#Huggy is harder to draw than I thought | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fountainpenguin · 11 months

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"It lives in a world where feelings cannot be defined by words. Oh, set me free from my jealousy..."

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New Factor It In chapter today!

Chapter 2 - “Tree Diagram”

Read on FFN || Read on AO3

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It's WordGirl and Huggy vs. the mind-controlled Kid Math and an army of Tobey's robots downtown... Meanwhile, Victor and Victoria watch from a safe distance. Wow. Being a superhero sure seems like it would be the best...

(First 1,000 words under the cut)

Tree Diagram

.:: January 3rd - Saturday ::.

"All that is possible can be made probable once plans have been prepared."

(Ancient Hexagon proverb)

➕ ➖ ✖️ ➗

Psst! Look for the words civilian and resilient

Where we left off, WordGirl and Captain Huggyface were in the midst of a grueling fight against Tobey's robots and a mind-controlled Kid Math, courtesy of Mr. Big…

Even gentle snowflakes can feel like spikes of hail when you hurtle through them at Mach 4. They lash her cheeks and bite her eyelids. WordGirl plows through them anyway, one hand up to block at least one of her cheeks. It helps. A little. She's resilient either way.

She veers up from her comet-like charge and floats like a sparking star in the empty space. She plants herself in front of both Mr. Big and Tobey. Her whiplash arrival makes the former flail his arms in shock and the latter cry her name. WordGirl shakes her head, ignoring both, and floats a little closer to the man on the taller building.

"All right, Mr. Big! We can either do this the 'cheap and easy' way, or the 'hard and insurance paperwork' way. Now, stop mind controlling my friend and leave this city alone!"

Mr. Big takes one look at her and jabs a finger at the remote in his hand. Behind him, a bespectacled superhero kid bursts skyward with the husk of a giant robot lifted above his head. He's wearing cyan blue. White gloves. White boots. A yellow belt wraps around his waist, fastening with a hexagon buckle at his stomach. A single green light on that buckle blinks on and off.

The robot groans, flailing its limbs. One foot narrowly misses Tobey on the bakery's three-tiered roof. Its smacking hand almost whacks Mr. Big clean off the ambiguous building. Huggy shrieks, squeezing her neck. WordGirl chokes on a gasp, then steadies her balance in the air. There he is. And even from here, super-hearing or no super-hearing, she can hear Kid Math mutter the same mantra over and over under his breath: "Destroy competition. Construct new billboards. Destroy competition. Construct new billboards…"

"MY ROBOT!" Tobey wails, drawing his hands down his cheeks. "Number 14!"

"All right… Huggy, make a note: add Mr. Big to the list of villains we should never again leave Kid Math to handle alone. At… least not if we're across town instead of enjoying a conveniently placed picnic nearby with our binoculars in hand."

He squeals agreement, wrapping his arms and legs around her torso. Right. Back to business. WordGirl punches her hand into her open palm, thinning her eyes to slits.

"Okay, Kid Math! This chaos is way out of line. Your fractured reality is about to get simplified."

Does that even make sense? Math puns aren't her thing. She can define every word with the gossamer touch of a fairy princess, but that doesn't mean she understands the full complexities of equations and numbers the way he does. Her mind blurs after about 12. Kid Math stares back at her, all glaze-eyed and ghostly.

Then he arches his back and hurls the massive robot directly at her. "WHOA!" she yelps, and twists her flight pattern like a snake. Huggy squeezes with both arms and both legs. The robot (or what's left of it) cannonballs right past them. It plows through an empty parking lot outside a squid-themed restaurant- the one that doesn't serve seafood at all. WordGirl winces. Oops. Probably should have caught that… Tobey screams distress from the roof of the three-tiered bakery, clawing his fingers down his cheeks. Something about a partnership betrayed, and Mr. Big all but confirms this when he yells back from the neighboring rooftop, "My mistake, Theodore! I can't choose what he wants to throw!"

