#yes I do know AI Hyperion’s actual name | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

commsroom · 6 months

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Hello. It occurred to me recently that Hera is the only character of the main cast who is not named for an engineer/physicist/mathematician. Do u think this has any significance regarding her role on the team and her character, or not really?

(Also, the wiki says she's probably named for the Greek goddess Hera which has interesting connotations if it's true. There was also a NASA probe called Hera at some point I'm pretty sure, but I don't know which is the more likely namesake. I just enjoy the names in W359 because I am a physics student and it's fun to hear character names in all my classes.)

hi! i think the answer is kind of... yes and no? like, gabriel urbina has said his process of naming characters is first to choose a category to pick surnames from, to narrow down the options (so, in this case, famous scientists), and then to find given names that he thinks sound good with those surnames. so i don't think symbolism is the purpose, and i don't think it needs to be. but hera, obviously... doesn't have a last name. and so the way she was named (both in and out of universe) is different, and i think that does represent something.

first: hera is the mother program of the hephaestus. the hera of greek mythology is the mother of hephaestus and cast him out of the sky. the allusions are obviously intentional. (as are other mythology names in the show, but that's another topic.) second: a lot of real world things relating to space are named for mythology, and clearly cutter agrees that's how it should be done. but also: goddard's AIs share the same naming scheme with their spacecrafts. hera, rhea, eris, enlil, perseus, hyperion vs. hephaestus, hermes, tiamat, urania, valkyrie, sol. in one sense, this marks them as company property, people who are treated as equivalent to technology.

but, third: from a writing perspective, gabriel urbina has also said he only started getting a sense of who hera was when he started writing for michaela swee in the second episode; there's such a difference in how she's written just between those first two scripts. you can even see in the first recording script that her name was stylized HERA, as if it stood for something, like a much more standard AI character might have been named. which goes so far against what her name actually ended up representing that it retroactively becomes an in-universe microaggression.

and so, fourth: despite all of that, the real thing that makes hera's name stand apart is that it's a chosen name. it's offered to her, but not the way a name is given - it's a bribe, with the understanding it can be taken away from her. rachel says she can see what else is available if hera "has a problem with the etymology or any of the allusions," which is kind of interesting. but hera chooses to be hera. i don't think it's a stretch to say she has a deadname and a chosen name: that she has to introduce herself every time in a way that amounts to "i prefer to be called hera" and that her name is treated as optional and conditional, a reward for good behavior. if hera wanted to take a middle or last name, she would be choosing those, too.

i think ultimately names in wolf 359 are less about categorization and/or symbolism and more about identity. names are symbols that represent and contain the people who claim them. how people are referred to, when, and by whom - as well as how people refer to themselves by name as an act of self-determination, a reclamation of identity, or in defiance - is all central to the themes of the show. and, from that perspective, i think how hera is named (and what her name means to her, how she has had to construct and fight for parts of her identity that others are given as a default assumption) is significant, but i don't think it really sets her apart from the others when their names are treated in similar ways thematically.

#hi!! always happy to hear from you #sorry i always think i'm going to keep it short and then i. don't. i don't know if this even answers your question.#but i can imagine it's funny to hear these names in that context and. be thinking about wolf 359 characters.#also obviously minkowski is also. in some ways denied her name. but it represents a different experience and a different aspect of identity #anyway. it feels like such a no-brainer but i kind of love the way urbina says he names characters because like.#yeah i guess that is how most people are named. they have a last name and then someone decides what first name would go with it.#that is true.#wolf 359 #w359 #hera wolf 359 #asks

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busghost · 1 year

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Hi! Happy new year! Can you please help me understand what happened with the main trio now becoming different herrschers?

I was gonna wait until all three were reached on Global, but I'll just do the two we've got now and then reblog for Kiana.

Bronya is an interesting one because if we go off of what the CN name is, she's not a different Herrscher. She's unlocked the true potential of the Herrscher of Reason (more on the localization later). How? Essentially, the past Herrschers of Reason have been caught up in legacy holding onto the past. Welt Joyce and the 300,000 souls he saved in Berlin were the power Welt Yang and Bronya relied upon. But in order to reach the future she wants, she needs more, so she relies on herself and her own hopes and dreams and friends instead of the legacy passed down and she overcomes all previous Herrschers of Reason. It doesn't mean she's forgetting the past but she's moving past it unlike what the Herrscher of Reason has been able to do before.

Essentially, instead of having the past define her as the Herrscher of Reason, she is going to fight for what she believes in as Herrscher of Reason.

In Mandarin, her battlesuit isn't necessarily called Herrscher of Truth but could be True Herrscher of Reason. Marisa has a yt short about it I'll link here

Mei's new Herrscher powers are basically out of nowhere just because the story needs to happen and you can tell the writers were making these decisions instead of the characters.

After confronting and killing her stigma personality (again), Mei escapes the Project Stigma dream (again) and Ai Hyperion Λ hands her a portal to the powers of Origin.

She has a "test of character" which is basically, Question: "are you going to do the most protagonist-y thing?" And Mei says yes.

And then she goes "Wow I love everyone just like Elysia did! I wanna see Elysia again!"

The rest of the time is entirely focused on Elysia instead of Mei so it doesn't matter, she got the powers once she passed that "test" the new outfit was just a bonus. Not that we even know what powers the authority of Origin actually has.

If you can't tell, I hate how they handled this. It's the polar opposite of Bronya defining herself with HoTr or Mei's convictions with HoT. She's just Elysia Mei loves everyone because the writers say she does. Where did that character development happen? It didn't because she has been constantly shoved aside for Elysia.

I'll come back when we see how Kiana gets the authority of Finality to explain that.

#honkai impact #hi3 lore #bronya zaychick #raiden mei #I don't want to be so negative about Mei but they've basically done nothing with her except have her spectate since chapter 25 #so we're told everything about her instead of shown anything

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much-obliged-timothy · 3 years

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So I was reading a fanfic for a different fandom where a character ends up the single father of an oops baby and...

Anyway, here’s a totally self-indulgent “what if Tim accidentally had a child” fic ft. Rhys accidentally befriending the kid and being very panicked about it (and yes I will be more than happy to write more of this weird AU if anyone wants to read it)

Rhys paced his office nervously. “Zer0, did I make a mistake? Oh my god. I can’t believe I agreed to employ a doppelganger of Handsome Jack.”

