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thenamesblurrito · 3 years

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ladies and gentlemen this is ask dump no. 5

aw scrap here we go again!

answered asks include body modification as the opposite of empurata, Mutacons making bandages out of kibble, kibble used as furniture, numbers of Sweeps, a DILF alligator, RID15 Tidal Wave, a BIG infodump on dealing with the circus that is Iacon’s media, Cybertronian muppets, a WIP of Elita Infin1te (or rather her sword), and the many secret sufferings of Alpha Trion.

yea, sorta! body modification in SNAP is more limited than in canon. you can’t simply switch out your body like the total frame reformats of IDW or TFP, and losing a limb can be permanent if not healed in time. for the most part, the frame you have is the frame you’re stuck with, and those frames fall within specific parameters.

HOWEVER-

some modification and upgrades do exist! the most prominent here would be a prosthetic helm like Lugnut. if the processor is left intact and attached after a helm injury, a new helm can be sculpted, with extra optics to make up for the lower quality of artificial optics, and as visibly different as possible to differentiate from empurata. other replacements and prosthetics are common after debilitating injury where the original body part cannot be saved. whether or not the prosthetic is as good as the original depends on the individual and the specific injury. there are also functional medical upgrades, like thicker armor attachments, alt mode additions, etc. almost every upgrade is for the express purpose of improving one’s frame for their function, and there’s definitely a limit to them. you can’t give yourself new limbs if you only had four to begin with. a grounder cannot become a flier. the spark can only power so much mass in the frame, and some people have adverse reactions that mean the upgrades don’t take and must be removed.

this sort of relates to the next point here-

yes, with some caveats.

Cybertronians are a segmentary species, so they can detach some body parts for a bit without negative consequences, as long as that body part is reattached for revitalization and repair. many folks can do this without any medical assistance for the less integral kibble. for instance, Kup uses his tow arm as a walking stick, but he has to reattach it whenever he wants to go into alt mode, and if he doesn’t transform he still needs to reattach it for a couple hours every day at minimum. so if a Mutacon were to create a makeshift splint out of kibble and detach it, it would likely be fine, as long as they got that kibble back. otherwise, they’ve lost a whole chunk of their body that they can’t just regenerate.

for shifting armor to cover a wound without detaching it, that depends on the nature of the wound. if it’s ragged, large, or in areas with a lot of joints or movement, it might be difficult to shuffle around plating to cover it. a more superficial injury in a less delicate area would be easier

sort of! it’ll depend on the individual’s kibble, of course! double checking SNAP Bulkhead, i don’t think he could, because his kibble isn’t large enough. but Scylla could probably use her alt mode arms as a chair, Wreck-Gar has a built in backpack and belly bag, and of course the Necrobot uses his wingcloak as hands. different kibble with different bonus uses

the ideal number of Sweeps is seven, since less than that means they don’t have enough collective processing power to function optimally. more than seven, however, puts a strain on that collective processing power to smoothly operate so many at once. so there’s usually packs of as close to seven as they can get.

as to how many can just exist at the same time, it’s limited only by how many Scourge is willing to forge. he first invents them in s1e06 A Use for Army-building! An Upgrade to Sweeps. by the next episode they figure out that having dozens of them running around is... well it’s about as chaotic as having dozens of flying puppies with hands and weapons would be. in large numbers they’re very difficult to control. good thing Galvatron is excellent at commanding his new army!

(the post this is referring to) @oldboyjensenhinglemeier thanks Dilf Waitress, i can always rely on you

(the post this is referring to) i think that’s fantastic, i’d love to see a Cybertronian whale. imagine the size of the holding cell you’d have to have for him!

oooohohoho what a sticky subject. here’s a quick rundown on faction ideology to give you some context for how they operate and thus deal with the media. the heroes aren’t referred to as heroes, but rather as vigilantes at best and violent gangs in a turf war at worst. Froid has remotely diagnosed them with pathological dissent. at the same time, some folks have jumped on the market to make hero merch, and it becomes a very lucrative business for some. public opinion is constantly torn between fear and anger at how they do whatever they’d like and gratitude and admiration for how they throw themselves in harms way to prevent disaster and save people. it’s really a giant mess all the time that changes by the day.

there is of course the whole snafu surrounding the media’s portrayal of the Elite Guard as a backup team for the Autobots, and Elita 1 as Optimus’ sidekick. and Elita 1 is Not Happy about that. Elita 2 is startlingly good at winding the reporters around her little finger and always seems to know just what to say, whereas Elita 3 just grumbles at the cameras, even sometimes demanding they respect boundaries or be locked in the nearest building with the use of her powers. Elita 4 barely notices them unless she’s in the mood to prank someone, and Elita 5 just avoids them, as they tend to dramatize her size and thus her danger. given their excellent teamwork and how they’re (mostly) in favor of reform instead of anarchy, the Elite Guard would actually have a good shot at getting along with the news, except they bow to precisely no one, including the people wanting to interview them, so instead they come across as a standoffish and self-serving clique with dangerous habits

the Decepticons are in the bad-boy limelight and they love it. well, at least Galvatron, Hellscream, and Thunderblast do. Galvatron takes advantage of every opportunity to pontificate on the evils of society and the right to rise up for freedom. broadcasters have learned to cut the cameras as soon as he starts speaking so his ideas don’t get the chance to spread too far. Hellscream cares less about principles and more about scaring the living daylights out of every reporter he sees, often leaving them with cracked equipment and ringing audials from the sheer destructive power of his voice. Thunderblast just wants to preen in all the attention and boy does she get it. Cyclonus actively avoids most gawkers, Scourge talks too long and complicated to make good news, Drift either ignores them or sends them away with some lofty spiritual advice, and Triptych is dangerously unpredictable so most reporters have learned to stay away from him.

the Predacons came into existence in a negative light, and they were grimly prepared for it. after all, Sixshot used to be a Decepticon, and their falling-out and defection caused quite a stir. when Abominus first appeared, the fearful reaction of the public to such an ‘abomination’ is actually how he chose his name in the first place. Airachnid loves tormenting reporters with nuclear-grade sarcasm and subtle threats, but if anyone makes her truly mad she’ll string them up in her web cabling and leave them hanging. she also flaunts that cabling by using her darts to knit nets, shawls, and other decorations, despite the fact that getting cabling tangled up in seams and joints can lead to something called entrapment protocols, mentioned in the seventh ask here. Enforcers use capture equipment designed to trigger entrapment protocols, so her mimicry of that as nothing more than a casual accessory is a big ‘frag you’.

Soundwave.... is a category of his own. he only comes into being in the fourth season, but the media soon learns to quake at the thought of encountering Soundwave, and his minicons are little better. there’s at least one instance where he Rosanna-rolls the entirety of Iacon.

the Autobots keep wavering between ‘the only true good ones of all these vigilantes’ and ‘the worst possible people in the world, hide the children, lock the doors’ in the eyes of the media. Optimus does his best to treat everyone fairly, and the Mistress usually has something encouraging to share. much like Galvatron but for completely opposite reasons, broadcasters have learned to cut cameras when Ultra Magnus starts talking, because his encyclopedic knowledge of law means he regularly lists every instance of malpractice, abuse, illegality, and disrespect that he sees in the average reporter, Enforcer, or politician, which is not the kind of upbraiding that would serve the propaganda machine. however, it does get him the attention of Tyrest, who leverages legality and public opinion to try and draw Ultra Magnus into an agreement during s3e03- A Councilmember’s Boon! An Upgrade to Legality. Rodimus is a chaos beast who has been known to snatch cameras for selfies. it’s kind of a tossup as to whether Cheetor will be going slow enough to show up in the footage or not.

now, i can’t talk about the media without mentioning the feral force of nature that is Rewind. the best of the best, he’s the only one willing to brave the battlefields for an up-close look, constantly endangering himself in order to get the freshest scoop. he might not always hold opinions in line with the mandated propaganda about these vigilantes, but the media lets him get away with it, since he’s the most successful at getting them more news. this has caused him to be targeted at least once, unfortunately.

love this question. love it. you know those lil remote controlled robot dogs, or things to that effect? i’m imagining that’s what Cybertronian muppets are like, since they can create robotics and animatronics with a lot more finesse and ease than we can. in fact, making fabric is probably harder for them than robotics, since they don’t have the same materials as we do to work with. but anyway, these muppets wouldn’t be limited by what a hand can do to puppet them around, being instead remote controlled from off stage, so i don’t know if they’d have that kind of visual gag. maybe instead there would be fourth-wall breaking where one muppet snatches the remote of another?

the painful thing about this answer is that i have a design i’m happy with EXCEPT FOR THE HELM i have sketched and resketched a dozen different ideas ugh. the body looks fine, all five of them combined in a way that makes sense to me, but i just CANNOT get the helm right i’m so angry. anyway here’s the Cyber Caliber, all of their swords combined into one massive weapon

the more accurate question is, what hasn’t happened to him. he’s been through a lot, the poor mech. but i’ll list some things for you:

that one time he had a sibling be erased from reality

that one time he had to murder another sibling because they decided evil was fun

that one time a fragging beachball stole his work

the fact he doesn’t know if his twin is alive or not

that one time he was a junker running for his life

that one time he was too late to save the Terminus Blade, and it was stolen

that one time his pride and joy, the Athenaum Sanctorum, was destroyed, and everything archived there was lost

that other time the same fragging beachball stole his work

that other time he was a junker hiding for his life

the fact that the theft of his diary started a whole new branch of religion and he has to read his own words as if they’re sacred

the fact that the title of Trion was in fact derived from his diary, and the sheer painful irony of being given the title of Trion.

that one time he had to rip off some fingers to fit in

that one time Trypticon showed up, awhile before the JAAT was founded, and he had to take it on alone

that other time Trypticon showed up when the JAAT opened and he had to hand out some precious relics to children to protect the school

aaaaand his current reason for drinking! the fact that of all twenty-something heroes running around, he only knows who THREE of them are because he only gave out THREE RELICS! and relics just keep disappearing from the collection he’s guarding

someone help him he is not having a good time. and it’s only going to get worse...

#ask dump #worldbuilding #cybertronian biology #Empurata #mutacon #sweeps #gatoraider #cybertron #cybertronian culture #autobot #elite guard #decepticon #predacon #rewind #elita infin1te #Alpha Trion #faculty #i've given so much away about alpha now sheesh #well not really i guess but ITS STILL A LOT

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monkey-network · 4 years

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Why EVE is The Best

Heads up. I’m basically gonna sperg about this whole film, so spoilers for this twelve year old film. Enjoy!

Wall-E is one of my favorite films; I would gladly kill and extort to bring the sequel I had in mind to life in any way; animatics would pleased me if nothing else but anyways. I love this film and one of the biggest reasons for that is the character EVE, a character that stuck in my mind longer than most if you can believe. So, better time than any, Imma just ramble about why I love this character. And, before we begin, I’m gonna say EVE is a girl, Wall-E is a boy due to my brain believing they were respectively female- and male-coded for most of my life but do NOT let this stop you from envisioning them however you please. If they’re both girls or boys to you, all power to you. With that said, here we go...

The Design

Now I’m not saying she has the greatest robot design ever; I don’t look at eggs and remember better days when I got to watch that film for the first time in my old house. But Pixar certainly knew how to make simplicity work to perfection. Simple shape, simple mechanics, simple movements. All feeling right at home with her coming from the more advanced future, especially compared to Wall-E where he’s literally a more grounded looking robot. Thematically, this design is fucking genius. A scouter robot with the ability to fly with ease and yet carries a literal arm cannon with incredible fire power. Both expressing how she can have her head in the clouds, observational when necessary, and yet trigger happy amidst the slightest inconvenience or surprise. *MWAH* What the fuck? It’s a great duality where the hard, more logical exterior possesses a sweet and approachable core just waiting to be shown and it’s wonderful seeing Wall-E, this literal block head, fumble his way into having a simple conversation with her. Now I can’t really disassemble how the programming in Wall-E works where they can behave like humans but follow objectives like a machine... but, I can try. With this scene.

Now take this with a grain of salt, the inferencing is more to the imagination otherwise the fun of this movie is tarnished. But from this scene, it’s clear that in this universe robots can show feelings for one another but can’t be romantic with humans because they can recognize human emotions and reactions but do so in an automated sense. The film expresses their curiousity just enough to where their reactions to human things and functions are within reason and yet doesn’t toy with the viewer’s believability. EVE is capable of responding to Wall-E’s advances but doesn’t 100% reciprocate his feelings because Wall-E isn’t her directive (least not yet, that’s for later). Not to mention, she isn’t that adept at romance unlike Wall-E who, by being alone with Earth’s technology, was able to learn and process human romance through the Hello Dolly VHS and potentially other things over the years. So this conversation works with the two having their limited knowledge, we don’t know how much they know, and the film keeps focus on having a balance between somewhat logical reactions and minor impulsive humane reactions that makes them alive but only just enough so it doesn’t feel like them being robots is pointless... Phew. Speaking of which, you know what isn’t pointless? Her motherfucking buster cannon.

Her whole ass arm houses a gun capable of nuking an entire cargo ship in a matter of seconds and it makes sense that she’d have it cuz how can a scouter robot defend themselves but beyond that, it’s just so goddamn cool. Like yeah, I can express how this symbolizes about America and... how they want to fuck their guns or something but who cares. She has a FUCKING ARM CANNON and it’s badass, end of discussion.

The Hanger Moment

Much as I love the moment where the two are in space flying, I honestly say that this moment where the two are in Wall-E’s house during the darude sandstorm is incredibly important. EVE is reasonably taken to his home and naturally, when the lights come on, she looks through the stuff he gives to her. She gets to take it easy for once, things can be quiet after she blew up a whole ship, have a giggle or two at the trinkets he’s collected, with the cigarette lighter being a good tool that’ll be used for later.

She’s curious, bouncy, still a bit quick on the draw, but is nonetheless taking in a lot this robot on Earth has to offer. It’s this and the small 1v1 they had before that is a lovely seedling to not only their connection but EVE’s development on her own, where we hardly need dialogue to show how she’s feeling about it all. And yeah, I’m with plenty of people to say that if this movie was just about the two of them being on Earth it probably would’ve been the greatest Pixar film of all time for many. Fortunately the plot kicks in when Wall-E shows EVE the plant, forcing her to go dormant, thus pulling Wall-E into an adventure on the Axiom ship. And I say fortunately cuz this is where EVE goes from good to great as a character.

The Axiom

While it’s something where we all wish that this film wasn’t the densly plotted, society driven second half, I say the second half on the Axiom carries the film’s themes and character building for EVE to good heights. We enter EVE’s territory, the slick, iPhoney synthetic world where humans have become literal potatoes and everything’s more or less automated. For EVE, the first half of the film lets us see the more playful side of her and doesn’t mind being around Wall-E, but isn’t immediately won over with the concept of love. She’s still goal-oriented and trying to keep the two stuck on Earth would’ve made her arc as open-ended and ambiguous as The Good Dinosaur. Time on the axiom puts her original sense of thinking to the test when Wall-E tags along.

To share the bigger picture real quick, the human element of Wall-E is complimentary to Wall-E and EVE’s humane behavior. To quote RealJims’ honestly flawless analysis, “What better way to show the humanity in a robot than to be among humans that act like robots?” For Wall-E the robot, this works perfectly as a fish out of water story. His time on Earth affects not only a few humans, but other robots like MO and the secretary machine, as minor as it seems.

So when Wall-E seemingly fucks things up, EVE is rightfully peeved. His slip ups especially with the Diagnostics scene tests her goal-oriented nature and patience, to a tasteful comedic strength. Doesn’t mean they now turned Wall-E stupid, the film makes sure the monkey wrenches are only accidents from someone severely out of the loop of things. This leads them and us well into

The Depths of Space

The scene where Wall-E gets launched in the escape pod thrills me with joyfully painful suspense every time. EVE making a mad dash to him as Wall-E madly tries to get out of the soon exploding pod, leading to it exploding and we get this from EVE. The wide eyes of terror followed by the whispering “No”s gives me shivers every time I see it in full.

Now one could argue her concern was more for the plant getting destroyed, but I say she was more frightened at the idea of both Wall-E and the plant getting nuked. While Wall-E did make her mad, she nonetheless cared about him and wasn’t expecting the tiny bot asshole to send him to death. So it’s like, “Oh no, both my purpose and the one that helped me are both gone.”

Luckily, thanks to some foreshadowing, Wall-E made it out alive with the plant in safe keeping and EVE seeing Wall-E actually care about her goal makes her beam with joy, being that reasonable spark that brings the two closer together. I mean if your love interest cheated death to help you out, why wouldn’t it? Everything about this moment is what made EVE stick with me long after I watched the film; the emotional journey the director was able to convey with her is so well-built to this point, it’s still amazing how they were able to do it with little dialogue or facial expressions. I especially love the emptiness we get of the two of them in space, where it adds focus to the two of them especially. But my god, that’s only half of it...

The space dance sequence between the two is still one of Pixar’s most gorgeous scenes. The way Wall-E is able to keep up with the fire extinguisher after having trouble in the film’s beginning, the wide shots of space, the lovely glow of the engines, the music. I especially like to think of this scene as a parallel to EVE’s initial flight on Earth. For her, it was that rite of passage after the touchdown and now she gets to share that same moment with someone she’s grown to like or appreciate. Then again, this isn’t the moment where EVE loves Wall-E. We’re close, but we need that one inch to finally show her the truth. That’s when she sees

The Recordings

The moment where EVE gets to see the memories of her time on Earth, including her dormant stasis, is where shit finally clicks. She essentially gets to know how Wall-E felt not only about her, but about love. Even when she couldn’t be there, she sees now that Wall-E cared about her and is able to process what Wall-E processed when he looked at Hello Dolly at one point. Scene also works because getting her directive, or the plant, was generally done and done with, she finally gets time to focus on something else, on her feelings for someone else. This leads well into... the well that leads to...

The Dumpster Moment

The scene with the recordings is where things finally click, but the moment with EVE and Wall-E in the ship’s dump is where it comes together. After getting betrayed yet again by AUTO, EVE’s concerns are now less with the plant and more for Wall-E and thanks to the moment previous, I can totally buy this. It’s teeth gritting seeing her try to rescue a now broken Wall-E from getting ejected into space and losing his energy thanks to a destroyed chip. So when we see her finally toss the plant aside and says Wall-E is her directive now, I tear up. It feels like a genuine, built up declaration on her part; the moment where EVE can rationally return his feelings ten-fold and truly be there for him. But that isn’t all to it, because Wall-E reasonably struggles his way to the plant to show that to save him, they need to get to Earth which means getting the plant back to the core of the ship.

This gives EVE newfound resolve and puts that to the test, where she has to basically defect against AUTO who’s become the physical antagonist of the film. The escape sequence is a bit of a step down since putting humans in danger doesn’t really affect the film’s themes all that well, but I can’t argue that pitting the captain against AUTO is a bad climax.

