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rocksandrobots · 3 years

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Of Rocks and Robots Ch. 42 - Finale (Pt. 4)

Hiro jumped as high as he could but he missed the roof of the crate by several feet. The shipping container they were held in was at least eight feet high.

Failing at this, Hiro pressed himself against the side of the wooden box and tried to peer out through a small knothole. He saw Stu hoist a now tied up Callaghan over his shoulder and then the thieving skaters sped away at top speed, leaving them alone.

Hiro jumped again. "Hey, give me a hand. I might be able to reach the top if you'll let me stand on your shoulders."

No help came.

"Varian? Did you hear me?" Hiro asked and turned around to look at the other boy.

The only light in their current prison came through the tiny knothole in the wall, but with it Hiro could just about make out Varian's silhouette. He was hunched over while sitting down; his signature goggles glinting back the small beam of light occasionally as he held his head in his arms.

Oh no . Hiro knew what was coming next. Varian only ever shut down like that whenever he was experiencing a panic attack. Oh how Hiro wished Baymax was here, but…

Hiro shoved the image of Sue smashing the robot's personality chip out his mind. He could only focus on one problem at a time.

"Varian? You ok?" Hiro asked gently as he tried to keep the panic out of his own voice.

Still no answer.

Hiro knelt down and placed a hand on Varian's shoulder. "Are you hurt?"

"No." Came the timid response.

"Okay, good. That's good. Uh, th-then what's wrong?"

Varian only hugged his knees tighter.

"Varian. I … I can't help you unless I know what's wrong."

Varian stifled a sob and Hiro took a deep breath to calm his own nerves.

"Varian?.... Varian we're trapped in a giant wooden shipping crate, without our weapons, Baymax is... he's… he's deactivated at the moment, and no one else knows that we're here. We have to work together to get out of this."

Varian finally looked up at him, his eyes blinking as they readjusted to the dim light. "Okay." He said quietly.

"Okay? Then, let's stand up and…" Hiro grabbed Varian's arm to help him up but the other teen wouldn't move.

Hiro bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling at the other guy.

"Sorry." Was all Varian could say numbly, but he still wouldn't stand up.

Hiro tried a new tactic. "Are you upset that we lost the fight?"

"No."

"Are you mad that they kidnapped Callaghan and stole the notebook?"

Varian shook his head.

"Are you worried about... about B-baymax?"

"Well, yeah, of course I am… but that's not it either."

"Are you scared about being trapped in a giant box forever, cause I sure am!" Hiro gave a strained laugh that turned almost into a sob of his own.

"Look, it--it's embarrassing alright. J-just drop it! Okay? … I'll help."

Varian started to stand up but stopped when Hiro asked "You had a panic attack because you were embarrassed?"

Varian squatted back down on his knees and looked up at Hiro as if he was crazy.

"No! Of course not!"

"Well then what is it? You're the most confident, self assured person I know. I've seen you walk into the girl's bathroom by accident and come back out with some random girl's phone number!"

"Oh yeah, Liz, she needed help with calculus." Varian said, as he recalled the minor incident on his second day at school.

"Varian." Hiro groaned as he began to lose what little patience he had. "Look fine, whatever, if you're okay then just give me a lift and we'll get out of here."

Varian did so, and while standing on the other boy's shoulders Hiro was finally able to reach the lid of the box. He pushed upwards…and nothing happened. Push as he might, the lid wouldn't budge. It was too heavy and the lock was in place.

"Try to step closer to the edge." Hiro suggested.

Varian followed his orders, but it made no difference.

"Hey, what if we switched places and I tried?" Varian asked.

"I don't know if I can lift you, but okay?"

With much difficulty Varian finally got on top of Hiro's shoulders, but the other boy lacked Varian's strength and they soon both went tumbling to the ground.

"It-it's no use." Hiro heaved. "Neither of us are strong enough."

Varian's lip quivered as that and he desperately casted his eyes about the small enclosure. Then he went back to hugging his legs as he shut down once more.

Hiro couldn't blame him. He too felt like curling up into a ball and never unrolling again. He sighed as he leaned his head back against the wall in defeat.

How ever were they going to get out of this?

Several minutes passed as no one said anything.

Hiro spotted the candy bar on the ground. "Hungry?" He asked sardonically as he held one up.

"No." Came Varian's emotionless answer.

Hiro went back to staring blankly at nothing.

"I don't know which is worse, the fact that we're trapped with no water or the fact that it's as boring as dirt in here?" Hiro joked, if for no other reason than to break the silence.

Varian didn't respond.

Hiro sighed and decided to stare at the ceiling for a while. He tried and failed to come up with ideas for escape, but none were practical and his mind kept tumbling back to Callaghan. He and Varian wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him trying to help the murdering Professor, and not for the first time Hiro wrestled with himself over whether or not he was doing the right thing, or if doing the right thing was what he really wanted to do.

"The worst thing is the darkness." Varian said suddenly, snapping Hiro out of his thoughts.

Hiro looked at him, waiting for more of an explanation, but none came.

"What do you mean?"

"You asked what was worse about being trapped. It-it's the darkness. I mean the mind numbingly boring silence, the bad food, the awful company, and the horrific smell isn't great either…. But… but you just grow numb to all that eventually…." Varian finally lifted his head and looked at Hiro dead in the eyes. " You never forget what it's like when they shut you up in the dark for the first time, and… and just leave you there to rot."

Hiro's mouth opened in horror, but no words came out.

"I.. I don't like.. I didn't want to tell you cause.. well it's embarrassing to be sixteen years old and be afraid of the dark. And it's not even all the time… just… just seeing that lid slam close… and suddenly it.. It was like.. It was like…"

He trailed off and then tucked his head again in his arms.

"There… there was no light?" Hiro asked as he put two and two together.

"Well, it's not like we have lightbulbs in Corona." Varian sniffled. "Also it's a dungeon. It's the basement. It's not like a whole lot of sunlight can get down there."

"But that's… that's torture!" Hiro suddenly shouted and Varian gave him a confused look. "Listen to me. You need sunlight. Everybody does. You need, like certain vitamins and stuff that you can only get from the sun. You also need it for, like, psychological reasons. Denying people sunlight is literally considered cruel and unusual punishment by, like the Geneva convention and the UN and such. I.. I can't… how dare they!"

Hiro stopped in his rant to find Varian staring at him blankly.

"They didn't do it on purpose." Varian excused. "I mean, everyone down there..."

"Were what?! Also tortured?! No, they knew what they were doing. Why do you think you were all kept down there instead of like, I don't know, a tower or something. They could have built a prison anywhere and they chose a hole in the ground!"

Varian frowned, but had no answer to that.

Hiro continued as he tried to process what he'd just learned. "And.. And you felt embarrassed about being tortured and sacred… why? Why on earth would you be embarrassed by that?"

Varian visibly flinched at that question as if slapped and ducked his head once more.

"No. No, don't. I'm sorry." Hiro begged as he scooted over to the other boy. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry they did that to you. I'm sorry I brought it up. I'm sorry I dragged us into this. I'm just sorry! Okay?"

"It's not your fault." Varian said with his head still casted downwards. "You weren't the one… I mean… I messed up and-"

"I don't care! No one deserves that! Hey, look at me…" Varian did so and their eyes locked. "No one."

Varian searched his eyes and then horsely asked. "Not even Callaghan?"

Hiro felt like a rug had been ripped out from underneath him. Everything was spinning, as if he was falling. "No.. No, not even Callaghan." He said with labored breath and his voice shook.

Varian gave soft an empty laugh under his breath and shook his head. "You know not everyone would agree with you on that. Why do you think prisons exist in the first place?"

Now it was Hiro's turn to be confused. "What? What are you getting at?"

"Not everyone in those cells back in Corona were innocent lost souls. In fact most of them weren't. Most of them were murderers, thieves, and traitors. Why do you think they were down there?"

"Why are we placing thieves and murderers in the same category? Also you were deemed a traitor just cause you stole medicine that you needed. That's barely even a crime…"

"In Corona it is."

"Yeah, well, they're wrong."

And with that the conversation came to an abrupt end. Varian went back to staring at his toes while Hiro slouched against the wall next to him.

"I didn't just steal medicine." Varian finally said.

"Yeah, well, I still don't care." Hiro said. "They were wrong."

"You don't even know what I did yet."

"It doesn't matter."

Hiro looked Varian dead in the eyes as he said this and the other boy wrestled with himself as he contemplated his words.

"Are- are you sure?" Came his hesitant answer.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Hiro nodded.

They shared a smile, and with that, Hiro stood and placed his hands in pockets as he began to pace around; turning his mind to the problem at hand once again.

How to escape.

Then his fingertips brushed up against something round and cold inside his left pocket. He pulled it out and found a spray can full of purple goop.

Hiro gasped as he remembered what it was. "Hey, that's it! We can use this to get out! See? It's the magnetic spray paint you got me for my birthday. I forgot I even had this on me."

Varian's mood instantly changed as well when he saw what Hiro held in his hand.

"The Hironite! Yes, that's perfect!"

"Please stop calling it that."

Varian ignored him. "All you gotta do is spray it on the lid and use your-- oh wait no, that won't work. Sue took your gloves."

"But she didn't take my shoes." Hiro said with a sly smile as he lifted one foot. The bottom of the boot softly glowed where the electromagnet was placed. Hiro used it to help ride atop Baymax better, but it would also serve their needed purpose here.

Hiro slipped off his boots as Varian sprayed the top of the crate, covering it in the sparkling liquid metal. Once done Hiro stood upon Varian's shoulders once more and used the boots to blast a negative charge at the lid, sending it flying upwards as it repelled the current.

-------------------

Hiro walked over and picked up the broken pieces of what was once Baymax's computer chip as Varian finished climbing out of the shipping crate. The other boy said nothing as Hiro stared at what remained of Tadashi's work.

He then walked over to where Baymax's deactivated body stood. Hiro looked up at the robot's now blank face, desperately trying to blink back his tears.

"Will….will he be okay?" Varian asked, breaking the silence.

"I...I hope so." Hiro gulped. "I have backup files stored on my computer at home. I should be able to download his source code and memory files to another chip and he'll….He won't remember this adventure but he'll be functional."

Hiro turned to look at a clearly worried Varian and tried his best to brush off the older teen's concern.

"Fortunately, the last system restore I did was right after finals, so we won't have to catch him up on much; just fill him in on what's been happening this weekend."

Varian wasn't buying it. "Then what's the problem?"

"N-nothing… it's nothing… it's just the source code will all be what's left of the original Baymax. I already had to rebuild the body from scratch, because he… he got lost in the void… I rescued the chip though…"

Hiro held up one broken piece in his hand for Varian to see, but he himself seemed to look beyond it as he stared transfixed at the sliver of plastic and Nano circuits.

"Tadashi made this chip. It was his final project for the year. It's… it's like whenever I cross paths with Callaghan I just lose him all over again; little by little… he just keeps slipping away."

Varian frowned at that.

"You don't have to keep doing this, you know."

Varian's voice snapped Hiro out of his brooding.

"Yeah, I do." Hiro said.

"Why?"

"Cause … The police can't handle Sue and her grandson."

"Neither could we."

"It was a setback. Next time we'll have backup and be more prepared."

Varian crossed his arms and gave Hiro a reproachful look.

"Look," Hiro went on, "the cops also don't have the tracking capabilities that Baymax does. We're the best chance Abigail has of being rescued."

"And Callaghan?"

"H-him too…"

"Do you even want to save him?"

Hiro was visibly taken aback by that question and had no answer to give. He turned his head away as he wrestled with himself.

"I- I have to." He eventually stuttered. "No. You don't." Varian shook his head and turned to walk to the door. "Let's just get out of here."

"You don't understand!" Hiro shouted after him.

"You're right! I don't understand! The man murdered your brother. Anyone else would be out for revenge, not killing themselves trying to save such a person. I mean turning the other cheek is one thing, but this…?" Varian swept his arm wide to showcase the busted up warehouse.

Hiro pouted but didn't argue back.

"Hiro, please… I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but… this just… Why should you have to suffer just to help out some guy that you hate?"

"Someone has to help." Hiro whispered.

"Oookay… and why does that 'someone' have to be you?"

"Tadashi would've helped. He… he said that to me, right...right before he ran back into the burning building." Hiro let out a shaky breath. "Tadashi would've forgiven Challagan for… for everything and he'd would've helped..."

Varian grabbed Hiro by the shoulders forcing the other boy to look at him.

"No. No. Now hold up. Who said anything about 'forgiving' Callaghan? What does 'forgiveness' have to do with any of this? You're already doing more than any normal person would; more than anyone even should do. You don't owe that man anything ."

"But Tadashi…"

"Tadashi's not here! I don't know any Tadashi! All I know is Hiro Hamada and he's the best person I've ever met! So why isn't he good enough, Hiro? Why?"

Hiro was stunned by those words. He couldn't process them. How could anyone not think highly of his brother? Who wouldn't say forgiveness was the right thing to do? And why would anyone think he, of all people, was a saint?

"Look, I'm sorry I yelled," Varian went on, "but you don't understand. If you're not good enough… then what hope is there for people like me?"

"What?" Now Hiro was completely lost.

"You're a literal superhero! Alright?! A knight who spends all his free time helping others. Me? I-I'm a screw up, a thief, a dangerous traitor, a menace to society-"

"Whoa, whoa, who said that?!" Hiro interrupted.

"I told you… I did more than just steal a flower."

For the first time Hiro really did start to question Varian's past. There was something ominous sounding in the other boy's confession that both piqued Hiro's curiosity and filled him with dread. Instead of pressing further though, Hiro opted to pivot the conversation back to himself.

"And you don't think I ever screw up or make mistakes?"

"Oh sure, sometimes, but not like I do. I mean, there's a difference between overfilling the washing machine and building bombs out of bread flour."

Hiro once again starred at the time displaced teen in shock. For some reason Hiro doubted Varian's 'flour bombs' were just sacks of flour that you threw at people for a prank.

He had heard whispers from Aunt Cass and Grandville about some sort of 'civil war' and Varian being part of a group of rebels, but he had always assumed it was just a cover up; an explanation that the professor gave to explain away where Varian had come from. Now Hiro was beginning to question otherwise.

Hiro shook his head. He wasn't ready yet to face anymore horrific confessions nor was he ready to admit his own past.

"Let's….Let's just get out of here. Like you said."

Varian nodded in agreement, but said no more.

-------------------

Instead of hiking back to the city, Hiro hit upon the idea of raiding the offices up stairs.

After all, if Sue was working with this Bosu then they would need a way to stay in contact, and there was a chance that the recently escaped convicts didn't have cellphones on them just yet.

Sure enough, they found an old landline phone inside the office where Sue had been earlier. It still worked so long as you dialed zero before the number.

They called Wasabi and told the rest of the gang where they were at and what had happened.

And so both boys found themselves sitting in the lower storeroom waiting for their friends to arrive to pick them up. They waited next to Baymax, keeping an eye on the robot and sitting with their backs to one another. This not only allowed them to keep a lookout, but also gave them some space to think.

Neither boy wanted to face the other yet, nor did they feel like being completely alone with their thoughts. Sitting down while pressed back to back was an unspoken compromise. You didn't have to look the other teen in the eye, but you still felt the other's presence.

Hiro broke the silence first. "I'm not a saint."

"I never said you were." Varian replied.

"But you, called me a hero, said I never make mistakes. That's not true."

"I told you, being lazy with chores isn't--"

"I'm not talking about housework." Hiro rolled his eyes. "I… I tried to get revenge on Callaghan okay!"

"When?" Varian asked, confused.

"Back when we first faced off with him. When I found out who he was and what he'd done, I… I tried to kill him." Hiro gulped and waited for Varian's disappointed rebuttal but it never came.

"What stopped you?" Was all he said instead.

"My friends….. I had programmed a martial arts chip to teach Baymax how to fight. Then I ordered him to attack Callaghan. When he refused to follow orders, I… I pulled out his personality chip, the one Tadashi had made."

Hiro squeezed his eyes shut as if he could hide his shame with such an action before continuing on.

"Fortunately the guys found the chip and put it back in before Baymax could do any harm. After that, he and the others talked me down."

