the Heller/Faust line.

Another important question that makes me question the rationality of post-humanity - if you have access to widespread genetic engineering, why not end the human/mutant conflict by switching everyone’s X-gene to positive? I feel like with the spread of CRISPR and similar technologies, this is a question that is going to have to be answered. (The answer is that bigotry is irrational by its very nature, but still.)

Proving once again that Monologuing Kills, Logan nails the Librarian to a tree with his claws - which prevents the Librarian’s knowledge from being incorporated into the Phalanx, and then kills Moira, which insures that the timeline reboots then and there, with the Phalanx getting none of post-humanity’s secrets.

Thus ends Moira’s Life 6...and I have to say I’m not really keen on the misdirect. Yes, it was likely that X^3 would be Life 6, since it was the one timeline we haven’t seen yet, but the misdirect requires you to believe that two Nimrods would capture Cylobel in the same way across the two timelines. The only thing that makes it feel less of a cheat is that apparently all the Cylobels look the same (which is something we saw more of in Life 9, so I guess), but that’s still a bit too close to feel satisfying.

Branching Humanity Infographic:

Speaking of infographics definitely written from a mutant perspective, this document really makes its perspective clear when it refers to humanity as an evolutionary dead end. (Which I’m not so sure about from a genetics perspective - we’ve seen before that humans can be carriers without expressing the x-gene, that the X-gene can spontaneously activate without parents who are carriers, that mutants and children can have children without difficulty, and that sometimes mutant-mutant pairings can result in non-mutant offspring, that doesn’t read like speciation to me. 

Homo novissima -is described as a “manufactured branch of humanity not restricted by normal evolutionary constraints,” which really plays into the naturalistic fallacy something hard. Arguably anyone who’s not lactose intolerant can be described as homo novissima under those standards.

The idea that really blew my mind is the idea that there is a “paradigm loop between organic and technological constructs,” such that advances in the one give rise to the other in a leap-frogging way. This is really different from Hickman’s Transhuman and how HoxPoX has depicted the stark divides between Krakoan and ORCHIS technologies. I wonder where Hickman’s new synthesis will lead us?

It’s Not a Complement:

At long last, we actually get to see what it was like for Charles Xavier to “read” not just a thousand plus years of memories, but a thousand years plus years of memories that are devastating to his entire worldview. Given how much this issue talks about Xavier being “broken,” I would count this as the first time.

Moira, who has thrown her “pragmatic” switch all the way into the red to have this conversation,” barely bats an eye at Charles’ existential crisis and instead pivots to her larger message that “hard truths are what’s called for when dealing with radical realignments to old ways of thinking.” 

The exchange that follows is extremely characteristic on both their parts: Moira is deeply pessimistic, stating that it’s not just that “we lose” but that “we always lose” (much more on this later); Charles, despite his initial shock is still a relentless optimist, thinking through scenarios that would allow him to continue his technocratic assimilationist vision of mutant rights.

In a very bittersweet move, Moira lays one on Xavier and lets him know that amidst all the complicated emotions she’s had towards him, “not once in all my lives have you changed...its not a compliment.” It is one of his most frustrating characteristics that Charles Xavier believes that, because he believes himself to be in the right even when he’s not, he’s incredibly resistant to change his mind. 

Hence why Moira believes “I have to break that part of you,” the part that believes “in the goodness of others.” This is a really significant point - Moira identifies Charles’ compassion, not his pride and intellectual arrogance, as his weak point that she will have to go all Ivan Drago on. This is kind of a problem, because Charles’ compassion has always been fighting a pitched battle with his utilitarianism, so stripping that away produces a man who will do anything for the greater good. 

The chief irony - and it’s one I’ve been surprised more people haven’t commented on - is that Moira’s decision here will directly result in what happens at the end of this book, because once you train someone like Charles to be paranoid and suspicious and even more of a utilitarian, he’s absolutely going to apply his new worldview on you. More on this in a bit.