The vault hunters had contacted him with an absolutely bizarre story. While invading Handsome Jack’s casino, they’d found his sole surviving doppelganger, a man named Timothy Lawrence. Timothy had been all too eager to get out of the casino once they’d claimed it for themselves, but had nowhere to go and, they’d warned, was lacking a bit in his social skills after seven years of being locked in a casino where almost everyone wanted him dead.

Still, the man had apparently proved highly adept at business when they needed help getting issues for the casino sorted. Moxxi thought he’d be an asset to Rhys, appearances aside.

Rhys had them send over a resume and some examples of Timothy’s work, and was surprised to find that Tim was actually highly skilled at business negotiations and research. He had experience helping Hyperion develop new weapons and other various tech, and had worked as a vault hunter for Jack at one point, giving him valuable combat experience.

So Rhys had agreed to take him on, at least on a trial period to see how things went. Today was the day Tim would arrive, and Rhys couldn’t stop fretting that Tim would be too similar to Jack to bear.

“He helped Jack rise to power, they said,” Rhys babbled, his anxiety growing. “What if he’s just like Jack? I don’t think I can take that ego again. This is such a mistake!”

Zer0 watched him pace, but offered no comfort. He didn’t seem to have any concerns over the situation.

There was a knock on the door and Rhys froze, shooting a look at Zer0. Zer0 touched his gun then gestured to the door, a silent assurance that he would handle it if things got out of hand.

Rhys didn’t enjoy the thought of anyone being shot in his office, but he enjoyed the thought of being protected from Handsome Jack 2.0. “Come in.”

The door swung open and in came Handsome Jack. Rhys stared at his face for a long moment before shaking himself. Tim’s hair was longer than Jack’s, the mask on his face cracked. He had a cybernetic hand that was fidgeting with the visitor badge pinned to his jacket. He certainly had Jack’s sense of how to dress for the job; he wore jeans and a hoodie with a jacket over it instead of anything dressy.

Tim noticed Rhys eyeing his clothes and shifted awkwardly. “Uh, sorry. No money to buy anything nicer right now. I’m Timothy Lawrence. I know the mask has to go, too, but I’m arranging to have these stupid clips removed with it.”

Rhys processed his words, but only distantly. When Tim had shifted, he’d revealed that he wasn’t alone.

Tim again noticed where Rhys’s gaze went, and fidgeted more with his pass. “So, the job? Moxxi got me set up with a place to live nearby for now. I just moved in yesterday, so I’m ready to start whenever you need me to.”

Rhys continued staring. He had not been informed that Tim wouldn’t be coming alone.

Tim sighed quietly and nudged the little boy out from behind his legs. The boy stared distrustfully at Rhys, clutching a tattered teddy bear with the Hyperion logo on its stomach to himself.

“This is my son, Phoenix,” Tim explained. “I, uh, don’t exactly have a sitter. Hard to have contacts when you’ve been locked in a casino for seven years.”

Obviously Tim had found a way to pass the time. The boy couldn’t be any older than five or six, with skin a few shades darker than Tim’s, messy, ruddy hair, a splattering of freckles over his cheeks and nose, and hazel eyes. His left eye had a familiar strip of blue amongst the hazel.

“You said I get my own office? Can I see it?” Tim said, shooting Rhys a pleading look.

“Oh, um, right, yes,” Rhys said, fixing his already straight tie.

“Hey, stay here. We’ll be right back,” Tim said.

The boy’s eyes widened in terror, but Tim smiled and ruffled his hair. Phoenix clutched at Tim’s jacket.

“I’ll be right back,” Tim repeated. “That guy there? He was a vault hunter, just like I was. He’ll keep an eye on you for a few minutes.”

Phoenix looked over his shoulder at Zer0. His curiosity seemed to win out over his distrust as he eyed Zer0.

Tim took the opportunity to slip out of the room, Rhys following. They walked in awkward silence until they reached the office Rhys had secured for Tim.

“Okay,” Tim said, shutting the door as soon as they were inside. “Look, I kinda had a, uh, thing with a friend named Ember. We’d been stuck in that casino for a while at that point and everyone was trying to kill me and we just- got careless a few times. Phoenix was born in that damned place. He lived his whole life in there, hidden between me, Ember, and a friend of Ember’s from the vice district. Ember told me to take him with me to Promethea so he could experience life in the real world. Not that this shithole planet is fancy living, but-” He stopped and groaned. “Sorry, injected with Jack’s DNA. Anyways, please, he’s scared to be alone.”

No one had warned Rhys that in addition to getting a traumatized employee, he’d be getting the man’s traumatized son as well. But what was he going to do? Turn him out onto the streets?

Rhys sighed quietly. He hated kids, mostly because he had no idea how to talk to them and they frightened him.

“He can’t go into meetings with you,” he said at last.

Tim looked so relieved that Rhys didn’t even regret the decision. “Thank you. Really, thank you. Oh, finally, a CEO who isn’t an absolute dick. He’s no trouble, really. He’ll stay in my office with me, and he thinks everyone wants to kill him so it’s not like he’ll go bothering anyone.”

At Rhys’s startled look, Tim grimaced. He touched his mask and shrugged.

“Look, I’m not going to lie. My kid is…” He cursed softly. “I didn’t want that for him. But I had no choice. I started teaching him about guns when he was three. We taught him how to hide, and not to trust anyone. It was the only way we could keep him safe. It’s going to take time to break him of all that. B-But I’m a good worker! I won’t make you regret this! Well, I mean, the occasional Jack moments probably will, but other than that, no regrets. I hope.”

This was too much to handle right now. “You need to go get fingerprinted downstairs. Then we’ll get you settled and go over your schedule and duties.”

Business. He could do business. He couldn’t do a traumatized Handsome Jack doppelganger with a paranoid son.

“Right, let me just go let Phoenix know,” Tim said, opening the office door.

“That’s a cool name,” Rhys said as they started along the hallway.