"So you see, I'm not who you think I am. Tadashi was the real hero. I'm just trying to follow in his footsteps, and I don't always know if I'm succeeding or not."

"Maybe that's true," Varian carefully said, "but most people would have gone through with it anyway. At least you did stop. At least you're trying right now, and you don't even have to. Not everyone is like that… not everyone is so… so… noble."

"I mean if the princess was standing before me right now…. I honestly don't know what I do… but whatever it was, I doubt anyone could talk me out of it."

After Varian had finished his rant with this ominous promise, Hiro realized this the first time he had heard Varian mention anything about a princess.

"The princess? You mean one of the royals that persecuted you?"

Varian didn't answer, and silence fell between them once more.

However Hiro couldn't just leave things there. He switched to another question.

"So... when did you make 'flour bombs'?" He tried to act nonchalant but he just couldn't ignore the matter any longer.

"Do you remember when we watched that old Robin Hood movie with Fred and Karmi?" Varian asked, deflecting from the previous question.

Hiro did remember. Fred had brought his laptop and DVD to school and the four of them had watched it during lunch.

"Remember the big climax when they stormed the castle?" Varian continued. "There were a bunch of epic sword fights, scaling the castle walls, arrows flying everywhere, and if anybody got hurt they just fell down unconvincingly; no blood or anything"

"Yeah." Hiro nodded though he didn't understand what Varian was getting at all.

"Well, it's nothing like that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, laying siege to a castle in real life is a lot different."

Hiro gulped but he held his tongue as he waited for Varian to continue, but he wasn't altogether sure if he wanted to actually hear it.

"There's no choreography," he explained, "oh, you might start out with a plan, but it's all chaos. First you're with the group as you raid the dungeons, and then suddenly you're not; and as you find yourself all alone you run into a group of guards, and then you're running for your life. So you dive into the kitchens hoping to find things to defend yourself with as they keep shooting arrows at you. Fortunately flour is very flammable."

Hiro shuddered as Varian recounted his story. It was more terrifying than any horror movie could hope to be, and it wasn't even over with.

"Then when you finally manage to fend them off, and you get a few precious minutes of peace, you hear from the rest of the people shouting outside that there's more fighting going on elsewhere in the castle, and so you have to decide. Stay where it's safe, for the moment, or go back to help the others. Cause if they lose you'll find yourself in prison or dead, but if you get an arrow to the chest while fighting, then, well you're still dead."

"So let's say, you decide to risk it and go back out to fight. You grab up more of the bombs and other weapons you've just made and head out to help, and the whole thing starts all over again. Regroup, fight, secure the area, earn a few minutes of safety, debate with yourself why you're doing this, split up to help elsewhere, distract the guards, or push through the ranks down this corridor, regroup, fight, ask yourself how you got here, and so and so…. until suddenly someone just tells you it's over, and you don't even know how. You barely even knew what happened, you may not even know who won yet, but it's done, no more fighting, but you hold tighter onto that grenade in your hand … just in case; ready to throw it at any moment."

Silence fell once more and Hiro couldn't stop the tears that stung his eyes. He couldn't see Varian's face, to see if the other boy was crying or not; nor did he hear any sobbing coming from behind him, but the silence was somehow even more disturbing.

"Is.. Is that why you were in jail? Cause you fought back against the royals?"

"You... could say that." He slowly replied.

"That's not the same." Hiro said. "I mean, what choice did you have? It's not like you can arrest the king, and you weren't the only one fighting."

"But you don't understand." Varian said, "I never stopped."

That answer made Hiro's blood run cold. He wasn't entirely sure what Varian's cryptic words meant but he had the nagging suspicion that any clarification would lead only to more horrific stories of war, devastation, and oppression. Hiro had had his fill of those.

He finally turned around to look at Varian, and the other boy followed suit.

"You know, maybe, you're right… all this fighting isn't good." Hiro said.

"But you said it yourself, who else can stand up to the bad guys? Who else can track Abigail down and rescue her?"

"I don't know."

"Look, I'm sorry I said anything. I just… I'm tired of seeing everyone so upset over… over what happened, and not be able to do anything about it; to fix it. I thought maybe coming along would help… and when that didn't work, I thought I could get you to give it up… I should've known better."

Hiro searched Varian's remorseful eyes and for the first time felt like he finally understood the time displaced teen. Varian was a lot of things; pompous, impulsive, evasive, and at times, oh so very annoying, but he was there . He never judged, he never flaked out on you, and most importantly of all he always cared about your wellbeing; even if his way of showing it was to angrily shout at you in desperation.

Hiro slowly nodded his head. "Thank you, and after today, and what you told me, I'll understand if you don't want to come along any more, but you did help. More than you know."

"I did? How?"

Hiro smiled. "You kept me sane this whole time."

Both boys snickered at the lame joke.

"Well it looks like you'll still need my help then, cause you'll be balmy by the end of all this if I'm not there." Varian replied. "But don't expect this to be a regular thing, now. I'm not actually a hero after all."

"I won't." Hiro smirked and both boys' smiles grew wider till they were laughing over nothing in particular.

"Well, glad to see you two are laughing it up!" Wasabi suddenly called from the other side of the smashed door, ending the conversation.

-------------------

It took a little maneuvering to haul Baymax up the stairs of the Lucky Cat and into Hiro's bedroom. They managed to remove the robot's armor at the warehouse which made things slightly easier but it took four of them to carry him inside with Honey Lemon running ahead to open the doors for them.

Hiro didn't help with carrying though. Instead he ran straight to his computer and started hunting for the android's memory files.

"Okay, he's in the charging station. Do you need us for anything else?" Gogo asked.

"No, Cruz and Megan are coming over tonight so Varian and I have to stay here, but you guys can continue the search."

"Alright," Wasabi agreed, "if you're sure you're okay, then the rest of us will split up the night into shifts."

And with that everyone left; save for Varian, who went downstairs to prepare dinner.

It didn't take Hiro long to find the backup files, though it did take a minute to find a memory chip. He tore through his room looking for one, undoing any previous work he had done on it yesterday. He'd have to clean again tomorrow before Aunt Cass got home, though it wasn't a concern for Hiro at this moment.

He finally found a blank chip stored up under Tadashi's bed, in a little plastic container filled with other associated electronics.

With a sigh of relief Hiro plugged the chip into the computer and started the transfer.

DOWNLOAD WILL COMPLETE IN TWO HOURS, the computer pop up told him.

Hiro sat back and watched the little bar on the popup slowly fill with blue. He impatiently pursed his lips and drummed his fingers on the arm rest as he swung the chair back in forth.

He was still agitated from his earlier conversation with Varian. He may have had a better understanding of the other teen now, but Hiro still didn't know what to think of himself. Where did he stand? What did he want? And who was in the right here?

Rather than being alone with his confusing thoughts, Hiro decided to make a phone call.

-------------------

"So you see if you keep the cost of production down to twenty percent, you could theoretically make twice the money." The dreary gentleman with glasses said.

"Uh-huh." Aunt Cass nodded her head with a strained smile plastered on her face.

Her blind date thought he was being helpful by giving her unsolicited advice on how to run her company. What he was being was annoying. How did she ever let Tracey talk her into this?

Her friend had hooked them up with a couple of fellow vacationers for a double date. They were two incredibly boring and stuffy stockbrokers from New York who were here on business. Cass's date had told her what that business was, but she'd already forgotten.

She was beginning to miss Krei, of all people. Alastair was a great many things, but at least he wasn't as dull a dish water. Or heck even Diego, for all his faults, was still more attentive than the man before her now who was launching into some asinine story about trading stocks.

But most of all she just missed her boys. Varian would be in the kitchen with her preparing dinner right about now; cracking jokes and telling her stories about his day. She loved that time spent with him. It was so nice for one of her kids to share her love of cooking and even nicer that he wanted to hang with her.

Hiro was a little harder to pin down. They didn't have any shared interests. Poor Cass tried to be supportive and keep up whenever one of her boys launched into a scientific explanation about what they were currently into, but all involved quickly knew that she really didn't understand any of it. Also Hiro was at that age where he was far more interested in spending time with his friends than his parents. Which was good. She was glad he had friends now and wasn't cooped up in the garage all the time building robots all by his lonesome.

Yet she did wish he'd tell her just a little more about his day, or take just a few minutes to talk to her about life in general and what was going on. He was hardly ever at home nowadays, and his explanations for where he'd been would be a short sentence or two before running off again. Aunt Cass would have suspected he was up to something if it wasn't for the fact that he was always with his friends, and they were all good kids who never got into trouble.

Still that didn't mean they never spent time together. They ate dinner together most evenings, family movie nights were still a thing, and he would volunteer to help out at the cafe sometimes. But best of all was whenever it rained and he would drag out the board games. It was practically tradition at this point to play gomoku whenever it stormed; when it was too wet to play outside and traffic at the café would slow to a crawl.

And game days had only gotten better these past few months as their little family grew. Varian loved it and it was always entertaining to watch Baymax try to grasp human frivolities. Even the pets would join in at times.

Varian had trained Ruddiger to move chess pieces around the board. If Aunt Cass didn't know any better, she could swear that the raccoon looked like he actually knew how to play the game. He would even scratch his head as if thinking of where to move the next piece and then more often than not he'd move the various pieces around as they were supposed to go; rooks straight, bishops diagonal, knights in an L shape ect. Varian had tried to teach Mochi the same, but the cat would just knock the pieces over. Which was equally entertaining.

Yes, only two days away and she was already homesick. How she wished she was home playing board games instead sipping cocktails at a snobby country club while evading the advances of a tedious hedge fund shark. Therefore it was a huge relief to hear her phone ring.

She was even happier to see the caller ID popup Hiro's name, though Tracey frowned at her as Cass excused herself from the dinner party. Hey, her nephew called her this time so she wasn't breaking her promise technically.

She stepped out onto the balcony to take the call. The setting sun bathing the vineyards in fiery hues would've been a breathtaking sight if it wasn't for Hiro's timid hello snapping her out of her momentary bliss. Something was wrong. She knew it. Her nephew sounded like he was on the verge of crying.

"Is everything okay sweetie?" She asked.

"Yeah… yeah everything's fine. Varian is cooking dinner and we're just waiting on Chief Cruz and Megan to get here."

It wasn't an outright lie, but Aunt Cass could tell he was evading the question. She decided to let it go. Cornering him wouldn't help. He'd have to open up to her on his own terms.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting your vacation, it- it's just I wanted to talk to you for a little bit." Hiro went on.

Aunt Cass stole a glance behind her and caught her date waving to her through the glass. She gave a pained smile and waggled her fingers before turning her back to him.

"Oh no, this is perfect timing." She said, "What did you want to talk about?"

There was a pause on the other end before Hiro answered, "Oh, nothing."

It clearly wasn't nothing.

"Oookay, well did you have fun on your drive?"

"Drive?"

"Yeah, Varian said you two practiced your driving with Wasabi today."

"Oh! Oh yeah, we did….it was fun."

Aunt Cass's brow furrowed; now that was a lie.

She steeled herself for a tearful confession; maybe Hiro scratched the car? Ran into a mailbox? Or maybe…

"Do you know if.. If Tadashi ever had doubts about… about anything?"

She hadn't been expecting that. Hiro rarely talked to her about Tadashi, the pain still too fresh for both of them. If anything she was usually the one to bring the conversation up if it had to be brought up at all, and even then it was just a small affirmation that she missed him as well and that Hiro wasn't alone. For his part, her youngest nephew would just nod along; if he even acknowledged the exchange at all.

Before she could even think of a response though Hiro was already stumbling over himself trying to clarify. Clearly this was something that had been weighing on his mind for sometime now.

"I like… did he ever feel like he wasn't good enough?"

"Oh Hiro, of course. Everyone feels that way sometimes. Why I remember when Tadashi was first trying to get into college he was so worried about not getting in-"

"No. No you don't understand… I mean good enough ; as in do you ever feel like you're not a good enough person?"

Aunt Cass was taken aback once more. This conversation had taken so many turns that she just wasn't prepared for.

"Hiro what happened?"

"I…. Uh….Callaghan…………..

There was a long pause on the other end and Cass feared that Hiro had hung up, but finally her nephew answered.

"Am I a bad person if I want something really bad to happen to someone else?"

She could hear the tears in his voice and never had she felt more helpless. Oh why did she ever leave to go on this stupid vacation?

"I'm coming home. Tonight."

"No!" Came Hiro's desperate shout. "I… I mean you can't. You'd have to ask Tracey to leave early as well an-"

"Hiro, I don't care if I have to hitchhike back. You're upset and you need me; and that's more important than anything else."

"No, I'm fine. Really. I just-"

"Hiro, honey, please, just stop…. Now breathe…. You don't have to pretend that everything is okay just for everyone else's sake, and certainly not for mine."

"But you do… That's what you do all the time. "

Aunt Cass stopped and blinked several times; "Hiro I'm the adult here. I-"

"So?"

She opened her mouth to argue back but found she had no words.

"Aunt Cass, who do you not pretend around? When's the last time to talk to anybody about your own problems? When's the last time you talked about… about Tadashi?"

"Do you want to talk about Tadashi?"

"Yeah… yeah I do."

"Okay, what do you want to talk about? The accident?"

"It wasn't an accident. You know that."

Never had she heard his voice so harsh and cold.

"Yes… I know that." Came her shaky reply.

"And his murderer is just out there, running around right now."

"I know." She whispered.

There was another pause as both of them took the time to grieve.

When the conversation picked back up Hiro said in a shaky voice, "Do...do you hate him? Callaghan, I mean……..cause I do. I hate him so much!"

To hear that much pain and anger in his voice hurt Cass more than anything. He was too young; too young to feel that way, too young to experience such atrocities, and yet he had and she just couldn't ignore it. She decided to tell him the truth.

"Yeah, I don't like him very much either, and yes I do get mad sometimes, even now, I just… I try not to worry you with it. I… I didn't mean to make you feel like you couldn't talk to me about things."

"I… I understand that, b-but do you… do you ever wish for something bad to happen to him?"

"Well I hope the police find him and lock him up. I hope spends the rest of his life in jail."

Aunt Cass was surprised by the harshness of her own voice but this confession didn't seem to satisfy Hiro.

"Do you.. Do you ever wish for something worse than that to happen? …. Cause I do, and I'm not talking about revenge or being one to do it.. I just… I don't know if I would be sorry if.. If it turns out something did happen to him."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"You-you do?"

"I've thought that before, about a lot of people over the years…. Do you think I'm a bad person for it?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why would you ever think that of yourself?"

Hiro didn't have an answer for that. "I… but I thought… Aren't you supposed to forgive someone if they're sorry about what they did?"

"Hiro," She sighed as she leaned against the balcony's railing, "Life's not that simple. You don't have to forgive anybody who's hurt you, and you shouldn't be ashamed for feeling the way you do. Thoughts aren't actions. The important thing is not letting them consume you. What's happening with Callaghan right now is out of our hands, and we can wish for things to turn out right but-- in the end we just have to move on with our lives."

"Like staying on vacation and not dropping everything to take a two hour cab ride just to give me a hug?"

Aunt Cass sighed again. Her nephew had her there.

"But…" Hiro gulped, "What if you could do something about it? What if... he was in trouble? What would you do?"

"I honestly don't know." Was the only answer she could give. "I guess… whatever I could live with….I'm sorry if that's not helpful to you."

"No, no. It's more helpful than you know. Thanks, Aunt Cass."

"Do you want to talk more? I'm all ears. You know you can tell me anything."

"No. I think I just heard Cruz pull up outside."

"Okay, well if you're sure, but you do know you can call me at any time; you and Varian both, alright?"

"Yeah, we know. Love you, Aunt Cass."

"I love you too, and I'll be home first thing tomorrow. As soon as check out is done we're driving straight back to San Fansokyo."

"We'll take your time, cause Varian and I might be out with the rest of the guys tomorrow."

"Okay then, I'll call you when we leave here. Goodnight."

"Night."

-------------------

Hiro hung up the phone and looked at the computer again. The little popup said 75% COMPLETED. He sighed and curled up on his bed.

He was turning over the conversation he'd just had with Aunt Cass in his mind when Megan tapped on the door.

"Hey, can I come in?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure." Hiro sniffled.