"Number 14…"

Kid Math twitches in the sky, his hands empty but his body still tense and looking for a fight. WordGirl keeps her eyes locked on his face. They can both fly at lightning-fast speed (well… thunder-fast), and dodging him will be a lot easier if he signals a move before he makes it. Thus far, she'd chased her wayward understudy - not that she'd ever tell him he was sort of like her understudy - from the bank to the park to the steakhouse and around through the loop again. Right from the start, it was obvious something was going on with him. His paths were too direct for him to pass as the real Kid Math, because this mind-controlled puppet version of her friend charged straight from Point A to Point B without taking thermal updrafts and wind resistance into the equation. Absolutely ineffective. Totally unlike him.

And of course, the Kid Math she'd come to know over the past four months wouldn't just be flying around destroying billboards and things either.

Or, uh… At least he isn't that destructive MOST of the time. WordGirl winces at the memory of a furious, flush-cheeked Kid Math punching a street sign hard enough to send it crashing through a window. He didn't mean to do that. He just didn't know his own strength yet.

Well, okay. As much as she hates admitting it, maybe she is being a little quick to grant him that benefit of the doubt… Even yesterday, Kid Math (in the guise of 8-year-old Rex Pemdas: the innocent, newly-enrolled 3rd-grade student of Woodview Elementary) had rambled to her on the way to the jewelry store that he had a plan to help the city "go green" before Earth Day rolled around in spring. His plan had involved "relocating" more than a handful of skyscrapers, and he'd been stubbornly reluctant to take "No" for an answer.

"Destroy competition. Construct new billboards. Destroy competition…"

Why she'd even escorted him to the jewelry store was another story altogether, and one that involved Invisi-Bill tackling his first solo crime since WordGirl had met him. The thin excuse to her brother TJ and tagalong Johnson had been "Rex wanted to check out the shiny doorknobs at the library and we need to run really fast to make sure we get there before it rains," to which TJ had rolled his eyes and snarked that Becky probably just wanted to get Rex hooked on Princess Triana novels. He and Johnson had wished their new friend good luck. They sprinted off, and Invisi-Bill had actually made it pretty far down the street before Kid Math had zeroed in on his whistling and-

A dot of green blinks in the center of her vision, snapping her focus back to the battle at hand. Aha! Something they can use. WordGirl blasts forward, arms extended, with her eyes locked on that little flashing dot. Now we're getting somewhere…

[Cnt'd on FFN / AO3 - Links at top]

#WordGirl #Factor It In #ridwriting #Grammar queen #Arithmetic Lad #Bot building boy #Second Best kid #apparently art #Satirical vocab alien child show #LexiHexa duo #Space monkey #Huggy is harder to draw than I thought #fic announcement

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radramblog · 3 years

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Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Commanders

Due to circumstances I won’t get into at time of writing (don’t worry it’s mostly good) I’ve been forced, dragged over, and required to actually fucking read all the new Commanders from Magic’s newest set, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. I’ve only recently gotten deeper into D&D, I don’t know who like any of these clowns are (except Tiamat, obviously).

Also due to circmstances beyond my control (that are less good but understandable) my Commander night has been called off and I don’t get to play with my shiny new Cabal Coffers. It’s a bit sad, and it means I want to get my fix elsewhere.

What better way than to combine these two and just write about every AFR ‘mander? That’ll pass the time. There’s like, what, 30? I can manage that if I’m quick. Let’s get into it.

(No I’m not doing the precon cards I haven’t been staring at those all week)

Acererak the Archlich

The way I see this guy going is one of two things. You either do infinite Venture by making him free (not too hard in Black, what with Heartless Summoning, Carnival of Souls, etc.) and have a probably fine combo commander. For the record, infinite Venture does kill your opponents flat-out, BUT only because of Lost Mine of Phandelver’s Dark Pool room, and only if their life totals are lower than your deck count because you’re going to be drawing it in the process. That shouldn’t be an issue, but you never know.

The other option is just playing him fairly, which requires completing Tomb of Annihilation, and you just have a kinda mid Stax commander I guess? Eh.

Asmodeus the Archfiend

This Devil is clearly trying to echo prior Demons like Griselbrand and Vilis, but I’m not sure it’s going to be successful- if only because the mana investment means it’s a lot slower. And if he gets killed when you don’t have B up? Blown the fuck out. Add in no evasion and this is a God I’m happy to pass on.

Barrowin of Clan Undurr

Okay so this is kind of like Alesha, in less colours and more mana, if you manage to complete a dungeon. And there aren’t that many dungeon cards, so you’re probably playing some bad ones to make up for it. This is definitely a 99’er in that Esper Dungeon precon, and certainly not a commander.