A couple important things that are really worth keeping in the forefront of your mind when we get to the final confrontation: 

First, Moira is dead-on when she describes Erik Lensherr as “your shade,” because the two of them are mirror images and have been for a long, long time.

Second, Moira’s plan includes Xavier and Erik fighting her. 

Moira’s Journal Infographic:

Here we get an fascinating and frustrating infographic, as we get several pages from “Moira’s journal,” although to be honest it’s much more a Jane Goodall-style field notes on her attempts to influence the future by influencing the development of three men. (Which itself is a whole gendered thing, but also very much tied in to her observation and experimentation methodology in her earlier lives.)

Entry 5: “unlike myself, observation has not granted himself perfect recall of my past lives, and as I wil not permit him to read me a second time, he is now dependent on my interpretation of past-life events.” 

As with his mind-reading of Krakoa, despite Xavier being an Alpha-level telepath, he doesn’t quite get the whole of the picture when he reads (unusual?) minds. This is crucial in understanding the power dynamic between them - the only thing that allows Moira to keep the upper hand is that Xavier is temporarily “dependent” on her, and that he hasn’t yet decided to violate her personal boundaries. 

Also, the fact that Moira describes these psychic impressions - so key to Xavier and Magneto’s conversion to the cause - as “my interpretation” really raises the question of whether Moira is an unreliable narrator of her past lives...which is really quite scary given how much the whole enterprise rests on her being right about how things will go. More on that later.

But as I was saying above, one of the downsides of making Xavier even more of a morally grey actor is that it makes it way more likely that “he will even act against type” (and boy is Moira’s understanding of Xavier shown to be flawed by her belief that this would be against type as opposed to absolutely his M.O) by reading her mind without her permission.

All that Moira can hope for is that because she knows that “all he will be looking for is confirmation of suspicions he might already harbor,” she will be able to steer his inquiry away from things she doesn’t want him to know, although she does have a Plan B of coming totally clean.

Finally, as with the redactions, there is very much a running theme here (and throughout HoxPoX) of struggling over control of (imperfect) information at the heart of all conflicts. 

Entry 14: “while we have become romantic, it is becoming clear to me that I am breaking Charles Xavier. And if I do break him, how will he become the man I need him to be in the coming days.” 

Here Moira gets a little bit self-reflective, realizing that one of the downsides of her master plan is that you can’t “manipulate these men into doing what I needed them to do without any repercussions to myself.” Breaking Charles of his hope and idealism doesn’t, it turns out, make him any more controllable, because he’s going to act on his new nature, and Moira can’t guarantee that she won’t be the object of that action.

One interesting question that I’ve seen raised is whether Moira is referring to Onslaught here. How much of his (to be honest, really quite banal and skippable) turn to the dark side was due to repression and how much due to cultivating his worser nature?

Entry 17: “he had the most marvellous idea regarding the potential tandem of several mutants and what they could accomplish if they worked in harmony.”

I find this one particularly fascinating, because it gets at how the collaborative process of creating Krakoa came together. Charles is able to build on “the potential windfall of knowledge I represent regarding mutandom” to get the idea for the Resurrection system and the broader mutant power synergy approach to Krakoan technology; Moira then “used my experience in genetic modification” to figure out how to make the mutants the system required.

At the same time, my god does this entry make Moira and Xavier seem even more cold-blooded and unethical with regards to Proteus and Legion, because rather than those relationships coming as a “moment of weakness” (in Xavier’s case) they were pre-meditated. The only thing that makes this even slightly better is that, according to the timeline docs, Moira didn’t have a relationship with Joseph MacTaggart in her previous lives, so that she didn’t knowingly walk into an abusive relationship to birth a super-mutant. 

Entry 22: “Magneto...with him, loyalty is something that must be constantly earned. He allows for no deviation of intent -- no wavering of belief. The idea that there will not be setbacks, and that his constant anger will remained tamped down, is a fool’s dream.”

Speaking of unethical actions...Moira trying to mess with Magneto’s mind, given what she undertands as his character, strikes me as pretty damn “casual[ly] arrogan[t].”