"How's Baymax?"

"Don't know yet. The memory files are still downloading."

"Varian told me what happened today. Are you okay?"

Hiro didn't answer.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Hiro sighed. "Talking is what I've been doing all day it seems like. I'm kind of, just over it. Uh, no offense."

"Hey, none taken." She shrugged. Then with a sly smile she asked, "Would you rather have a pillow fight?"

Before Hiro could react he got a face full of pillow.

"Oh that's it!" He warned and soon the two of them were running about the room laughing; each trying to dodge the other's throws.

Varian walked in on them. Megan was in the middle of slamming a pillow repeatedly on top of Hiro's head who was trying to yell out 'Uncle' in between his fits of laughter.

"My money's on her." He said, interrupting the fight. "Also, dinner's ready. Cruz is taking the casserole out of the oven now."

Megan and Hiro shared a wicked grin between them and before Varian knew it he was being assaulted by pillows as well.

"Ack, no! I'm unarmed!" He protested as they pinned him in.

"Then get you something!" Megan shot back.

Varian dove and napped the beanbag sitting on the floor. "You mean like this?" He shouted.

Megan gave out a little shriek. "No fair! That's not a pillow!"

"Too bad!" He yelled back as he took a swing.

Megan dodged it easily. "Oh you're going down!" She gleefully countered and soon she was chasing Varian out of the room raining blows on his back as he retreated down the stairs.

Hiro doubled over with laughter as he watched them go. He was just about to follow them when he heard the ding on the computer indicating that the download was complete.

He dropped everything to go retrieve the finished personality chip. With baited breath and a silent prayer to the universe, Hiro placed the chip into the robot's core and turned on the power switch. Then he pinched his arm.

"Ow!"

Baymax's 'eyes' opened up.

"Hello, Hiro. I heard an 'ow'. On a scale of one to ten how would you rate your pain."

Hiro shook his head as tears of relief and joy spilled from his eyes. He pressed his forehead against Baymax's soft 'stomach' just to reassure himself that his friend was back.

"There. There." Baymax said as he wrapped Hiro in a hug and the boy returned.

After a minute or two, Hiro pulled away and wiped his nose. "Come on. Dinner is ready. Everyone's waiting on us."

-------------------

Dinner went well and for the rest of the night the kids played video games. They split into teams of two, Megan and Varian vs Hiro and Baymax. Though sometimes they would switch partners and on a rare occasion or two even Chief Cruz would join in.

That was, when he wasn't on the phone with his deputy, or Krei, or Aunt Cass.

Hiro tried not to listen in. He knew they were talking about Callaghan and Abigail's disappearance, but he had decided to take his aunt's advice. There was nothing he could do about it tonight so he might as well focus on something else. Fortunately his friends were distraction enough.

"Do either of you boys want to talk to your aunt before I hang up?" Cruz asked.

"I will." Varian offered and handed his controller to the police officer as he took the phone.

"So how do you play this game?" The older man said as he studied the controller. He knew nothing about video games.

"You have to use your character to beat up our characters and you tag team with Megan by pressing Y." Hiro explained.

"Okay, how do I do that?"

"Just press random buttons dad." Megan helpfully offered.

So he did, and it went about as well as expected.

After a brutal and crushing defeat Cruz dropped the controller and said, "Hey, does anybody here remember Pong? Pong was a great game."

Megan and Hiro exchanged skeptic looks as they tried to suppress their snickers.

Fortunately Varian returned before Cruz could catch on.

"Uh-huh, love you too, Aunt Cass….Bye." He said before hanging up and handing the phone back to Cruz.

Cruz read the clock on the phone. "Wow. Look at the time. It's already 10:30. I guess you all better start brushing your teeth and getting ready for bed. Megan, Miss Cass said you can sleep in her bed tonight. We're spending the night here."

"Bed time?" Varian echoed in confusion.

"We don't usually have a set 'bedtime', Officer Cruz." Hiro explained carefully.

"Well you do now." Cruz said as he stood up.

"Daaaad." Megan groaned.

"Don't 'dad' me. Sleep is needed for young minds. Besides, the early bird catches the worm, you know. Also, I have to go in early for work tomorrow and you need to be up by then so I can drop you off back home."

Megan sighed. "But it's summer and it's the weekend to boot. I don't have to be anywhere tomorrow. Why can't I just stay here and you go to work?"

Cruz wasn't giving in. "You kids don't know how easy you got it. Do you think farmers get to sleep in?"

"I grew up on a farm." Varian interjected.

"There, ya see. Tell them Varian."

"Usually I would just stay up all night long, do the work that morning and then crash after lunch and sleep through the day. It was easier that way; especially during summer when it got too hot to work during the afternoon." Varian casually explained.

Cruz slowly closed his eyes and tiled his head back in exasperation. This time Hiro and Megan couldn't hold back their giggles.

"To bed." Cruz ordered; ending the debate.

As the teens sulked back to their respective rooms, Hiro stopped on the stairwell and called down to Cruz. "You do know we're just going to be on our phones all night instead?"

"Bed." Came Cruz's response as he took up the couch and laid down himself.

-------------------

As Hiro made his bed for the night he filled Baymax in on all that had been going on this weekend and what went down in the warehouse.

As always the dutiful robot listened intently only interrupting to ask a clarifying question now and then.

"You once said that catching Callaghan would help improve your mental health. I do not know if this is still true. From what you told me, it sounds like you are distressed over dealing with Callaghan again."

"Yeah, I am." Hiro admitted.

"Then why do it. It's important for your mental health to avoid things that trigger you."

"Yeah, but it's not my health I'm worried about."

Baymax tilted his head. "Why not?"

"Cause Abigail and her father are in more danger right now than I am, and if I don't do anything they could get hurt, badly. Along with a whole bunch of other people, if Callaghan caves and builds a portal for the other bad guys. It's unstable tech. Only Varian has gotten it to work right."

"You are my patient, and according to my programing nothing is more important than your health. But if others are indeed in danger we should help them too."

"Yes, exactly." Hiro said before flopping onto the bed. "I just… I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if, if maybe, it would be better if someone else could just save the day instead. You know? And just be a normal kid... well, as normal as you can be going to a nerd school where most of the other students are four years older than you."

"Am afraid I do not have any answers. I can understand your desire to be 'normal' and I can also understand why helping others as a superhero is important to you. However, it would seem that you will have to choose only one of them."

"Yeah, I know." Hiro sighed.

"Hiro."

"Hmm?"

"Please know that I am here for you whatever you decide, and so are the rest of your friends and family."

Hiro couldn't help but smile at that. It was so cheese, but it was also very much true.

"I know Baymax, thank you. Get some rest. Tomorrow we gotta go out and search again."

"Goodnight." The robot said before powering down.

"Night." Hiro replied before falling asleep himself.

-------------------

On the outskirts of the city, in an abandoned power plant along the river bank, Callaghan faced down his captors.

"Okay, Teach, let's try this one last time." Sue said as the professor struggled against his bonds.

"Are you going to build us a portal or not?"

"Not!" He shouted back.

Sue sighed and rolled her eyes. "Bring her in boys!" She called.

Stu opened the door next to him and in stomped two ninjas carrying Abigail between them.

She struggled to break free from their grasps but they held onto her arms tightly and half dragged her across the ground; stopping in front of Callaghan.

"Abigail!"

"Dad!" She called back and tried to run him but the ninja stopped her.

Callaghan strained against his bonds but he couldn't get any closer to her.

"You monster!" He spat.

"Pot, meet kettle." Sue shot back. "I didn't want to do it, Callaghan. I tried to warn you, but you just wouldn't listen."

"Don't feed me any of those lies. You don't care."

"Oh and you do?" Sue got right up in his face. They were almost nose to nose. "Tell me, that boy you killed last summer. Did his mama cry?"

Callaghan had no words. He hung his head in shame.

"You'll get your daughter back safe and sound once you've built the portal. Scouts honor. Ain't that right Stu?"

"Uh-hun, cross our hearts." Her grandson said as he ran his finger over his chest and gave a scout salute. "I was a cub scout once. We always keep our promises."

Callaghan rolled his eyes. Stu was too dim witted and starry eyed to be a threat really, but he'd do anything for his nana, without question, and Sue was not to be trusted. But what else could he do?

"Alright." He agreed.

"Good. Finally you're seeing sense." Sue smiled. "Stu untie the man so he can get to work. As for the girl, you two make sure she's well taken care of."

"She stays with me." Callaghan insisted.

"Oh so you're giving orders now?" Sue asked. "I told you. She goes free once you're done. Take her away."

And with that the ninjas dragged Abigail back out of the room. Callaghan squeezed his eyes shut and tried to block out her cries for help. He couldn't fight back against all four of them, but soon he would make them all pay. He swore it.

#Hiro Hamada #big hero 6 #varian #tangled #BH6 the series #tangled the series

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lovebug5151 · 4 years

Text

Family Bonding (With a hint of Angst) Robodad Grian Au

(Yes, unless y'all have better ideas for the name of this Au, this is what i’m going with lmao. If you do have any, go ahead and say em! If i like it and it fits, ill rename it and say it was your idea in the next chapter.)

So this is about 2040 words, and i’m quite happy with it. I don’t think I made this one as sad as the first one, but im not sure. I actually have a story line for up to ch 5 of this story, and I hope that this is one of the last true sad chapters (Though I might spice some things up, dont want things too happy, do ya :D

This is also about a week or so after the events of the first chapter.

Grian sat on top of his mansion, just watching and listening to the wind, breathing in, and out. He needed to clear his head. Earlier Mumbo had made a offhand comment about how Grumbots heart was missing, and ‘maybe it fell into the ocean’ before laughing.

While Grian knew Mumbo didn’t have the same background as he did with considering Aware AI’s ‘just robots’, he had called Grumbot son, even if it was awkwardly. It hurt Grian, to know that Mumbo might hurt Grumbot, even unintentionally, if he did see him. And Jrumbot… he was just a child, his dad saying hurtful things would hurt him so much more.

Grian had to quickly finish up what he was doing, and rush back to his base to breath. He couldn’t work beside Mumbo at the moment, couldn’t explain how Mumbo had hurt him, and so had run off.

Grian leaned forward slightly to look down. It was a far drop. Grian had never truly been afraid of heights, he loved climbing high in the air.

It was joked that it was because he was short, that he liked to be tall, but he just liked feeling the wind rush around him, and the feeling of falling and pulling up right before hitting the ground. It was elating, and whenever he was feeling bad he just took a leap off a roof and fell, before swooping up using his elytra.

He wondered if Grumbot would like flying, he could fix up some Jet boots for him, maybe mechanical wings? Yeah, he’ll make some wings for Grumbot and if he liked them, maybe some for himself. He liked the idea of being able to mostly hover in one place.

He let out a breath and looked at the sun. It was nearing lunch, and if he didn’t come inside Grumbot would come looking for him.

Grian swooped down, landing in front of the door, before heading inside.

--------

Grumbot hummed as he finished cooking some steak. He and Jrumbot were able to eat regular food, and no one knew how, but neither Grumbot or Grian really wanted to question it so they let it be.

He put the steak on plates and turned around just as his Dad walked in. He smiled and said hi to him while bringing the plates to the table. Jrumbot was already there and they sat on chairs to eat.

It was quiet for a moment before Grian yawned. “Have you two ever wanted to fly?”

Grumbot looked at him weirdly for a second before nodding. “Yeah, kinda, but I'm way too heavy for an elytra.”

Jrumbot paused with his steak halfway in his mouth

“If fould fe fun fu fly” He said, still chewing his food.

Grian sighed slightly and smiled at Jrumbot

“Jrumbot, dont talk with your mouth full.”

Jrumbot finished his mouthful and squirmed slightly. “Sorry.”

“|Its alright. Its just something to that we dont make a mess okay?” Grian told him.

“Okay.” Jrumbot muttered, before continuing “But yeah! It would be so fun to fly!”

Grian smiled “I have an idea then, but let's finish eating, yeah?” Both of them nodded at him before starting to eat their steak again.

After dinner, Jrumbot went to go mess with some of the blocks Grian had given him, and Grian and Grumbot went down to the Lab. They called it a Lab, but it was just a basement with too many tech pieces in it.

Grumbot sat down in a chair before waiting for Grian to talk, while Grian went over to look at something on a table.

“Dad,” Grumbot started, when it was obvious Grian wasn't gonna start talking “What was with the questions about flying?”

Grian glanced back at him. “Not much, I was just thinking about something. You both know how you're too heavy for elytras, but I was thinking, if we remade some of your body into lighter but still strong metals, and used,” His talking stopped as he walked towards a wall. Grumbot was confused until suddenly a Shulker Box opened.

Grumbot stared for a second before laughing. “How did i not know that was there?” He got out between giggles.

Grian smiled at him. “I havent opened it around you, and you haven't snooped. I'm not surprised you haven't found it. I keep my old ideas in there, old blueprints, old mechanical pieces I just couldn't throw away, those sort of things.” Grian started unrolling a big piece of paper “And I remembered I had a blueprint of these old things.”

Grumbot stood up to look at the paper, and after taking a moment to understand it, froze with excitement. He glances up at Grian with a giant smile, and Grian smiled back.

---------

Grian let out a oof as Grumbot collided with him. Grumbot was giggling uncontrollably, and Grian was happy that Grumbot was happy. Grumbot let go to look at the blueprint again and looked up with eyes so full of excitement that Grian felt excited too.

“Can we actually make these?” Grumbot asked, almost bouncing up and down.

Grian laughed and nodded. “Yeah, we'll have to test them out, but there's no reason we can't. It will take a while.” He warned Grumbot “And I will test out the wings first when we think they're ready.”

He saw Grumbot take a breath, to say something when Grian continued. “I haven't tested these designs yet. I would rather, if something goes wrong, to have me gone for a couple days respawning, and you safe, instead of you-” Grian couldn't even finish the sentence before he had to take a deep breath before the tears started coming. “Instead of you getting hurt.” He ended quietly, putting his hand on Grumbots shoulder. Grumbot looked down for a moment, before looking up at Grian with sadness.

“I understand Dad, but please don't get hurt, Don’t d-die and have to respawn, I don't know what I'd tell Jrumbot.”

Grian looked at him and smiled sadly. “I wasn't planning on dying anytime soon kid. Let's start figuring out what we need to get for the wings, yeah?” Grumbot nodded excitedly, and bolted for the metals cabinet. Grian laughed as he followed along.

--------

Grian Yawned and stretched out his arms. They were all sitting in front of a fireplace, enjoying tea and Jrumbot was cuddling with Maui.

The good feeling couldn't last forever though, because eventually Jrumbot looked up and over at Grian. “Dad,” He started “Why haven't we seen Papa?”

Grian froze for a second before closing his eyes. He didnt wanna talk about this to them, he didn't want to hurt them.

“Dad?” Grumbot questioned, seeing his Dad freeze up and look on the verge of tears.

Grian sighed and rubbed his face. “Both of you come here.” He murmured finally, patting the couch he was sitting on either side of him.

Grumbot and Jrumbot quickly came over to sit beside him, and Grian put both his arms on their shoulders.

Grian took a deep breath. “You have not seen mumbo, and have not been able to explore outside of my mansion area, for a couple reasons. One of these is that I'm not too sure how mobs will react to you, and How you'd react with being hurt by a mob. The other,...” Grian took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, letting his chin drop to his chest. “The other,” Grian continued, “Is because I'm not too sure of how the other Hermits would react to you.” He finally looked up and saw both of them staring at him in confusion. Grian tried to explain. “I'm one of the only ones who have experience with actually aware AI’s, I believe, and when some people are scared of something, they decide that they should hurt it before it hurts them.” He took another deep breath and looked into Grumbot and Jrumbots eyes, one after the other. “I do not believe that many of the Hermits would react this way, but I don't know exactly how they would react, and I don't want them to hurt you, either unknowingly or not.”

He saw Grumbots eyes widen and Jrumbots eyes narrow slightly. “I understand that reasoning dad,” Jrumbot started “But why haven't we seen papa?”