Tim shrugged again. “Ember wanted something with fire. I guess we thought it was fitting, since he was born in the wake of Jack’s death and my, uh, sort of freedom. I mean, I still had a bomb in my face and was trapped in a casino. But no more Jack ordering me about.”

He at least didn’t sound bothered by Jack’s death, so Rhys took some comfort in the fact that Tim appeared not to hold any loyalty to his former boss. Moxxi had claimed Timothy hated Jack, but Rhys was still worried after everything he’d been through with the AI Jack.

They stepped back into Rhys’s office, and Phoenix was immediately back at his father’s side, clutching Tim’s jacket in one hand and his bear in the other. Tim squeezed his shoulder and gently pried his hand off.

“I need to go get fingerprinted, Phoenix,” he said. “I’m just going to be right downstairs.”

The kid looked torn. Rhys felt a flash of pity.

“It should only be fifteen minutes if they’re not busy,” he said. Maybe knowing how long Tim would be gone would calm the kid.

“Fifteen minutes,” Tim said, smiling. “That’s nothin’, pal. I take longer in the shower.”

“You take forever in the shower,” Phoenix said, but grabbed Tim’s jacket again.

Once again, Tim gently pried his hand away. “Fifteen minutes, pal. Then I’ll be back.”

Phoenix watched his father leave the room and began to pace silently, keeping Rhys, Zer0, and the door in view as he did so. He was rubbing the band of a watch strapped to his wrist, far too big for him. Rhys realized it was a digistruct watch, and sat down in the hopes he wouldn’t spook the kid into summoning whatever was stored in there.

Phoenix kept shooting a look to Rhys’s cybernetic arm, looking like he wanted to say something. He kept snapping his eyes back to the door, but his gaze would drift back to the arm.

Rhys finally held it up. “It’s, uh, it’s an Atlas cybernetic. State of the art.”

“Dad has one,” he said, holding up his hand. “He lost his hand in the casino.”

“That’s because Handsome Jack is a controlling asshole,” Rhys said, then snapped his mouth shut. Shit, could he swear in front of kids? Was that legal?

But Phoenix stared at him, slowing his pacing. “You knew him?”

“Sort of,” Rhys said, rubbing the back of his neck. “We...worked together? Sort of? He tried to kill me. Not a good time.”

The distrust on his face evaporated a little. “He locked my mom and dad in the casino. Dad said he’s a freaking asshole. But I’m not s’posed to call anyone else that word.” He pointed to his eye with the sliver of blue in it. “Dad said that was Jack’s last ‘screw you’.”

Rhys stared at Zer0 for help. He hadn’t expected to shit talk Jack with a little kid today, and wasn’t sure what to do now that it had started.

“Much more lively now/He must like you a lot Rhys/You have made a friend,” Zer0 said.

“You talk funny,” Phoenix said.

“He speaks in haikus,” Rhys explained. “Well, mostly.”

Phoenix frowned. “I dunno that language. My mom speaks French.”

Rhys laughed in surprise. “Oh, no, it’s not a language. It’s a type of poetry.”

“Oh,” Phoenix said, then shrugged in a movement that perfectly mimicked Tim’s.

Rhys couldn’t help but stare a little as the boy resumed his pacing. He wondered if any of his features had been inherited from Tim’s original appearance. He wondered if it was hard for Tim to look at his kid and see both himself and Jack in him.

Rhys busied himself with paperwork to keep from staring any longer. However, as fifteen minutes passed, and then another five, and then even more, Phoenix’s pacing grew faster.

He rubbed at the band of his watch more, eyes locked on the door. He looked terrified, checking the time yet again and hugging his bear tighter.

“They were probably just busy,” Rhys said, because as much as he didn’t like kids, he felt bad seeing one break down right in front of him. “He’s okay.”

“What if he’s dead?” His voice cracked a little and he paced even faster, clutching the bear so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Rhys got up and slowly approached. “Hey. Hey, Phoenix. It’s safe here, okay? No one here will hurt him. I promise.”

“But he looks like that freaking asshole!” Phoenix said, pointing at his eye again.

“I know, but I warned my people he’d be coming today. They all know he isn’t really Jack. No one is going to hurt your dad,” Rhys assured. Phoenix still looked scared and frantic, so Rhys tried a different approach. He held his cybernetic hand out and let an image come up in his palm. “Have you ever seen a skag before?”

Phoenix nodded his head, looking torn between watching the door and looking at the holographic image. “Uh-huh. But just one.”

Rhys let the holograph play out. “Look how they run! I got stuck on Pandora years ago, and these things were scary.”

“Pandora?” He tugged at the ear of his bear. “Dad said it’s a shithole. I’m not s’posed to say that, though. Mom gets mad and says dad has a dirty mouth.”

“It kind of is a shithole,” Rhys agreed. “Promethea is much better. I think you’ll like it here. You and your dad can explore this weekend when he’s not working.”

His eyes shot to the door again. “But he’s not back!”

“He’ll come back,” Rhys said. “I won’t let anyone hurt him while he’s here. I promise.”

His eyes widened and he looked at Rhys. He seemed torn between distrust and hope.

The matter was settled as Tim reappeared in the room, looking out of breath. “Sorry. Some freaking idiot down there couldn’t find her ID and held up the whole line. I- Umph!”

Phoenix launched himself at Tim, wrapping his little arms around Tim’s waist tightly. There were tears silently rolling down his cheeks.

“Hey, hey.” Tim knelt down and hugged him, kissing his head. “I’m okay. I’m right here, pal. I’m okay. I’m sorry I took so long.”

He stood up with Phoenix in his arms, running gentle fingers through his messy hair. Phoenix nuzzled his head against Tim’s neck, wiping at his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Tim said, kissing him again. “I have shitty time management skills. Oops, don’t tell your mom I swore again.”

Phoenix put an arm around Tim’s neck to hold onto him. “Dad, this guy showed me a skag. On his hand!”

“‘This guy’ is my boss,” Tim said. “A skag, huh? Can’t say I missed Pandora’s brand of cannon fodder creatures.”

“You and me both,” Rhys said, standing up.

“Can you show dad?” Phoenix said, pointing to Rhys’s hand. “They look so stupid.”

Rhys brought up the image again. With his dad safely back with him, Phoenix was much more interested, peering at it with curious eyes.