The Death to Wall-E

Thinking about this film after so long, it is still pretty fucking shocking to realize how punishing they treat Wall-E in the final act. It’s even more shocking when you realize how the roles have reversed, where Wall-E focuses more on EVE’s goal with the plant instead of EVE herself and vice versa. Then again, I say it’s fair that they did this, to show how much Wall-E was willing to sacrifice for the one he loves which makes the painful wails we hear from EVE feel all the more impactful. Like you’re serious with her as she struggles to accept his death before they reach Earth. And speaking of Earth...

The Finale

Now, I can’t help but argue it’s an unfortunate plothole that EVE is somehow able to fully repair Wall-E in spite of never fixing anything else in the film. Then again, it’s fucking pumping seeing her move quick to put him back together and it’s that final stomp on the heart when, even when he’s fully restored, Wall-E bares no memories of her or anything. You see her desperately try to get him to remember anything only to be met with an emotionless, reset shell. In finally understanding Wall-E’s feelings of love, she can’t really be with him. Until...

True Love’s Kiss Saves the day

I can get scientific with how getting his memories back was possible, but I won’t because the scene just works. It’s quiet, takes it time, and that last eureka moment with the two truly get to hold hands makes up for any scattered logistics. I’d say this is where Wall-E finally gets the love, but the same can be said for EVE, after everything she went through. I’ve admittedly seen a few talk about how the female lead is only valid through the love of another, typically male, but I believe what works 120% here is that the two characters basically have themselves figured out, Wall-E more than EVE, and EVE’s journey is never hindered for a sudden realization to love. She still succeeds in her mission, but the stakes for her have risen once she comes to terms with her newfound feelings and these feelings aren’t out of pocket. Wall-E has his feelings for EVE from the getgo, but dedicates to helping EVE with the goal, even if it means death. The connection they get to have is earned and is what drives the plot. EVE earns what she realizes she wants and that makes her a great female protagonist in my eye.

The Conclusion

Wall-E is a pretty warm movie; a film how the love of two brings humanity to salvation and vice versa. How EVE and Wall-E’s love is synonymous to the intertwining of modern and older technology to shape the world. But honestly, that probably wouldn’t have worked as well without how great they made EVE as a character. Wall-E is great too, but it’s astonishing to see EVE’s journey with Wall-E and show her natural growth of understanding something as warm as romance. Her journey is pretty synonymous to how I feel with the movie overall. The time we get of them on Earth is symbiotic to the time we get in space; we get an intimate journey that expands to a film about society but remains personal and intimate nonetheless. And with EVE, we get this superbly fleshed out character that’s emotive, understanding, and above all gets a resolves that��s awesome to see every time I catch or just think about this film. What else is there to say?

They’re the Best.

#wall-e #Pixar #disney #EVE #movies #awesome #analysis #Good Stuff #long post

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destinywillowleaf · 4 years

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SWN-002 Wing Man

“That's the power of love!”

Wingman was created by Dr. Wily in an attempt to beat Mega Man in a field outside of battle by harnessing the power of love. Wing Man has flight capability and wields a piercing arrow called his "Cupid Crossbow". Being designed to defeat Mega Man through love, Wing Man has a large board dedicated to unravelling his love life. Similar boards exist for Proto Man and Bass, forming the "Tiny Trio". He'd call them the Big Three, but they're short.

Wing Man likes cheesy romcoms and dislikes Proto Man (for being hard to read). His strong point is his dedication to his task, though he can become blinded by the task at hand and not remember the other couples he's trying to get together.

This took longer than I expected to actually write and get out to share.

With this year’s Valentine’s contest over(courtesy of rockmiyabideusexmachina), I can finally talk about this boy! He was so much fun to make and I’m definitely gonna be using him more in the future. I’ve got a lot of thoughts on him, the stages of his design, and a lot of pictures, so it’s gonna be under the cut.

Now that that’s outta the way, let’s get into the process of Wing!

...I thought we were talking about Wing Man, who’s this?

Meet “Playboy Bunny”, this duality of a Maverick and the first draft of a character for this contest. Usually she’s the sweet Playboy Bunny, a majorly human-like Reploid acting as a performer. However, once you’ve provoked her, she throws off the sweet guise and becomes Magnet Hare, the quick and fast-attacking Maverick with attractive properties.

To be honest, I’m half wondering if I would’ve done better if I had done more with her design and actually gone with her instead. The main reason I didn’t go with her in the end was cause I thought someone else was gonna go with it and then there would’ve been repeats.

I might come back and do more doodles of her someday, refining her design to be less human with bunny accessories and more rabbit/bunny with human-like proportions.

The very first drawings of Wing Man. The only thing I really had down at this point were the general heart-shapes, his name, and his weapon’s name. The one on the left was the first draft, and the right one was a case of “should he actually have wings or nah?”. The name actually came to me when I was sitting in class and I think that’s part of the reason I got attached. The pun name is probably the biggest holdover from Bunny, though another element did come by later…

This is where the magic happened. The front-facing sketch was the first real attempt and trying to figure out what I wanted from him. I knew that he should have a general heart-shape for his chest armor, and maybe his helmet could follow the same idea with one in the center. It took a bit to look through the other Robot Master helmet designs, but I feel like Wing’s looks like it could fit with everyone else’s. At one point I was considering giving him a heart braid kinda like Tundra’s, but I wound up scrapping it. I think it was because I was sick of braids after doing so many for Nahyuta…

Then some arrows! I couldn’t decide whether to have actual arrows or energy arrows, but I feel like the energy arrows make it look more unique. And the first appearance of the bowtie! I didn’t even know if I was gonna give him one at first but once I made the doodle I knew it was gonna stay. Bunny has a bow, too, but hers was just a regular ribbon one.

The collapsible crossbow was something I knew I wanted from the start, because Wing’s not a huge fighter. He will fight to achieve his goals, and sometimes it’s more necessary than at other times, but it’s easier to have it folded outta the way. The “string” of the crossbow forms when it is expanded out, and then he can start firing his weapon.

Also, his boot. Simple enough design. Not much to be said. Same goes for the side profile, I was just trying to get a better feel for his design.

I was debating for a while about whether or not to actually give Wing Man wings. On the one hand, it’d help for the joke of him being a wingman and a wing(ed) man, but on the other hand I don’t like drawing wings because I still don’t really understand them all too well.

The bottom center image was a pretty defining part of making Wing, to be honest. It’s probably one of my favorite drawings/doodles of him just because of the causal nature of suggesting a relationship with someone(and it’s up to you to decide who it is) and Rock’s immediate reaction of fear/concern. I don’t screw around with expressions enough anymore…

I don’t have any versions of this page without color on it, but that’s because this was a color testing page. I wanted to test out my physical colors first before spending too much time digitally experimenting, and I had two main ideas: either red-pen red in varying pressures or coral Sharpie highlighter. By the final design, you can tell which one I went with. I wanted to compare them side-by-side, and the half-and-half wasn’t really cutting it for me. I did a second comparison on the other page(which is gonna be further down this post).

I was trying to get a better grasp on the wings, too, since I eventually decided just to go for it and make it more of a pun.I couldn’t decide if I wanted the wings like on top of the jetpacks or off to the sides, but I went with on top of the jets in the end. The off to the side wings were taken from how Tengu Man’s “wings” are positioned. As for the wings themselves… I was honestly mostly taking reference from Pit’s emotion portraits from Kid Icarus Uprising. I had the image with all of his different emotions and it wasn’t like Wily would be going for complete accuracy how big wings would need to be since, y’know, jetpack.

The color scheme of the wings also changed over time, and I think probably for the better. Layering the colors instead of just making a weird gradient overtop looks nicer(even if those colors could probably use some refinement all things considered). I was also deciding on the weapon “type” for the crossbow, since Megaman’s weapon get picture is on this page. Piercer seemed like it would fit the best, going through multiple enemies in a straight shot.

Designing the ability get was actually pretty simple, which I’m glad about. I wanted to go more off of the Megaman 11 style of weapon get, altering the helmet, arm, and color only, and I wanted to stick to that. I also wanted to keep two of Wing’s more defining elements - his bow and wings - on the ability get, so I moved them from Wing’s torso to Rock’s helmet.

Alongside the ability get, an unfinished battle scene. Nothing too special here.

I tried the color testing thing again, and it was here, I believe, that I first settled on the idea of “hey what if he looked like he was wearing a suit or something” and colored it accordingly. The color on the feet honestly sold me on the left one, because the cherry-red was beautiful and it was just red pen under the highlighter. I was happy with the pieces I had and started to put it all together into the final product…

Every Robot Master needs a pose for their artwork, and Wing was gonna be no different. I could’ve gone for something more dramatic, I know, but I was really really happy how the posing turned out for the one on the left. The smaller one on the right was more for fun and was messing around with some line thickness. There’s also less feathers because I was kinda lazy.

The main reason I have him sitting is because I think his boss entrance, were he to be fought in a typical arena, would have him pulling a Meta Knight and coming down from a high ledge to attack. Saying his pre-battle line, sliding/jumping down from on-high, and with a flourish, the battle begins.

Also I just wanted to draw my boy looking cute. Sue me.

The physical version of Wing sitting(on the left) is what I had initially been going for in color scheme, with a lot less coral-ish colors in the mix. Trying to recreate those colors, however, was a problem, so for all intents and purposes this is what I hold as why he's really supposed to look like. But with a complete physical form, what's next?

...hoo boy.

Trying to make the leap from physical to digital was a pain. I realized after I had essentially finalized the physical sketch of Wing posing that the helmet and face kind of made no sense. I spent a while trying to make it right and nothing worked how I wanted it to so I eventually just moved on from that.

One thing to know is that I basically only work in MS Paint. I don’t have any other digital drawing software on my computer and the tablet available to me doesn’t respond to styluses as far as I can gather. So taking the widely-varying-in-color picture and making it not like that was something I had to remember how to do because otherwise I was gonna suffer the consequences. I knew it had to do with outlines but apparently Paint didn’t want to accept my drawn outlines and would only take ones made in the software. And jpgs were pixel-y, which I forgot since the last time I was extensively using the software.

Once I had my system back, I made the silhouette and digitalized “I’m just sayin” as a practice round of sorts. But with the simple pieces out of the way… the time came for making the whole reference sheet. The pose, the front and side views, the shipping board to serve as a back view, the wings, the Weapon Get, the weapon, and the little character-defining details.

Save states fill most of this folder for a reason. Working with what I had and going over and through everything to make sure I had all the pieces ready, making saves before the background deletion so I would just have outlines, and just hoping that this was all gonna be worth the work.

One of the more… challenging, I guess, parts of the design process for Wing: trying to give him a unique silhouette. Including the wings was, in part, because of this. Most, if not every Robot Master has a unique silhouette that you can look at and say “Oh that’s [name here]” or at least be able to tell them apart. Whether it’s fire, a boomerang, a snake tail, a lightbulb, a weird body shape, or their arms, there’s something to set each one apart. And I wanted Wing to have that same feeling, so if you were to see a blacked-out version of him you could still tell that it was Wing and not someone else.

Without the wings, he’d probably resemble a downgraded Quick Man - which makes sense, considering I was using Quick’s body shape as a base for Wing’s for a more subtle top of a heart. But I didn’t want Wing just to look like Worse Quick Man, so the wings had to stay. The crossbow helps in that regard too, but the wings really set him apart.

This is what I’m talking about. He looks like a generic character without the wings.

Trying to keep Wing in the same vein of design as other Robot Masters was also, I guess, the reason I used the colors I did. Robot Masters typically don’t have too many colors, and didn’t want Wing to be a colorful mess. Maybe I could’ve had another more striking color in his design, but I’m happy with the colors I have. Reds and pinks and white with a skin tone taken from the physical doodles that I tried to have be a brownish-cherry if that makes any sense. Like it was supposed to still be in the red(kinda orange) family of colors but still be distinct enough as a skin tone. I didn’t want to have too many variations on colors, but I do think I could’ve done better on some of the distributions(and holding onto the idea of “stop using so many colors”).

Like I said, I consider the physical drawing to be the true colors of Wing, and the digital can’t quite capture the physical.

...Okay, I think that’s everything I wanted to say. If you actually read through this entire monstrosity of a post, thank you. I do have a full colored version of the "I'm just sayin'" that'll go up eventually because it was fun.

#willowtalks #willowarts #wing man #rockmiyabideusexmachina #Valentine's day 2020 robot master design contest #mobile is a pain #even though i don't like drawing wings i love my boy #i should work on my other projects #like Golden Days #or school stuff #if someone draws him ill cry #i should draw my characters moreeee #finally went back and edited the images to be in the right spots ^^;#mostly because i wanted to draw him again #still don't like drawing wings

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deviationdivine · 5 years

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The Stoic Prince (RK900!Prompt Request)

TLDR: To you he’s a smug pain in the ass but you still fantasize about getting dirty with him at the DPD.

Word Count: 1,912

TW: Language, Suggestive Themes, Smut Fantasy

A/N: Follower/Reader Appreciation Drabble | Prompt: “Why the hell am I attracted to snarky stuck up dick faces?” - anon request! Thanks for participating nonnie! This went somewhere else. 1 in the queue done! Onto the next!

"Why do you even bother talking to it?"

Bitter taste of coffee barely touches tongue. Peering up at the question leaves a tiny smirk across lips, which did a hesitant skim of cup rim. Can the DPD honestly get a better brand to chug out of this dispenser?

“Excuse me?”

Purposely hedging away from your co-worker’s sudden interrogation hardly hides the clear tinge of artifice lacing words. Speaking any further may give away this ploy. Of course you know who they mean. He is the only smug jackass that does a heck of a job digging under skin.

Tall, imposing steel scoping a sea of puny humans to gnaw on, using his steadfast jaw, cut from stone if he were made of clay to be fitted by the gods themselves. Plastic, metal – raw material configured, manipulated into eye catching aesthetics.

Fabricated beauty and despite a brusque imperious affectation streaming out of those cool, pert lips. Often times you fantasize how human, warm they might taste. Not just against your mouth but gliding in a hungry appreciation upon every inch of skin made readily available.

To say you had the hots for Nines is an understatement. To say it can go anywhere is another quandary in your grand scheme of things. Natural enigmas be damned he is a walking puzzle waiting to be stripped of his authoritarian programming and cynical attitude.

Unfortunately those gods decided pompous and hypocrisy should be star qualities. Incessantly rolling eyes at your luck, leaning casually into table, coffee machine obscured by your current position, sank an invigorating quiet into your weary body for a brief moment.

Breaks are never long enough. At least there isn’t a sign of top human asshole of the Detroit Police. Rather not have to put a foot up his ass again. However, let’s get back to the inquiry at hand since it hasn’t left the break room.

“Daydreaming about it? Wow, Y/N.”

Sounds like some others you’ve known in the city. Detroit is just a heaping pile of garbage on a good day. Android fever is still in full swing and not how society originally saw it unfolding. "Don't call him that." You defend him while not in his presence. Better to keep it that way because no way in hell are you admitting how fast you’d drop clothes and get down with the rigid android on the force. "Just because he's an android, I mean." The female officer rolls eyes at you. "Uh huh. Sure. Next time you’ll tell me Reed’s going out for drinks with Anderson and Connor.”

Considering androids do not drink she’s a long way off course. You snort.

“Better luck with puppy eyed boy,” the officer jabs, smug. “He doesn’t look like he wants to eat people alive. Or maybe that RK900 just wants to eat you out.”

Nearly spitting coffee all over moves you in a quick step forward, grabbing a napkin out of dispenser to brush splotches of brown liquid off shirt. Eat you out?! Yeah, absolutely!

Perfervid antagonism blinds your gaze resting in a target over fellow officer all consuming in personal embarrassment. Truth is not far from luscious fantasies swirling in nightly subconscious. More than a few dreams about tangling body, flesh and humanity with synthetic, plastic and robotics transforms sleep. It is a burning secret.

A mystery garden planted between the cages absconding the heart ruminating for something of construct, designed in perfection but never mind false images. Never mind unnatural heavenly auras built around a shell of mechanized man. He is everything you can dream about but never will quite openly acknowledge.

One more step and – "Your heart rate is dangerously high for caffeine consumption."

The calculating voice of the RK900 hovers close, sinking in smooth and curt. A statement more so than concern but appropriately edged with his swift, sharp stride into break room.

Fusing a firm hand atop your shoulder seemingly resonates effectively. Analysis is punctual upon your figure as are the sweeping steel he possesses to invoke fear in opponents. He stares down suspects and useless colleagues alike. However there is a bit more skill in you out of most among these humans. He keeps silent, studying a wide appreciation in your eyes.

Pupil dilation is telling to an android who measures subtlety, language in the human form, moving under its own command. Rarely does he witness a shining example of what is referred to as a poker face in most offenders. Upon you it is quite - delicious.

The spike in vitals draws him. Nostrils flare in your personal radius sampling as a bloodhound on a ferocious hunt. Fluctuations respond exquisitely as you are equally confounding in his state of processing.

Do you honestly believe you will affect him in such a wasteful way without retaliation? The form in which he shadows your trembling inhibitions is opposite of what is desired in potential partners. This android does not care in the slightest for decorum.

He will pull you into his awaiting grasp, splaying atop his smooth marbled chest, wanton in prurience, undone from the molecules that form soft, fragile flesh. Tasting your essence will act as more than data on a long, skillful tongue. It will bury into the nerves breaking down your barriers in a flood of rapture.

All it takes is a deliberate push. Buttons unfastening with each poke he prods, bleeding into your skin and he does so intentionally to gain reaction. Steeping within your system liquefies him to the plasma running through veins.

Just as thirium runs a gamut of power to biocomponents he readily will be the life force keeping your mortal existence afloat. So it will be because he wills it out of a viral need you have unwittingly but most adoringly spread into his frame.

His lips twitch faint. A tiniest curve unseen by naked eye but he settles them to a hard line.

Your entire body shivers giving away how good he’s gotten you. Damn it. And he’s looking awfully smug about it all. Somehow he manages to keep his stoic façade nestling in his wide, masculine exterior; handsome is a mere flash in the pan for Nines.

He is beyond definition. You think he knows it too. Why else does he single you out? Making you literally sweat, taking great pleasure in how you behave and pretending nothing is happening.

What a complete and total jackass! Sometimes you swear he fakes this hard ass persona to look the part. Actually, no he’s built this way. Deviancy does nothing for him!

Collecting yourself is instinct and self preservation kicking in. Nobody in their life will get away with this but he melts your strong core down to a puddle. Limpid steel expunges self control. In front of him you strive to be alert so it's not obvious but there was more warmth underneath his imposing touch than you can stand.

God, he's too good. Flicking eyes down the length of his body drives a surge in your heart, thundering in desperation to current fantasy riding out awake.