Likewise, Moira sees it as a “positive thing of note” that she’s managed to “imprin[t] the idea of stronghold in his mind.” While she notes that “it has always been there” - and she’s not wrong that Magneto has a thing for island, asteroid, and other separated bases. At the same time, it does help to explain why Magneto is so particularly gung-ho on the idea of Krakoa, which makes him their biological last line of defense.

Entry 29: “Apocalypse has made himself known to the world. Knowing him the way I do, and having aligned myself already with Xavier and Magneto, recruitment will not be an option until a much later date.”

Moira’s attitude to her ex suggests that the big blue-lipped boy’s Social Darwinist rage is basically the result of him being “in his raw, primal state,” and that he’ll mellow out once he has “f[ou]nd something to build on.” 

We also get confirmation that the conflicts between various X-teams and [A] were quite real - although intended more at “the avoidance of an apocalypse event” than his destruction. More of a managed conflict, if you will.

Given [A]’s interest in recreating his Four Horsemen, I wonder who the Omega-level mutants he might have been looking for instead of the ones he ended up with.

Entry 48: “I have underestimated Xavier’s infatuation with the possibilities of what can be accomplished with mutant genetic material. Without my knowledge -- and against my advice -- both Charles and Magneto have traveled to Bar Sinister and recruited Sinister to our cause.”

This is the crux of the matter when it comes to the double-edged nature of breaking Xavier of his better nature; the more you do this, the more he’s likely to do underhanded stuff like this.

The central irony is that Moira’s complaint (as much as it resonates with women in the fandom as representing their own life experiences) that “what is this thing that men do, where they think they can shape the world to their liking - and bend others to whatever they will” absolutely describes Moira herself as well as Xavier and Magneto. 

One ominous note, re the ongoing theme about timetables and schedules, is that Sinister is already producing chimerae, so merely leaving him alone might not change the outcome.

Entry 52: “We have lost Magneto.”

Speaking of consequences to manipulation, we see Moira’s attempts to reshape Magneto to “help make him a better man” (perhaps someone who would play nicely wrt to the Krakoan project?) backfire horribly during the events of Mutant Genesis.

For a short entry, this actually gives a really good window into Moira’s psyche, in that she’s more than a little bit prone to depression, when we combine her previous comment that “we always lose,” the trauma she experienced in her previous lives, with her immediate reaction that “I am just as bad as they are. If not worse.”

Entry 57: “I have decided to remove myself from the world.”

See what I mean?

This entry ought to remind us about one of the key aspects of Moira’s powerset: Moira’s ability to predict the future is contrained way more than, say, Destiny. The more Moira acts to change variables and try to produce her good ending, the less of a guide her memories of her past lives becomes. More on this in a bit.

it’s also a good reminder that Charles and Moira have been testing out their “husk...backup” system much, much earlier than poor Pyro thinks.

Tea for Three:

There is something wonderfully theatrical about this three-hander scene in that it all revolves around power dynamics and reversals: Moira starts out quite confident, hands-on-hips, reminding Charles and Erik that she doesn’t need them (I wonder which “of mankind’s greatest culinary cities” she has a backdoor to?), which Magneto responds to with a jab at her cynicism towards “the common kindness of others” and “assuming there’s always another shoe to drop.”

This next exchange gives me a real sense that, at least as far as the secret plan to secure Krakoa’s future goes, the Quiet Council are only really there to ensure that they “won’t be a deterrent to our broader plans.” 

At the same timethe surface of collegial conviviality, everyone knows that “we’re all up to something” - note how quickly Moira goes from her confident posture to a more defensive crossing of her arms, even as Magneto shows off his dexterity with his powers, which is a nice visual detail in an otherwise very talky page.

One area of disagreement becomes quite clear: Xavier and Magneto really disagree with Moira about whether “we can do this without” Sinister. Once again I’m frustrated in not knowing what the Plan A was wrt to the genetic database.

But here Xavier really brings down the boom: “We promised to bring Destiny back.” This freezes Moira right up, and shows one of the main tensions in their (joint?) project, the conflict between radical unity and political necessity.