Tim wiggled the fingers of his cybernetic hand. “Yea, mine doesn’t do that. Cool, though.”

“One of the vault hunters who saved us had a skag,” Phoenix said. “And a...a...something else.”

“Jabber. You saw their jabber,” Tim said. “Shit-flinging, obnoxious beasts.”

Phoenix tightened his hold on Tim. “You’re not s’posed to swear, dad.” He gave Tim the hint of a grin. “Gotta shut me up.”

“Ice cream it is,” Tim said with a long sigh. “After work, though. I’ve got to earn money to afford to bribe you, pal. So, let’s get on with it, Rhys.”

Rhys took Tim and showed him around a bit before bringing him back to his office. As Tim had assured, Phoenix was quiet the whole time, just clinging to Tim. When they reached the office, he sat in a chair in the corner, playing with his tattered bear and not bothering either man as they went over Tim’s schedule and duties.

“Well, I’ll leave you to get settled in and do the basic paperwork,” Rhys said, shaking Tim’s hand. “If you have any questions, you know where my office is. You’ll be primarily reporting to me.”

“Hey,” Phoenix said as Rhys headed for the door. He was clutching his bear tightly again, glancing from his dad to Rhys before blurting out, “Can you tell me about Pandora sometime?”

“Oh,” Rhys said in surprise. “Yea, sure. I mean, a lot of my experience involves me being in fear for my life. But, sure.”

“Hey, been there done that on Elpis, kiddo,” Tim said. “Phoenix, let him get back to work. You can help me get some papers organized, if you want.”

Phoenix hopped off the chair. “M’kay, dad. See ya, boss guy.”

Rhys left the office and stared at the door once he’d closed it. Today had not gone as he’d expected, not at all. And he had a sinking feeling he’d accidentally made the kid like him.

Great. He’d been so worried about dealing with a Handsome Jack doppelganger, and now his bigger problem was a small, curious child. Rhys wondered if life would ever let him catch a break.

Part 2

#borderlands #timothy lawrence #borderlands rhys #rhys strongfork #borderlands au #borderlands fic #My writing

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diavolodigitale · 3 years

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L’appel Du Vide: 01 What a Way to Start

Not that anybody is really reading it here, but I decided to follow through with this story no matter what.

All chapters: 00 - 01 - All stories in PDF

Rhys is the CEO of Atlas and Jack’s AI is back, surprise, surprise! Now Rhys is dismayed, Jack doesn’t care much, and the events of Borderlands 3 are just beginning to unravel. Is there any way to fix the plot of this game? Would it be any better if Rhys had to cooperate with Jack this whole time? Well, this is your chance to find out!

Spoiler: yes, dammit, it would. Everything’s better with a bit of Handsome Jack in it.

Genres: Fix-It, Developing Relationship, Alternate Canon, POV Third Person, Humor, Drama, Plot-driven (kind of? well, it has plot)

Pairing: Handsome Jack’s AI/Rhys (they’re still just talking, dammit)

Characters: Handsome Jack’s AI, Rhys

Rating: M for Mature but not in this chapter lol

Size: around 3000 words (chapter 2/11)

Sun set and rose, another day began. Rhys shaved off his moustache.

“Mornin’, sleeping beauty,” said Jack, who was sitting in Rhys’ chair when the latter one entered his office wearing only red bathrobe and home slippers.

“Morning,” replied Rhys, eying Jack wearily. Jack almost expected him to be surprised by his presence all over again, but it seemed like Rhys did not, after all, convince himself that the events of the previous day were just a dream, which, depending on how one looks at it, might even be considered personal growth. “Let me say how much I appreciate you not stalking me while I sleep. Just so you knew,” he said, painfully aware of Jack’s realness and determination to stay.

“Actually,” began Jack, idly following Rhys’s movements around the room with his gaze, “I watched you for some time, but your face looked so stupid that I started having these fits of hysterical laughter, so I left not to wake you up accidentally. I care for you so much, after all, and… Hey!”–he suddenly sat upright in the chair and pointed at Rhys’s hunched miserable figure–“that thing from your face disappeared! I could’ve sworn I saw it yesterday...”

“And now it’s gone,” concluded Rhys with a sigh.

“Phew, great job, pal. It was so awful, I cannot even begin to describe.”

“What? I thought you liked it,” said Rhys, nonplussed.

“Yeah, about that… I lied. Didn’t want to tell you this, but with that moustache, I wouldn’t let my kids anywhere near you,” said Jack and cackled.

Rhys scowled. He got rid of his moustache precisely because Jack told him he liked it, even despite the fact that it was particularly hard for him, considering the meaning it supposedly held. Since the day before he had this strange desire to do everything in opposition to Jack. Perhaps, it was deeply rooted in his former traumatic experience with the AI. Or in the fact that he had always been kind of mischievous, either one of those two.

“I see you’re in a good mood today,” said Rhys, making himself a morning coffee. He couldn’t say the same thing about himself – half of the night he spent persuading himself not to bang his head on the wall until Jack left for good. As a temporary means, it was as good as anything, but certainly wouldn’t be a reliable way to get rid of the AI forever. In any case, it seems not to have worked for Rhys previously, so he had to come up with something else. Changing the prosthetics took time, and he didn’t have that precious resource at his disposal in the needed amount.

In the end, when he finally managed to fall asleep, it was at the thought that he was actually a little sorry for what happened with Jack’s hologram during their last confrontation. Despite all the evil Jack had done, he used to be a significant part of Rhys’s life and helped shape him into what he was now. Most importantly, he taught him not to trust anybody and to always swing for the fences. Now, being the CEO of Atlas, Rhys could clearly see that this strategy worked perfectly.

“Oh, by the by, I took some time to look through your files and check out this Kawatagi guy we talked about yesterday. Must say, he’s a very promising candidate. Maybe, I should’ve chosen him as my successor instead of you-know-who,” said Jack in a conspiratorial tone, stroking his chin and narrowing his eyes. “Instead of you, I’m talking about you,” he added in a normal voice.

Rhys sighed, gently lowering two sugar cubes into his coffee. Here we go again.