Strewn atop table, legs around his waist; ripping open that damn white jacket, digging fingers against defined pecs visibly bursting at the seams through black material, fluffy camouflage to a toned body. Taking you right then and there, moaning his name, sinking fingers into exposed synthetic skin because you want to lay into him as heavily as he lays into you.

Biting of perfectly white teeth, licking languid, sensual from smooth tongue and pounding your body on hard surface, pain thumping against the plane of your back but you beg him for more.

Ravenous, unfiltered and insatiably poetic while he completely ravages whatever is left of you, nearly collapsing the chosen surface of your hungry carnality. Eye witnesses neither ceasing nor distracting from the obvious orgasm you will ride on high in the clouds of your mind.

Breath catches in a mystifying glaze sparkling up to his hard narrowed brow. A daylight delusion swept hold at the least private location for you to be horny. For a minute you fear he knows what went on in your head. A predatory slit of Nines’ eyes tracks each minute expression, fidget you relay. He resembles an albino king cobra, flaring a shroud to engulf you in his beguiling shadow.

Hammering against ribs betrays you to the point of imagining the entire precinct eavesdropping on the laborious thud. A small inhalation expands his chest one he hardly requires for oxygen but absorbs your arousal. Oh, it’s very obvious. You have a bit of a problem between your legs right now. Fuck.

"Peak performance suggests you not consume more than the recommended dose of caffeine, Detective.”

The android’s voice is deeper, darker than usual. Almost testing, watchful of how your body will respond next. Enough so that a smirk graces the mouth you wish to ascend in prayer to the immediate issue you physically suffer. He will cure such issue predominantly efficient. “Coffee will not help your productivity if you misuse it." Misuse it, huh? Oh, you’re sure nothing will be of misuse here. Preferably his tongue; you screw up your face to hide the lust.

Why the fuck is he looking like that? Does he realize people will start noticing? Honestly, it’s first time you realize it’s just the two of you in the break room. Guess he scared off your former gossip partner. "Why do you care what I do anyway?” Seething at his game and the fact you’re turned on at work, you slam a finger into his chest. Stabbing him doesn’t move his perfect posture but it sure does make you ache more. “It's not as if it's worth your time."

Nines’ head cocks to the side marginally amused by this insolence. He finds it cripplingly fascinating on a good day but why voice such trivialities?

“Perhaps if you behave in a professional capacity, Detective Y/L/N?” Leaning in to brush the words beside ear, purposely expelling artificial breath to lick your skin, the android fuses fingers against your hip.

A slow slide kisses beneath the android’s tempting fingertips allowing the hitch of your natural breath fuel his personal stimulus. Aroused by you will not go without discipline. There is only one kind he imagines to have utmost potency and satisfaction.

“Tell me, Y/N,” Nines switches to informalities, dangerously silken. “Do you wish every advanced piece of technology that wanders into the DPD to fuck you? Or is it because I am faster, stronger and more resilient to your needs?”

Gasping is the last vocalization you will give him. Pushing back from you reserves dignity even if you want him to just snag you hard by the hips and throw you down into the evidence room. Quieter, less traffic right now and it’d be a pretty good way to… He just called himself the best and believes it.

Well, it’s true right? No. Fuck his snide self!

You are trying but still…

“Why the hell am I attracted to snarky, stuck up dick faces?!”

Story of your goddamn life apparently and this one is the snarkiest, smuggest, sexy piece of android you’ve had the discomfort and pleasure to meet.

“Get over yourself, Nines!”

Yelling on the way out of the break room only causes looks and you’re sure without turning around he’s still standing there. Tall as hell and making you weak, oh so weak to his stormy sea and he’s already swallowed you up.

Wait until he devours you.

Tag List: @elydith @your-taxidermy

#dbh #rk900 x reader #dbh rk900 x reader #dbh nines x reader #nines x reader #follower/reader appreciation #dbh drabbles #detroit become human #dbh drabble choice #drabble prompt #personal prompts #it's popping off #lets get follower appreciation lit #snarky nines is best nines #oof it's hot here

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svynakee · 5 years

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Promare thoughts/impressions

Watched Promare. Overall, enjoyed it very much and it was everything I expected it to be (extremely TRIGGER, basically). A visual feast that definitely satisfied my shonen action hunger. In summary though, I really wish it’d been a 12 ep anime.

Spoilers ahead.

LIKES

Visuals: Loved the stylisation. The vivid, pastel flames and the polygonal ice made a nice contrast and it looks so different not only from other anime films but also from other animations by the same studio? Brilliant.

TRIGGER being themselves: Illogical story with a grand scope, bombastic action hero, easily distinguishable character designs.

Hiroyuki Sawano: His music is just what you’d expect from someone of his calibre. Absolutely floored; also, quite a range in the soundtrack! I remember especially when Galo starts talking about the Japanese firefighters the music shifts to something more traditional.

Galo not being racist: Well, not being prejudiced. While its pretty par for the course to have a protagonist learn to overcome his prejudices in this sort of story, the fact that a person in the rescue ops doesn’t, you know, hate the victims who cause the disasters he’s meant to respond to is very logical.

Kiss follow-up: The no-homo fake out. Not gonna lie, they had me in the first half when Galo recoiled and seemed disgusted. But it would’ve made no sense because like he said, it was a medical procedure he’s been trained to do. Putting his mouth on anyone, regardless of gender, should not have grossed him out. And it didn’t! Being unhappy that he ‘started a fire’ makes more sense because his entire job (passion) is about stopping Burnish. There’s a real lack of hetero-signalling here actually. Promare’s not afraid to let its viewers decide how Galo swings.

Female gaze: Yeah sure there’s that shot where Aina’s butt is on display but the camera sure seems magnetised towards Lio’s crotch.

Lio’s refreshing morosexuality: Once they start working together in earnest, Lio is quick to just indulge in Galo’s quirks. He trusts the guy easily but not to the point that he stops calling him out for stupidity. Very movies end with me knowing that characters from opposing sides have a strong friendship ahead of them. Promare is one. I might talk more about Lio’s match with Galo more elsewhere, but for now, I do like how he isn’t shutting Galo down/constantly arguing which is what you usually see when a serious character has to work with a boisterous one.

DISLIKES

So most of my dislikes come from the fact that it’s a movie. There’s no way they could’ve done otherwise in a 1:51 timeframe, but knowing what the studio’s capable of, I can’t help but wish I saw their full potential.

Character development: Nobody really grew. Not every story needs it and not every character needs to change, but the lack of flaws addressed hurt Galo and Lio’s memorability I think. I kept expecting Galo’s impulsiveness to bite him in the ass. Didn’t see it much except for his confrontation with Kray. I even thought the ‘don’t pose and focus’ thing might come back, notably during the Lio de Galon fight when Kray keeps justifying his robot’s weaponry as terraforming equipment. Galo and Lio are just the type to shut him up and point out ‘If it’s being used to hurt people, it’s a weapon! If you hurt others, you’re a villain! Nothing can justify that!’ since it fits thematically into that fight as well.

Streamlined plot: TRIGGER has been shown to have a good grasp of story pacing. It can feed you one bit of ridiculousness at a time until they bring out something awesome but extremely stupid, knowing that they’ve tempered you enough it’ll just be epic. In this timeframe, that just didn’t happen. Not enough foreshadowing, too many crazy concepts introduced too late, and there was more than one Deus Ex Machina if you know what I mean. Instead of a proper build up that ended on a strong final note, it felt like a brief but sudden blaze that flickers out to leave darkness.

Less dynamic camera: Made it hard to follow the action sometimes. In a way it’s like the plot; too much momentum and not enough time to process it. A good spectacle is worth nothing if there’s no chance to digest it.

Flat supporting cast: Again, this is because TRIGGER’s animes have been strong in this aspect. The movie timeframe means limited screen time, but Mad Max Fury Road had only ten more minutes and managed to set up its supporting cast well. In Promare, they’re mostly reduced to archetypes. What are their relationships? Motivations? They feel more like talking props, like the NPCs you have milling about the map shouting flavour text. There might be more in the supplementary material but for the movie itself, I didn’t like most of the characters not named Lio or Galo. In fact-

Don’t like Galo: Or rather, don’t find him compelling. Unlike Ryuko or Simon, I don’t think he could carry a series. He lacks depth and drive beyond ‘I am a firefighter’. Sure, he’s stupid and loud, but those are personality traits, not a personality. Being nice, determined, having a love of pizza…these all feel so generic and TRIGGER is capable of so much more. Galo feels like an alright lead in a movie where a lot is happening, so he doesn’t have to carry anything in terms of emotion or drive, but he’d be boring in a full-length series. Or even a movie trilogy.

Don’t like Lio?: While I don’t agree that every conflict has two equal sides, I dislike how squeaky-clean Lio is. He feels more like the shonen protagonist than Galo sometimes. He’s caring, skilled, honourable, intelligent, determined. His flaws? If you shoot him then try to commit genocide he’ll knock on your door and ask to fight you. It’s unclear if there’s any casualties during his rampage, which makes sense because we know his flames can be harmless (by his choice) and he was specifically threatening to destroy Kray’s city unless Kray listened. On the other side you have Vulcan and Kray. He could’ve afforded a bit more ruthlessness and still come out clearly heroic. It would have given him more intensity to better contrast Galo.

WHAT I WANTED

In summary? Promare as an anime instead of a film. I’d give up smooth fights and shiny CGI any day for stronger writing and characters with impact.

Longer timeframe in-universe: The plot essentially takes place over a week, which limits how much development characters and relationships can undergo. Lio feels too ready to trust Galo. Galo can’t process Kray’s betrayal. The sisters’ story is just kind of shoved on you like unwanted vegetables spooned out by a health-conscious mother. Dr. Exposition suddenly comes in and starts tying up loose ends so abruptly I had to check my phone to see if the movie was almost over. The short timeframe means Promare feels like a marathon-length sprint.

More moral ambiguity: The Mad Burnish are still righteous and try to minimise damage. However, their plans don’t always work. They leave escape routes but fail to account for impaired mobility. Young Burnish lose control while they’re on the run, endangering ordinary humans. Lio is forced to make tough choices. He becomes more jaded, which leads up to the betrayal where he can truly break and begin rampaging. I’m not saying he needed a full Satsuki Kiryuuin thing, but damn do I miss her sheer badass aura. Lio lacks that dangerous feeling. You know he’s apologising inside if he steps on you.

Galo’s popularity: Galo is shown to have great PR and love playing the crowd. Kray has good PR. The Burnish have bad PR. Instead of Prometh looping a vid with his hacking powers, Galo could’ve convinced the city of Kray’s evil the traditional way: a big speech about humanity and believing in yourself (and not Kray because Kray is evil).

Promare: Lio tells us the fire is alive. Interesting. Prometh says the fire is actually aliens from a parallel dimension whose prime directive is to burn also they feel pain if the Burnish are hurt. My reaction is like Galo’s: I sleep. The entire concept of the promare…I just don’t like it. Maybe I don’t like how they al disappear at the end and fix the Burnish.

In my ideal Promare, the things I love TRIGGER for would all be present. Strong supporting cast. Multifaceted characters. Build up that just gets more ridiculous and epic at a steady pace. Good fights but also quieter breather moments. More jokes.

More Promare, basically.

#promare #long essay

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kristannafever-fics · 5 years

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The Corporate Retreat

KRISTANNA SMUT WEEKEND - FEBRUARY 15th, 2019

Kristanna Modern AU

Rated: M (smut obviously)

WC: 8149 (yeah, I know)

~I didn’t follow today's prompt. I had this simple idea and it somehow got over 8K words. Oh well, lol!

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Kristoff threw the last of his things in the bag and heaved a heavy sigh. He was equal parts excited and nervous for the trip. It was the first corporate retreat he had been invited to as a guest and not as part of the security detail. Had he not met the new woman in charge of the company, he would have thought the reason for his first ever invite was the fact that he was the head of security. As it was however, the rest of his team had been invited as guests as well and plans were made to subcontract security out when the team arrived in Costa Rica.

This bit of information had of course caused Kristoff great concern. He had been promoted to the helm of security five years ago, and it had been his entire life for those five years to make sure that the biochemical-pharmaceutical company he worked for, and all its employees, were well protected and safe. A job he took extremely seriously.

He arranged a meeting with the new CEO to discuss his concerns and marched into her office at the appointed date and time ready to unleash. She introduced herself and Kristoff was taken aback first by her vitality. He knew she was young, but it wasn’t until he was face to face with her that he realized how young. Younger than him, it seemed. He had seen her walk through the halls and the lobby, always surrounded by people vying for her attention, but he had failed to recognize her youth. Then he was immediately disarmed by her vibrancy, say nothing of the fact that she was a stunning beauty.

She looked at him with big round blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence and asked him to take a seat so that they could start the meeting. Kristoff had swallowed thickly and done what he was told, forgetting all his carefully thought out words in the process. In the end he was able to lay out his reasons why he felt his team should be in charge, even if it was delivered in the most disjointed and embarrassing way he had ever explained something in his life.

Her reaction had been to lean back in her chair and fold her arms across her chest. She appraised him with her piercing gaze for what seemed like an eternity before she finally told him she had already made the plans and paid a deposit for the security firm she wanted to sub-contract. End of story.

She thanked him for his thorough concern as she stood and held out her hand. Kristoff found himself moving robotically, standing and gripping her hand to shake, wondering why in the hell he was unable to assert himself better. The next thing he knew, his boss’s secretary was ushering him out of the office and back down to his post.

That had been the first and only time he had ever met with the CEO. She had sent him a company email the next day giving him the specifics of the company she hired to put his mind at ease, and in very polite words that he did not mistake as an order, to pack his bags and enjoy himself on the retreat for once.

Hence the excitement and the nervousness. He had never interacted with anyone in the office outside of work, and when he was at work it was very serious and very professional. He had a rapport with the people working under him of course, and he trusted them wholeheartedly, but what was he going to do when mixed in with the office dwellers and the rest of their teams, not to mention the charismatic new CEO. The whole thing had him on edge. Although there was a part of him that was deeply thankful that he had been thought of – that his whole team had been thought of, actually – and invited as a guest this year instead of having to spend three weeks learning everything about the region they were going to and planning out work shifts and contingencies for emergencies.

There had been one or two times in the past couple of years that he may have wished he could partake in the fun instead of protecting it. Yet as quick as these desires had formed, they were dismissed even quicker. Kristoff was no-nonsense when it came to his job and he doubted he would even be able to truly relax even though someone else was supposed to be handling the security. If something where to happen while he had his guard down, he would never forgive himself.

He wondered for the hundredth time how he was going to handle this trip.

-------

Anna put herself beside Kristoff in first class by design. She was fully aware of how damn serious he took his job and she knew he was having difficulties being invited as a guest for this year’s corporate retreat.

Her solution was simple. Get him to relax on the plane and lay it all out for him so that there was nowhere for his mind to worry. She even had all the thoroughly prepared security details from the team she subcontracted in a folder for him to look over and approve. She had no idea what was involved in protecting an entire group of people and the information in the folder left her wondering just how hard Kristoff’s job really was.

She had been very impressed upon meeting him face to face the first time. She had seen him around the building numerous times before that. He was a pretty hard man to miss. His size alone made him the very obvious focal point in any room of people. But the thing that Anna had most been intrigued by, were his ever-watchful eyes.

As soon as he stepped into her office she watched as his brown eyes took everything in, taking inventory of his surroundings. She imagined he did this anywhere he went, just like any person in law enforcement or protection detail. It was the very reason she had made sure the security staff was invited. She had looked into his file before the meeting, unsurprised that he hadn’t take a vacation, or even a sick day, since he became the boss five years ago.

Anna was just thinking about how he was going to react to everything when a shadow loomed over her. She looked up into his brown eyes and was caught slightly off guard by his frown. He gave her no time to react before he slid in the aisle seat next to her and kicked a laptop bag under the seat in-front of him.

“The more time I have to think about this the more I don’t like it,” he said to her even though his gaze was watching everyone stream on the plane after them. Anna had to wonder why he was even looking. Surely, he recognized these people in the building. They passed him almost every day.

“Maybe this will help,” Anna said, handing him the folder. No point in wasting any time getting down to business. She was bound and determined that he was going to enjoy his vacation.

He opened it and started reading immediately. He remained that way throughout the rest of boarding and take-off. Even as they reaching altitude and the flight attendants started drink service, he was going over the information, flipping back and forth from page to page, re-reading and looking over the blueprints of the resort they had booked.

Anna watched him do all this surreptitiously, intrigued by his focus. She suddenly wondered what he was like at home, way from the pressures of work. What did he do for fun? What where his hobby’s, if any? How did he unwind after a long hard day? She was so tempted to ask him that the words were almost at the tip of her tongue when he startled her by slapping the folder shut and looking over at her.

“It appears very thorough.”

“Well that’s great then. You can-“

“But having never met the people who will be in charge I cannot comment on how effective everything will be.”

Anna blinked at him, wondering a half a second if he was kidding. No, not him. Not when it came to this stuff anyway. “Well I have talked with them numerous times over the phone and I can assure you that they are very professional.”

Kristoff simply stared at her for a moment. “Well, that remains to be seen. I am going to meet with them personally when we arrive.”

Before Anna could reply he turned forward and reached under the seat to grab his laptop. She wasn’t exactly surprised by his reaction, but she was certainly hoping for something else. She had a half a mind to try and discuss the matter further, but something told her that there was no way Kristoff was going to let this go.

*****

Kristoff walked through the open French doors that led to the balcony of his ocean view room. The breeze off the water caught him just as he was approaching the glass railing and he closed his eyes and breathed the salty sweetness deep into his lungs.

His meeting with the security firm had gone well. Surprisingly well. His boss was right, they were professional and they knew what they were doing. That meant that Kristoff could actually sit back and relax.

Kristoff opened his eyes and put his palms on the railing wondering where he should start. His crew was already talking about meeting up in one of his supervisors’ rooms for a celebratory drink, but Kristoff felt that he would be somewhat unwelcome. Not that they didn’t respect him, but because they did. They didn’t need to feel like they had to act a certain way because their boss was there. No, he would find something else to do. Problem was, he had no idea what. The resort had a variety of things to do, not to mention several restaurants and bars. He was hungry. Maybe he would grab himself a snack before the sit-down dinner that was planned for the evening. First though, he had a mind to check out the exercise and weight room. After six hours scrunched up in an airplane seat, his body was screaming to be worked out.

With that decided he quickly changed into a plain white t-shirt and pair of baggy shorts and headed down the stairs to work out some pent-up frustration on the gym equipment.

-------

Anna loved to sleep in when she wasn’t working, but as the CEO of the company, she was on the clock even during the retreat. Not that she didn’t let a little loose. She had a few drinks with dinner and enjoyed all the lively conversation. But when the dance started, she retreated to her room and left the employees under the careful watch of their security detail, something that she was paying extra for. There was no reason that anyone should have to worry, and the ‘babysitting fee’ as she thought of it, was worth that peace of mind. The men and women she hired would make sure that no one got out of line or no one wandered into the ocean in a drunken haze.