However, there’s a significant question mark about why Moira believes that “there can be no precogs on Krakoa.” On the face of it, Moira’s objection is due to her fear that Destiny might “tell everyone the truth” that “we always lose,” I don’t believe her for a second. I think Moira’s objection stems from their traumatic meeting in Life 3, and because Destiny “has ways of seeing me.” I think Moira is up to something that she doesn’t want Xavier and Magneto, let alone anyone on Genosha to know about, and doesn’t want Destiny letting the cat out of the bag.

Here’s where I think people slightly get things wrong about the state of play wrt to Destiny and the other precogs. While Xavier repeatedly says “we know,” I don’t think they’re actually agreeing with Moira so much as trying to patronizingly soothe her. After all, their final offer is that, while Xavier and Magneto will “put them all off” with “tomorrow, tomorrow, not today,” (paraphrasing a German rhyme from Erik’s childhood) eventually Charles and Erik will ensure that everyone will "know the truth.” This seems quite different from what Moira wants.

A remaining question: when did Charlex and Erik learn the whole truth, as Entry 5 suggested? Did they?

And here we get the core disagreement between Moira and Xavier/Magneto: she sees “the truth” as meaning “we always lose,” they see it as “until now we have always lost.” I have to admit I’m a little curious as to whether Moira really believes her own nihilistic message, because in that case, why go to all this effort, but I do think it’s importatnt that people remember that Moira’s powers at this point only let herself see backwards. The world has changed too much to predict the future.

Speaking of gender and condescension, though, the resolution of this argument is really pointed. On the one hand, Moira given credit for her contributions to Krakoa: “you shaped us into this, you made us into this, we are the perfect tools for an imperfect age.” On the other hand, she is very firmly ushered to the bench, because “now it is time for you step aside and let us do the good work for which we were created.” It does come across a bit like Adam talking to Herr Frankstenstein, as Moira’s manipulations come to bite her in the ass one last time.

And as mutant fireworks thunder overhead, Magneto and Xavier have one last confab, worrying about the future. Krakoa might not be enough to ward off mutantkind’s Ragnarok, but Xavier and Magneto are ready to do “whatever it takes” to see it through. 

AND WE”RE DONE!

[aion-rsa]

Cyberpunk 2077: Lore and History of the Game’s Universe

https://ift.tt/31wmsZ3

Cyberpunk 2077 is far and away one of 2020’s most anticipated games. Not only is it the latest project from the studio behind the brilliant Witcher video game series, but it’s based on the incredibly popular Cyberpunk tabletop RPG franchise which many genre fans consider to be one of the medium’s finest in terms of world-building and storytelling.

Considering that the universe of Cyberpunk contains enough lore to fill several books, it’s understandable that you may feel a bit overwhelmed when you think about jumping into this world for the first time via Cyberpunk 2077. So far as that goes, an understanding of even the basics of the Cyberpunk’s lore may help you feel better prepared for the adventure developer CD Projekt Red has spent years crafting.

So while we could spend weeks completely breaking down the history of everything Cyberpunk, here is a brief primer on some of the most notable pieces of Cyberpunk 2077‘s lore and the greater history of the Cyberpunk universe.

The History of Cyberpunk 2077’s World

Up until a point, the history of Cyberpunk 2077’s world largely echoes that of our own (plus or minus some obvious deviations in terms of certain historical events and characters). However, that all changes by 1990.

It was around that time that the United States stepped up its war against drug cartels and corrupt governments in Central America. Their desire to win the war on drugs becomes so intense that they even resorted to forms of chemical combat. Such tactics not only cause former allies to denounce the U.S. but inspired the most powerful cartels to take the drug war battles to U.S. soil. In 1993, a cartel is even able to detonate a nuclear device in New York City.

In 1994, a global market collapse, and another nuclear incident in Pittsburgh, plunge the United States into further disarray. Corporations began taking over more aspects of Unites States life (including control over agriculture production) in an attempt to stabilize an increasingly uncertain world. Nevertheless, things somehow get worse in 1996 when the President and Vice President of the United States are assassinated.