“First, why the heck did you rummage in my computers without my permission? Second, his name’s Katagawa, more precisely – Katagawa Junior. And a candidate for what? Wait, don’t say anything, I don’t even want to know. Now get out of my chair,” said Rhys and proceeded to try and shoo Jack away with a few careless waves of his hand.

“It’s not like you can’t sit here. I’m just a hologram, you know.”

Jack was grinning, of course. Rhys looked down at him with his tired sleepless eyes and sighed the fortieth time this morning.

“Remember when we first met, you called me weird? Now you’re the one being weird, congratulations.”

“Oh, come o-o-on, don’t be so bo-o-oring.” Jack disappeared from the chair and reappeared on the sofa, lying on his side with his head resting on his hand. “You know, I think I’ve now seen enough of you to bet with confidence that you don’t have any friends. I bet I was your closest friend (and don’t forget that I was your imaginary closest friend), ‘cause I don’t see how someone can tolerate that attitude for long.”

Don’t worry, Rhys, he won’t get to you, you’re thick-skinned now, you know that, thought Rhys and put his mug on the table. He sunk into his chair and turned on the ECHO device to check for any new messages.

“Actually, I do have friends,” he said in his best I-am-not-offended tone.

“Yeah? Anybody in particular?”

“Zer0, for example. I am proud to call him my friend and I’m sure he’s proud to be called mine.”

“Zer0, yeah… wait, who’s that again?”

Rhys rolled his eyes. Some things just never changed.

“One of the vault hunters who… took part in your elimination, so to put it,” he answered carefully.

“Oh, yeah, that filthy bandit, I remember him! Well, not him killing me, of course, but I think I saw him somewhere. Didn’t he have that mental condition? I remember him saying some gibberish instead of speaking like normal people do. Yeah, right,”–Jack laughed–“I can see you two dorks being friends.”

“How could I have survived this long without you trying to offend me all the time? Unbelievable.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking! Or was that still your thought? I always forget I’m in your head. Anyway, to summarize our conversation so far, we’ve established that you’re a pathetic loner with only one creature in the whole world you can call a friend of sorts. You never seize to amaze me, Rhys.”

“There’s also Vaughn,” said Rhys through his teeth, beginning to lose his patience.

“And that is…?”

“You remember Vaughn, don’t you?”

“If I’m asking who that is, then, apparently, I don’t,” answered Jack, making the irritation in his voice sound as blatant as possible. “Why do you carry around that thing people call a head, huh?”

“He used to work for Hyperion with me.” Rhys threw a quick glance at Jack, looking for any sign of recognition on his face, but there was none. “Is short, wears glasses?” Still no signs. “Has a six-pack?” he said in his last desperate attempt to make Jack’s memory serve its purpose.

To his surprise, it actually worked. Jack snapped his fingers and rolled over on the sofa.

“Oh, that ne-erd, yeah, I remember him. Where’s he now?” he asked, not even trying to pretend that he really cared about the answer.

“He’s on Pandora, doing some bandit stuff. Guess he is working for the…” Rhys suddenly stopped, hastily thinking about what he had almost let out.

“For whom?” asked Jack indifferently. The answer still didn’t matter much to him, but he just couldn’t bear the thought of Rhys keeping something hidden from him.

“For the… err… for, well, you know… coughmson coughders,” replied Rhys, sounding like he was choking on something, and started loudly typing on the table, pretending that he was incredibly busy with his emails.

“What? Didn’t quite catch that.”

“Rimzon raide-ez,” indistinctly said Rhys into his fist and cleared his throat.”

“God dammit, Rhys, what the fuck are you saying there?” shouted Jack with annoyance and jerked up from the sofa. “Should I stand right behind you all the time to know what comes out of your mouth? Even your thoughts are more distinct than that.”

Perhaps, scared by the prospect of Jack constantly following him closely, even closer than he already did, Rhys gave in.

“It’s the Crimson Raiders, for god’s sake!” he yelled and landed his fist heavily on the table. He then took a deep breath to calm down and added, “He works for the Crimson Raiders. I just didn’t want to tell you.”

“O-oh. O-o-o-oh, I see how it is. He’s with team idiots now, isn’t he? Well, good to know. Now we’ve proven that all your friends are either stupid or nonexistent. Great.”

Rhys’s left eye was glowing as he was interfacing with the devices in his office. He took a sip of his coffee, scrolled down the list of new casualties reports and tried not to take what he had heard close to his heart.

“Now that I got my daily dose of humiliating you, let’s talk business,” said Jack and laced his fingers together as if he had a very profitable offer for his interlocutor. “I think we can squeeze something out of this Katamaga,” he began, and Rhys immediately exerted himself. He did not like the sound of that. “I think there’s more to him than you see. He doesn’t just want Atlas, you see, he very obviously wants you to work with him. What a fool! That’s a perfect opportunity for us to rob him of everything he has, including his pathetic corporation. I mean, I never liked Maliwan, but if it’s a gift horse… Who am I not to take it on your behalf, right?”

“I appreciate the thought you put into it, but I already have another plan, and it definitely isn’t allying with Katagawa Jr. He’s an obsessed psychopath and I don’t want anything to do with him,” replied Rhys confidently. He shivered even at the possibility of having another Jack-like associate.

“Enlighten me then. What genius idea has your corporate mind produced?”

“First, you have to promise not to yell at me. My head aches and I won’t endure any more than you already being here and talking to me,” said Rhys patiently, already predicting Jack’s reaction to what he intended to share. There was no way to keep it a secret, so he wanted to at least soften the blow.

“Yeah, whatever,” said Jack and yawned.

Rhys braced himself. Discussing this would surely be no easy matter.

“I want to make a deal with Lilith. She helps me defeat maliwans, and I give her something she wants in return.”

There was silence. Then there was a snarl and a nondescript squeal.

“WHAT. THE FUCK. ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! MM, RHYSIE, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?” Jack appeared standing on Rhys’s table right before him. The sight made Rhys spit out a bunch of his coffee. “You’re joking, right?” Jack squatted down to see Rhys’s face when he spoke. “Out of a-a-all people in these 6 goddamn galaxies you choose her? I see you’ve been a very bad boy in daddy’s absence, completely out of your mind!”