Grian sighed again. “Do you two remember yesterday morning, when I came back early and stayed on the roof for a bit?” they both nodded and Grian continued. “I did that, because Mum- Papa, upset me with his words.” He said, before taking a pause. He didn't look at either of his boys, but rather the ceiling as he said “He made some not nice jokes about Grumbot. Both of you must know however,” Grian started saying immediately when they both froze “That Mumbo doesn't know much about Aware AI’s. He believed Grumbot was an unaware aware AI, and that he was killed when he broke down. He did not know you had actual feelings, instead of manufactured ones. Mumbo often has issues figuring out other people's emotions, and most of the time redstone doesn't have emotions. Mumbo doesn't know about you two, and you haven't seen him,” Grian was starting to slow as he tried to find the words he needed. “Because, Because I am afraid. He murmured quietly. I am afraid he will unwittingly hurt you with his words, and I didnt want that to happen before you were aware it could happen. I'm sorry I kept this from you, but I wasn't aware of how to say it, or if you were ready for it, and decided to let one of you bring the topic up.”

There was silence for a moment before both of his boys hugged him. “I understand Dad,” Grumbot murmured into his shirt. “You didn't want us to get hurt, but thank you for telling us now.” Jrumbot nodded in agreement and Grian let out a wet laugh. Sounding on the edge of tears he said “What did I ever do without you boys?”

Grumbot pulled away and giggled as he said “Forgot about eating dinner.”

Grian paused before letting out a loud laugh which made Grumbot and Jrumbot start giggling.

“I can't say you're wrong.” Grian laughed, running a hand through his hair.

Grian then yawned, and stood up to stretch. “However nice this bonding session has been.” Grian started, turning toward his boys. “I believe it is bedtime. No buts!” he smiled at them as he said that, both of them having opened their mouths to deny it. It is nighttime, and very dark, and both of you need sleep.”

“Will you read to me dad,” Jrumbot murmured, fidgeting on the couch.

Grian smiled at him. “Of course, you only need ask.” He smirked at Jrumbot before saying “However, the first one to get to your room gets to pick the book, and oh look, Grumbots already at the hallway-” Jrumbot shrieked out a laugh as a sudden race took place in the hallway, and Grian smiled as he tidied the place up, talking the mugs to the kitchen to wash tomorrow.

He then walked to the boys bedroom, to find Jrumbot pouting as Grumbot sat on his bed.

“What will the story be?” Grian asked them, and Grumbot smiled before saying, “what about the one about the Dragons saving the world?”

Jrumbot glanced up with wide eyes and Grian grinned. Even though Grumbot had obviously won, he had also chosen his brother's favorite book to read.

Grian walked over to the bookshelf and found the book, “A Warrior's Tail” before walking to Jrumbots bed. He started reading to them, and within the third chapter, they were both asleep.

Grian smiled and leaned over both of them to kiss their foreheads, before whispering ‘night’ and leaving the room. He walked toward his own bedroom and climbed into bed. Grian looked at the ceiling and felt Maui joined him, purring as he curled up around Grians head. He reached up to scratch Maui under the chin, before yawning and turning off his lamp.

That talk was one he had been dreading, and it went over quite well. Grians last thought before sleeping was ‘Maybe I should introduce them to another Hermit.’

-----------

For whatever reason, Autocorrect really hates all names. Anyways, I know who the Hermit is, But do any of you? I want to see who you think the hermit is!

Also, if you liked this story, please comment! I loved reading all of your comments on the last one! They helped me make this chapter as quick as possible! (I may also be procrastinating on other stories with a Grumbot Fix-it Fic but, oh well)

#grian #hermitcraft #Grumbot #Jrumbot #hermitcraft season 7 #Mumbo Jumbo #I love this family so much #The best family is a man and his 2 robot sons #I hope i made it clear how much Grian loves his boys #and how much he doesnt want to see them hurt #>:)#robodad Grian Au

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makeste · 4 years

Text

BnHA Chapter 256: Fucking Superb You Funky Little Hero Eggs

Previously on BnHA: Aizawa and Mic’s frankensteined best friend Shirakumo, better known to us as Kurogiri, had his memories briefly restored through the Power of Friendship, and was all “YO Y’ALLS BETTER GO CHECK OUT THOSE HOSPITALS” before his head started steaming like a tea kettle and he randomly fell asleep. Aizawa and Mic were all “!!” and Aizawa was all “(ಡ ﹏ ಡ)” and Mic was all “Aizawa are you crying” and Aizawa was like “NO!!!” and then they left the prison and Nao called HPSC Lady who called Hawks and was all “eck-chay ethay ospitals-hay” because Hawks, as you recall, is still a secret agent and all that. Anyway so Hawks was all “EUREKA!!” in his head which doesn’t really add up but hey, and then the chapter ended with Dr. Ujiko dancing in sadistic glee as he watched Tomura get all mad scienced. It was pretty freaky. I could use some wholesomeness right about now so let’s see if this chapter will deliver.

Today on BnHA: Class 1-A shows off the fresh skills they learned during their assorted internships, such as “determination”, “enhanced search techniques”, and “becoming a literal blob of acid.” The Wonder Trio is a particular highlight, and All Might is all “my little baby off to destroy people :’)” as he watches Deku shred a robot to pieces using Blackwhip. We then cut to Aizawa and Mic, who may or may not be planning some rogue vigilante style investigations of the whole Noumu thing, or maybe they’re just brooding, but either way they’re interrupted by Mirio and Tamaki who come running in to get them to stop Eri’s quirk from going haywire, which, yikes. The chapter then ends with All Might handing Deku a notebook full of DETAILED, CATALOGED INFO ABOUT THE PAST SUCCESSORS AND THE FUCKING SIXQUIRKS. We just have to wait two more weeks to find out what that’s all about. 2020’s got some fucking zip to it so far huh.

so it’s about a quarter past 7 right now and it’ll be a miracle if I can have this recap up by 10pm tonight. surprisingly the wait for this chapter didn’t really bother me, but this Sunday/Monday release schedule is really doing a number on my punctuality. but anyways we’ll figure it out eventually. if memory serves, there’s about a 90% chance that this week’s jump will also be a double issue, so that gives me another extra week to get my shit together lol

(ETA: so that wasn’t too far off actually! I think a three-hour turnaround time isn’t bad for 3000 words lol. and actually it was more like two hours of reading/blogging and one hour of editing/photo cropping. anyway so in all likelihood either Sunday or Monday night releases will become the norm, depending entirely on how busy that particular Sunday is. not quite the same as getting the chapter on Friday and having the whole weekend to ruminate over it but we will adjust!)

anyway, so I’m somehow remarkably unspoiled for this chapter despite it having been out for nearly a week and a half at this point. so that’s something! let’s see what we’ve got here

yaaaay my babies

All Might was offering free cotton candy, yes? I didn’t expect we’d cut right back to this lol, but you sure won’t see me complaining. I want to see what everyone else learned during their internships, and also what with the break and the last couple chapters being Tartarus-focused, it’s been about a month since I last saw my little hero eggs, and of course I missed them I’m only human

omg

did the original dialogue really reference Skynet. Horikoshi truly gives no fucks about copyright. like one or two episodes ago the anime made some copyrighted reference which you could clearly hear in the Japanese but which the English subs hilariously glossed right over. I’m trying to remember what it was now. damn. anyways we millennials can never resist a good pop culture reference, facts

OH MY GOD AOYAMA

THEY’RE EATING THE COTTON CANDY

TOKOYAMI EATING COTTON CANDY IS THE GREATEST THING TO HAPPEN IN 2020 THUS FAR. LET ME TELL YOU, WE REALLY NEEDED THIS

SHOUTO EATING COTTON CANDY IS THE SECOND BEST THING TO HAPPEN IN 2020. IT WAS VERY CLOSE

I STALLED FOR TIME SO MUCH AND I STILL DON’T KNOW WTF TO SAY ABOUT AOYAMA’S NEW ATTACK OH MY GOD. JUST. I DON’T KNOW YOU GUYS. THIS BOY IS REALLY OUT HERE SLICING ROBOTS IN HALF WITH HIS BRAND NEW LASER PENIS. THE AMOUNT OF FUCKS THAT HORIKOSHI GIVES IS IN THE NEGATIVES I DON’T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY

OH ARE YOU STILL GOING

is... what’s... ldkfj okay nothing to see here guys just the naked invisible chick getting all friendly with Aoyama’s beam boner. just manhandling his sparkle shaft. there are children reading this manga. I mean, they’re already mentally scarred from all the dead dogs and child quirk wine and whatnot, but still at what point do we put our goddamn foot down

anyway so somehow she’s redirecting his laser beam?? I guess with her light refracting quirk skills?? great job Hagakure with your help Aoyama can finally shoot lasers at stuff that’s behind him. you’ve mastered the power of making it so that he doesn’t have to turn around great job truly an internship well spent

“now I can yank light and warp it!” you go girl now you can whip that thing around like it’s a fucking fire hose I guess

YOOOOO MINA!!

THIS GIRL LITERALLY COATED HERSELF IN ACID AND DID A FUCKING BARREL ROLL AHHHHHHHHH. NOW THAT’S MORE LIKE IT, NO OFFENSE TO CAPTAIN DISCO DONG AND COMMODORE “I CAN DO EVERYTHING A MIRROR CAN DO” BUT THERE ARE UPGRADES AND THERE ARE UPGRADES, AND LET’S FACE IT, THIS IS THE REAL DEAL HERE

AHAHAHA I LOVE ITTTTT

is it too late for Mina to actually change her name to Acidman. what is she calling herself now again?? Pinky?? come on Mina strike some fear into the hearts of your enemies

and now All Might and the others are applauding. I don’t see Shouto’s cotton candy anymore. boy fucking inhaled that shit

oh wow, they interned under Yoroi Musha? if memory serves me, and I’m honestly not going to bother to check right now, isn’t that the samurai dude who somehow beat Ryuukyuu in the billboard charts? not that I’m still salty about that, oh wait I absolutely am but anyways

OH MY

IS THAT SOME KIRIMINA CONTENT UP IN MY PANELS. hot damn that is some cute fucking shit. Mina better not get any undue hate for this. everyone please remain calm this cute interaction does not threaten your ship in any way (unless you want it to in which case have at!!) and we can all have fun if we just play nice you guys

lmao All Might

“WE’RE ALREADY ON PAGE FOUR AND THERE ARE TWENTY OF YOU, WE DON’T HAVE ALL FUCKING DAY CHILDREN”

so Satou and Ojiro learned how to punch harder and stuff. again, it’s fine, we can’t all be Acid Men. but meanwhile they interned with some lion guy named Shishido whom I INSTANTLY LOVE so that’s badass. only one character away from Shishida though, but that’s Horikoshi for you

OH MY GOD

BLAH BLAH YES ENHANCED SEARCH TECHNIQUES ZZZZZ BUT FUCKING LOOK THOUGH AT THE FLASHBACK OF HIM YEETING THEM, YESSSSSS. THE OLD WAYS HAVE NOT YET BEEN FORGOTTEN, GANG ORCA YOU ARE THE HERO WE DESERVE

meanwhile Sero, Kami, and Mineta learned how to literally kill people with their quirks flkdjsflk

(ETA: btw I really love that Mt. Lady’s internship emphasized teamwork. now there’s someone who’s come a really long way her own self. anyway I stan and she had better join the other two in the the top 10 real soon. come on BnHA society get with it.)

damn Mt. Lady what the fuck. “if you guys work together you can suffocate and electrocute villains to death with ease!” the government’s plan really is working huh; these children have become bloodthirsty, ruthless killers in a shockingly short period of time

anyways so Iida as we all recall learned how to be more footloose and fancy free, and meanwhile Kouda learned “smooth communication” from Wash, the literal washing machine man whom I also don’t still harbor a grudge against for inexplicably beating my dragon queen in the hero polls, and once again that is a lie because fuck you Wash! you’re adorable but fuck you!!

man this is taking forever why are there so many kids in this class. for anyone wondering why Horikoshi doesn’t focus on class 1-A as a whole more often and leaves them as supporting characters, this right here is why. I love these children to death but we would still be stuck in the basement arc. oh my god I just shuddered

Tokoyami mastered “improvement on all fronts” because I guess he kind of peaked at flying when it came to new moves huh. that’s fine for now

and Kiri mastered “making baddies lose the will to fight real quick” which sounds like some bullshit you’d write while desperately trying to pad your hero resume, except that it’s accompanied by this convincing panel of him chomping a steel bar in two or some shit which YIKES

can confirm, if some demonic rock man came trotting up to me and snapped off some railing from some stairs and fucking snapped it like a twig with his GIANT FOSSILIZED DINOSAUR TEETH, I’d lose my will to fight pretty quickly too

and Ochako and Tsuyu learned “determination” smdh. Horikoshi did you fucking fall asleep towards the end of this segment or what

WHO IS MAJESTIC OMG

excuse me did she just create a bunch of fucking dynamites. is that what those are. is my girl encroaching on my young son’s turf. because if she is, ENCROACH, MOMO, ENCROACH! FEEL FREE TO FUCKING IMPINGE, EVEN!! god, and I know I was bitching just a moment ago about these “lessons” becoming increasingly vague and intangible and motivational poster-y, but I read Momo and “predicting and acting efficiently”, and my thoughts immediately ran to Nighteye and Mirio’s fighting styles, and I was like “YESSSSSSSSS” because, I mean. YES, though

meanwhile Kacchan has learned...

this fucking -- I swear -- YOU LEARNED WHAT YOUR FUCKING HERO NAME IS GOING TO BE YOU TROLLING PIECE OF SHIT. oh my god. Katsuki I swear to god I will take your internet privileges. NO SRIRACHA FOR A WEEK UNLESS YOU TELL ME WHAT IT IS

oh for fuck’s sakes

don’t mind him he learned boom with five b’s and three oo’s what did you all do this week. and somehow Todoroki learned how to be even more fabulous

so All Might’s looking on in pride and giving Endeavor some mental props, and waiting for Deku to go do his thing too

sdfkj he’s thinking about the day he gave Deku THE HAIR and that “[it] feels like ancient history now.” DOESN’T IT THOUGH?

OH MY FEELS

“you don’t look back at me anymore... and you don’t need to.” oh Aizawa’s dry eye has spread to me now huh. must be those January allergies. and that’s some nice bloop there kid. great jorb

someone tell All Might he’s not allowed to look on at Deku with this much fatherly love without giving me at least a week’s notice in advance

sigh. now you’ve done it you two I’m going to become a big cat blob of feels right here and it’s all on you. you did this

oh my god a whole big panel of reactions from the other kids and I’m ( ˊᵕˋ )

lol Kacchan can’t agree with anything even if it’s a compliment. and lmao, who the fuck was that who was all “TODOROKI FINALLY YOU’RE A FAST FUCKING HIMBO HUH!” like they really went and put that “finally” in there, like they were so fucking tired of Todoroki Shouto and his LANGUID FUCKING PACE all the fucking time, GOD, FINALLY SOME SPEED BOY WE WERE DYING OUT HERE

Mineta being happy for Deku also warms my heart, ngl. we’ve gone almost an entire chapter with Mineta not doing anything even remotely perverted, can it be, has Horikoshi finally chilled the fuck out. or did I just jinx it we shall see

also love how Deku is just reduced to an inkblot here and it still is him beyond any shadow of a doubt. and poor Sero, you are also being impinged on huh

lmao Mineta’s just socking Deku in the solar plexus out of comradery and Deku’s fucking vomiting on reflex and not even paying the slightest attention wtf

I love this panel there I said it

so he’s going over and thanking Ochako for “that time” and says he’s using Blackwhip a lot better now. I assume he’s referring to when he first unlocked it and went hog wild and she was all “smh” and went and hugged him to put an end to that nonsense

oh, right!!!!