Bruenor Battlehammer

In an attempt to solve one of Boros’s problems, Bruenor saves you a bunch of mana on equips and makes shit like Argentum Armor substantially more playable. He also gets kinda fuckin beefy with even just a few on him, hitting that 7 no matter what the first one is and 11 not long after. As far as Boros Boys go, you can do a lot worse!

Delina, Wild Mage

Didn’t we just get this card? Like, in C21? This is harder to make busted than Rionya, but it is cheaper and works with legends, so fair call. There’s not enough “advantage” dice mechanics in Red, certainly, so you can’t go probability-mad with this, but it’s pretty decent value. It also happens to be a Shaman, so it works with that new MH2 card, and that’s fun.

Drizzt Do’Urden

This guy has a lot of potential, and for added bonus, he has a cat! A lot of the cards that are good in this are the ones that are good in, say, Varolz, but honestly if you just want to play Selesnya Beatsticks then Drizzt might be the way to go. Can’t play him in Cats, though, unless you want to lose Kaheera, so.

Ebondeath, Dracolich

Yeah I don’t think this one was for this format? I mean it’s super recursive, and probably a really good candidate for a Homicidal Seclusion/Deadly Wanderings deck. I think we need one or two more of that effect to make it actually playable, but I still like the idea.

Wait why isn’t this fucker a skeleton? WoTC Pls.

Farideh, Devil’s Chosen

Look, I tried. I really tried, but there really just isn’t enough to make Farideh work yet. At least in black-border, as I think she’s probably one of the best silver-bordered commanders printed in a minute. A shame, because I sure do enjoy Tieflings, and the effect is legitimately solid if you can trigger it consistently.

Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar

While I imagine it’s a perfectly solid commander in their own right, basically Mono-Blue Edric but not group-huggy, where this is going to really shine is in Ninja decks. Holy shit, this is so nutty for those. Honestly, ETB decks in general are going to like them, because the choice of either taking damage and letting them draw or letting them reuse a powerful ETB is pretty tough. I like everything about this, except the art, because I’m not into tentacles no thank you.

Gretchen Titchwillow

When Strixhaven came out, I thought Zimone was going to be the most boring Simic commander we’d ever see. But here comes Gretchen to outdo them.

Look, Simic can do good designs. Even at uncommon- Imoti, Moritte, and Eutropia are all super interesting in my opinion. But Simic being just draw and lands has become a meme, and I’m sick of it. Extremely so, for three main reasons- one, it’s boring, two, it’s been all over the place since WoTC decided +1/+1 counters being their only theme was bad (and, fair,) and three, it’s good.

Gretchen is the most boring card in the entire set, in my opinion, and I sure hope she isn’t a cool character in the lore because that’d be such a waste.

Hama Pashar, Ruin Seeker

There are 21 venture cards in Azorius, and some of them are even good. Most of the Room effects are pretty minor, however, save for some of the endgame ones (and copying Cradle of the Death God is pointless, Atropal is legendary), so copying them isn’t actually a huge amount of value. I’d still play this in Esper Venture, but I don’t think I’d build around it.

Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant

While this clearly isn’t built for this format, equipping this dragon with it’s own tongue is kind of a hilarious idea. You could do worse for Voltron decks, I guess, and in the 99 it’s both a thing to slap equipment on and an equipment itself- like a flying (and weaker) Halvar. Eh? I just wish the token wasn’t legendary- like yeah Flavour but this effect gets a lot worse when you can’t recur it. It’s rare that someone goes out of their way to kill an equipment that isn’t super busted, so Frost Tongue is probably hanging around for a while anyway.

Man, it feels awful if they bolt this one, huh?

Inferno of the Star Mounts

Okay this is fucking cool. It’s a Shivan Dragon with haste, and that ability is probably pretty feasible to activate- keep in mind Braid of Fire and Neheb and the like are in the format- and combined with a swing will just kill someone. In fact, when I saw this, my brain immediately started looking for ways to shrink it, just so you can get multiple 20-damage wallops in a turn.

…there aren’t very many. But still! Even if you can’t get to 20 multiple times in a turn, getting to 21 once or twice is pretty good!