Rhys raised his index finger and burbled, “You told me you won’t yell. I specifically asked you not to yell, Jack.”

“What am I supposed to do then, huh?!” Jack disappeared and in the next second was already standing at the window with his arms crossed, thoughtfully observing the Atlas soldiers running around outside. “I thought you can’t disappoint me more than you already have, but it seems like you always manage to conquer new heights.”

“Look, there’s really no point in talking about this. I’m my own boss now and this is my decision. I was the one to rebuild Atlas from ruins, so I’m sure I’ll be able to take care of it. Please, Jack, I’m tired and sick and I don’t want all this.” Rhys sighed wearily and rubbed a coffee stain on the table with the sleeve of his bathrobe.

“Okay. Okay-okay-okay-okay, hear me out. Just this one time, just once, let me tell you something.” Jack turned to Rhys and Rhys gave him a little nod after considering for a few seconds. It’s not like he really had a choice, he just liked to think he had a firm grip on the situation. “Tell me, do you remember Lilith doing something, anything for the sake of somebody else?”

“Um, yeah, she killed you, actually,” replied Rhys confidently.

“No-no-no, honey, she didn’t do it for somebody, she just wanted to have her revenge on me,” said Jack, stressing what he viewed as essential pieces of information to make sure Rhys REALLY got what he wanted to say. Were he not a hologram, he would probably be shaking with rage as he did it. “She wanted to destroy me, because I destroyed her boyfriend who just wouldn’t let me wipe those bandit asses, which, by the way, included his, off my planet. She couldn’t care less about all those people that died, about Crimson Raiders, about her other “friends”. She is a murderer, just like you, me, like any other person on that goddamn planet. The only difference is that she, unlike us, didn’t have ANY good will.”

Jack’s intense stare made Rhys turn away. AI’s words made him consider what he knew of Lilith, but he felt almost wrong when doing so. He shook his head, trying to scare the thoughts away.

“You just hate her, that’s all. She may not be the best option, but when choosing between her and Maliwan, I believe, the choice is obvious.

“Is it? Is it, though?” asked Jack furiously with his eyes almost bulging out. “Let me tell you one thing. Two things, actually. Despite how surprising it might sound to you, I’m actually happy that she killed me. You know why? Of course, you don’t, otherwise we wouldn’t have this conversation now, dummy. So, I’ll be kind enough to explain. Even after her betrayal, I didn’t finish her off, which means I am better than her. “What is the second thing, Jack?” you might ask. Well, here goes: she is a stinking bandit. A bandit, and the only thing you should do with bandits is kill them, but I’m sure this much you should know by now.” After finishing his rant, Jack exhaled loudly and adjusted his unmoving hair with a swift motion of his hand. To top his speech off, he asked, “Still better than Katagawa?”

Rhys, however, still remained unimpressed.

“Jack, he killed his entire family to become the CEO of Maliwan. I imagine you would think it’s a reasonable thing to do when you want to run the corporation so bad, but I’m sure you know I disagree with that.”

“And what do YOU know about his family?” asked Jack, clearly upset by the lack of expected reaction. “Do you even know anything about the way he runs Maliwan? The only thing I know is that now they are more successful than ever (even though I hate to say it). Use your brains, kid, and you’ll go further than you could’ve hoped. One of these two alliances will bestow endless opportunities upon you while the other one will almost certainly get you stabbed in the back.”

“I hear you. I hear you and I disagree. I’m sorry, Jack,” said Rhys and shook his head apologetically. He was already imagining what would such a start of his day lead to.

“Oh my god, how can you not see that you have more in common with him than a skag and a grinder! He sees something in you, and that something makes him crave for your favor with such persistence. Just imagine how much you can squeeze out of him if you give him the tiniest thing in return. It’s simply a gold mine!”

“He wants us to merge, that’s enough of a reason for me to refuse him,” said Rhys with utter disgust.

“So what? Don’t worry about that, cupcake, you’ve got me, and I’m here to help. Who says we’re gonna merge?” Noticing how Rhys was shaking his head again, Jack leaned closer, trying to make the atmosphere more… companionable, and continued in a calmer voice. “Believe me, I know that Atlas is your child and you would never sacrifice it. We’re gonna… adjust the conditions a little, little tiny bit. No merge, only the alliance. How does that sound?”

Rhys thought that Jack was once again confirming what a masterful negotiator he was. No matter what objections Rhys had, he always did his homework and learned his weaknesses. The long-forgotten feeling of a threat sitting right at his side returned to Rhys as he caught himself thinking over the possibility of allying with Maliwan. Don’t budge, Rhys, don’t let him see that you have second thoughts, he’ll eat you alive.

“Completely unachievable,” he was only able to utter.

“Come on, stop screwing around, will you? You’re wasting time with your fidelity to stupid principles. Have I ever given you any bad advice?”

Rhys chose not to say anything. It was as good an answer as any other. The leftover coffee in his mug already went cold and he frowned in disgust when sipping on it.

“Okay then, I’m beginning to grow real tired of this, so you better listen here, you little dipshit, and listen carefully…” Jack’s tone was once again peremptory and his eyes were drilling into Rhys’s soul. “I’m tryna help here, so stop pretending you’re a princess who lives in a tower filled with her little cute ponies and chooses to believe there’s no filth around her. Just do what I say and you’ll be on your road trip to success. And you’ll thank me later, believe me. If you choose not to do this, however, I’ll follow you around all the time, saying what a sore loser you are. All day, all night, Rhysie. You know me, I’m restless, and I can come up with millions of ways to make you hate your life. You won’t sleep, you won’t talk to anybody, you won’t eat your fucking lunch without me standing one centimeter away from your ear, whispering how much you suck. Now let that sink in. Once it has, give me your final answer.”

Jack’s eyes were glowing. His whole body was glowing because he was a hologram, that’s just what holograms do. Yet even though it was his permanent state, an unchangeable condition, his eyes looked different.

He really is serious, thought Rhys to himself. Well then, guess I’m going to die of starvation, sleep deprivation, and lack of human contact.

“Fuck you, Jack. Fuck. You.”

“Is that a yes?”