I forgot about those!! looool Horikoshi’s 2020 resolution is to make everyone Spider-Man now huh. hey everyone guess what I LOVE THIS

oh my god this wholesomeness

I fucking can’t?? yo I’m seriously living for this? I don’t get why some people think Deku inhibits Ochako’s character growth tbh. or that her story is becoming all about him. if it is, then it’s in the same way that Bakugou’s is. Deku keeps inspiring her to be better, ain’t nothing wrong with that. yes she has the crush, and she’s honest with herself and in tune with her emotions enough to be aware of it and to acknowledge it, but she refuses to be distracted by it. I actually really like that, because it shows that romantic feelings can actually exist and not be the central focus of a character’s story or their development. and I think the fear is that it somehow will become the focus, but so far I haven’t seen that happening, so it seems unwarranted to me

anyway

shit’s cute

oh no Mineta’s doing something weird I fucking did jinx it I’m sorry guys. it’s a fucking fistbump dude relax

so All Might seems to be dismissing them now, and he’s saying something about how he reordered (?? rescheduled, maybe??) class so that Aizawa can watch later. that’s nice. he’ll need something to cheer him up, and if Acidman can’t do the trick I don’t know what can

and now we’re cutting back to the dorms!! dorm shenanigans yessssss

oh no shit wait

these are not playful dorm shenanigans these are depressed Miczawa shenanigans to bring me down. nnnn

but Aizawa fucking knows something is up now, shit. that’s right son your babies are in danger

KLJKLGLKSH

okay (1) HOW HOT IS AIZAWA THOUGH HOW DOES HE ALWAYS DO THIS

and (2) is “have a karaoke contest” code for “fuck shit up” or what. son of a bitch, having these two so personally invested in the Noumu arc now is such an unexpected and wonderful gift

MIRIO NO

(ETA: but you all know Aizawa was about to say “I’d go and fuck shit up” though.)

I LOVE YOU BOTH BUT THEY WERE HAVING A SEXY ANGSTING MOMENT, MIRIO CAN YOU NOT READ THE ROOM!! DO YOU NOT SEE THEM BEING ALL ANGSTY AND DARKLY CONTEMPLATIVE!! YOU TWO OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW WHEN LOVERS ARE BONDING OVER THEIR ANGST WHICH ONLY THE TWO OF THEM UNDERSTAND! FUCKING GODDAMN

NO!!!!!

[SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE] HORIKOSHI I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU LAY ONE FINGER ON HER PRECIOUS HEAD

NOOOO MY SWEET BABY GIRL

oh my fuck that sweater is the cutest fucking thing and this girl has had no shortage of cute outfits let me tell you. BUT ANYWAY SHE’S SCARED AND CRYING NOOOO. holy shit her horn is fucking huge now I don’t feel comfortable with this at all, and Nejire is Best Mom for not giving a single fuck and holding and comforting her regardless of the risk, I love her so much

OH THANK GOD

PALPABLE RELIEF. boys I’m sorry it was wrong of me to yell, you did the right thing interrupting their sexy brooding

BREAK ROOM AHHHHH THE SCOOBY SQUAD LIVES AGAINNNN

it means you constantly amaze him!! you have so much potential he doesn’t even know what the limit might possibly be! don’t act like you don’t love it. or stop being so suspicious and trying to look for the hidden meaning and just accept the praise for what it is. you did good. now ask him if he’s heard any news about Best Jeanist :/

that’s right, he was researching and making faces a while back, are we finally gonna find out what all that was about??

DSLFKAJSLDKFH

HE MADE A NOTEBOOK FOR HIM AHHHHHHHH HE KNOWS WHAT HE LIKES THIS IS AMAZING

DOES HIM GIVING HIM THE INFO IN NOTEBOOK FORM MEAN IT’S UP TO DEKU WHETHER OR NOT HE WANTS TO SHARE THIS INFO WITH KACCHAN. HMMM. OBVIOUSLY HE WILL, BUT THAT’S A REAL POWER MOVE THOUGH, DAMN

“PAST SUCCESSORS / QUIRKS” EVERYONE, THIS BOOK CONTAINS THE SECRETS OF THE SIXQUIRKS. AND THE PREVIOUS OFA AVATARS. THAT’S FINE I’M JUST GONNA. ...I’LL BE FINE. FOR TWO WEEKS. FUCK

shit. well I know it was coming, that’s another reason why I didn’t feel particularly rushed to read this chapter lol. I kinda wish I’d had the foresight to save the Korean scanlation though, just to compare. ah well it’s probably still lying around somewhere

and lol and here’s the bonus page, and this one I did see floating around tumblr haha

I’m not sure how the three smartest kids in class are all present and yet not one of them had the foresight to consider that maybe, just maybe, this could be a bad idea. let’s let the kid with the combustible sweat handle the mochi I’m sure it’ll be -- [everyone immediately dies]. anyway so that’s some good friendly advice from Horikoshi there. happy new year friends!

#bnha 256 #midoriya izuku #ashido mina #uraraka ochako #aizawa shouta #present mic #all might #aoyama yuuga #eri (bnha)#bakugou katsuki #class 1-a #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #oh my god I am so tired #I will maybe edit some additional tags later lol #for now I'm gonna go eat dinner

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thanksjro · 4 years

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More Than Meets the Eye #7- Just in Case You Forgot Decepticons Were a Thing

While the Lost Light gets all of Rung’s appointments in order, our narrative is going to take a little shift, so we can get to know some pretty neat dudes.

And by “neat dudes” I mean completely morally and ethically reprehensible bastards.

But first, here’s a brief history of the Phase-Sixer known as Black Shadow.

Very limber, Mr. Shadow. Also, note the abstract sort of Decepticon insignia shape going on with the panel. That’s just neat.

Now, Black Shadow’s kicked a lot of keister in his long, storied career as a ‘Con, which makes his current situation all the more bleak, as he’s in the final throes of a visit with the Decepticon Justice Division.

The guy with the arm-mounted cannon that’s clearly compensating for something is Tarn, the leader of the DJD. His main character trait is he’s sapiosexual, but only for Megatron. He’s so devoted to the Decepticause and its rhetoric, he wears a mask of the insignia at all times.

Behind him are Helex and Tesaurus, who turn into a fondue pot and industrial-sized blender, respectively, and Vos, who turns into a sniper rifle, and was once fired by Megatron himself. I assume he’s only part of the DJD for the clout.

And then there’s Kaon, who turns into a wheelie chair.

Black Shadow’s looking pretty rough, but the boys haven’t killed him yet, and there’s a reason for that; the DJD’s sole reason for existing is to punish any Decepticon who stalls the glory of Megatron’s vision of a better tomorrow coming to fruition, no matter how slight the infraction, and simply killing their victims doesn’t exactly drive the point home, now does it? They’ve got to make an example, you know?

But really it’s so Tarn can pontificate. See, he considers himself a bit of an intellectual, as shown in his quoting of Megatron’s autobiography, Towards Peace.

Ugh, He’s a fanboy. It’s enough to make you want to puke. Which Black Shadow does. It’s mostly blood. Or is it? Hard to tell, energon is everything for these guys.

The DJD have had their fun, so now it’s time for them to say goodbye to Black Shadow. This is where Tarn’s special talent comes into play, and it’s a nasty one.

Tarn has a unique voice, one that, when matching the timbre and frequency of another ‘bot’s spark, can be used to affect said spark, even making it give up the ghost. This is exactly what he does to Black Shadow, but not before making him apologize for selling out the Decepticons for a butt-ton of money.

Speaking of unique voices, Tarn’s characterization is almost completely in his. It makes sense, given his power, that he have a way of speaking that stands out from everyone else. It’s smooth, and cool, and seems well-rehearsed; this is not a guy who stumbles on his words. He sounds like a Bond villain.

Roberts has admitted that he wrote these characters with English accents, and while I can’t say that I buy it for everyone in MTMTE, I certainly do for Tarn.

But maybe that’s just because I’m American, and a lot of the media I consumed growing up had the whole “the villain sounds British/camp gay” thing going on.

Anyway.

Black Shadow explodes, because we haven’t had one of those in a while.

With another tick put on their List, the DJD get ready to move on to their next target. We don’t get any names, but whoever they are, they’re about to have a very bad day.

Then we take a quick jump back to the Lost Light, since things were kind of a massive mess when we last saw everyone.

Rung’s not dead, by the way. I guess Swerve really is just that bad of a shot. Still, he’s not much more than a brain on a rope, and that means that Rung’ll be out of commission for a good while.

Poor Swerve. He feels so awful about this whole thing, even brought Rung one of his little ships to keep him company. The worst part is, now that Swerve’s shot the therapist, who will he talk to so he can work through having shot the therapist?

Speaking of guys who need therapy, Red Alert comes visiting in the dead of night, after visiting hours and in cover of darkness. He tells Rung about the little surprise he found in the basement, and bids him farewell, as he will surely be killed now that he knows about Overlord.

Who the hell programmed that drone to be so menacing?

Red Alert, again showing that this ain’t his first paranoia rodeo, slips a data slug full of Overlord bondage footage into the hole where Rung’s thumb should be- guess it got lost in the helter-skelter when he got shot- then walks out of the medibay, presumably to die.

Anywho, that’s enough of the Autobots for a little while. Let’s see what the Decepticons are up to.

On a planet far from wherever the Lost Light is faffing about, a Decepticon wakes up to a bunch of dudes hovering over him, insulting his looks, and stealing his organs. He reacts accordingly.

This is Fulcrum. No, not the Decepticon medic from Eugenesis, different guy. This Fulcrum’s primary function is probably about as removed from healing as it gets.

The guys trying to harvest him are the Scavengers, and they’re pretty surprised that he’s not dead, because, well…

Yeah.

Misfire- the dude who got kicked in the face a second ago- does both Fulcrum and the reader a solid by introducing all the members of this merry band of assholes, starting with the surliest of their ranks.

Crankcase was first introduced into the IDW run in Stormbringer #3, where he shot at Thunderwing and spouted off a couple lines ripped straight from a porno.

Stormbringer is really just… something else.

Spinister, who can and will shoot anything that meets his unpredictable criteria of being a threat, is the only other Scavenger who isn’t debuting in the comics with this issue. He was in Stormbringer #4, not that he really did anything of note there.

There’s Flywheels, who can’t tell a lie without transforming, and is a born-again evangelical. His character is a removal from his previous iterations, as he’s a triple-changer instead of a Duocon, a robot that only exists if two separate sentient vehicles combine. So, in his case, tank + plane = giant robot. Transformers is weird.

Then there’s the leader of this group, the ever-stressed, glorified babysitter, Krok.

Krok takes the opportunity to save Fulcrum from the verbal barrage, explaining that the Scavengers are expropriation specialists, meaning that they take people’s shit for their own benefit, and that includes bodily fluids. Misfire was supposed to be siphoning energon from the corpses in the area, but accidentally got high on another dude’s supply in the process. Misfire may be hopped up on drugs at the moment, but he’s only a bit more put-together sober, so this really is roughly par for the course with him.

Back on the Lost Light, Chromedome pays a visit to Brainstorm, who is currently hanging from the ceiling. Not in a suicidey way, mind you, just in a Brainstorm way.

He wants to be noticed so badly.

Chromedome’s here because he managed to steal Skid’s weirdly forgettable gun back in issue #4, while Skids was busy harassing that bar drone. He handed it off to Brainstorm to try and figure out what the deal was. Problem is, the gun blew up the moment Brainstorm cracked it open, only allowing him to get a quick look at the internals thanks to his super-futuristic robot eyes. All he can really say is that it looks like something that came from The Institute. Back at it again with the ominous proper nouns.

Getting back to the Scavengers, it looks like the boys have set up a little campfire for the evening. It’s a gorgeous night.

In love with the colors this issue.

We get a very brief history lesson that shows us why reducing your workforce to a spreadsheet instead of living, free-thinking creatures isn’t a super great idea, and then Krok drops the bomb on Fulcrum about the war being over. This is pretty wild to Fulcrum, probably because after 4 million years of that nonsense, you don’t really expect it to ever actually end.

Of course, when the impossible turns out to be possible after all, there’s only one question to really ask: who won?

Now, none of the guys really know how everything ended, only going off of the pulse wave that Vector Sigma shot off during the reformatting of Cybertron. They figure it was probably the Autobots, because they’re at least a little genre savvy. Bummer for them, considering they’re technically part of the bad guys. Just ask the campfire.

You know, I don’t think this is what President Roosevelt had in mind when he started doing fireside chats.

And so our location is finally revealed to us- this is the planet known as Clemency. Hey, wasn’t that the place Tarn said their next target was? Man, that really sucks for these guys. Hope they’ve got their wills in order.

Meanwhile, in the medibay of the Lost Light, Rung has another late-night visitor. This guy takes the data slug from inside his thumb hole, thus removing any hope of Red Alert’s fate being found out. Well dang.

Back on Clemency, the boys have made it through the night, and are using the light of daybreak to start scrounging up parts for their super sweet ship, the Weak Anthropic Principle.

Hold on to your butts, because this one’s a doozy.

The Anthropic Principle is based in the school of philosophy, and states that any and all observations about the universe- or any universe, really- have to be fed through the filter of realizing that said universe is only observable because it allows for sapient life to exist and observe it. There are two flavors of this principle; the strong anthropic principle states that the universe has some sort of compelling force which dictates it be able to house life which can observe it, while the weak anthropic principle basically says that the only reason we’re even considering the strong anthropic principle is because we live in a universe where we can.

Now, why exactly Roberts decided to bring this philosophical idea into the fold completely escapes me, unless he decided to, in a roundabout way, poke fun at the fact that we are currently observing a universe we don’t exist in through the magic of fiction- that theory doesn’t hold water, though, because there are still sapient creatures populating the universe of the IDW comics, and even humans at that. I’m curious where he even learned about this. What an odd, confounding tidbit of information this is.

But enough about that, because Misfire’s just seen a cryptid.

He transforms and blasts past Fulcrum and Krok, interrupting Krok’s explanation of what the device he keeps hidden in his fist is for, trying to catch up to the Necrobot.

The very same, Fulcrum, thank you.

Misfire is a firm believer in the Necrobot, while Krok is firmly not. Misfire’s tried chasing down this guy several times now, but he’s not caught him. The Necrobot is kind of like Bigfoot, if he were also a Catholic priest. This go doesn’t prove any different for poor Misfire, though it’s not all bad.

Flywheels’ only purpose as a character is so that Roberts had a stand-in for the word “fuck” for this issue.

Misfire’s found something very exciting, and he immediately calls Krok to bring everyone over.

Everyone’s super jazzed about finding this thing, and they break out the flashlights and break in to see all the fun stuff that’s inside this obnoxiously large ship.

Of course, this is a Roberts story, and we haven’t yet had any sort of scientifically experimental horrors yet, so we’re honestly a little overdue at this point.

But wait, there’s more!

Aww, it’s nice that Fulcrum and Krok already have each other’s contact info.

Everyone regroups and they weigh their options. Misfire fucking hates this ship, and wants nothing to do with it. Fulcrum however, isn’t so quick to throw this entire nightmare bus off the cliff. Fulcrum’s a little weird, and not just because he looks like he’s got a military pack on and no shirt.

Oh honey, you got a storm coming.

As if on cue, Krok starts hearing music, and asks around for a phone. He picks up a transmission from a familiar masked face. Tarn lets the fellas know that one of them has done a big no-no, and if the others hand the transgressor over, he’ll let them watch, because Tarn assumes that that’s something other people are into. Tarn is bad at people. The transmission ends, leaving the boys to panic, and also wonder where the leader of the DJD learned to count, until they find a very special friend deep within the bowels of the ship. The extra life signal, and the only other living thing on the Worldsweeper- Grimlock.

#transformers #jro #mtmte #issue 7 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #incoming analysis #comic script writing

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lunapixu · 4 years

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Pixu Ponders: My Favourite Games of the Decade

As the 2010s come to a close, I wanted to take a look back on my gaming experiences of the past ten years. I wish to look back on the games that I believe shaped my teen and young adult years, games that defined this decade for me, and all my treasured memories with them.

As we go into this, please bear in mind that these are my opinions. If you don’t like what you see, cool.

Furthermore, just because of long this darn post is, I’ve had to keep my list pretty short. If there’s a specific game you think I’ve missed, it’s because I had to cut it out.

Among the games cut from the list are: * Portal 2 * Super Mario Odyssey * Undertale * A Hat in Time * Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild * Stardew Valley * Monster Hunter (3U and World) (If you wish for me to write up about these games like the list below, shoot me an ask.)

The Binding of Isaac (2011 and 2014) (Franchise)

To me, the Binding of Isaac is a trend-defining indie game that, along with a couple other entries on this list, I believe contributed to the indie game boom.