As various gangs rise across the country in response to this incredible shift in the power structure, the NSA, CIA, FBI, and DEA form the “‘Gang of Four” and the Defense Secretary of the United States claims executive power in order to declare martial law. We hope this won’t come as too much of a surprise, but that move is not successful. More and more gangs appear across the United States as officials struggle to keep up with the madness. Around that same time, a variety of natural and unnatural disasters kill millions and inspire some states (including California) to secede.

It’s then that more and more corporations step up and use their resources (which now include private armies in most cases) to effectively secure control of what remains of the United States and many other parts of the world. Instead of bringing peace, though, these corporations soon launch new wars against each other for optimal business opportunities.

Somewhere along the way, advancements in technology afforded people the opportunity to enhance themselves with various cybernetic implants. While those implants are largely used by gangs, soldiers, and operatives, they’ve also worked their way into daily life. This discrepancy between available technology and the horrors of the world (as well as some drastic gaps in financial equality) is why you see some areas that look incredibly advanced and “futuristic” next to areas that appear to be dangerously underdeveloped.

That’s the rough state we find the world in at the start of Cyberpunk 2077.

What is Night City?

In 1992, a wealthy corporate executive named Richard Night began work on a massive urban development project he referred to as Coronado City. Night’s goal was to establish a city that would essentially be a corporate paradise and a testament to the philosophy of capitalism.

Night also believed that the city could one day be free of the crime and economic horrors that plagued the rest of the United States (as well as many of the laws which attempted to regulate corporations). Considering how many poor workers died building the city, though, that vision was certainly a matter of perspective.

In 1998, Night was murdered by organized crime elements who felt nobody left room for them in Night’s vision for Coronado City. That’s when Coronado City was renamed Night City in honor of its founder.

That’s also when various gangs started to clash with the corporate armies on the streets of the new city. That battle lasted until around 2005 when the corporations decided to pull out of Night City and leave the gangs to battle for control over what remained. At the peak of the Night City gang wars (around 2011), the Arasaka corporation intervened to take on the now weakened gangs in order to secure Night City for the corporations once more.

While the corporations did gain control of Night City for all intents and purposes, gangs and the corporate armies still clash with and amongst each other often by the time you enter Night City in Cyberpunk 2077.

What are the Badlands?

Night City seems to be located roughly near the geographic region of San Diego, but a series of devastating droughts and various unnatural disasters essentially dried out the area’s lush landscapes. This newly formed desert is regularly referred to as the Badlands.

Over the years, the people who either grew tired of Night City’s corporate power structure or simply had no other options began to form nomadic gangs that roamed the Badlands in search of what little food, water, and other vital resources remained. If you’re picturing the world of Mad Max, you’re not far off.

While some smaller gangs remain in the Badlands, the two largest “families” (the Aldecaldos and Wraiths) control most of the region. Those gangs will occasionally perform favors for the corporate rulers of Night City (as well as some of the city’s biggest criminal factions), but the largest corporations in Night City try to maintain border security and keep the Badlands gangs away.

Interestingly, a character creation option in Cyberpunk 2077 will allow you to start as a Badlands nomad who eventually works their way to Night City. This just confirms that it is possible for individuals to work their way into the urban area.

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What Are the Major Night City Corporations?

Various “megacorporations” have outposts in Night City where they battle for control amongst each other and with the organized (and less-than-organized) crime elements that roam the city streets. These megacorporations are comprised of various smaller corporations that share general interests and revenue streams. Here are some of the biggest megacorporations you’ll encounter in Night City:

ManuCorps

Arguably the biggest and most powerful megacorporation in Night City, ManuCorps focuses on the steady industry of manufacturing. Corporations under the ManuCorps banner include Araska, Militech, Mitsuzuki, and EBM.

AgriCorps

When various farms across the United States began to go under in the ‘90s, corporations stepped in to form AgriCorps: a megacorporation that controls much of the agriculture in the United States and nearby independent areas. Agricorps is largely comprised of Petrochem, SovOil, ConAg, and Akaromi BioCorp.