Iymrith, Desert Doom

The fourth of our dragon cycle, because hey, it is Dungeons and Dragons. Iymrith reads basically identical to Dragonlord Ojutai, but without White- and for that kinda control deck, White is pretty nice to have. Iymrith can draw you more cards than Ojutai, but only if you’re low, in a blue deck, in Commander, so. With that said, a deck that just loads this with cheap auras/equipment might actually be pretty good, since they can load you back up on cards and keep the Voltron flowing, so, maybe? I’d honestly consider it if I didn’t already have Mono-blue Voltron as a deck.

Kalain, Reclusive Painter

Okay this is super interesting. He is, unfortunately kinda fighting with the RB precon face, Prosper, for the new RB treasure deck, but for an uncommon there’s a fair bit going on here.

Actually, wait, is there? I thought about this for another couple seconds, and I don’t think this card actually does that much. It’s one treasure, and it benefits you a little bit for doing something you frankly don’t really want to be burning treasures on? Like it probably plays a mean Marionette Master, but everyone does that.

There really aren’t any other RB Artifact commanders, though, aside from Prosper or a partner deck. So ehhhh? Why are more people playing this than, like, Bruenor?

Krydle of Baldur’s Gate

That’s a lot of words that don’t actually do a whole lot. I like the second ability, but Commander and especially Dimir aren’t hurting for evasion options. This is probably pretty good in Rogues, but that deck has a de facto best commander now, so. If this came out like, five years ago, it’d be kinda hype, but not anymore.

As an aside, I do kinda hate it when they just print a Tribal commander (or anything like this) that’s just miles and miles better than every other commander for that archetype, like with Anowon 2 or Edgar Markov or Anje Falkenrath. Wait….those are all vampires…….

Minsc, Beloved Ranger

Shivam Bhatt did a fucking excellent breakdown of this character’s lore on twitter, which I recommend reading- the history of D&D’s lore is fucking wild. As it is, this seems like a pretty fun Naya commander- there’s plenty of creatures that get way better if you make them large, even if targeting Boo seems kinda pointless.

Also, I need someone to explain to me why the “Top Cards” on EDHREC for this guy right now are, like, all combo cards.

WAIT NO FIGURED IT OUT, unlike Marath he doesn’t say X can’t be 0 so you can use him as a sac outlet, for fucks sake people.

Nadaar, Selfless Paladin

Hey remember all the things I said about the WB and WU dungeon cards? I mean, at least this guy could theoretically complete the dungeon on his own, but Mono-White is even more restrictive for what you could get, so. At least he draws a card every so often. And that anthem isn’t even remotely worth it, at all.

Old Gnawbone

Green eating up more of the colour pie, I see. Now to be fair, I’ve pondered Mono-Green artifacts for a while, and this is probably a better leader for that list than Oviya Pashiri (but…I like her….), but beyond that I’m not sure what you’re doing with this. I guess people playing Sakiko because they think she’s actually good and not because they like her have a new commander.

This is fuckbusted in the 99 of like a million decks though. So there’s that.

Orcus, Prince of Undeath

That…is so much mana. In a colour combo not especially great at garnering lots of it. The second ability scales fairly well, and it is a decent body on its own, but I don’t think this is going to be a particularly popular commander. Like, you have to pump 6 mana into this just to get a 2-drop back or to Infest the board? And that’s just the first time you cast it? Nahhhhh.

Oswald Fiddlebender

Artifact Pod? Yeah, okay, sure, that seems reasonable at two mana. Keeping this mono-white was a good idea, I can’t imagine how insane this’d be in blue. I’m no artifacts expert, I’m no pod expert, but this has to be busted, right? Like surely there’s an easy way to infinite this? Someone with more brains figure it out for me, but either way it’s still a bunch of value and also a tutor in the zone.

(convert two random 2-mana rocks or wellsprings into Basalt Monolith/Rings of Brighthearth, okay that’s a good start)

Shessra, Death’s Whisper

…ehhhhhhh. Okay, so, it’s a significantly worse Deathreap ritual in the command zone, and also a terrible Lure effect. Along with the flavour words on this taking up much more space than necessary, making the effects look much bigger and better than they are. Would it have hurt to give this deathtouch? Make it trigger on every end step? Lure more than once? I dunno, this just seems painfully weak to me. We’ve had an overabundance of Golgari commanders recently, to be fair- MH2 had 3, and before that was the enemy focused Strixhaven/C21, but that’s no excuse for this to be such trash- just look at Bruenor.