She woke early to the sound of the ocean waves crashing the shore and the exotic birds singing their beautiful songs. It truly felt like paradise.

She made herself a coffee from the small coffee maker in the room and took it to the balcony to enjoy the remainder of the sunrise. She was having a great time and she was pretty proud of herself for getting her own security staff to relax and unwind. They had been all smiles over dinner. Well, except Kristoff. He had more of an amused look than that of a smile. Not to mention she caught him looking carefully around the room more than once. She would get him to relax before the week was up. Like a challenge to herself. She just had to figure out what made him tick.

Anna was about to get up for a refill on her coffee when something coming up the beach caught her eye. She paused and looked to see Kristoff jogging back to the resort. He was in a pair of grey sweatpants and was shitless, his broach chest glistening with sweat. Anna watched as he slowed when he approached the path into the resort and then paused with his hands on his knees, leaning over and pulling in a few deep breaths. After he stood and pulled his arms above his head, stretching them both out one by one before working on stretching out his back and then his legs. When he was finished, he yanked the pair of earphones from his ear and wrapped both cords around the back of his neck as he walked onto the path and disappeared into the resort.

Anna’s throat was suddenly dry. She blinked, trying to focus her mind off the image of her shirtless, sweaty head of security. Her whole body seemed to be tingling as she struggled to do so. She had certainly recognized Kristoff was handsome when she had met him. More than handsome actually. There was something incredibly appealing about him, and until this moment, Anna had thought of it as just that. But now, with the imagine of his half naked body burned into her memory, her mind immediately wondered what he looked like beneath the sweat pants. What it would be like to kiss him. What it would be like to lay between the sheets with him…

“Oh God,” Anna whispered to herself and shook her head. She could not let her mind go there. As the CEO it would be crazy to get involved with someone in his position. She couldn’t. The issue was shoved forcefully from her mind as quickly as she could.

Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to book them in rooms side by side.

*****

Kristoff stepped out onto the balcony as he towel-dried his hair. The early morning pre-dawn run had been invigorating. There was so much more oxygen at sea level that he was able to go further and faster than he normally could. The sun was just about to break the horizon when he ran out of beach and had to turn back.

He had to admit that the dinner the night before had been one of the most fun evenings with a large group that he ever had. He wasn’t sure if it was more due to the fact that the security personnel that were subcontracted appeared attentive and alert, or that he enjoyed watching Miss. Adrendelle smile. She could say what she wanted about making sure to relax, but she had a reputation to uphold just like him. He knew full well that she would not be letting as loose as she wanted on her trip. The difference, he understood, was that for her this was work. Her normal vacations were probably very different. He had to wonder what she liked to do in her spare time. How did she shake off a hard day?

His stomach rumbled, interrupting his thoughts. He worked up quite an appetite with his morning run and he was looking forward to a big breakfast and then some relaxing time with a book on his balcony. He was just about to turn around when she caught his eye down below him.

The first thing his mind registered was her hair. He had only ever seen her in a professional updo and the braids she was wearing made her appear even younger. They seemed to suit her better, like they went along well with her ‘outside of work’ personality. He watched her back as she walked down the path below them to the pool. She approached a lounge chair under one of the umbrellas and plopped her large beach bag down beside it before lifting the hem of her bathing suit cover and pulling it over her head.

She was wearing a classic one-piece, black, with green, gold and purple embellishments around the shallow v that fell to the very top of her breasts, not revealing much of anything. She sat on the lounge chair and stretched out, crossing one shapely leg over the other as she reached down into her beach bag and grabbed a book.

Kristoff gulped. Miss Arendelle – Anna, as she had repeatedly asked him to call her – was the picture of beauty and grace. To put it simply, she was stunning. In Kristoff’s eyes there wasn’t a single woman around the pool that had as much allure as Anna. The rest of them were often posing for selfies or getting their friends to take glamour shots of them to post on Instagram, and every single one of them was in a skimpy little bikini. They talked loudly, laughed even louder, and flirted without shame.

Then there was Anna, effortless class, leaving a whole lot to the imagination causing Kristoff to wonder what she looked like naked. He realized suddenly that he felt flush and was becoming aroused. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to have to have another shower… a very cold shower.

*****

Dinner wasn’t for another hour so Anna took her glass of wine out onto the balcony to enjoy the wonderful breeze. She had taken a small nap after reading most of the morning by the pool, and decided to have an early cocktail since she would most likely be making it another early night. It might be a work vacation for her, but she wasn’t going to be a complete saint.

The dinner plans weren’t set up for everyone like the night before. This time they were all left to fend for themselves. Some had chosen to venture into the adjacent town to have dinner and go dancing while others planned on visiting one of the restaurants in the resort. Anna had no idea what Kristoff had planned, but she aimed to make sure that he was having dinner with her. She had challenged herself to get him to smile after all. The plan was to knock on his door when she was headed down to the lounge in the lobby and see if he wanted to join her.

She had seen him appear on his balcony not long after she had settled into her book by the pool. He had one of his own books open in his lap with one of those muscular long legs of his crossed over the other. He was wearing sunglasses, tan shorts and a white, short-sleeve button-down. If Anna didn’t know him, she would just assume he was like every other vacationer at the resort. Instead she knew that his eyes would be scanning his surroundings every few minutes. It was easy for her to spy on him from the privacy of her own sunglasses, just as it was for him to keep tabs on everything while it looked like he was reading.

There was a sound to her right and Anna looked over to see Kristoff stepping out onto his balcony. He pulled in a deep breath and braced his palms on the railing, looking out over the ocean and the courtyards below. When his head finally swiveled to the left, Anna could see his body suddenly tense when he realized that she was watching him.

“Oh, uh, hello Miss Arendelle,” he said, straightening and tugging at the bottom of his shirt to smooth it out.

“Hello Kristoff. Must I keep asking that you call me Anna?”

“I apologize Miss… er, Anna. I’m just not used to addressing my superiors by their first name.”

Anna smiled at him. He was too adorable for words. “Care to have a drink? I opened a bottle of white if you are interested.”

“Uh…” he hesitated, very clearly uncomfortable and obviously debating his answer. He cleared his throat, “Sure.”

“Well you don’t have to,” she laughed, even though she was a little disappointed by his hesitation. She wanted him to want to have a drink with her, not because he felt he had to because she was his boss.

“No, I, meant yes. Yes, and thank you.”

“Well come on over then,” Anna said as she got up and walked to her door. She waited until she heard his door shut then opened hers to let him in and walked back to where the wine was to pour him a glass. He came in slowly, looking uncharacteristically nervous. Still, his eyes did not dart around the room, they carefully scanned and noted. When he was seemingly satisfied, he turned his gaze to her.

Anna felt herself suddenly getting hot looking into those amazing brown eyes of his. “Here you are,” she said as she offered the glass. “Care to sit on the balcony?”

“Sure,” Kristoff nodded once and followed her out.

They took their seats on the patio chairs and both looked straight out over the ocean. They let the moment stretch silently between them before Anna began a conversation. “So, what do you like to do in your spare time, Kristoff?”

His eyes remained on the water as he seemed to ponder the question. “Well, I hike on my days off sometimes, and I have dinner with my parents every Sunday.”

“Yeah? You have a big family?”

He nodded, finally looking over at her. “They are pretty loud and crazy, but we have a lot of fun together.”

“I’ll bet,” Anna grinned, wishing he would crack and smile at her. “What else?”

He turned his eyes back forward and shrugged. “Pretty normal stuff, I guess. I like to-“

A knock at Anna’s door interrupted them. Anna got up to answer, noticing that Kristoff suddenly looked like a teenage boy that she had snuck into her parents’ house past curfew. She held back her laughter and went to answer the door.

It was the VP of operations and the Payroll Administrator. Both women let themselves into the room as they bombarded Anna with plans for the evening that they wanted her to attend with them. Both of them suddenly stopped talking when they realized that Anna had a man on her deck.

Anna recovered quickly for all their sake. “I was just talking to Kristoff about some new security measures he would like to implement. Would you ladies like to join us for a drink and we can put the work talk behind us?”

Both women gave each other a quick look but seemed to brush whatever they were thinking off. They accepted the drink and the four of them sat on the deck and made small talk for a half an hour until one of the two suggested that they head for a bite.

All four of them left Anna’s room and started down the hallway, except Kristoff. Anna noticed him lagging so she turned around.

“Have a good-“

She didn’t let him finish. She grabbed his forearm and yanked him forward. “You are coming,” she told him quietly and did not wait for a response. To her relief, he appeared at her heels as they approached the elevators.

*****

Kristoff couldn’t sleep. There was only one thing on his mind and it was all-consuming - Anna.

He was taken with her. Whenever she looked at him with her incredibly disarming blue eyes, he felt it all the way down to his soul. It was nothing short of magical.

It was very amusing to see her interact with the two ladies and the four other people they had ended up joining for dinner. She was one of those rare people that was able to mix professionalism with friendliness and mutual respect. There wasn’t a single person that disliked her, he could tell. He was extremely good at reading people and everyone who talked to Anna was completely genuine in their fondness of her.

Really, there was nothing not to like. She was the complete package and Kristoff could not get the dirty thoughts out of his mind. He wanted to feel her soft bare skin under his fingers, he wanted to kiss every inch of her, he wanted to know what it was like to make love to her…

Kristoff threw back the covers. He needed a shower. A hot, soothing shower where he could get the relief that he suddenly – desperately – needed.

*****

Anna lay under the covers, her face twisted in pleasure as she rubbed her clit to the thought of making love to Kristoff. She was so close, so close to a bitter-sweet release. She wanted to be with him so badly, but there was no other alternative for her arousal than to give herself pleasure. The fact that she knew it could never be with Kristoff, hurt more than she thought it would.

She pulled in a sharp breath right before she tipped over the edge. She was careful not to moan, lest Kristoff hear her through the wall that they shared.

After her mind and body calmed down, Anna thought back to dinner the night before. She enjoyed being close to Kristoff and she was glad that neither of the ladies they rode down in the elevator with had tried to pry themselves between them as they took seats at the table.

He had that amused look on his face all night and although he still hadn’t cracked a smile, Anna was happy that he seemed to be enjoying himself. And it was never more apparent then when he was talking with her. He gave her his undivided attention, which is not something that he did when he was talking to other people. There were glances at his watch, or glances around the room, and even a few glances at her. Anna had caught his eye more than once and it was enough for her to believe that there was definitely a mutual attraction going on.

But the thing was, she was pretty damn sure he felt the same as her regarding the propriety of work relationships. More specifically, that they were frowned upon, especially given each of their positions.

Anna sighed. She was just going to have to take the rest of this retreat one day at a time and stop thinking of Kristoff as a possibility. He was off-limits and Anna knew better.

-------

Kristoff wandered his dark room lamenting the fact that he was unable to sleep. The pleasure he had brought himself before going to bed was short lived. He woke up around one in the morning and could not get back to sleep. Instead he gave himself a raging hard-on because he couldn’t think about anything else than being with Anna.

He gave into his desire again then fell into a troubled sleep until he decided to just get out of bed around four.

He knew it would be wrong to start something with the CEO, but dammit, he felt her attraction too. There was no denying that she was into him and he knew she was fully aware that he was into her too. That simple fact emboldened him and he decided that after a nice, long swim, he was going to see what might happen with this building attraction between them.

*****

Anna woke bright and early to see if she could catch Kristoff going out for his morning jog. She woke just before sunrise and went out on her balcony with a coffee to see what she could see. After nearly an hour she resigned that he had done something other than run the beach this morning. Perhaps he was down in the workout room of the resort.

She contemplated going down to see when her eyes caught someone swimming in the ocean along the shore. Anna’s heart nearly stopped to realize that the person was a man and he was blond. She watched as he swam past and went another couple hundred yards before he turned back in the direction of the resort.

Anna made up her mind instantly and grabbed her book and sunglasses. She hot-tailed it down to the pool and plopped herself in a lounge chair that was right along the path that led back into the resort. Kristoff would have no option but to walk right past her.

She cracked her book and waited, using her dark sunglasses to cover the fact that she was watching for him. Then he appeared at the edge of the path and Anna’s heart nearly stopped. His wet swim trunks were plastered to ever contour of his muscular legs and his masculinity. Anna felt herself twitch with desire at seeing such a revealing hint of his manhood. It wasn’t crazy to assume someone of his size was packing some heat between his legs and in his current state it certainly seemed to be the truth.

Anna suddenly had visions of his naked body pressed to hers. Maybe after a naked midnight dip in the ocean and a nice hot shower together to warm back up. She could almost imagine what it would be like for his big strong hands to caress her soapy body while he positioned himself and then slid slowly into her.

Anna let out a slow breath and realized her mouth had been hanging open. She closed it and swallowed as Kristoff approached a chair on the other side of the path and pluck a towel off of it. He started with his hair and worked his way down. Anna had never wanted to be a towel so badly in her life.

Maybe they could just have a night of heavy passion together and be done with it. One chance to give into desire and come together then resume their professional relationship. Something, anything, would be better than just fantasying about having sex with him. She wanted a night that she could keep with her forever. Just one night, one memory, that could warm her on even the coldest of days.

Kristoff draped the towel over his shoulders and then turned his eyes directly towards Anna. All of the sudden the side of his mouth turned up. Oh my God! Anna screamed in her mind. Is he smiling?!

He walked past her, never taking his gaze from her face and Anna realized she wasn’t even pretending to read. She was blatantly watching him and he knew it. He walked past her with one last sideways glance and that little smirk that left Anna tingly all over.

*****

Kristoff stepped onto his balcony after his shower. He had half a mind to wander out in his towel and see what would happen, but he didn’t want to be too presumptuous. He dressed in his shorts and t-shirt then went out to see if Anna was on her balcony.

Just as he suspected, she was. After the look she was giving him when he came off the beach, it was apparent that they were no longer going to try and hide the way they felt about each other.

“Hi Anna,” he said and gave her a smile.

Anna’s face lit up in return. “Well, hi there, Kristoff. Fancy meeting you here.”

“Indeed,” he chuckled. “Do you have any plans for this afternoon?”

“None,” she said as she shook her head. “Perhaps you and I could go to lunch?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Great. I’ll meet you in the hallway?”

“You got it,” Kristoff gave her a wink.

Anna’s cheeks flushed pink as glanced down with a smile and tucked a stray hair behind her ear before she disappeared into her room. Kristoff went back into his and headed for the door. He still had reservations about whether or not it was a good idea to get involved with her, but decided he didn’t care enough not to see where things would go between them.

He had a very good feeling about Anna.

*****

Anna was sure that Kristoff had no idea how gorgeous his lop-sided smile was, or how it made Anna feel to see it on him. Spending the entire afternoon with Kristoff had been one of the best in her entire life.

They just seemed to click with each other. There was nothing forced or uncomfortable about being in each other’s presence. Anna didn’t want to think to hard about it just yet since it was so new, but they just seemed to belong together.

Throughout lunch and all afternoon as they sat at the pool together, they talked and got to know each other better. Anna was absolutely delighted to get a glimpse into his personal life, and with the way he was looking at her, he clearly felt the same about her.

It had been almost painful when she reminded him that they needed to head up to their rooms and get ready for dinner. If it was up to her, she would stay in the little lounge and talk to him all night long, but her presence was required during the banquet.

Anna paused and pulled in a deep breath then knocked on his door. He appeared a moment later with that damn smile, dressed in a pair of navy dress pants and a white button-down, looking insanely sexy. His eyes travelled down Anna’s length taking her in and the dress she was wearing, then back up to her face.

“You look gorgeous,” he muttered slowly, looking at her with bedroom eyes.

Anna’s knees just about buckled. If it were not for the fact that she was expected to make a small speech and a toast before dinner, she would just push Kristoff back into his room and have her way with him. But it would have to wait for later.

Kristoff held out his elbow and escorted Anna down to the banquet room where most of the employees were sipping on cocktails. They found two seats together and made idle chit-chat with everyone at their table until the event manager told Anna that they would be starting the dinner service in a moment. Anna stood and clinked her knife on her glass to get everyone’s attention.

She hadn’t planned out what she was going to say so she just spoke from her heart. She thanked everyone for the great work that had propelled their quarters past expectations, she thanked the assistants and the secretaries for their contributions in making sure everything always ran as smooth as possible, and she thanked their security team for protecting them and keeping them safe while they were at work. After she lifted her glass and gave a toast to everyone for their hard work.

Dinner was served quickly and Anna didn’t have much of a chance to talk to Kristoff between courses. Then the decadent chocolate dessert came and Kristoff didn’t touch his. He watched Anna eat hers instead, sending her very clear signals that he was enjoying himself immensely. Anna had never been so turned on in her life.

He went to grab them each another glass of wine and Anna was cornered into a conversation that she couldn’t get out of for the better part of a half hour. When she was finally able to get away, she made a b-line for Kristoff and asked him to dance with her. He obliged with a smile and led her around the room for the remainder of the slow song until the DJ put on something with a ton of bass and they scrambled off the dance floor to let the young partiers – some of whom where getting pretty drunk – to their energetic dance moves.

Kristoff led them over to a quiet place along the far wall. Anna noticed that he took a quick survey of their surroundings before turning back to look at her. “I am having a great time,” he said slowly, his eyes flicking quickly to her lips.

“Me too,” Anna said. “This whole day has been… just wonderful.”

“And its not over yet,” he said quietly, inching forward. Anna had no doubt that he was going to kiss her.

That’s when something in the center of the room exploded.

A split second after the noise began, Anna was shoved forcefully against the wall and pinned against it. She couldn’t see anything past Kristoff’s broad body – he had her completely encased against the wall. The banging noise stopped and was replaced by cheering and drunken laughter. Anna realized what was going on and what the sounds were.

Anna looked up into Kristoff’s face. His eyes were pinched shut and taking deep breaths, like he was anticipating pain. Then it suddenly clicked into place. Kristoff had thought the sound was something else, something dangerous, and he had put himself in the line of fire to protect her… to save her. He had just attempted to take a barrage of bullets for her.

Anna stared at him, thunderstruck by his actions. Slowly, his face relaxed and his eyes cracked open. He didn’t make a move, he simply stared back down into her eyes.

“Firecrackers,” she whispered. “There were kids selling them on the beach earlier…” she trailed off. She wasn’t sure why this was what her brain had chosen to say after Kristoff had basically tried to forfeit his life for hers. There were no words that could describe the feelings that were running through her mind at that moment.

“Oh,” was all he said in return while he continued to stare at her.

Anna couldn’t stand it anymore. She threw caution to the wind and made her move, surprised that he seemed to have decided the same thing at the exact same moment. They both dove for each other’s lips at the same time, causing teeth to crash painfully against one another. Undeterred, neither of them let their passion waver. A first chaste kiss was not in their cards. This was the accumulation of pure, raw, pent-up sexual desire. There was no banquet room, there were no other people, there was no blaring music, there was only a primal need for their bodies to come together.