CyberCorps

Cybercorps is basically the Silicon Valley of Cyberpunk. This megacorporation handles most of the technological development in the world. CyberCorps corporations include Zetatech, Microtech, and Akari Heavy Industries.

BioCorps

BioCorps primarily handles the development and implementation of human augmentation technology, while some companies under this umbrella focus on genetically altered crops. BioCorps companies include Biotechnica, Cyphire Cyberware, and Bakumatsu Chipmasters.

ArmaCorps

The companies that form the ArmaCorps megacorporation focus on training and deploying security forces. They include some of the largest corporations in the Cyberpunk universe such as Arasaka, Militech, and Lazarus.

MediaCorps

MediaCorps is just a good old-fashioned media conglomerate. While much of the content that they produce is controlled by various influences, they have sources pretty much everywhere and attempt to know at all times what is really happening in this world. MediaCorps companies include Network News 54, Nippon Network, and World News Service.

Which Gangs Roam Night City?

Hundreds of gangs potentially roam the streets of Night City at any time, but these are some of the biggest/most notable groups that have been confirmed for Cyberpunk 2077:

Animals

Just as their name implies, the Animals are a particularly ruthless gang who prefer to use their own fists (sometimes amplified by chemical and technological enhancements) over more elaborate forms of weapons.

Scavengers

Another aptly named gang, the Scavengers make most of their money by harvesting other people’s technological enhancements. They’re not the biggest players in Night City, but they’re certainly among the most feared.

Voodoo Boys

Years ago, the Voodoo Boys were not only one of the biggest drug-dealing gangs in Night City but among the most violent. However, Cyberpunk 2077 portrays a different version of this gang which primarily exists to protect the residents of their community.

Maelstrom

The Maelstrom is an aggressive and large gang that relies heavily on high-tech gear. They used to control the docks, but it seems they’ve been pushed out of that area by the timeline of Cyberpunk 2077.

Tyger’s Claw

This gang used to be all about their pure martial arts abilities, but the version of them we see in Cyberpunk 2077 seems to have embraced modern technology and cybernetic ehancements. It’s believed that they’re funded by Arasaka.

Lizzies

One of the more “entertaining” gangs in Night City, the Lizzies are just really big fans of the singer Lizzy Wizzy. That said, they’re still quite dangerous and usually high.

6th Street

The 6th Street gang sees themselves as city protectors, but their views on what constitutes the idea of “protection” are, to say the least, loose. More often than not, they do more damage than the gangs they say they protect the city from.

Is Cyberpunk 2077 Canonical?

There seems to still be some debate on this subject, but the short answer is that Cyberpunk 2077 is based on the events of the Cyberpunk tabletop RPG and appears to be a continuation of the events in the Cyberpunk 2020 edition of that series. However, it seems that the game will ignore many of the details of the controversial third edition of Cyberpunk: Cyberpunk V3.0

At the moment, though, there is still some confusion regarding how the events of Cyberpunk may affect future editions of tabletop series and its related materials. It’s still entirely possible that Cyberpunk 2077 will take some creative liberties with the series which may not be reflected in subsequent Cyberpunk productions outside of the video game. It’s also possible that some of the events that take place between 2020 and 2077 may be altered in future editions of the tabletop game and related Cyberpunk stories.

Having said that, the basic lore that we’ve described above will still serve as the narrative foundation of Cyberpunk 2077.

What Role Do You Play in Cyberpunk 2077?

That will be entirely up to you.

While you will encounter notable characters from the Cyberpunk mythos during your time in Cyberpunk 2077 (such as Johnny Silverhand and Adam Smasher), you are not playing an established character in the Cyberpunk lore. You’ll create your own character, choose their backstory, and perform actions that will define who you are in this universe as well as the effect you have on the overall lore of this series.

How else Cyberpunk 2077 will honor, alter, and further the events of the Cyberpunk universe thus far remains to be seen.

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