Targ Nar, Demon-Fang Gnoll

I hope you like Gnolls, because that’s gotta be the only reason you’re playing this. Hello Tuya Bearclaw/Syr Faren/im sure a bunch of other boring commanders, this is another one of you. This looks so bad next to the Gruul precon (which is apparently somehow the first Gruul precon) and, well, every other RG general from the past couple years (save, again, Tuya Bearclaw). Even the fuckin Walking Dead guy is cooler than this.

The Tarrasque

Disappointment part one over here is at time of writing the only commander from this set with a fat zero decks. Considering there were like 10 commanders at that number when I last checked, people are clearly trying out the set, so The Tarrasque being abandoned is particularly sad. It just…doesn’t do anything? It’s the fucking Tarrasque, and it doesn’t have trample, or a fear ability, or anything? Ward 10 is cute, basically being hexproof unless they have infinite mana (or an uncounterable spell), but really? I want more than this idiot for my 9 fucking mana commander. Ugh.

Tiamat

I believe I’ve talked about Tiamat before, when she got spoiled, but I can’t be arsed finding that and dredging it up. I’m still disappointed, basically, especially since I’ve now read her statblock and know what she actually does. They could’ve given her a cool ability per head like Cromat, or had her recur like she does in the lore, or something. I genuinely would have preferred if she was an Emrakul-style massive game-ender (with a no-reanimation no bullshit clause) than this. How utterly meh.

Trelasarra, Moon Dancer

This is literally just Ajani’s Pridemate but Selesnya and in the zone. Also you scry. Sure? It does also have two relevant creature types I guess, and they’d probably be good in a Soul Sisters deck. But it’s not like Selesnya was hurting for Lifegain commanders- this is basically just Lathiel but much leaner and voltron-ier.

Varis, Silverymoon Ranger

Wait you can’t even play this in Esper Venture, fuck. With Flash effects, you can start clearing dungeons well quick enough, but like, for what, a Wolf? And these defensive keywords aren’t getting you anywhere either. Blegh.

Side note- I’m a big fan of tokens, and collecting various token arts, and I was extremely disappointed when I found out that the Wolf token from this set is just…the Zendikar one again? They didn’t reuse the 3/3 Angel or the Goblin or even the Zombie, why just that one? Something must have happened behind the scenes here.

Also….Silverymoon? That sounds like shit.

Volo, Guide to Monsters

Hey, I know you, you’re from that one book. As much as Anti-Tribal sounds fun, I’m pretty sure this just turns into generic Simic value. Copying things is fun, I suppose, though not working with Legends hurts. I also appreciate that this supports playing a bunch of weirdo cards or ones that have fallen out of favor because they have more unique creature types- Anphin Mutineer, Acidic Slime, and Diluvian Primordial all seem like a lot of power here.

That said, is anyone ever letting this fucker stick around for a turn?

Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

Hey, I know you, you’re from that one book. This card is completely awful to play in webcam-commander, so it’s a good thing we’re all getting vaccinated, right?

So this is UB Gonti, I guess? And also unironically not the worst combo commander, since it stops people from playing spells on your turn in a very White-like effect. Add in some Lantern-style effects and you can get a real stew going with this guy. He looks like a lot of fun- and I’m sure he’ll end up popular as a result. Well, that and being on the cover of an expansion book gets you a lot of notoriety.

Zalto, Fire Giant Duke

Our final card, our final Venture card, and the only red one. So, uh, there are literally 4 other Venture cards in mono-red, and at least one of them is complete dogshit, so I can’t imagine this being very good. Also, it’s an Enrage trigger on a 3 toughness 5-drop? Far from ideal. I guess it’s a 7 power trampler for 5, but that’s kind of faint praise to damn with. Maybe if someone makes 5C Venture, or if Giant/Barbarian tribal feel lacking, then this guy can find a home.

Shoutout to the exactly one person who built this deck, by the way. I see you, Elder Demon Highlander, and your 100ish views on your deck tech.