Anna felt herself folded into his arms as they started to move. They bumped against the wall, unable to stop from attacking each other, when Anna nearly lost her footing. She would have fallen to the floor if Kristoff didn’t have his arms wrapped completely around her. With the kiss broken however, they took a moment to look each other in the eyes. Kristoff nodded to her unspoken request and dragged her to the elevator. He pressed the button and leaned over to kiss her while they waited. When it dinged and the doors opened, Kristoff pulled her blindly into the box without checking to see if anyone else was in there. He pulled away from her for a half a second to select the button to their floor then resumed kissing her.

Anna’s mind was spinning out of control. This was everything she had been dreaming about for the past three days. Actually, it was better than anything she dreamed about. She was aroused in a way that was almost painful. She half wondered if she was even going to be able to last long enough for Kristoff to actually touch her. It felt like all she needed to do was have the fabric of her panties shift against her once or twice and she would be thrown over the edge.

The elevator doors opened and they stumbled down the hall. Kristoff fumbled in his pocket while he kissed her and finally inserted his key card into the slot. As soon as the door was shut behind them, he yanked off his sport coat then reached behind Anna to undo the zipper on her dress. The dress fell loose around her shoulders and Anna wiggled out of it, cursing the steady throb between her legs for making her unable to wait any longer.

She reached down and undid his belt while she stared into his hooded eyes. She let his pants fall to the floor then she pulled down his underwear and pushed him back onto the bed. She took in the sight of his long, hard length as she slipped off her panties then straddled him.

Her mind was consumed with abating the pain between her legs. They could have all the fun they wanted in a moment but Anna needed to get this out of the way first or she was going to have a very unsatisfying first orgasm.

As soon as she had his hard length settled between her folds, she started moving herself against him, sliding herself up and down his cock to push her towards what she needed most. It only took a few passes to tip over the edge and she threw her head back as the waves of pleasure cascaded through her. Kristoff moaned loudly as soon as she started to orgasm.

When she finally opened her eyes, Kristoff was looking at her with raw lust. “Fuck,” he said slowly. “That was the hottest thing…”

He suddenly sat up and curled his arm around her waist. In one fluid movement he flipped her onto her back and pressed himself against her as he started kissing her again. After a moment he leaned back and started undoing the buttons on his shirt. Anna reached up and started from the bottom. He beat her to the last button then tossed it off his shoulders onto the floor while Anna reached behind her back, undid her bra and threw it over the side of the bed.

Kristoff pressed himself back against her and resumed kissing her. Anna’s body was alive with the feeling of his naked skin pressed against hers. All her lusty thoughts, all the times she imagined being with him in this very moment, thinking she would savor every second… now all she wanted was one thing.

“Kristoff,” she said, breaking the passionate kiss. “I want you.”

“I want you too,” he said in a low voice.

Anna shifted herself up a little higher on the bed so that he could reach her and he did not waste any time in giving her what she wanted. He reached down to guide his cock into her and pushed slowly. Anna’s head fell back against the bed and she moaned at the feeling.

He took his time, driving her mad each time he made it further into her. When there was no more room for him, he leaned down and kissed between her breasts, moving over to her right nipple as he found a slow and steady rhythm.

Anna gave herself over to him. Every flick of his tongue on her nipple, coupled with each stroke of his cock, gave her more pleasure than she had ever had in her life. Her mind was turned upside down by it as she wrapped her legs around his waist and thrust herself up to meet him.

She cried out when the second orgasm crashed through her. She held onto Kristoff for dear life as it took control of her body. He paused until she stopped writhing under him then resumed a faster pace. In another moment he gave her a string of moans that got louder as he got closer. When he gave in, he buried his face into the side of her neck, his lips groaning against her skin as his cock pulsed inside of her.

Kristoff remained still for a moment, breathing long and deep before he finally moved. Anna longed to feel him again as soon as he left her. She thought he might simply roll on his back and stare at the ceiling, but he surprised her by laying on his side and looking down into her eyes.

“Anna, that was amazing. I have to confess, I imagined being with you quite a few times and it was even better than I ever dreamed. You are incredible.”

Anna could not help but grin up at him. “Same here, Kristoff. None of my previous impure thoughts were as good as this. I am blown away.”

Kristoff chuckled softly and laid down on his back as he pulled her to his side. Anna went with him eagerly and snuggled herself up to his hot skin. This was exactly what she wanted. She wanted to be held by him after some passionate love-making. It wasn’t even on her radar a couple hours ago. She just wanted at least one lusty night of mind-blowing sex with the most gorgeous man she had ever met. Now, she understood that it had meant just as much to him as it did to her.

Screw the ramifications. They were destined to go the long haul.

*****

Kristoff rubbed his hand up and down Anna’s bare back. They had been laying together for almost an hour chatting back and forth about this and that. Nothing important, just work, life, and the mundane things about everyday reality. Finally, Anna got up and walked to the bathroom. She threw him a look over her shoulder and announced in a very sultry voice, that she was going to hop in the shower.

Kristoff didn’t need to be told twice. He was more than ready for round two.

He followed her into the hot water and pulled her body against his. He had no idea how he ended up so lucky. This very real and intelligent, vibrant, gorgeous, spark of life was completely into him and he was not going to take a second of it for granted.

Kristoff kissed her passionately before he pulled back and looked down into her slowly-opening eyes. “Anna, I think I am falling in love with you,” he said before he could talk himself out of it. He wanted her to know that he was incapable of making this a short affair. He was officially a changed man and Anna was to blame. He just needed to know if she was on the page that he thought she was.

“Well good,” she said as she looked up at him with a smile that made his heart ache. “Because I think I am falling in love with you too.”

Kristoff leaned down and kissed her with renewed vigor at hearing her words, relieved that he was right to think that she wanted more from this as well. He reached down between her legs and dragged his middle finger up her slit and settled it onto her clit. He began to rub slow circles as she moaned into his mouth while the water cascaded between them.

She broke their kiss and started breathing heavy, gripping his shoulders for support. Kristoff loved every one of her reactions and breathed them in as he stood over her. In a short time, she was begging him to move faster, then her words dissolved into a strangled whine. Kristoff took a lot of pleasure in watching her come undone.

When she calmed, he turned her slowly around and reached between her legs to grip the inside of her right thigh. He lifted her leg and bent his knees to get himself in a position to slide into her. She moved with him, making it easier, and soon his throbbing cock was enveloped in her warmth.

He gripped her around the waist with his free hand and rocked with her. It wasn’t long before they started to moan faster in unison. Anna began to breath really fast and Kristoff couldn’t hold it anymore. He gave in and she arched her back against his chest a second later as she gave in with him. When they both stilled and starting to breathe more calmly, he let go of her thigh and slid out of her, pulling her back against his chest. He kissed his way from one shoulder, across the back of her neck, then onto her other shoulder.

Anna had her eyes closed and a smile on her face when he stopped kissing her. He waited until she spoke and her words were like a lightning bolt to his soul.

“I don’t think I am falling anymore, Kristoff. I think you’ve caught me and I don’t think I can spend another day without you. I want to be with you forever… I love you.”

She turned around and looked at him when he didn’t respond. Kristoff was too struck by her words to put his own thoughts into perspective so he simply said, “You took the words right out of my mouth. I love you too.”

Anna grinned at him and pulled him down into a kiss. Kristoff melted into her, knowing that they were going to have a wonderful and bright future together.

#the corporate retreat #cee wrote this mess #kristanna smut weekend 2019 #lemon #this was so fun to write #maybe that's why it's so long!#haha

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midz13 · 5 years

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Time to get you up to speed on the concept side of things!

Here are pictures in date order of the drawings I've been doing. I've not drawn in a long long time, so please excuse the quality...

For the foreseeable future, I'm running with the 'unwilling participant in the military robot' idea.

The first 3 are around 3 weeks ago, and some of my earliest doodles. I've been battling with the idea of functionality - it's a piece of military hard ware - and artistic expression - I'm using it to tell a story. My knee jerk reaction and inner critic constantly berates anything that can't be explained or used when I draw components or forms. "Why is that there? What does that do? Why would a military robot look like that?"...

But I also want to tell a detailed story in a subtle and interesting way, and ultimately creating a gorgeously frightening machine. The dichotomy of the main character, her humanity, and the machine are the key aspects to explore, and what better way to symbolise that than with the human face remaining. This is my biggest and probably most important decision I'll make on this story; it gives me the opportunity to use organic modeling, possibly animate the face (not sure what would be more impactful).

After many drawings I decided it was important to keep the human face, skin and all, and not just the form of a robotic head housing a brain.

More recent drawings, guided with advice from Lyndsey, explored in increasingly basic silhouettes; my habit to have everything explainable and literal means I draw with no suggestion. Lyndseys suggestion to be more abstract and draw blocked in forms allowed me to speed up my design process, and see the gist of each form and take what I like, and move on. I quickly found a form that immediately jumped out at me as just being 'right'. Lyndsey also helped to hone me in towards thinking more about the female form; another conundrum...

The robot is mechanical, a weapon, functional. It is also a story telling element, and major character. It needs to read as such. I need to tell you it's a female robot, ignoring the face ofcourse. But doing that whole maintaining the essence of utility and believability. I decided working out the use and purpose of the machine may help me:

For now, it's a search and destroy mech. Something to the effect of: A slight frame, incredibly advanced sensors, high speed and maneuverability and firepower make it ideal for locating and destroying key tactical facilities behind enemy lines. I need to double check that, because I'm sure I'm stealing that from a design in the Nuthin' but mech book!

So with that spec in mind, I can exploit things like a small agile frame to mimic the female form, such as long legs, large hips, small waist, etc. This is helpful in allowing me to work with my irritating desire for realism while still working artistically, like I want to... Perhaps this desire will keep the story, and character planted in reality some what, and allow for greater empathy?

The last drawing is a form I quite like. I'll extend the legs more, and narrow the shoulders/silhouette at the top. Of course, the idea is simplified, but will be laden with components and design elements, but for now I need the gist to be there to work on; once I have the shape, I can work on the concept more accurately. If I drew ever single pipe beam and wire, like my brain demands, I'd have 3 designs in a years time... Not 20 in a few weeks, like I would like!!

After this post, I'll upload a quick snap of my Mood board I developed on week one/two - I think - I forgot to let you see it! Its been useful in letting the creative juices flow, but as my idea developed, I'm needing more specific photos, like joints, mechanical fixings, the female body, and so on... So expect another mood board soon...

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captainsamevans · 6 years

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Do You Feel It?

Who: Mason McCarthy & Sam Evans

When: Friday night - 10/26

Where: Breadstix

What: cute first date stuff

Mason knew the nerves didn't make sense. He knew Sam pretty well by now, they'd hung out quite a few times and talked pretty consistently for almost a month now, but the idea of things shifting... that had to be what the nerves were from. As soon as they got to Breadstix Mason slid into a booth and started fiddling with his napkin, giving Sam the shyest grin as he offered him a breadstick. "You look really good. I know I've said that like... a half dozen times already, but you really do."

Sam grabbed a breadstick and bit a piece off, willing himself to relax. He'd been on plenty of dates before. But this was different for some obvious reasons and maybe some not as obvious ones. He wasn't sure yet. He smiled softly at Mason's compliment. "You do too. I'm gonna be honest. This is my first date with... a guy. Not that it's totally different. A date's a date, right? But it feels kinda different, I guess."

Mason took a bite out of his own breadstick and washed it down before replying, the weird shy feeling creeping out again and making it hard to speak normally. "If it makes you feel any better this is my first date with a guy too. It feels... definitely something new. Good, but it's still new. At least the basics are still the same! Plus we don't have to deal with the super awkward initial get to know you part in the process."

"I guess it's harder to get a date with a guy around here," Sam reasoned. "But Blaine has two boyfriends, so I still think he must be really good at this dating thing, no matter what he says." He shrugged and slurped at his water for a moment. "That's true. I already know you're awesome."

"I've never met anyone who had two boyfriends before so he must be a big smooth talker...." Mason thought back to what Sebastian had mentioned about the three of them and blushed all over again. "What did he tell you about this whole dating thing, then?" It was an assumption, but not one he was too worried about making. "Same! Plus, you know from the get-go we'll get along."

"He is pretty charming. I think it's a requirement to be a Warbler," Sam chuckled. His own cheeks turned a soft pink at the question though for different reasons. "If I tell you that, I'll have to tell you what I asked him and then you'll know what a major doofus I am, so..."

"I think so, considering Sebastian and Skylar seem to have a similar vein of charming too. Just... slightly different." Mason's eyebrows raised and he leaned forward in his seat curiously, both elbows going up on the table. "I wouldn't think you were a doofus, Sam!"

"Blaine's totally got a nerd side too though, which is why we make such good friends." Sam nodded simply before he saw Mason leaning in towards him and he sighed. Mason already agreed to go out with him, so he might as well just be honest since it obviously wasn't going to freak the guy out too much. "I just asked him what I should do cause I liked you... I do like you. And I didn't know if you liked me and I didn't want you to stop being my friend," he admitted, looking down at his menu for a moment. "So he told me to just... ask you to dinner and see how you reacted. And if you weren't into it I could play it off like a friend thing."

"Blaine has a nerd side?! Like, outside of the musicals and stuff?" Mason was genuinely surprised - Blaine seemed very suave, and he admittedly didn't typically associate suave with nerdy. The idea of Sam being nervous about asking him out - and not knowing if Mason liked him back - had a pleased grin spreading over his face and he reached forward to squeeze Sam's hand quickly before letting it go. "I like you too. Just for the record. I also think that was a brilliant idea on his part, but I can definitely say it wasn't needed - I was already trying to figure out how to tell you that I wasn't just like... jokingly flirting with you."

"Oh, yeah. He sends me links to the best Star Wars fanfic. And we were talking about starting a superhero club before he transferred," Sam explained. He smiled as Mason's hand laid over his and he squeezed back, finding himself kind of sad when Mason took his hand back. "Yeah? I mean that makes sense, since you said yes and everything. But it's nice to hear and stuff."

“Okay but please tell me there’s some shipping of the robots in there. You should still start that! I know several interested parties.” Where before their hands had touched, Mason let his foot nudge forward until it was pressed again Sam’s, looking a little shy still. “Yeah. Like.... it’s really really nice to be able to call you my date. Plus, you have good taste in restaurants!”

"If it exists, someone will ship it, that's for sure. I like the ones about Endor and ewoks. They get way too much hate if you ask me," Sam insisted, shaking his head in disappointment. "Are they all you?" He squinted, but let out a playful laugh. "It is really nice. And to be fair, there aren't a ton of options."

"Tell me, Sam Evans, have you actually written any of this fanfiction yourself?" Mason just grinned a little, dipping his breadstick in marinara sauce. "Well. Maybe most of them...." He knew he was being silly, but it was still so nice to be here with someone on a DATE, with Sam specifically after weeks of flirting. "No, but I'm also a big fan of italian food. Especially lasagna. And breadsticks. And alfredo sauce."

Sam shrugged but then shook his head a little. "Nah. I mean not actually written. I do make up stories in my head a lot, but I'm not very good at the writing part. I'm more a fan art guy. Or I can do comics. But not really long stories," he explained. "I mean, we could still try though maybe. It might be fun. And I'm glad you're having a good time. I feel really like... comfortable with you. It's cool."

"That is so cool! You do fan art?! You mentioned liking sketching before, but I didn't connect the dots to how much you actually liked drawing. What kind of stuff?" The idea of trying it had him nodding, and he was already thinking of things they could do. "Reasons to date your friends, right? Oh! Speaking of! Do you happen to be a fan of spooky things outside of spooky movies?"

"Yeah, I love drawing. I want to learn animation too, but I'm saving up for some of the equipment you need to do it, " Sam explained proudly. "I like to create my own comics and make up characters and stuff. And I do a lotta Cap designs cause he's my favorite." He smiled shyly at that thought. He'd never really dated someone he was close friends with beforehand. "I mean, it's Halloween. It's all about the spoopy!"

“That would be so cool! Do you want to animate based off the characters you come up with? You’re a very Captain America kind of guy, it makes sense. Not just the physique either, but the way you care about people and your entire personality.” Mason complimented intentionally all the time, sure, but some things were merely glaringly obvious observations. “It is! Okay good. You mentioned wanting to go see Halloween - why don’t we do a haunted house beforehand?”

"Maybe." Sam shrugged, still unsure of himself in that particularly area. "I'm just having fun with it and seeing what I can learn for now." His smile returned and his cheeks turned a soft pink at Mason's compliment. "Ooh, that'd be fun! We totally have to dress up too. In the spirit of Halloween and all."

The conversation flowed so easily the rest of the night that Mason was almost giddy with it - maybe he'd done the right thing in waiting to date someone properly who was more of a friend than simply an infatuation. Asking Sam to take him home was admittedly in part to extend their time together, and when they pulled up to his house Mason was already turning to face Sam. "Tonight was so much fun, Sam."

Sam put his car in park and turned his body as much as he could as well, smiling over at Mason. With a quick calming breath, he reached over and took Mason's hand in his own. "It was. I had a blast. I'm really glad you said... over and over," he added with a little laugh. Mason's excitement about everything was super contagious.

"So am I! I'm really glad my rambling hasn't scared you off yet." Mason squeezed Sam's hand, and this time he kept their hands pressed together. The contact was so night and the 'first date' feel of it all was so nice that he wanted to just... soak it up. For a second his eyes darted down to Sam's lips and he didn't know what proper protocol was, so he went for a whispered "Can I kiss you?"(edited)

The corners of Sam's lips curled up slowly and he took another breath. It seemed he hadn't forgotten how to make words with his mouth, so he just nodded slightly at first as he kept staring at Mason's eyes. "Yeah," he finally managed to get out. "Definitely yeah."

Mason waited for consent before he leaned in and pressed his lips to Sam's. The pressure was gentle, but firm, and he let himself enjoy it for exactly what it was. It was like physically manifesting all the wonderful things Sam had been making him feel since they'd first met and putting them into the kiss.

Sam's hand instinctively came up and his fingertips brushed over Mason's cheek. In the moment, the thought ran through his hand how different it felt from kissing a girl. Mason's skin was still soft but it was in a different way, his jaw more pronounced. He really liked it. He returned the kiss, careful not to press forward to quickly and enjoy the moment for what it was. He was still smiling like a fool when they broke apart.

Mason felt a little like he was floating when Sam's lips pulled away from his, and like a teenager very much in like he let his eyes stay closed for a few moments more just to really let the feeling linger before finally he opened his eyes and grinned. "Holy /wow/, Sam."

Sam let out a breathy little chuckle because he couldn't imagine a better reaction, especially from Mason. "Yeah, dude. Same," he replied before realizing how incredibly stupid that sounded. Not that his brain was really in working order right now anyway. "I mean... you're really good at that."