The Binding of Isaac, created by Super Meat Boy's Edmund McMillen, depicts a young boy trying to escape his mother (and his inner torment) by delving into his basement and slaying countless monsters with his tears. Amongst many things, The Binding of Isaac stands out due to its simplistic art, unusual fleshy monsters, frequent depictions of... excrement, and a variety of other unsavoury material.

In spite of the crass material and immature nature its contents carry, The Binding of Isaac is a surprisingly deep and heavily replayable game. Many Roguelites that have sprung this decade like to say “No run is the same” but nowhere is this more clear than in the game that kickstarted the modern Roguelite trend. Within the game, Isaac can collect a wide variety of items that can help better slay monsters or navigate the labyrinthine levels of his basement. Isaac can pick up an item that allows him to shoot a large laser of blood, he could obtain a knife to throw at enemies, he can pick up an item that suspends his tears in midair and then release in a volley of bullets Kylo Ren style. When this game says “No run is the same”, it means it.

On Steam, I have over 250 hours on the game’s 2014 remake (Binding of Isaac Rebirth). I have approx. 300 of the 413 achievements the game has to offer. To say that I love and play the heck out of this game is an understatement. And it’s not even my most played game on Steam.

Hollow Knight (2017)

Hollow Knight was a surprise favourite of mine. Being a big fan of metroidvania games, I knew I was going to like this funky little bug game. After all, the game seemed fun and was going to be something of a hybrid between Metroid-style exploration and progression but a Dark Souls health system and storytelling. What’s not to like?

I will be real here, the first two areas of the game weren’t all that amazing. Though there were pleasant sights, neat characters, and simple but kinda fun gameplay, I couldn’t help but feel like wanting... more. Something more captivating. Perhaps something more amazing might await me if I push on through. A hurdle that I needed to overcome. Would it actually happen or will this fun but unimpressive saunter through the world of insects be all there is? And boy were my instincts right.

I will not go into the specifics but the game’s appeal and charm finally clicked for me after a few hours in. It was a combination of taking on two very specific bosses and entering a specific area of the game that instantly made me fall in love. I was enamoured. What had simply been me crossing a game off my bucket list had turned into an adventure I was whole-heartedly engaged in. This game’s adventure was now my own. It was an adventure that I hadn’t been quite as engaged with as... Kingdom Hearts, honestly. And if my posts on here are any indication, that’s quite the feat.

Hollow Knight’s usage of atmosphere, clever writing and worldbuilding, and simple but challenging gameplay are something of a brilliant recipe. I was fascinated by every single snippet of dialogue, smiling as my little insect buddy clashed with perilous foes, wowed by some of the levels, and charmed by every character who I happened to stumble upon.

Though I only played it so recently (Spring 2019 for reference), I can very confidently put it as one of my favourite games of all-time. A list shared by greats such as The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Cave Story, Kingdom Hearts 2, and Super Mario Galaxy.

Terraria (2011)

Ah, Terraria... The “2D Minecraft”, the “Minecraft but not as good”, the “Starbound but not in space”.

Terraria, as you may know, is a 2D action-platformer sandbox. It’s a game that drops you into a large (but not unlimited) world and says “You’re gonna need to gear up, bucko.” So, you tear down some trees and dig up the land a bit in a bid to gather some resources. After all, this is a sandbox! It’s mine, mine~ Mine for the taking~ It’s mine, boys. Mine me that gold! *ahem* Seems I got a little carried away. Anyways...

Within the first few minutes, the sun starts to set on Terraria’s world and you’re being mauled apart by zombies. That is unless you built a house and hunkered down for the night to avoid the ghouls that intend to ruin your night. Seem familiar? Well, it should. And it’s why people drum up the comparisons above, flag it as just another sandbox game, and leave.

This, I believe, is not really a fair look at Terraria. Yes, you mine blocks. Yes, you fight monsters at night to survive. But that’s it. Those are the only substantial comparisons to be made. Terraria, as I described earlier, is an action-platformer. To me, Terraria’s sandbox nature and simplistic Minecraft-esque survival come secondary to what I consider to be the meat of the game. The exploration, the combat system, and the shenanigans.

Within the game are several set pieces to explore and countless bosses to fight. Players are expected to plunge headfirst into the rotting landscape of the Corruption (or the more eldritch and bloodied Crimson), delve into the skeleton-filled Dungeon, brave the perilous Jungle, and even venture into Hell itself. In exploring and slaying the many powerful foes that await the player, one can go beyond just “I swing my Iron Sword at a Zombie. Yaaaaaay... =_=“ and into extreme levels of zaniness. Wanna beat up Martians with a lightsaber? I don’t recommend it but you can. Wanna kill a giant robot worm of doom with a minigun? You bet your butt you can.

Minecraft (2009, 1.0 release in 2011)

To say Minecraft didn’t define the 2010s would be a blatant lie. As the #1 best-selling game, a spot hotly contested with Tetris, it’s hard to deny the influence and critical success of this simple voxel-based sandbox game.

What is it that makes Minecraft such a perfect and fantastic game? To me, it’s all in the simplicity of it all. The lack of goal, the blank slate of a world you’re given, and the openness and accessibility of the game. Minecraft expects you to take whatever inspiration and ideas you may have and construct them in this blocky world.

Wanna build a plane? Wanna build a sweet mansion? A bit too normal for you? How about a working computer? What about recreating settings from your favourite games? In Minecraft, you can do just that. And let’s not even forget about the enormous modding community this game has. Automation, adventure, aesthetic, graphical enhancements, quality of life. Mods have everything and more!

Above all else, Minecraft helps to connect. With its huge player base and countless public servers, you’re bound to find a community that will welcome you and treat you right. Minecraft is best played in multiplayer, in my honest opinion. Explore caves with friends, collaborating on build projects, or just plain old chatting and hanging with folks.

For me personally, Minecraft is an invaluable game. Through it, I met countless people, made many friends (several of which I consider my best friends), I even found love through it. Minecraft came to me at a time I needed it most. As a late teen, I was at one of the lowest points in my life. The game allowed me to express myself and work past what issues I had developed over the years. In finding friends and a way to express, Minecraft helped shape me into a much better person. Were it not for this game and the folks I met through it, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

#minecraft #terraria #hollow knight #the binding of isaac #text post #pixu ponders

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snarky-badger · 6 years

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Oooooo—an Ultron idea for you!! Reader works at a computer store, and recently stuff has been going missing. But there's never any alarms, and the cameras just keep malfunctioning for no reason. It's just a mystery, until one night she's closing and forgets something inside after locking up. Instead of having to turn everything on and back off again, she just uses her phone light except now it seems like a horror game, and suddenly she gets the feeling that she's not alone anymore.

I had fun with this one. Again, its open ended in case someone wants more.

Sorry for the day and a half of quiet from me. Been distracted.

There was nothing you hated more than getting blamed for something that wasn’t your fault.

For three weeks, after you closed up the Best Buy you worked at, things - laptops, processors, motherboards, various circuitry and parts - had gone missing. Of course, your boss blamed you, as you were the last one in the store. But there were cameras everywhere, and you’d been filmed multiple times, closing up shop and leaving without the stolen merchandise, so there was nothing he could do.

Still, it irritated you.

It wouldn’t happen at the same time, either. There was no pattern, no reason. There weren’t any parts showing up on eBay, or in pawn shops. And every time, the cameras showed nothing. Naturally, you’d thought that someone had merely looped the footage, but your boss, the supposed Mr. Know-It-All, had waved your idea aside.

You’d been tasked with putting extra security tags and stickers on every box, every computer, sometimes doubling up the tags - it was an insult, you usually worked at the Geek Squad desk - but you weren’t in a position to argue, so you did it. Honestly, you were doubtful that it was a walkout thief, the cameras and security scanners at the doors would have caught them.

You boss had even put chains on the loading dock doors and back doors every night, and it had been interesting to watch him fume in the morning when the chains were found neatly coiled up on the floor, the padlocks locks sitting atop them.

Honestly, everyone was baffled. You were mainly pissed, but what could you do? Nothing. That was what. Someone was getting in, and there seemed to be no way to stop them short of hiring a twenty-four-hour guard - but corporate wouldn’t spring for the extra money.

So things continued on like that for another two weeks, your boss almost having an aneurysm every morning and the employees taking bets on who was responsible - there was a rather large pot going on. The top guess was a ghost, of all things. Your money was on some hacker desperate for parts.

But you kept your nose clean, and away from your boss. Closed up every night, waving at the cameras, and then heading to catch your bus.

Until one night, you forgot your MP3 player in the office.

You cursed, lowly, and headed back inside, not bothering with the overhead lights as you used your phone’s flashlight option to guide the way. Passing through the isles to the back offices was eerie, like something out of a Doom game. You half expected to have something jump out at you as you stepped into the pitch black office, but nothing came.

Shaking your head at your own stupidity, you grabbed your MP3 from it’s spot next to the computer you’d been debugging and deleting porn viruses off of, then headed back out, locking the back door behind you - you didn’t dare leave it open, the safe for all the cash was back there. You’d never hear the end of it if that was stolen.

You were heading back to the main doors, cutting through the gaming isle, when something rustled in the rear of the store. The light from your phone illuminated about five feet of space around you as you spun towards the sound, your heart in your throat.

Fuck, was the thief already in the store? You couldn’t be sure over the sound of your breathing and heartbeat, but you thought you’d heard movement, footsteps.

Shit, now what? Run, and get fired for not protecting the store? Call the cops?

But if you called the cops and it was nothing, you’d be a laughing stock.

Well, fuck. You’d have to check it out.

You weren’t being paid enough for this shit.

Hands shaking, making the light from your phone wobble dizzyingly, you headed towards where you thought you’d heard the noise, biting your lip to stay quiet. Wove through the isles, trying to keep your footsteps silent. Which, you realized, was useless, considering you were holding a bright shining beacon telling everyone where you were.

Giving up on stealth, you quickened your pace to the back of the store, hoping to either surprise the thief or at least just hurry up and figure out what was going on so you could leave, please and thank you.

You turned the corner, leaving the camera isle and heading into the isle with the external hard drives and walked right into a wall.

Cursing, you stumbled backwards, tripping over your own feet and landing on your butt on the floor. Your phone clattered to the tiles, spinning, the light dazzling you for a moment. When it stopped, you looked up and gaped.

There was a giant metal man staring down at you with glowing red eyes.

Naturally, you screamed.

Abandoning your phone, you scrambled to your feet and ran. Got, maybe five feet away before darkness enveloped you and you slammed face first into a massive display of radio controlled cars.

You hit the floor, a car bouncing off your head, as you sprawled across it’s numerous brethren, and out the door went your decorum. “Son of a bitch! Fuck!”

Heavy footsteps approached you. You were too addled to move, especially when you reached up to pull yourself to your feet only to have the rest of the display topple onto you.

“Are you alright?”

The slightly metallic, yet rich, voice that came from the metal man towering over you made you blink. He was carrying your phone, angling the light so it wouldn’t blind you. “You’re the thief.” Oh yes, brilliant deduction Sherlock. Fucksakes. “The fuck, man! I keep getting shit over the stuff you take!”

Crimson eyes blinked down at you before a laugh rumbled out of him. “Ah. You’re the one that closes up the store. Wasn’t expecting you to come back in. I thought you’d gone for the night.”

The calm, conversational, tone of his voice threw you off. “Forgot my MP3,” you grimaced, wincing as you shoved toy cars off of yourself. “I’d call the cops on you but no one would believe me.”

“I’d rather you didn’t. I…. Well, there’s a reason I’m ransacking a Best Buy instead of stealing top of the line parts. What’s the saying? I’m trying to keep things on the down-low?”

You squinted up at him, blinking when he crouched down. Close up, you could see that he had a sort of red cloak on him, a feeble attempt at hiding his metal form. Tiny metal pieces, like an intricate puzzle, made up his amazingly expressive face, crimson eyes like camera lenses focusing on you. "What, not a fan of eBay?“

"That would require an address. Besides, seeing your reaction, it isn’t as if I can stroll into a Post Office and rent a mailbox.”

“It’ dark and you scared the crap out of me,” you snapped in your defense. “I was expecting some moron in a ski mask not Megatron’s mini-me.”

Another chuckle left him. “Can’t say I’ve ever been compared to a Transformer before.” He tilted his head at you curiously. “Do you need help getting up?”

“What I need–” you paused to kick at one of the boxed up toy cars that were scattered around you. “Is a drink. I hope to hell you already looped the cameras, because I don’t want this clusterfuck plastered all over the lunchroom.”

Those crimson eyes of his widened a little. “Well, well. And here I took you for a run of the mill retail worker.”

“I am and overqualified run of the mill retail worker. I’m just not as stupid as my boss. Or my co-workers. There’s a betting pool going on over you. Half the staff thinks this place is haunted.”

He laughed again. “Well, I could try skulking around.” He grasped the edges of his ‘cloak’ and held a bit over his face. “Phantom of the Best Buy? Though I think I’d have trouble trying to get an organ into the basement.”

You snickered. “We don’t have a basement.”

“Hence the trouble,” he straightened, rising to his full height, towering over you again, then held a hand out to you. “Here, up you get.”

You hesitated a moment, then took his hand, gasping when he lifted you up onto your feet as if you weighed nothing. The fingers around yours were warm, not cold like you’d expected for a man made out of metal, and you felt him give you a gentle squeeze before letting go.

“There we go. Nothing broken?”

“Nothing but my pride.” You sent a look at the scattered remains of the display. “I’ll clean that up in the morning. Y'know, if you need stuff in bulk, we got a shipment of parts in today. It’s still in the back.”

One metal brow arched upwards. “Aiding and abetting a criminal now?”

You shrugged. “What the hell do I care? Boss’ll just blame me for it anyway and make my life hell whether you take it or not. Sides’ I figure that if someone as advanced as you obviously are is stealing from a Best Buy that you’re kinda desperate, so go for it.”

“Advanced?”

“I figured that calling you a robot might be rude. It’s the best I could come up with.”

“Ah. Well, thank for that then. Being called a 'robot’ is a rather touchy subject.”

“Hence the vagueness. You have a name or….?”

He shifted a little. “If you don’t know who I am, then it’s probably best that I don’t tell you.”

“You realize that I’ll just start googling 'giant technologically advanced metal man’ as soon as I get home, right?”

A very human sigh left him. “That’s not a good idea. Not unless you want SHEILD and the Avengers banging on your door.”

“Fucksakes. You’re big time, aren’t you? Fine, fine. I’ll drop it.” You ran a nervous hand through your hair, then blinked when something occurred to you. “Y'know, you’d be better off ransacking the warehouse the next town over. It’s one of the main shipping centers for all the stores in the region. Loads of merch there compared to the low stock here. Probably save you a few trips.”

He blinked. “That wasn’t listed on the directory I found on the servers.”

“Wouldn’t be. It’s just a warehouse, not a store.”

“Hm. And you’re alright with this? Most people wouldn’t be helping me.”

“I prefer to think of myself as different than 'most people’. Also, I get paid minimum wage, no benefits and my boss is an asshole. My loyalty to this place vanished about three months ago when they denied my sick leave because I wasn’t full-time.”

A disgusted noise left him. “It’s deplorable how this country treats it’s retail workers.”

“You have no idea. Speaking of, I’m going to be late to my other job. Gonna need my phone back.”

He eyed you a little warily. “No photos.”

“Pfft. As if I expect you to hold still long enough for a shot. Also, you could probably drop-kick me across the store, and I’m not a good flyer.” You made a little 'gimme’ gesture with your left hand, smiling a little when your phone was deposited into your palm. “Thanks.”

He watched you quietly as you checked it enough to insure that you hadn’t broken it when you’d dropped it earlier. “It still works, don’t worry.”

“It hit the floor. I worry.” Deeming it alive and well, you tilted it so the flashlight would still illuminate your odd companion without blinding either of you. “I need to go. Remember, all the good stock is in the back.”

“…Thank you.”

“Welcome.” You turned to leave, pausing when a large hand landed on your shoulder.

“Wait.” He sounded hesitant, and he was watching you again. “I have a crazy idea.”