#borderlands #borderlands 3 #tales from the borderlands #handsome jack #handsome jack's ai #rhys #rhys strongfork #handsome jack x rhys #fiction #fanfiction #fix-it #alternate canon #drama #humor #romance #l'appel du vide story

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jacensolodjo · 3 years

Text

Kinda spoilers for Pacific Rim the Black

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

I arrived in third class on the train from Vladivostok.

She was eight years old when the Kaiju War supposedly ended and had grown up trying so hard to reach the sea. Every time she heard the Kaidanovskys were going off to defend the Siberian Wall, she tried to go and watch. She got closest during the fight with KM-24 off the Kamchatka Peninsula.

She had named the kaiju Kamchatka Mat. It was as good a name as any. If she had been able to cross the Sea of Okhotsk, she would have. But Vik’s grandparents stopped her, just as soon as she heard the trademark fog horn noise of Cherno Alpha.

“Vik, лапочка, you know the sea is nothing but death,” her grandmother chided her.

“But-- мама... папа!” she protested, furrowing her brows and reaching towards the sea with her free hand.

“When you’re older,” came the constant reminder. When she was older she could join the Kaidanovskys whenever she wanted, she was assured. Ignoring of course that Cherno was a 2-person jaeger. Surely once their child was old enough to fight too, they’d get a new jaeger? It was what her dreams said. And who said dreams had to never come true?

Until of course, Otachi and Leatherback shattered her dreams. At least she wasn’t alone in her mourning. The entire eastern Eurasian continent was in mourning. Not just for Cherno but for Crimson Typhoon as well. The Wei Triplets had, for a while, been considered merely adrift in the water. A thorough search when all was said and done proved it false. They were sadly as dead as the Kaidanovskys.

Vik spent years letting her indignation, her rage, fester. Let it hone her into an edge. Because no matter what anyone else wanted to say, the Kaiju weren’t gone for good. And she would get her revenge.

She started in Vladivostok, the Kaidanovskys home turf. It was the one place she knew she would get the answers she needed: how they truly fought, how they Drifted. When you’re older had finally come to pass. She was older. And she was ready. It had closed back in 2024, but she found the mothballed remaining jaegers that had been considered less than worth moving to Hong Kong. It was Russian government property, but she had managed to wiggle her way into it. She had an apartment in the city proper, and for all intents and purposes she was only a student. Eden Assassin and Nova Hyperion had been Cherno’s siblings. Now, she used Eden Assassin to connect with the PPDC network, to find the files she wanted.

“New Ranger cadet detected. File not found.”

“I’m brand new, Eden. You’ve been asleep a while.”

“My chronometer indicates it has been eleven years since last activation,” Eden’s VI confirmed, but sounded slightly confused somehow.

“Yeah, we supposedly won the war after shuttering most of the Shatterdomes including yours. I need Cherno.”

“Cherno Alpha was killed in action,” Eden chirped after a slight delay for it to access the records.

“Yes, but Cherno’s Rangers’ battles are saved, right?”

“Aleksis and Sasha Kaidanovsky, married--”

“Yes, yes. I know who they are. Do you have their battles in your network or not?”

Vik was getting impatient. And she was sure she would be found out sooner rather than later. The Russian government may not care much about Vladivostok, but they cared enough to know the tech could be valuable. And just because they had not stripped it yet didn’t mean they were going to let a third party do it.

“I do. I have over eight battles in the data bank, including the final one against the Kaiju codenamed Leatherback and Otachi.”

“What about the kaiju named Kamchatka Mat?”

“I apologize but I do not have anything in my record about a Kamchatka Mat.”

Vik swore under her breath. No one else called it that, she forgot.

“KM-24! The kaiju was identified as KM-24!” she shouted, fists thunking on the bulkhead of the conn pod. She was getting antsy now.

“One record found: Cherno Alpha versus kaiju codenamed KM-24,” Eden confirmed.

“Cue up their Drift record,” Vik ordered before walking over to the right hemisphere of the conn pod and activating the process to get suited and plugged into the jaeger.

“It is not recommended for a cadet to Drift with the records of two Rangers--” Eden began to explain.

“I don’t care. Just do it!” It didn’t even matter she had only Drifted once before. And that had only been outside of a conn pod and was practically a game.

“Cadet, I must insist--”

“Eden, not one more word unless it’s ‘Record cued’,” Vik snapped just before the helmet clicked into place.

“...Record cued. Drift initiating.”

If Vik had expected everything to feel serene, for all her questions to be answered, she was wrong.

She didn’t feel panicked, however. She felt steely determination.

“This kaiju will be done before dinner,” Sasha said, smirking. She looked over at her husband who grinned back. The bear and the wolf of Siberia. The Ukrainian hard house they so loved provided a steady soundtrack.

Vik couldn’t believe it. They both radiated so much strength, so much confidence. She could feel her control faltering as she thought back to only being able to hear the fog horn that day. The Drift was strong, but she was determined to be stronger. Her gaze turned to the screen as the kaiju erupted from the water with a roar that made Vik’s skull feel too small for her brain. It was huge. It almost towered over Cherno Alpha.

“Let’s slug ‘em down,” Sasha said, chuckling. Aleksis laughed with her.

Vik couldn’t believe they were actually laughing. Everyone else nearly fainted from fear but these two legends were laughing. She knew Rangers were above and beyond but they had to be the best of the Rangers. Of course, she knew that. But to see it, feel it in the Drift?

Still laughing, they charged forward with the fog horn going like a train going past a crossing. When Cherno’s fists collided with the kaiju, the entire conn-pod shook violently.

Vik gasped out from the pain of being slung about the conn pod, not used to the sensation at all. She ignored it the best she could, knowing Sasha would never let herself feel winded or deal with the pain until the battle was done with. She was still frantic, however, knowing that time was ticking away. This might be her only chance to really see them in battle. And she could be found out at any time.

KM-24, mentally codenamed Kamchatka Mat, roared louder than the fog horn before chomping down hard on Cherno’s right arm. Sasha snarled in pain and Vik couldn’t help but snarl with her, feeling the pain through the secondary Drift. Aleksis howled in rage before sending the left Z14 fist crashing down on the Kaiju. Vik watched as the electricity shot through the Kaiju’s head. It seemed stunned and its hold on Sasha’s arm disappeared. It collapsed into the water, sending a giant wave spraying up and covering Cherno.