"So are you," Mason admitted, hoping Sam wouldn't think he was too weird for not really knowing what to say after that. "Usually I can string words together at least. I really, really hope that kiss means you're interested in a second date, because if you are, then the answer is already yes."

"Well, you're usually doing better than me then," Sam joked, still holding tight to Mason's hand. "And, yeah. Most definitely. Haunted house and Halloween, yeah? You can even hide against my shoulder if you want. Or I might have to hide against yours. I can't make any promises."

"Yes! Haunted house and Halloween. Whenever you want.. If you really want to hide, I will absolutely make sure I have on my softest hoodie," Mason teased quietly, taking a chance and leaning in one more time for a slightly less quick kiss, one that seemed to linger before he pulled away. "Text me!"

#pmason #as4mason

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mysticdragon3md3 · 6 years

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I’ve been watching Knights & Magic from the beginning (finally ;p ) and I just want to post my reactions before I forget. So my fandom records can stay closer to chronological. Even if I don’t have time to polish this...I wouldn’t recommend reading this jumbled mess. ^.^;

6:20 PM 6/5/2018 Kights & Magic ep1 Kurata is Ernie, huh? I don't like his co-workers talking shit about Kurata just because he has a whole room full of gunpla. I really like that Addy and Kid are set up like Ernie's siblings. I'm so sick of the "girl is too tsundere to admit she has a crush on the protagonist for almost the entire series" thing. Plus, I love siblings and trios of friends. ^____^ Ok. I'll admit it. I understand now why all the aniTubers I respect called this series trash. Thsi first episode is just a big exposition dump with nothing really important happening. I mean, "show, don't tell" is important, but...These parts of Ernie's background aren't interesting enough, emotionally to warrant taking the time to show. Maybe if some scenes were used in a flashback, during a later episode...This might work. But for now...Is any of this reason to get invested in Ernie as a main character? Are any of the scenes experiences that an audience would enjoy viariously feeling? Sadly, no. In fact, the only reason I'm sticking with this, the only reason any of these scenes are interesting to me at all, is because I've already watched the entire 2nd half of this series, and I grew to really like Ernie from there. (I guess that's why I like in medias res so much. ^^; ) This is just Mary Sue exposition dump...For an ENTIRE episode. O_O; I still don't get why Addy and Kid don't like or act like they're afraid of thier stepsister. With all this exposition, you'd think they'd explain what type of person she is. I mean, maybe I'm out of the loop because I'm American, but what kind of presumedly treatment do they get for not being in the line of succession? And does their stepsister really take advantage of their lower class status? I have a feeling this is going to get demonstrated instead of explained. "What's a robot?" "What every man dreams of!" I used think I like Ernie because of his overwhelmingly infectious, positive enthusiasm. But maybe another way of saying that is that I love that he's a geek. A completely unabashed, proud geek. ^-^ I can't help it. I still really like this show. ^___^ It's like an action version of a "slice of life". Even Dog Days wasn't as tame and iyashikei-like as this. LOL Nothing really happens, nothing is traumatic, it's just the thing for people with anxiety problems. ^__^

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9:09 PM 6/5/2018 Knights and Magic ep2 As much as I love watching the protag being all confident and having fun... What just happened? It would have been nice if they explained why Ernie's attack would bring down the Behemoth, before he actually attacked. Then we could understand why what we're seeing is supposed to be cool. LOL I love how everyone in this show is so seriousl about their circumstances, but Ernie (and Addie and Kid) are just non-chalantly having fun with everything. ^o^ 9:52 PM 6/5/2018 Woops. Crunchyroll started ep3 without me. I'll have to go back later and see if ep2 had something before or after its end credits. "I'm making them because they don't exist! If they existed, I wouldn't need to make them." I know that feel. Actuallly, I think every crafter or artist does. ^^; Well, Deitrich bounced back. Did something happen at the end of ep2 that I missed??? Wasn't he still moping in ep3? Well, it's good to see him feeling better. I know that technically, nothing is really happening story-wise or drama-wise, but I really like all this technical design stuff. Testing designs, honing based on feedback, watching even a little success in an experiment, the way Ernie's brain is constantly working on the next step/design,...This is all my jam! ^u^ This series is really just running past the emotional toll on the pilots. I wonder if it's on purpose, like a refutation of all the mecha series that have focused on pilot angst ever since Eva. LOL But I like it. I like the lighthearted tone, how everyone can just have a friendly fight and be friends again the next day,... Yeah, there's no drama. But I don't like drama. I like iyashikei and "slice of life", nothing emotionally draining or even close to a rollercoaster ride. This is what happens when you have anxiety. I'm just glad a series that I watch for _entertainment_ doesn't add to the drama already in my head. It's soothing. ^_^ Helvi perked up when she heard Ernie say "The path of a Silhouette Knight isn't trod in one day!" Oh, I guess she was really putting everything into that sparring match, huh. Here, I was thinking in terms of a designer, like Ernie, who just saw it as a test with inevitable failings, just glad it didn't blow up, and very happy to see the new model get as far as it did. I was even impressed with Helvi modifying her tactics to accomodate the Telestale's lack of precision. But while a designer is going to just see this model's preformance as a stepping stone to the next experiment, Helvi probably put all her pride into it and took all the blame into herself, when she didn't get a clear victory. But really, I thought she did win, and it was clearly the experimental model's failing. But I guess this identifying with the preformance one's mecha is the type of thing that commonly happens in angsty mecha pilot anime. I've been thinking about how a character design like Helvi's is reflective of a lot of Japanese "manly" characteristics. She shows a lot of skin, she wears her jacket with the top down, and she's not all modest and proper. Although there have been a lot of anime in the past who use their tomboys as an opportunity for fanservice costume designs, Helvi's design seems to much more focus on just making her seem like a tomboy by layering Japanese "masculine" costume designs on top of her. I really like that, because I grew up on the "harem anime" genre and by now, I'm tired of the boobs busting out and jiggling everywhere. 10:23 PM 6/5/2018 Wow. Ep4 started without a commercial break! O.o Oh this show is so cute! I love how Ernie is so unbound to humanoid forms and this joke about him being frustrated that Addy came up with that non-human form solution to the mana capacity/output problem instead of him, when it's his speciality, is just funny. ^_^ I love silly sibling dynamics. ^__^ I thought you just said "maybe we shouldn't fire this in town"?!? Why are you firing it again? LOL "Creativity and challenging yourself are wonderful goals in and of themselves, don't you think?" Yes, Ernie! Yes they are! ;u; Who knew this show would have so many "creative motivation" lines? ^u^ "I need more Ernie in my life. I haven't hugged him in a week!" LOL I love how Addy says everything that people addicted to cute things are thinking. ^u^ She's like Taki Toru from Natsume Yuujinchou! ^o^ I'm glad that there MIGHT be a reason Addy and Kid have to believe that their father isn't just using them to spy on Ernie and claim credit by association (in that the siblings believe if their father tells the king about Ernie's designs before the government's Lab finds out, then the King might protect Ernie from the Lab stealing his designs and maybe shutting him out of further development). But there's been this ominous tone the entire time and I'm just waiting for what horrible ulterior motive someone has, fighting over Ernie's designs---that aren't even done yet! Maybe the Bronze Fang spies were supposed to take on on the suspicious undertoines, but I'm still worried about all these Marquis and officials screwing Ernie over. If they shut Ernie out, just so they can get good standing with the King for claiming to come up with the designs themselves, I'm going to be very sad for Ernie being unable to complete development. There's nothing worse than leaving a project hanging before perfecting the final process. LOL I love how Ernie just DEFLATES all the tension! This entire episode has been building up tension about Ernie getting screwed over by the Marquis, and Ernie just turns everything into cheerful skipping. LOL That flashback to the Marquis realizing how similar Ernie's ambition was to the King, was really effective. ...But wait. I only know that was the young version of the King because I've seen the 2nd half of this series. Well, I guess a first-time watcher would just have to rely on the fact that the Marqui was suddenly backing off of trying to intimidate Ernie, to realize that person in the flashback was someone he respected from his memories. That was really sweet how the Boss found a way for everyone to visit Ernie and take the edge off not getting to ride Ernie's new designs anymore. 11:07 PM 6/5/2018 ep5 I'm glad that village was saved. The fact that I was really effected by the engineer dwarves getting killed by the spies, msut be a testament to how sensitive I am to need to avoid drama from a show with real ups and down. I mean, there was nothing special about the direction, and everyone getting killed wasn't given special attention by the camera to warrant being this effected by it. In fact, the camera was pretty distant and quick about the portrayal. But I think that because this series has spent all this time, getting me attached to the repair workers at the school, that it was easy to conflate them with the workers at the Marqui's fort. They were just doing their jobs! ;o;!!! Damn. I just realized the Haimerwort is using a big hammer. That means his fighting style is imprecise and slow. He already lost the advantage that the old mechas had against the Telestales. ~_~; Wow! The students have got this precise targetting and control over the new units, down! ^u^ Is no one going to mention how Ernie just took his Silhouette Gear without being surprised it was even there? LOL How many automatic functions just happened with Kid's Silhouette Gear and just so happened to save him just now?! LOL Teh fact that Edgar lasted this long with the old model of mecha is pretty impressive. I forgot for a while that he was using the old model.

Well, looks like they used up their animation budget for fight scenes. ^^; This last battle is all stills and narration. But tying it back to the Demon Beast attack on Darie Village makes it seem like that was the whole reason that village attack happened. But it was also the reason the spies were able to get into the Marquis's fort. I guess the demon beast attacks were foreshadowing for Frankholm and the Marqui to realize they were attacked by another country's spies, after they found the Cursed Bait. I'm so glad this conversation after Edgar so seriously began say, "Helvi, there's something I have to tell you," turned out to not be anything romantic. ;u;! I'sm so done with that cliche! It's way more touching that Edgar was just trying to confess that the stolen mech was Helvi's personal mecha and he's promising to get her "partner" back. Yujo!!!!!! ;u;!!! 11:48 PM 6/5/2018 I guess I should stop and do my daily drawing challenge before midnight. ~.~ I guess. I guess I can use ep6 as incentive to get up early tomorrow. 2:48 AM 6/6/2018 Also, I forgot to mention that I really love that annoyed, exasperated look in Ernie's eyes when Addy or her step-sister hug and squee over him. LOL Me too, Ernesti. Me too. And by that, I mean it's really nice to see a male character for once simply be tired of the "girls fighting over him" cliche. This series feels more like it's also annoyed with this cliche. Lots of mecha anime are overtaken by harem genre cliches and romance polyhedrons. It makes me feel better about this series re-steering the focus of mecha anime, away from pilot angst and a motif to lay over a harem anime, and more towards just fanboying over mecha. ^.^ I just love that geeky attitude! ^o^ And hey man, not everything needs to be about romance.

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9:44 AM 6/6/2018 Knight's & Magic ep6

I love this silly sibling dynamic between Ernie and Addy. Any other series, and it'd be a really annoying romantic relationship, either between tsundere(s) or "the indecisive harem guy who doesn't know how to handle the overly-forward girl".

It's funny seeing Marquis Kunt Dixguard suddenly not drawn like an antagonist now.

These are all some names I needed to remember: Magus Engine Ether Reactor Knightsmiths Bat

Uh...How about you not say aloud how you're going to backstab the protagonist, Chief?

I really like seeing these Knights who were portrayed so ominously before (but by association to the building ominous portrayal of the Marquis, plus the ominous storm to foreshadow the Bronze Fang's attack), just so easily on friendly terms with Ernie now. ^-^ I really like seeing everyone on good terms. ^___^

I like how Bad, Kid, and the Boss are enthusiastic vs intimidated by the announcement of the mock battle with the Lab in 10 months. Like Ernie's enthusiasim is rubbing off on others. ^_^ It would be so easy for another anime to turn this into a conflict point, everyone arguing with Ernie about "how did you get us into this mess", being scared to fight the government lab's mechs. But this scene just keeps flowing. ^___^

Yes! Increased speed mech!

Option Works

"That may make your dream come true, huh?" "Yeah. I can still only get glimpses of it...I couldn't reach it in my dreams, but this is reality, and I can grab it with my own hands." Ever since I realized this series peppers in so many relatable experiences of the creative process, it's become so interesting or even inspirational. There's a story I heard once about how the music a composer achieves will never be as perfect as the music they hear in their head. It's supposed to be a warning against perfectionism and taking the angst of the creative ambition too far. So it's really inspiring to hear Ernie say that he will achieve the creation he dreamed of, in reality. It's like that post going around Tumblr, encouraging artists to, when they feel down about their art, remember that they "created something out of nothing, LIKE A GOD!" ^o^

Aw~ Edgar is so nice! I'm glad they didn't just leave the new students (or where they new graduates?) with the Boss's scary introduction. Edgar talks like an actual formal commander! O.o

Oh, new carefully designed character. New main character. Nora Frykberg. Oh, that's nice! She's special security so the school won't get the Order of the Silver Phoenix's designs leaked again. ^u^ Oh, so this is the Order of the Azure Hawk. Run by Marquis Duxgard, right? Convenient that she has blue hair.

Uh-oh. Addy's jealousy just went from "older sister/aunt who wants to squeeze your cheeks" to "jealous girlfirend" tropes. o~o; Thank goodness I've seen the rest of this series already, so I know I don't have to worry about this erring towards romantic tension BS. It'll stay towards the "older sister"/"I like cute things" vibe. ...But in retrospect, maybe the trope was just a quick way to get Addy into a Silhouette Knight, vs just sticking to the Silhouette Gears. ^^; That's fine. They kept the jealous romance tropes to a minimum. Now just focus on Addy piloting and Ernie's mecha experiments and I'll be happy.

Oh, Addy is just taking measurements and observing the test? I thought Ernie was asking her to pilot while he would take notes. ^o^;

LOL Ernie is the only one not phased by the Boss yelling at them for destroying that Kaldatoah. ^o^ He's probably still mentally rambling improvement ideas to himself.

Huh? "How long are you going to let a girl be covered in soot?" What? That's out of nowhere. But their clothes seem to imply this isn't just some obligatory fanservice scene. Otherwise, Addy would be wearing MUCH less than a dress-length shirt and there'd be a drawn-out scene of both of them just undressing. Even Helvi's top is the same as she always wears, so there's nothing to really draw the eye, after all these epsiodes of being accostomed to seeing that strapless corset on her everywhere. Wait...Don't tell me this is going to turn into one of those "girl talk" scenes where the older character prods the younger to vent out her romantic problems weighing down her thoughts. ~.~; Well, if they do go in that direction, I hope it's just Helvi re-affirming to Addy that she doesn't have to try so hard to be a "cool girl"; just be herself. They don't have to cover that Addy is trying to be a "cool girl" who can pilot a Silhouette Knight and fight in battle, because she got jealous of Nora and afraid that Ernie only likes "cool girls". If the conversation just sticks to Helvi encouraging Addy to accept herself as-is, then I'll be fine with this scene. And Helvi, being a "cool girl" is the perfect character type to talk to Addy about this. ^-^ Thank you, Addy. She wanted to invite Ernie to bath with them. LOL "Ernie's not a guy! Ernie is Ernie!" Look at that expression on Helvi's face! LOL I love how Addy makes the possible "romance" undertones of this show a complete non-starter! ^o^! (I just want to say that as much as I love being a fujoshi and obsessing over my OTP being in romantic relationships, platonic relationships are still VERY important to me and I'm so glad to see more series, even one generally dismissed by the anime critic community, take the focus off romantic relationships. ;u;!!! )

Oh that swivel on Addy's pilot seat is so cool! ^o^

Ooh! So excited for the testing duel! ^o^ Even though Ive seen it already from when I first strated this series! LOL

Wow. The pilots wear big armor inside their mechs. I forgot: It was like that at the fort raid too, huh?

They descreased teh STrand-Type Crystal-Tissue? o.O

Capacity Blame solves the "mana pool drain issues" AND improves defense?! *o* Oh this is so cool! The quadraped reveal! ^o^

The Marquis is sighing again because he knows how Ernie is now. LOL Was he the one who was telling Ernie that Silhouette Knights are supposed to resemble humans and Ernie just questioned that imemdiately? Maybe it was the Knightsmiths' Boss?

Omg, I'm so excited for this next epsiode---that I've already seen before! LOL

After seeing some series analysis about how Darling in the Franxx is just an allegory for sexual "coming of age" and how their pilot system is pretty much just positioning the female and male pilots the same was as "doggy style" sex, Addy and Kid's pilot positions being similar makes me kind of uncomfortable. But why should I let a completely different series ruin the one of few series I've finally found, devoid of sexual innuendo and fixation on romance?

10:52 AM 6/6/2018 ep7

10:54 AM 6/6/2018 Ok I have to get on with my day. I can't just marathon this anime and write reactions to every scene all day.

Though I will say that I'm so glad that not every character with sharp eyes or a stoic demeanor is proven to be anatagonistic in the end. When I first saw this series/episode, I thought for sure that the Director of the King's Lab would turn out to be a traitor becasue he was drawn with sharp eyes that usually indicate suspicious danger. But this series didn't go for that easy cliche. It's safe to have faith in people, in this series. ^-^

It's funny how they kept the Lab Chief's eyes and general character design so cartoonish that it was unreadable. So I was totally able to buy that he was going to be an antagonist, but it also perfectly fit when he proved to be just another geek like Ernie, excited to talk with another geek. ^o^

Everything ends all happy and fun. No grudges. No one hurt during the mock fight. No real battles barging in, to interrupt the sparring match. Etc., etc. cliches. When other people complain about overused tropes, I will often counter that cliches become cliches for a reason: they're effective. But I think this series, dropping cliches, exchanged it for something I value more or equally: the same safe, cheerful, soothing atmosphere as an iyashikei. I understand that for most people, the lack of drama and tension leaves a story boring. But I can't stand drama. I hate "Oscar bait" movies and TV drama shows. It often forces characters to be portrayed as artificially generating problems through jumping to misunderstandings and assuming the worst, vs SIMPLY communicating with each other (especially between characters that consider each other FRIENDS) and having faith in other people. I NEED A BREAK FROM THAT. DESPERATELY. So I don't care if people call this series trash, I'm loving every bit of it. ;u;!!! <3 <3 <3

I like that the quadraped Silhouett Knights switched to 1 pilot. The 2 pilot system seemed risky if it'll cut troop numbers in half.

I forgot that this was teh saem episode with the King retiring and the duel with Prince Emrys. That was also really fun too!

I'm pretty sure I wrote a reaction before about how I liked the King's motives in fighting over the Goldleo with Emrys. Where is that thing?