And that’s the lot of them. Honestly, a lot more misses than hits, but that’s perfectly okay by me. 30 legends in a set is a lot, not to mention the 12 from the precons, and we’ve had so many actively playable legends recently that I’m fine with, like, half of these being trash. Trash is more fun anyway! Get yourself a fuckin Varis, why not.

Okay but seriously though who’s biting the bullet and building Tarrasque first? It’s not going to be me.

#ramble #mtg #commander #edh #mtgafr #adventures in the forgotten realms

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writeanapocalae · 5 years

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Alii Inspiriti

Read on Ao3 | Inspired by Art

Warning for robot body horror

He didn’t want to move. Even after a shower and a load of laundry and a night of rest and another shower, he felt like he was still covered in the grunge of the river. He sat at his desk, staring at his screen, leaning on his crossed arms. To most he would seem asleep, especially since his hood was up over his head. It was a different hood, a black one, since the burgundy one was too covered in blood and had been cut open. He wouldn’t be able to put it back together.

A mug, his mug, was set down on his desk, on his right. It had a little tabby on it.

“Uh, earth to Meekus…” A voice. A familiar voice. A voice that wasn’t talking down to him, or condescending or trying too hard to find a good side to him, not like the rest of their coworkers. Not cold and methodical, too many big words than necessary, not the voice he wanted. He glanced out of the safety of his hood up at Tina. “The fuck happened out there?”

He sat up a little bit, putting his hands to his hood. He didn’t want to pull it back, he didn’t want to be seen. His eyes were all red, he was sure, his nose was drippy. He could say that he was sick, he should have said that he was sick. He’d been in the river, he probably had some sort of disease or mutation from how nasty that water had been.

He decided against it. He could already see Tina’s eyes go wide as she caught a glimpse of the bandage around his wrist.

“He dove in to save me,” he admitted, his words blunt and quiet. He didn’t want people to know. He didn’t know why. He knew that being thrown off a bridge wasn’t a sign of weakness, but he didn’t want people to think of him that way. He was the one who saved Nines, after all, he should have felt strong for that. But instead, he felt like he wanted to be even more closed off than usual.

“I thought androids could swim,” Tina stated.

“Yeah, well, apparently not with a damaged bio-component.” Gavin tapped at his chest, at the exact spot where Nines had been stabbed. It was his fault. He knew that. Nines would have been fine if he’d just drawn his gun. Nines would have been fine if he’d just been faster. There were a million ways in which he should have been better. But he had failed.

He hadn’t heard a word about Nines’ condition since.

Tina squatted down beside him, wrapping an arm around him, pulling him close. As far as hugs went, it sucked. He wasn’t used to hugs, he hadn’t had one in years, and he and Tina didn’t do that, weren’t huggy. The fact that she was trying now was just awkward.

“Don’t do that,” he pushed her off.

“Thank you, I hated it too,” she smirked.

“You should ask Hank for some lessons,” Gavin bit at the dryness on his lips. “He’s been getting a lot of practice lately.”

She punched him in the arm, harder than usual but enough to remind him for a while that it had happened. “Shut up! I’m not that bad.”

She got up though, dusting herself off, and turned in time to catch a dispatch call. She gave Gavin the finger and waltzed out of the bullpen, heading out to one of the hundreds of crime scenes that would need attention that day. She walked by Connor though, and Gavin’s eyes were tacking her, so he had no choice but to get the plastic prick’s attention.

Connor perked up and strode over, the smile on his face looking more plastic than usual. “Detective Reed, I am glad to see that you’re alright after yesterday’s altercation.”

Gavin waved him off. “No, you’re not.”

“Well, I’m glad to see that the suspect is in custody and both you and Nines survived, at the very least,” Connor corrected, “I know that you and I do not always get along to the best of our abilities, but I was hoping that you would accompany me to visiting Nines after work.”

Gavin put his hands over his face, leaning into his own fingers. He didn’t want to go anywhere with Connor. He didn’t want their relationship to change. He didn’t like Connor. He did want to see Nines though. “You get an update or something?”

“Yes! As I am connected to Nines by being of the same line, and there are no other androids of his model type, my schematics are highly integral to the tech team’s understanding of how he works.”

Gavin glared at him through his fingers. “And he’s going to be alright?”