“Does it involve me getting arrested for property theft?” you asked with a raised eyebrow. “Because I’m not really into vertical bars and I hate the colour orange.”

“Trust me, I can keep you safe. How would you like a job?”

“…a what?”

“You’re on the Geek Squad, right? I cross referenced your name with the employee roster. So you have at least a basic knowledge of computers and operating systems.”

You had no idea where he was heading. “Yeah?”

“I need another set of hands to help gather some supplies. Someone smart enough to be able to build a computer from scratch. And maybe a little help searching through that warehouse.”

That implications of that made you hesitate. You may have been lax about a giant metal man stealing from your workplace, but becoming a thief yourself… that was something completely different. “Why would you need me to help you build something? I mean, hell, look at you. You don’t need me to put a system together. If you can hack into the servers, you sure as hell are more than capable of dealing with some hardware.”

“True. But at the moment, I’m still just one person. I can only be in one place at a time. Which is… irking, trust me.”

“…can I give it some thought?”

He looked surprised that you were even going to consider it. “Of course. Here, pass me your phone for a moment.”

You did so, watching as he pulled a cord out from his left forearm, connecting it to your phone. The screen flickered a little, and you worried, before he hummed in satisfaction and disconnected from it again. “I upgraded your security and added a new app. You can contact me with it when you come to a decision.”

Blinking, you accepted your phone back again. “What kind of security?”

“Ah. The untraceable, unhackable kind. Don’t want just anyone contacting me, after all.”

A smirk tugged at your lips. “Telemarketers?”

“Telemarketers. Trying to convince me that my computer needs servicing.”

The dry, unimpressed, tone of his voice and the absurdity made you laugh. “Yeah, okay, you win the 'most annoying telemarketer’ award. Tell them you don’t have a computer, it makes them go nuts. Alternatively, tell them you’re from IT and you intercepted their call due to a problem, get them to confirm the type of phone they’re on , then google the reset setting and get them to follow the instructions. It’ll fuck up their phone for a week.”

That pulled an actual belly laugh from your odd companion, and you grinned when he mimed wiping a tear from his eyes. “Oh, that’s cruel. I love it. I’ll try that next time.”

“It’s highly entertaining on a petty level,” you grinned, waving a little as you turned to leave. “I’ll call you in a couple of days. I just need a bit of time to wrap my brain the insanity of this situation.”

He chuckled again. “Take your time.”

“See you around, Mr. Thief.” You left him behind as you headed for the front of the store, going through your interrupted custom of locking up the store. It was only when you were waiting at the bus stop for your ride to your next job that you took a good look at your phone blinking at the new icon that had joined the others, your brain power screeching to a stop at the name of it.

Jesus wept.

“ULTRON?!”

#snarky is writing #ultron #ultron x reader #reader x ultron #filled prompt

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mandaloriangf · 6 years

Text

reasons why detroit become human makes no goddamn fucking sense beyond just the shitty allegory (aka i nitpick the fuck out of this game)

captain allen refuses to give connor any information about daniel despite this being a hostage situation and connor is there to diffuse it

also allen says that if connor doesnt take care of it he will and if he could why didnt he??

connor can reconstruct crime scenes with so little information that theres no way he could come to his deduction. for example in the first chapter he figures out that the father was holding something when daniel shot him despite there being NO WAY he could know this

theres segregation despite the fact that androids are servants to humans??? how are androids supposed to work for humans if they’re barred from entering certain places??

TEMPORARY PARKING????????????

unemployment is at 35% yet the economy is booming????

unemployed people blame androids for stealing their jobs despite the fact that androids did not get a choice and were made to do certain jobs. their anger should be directed toward cyberlife

markus shows emotion and has a distinct personality before becoming deviant like why does he even need to become deviant when he clearly already is??

carl’s on the nose monologuing.

carl says lets see where we left off and when markus takes down the tarp theres a finished painting. carl makes like five strokes lol.

he also makes the same “oh my god” no matter what markus paints

PRESS X TO SADNESS

how does todd afford kara and alice when he doesnt have a job

and why does he live on ethan mars’ street

and the biggest issue - ALICE IS AN ANDROID??????????

seriously how do android children work? whats the point???? if people hate androids why would they pay money to take care of one????????????????????

honestly how do they work? because alice can sleep but she doesnt eat????? and shes not gonna age so what happens to child androids? do they just have their memories wiped and get bought by another parent????

and if alice is an android, why does todd say kara needs to help with alice’s homework? she doesnt go to school! its addressed in the same fucking chapter!

and why doesnt alice saying anything to kara like hey stop trying to ask me if i want food i dont eat because im a fucking android

also kara figures out that alice is an android at the very beginning yet just ignores it?? i guess??????

and alice has a picture in her keepsake box of todd, his wife, and his biological daughter?? why???????? kill me

todd leaves his drugs in the laundry detergent, makes kara do the laundry, and then gets mad when she finds the drugs

HE MAKES HIS ROBOT TURN ON HIS ROOMBA LSAKDJFLKSJDFLKJSDF

no one does anything when connor enters a bar that doesnt allow androids

also its never explained in game (i think) why connor does the coin trick. i suppose it can be up to the player (i see it as a nervous habit/fidget device but you could also argue its for recalibration)

no one checks the attic of carlos’ house??? and his android hid up there for THREE WEEKS????????????

connor is designed to work “harmoniously with humans” but they gave him a forensics lab on his tongue so he literally just puts blood in his mouth in a crime scene alsdjflsjflajsdlfjdlj

kara serves alice dinner and alice actually sits there but she wont eat BECAUSE SHES AN ANDROID

the guy that comes on the bus doesnt bat an eye when he sees an android in the human section of the bus (i almost threw up typing that)

leo can survive that????????

carl doesnt try to reason with the cops before they shoot markus

why do deviants self destruct in stressful situations? we dont know. we dont fucking know.

connor can show genuine compassion to carlos’ android but doesnt seem bothered by it????

why is there such an extensive android scrapyard? first of all theres android resale shops (yuck) and parts are probably expensive, plus androids have existed for what? ten years at the most? theres no way cyberlife would just allow perfectly good android parts to be thrown away this makes no fucking sense

MARKUS CAN JUST PULL OFF HIS LED LIKE ITS A STICKER

A STICKER

seriously if its that easy whats the point? they already dress androids a certain way, why have the led except to know what androids are thinking? and if theyre thinking dont they have some level of free will?? (for example kara’s turns red when todd threatens her)

no one recognizes kara despite being a relatively common model like yeah she eventually changes her hair and clothes but she’s still got the same face lkadjfalsjdfljsdlfj

connor is unfazed when he’s shot but looks like he’s in pain when gavin punches him???

connor is able to get a confession from carlos’ android but can’t make small talk asdjflskjdfljdf

the whole chapter where markus finds jericho doesnt like have a lot wrong its just REALLY tedious

though the jump scares are stupid

ra9 is constantly referenced (particuarly in connor’s story) but doesnt go anywhere. at all. unless i missed something. but as far as i know its never explained who ra9 is.

(i think its markus)

the deviant in the pigeon filled apartment is just chilling in the attic? why do androids always stay in the same place instead of escaping????

the androids in jericho are really just hanging out in an abandoned, rusting ship doing nothing. like theyre shutting down bc they dont have blue blood and incompetents but no one thinks to go get any until markus rallies them.

also what is up with lucy? why does she talk like she can see the future

THE ENTIRE ZLATKO CHAPTER HAPPENS AT ALL

no seriously!!!!! you expect me to believe kara would just go to the address given to her by some random garbage collector android in the middle of the night which leads to a creepy house with a creepy guy with BLUE BLOOD ON HIS FINGERS who wants to take kara into the basement alone to remove a tracker she clearly doesnt have??????????????????????? she would’ve just booked it

KARA ACTUALLY GETS IN THE MACHINE AND IS SURPRISED ZLATKO IS GOING TO ERASE HER MEMORY

that android that says “whos the real monster” PLEASE MR CAGE MY NOSE IS SORE

connor just fucking breaks the window and jumps in alflskdjflskjfljsdljfkdsfljldsafskdf

putting hank under cold water sobers him up somehow

the game thinks it needs to spell out for me in actual letters on the screen that hank is suicidal despite the fact that you find him unconscious on the floor with alcohol and a gun AND he says he was playing russian roulette.

connor petting sumo is cute but sumo looks like he’s from a ps2 game

markus magically develops the ability to “convert” androids so to speak.

im telling you, he’s ra9

the whole eden club thing is very...icky

like the androids are literally put in tubes like wtf

the tracis have a relationship despite club policy of wiping memories every two hours

also im pretty sure they have the same face...?? why is this not addressed more

hank hates androids but likes it when connor spares them?

kara, luther, and alice dont just stay in the car for the night

luther brings up that theres something off about alice but gets interrupted. this is not the first time it happens. it happens THREE TIMES in total before the reveal she’s an android

the jerrys break the windows like zombies and then are like “dont shoot we come in peace”

the carousel scene is cute but where did the power come from???

connor starts showing signs of deviancy but doesnt notice it??? and amandas just like “stop it” and does nothing about it saljdflsjdflsjkdf

markus does the fake phone call right in front of the person he’s calling

who brought the box up to the bathroom? was it the deviant that connor can interrogate???? explain pls

pick up the bag. carry the bag. put down the bag. open the bag. kill me.

THEY GET OUT ONTO A WINDOW WASHING LIFT BUT THEN RAPPEL UP?????????????????

a giant screen that says rise as markus and north are going up the building

markus removes his skin for the broadcast (ew) to conceal his identity BUT IT REVEALS HIS SERIAL NUMBER THAT CONNOR LATER SCANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

north straight up wants to murder other androids for android freedom

no one finds simon on the roof unless connor goes up there

no one hears connor and the deviant fighting in the kitchen and no one hears connor calling out for help

rose is literally just 2038 harriet tubman

she compares what is happening to androids to what happened to black people in the past yet david cage expects me to believe this game isn’t about racism

kara believes that they will find refuge in canada because there are no android laws there, however the reason they dont have android laws is because CANADA HATES ANDROIDS JUST AS MUCH AS THE US

she has literally no reason to believe they’ll be able to survive in canada. theyd have to act like the cullens and move around all the time.

ntm if androids and their parts aren’t being manufactured, if anything happens to kara, alice, or luther theyre fucked!

markus had to choose between two very black and white options: violence or pacifism. i have a HUGE problem with how this is done bc being peaceful results in the “good” ending while being violent results in the bad “ending

(and for the record, going with a violent revolution can still result in freedom for androids. its just a LOT harder to keep everyone alive)

basically it completely misunderstands how real life oppression works and assumes that if a marginalized group is peaceful, public opinion will go up

thats not how it fucking works dipshit cage

kamski is literally just a weird combination of oscar isaac in ex machina and jared leto in blade runner 2049

like he’s left so ambiguous that you can’t even come to your own conclusion

connor can remark that chloe is pretty and seems sincere but doesnt question himself????

if you choose not to shoot chloe, you get nothing. you either have to replay the chapter and shoot her or look it up yourself. and im not fucking shooting her.

markus and north become “lovers” during a normal conversation

seriously. when it happened my mom and i were like ???????????????

yet markus can’t romance simon despite having more chemistry

and on that topic why can’t kara romance luther???? they have a lot of chemistry too.

the freedom march. just. ugh.

like markus really leads a bunch of androids down a street shouting “EQUAL RIGHTS” lkjasldfjlakjfjldf

markus evolves to the point where he can just look at androids and convert them like what

north and josh clearly both have a death wish

if i have to hear “we were going to crack the case” one more time i will kill david cage myself. do cops even talk like that?

gavin just straight up tries to murder connor????

THEY START PUTTING ANDROIDS IN CAMPS?????????????????? AS IF THE REST OF THE GAME WASN’T BAD ENOUGH????????????????????????

kara finds out alice is an android and luther has to spell out all her feelings for her??? like why would she stop loving alice skalfsjdlfkjdlfj theyre both androids

the fact that connor even has a machine story line

carl just straight up dies while markus is venting about his oppression asdjfsjflskjflkejiofjeijfoejflkjsflsj

we dont get any kind of resolution to connor going deviant. he just suddenly is. how does he feel about it? who cares!

“ask us something only the real connor would know”

why is that human couple with the baby so upset about not getting out of detroit? theyre human. they’ll be fine. i feel no guilt in taking their tickets.

alice can arguably forgive todd as he explains he just wanted to prove he’s a good dad. boo hoo. he’s still a dick.

connor can suddenly wake up androids too????

markus can really save the androids by kissing north or singing.

that actually

happens

KILL ME

the president looks like hillary clinton but has a “was a celebrity with no political experience” trump like background

#theres probably a lot more but this took forever and i just want to move on ldaskjflsjflskjf

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myselfinserts · 6 years

Text

“Thank you for calling me back, Derek.”

“Thank you for calling me about this, Damien! You won’t believe what I dug up.”

“You found something on this Ceri person?”

“Oh did I ever. You’re going to get a kick out of this.”

Everyone was digging into dinner. Étienne tried hard not to let the slurping of soups and drinks get to him. But the noise was nearly unbearable. Nearly. It’d have been impossible if Ceri wasn’t there.

It’d have been better if he and Ceri were sitting next to each other. Instead they were on opposite sides of the table, with Étienne being beside Sylvie and their mother while Ceri was wedged in between Damien and Yvonne, the latter trying to flirt with him. Part of it was probably to pry information, the other part probably genuine interest in this man’s “rich” history.

Of course she’d try to take my boyfriend, he thought. Wouldn’t be the first time she tried to do something like that.

Lucky for him, his boyfriend wasn’t the sharing type.

“So where did you get the eyepatch?” Yvonne asked.

“Étienne made it special.”

“Must have cost quite the pretty penny. I know my brother can be a bit of a calculating bastard and a bit of a miser-”

“Actually he made this as a gift. Not long before we became friends.” Ceri smiled, his fingers lightly dancing over the soft red fabric. “Used to wear these old bandages. They looked horrid and never stayed on right. I don’t have that problem with the eyepatch.”

“That so?” Damien snickered, glancing over at Étienne. “So when are you going to stop dilly-dallying and get a real job? Arts and crafts surely can’t be that good.”

Ceri glanced at him, a slight chill in his voice. “Whatever do you mean? He has probably one of the least appreciated and most respectable jobs out there. Being a support designer for some of the world’s top Heroes? Designing costumes and equipment to keep them from dying in the field and to help them protect civilians?” He let out a gentle hum, reaching for his glass of wine. “Honestly, I can’t tell you how many times Renegade showed up at my pub after a close call with a knife in his armor. If it weren’t for Étienne’s brilliant work on the Techno Age costume, that boy would be dead. And you should have seen the craftsmanship he put into Inkwell’s new gloves. Your brother is a truly fantastic Hero in his own right, if you ask me.”

As some of the younger nieces and nephews whispered excitedly, Étienne couldn’t help but beam. Ceri didn’t sing people’s praises often, so to hear any kind of genuine compliment was a gift in its own right. And the fact that they were directed at him was icing on the ego cake.

Okay, he thought, maybe I am getting a little ahead of myself. But can anyone blame me? The man’s a poet when it comes to stroking egos.

“So Ceri,” one of the cousins said. “You’ve known Étienne for a little while, right? I bet you talk about everything. Like, say...medical history? He was in the hospital not that long ago.”

“Not really,” Ceri shrugged. “Only things we’re comfortable talking about. We respect each other’s boundaries. I don’t go prying into things that aren’t my place to pry at. Unless absolutely necessary, but that’s rare.”

“Is that so?” Damien let out a chuckle. “I bet Compatibilia makes that quite easy.”

Suddenly the pleasant feeling that had satiated Étienne’s fears vanished. “Damien-”

“I’m sorry?” Ceri asked. “What are you-”

Damien held up a hand, smirking. “Don’t play coy. You’re that Ceri Aylward. The one from the news a couple decades back. The son of Tired Jack and The Crooked Theuchter, right?”

Everyone started murmuring. Warning bells were going off in Étienne’s mind. He had to get out of here. He had to grab Ceri and run. They couldn’t stay. Something was going to happen if they didn’t leave right now.

But he couldn’t move. He was frozen in place. Something was keeping him in his seat.

He had to move.

But he couldn’t.