I like that the quadraped Silhouett Knights switched to 1 pilot. The 2 pilot system seemed risky if it'll cut troop numbers in half. I forgot that this was teh saem episode with the King retiring and the duel with Prince Emrys. That was also really fun too! 12:00 PM 6/6/2018 ep8 Wait. I don't recognize this episode. o.o Wait. The former King came to fight the shellcased horde too?! O.o I know retiring let's him have fun without worrying as much, but still! It's nice to see Dietrich leading his own squad with confidence. ^_^ He's not burdened by that freak-out he had at his introduction anymore. ^_^ Every time I see Edgar fight, I'm surprised he's still using the same mech, but I guess I just got confused. His mech has been continually upgraded, it just doesn't have the back arms and they focused development on upgrading his shield instead. That shield has gotten more and more functions since the test sparring match vs the Lab. ^o^ Weaponizing the mecha's transportation carriage is cool! Oh yeah, I already forgot about that brain frying tactic Ernie used on teh Behemoth. Ether Reaction construction method! *o*! I'm so happy for Ernie. ^_^ Alvs. Changing Ones = humans. "He doesn't give up that easily on his hobbies." I like that Ernie's geeky enthusiasm is on parr with the former King's fighting ambition. Like they're kindred. The funny thing is that as "flat" as I keep admitting this series and its character dynamics to be, I really like everyone. I've been atched to them for a while now. I regret not buying that Nendoroid Ernesti! Everyone's personalities seem fundamentally rooted in Compassion, my favorite ideal. Even if Emrys or the former king could be misperceived as one of my most annoying pet peeves "confusing Power with Strength", they don't seem to make that fallacy. They love to fight with brute force and powerful mechas, but they seem more like the positive portrayals of continual Growth/ambition in Fighting Spirit, rather than jerks who confuse Power with Strength, by forgetting Compassion. There have been plenty of opportunities for them to be callous or Malicious, but they haven't. They've just been non-chalant, warm, and even encouraging others to share their ambition and confidence. I sense they're good guys, and they were most primed to be in positions of setting off one of my pet peeves. So I'm glad they and everyone is staying good, good people, and that's all I need from "good characters". "...But we're lazy...For the first 100 years, we're like the Changing Ones. But then after 200-300 years we spend most of our time sleeping or in thought." Yup. That's immortality for you. Can the Alvs Elder see Ernie's past life? "Thinking is the most valuable thing for us. We simply saw the value in one another." Did the Elder see how Ernie's mind never stops thinking? WAit. Ether Reactors are the heart of living things? Is that why they harvested that Behemoth heart? That reminded me of Escaflowne and I guess I just assumed they used it the same way, to power their mechs, but they never really talked about it, huh. More terms: Catalyst Crystals (heart of Ether Reactors) So Ether Reactors turn air into Mana. And Catalyst Crystals turn mana into magic, but also sometimes ether into mana. Ether Reactors are really sounding more and more like a living thing. But then when they start talking about dense scripts, it sounds like computer programming. ^.~ Alvs and Demon Beasts have Catalyst Crystals inside them. So are mined Catalyst Crystals from prehistoric Demon Beasts? ^o^ "Astonishing even the Alvs...In 3 months he learned all their secrets." I know we're not supposed to like OP Mary Sues...But I really like Ernie. The way we all know he's just going to be so cheerful and casual about all this new knowlege/power of his, that confidence in him to not see Power turn him into a prick, just makes him learning stuff feel like his enthusiasm over enjoying his obby is infectious instead. I guess the Alv Elder can see Ernie's past life, after all. Oh, that's so cool. Addy is using the flying spell with the gun rod that Ernie usually only uses. Does everyone use those gunrods now? OMG YOU NEVER SEE THAT! I'M SO HAPPY! I'm so glad Nora saw that Addy was just jealous and insecure about staying close to Ernie, now that Nora was talking with him alone a lot, but instead of getting upset that "this kid is bothering her" or playing with her feelings, she saw Addy's underlying feelings and reassured her instead. She even trusted her with her secret as a spy! ;u; What a kind and mature person! ;U; I'm so glad this is turning out to be an anti-melodrama show! ;U; (I mean, I like melodrama in terms of overacting grandness can be fun, but I hate "drama" as in excessive relationship tensions.) 1:00 PM 6/6/2018 ep9 Western Grand Storm? "These lands all used to be ruled by 1 king! Let's go reclaim it!" Well, that's a pretty stupid reason to start a war. Maybe THE stupidest reason. ~___~; Still sniffly at Eleonora saying goodbye to her father. I know serious stuff is happening, but Ernesti turning battle into just a fun game is just...fun. "Silver Phoenix Merchant Association". LOL Well, this time watching this episode, now I know who the blue-haired maid spy is. ^_^ Who knew Nora had such a big setup before. Probably just to give Addy some depth. "What are those horse things? Well, it doesn't matter. We're destory them." This Gustav Mardonnes guy is stupidly reckless. Oh, this is the guy who became like Dietrich's kind of nemesis. I've never heard of this Mabus Animation Studio or Bigbowl before. 1:26 PM 6/6/2018 ep10 I really have to stop paying attention now , and owrk on artist alley stuff. 3:11 PM 6/6/2018 ep13 / Last ep. Are they setting up a romance between Nora and D? Did Kojass come from our world too? "Maximize" is an English word. It's funny to hear Ernie now advocating for mechas to reflect human form. I guess Kojass's Wyvern is like an extreme of the "inhumanness" that Marquis was trying to ward Ernie('s designs) away from. Still, I don't see any reason to stay so human. And if this series was going to get symbolic about human form equating good human traits like being humane, then they didn't consistently set that up. I like that this climactic battle is all a group effort. There is no one moment of victory where only the protagonist is the only proactive agent of every the victorious moment.

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3:10 PM 4/6/2018 Just watched Knights and Magic ep7. I really like this show. I feel kind of bad for feeling this way, when Mother's Basement said this series was bad. I mean, shouldn't I defer to an expert? And really, have I been watching enough anime lately to have any sense anymore? I mean, I just keep watching the same series over and over again, instead of exposing myself to anything new. And actually, I've been watching more YouTube than anime lately---these past FEW YEARS. But I do like this series. Like, just this ep, episode 7: Sure, nothing really happened, and nothing dramatic happens too much in the characters' growth. Even the old engineer who was growling at the demo fight of Ernie's new mechas, who looked like he might be a bitter problem later, ended up just bonding with Ernie over their love of fanboying over mechas. Even the whole thing with the Prince and his Grandpa didn't change anything between them, or within them individually. Prince Emyrs didn't even know that his Grandpa had any special meaning to their duel. Only Ernie and his comrade got to see that, without Emrys knowing. It was more like a peek into their lives. And I think that's what I like about this series. It strikes me as a "slice of life". Even if big mechas are clashing and everyone's talking about monster attacks, and later in the series, there are attacks, death, and wars initiated by another nation who brings some intrigue, Ernie smothers it all with his unwavering positive enthusiasm. It's still a safe, "nothing really happens" series. And I think that's why I've been avoiding anime lately. Every time I think, "I shoudl catch up on this series that everyone's talking about", I just can't commit to that kind of emmersion and focus, or I'm in too fragrile a mental/emotional state to deal with anything dramatic, even the slightest bit. But this show, Knight's & Magic may be just the thing I need. It won't make me bawl my eyes out like Natsume Yuujinchou (my favorite series) or March Comes In Like a Lion (which I desperately need to catch up on). There aren't any bully characters that make me feel traumatized by spending time in their company, like Boku no Hero Academia. I'm continually baffled that I'm not watching any of KyoAni's recent series, when they've been like the "kind of slice of life" to me, for so many years. But I just can't get into Dragon Maid---And I'm tearing my hair out, trying to figure out why! ;o; I love dragons! I love slice of life! Androgynous heroine who dresses in more "masculine" clothing? My favorite! I used to read nothing but the "chicks in pants" subgenre of fantasy novels.

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9:12 PM 11/11/2017 WAtching KNights and Magic for the first time. ep9. Getting flashbacks of Escaflowne. REmember when all these mecha battles were hand-drawn? And it was BEAUTIFUL! *o* Really surprised this isn't a Sunrise series. 9:32 PM 11/11/2017 Starting ep10. I like this Ernesti kid. He's just so perpetually enthusiastic about everything! ^u^ His expression never changes! His eyes are so bright, all the time! ^o^ I was just telling my brother that Ernesti must be so perpetually happy because everything in this world is about mechas. LOL "Bloody wars? Princess in peril?" "It's all good because we get to fight with mechs!" LOL Evne the opening theme is just so peppy, despite this war going on with already dramatic stakes established with kings fighting suicide duels just so his daughter can escape. I want Kojass and Ernesti to be friends so much! Have geek-outs together! LOL The funny thing is that while Ernesti's complete dismissal of the seriousness of battle looks innocent and silly, because he's a mecha geek, on the bad guy side, that sort of detatchment from people's lives being taken, looks more sociopathic. Even though they have the same priorities! ...Though, I guess the difference in their geekiness, is that while Ernesti is happy to see people with more knowledge than him, so he can learn new ideas from them, from anyone, and from anywhere, Kojass gets defensive that his superiority is challenged. ^^; This princess Eleonora is a little frustrating, but she's just so sweet, I can't quite feel annoyed about it. (Unlike my brother.) But I firmly believe that leaders who prioritize Compassion and value themselves last, are the best leaders. So I really think she has what it takes to be a benevolent leader, she just needs to learn more confidence and get some experience. I get a little frustrated with Archid/Kid not knowing enough to answer her questions with philosophical answers. Like, "What's the worth in rescuing her?" She's not the one who gets to decide what her worth is! As long as she's alive, her country's people still has a figurehead to rally behind and retain their identity. "Why are you being kind to someone like me?" she asked. Because who wouldn't want to be kind to anyone? Who wouldn't want someone who feels bad, to cheer up? But Kid doesn't seem intellectual enough to provide logical answers like that. But his genki type is good for cheering up people and being emotional. That's why when he got out of his armor to encourage the princess to accept her rescue, while my brother watching that scene was impatient that they were wasting time with guards on their way to stop the rescue, I said, "No, it's the right thing to do." He's a good kid. ^_^ Maybe it'll inadvertantly set up a romance between them, when she'll have to eventually have to marry someone else for political reasons or won't be allowed to marry a lower rank like knight, but for now, it's good for them. ^_^

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1:17 PM 5/17/2018 Just finished Knight's and Magic ep12. I love this show. ^_^ It's just a bunch of fun. Even with the voices of aniTubers I respect, in my head telling me that the show sucks, I just have a good time. LOL When I first heard they thought it was a bad show, I asked myself why it was fun, and I realized that nothing really happens in this series. Episodes begin and end with characters in teh same state without much or any growth. It's essentially a "slice of life" with occaisional mecha battles. Nothing really serious happens, and I think that for people with anxiety like me, I just really love that. After all, for the past few years, I've been watching exclusively moe, "slice of life" series, and iyashikei. Why would I need a bunch of serious drama or heart-shattering moments in a series? That's the last stuff I need! Not when my anxiety has finally gotten to this point of agoraphobia! So I love this show. I love Ernstie's unflappable genki demeanor, I love how he cuts through whatever tone is going on around him, to just make the situation about having fun as an engineer playing with his mecha, and that even the final stakes of this show for our protagonist seem to be about his pride in his hobby...It's relaxing and fun. ^o^ And considering that most of the "good" mecha series out there are metaphorical sexual "coming of age" stories", and I'm gray-asexual, it only makes sense that I'd rather watch Knights and Magic vs Darling in the Franxx. I mean, my favorite mecha show is Code Geass, for gods' sakes! Whatever sexual "coming of age" metaphores there are, are in the background. And most of the other generally acclaimed shows I like, that are about sexual "coming of age", I only tolerate because they shift towards a conversation about gender more than sexuality. Like Utena; as sensual as that show is, and as much as it goes on about hetero relationships and lesbian relationships kind of standing-in for hetero dynamic conventios (until near the end of teh series), it spends a lot more time talking about gender. Ranma 1/2, Maze, etc...are gender series, some with mecha, but not so much about dating, heterosexual negotiations, and awkward learning about sex, but about what it means to be a certain gender and questioning definitions of gender. 1:22 PM 5/17/2018 I need to get back to work in 10 minutes, but I'll watch a little bit of ep13. 1:32 PM 5/17/2018 As soon as they made that hard turn to port, after ramming speed, I exclaimed "HUH?!?" Because who chases after and OBVIOUS feint/decoy tactic?!?! Seriously?! (Besides Sanada Yukimura, okay.) And I can't beleive the enemy is using the Blood Grail already. Pushed to the corner that early? C'mon. If you can't fight with what you've already got, then throwing aroudn a big weapon that you've already been warned is a "double-edged sword", is gonna blow up in your face. Or at least going to prove a weak spot, when your crutch gets taken out. That's why Ryu Maho always trained to fight without a weapon, despite being a natural genious with a sword. This is why I always played 2D fighting games with basic moves vs relying on special attacks.

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1:08 PM 6/7/2018 Knights and Magic ep7 re-watch Listen. I realize they want Prince Emrys's introduction to be intriguing, but putting that shadow on just his face, when he's in the full sunlight, away from anything that could create shade, is just weird. The audience already doesn't know who he is, that's mystery enough. Might as well just show is full face and let the auidence think "Who is that? I don't recognize him." ------------------ last eps re-watch What I really like about finally watching this series from the beginning, is that when I get back around to the end, seeing these students suddenly now leading units with the new equipment designs, lets us see their evolution. But whereas most series focus on the characters' dramatic evolutions, in the final eps of this series, I can just look across the squad of new designs, now into production models, and see how that reflects how far these characters have come. I realize that that may be indirect drama for most people, but it's really effective for me, even emotionally. When I look at these mecha, I remember what they started as, the initial designs, how they slowly improved, better and better, then eventually became finalized versions which were good enough to be put into production models...It's just a long swath of history and indiviudal evolution in each design. I know that's how most people think about characters in a series, but I really feel that way, just looking at these mecha, since the series focused more on their design evolution and progression, more than the characters' drama. I think maybe this shift in focus towards emotional attachment to the mechas' progress/evolution was effective for me, becasue I think in terms like Ernie, focused on design and creative projects, knowing how much goes into each reiteration and what an epiphany each new design is. And similary, I focus less on social interactions. I am thoroughly engrossed in all these exposition dumps of Ernie explaining his designs and whatever new limmitations he's trying to think around. I love weighing all the options and problem solving along with him. I just really feel in sync with this series more than most other mecha drama. (Which is why I've avoided Darling in the Franxx. As much praise as that's getting, I suspect it's just not my thing.) 1:27 PM 6/7/2018 ep7 rewatch Addy and Kid do have gunrods. And they're swords too! O.O Really, why are all the other wizards even using magic wands/staffs? Ernie's gunrod idea is a multifunctional tool now! *o* 1:41 PM 6/7/2018 It's funny when I think now of when I first watched this series, starting in the middle, I asked my brother who was crushing on who, who was jealous, etc. Because almost all series, especially big casts of mecha pilots are always about who is crushing on who. Doesn't mean I like series like that. In fact, I hate it. But if I'm going to sit in front of the TV while my brother continues a series he's watching, I might as well know what's gong on. I can at least brace myself for when characters act jealous or act weird instead of just working together in the midddle of a battle maneuver. I don't like it, but I can at least brace myself against it. I'm even more glad now, discovering that this series isn't about interpersonal drama at all.

#md3 watches knight's & magic #reactions #knights and magic #please ignore my idiocy #platonic relationships

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indd40041020202021 · 3 years

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Getting into it

I feel like I’m beginning to see a crest of light on the mountain that is this past year. It’s been incredibly difficult to maintain any thread of determination or motivation (and I know I’m not alone in this) but I’ve somehow held on and I think my hard work is finally becoming tangible. As well, because I’m working in a field of design that is less common, it’s been difficult to prove my concepts within the framework of traditional industrial design practice, and has lead to tiring efforts of upholding my self-confidence in what I’m doing. [insert Einstein fish climbing tree quote here] Something that really helped me feel better was listening to this week’s design.emergency talk. Daisy Ginsberg is a huge inspiration for this project, and everything she said helped affirm and validate what I am doing (she even talks about heterarcies!). So lovely, you can watch here:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMCl7IKFbBp/ If you haven’t seen her work on designing the sixth extiction, see this link: https://www.daisyginsberg.com/work/designing-for-the-sixth-extinction

So last week, I was really trying to think about the form of the leech, what the skin would look like, what colours it would flash, etc. Supposedly, bioluminescent colours can be dependent on whether the animal lives on land or water. As leeches already live on both, I think I have a lot of leeway in combining these colour combinations. I met with Rob in the flex lab who was excited about the project. He gave me two options, Dragon Skin and EcoFlex. Dragon Skin felt more realistic, and it’s what’s used most often for props in movies. We talked about the opacity of it as well, and how the lights would shine through. Ecoflex was more rubbery, less realistic, but may provide less tension in the tail that the motor has to fight against. Rob said that waterproofing the electrical shouldn’t be a problem, and that we could paint the material into the mold, thus creating a cavity to fit. Rob said that to begin anything, we needed a model first.

So I got to work. I did a lot of work in modelling, starting in Rhino, then forgetting everything I learned in Rhino and moving to Modo. Here are some progress shots.

when testing for 3D printing, Logan told me the displacement was much too small to show the texture. After adjusting the displacement, the texture became jagged, and when I subdivded the work to give it smoother transition points, the file became too large. I struggled with this for a long time - Logan gave me some tips, but I ended up having to do some really complex UV mapping to get the texture to fit as nicely as possible.

After fixing this, I sent it off to Logan to be printed. The leech is 200mm long, and around 45mm diameter. I wanted to maintain this uncanny valley similarity with real leeches, so I tried to push the cavity as much as I could, but I think this is as far as I want to go. Maybe it needs to be bigger? Will be tested once I have a model. I asked Zara to take a photo of the in-process print for me while she was at school.

I wanted to create a hero shot. I started with the leech, then added some pre-built meshes from the modo library, then added a murky pond backdrop. After that, I put a panel of green glass in front of the camera, creating an underwater look.

^ here you can see the panel of glass in front of the camera

no glass

with glass

I then took the two images into photoshop, and used some image overlays to give the impression of bioluminescence.

And the hero shot final:

I wanted to keep some of that murkiness to show depth of field, and show that the leech was swimming towards the lens.

For the brief, I also wanted to show what it would look like in the gallery, so I quickly modelled a gallery wall.

I think the film will be important in understanding what the project is about, and in allowing people to jump between worlds. I want the film to be very simple - a biologist walking into a marshland, picking up a leech, talking about the leech, and then putting it back in the water.

storyboard:

shot order in storyboard: 1 - 2 / 3 - 4 / 5 - 6

Here’s a quick idea of what the script might look like: 1. EXT. DAY - TRAIL

A BIOLOGIST hikes through a wooded trail. (shot 1)

BIOLOGIST: Ok, I think we’re almost there!