Connor sobered at that, looking down at his feet in a mockery of human emotion, always a bit exaggerated. “It is too early to say for sure. He is not even awake yet to be tested for any discrepancies in his memory or programming.”

“Fine, fine, we’ll go, but unless you’ve got an update on his condition, don’t talk to me until work’s over.”

Connor all but bounced on his heels at that but he did as instructed, not saying another word as he turned to go back to Hank. He could hear them talking about him if he paid closer attention. He didn’t want to though. He tapped at his chest and then at the keyboard, finally getting to work. He had reports to file, a lot of them being about the river incident, and he had to get ahead on them. He couldn’t go out on the field without a partner, now that he had one.

His coffee was bland. Nines didn’t make him coffee often, and it was still the same old slop that everyone else had in the break room, but he knew how Gavin liked it all the same. Gavin usually made it himself and, even then, it was never as good as what Nines did.

The day passed slowly, uneventfully, and then Connor was at his desk with that plastic smile smeared on his creepy face. Gavin sighed and got up, clocking out the old fashioned way, with the electronic system mounted to the wall instead of his phone. It was in his freezer, in a bag of rice, but he didn’t have much hope for it.

He could have visited on his own. He shoved his hands in his pockets and followed Connor down into the basement. It was supposed to be a storage room but it hadn’t been used in years, so it had been retrofitted to be a tech station. It was still too small for more than a few androids to be repaired at a time, but with only Nines down there, it should have been large enough.

Upon hearing that Connor and Gavin were there, Angela, the tech, ran from bed to bed and closed the curtains, as if she was hiding something. She even pulled a sheet up and over Nines’ just letting his face and shoulders be viewed from under the blue sheet.

She was quick to steal Connor’s attention, to talk to him in all sorts of jargon that Gavin would never understand. It gave him a moment to himself, just with Nines.

Even though he was covered, Gavin could tell that there was a lot of him missing. He was just a head and a torso but then the shape of his torso was all wrong. There was a loud rumbling, like fans, and a swift breeze throughout the room. He wasn’t too far off then, with the rice idea. He was glad then, that Angela had closed off the rest of the beds. He didn’t want to see Nines’ parts.

The LED on Nines’ temple was fading in and out, still red, while the rest of his features were soft and relaxed. Gavin pressed his thumb against it and then rolled his knuckles down his strong cheekbone. Seeing him like this, it wasn’t something that Gavin ever wanted to see him like. He looked fragile, and both too human and not human at all. There was nothing like seeing the shapes of someone’s insides to tell that they weren’t anything like you, but he was so vulnerable and open like this that it was hard to remember that he was a machine all the same.

“Why’d you go do something so stupid, you plastic piece of shit?” Gavin murmured and the words sounded soft, even to him.

“Couldn’t have you just die,” Nines rasped in response. Other than his mouth, he was still.

“Shit!” Gavin leaped back, pulling his hand away like Nines as going to grab him. “You’re awake?”

“Only simple processed,” Nines replied, eyes still closed. “Angela needs me responses in case of a difficulty in my systems.”

Gavin took a step closer, drawing near once more, as if they were friends, as if Gavin had any right to stand at Nines’ side like this. “You jumped in after me because you didn’t want me dead? What about you? You were stabbed.”

“I am an android. My parts can be replaced. My memories can be backed up and put into a new body. I am completely replaceable. You are not.”

Nines didn’t respond when Gavin touched him, so he trailed his fingers through Nines’ perfect hair, twisting it between his fingers. “You’re the only RK900, remember? There’s no more bodies or anything. You get yourself killed, that’s all there is.”

“I am android,” Nines repeated. “I am replaceable. Another RK800 could take my place.”

“That’s not true,” Gavin argued, softly, “I hate androids, remember? Someone tries to replace you they’ll be in pieces by the end of the week.”

“Is that a threat?”

Gavin shrugged. “No. Just. Don’t get yourself killed. You’re not replaceable. Not to me, okay?”

Nines didn’t respond, not for a long time, though the LED cycled yellow instead of red. “Alright, Gavin.”

Gavin smiled, for the first time that day. It was quickly hidden away before Connor came over to poke his nose in places where it didn’t need to be.

#detroit become human #my writing #reed900 #gavin reed #rk900 #fanfiction

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