“A child of Heroes?” Yvonne’s curiosity was piqued. “That so?”

Ceri tried to play it off. “So what if I am?”

“My friends and I like looking into cold cases. Derek is a detective, you see. It’s a hobby of ours.” Damien gave him a pat on the back. “Your cold case was an interesting one. No one knows for sure what happened. You died and came back? Or just kinda vanished?”

Ceri smile was gone now. “I was away. That’s all I have to say on the matter.”

“I want to hear more though,” Sylvie whined. “Tell us more, please?”

Damien nodded, looking Ceri over. “Heard Tired Jack still hasn’t been found. It’s been, what, over twenty years? Probably never coming back. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

“Can we please stop talking about it?” Ceri asked softly, keeping his head low.

“By the way,” Damien continued. “You mentioned bandages and that eyepatch...why do you wear it again?”

“None of your business.”

“But we’re practically family now! Surely you can trust us. What’s under there?” Damien reached up. “My buddies and I have a bet going that it’s either a glass eye or a robotic implant. Let’s take a look.”

Ceri leaped to his feet, wincing away.. “No! Stop it!”

Damien wouldn’t let up. Soon everyone was on their toes, and Étienne managed to find the strength to get out of his chair. But the family was now blocking his path to distressing boyfriend. He pushed and shoved, trying hard to reach for him. Calling out to him.

“Ceri-”

“Stop it!” Ceri shouted. ‘Get away from me!”

“Let us take a look!” the family insisted.

“Got it!” Damien cheered triumphantly, holding up the eyepatch.

The room went silent as Ceri fell to the floor.

Grey.

Everything was grey.

Grey and heartless.

Much like that basement.

Ceri remained still as he sat in the court room. He hated that he had to let them see what happened to him. He hated being so open. So bare. But he had to show them the damage to his face at the very least. Otherwise nothing could be done.

He was thankful that Parisa and the Elemental Geodes had agreed to be present for the trial. And that it was Cindra who would remove the facial bandages. He remained quiet as the entire room let out a collective gasp.

“Blimey,” one of the jurors whispered. “He looks like a piece of old jerky on the right side of his face.

“These are but a fraction of the injuries inflicted on this boy in his three years of confinement,” the prosecutor stated. “Among the facial scarring and the missing eye, he’s also suffered several broken bones in his arms and legs, cuts along his arms, unidentifiable wounds on his back, a missing toe, and weakened hearing in his right ear. He’s also maintained several injuries to his ribs-”

Ceri began to tune out the attorney, trying hard not to burst into tears as the whispering and snide remarks continued. He wanted to cover his face. He wanted to run. He had to leave. He had to find his papa. He needed him.

“Papa...help...”

I want my papa back.

“Mr. Aylward? Are you alright?”

Ceri snapped out of his thoughts, glancing up at the judge with a blank stare. Salt water stained the left side, trailing along the scar that divided his left eye from the rest of his face.

He could still feel the cold steel of the butter knife.

“May I ‘ave my covers back now, sir?” he muttered. “And a brief moment to recompose myself?”

“Of course. We’ll have a thirty minute recess and then reconvene.”

The gavel came down. Cindra brought back the bandages. Inkwell escorted him out of the courtroom and to the back, fetching him a bottle of water as they went.

The moment he was out of the eyes of the courtroom, Ceri sank to his knees and wailed.

“Holy shit! His face looks like a giant raisin!”

Étienne shoved everyone out of the way, a look of fear on his face as he saw Ceri sitting on the floor staring up blankly at everyone. It was as though he wasn’t even there in the dining room with them.

Which might be for the best, given the buzzing.

“What a shame. He’s got such a handsome face otherwise.”

“Kind of looks like melted mozzarella, doesn’t it?”

“Mommy, what’s wrong with his face?”

“Come on now,” Damien chuckled. “It doesn’t look that bad. Lots of people like raisins.”

Ceri slowly curled up on himself, looking down at the floor as his eye filled with tears. His lip quivered slightly. He was shaking.

“What’s wrong?” Damien sneered. “Come on, it’s just a little harmless fun. What’s gotten into you?”

Ceri curled up even more, his hair hiding his face as he let out a whisper, barely audible. So soft, Étienne almost missed it.

“Papa...help...”

Étienne knelt down and pulled Ceri to his feet, wrapping his blazer around him as he whispered soothing words to him, escorting him out of the dining room.

“Oh come on now,” Damien laughed. “It was just a joke! Just some tongue and cheek to welcome in your boyfriend. No harm no foul, right Scabby?”

Étienne stopped in the doorway for half a second, leaving Ceri just long enough to storm over to Damien and swipe the eyepatch back, leaving a decent back handed mark on his brother’s face as equivalent exchange. Before anyone could react, he took Ceri and grabbed their things, leaving the house and getting down the street and into a hidden nook in the ally so they could have some privacy.

“It’s alright,” Étienne said, helping put the eyepatch back on. “You’re safe now, Ceri.”

“...You were right,” Ceri muttered. “We shouldn’t have come...I’m sorry...”

“No. You were right in insisting we go.” Étienne pulled out a handkerchief and began to wipe the tears away. “If we didn’t, I wouldn’t have found out just how despicable Damien could be...” He glanced to the ground, the sting of tears pricking at his eyes. “I’m sorry you ended up getting hurt because of that though...and I’m sorry for not acting sooner and keeping you safe...”

Ceri shook his hear, lightly caressing his cheek. “Hey...don’t go crying for me...I’m not worth the tears.”

Étienne reached up to feel. Indeed, his cheeks were damp.

But he didn’t care.

“Believe me,” he muttered. “You’re worth crying a thousand tears for.” He managed a smile, lightly pressing their foreheads together. “How about after we’re done crying, we go bar hopping and get plastered before heading home.”

Ceri barely managed a grin. “Not too plastered. We still have to walk home.”

“Not too plastered. I promise.”

#myselfinserts #mybnhaoc #friend's ocs #the au of class #warning for a lot of mention of scars and implied past torture

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deztinywarriors · 7 years

Text

ES Spectre 2.0 Chapter 3-2

#Playchoices #endless summer #adventure #Jake x MC

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seven-times · 7 years

Text

fic piece under the jump

#whatever happened to that old song? #

We watched our friends grow up together And we saw them as they fell Some of them fell into Heaven Some of them fell into Hell I took shelter from a shower And I stepped into your arms On a rainy night in Soho The wind was whistling all its charms... ...I'm not singing for the future I'm not dreaming of the past I'm not talking of the first times I never think about the last Now, the song is nearly over We may never find out what it means Still, there's a light I hold before me You're the measure of my dreams, the measure of my dreams — The Pogues, "A Rainy Night In Soho"

985, Deep Sea Research Center

Ellie never sees their faces. They come and they go, and they're always wearing those stupid doctor's masks. They never touch her, either; they're always very careful about that. Nobody takes her by the arm to escort her anywhere. And the whole building is a circle; if she decides to split off from the path they're taking, she either ends up at an elevator she needs them to open for her, or she ends up where they wanted her anyway. Eventually.

They don't talk much, either, and when they do, their voices are always quiet. The loudest one — Nobu — speaks with an accent she doesn't recognize. Sometimes, though never during the day, Nobu wakes her up with the food buzzer and takes her to a balcony — the railing is electrified — so she can see the sea that surrounds them. It's endless water, churning and dark, white waves frothing up so close she could almost touch them.

"Leviathan is angry," he tells her one of those nights, staring not out at the water but up at the stars. "The Brothers are angry. Bahamut is angry. The world is not what it should be."

He didn't ask her any questions, so she doesn't say anything. It's just safer not to talk unless they want her to. She hates that she knows what's safe and what isn't, that she cares, and there's something in her head that hates it, too. It's angry all the time, and not just get-mad-and-yell angry, but the kind of angry that throws and breaks things and tries to hurt people.

She doesn't think it's always been there. But she can't remember a time without it.

"You, Elektra," Nobu says, "will help us make the world right again. For Leviathan, and the Brothers, and Bahamut. You will make all the skies as black as this one, won't you?"

Ellie says, "Yes," and the thing that curls around the back of the inside of her head seems to smile.

996, Dollet

The exam is going basically swimmingly, with them waiting for the retreat order, and Foggy has himself almost convinced that he really <i>can</i> be a SeeD. He'll just keep using his Para-Magic, and the hurting and the killing people will all blur in with the good stuff, like Matt discovering a box of kittens in a war zone or Marci and a little blond girl smiling at each other. It'll be okay, he's telling himself; he and Matt and Marci can do this.

He's still telling hiself that when the giant robot spider shows up. They hear it first, and Matt turns in the direction it's coming from.

"It's big," he says — like Foggy couldn't have guessed that — and then adds, "Metal? Machinery? It's — it has a lot of legs?"

Marci's off the apartment stoop in seconds, knife in her hand. It won't do her any good against a tank, but she's their demolition man, too, and she's got the look on her face that means she's thinking of how she's going to blow something up. She tucks the knife back into one of her boots and reaches for the team's grenades. Foggy watches her eyes narrow, but Matt is turned northward, toward the godawful rumble, and his whole body is tense.

"We need to run," he says, and he's already tucked his escrima sticks back into their holster at his belt. He doesn't even bother to adjust the band on his sunglasses the way he usually does when he's preparing to do something athletic. "The retreat order's been given."

Foggy doesn't even bother to ask how Matt knows that. He just checks the baldric holding his trident against his back and flails silently at Marci until she puts the explosives away.

The thing they thought was some kind of weird tank turns out to be a giant robot spider. It's literally as tall as the buildings in downtown Dollet, and it's chasing three other SeeD cadets. Foggy's pretty sure he recognizes Dincht — the wild, electrified hair and the face tattoo pretty much give it away — but they don't have time; they're right on the heels of the spider and the other SeeDs, trying to make it back to the harbor.

They almost make it. Hell, they're only a block away from the harbor when it all turns to complete and total shit. But there's a balcony-bridge thing that connects two buildings across the street from each other, and as Marci — always the fastest of the three of them — turns to run under it, the spider does, too.

The spider doesn't bother jumping, or lifting any of its legs higher, or ducking. The spider just fucking slams into the skybridge and huge chunks of stone start to fall immediately. It keeps moving forward and Marci tries to stop herself.

No amount of Para-Magic is ever going to blur away the moment that Marci ends up going under the falling bridge, turning her forward momentum into a desperate slide, and a chunk of rock bigger than her upper body hits her outstretched leg. He will always remember the snap-crunch, the way her whole face twists, the way her body bends in on itself for a moment.

He flings out a hand and casts Protect on her.

The bridge keeps tumbling down, and her face, pale and tight with pain, is the last thing he sees before the dust cloud rises.

1006, Dollet

Maybe it's something about being this far north, or maybe the wind off the sea has blown in yet another little squall, but it's raining in Dollet again, Karen notices as she steps onto the street. Drizzling, really; an endless-feeling fall of gray rain onto dark gray cobblestones, with a gray sky overhead. She doesn't own an umbrella anymore, so she stops at one of the many little street-side coffee stands to pick up a tray of coffees and a newspaper.

It's made the front pages of three different newspapers. Three headlines, but they all mean: insurgents have attacked the radio tower. Again.

She looks automatically north, up at the radio tower. There's a little building at the base of the Dollet cliffs, where the radio team do most of their broadcasting from, but that's never been the insurgents' target. No, they want the tower. The same tower that Galbadia had wanted ten years ago.

She hands over a few crumpled gil and takes everything, holding the paper over her head as she keeps making her way uptown. A simple Protect spell and the paper keep the rain out of her face as she passes shopfronts and cafes and art galleries tucked in next to houses that grow more and more ramshackle. Nelson & Murdock rent a shop underneath a lodging house, one of the rare basements in Dollet, and she smiles as she heads in.

Foggy opens the door for her. He reaches out to steady her as her heel sticks — again — on the final step and she lurches a little into the office. She drops her grip on the newspaper and saves the coffee, even as he catches her gently by the shoulders. It's quick, it's easy, it happens every damn time it rains, and the only reason she even notices it this morning is the concern all over his face as they disentangle and he bends to grab the newspaper.

He's tossed it into the nearest trash can by the time she sets the coffee down on the front desk.

"Estharica for all of us," she says. "Good morning, Foggy. You're here early."

Foggy's answering smile is strained, and so is his return greeting, but he takes the coffee. Makes a big show of sniffing it and saying, "Oh, this is going to taste so good. Get in my belly, coffee. So much better than Karen's, yes you are."

"Thanks," she says dryly, and he flashes her a smile that's a lot closer to genuine.

"Good to see you," he tells her, and he sounds relieved enough that she might need to worry.

"Is Matt in yet?"

Foggy's whole expression darkens. He shakes his head before sitting heavily in one of the office chairs. "And you'll notice that there aren't any clients in the house today. It's not that I object to you working for the radio station, Karen. Hyne knows we're all working wherever we can. This whole city's economy is in the shitter. But you've got to stop —"

"Stop what, doing my job?"

"Your other job." He says it so firmly that she's suddenly reminded of his past in SeeD. "We're your day job, Karen. I get your commitment to the truth — I totally respect it. But can you be a little less committed to truths Reyes will blacklist us for?"

"What won't she blacklist us for?"

"You could talk about the kitten that Galbadian soldier pulled out of the wreckage of the X-ATM092," he points out, like that's at all helpful. "You could, I don't know, not talk about what the Estharian Peace Keeper brigade is going to find when they come back here. You could talk about how Dollet has welcomed its new Galbadian overlords peacefully for the last ten years."

She points at the newspaper. "Peacefully?"

He shrugs. "You don't have to talk about —"

The bell over the door chimes, and they both turn. A woman wearing the kind of dress Karen is pretty sure only appears on mannequins in Deling City has stepped into their office. The dress itself is black, and sleek, and the boots she wears with it are flat-soled enough to be practical, but hug the curve of her calf — and are bright red.

The woman sweeps her gaze over the office, and then her eyes light on Foggy. Her expression changes to something that's either disinterest or distaste. "Franklin," she says.

"Elektra." Foggy's voice starts cold, but turns brightly sarcastic. "How nice to see you again! When will you leave? I mean, don't let us keep you; I'm sure you have islands to buy. Unless you're back to using Daddy's money to play with SeeD?"

"My father died last week, Franklin," she says. "And I really don't understand your hostility to me. I know your little business is struggling —"

"This is Dollet. Everyone's business is struggling," he snaps. "Doesn't mean we want anything from you. Of all the law offices in all the world, why did you think you could walk into mine?"

"Yours and Matthew's," she corrects, almost gently.

Foggy stares at her for what feels like a long, long time.

When it's clear he's not about to answer that, the woman — Elektra — says, "I'm here because I need a lawyer. I've noticed that a stream of my father's profits in Esthar are going to some very interesting places indeed. I'd like to — fully investigate my options regarding those funds."

Karen picks up the coffee tray and settles herself on the other side of the desk. She'd been intending to run the accounting software today. Might as well dive into that so that Foggy will take this client back into his office and yell at her there, leaving Karen and what he likes to call her "truth habit" safely out of it.

"That sounds great," Foggy says in a tone that is actively insincere. "Why don't you go fully investigate the other side of that door?"

Elektra smiles. She reaches into an expensive-looking purse and drops a business card onto Karen's desk. Then she bends down, flips it over, and scrawls a series of numbers on the back. "You can reach me here, while I'm in town. Call if you change your mind."

And then she's gone in a swirl of black fabric, leaving only an elegant business card and the scent of Galbana lilies. The bell over the door somehow doesn't chime when she swings the door open.

And Foggy deflates. He slumps into one of the chairs by Karen's desk. He seems at once to scrunch himself so he can fit, even as his legs sprawl out on the floor. It's a position she associates more with melodramatic teenagers than frustrated lawyer. Eventually, he brings his hand up to rub at his forehead and sighs.

"First you and the radio," he says. "And then Matt — and now this. I might as well get the hell out of here and go back to Balamb. Their economy can't possibly be as hopelessly fucked as Dollet."

She doesn't ask what's wrong with Matt. She's got a good idea she already knows.

#daredevil fic #fic fragment #final fantasy viii fic #if this doesn't make sense it's because it's a ff8 fusion

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