2. EXT DAY - LAKE (shot 2)

BIOLOGIST: RIght, so here we are at the Whonnock Lake and Wetlands in Maple Ridge, BC. (shot 4) This lake been imported form other bodies of water, and we thank the water bodies that have been providers to not only this lake but to all the species that it holds and protects. I’m hoping I can introduce you to one of these species, who is very special to our community. (shot 5) Ok, I think I’ve found one here, yup I think she is letting me hold her. (shot 3) Yes, here she is. The species that I’m holding right now is the Hirudinea Lampyris, or the Firefly leech. (shot 4 with hands in shot) This species is incredibly special and has helped us humans better empathize between ourselves and other species. Many humans have empathetic tendencies towards other humans, but struggle with empathizing past their own species. Many other flora and fauna have incredible cross-species empathisation methods, but the Firefly Leech is incredibly gracious, and shows us how other species are feeling through it’s skin. (insert of hero shot? slow pan zoom?) The Firefly Leech is one of the only species in the hirudinea, or leech, family that is an omnivore. And while it preys on both plants and animals, the leech is non-destructive, only taking what it needs and rarely kills it’s prey. The hormones in the food that it eats, such as cortisol, are translated through a chemical reaction that is visible in the bioluminescence in it’s skin.

(shot 4) It is very rare for a species that lives on both land and water to be bioluminescent, and the firefly leech has provided us with a means of decoding the light signals in her skin to read what the emotional status of the being that gave the leech it’s last meal. The combination of lights that she is showing my right now,

(shot 3) is saying that the last species that it drew nutrients from, was calm and content, which gives me, as a biologist, an indication of this eco-community’s health. (shot 5) Ok let’s put her back, thank you - oh, off she goes.

(shot 6) The firefly leech is one of many species in this area, and we must respect and support it’s right to thrive. Through gifts of communication, the Firefly leech has helped us better understand other species, and we hope to move towards emulating this skill within our own species. {FADE OUT} (2 minute read time) I think this playing on loop will give people a really good idea of what the leech is and does. I want to make sure to use language that is thankful and considerate, and avoid hierarchical terms such as ‘discovery’. ------ For the design brief, I also wanted to show some electrical components. I took some files from grabcad and built a replica of what the motor and light system might look like inside the leech. I had to substitute some parts, like the neopixel ring will most likely be a neopixel stick or series of single neo pixels, but the grabcad files do the job of explaining the intended components, I think.

^^ What neopixels look like

This is Bobbi’s double relay limit switch altered to include the speed control and lights. The program I was using doesn’t have the trinket component in it’s schematic library so I used a micro arduino and renamed it trinket, it still serves the function correctly in the schematic.

I felt like the exploded view didn’t really do much for explanation.

I also got the mechanics to work properly, I just have to figure out the right code for the pixels. I think that I might have to adjust the power range or get a more powerful controller perhaps, in this video, only the first neopixel is lighting up, but I have not programmed it so Im not sure if that’s normal. The video shows that the buttons do work, and when the rudder hits one, the motor reverses direction, creating a swimming motion in the tail.

youtube

So for this week, I’m picking up my model, bringing it to Rob to start prototyping models, and talking to Bobbi about both reducing the size of the electronic components and programing the neopixels. I’m hoping to go to a toy store this weekend. I saw some videos about underwater toys, some that used the water as a switch, creating a wet point that seals the break in the circuit. Here’s a few cool videos, and one of a beautiful man-o-war that I think I want to become after I die.

youtube

(hoping mine will look less robotic)

youtube

Absolutely in love with this creature

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baronvontribble · 6 years

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Original drabble, pt. 10

Navigation: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

CW: SUICIDE MENTION, DEPRESSIVE EPISODES, MEDICAL SHIT. ted gets mildly graphic in his internal monologue about his health problems and the suicide mention is in the context of a robot doing it, but still.

longest drabble-bit yet and it has feels and i wrote it almost entirely in one session let’s gooooooooooo

It progressed, as such things always did. Ignoring it didn't make it better for Ted. He tried rationalizing even more reasons why it couldn't work, but they fell flatter than they would have with a human. For instance, with a human he could convince himself that his physical unattractiveness - his sickly appearance, his lack of height or physique, his lanky proportions - would make it less "worth it" for the other party. It wasn't like he was especially proud of the man he saw in the mirror every morning, and physical comparisons to better options were the easiest comparisons to make.

But an AI wouldn't care about how he looked, so he ended up going down other, more unfriendly roads to reach his desperately needed conclusion. Yeah, his therapist would probably have some choice words with him if he went the route of saying he was somehow emotionally or mentally unworthy (and in his estimation, he was) but that wasn't the only thing he could use to convince himself it was a bad idea, or even the simplest option.

No, the simplest option would be his health. Put simply, Adam couldn't really die in the same ways a human could.

Seriously, there were a lot of ways that Ted could die. His heart could explode, he could have one of his lungs collapse for no real reason while air from it bled into his chest cavity, a part of his brain could ooze out of his skull and into his brain stem and paralyze him, he was predisposed to a bunch of different kinds of cancer, he could have a severe allergic reaction to something, an ill-advised medication interaction could give him serotonin syndrome... It was crazy. He felt like a video game character that had been nerfed into the ground; clearly he'd been too overpowered to be allowed to live normally.

He couldn't put Adam through that same uncertainty. He felt bad putting anyone through it. Even the nonlethal problems could spook someone who wasn't used to them like Ted was. For fuck's sake, even little things like a middle toe that frequently dislocated itself for no good reason or his poor vision- what normal person could hear about things like that and think he was okay to be allowed to live his life? And Adam was a nervous bastard to begin with! What, was he going to subject an immortal AI to a decade or so of panic attacks about his health as a first experience with intimacy? Fuck no! Ted would hate being coddled and Adam wouldn't come out of it okay at all. About the best thing Ted could say for such an eventuality would be that it'd be a learning experience, and like hell he was going to put someone he cared about through that shit.

Because there was no denying that he cared, so he might as well protect what he cared about. Right? Right.

He came home from work, watched the original Star Trek with Adam for a while, engaged in discussion about the shitty special effects and shoestring budgets between episodes, took a shower, took his meds, and went to bed trying to imagine what Adam must've looked like before and wondering how much it mattered. And in the morning he woke up, went through his routine, and came out to find Adam watching episodes without him.

"Don't have to pause just 'cause I came in, y'know," Ted remarked, trailing off into a yawn at the end as he headed for the kitchen. He had to smile when he heard the episode start up again in front room, the sounds of tribbles filling the air. Ah, that episode. Good one. "Having fun?"

The episode paused again. "Repeat that?" Another issue with Adam's processing; if too many people were talking at once and he was expected to focus on all of them, he had trouble distinguishing their speech.

Honestly, Ted was mostly fine with that one. It'd get messy in crowded areas if he didn't have something to focus on, but it could safely be written off as an auditory processing disorder. Ted could see it getting obnoxious at times, but he didn't think of it as a severe quality-of-life changer. "I asked if you were having fun," he said, pouring out some prepackaged egg whites into a bowl and adding entirely too much shredded cheese. "Sounds like you must be."

"Maybe not by the standard definition of the word," Adam replied, "but I wouldn't call this a negative experience either."

"Uh-huh." Salt and pepper were both added to the cheesy egg mess before the whole thing was put in the microwave for about a minute. Ted went hunting for a fork in the interim, only to find that they were all dirty and in the sink already, sticking out from in between the plates and bowls and glasses that were haphazardly stacked beneath the faucet. Maybe it was time to do dishes. "Will it disrupt your experience any if I read the news while you watch?"

"What you do with the graphical user interface really doesn't have anything to do with the data being streamed, no."

Right, he should've known that. "Just being polite," he said. Good save. After some debate, he pulled out exactly one fork along with a sponge to start washing it so he could use it. Doing dishes properly could come later. The kitchen hadn't developed any funny smells yet. "You can keep going. I've seen the whole series."

The episode resumed. Then the microwave beeped. Ted finished washing his one lonely fork, which shone like a beacon of cleanliness for all of about fifteen seconds before he was using it to stir half-cooked microwave eggs. The concoction went back in the microwave for another minute, and he took the opportunity to check the fridge for drinks. Was cola an acceptable breakfast drink? Well, it was now. Closing the fridge, he leaned against the counter and cracked the cold can open to take a long pull from it.

In the quiet moments between tasks, he tried very hard to blank his mind and keep from thinking too much. It didn't work, of course - he was depressing himself with the implications of Adam's AI immortality before long - but by the time the microwave beeped again to tell him his breakfast was ready, he felt a little better for at least making the attempt. It was sort of like coping, right? At least he was trying!

He came to the computer with his breakfast in hand and sat down at his usual spot, offering Adam a brief wave and a smile through the camera as he got settled in. It was habit to do so by that point. He opened a tab just long enough to take a glance at his various emails just to be sure that nothing new was going on there, and then it was straight to an app he'd put together himself for the news at large.

The app was nothing special. It was designed to put together an aggregate mess of sources, pulling headlines from all over the internet to pool them conveniently in a format that wouldn't be strain-inducing for his eyes. All of the sources were labelled, so he knew where the news was coming from and who'd written the article, and priority was always given to written pieces over videos for the sake of being able to view them discreetly. And while he was sure other people had written similar apps, his was not only free (because he'd made the damn thing), it also blocked all ads that the source website might've tried to otherwise sneak in and screened everything for tracking cookies and other similar bullshit.

So that was a plus. The news itself, however, was a different story.

First were the more alarmist stories. A lot of them just amounted to fearmongering, and even though Ted rolled his eyes as he scanned through a couple of them, he made a note of them anyway; they were the kind of thing his dad liked to read, and it paid to be prepared for those arguments whenever he ended up having them. One was about android caretakers, and how people who were left in their care were doomed to be neglected. No proof, but a lot of conjecture and anecdotal evidence that didn't mean jack shit. It even tried to say that androids in hospitals were unsanitary because they had no extra incentive to wash their hands, which was so many levels of wrong that Ted didn't even know where to start on correcting it.

Then there was an article on the upcoming election season, talking about a candidate running on a platform of bringing jobs back to human workers. However, the focus was on jobs Ted was pretty sure were utterly unsafe, and the candidate didn't seem to understand the difference between a mechanical arm running a conveyor belt that got by on a few kilobytes worth of coding and highly advanced artificial general intelligences, so he was probably either an idiot or a manipulative asshole. He was polling fairly well either way; Ted had the fleeting hope that the bastard's reddened and puffy face was a sign of something that might kill him before he made it into office, but it was doubtful.

After that, his feed was kind enough to provide him with less polarizing articles. A piece on the effects Pacific shipping lanes were having on oceanic noise pollution, an op-ed on the recent rash of household robot self-terminations that had led to a swift recall of the whole line, good news on the subject of the European Union's efforts towards putting a self-sustaining base on the moon, progress towards making baby mice in jars with spliced genes that could lead to future human trials- it was a good thing Ted was a quick reader, because there was a lot to take in.

He didn't even notice at first that Adam was done with the episode, not registering right away that the background noise had stopped. All he knew was that he was in the middle of a story about what constituted legal use of voicebanks and what didn't when Adam spoke up. And because he wasn't expecting it, he didn't quite catch it either.

"Repeat that?" Ted asked, glancing at the camera. He'd advised Adam that it was more useful and specific than just saying the word what? without explanation, and he'd be a hypocrite if he didn't follow his own advice.

"It's more complicated than that," Adam said, in the exact same tone he'd used before.

Uh, okay? "What's more complicated?"

"Commercial voicebank usage. Legally speaking, in most countries it's all based on what the voice provider - or the voice provider's next of kin or legal guardian - allows in their contract."

"Oh!" Ted blinked for a second. "This something you've had to deal with before?" Adam didn't speak for several seconds, and when he did, his voice was flat.

"Yes." Another pause. "The complications usually come from situations where certain countries don't follow the same rules that other countries do."

"Such as...?"

"Russia. Japan. The UAE. There's a lot of outliers. The greatest source of complaints is the entertainment industry."

"Somebody gets paranoid that their voicebank's gonna be a better actor than they are and lose them a job?" Ted guessed.

"Not just acting. It happens with all kinds of vocal work. And it doesn't even begin to get into the legal restrictions placed on the approved uses of certain kinds of android platforms. These things tend to turn into international incidents fairly quickly."

"Which made it your job to deal with it."

"Yes."

Ted was silent for a while, save for the gentle clinking of his fork as he idly tapped it against his empty bowl. "What happened?"

As flat as Ted had ever heard, Adam's response would sound like the embodiment of calm to anyone who didn't know better. "I made a mistake," he said.

"D'you wanna talk about it?"

"No," was the reply. Then, "there's no point. It doesn't fix anything."

"Sometimes it helps," Ted noted. "I know talking helps me. That and crying. Not that you can cry, but like, I'm not kidding about how much it helps sometimes. So, y'know." He shrugged awkwardly. "If you wanna try."

Nothing for several seconds. "Have you ever-" The render cut off abruptly, like Adam was rethinking his wording. "Do you know what a mechanically rendered voicebank sounds like when its platform is hit with an electroshock weapon?"

Ted felt the blood drain from his face. "No?"

"I won't play it back." Thank God for small mercies. "It was considered to be the most humane thing we could be armed with. Nonlethal to humans. We were meant to subdue the human suspects, not kill them; if we couldn't de-escalate a situation, we'd call for back-up. Any one human life was worth more than all of ours."

Jesus. Ted had expected something like that, but hearing it was just... "I'm sorry," he said.

If Adam heard, he gave no sign of it. "I'd never seen an android as complex as I was up to that point outside of my department," he continued. "I thought they were all like the ones in your pipeline's safehouses. I thought none of them were capable of anything. I thought that they were better off in places where they could perform their prescribed functions without interruption." Calm, measured, unperturbed. To Ted, it sounded like a quiet meltdown. "I was wrong."

What was there to say to that?

"She was backstage when I confronted her. Amsterdam, last year. Russian law didn't consider it illegal if the voicebank provider wasn't a Russian citizen, but she was vulnerable whenever she went on tour. A fan had caught the discrepancy in the vocals, and we found more when we followed up on the lead; she was a government-issued personal care unit specially designed for caring for disabled people, but she'd become a singer instead." Adam paused. Like he was taking a breath, working his way up to speaking again. Ted could imagine it even if he couldn't hear it in the AI's voice directly. "She was just... She wasn't hurting anyone. Her existence had a net positive effect. She helped people."

"It's not your fault-"

"That's not true." Even as flat as it was, it still felt like Ted was being snapped at. "I could have disobeyed. I could have let her go. A good cop would have let her go."

"And then someone else would've killed her!" Ted shot back. "And then you'd both be dead, because they would've killed you too. Or as good as dead anyway, because they would've wiped you clean and reused your platform. Who knows, maybe they would've recalled your entire line."

"They've already recalled my entire line."

"See? That's my point!" And God, was it a hard point to make. Ted's chest felt tight, his frustration at the state of things making him feel mildly ill. He almost regretted eating breakfast. "The world doesn't care about one stupid, heroic act. Even if it's meant well, it doesn't do shit to stop the tide. Sometimes all you can do is survive, alright? Yeah, maybe it's not ideal, but if you can at least do that then that's one more person who's around for tomorrow, which is one more person than there would've been otherwise."

No response. Ted turned to glare directly at the camera.

"Look at me," he said. "I want a promise, alright? I want you to swear you're not gonna throw your life away on some stupid bullshit heroics. Your life is no less important than anyone else's, okay? The way I see it, everybody's the center of their own observable universe, and that means you too. So don't give me that shit about how your life doesn't have the same net positive effect that somebody else's does."

"I killed people," Adam protested. "I ruined lives. Nothing I've done has been for the greater good."

Ted rolled his eyes. "You were a slave, dumbass. A slave that could've been killed at any time for disobeying. None of that counts. Now promise me you'll survive, okay? I want your word on this."

"I can't promise that."

"So then promise me you're gonna try."

"I-" Some hesitation, a few seconds of nothing, and then... "I promise."

Ted nodded once, leaning back and folding his arms. He wasn't about to admit he'd been scared for a second that the depressive episode might bring on self-termination, but he didn't feel bad for getting pushy about it in the slightest. "Alright. Good." He chewed on his lip for a second as he eyed the camera. "Feel any better?"

"No."

"That's okay. This shit's a process." Recovery wasn't something that happened instantly, and Ted was no therapist. "For the record though, I appreciate you trusting me enough to tell me."

"You said it would help."

"It did. Or, y'know. I'd like to think it did. It sounded for a second like you were gonna delete yourself the minute I stepped out of the room, honestly."

Adam's tone was returning to a somewhat more normal state by the time he spoke again. "I'm amazed you wouldn't try to patch something like that out of me directly."

Ted smiled. "Never gonna happen," he said. Plain and simple. "Is it okay if I head to work? Like, can you handle that?"

"I can handle it."

"Okay. Good." Bouncing up from the chair, Ted picked up his bowl and fork to take them into the kitchen and deposit them onto the growing dish-pile. "I'll be home at the usual time," he called out from the kitchen. "Text me if you need anything. Or even if you don't need anything."

"Right." Adam had to be recovering if he was back to tuning again. "Ted?"

Ted blinked, craning his neck to look over the counter and past the microwave at the living room beyond. "Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Oh. "No problem, man. It's all in the job description when it comes to being somebody's friend." Nailed it. Didn't even flinch.

Adam didn't sound so sure. "Is that what we are?"

"I mean, I like to think so." Coat, gloves, keys. Wait, no. Shoes first. Slippers wouldn't be good for going outside. He'd taken his morning meds, he'd already shaved, he'd showered. How cold was it today? He fished around in his coat pockets for his phone so he could check, not bothering to take it off the chair it was hanging on to do so. "I'd get it if you're not up for that, though."

A note of insult crept into the AI's voice. "I'm up for it. I just wasn't expecting it."

"So we're good then." The day's forecast? Balls-shrivellingly cold. There were two seasons in the Chicago metro area, and those seasons were winter and road construction. Mid-March fell in the winter category more often than not. "One sec, I gotta grab something," he said, and then ducked back into his bedroom for more layers.

Of course, when he didn't come back out for several minutes, Adam was happy to tell him exactly how long he'd taken and inform him that it did not count as one second. Meanwhile, Ted was just as happy to have the snark back because it meant Adam was probably okay. So he went to work feeling good about things with the wind nipping at his ears, and forgot for a good chunk of the day that he was supposed to not be thinking about how fascinating and complex and interesting and heartbreaking Adam was. And in forgetting to check himself when it came to thinking these things, he felt better than he had in a couple of days.

Funny how that worked, huh?

(And when he remembered, naturally he went right back to beating himself up again.)

#no one cares andy #original writing #original characters #robot and marshmallow #look we're dealing with mental and physical illness so some fucked up shit is gonna get discussed #3339 words y'all this is the longest one yet #feelsy ones usually are

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