Vik groaned, gasping from the pain, staring at her arm that was completely fine but also didn’t feel fine.

As one, the pair sent a crushing headbutt to the Kaiju when it began to stand back up. Kaiju blood sprayed everywhere as half of its jaw was removed and went spinning into the distance to land who knew where.

Vik couldn’t help but whoop in amazement and triumph. Then suddenly she was being flung backward in the conn pod and pain slashed through her whole body.

All three Slavs screamed in pain and outrage. How dare the kaiju slash through the belly of the jaeger? It scratched the conn pod, sending all systems screeching in alarm. One more blow and the conn pod would be breached.

“Cherno, ведмежатко, just hang in there a little while longer,” Sasha cooed to the jaeger as if to a child.

“Wound is severe,” Cherno’s AI rumbled over the Ukrainian hard house. Vik half-expected the AI to use the word ‘mother’ after how Sasha spoke to... him.

“So we hit it back, even harder!” Aleksis growled as he sent his fist crashing into what remained of the kaiju’s jaw. Cherno’s horn went off again almost as a victory cry when the Kaiju was actually lifted up out of the water and flung a good number of meters backward.

Vik yelled in surprise as suddenly Cherno was in the air. But it was on purpose. It... he had leaped towards its target, landing hard on top of the fallen kaiju. Cherno found what remained of its head and pounded what remained until it was practically just a handful of mush. Vik had never seen so much gore before. The Kaidanovskys didn’t revel in it but neither did they shy away from it. She liked that. It was exactly how she wanted to be.

“Error! Error!” Eden suddenly yelled out. And just like that Vik was being yanked out of the Drift. She screamed in outrage before stepping out of the rigging.

“Eden! What the hell?” Vik demanded.

“Intruders detected. Not Kaiju. Recommend a tactical retreat,” Eden said. Vik couldn’t believe the VI was actually helping like this.

“I’ll be back. I promise! And... thank you, Eden,” Vik said before she was scrambling out of the mothballed jaeger’s conn pod.

“Of course, cadet. I will be here upon your return.”

That one battle was not enough. She needed more. She needed to be with them in the Drift for far longer. She needed to be a great Ranger. The Kaiju would be coming back and they all had to be ready. And she would be. At least she would be.

----

Translations in order

лапочка = sweetheart мама... папа = Mama and papa ведмежатко = little bear (this is Ukrainian not Russian for head canon reasons that at the least Aleksis is Ukr not Russki and both of them speak Ukr instead of Russki while alone and of course when talking to Cherno esp. w/ the etymology of Cherno Alpha and Chernobyl and Chernobog)

#pacific rim uprising #pacific rim #sasha kaidanovsky #aleksis kaidanovsky #viktoriya malikova #cherno alpha #vik #my writing #the kaidanovskys #otp: wedded russians #Текст #long post

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thenightling · 3 years

Text

The Dreaming (2018) in a nut shell

Full plot of The Dreaming (2018 run). This is copied and pasted from a Discord conversation because I didn’t feel like repeating myself... That’s also why it’s a bit disjointed.

I'll explain the whole plot as best I can, bear with me. There's this monstress named Dora living in The Dreaming, and she's got a chip on her shoulder since Morpheus had once promised her she'd never have to be afraid ever again and that was shortly before The Kindly Ones. Anyway, she's been haunting the dream of this woman dying of throat cancer (revealed to be Rose's mother). Daniel goes MIA and doesn't seem to want to be found.

Suddenly these "blanks" generic looking humanoid enterities start pouring in from cracks in the dreaming. Mervyn invents a racial slur for them of Soggies (totally not "wet backs").

While Daniel is gone Judge Gallows (another old DC horror host) takes over The Dreaming and promises to make The dreaming great again.

Dora befriends one of the blanks who is very child-like and names him Ziggy. Merv starts penning them up on behalf of Judge Gallows and even attempts to lynch Ziggy.

Merv has a grudge. Shortly before Judge Gallows took over Lucien used the helm to un-create Merv's friends right on the steps of the caslte and it was implied to be out of spite

("I did warn you." - said by Lucien). It's a "They took our jobs" thing, apparently. The blanks are more efficient. No immigration metaphors here, nope.

Lucien is apparently slowly losing his mind / going senile. He can't remember anything. Eventually Judge Gallows gets defeated and replaced with this weird AI, yes an AI named Wan. WAN, as it turns out was created by this character who looks suspiciously like Steve Jobs. Actual character name: Hyperion Keter.

Totally not Steve Jobs had a nightmare decades before where Dora was attacking him. he had confronted her in the dream and told her she's not real. This caused her to have an existential crisis and flee into The Dreaming where Morpheus had tended to her and sealed her own memories to protect her mind. He also hid the newly re-created ruby dreamstone inside her to aid her until she no longer needed it.

Steve Jobs-Knock-off guy creates Wan with the intention of invading and conquering The dreaming. He thinks all the ills of humanity come from dreams. Greed, superstition, religious zealousness. Oh, by the way, Judge Gallows heavily indicates that Morpheus caused the civil war and holocaust by creating him (Judge Gallows) to prey on man's fear of "The other". So anyway, while that was going on Daniel was playing human and dating Ivy. Steve Jobs sends some occultists to steal a lock of Ivy's hair to control her. Ivy gets upset when Daniel won't let her tattoo him since she's a tattoo artist. (that's where I grew to hate her). She doesn’t accept no means no with his bodily autonomy. Daniel apologizes to her and proposes marriage. He gives her an emerald ring.

The occultists (working out of Fawny Rig) control Ivy and she gives Daniel a dream catcher / tree of life tattoo that works as a geas to bar him from The Dreaming and prevent him from calling out for help.

Ivy tries to "apologize" by giving him a cup of tea but it turns out to be poisoned. Desire (or what appears to be Desire, it might be posthumous Morpheus in disguise, the face is always partly hidden and he's very thin) warns Rose of what's going on and Rose slaps the drink from Daniel's hand but he's already had a taste. Daniel, freaks the f--k out.

A dog walker eats his own fingers right there on the beach. Someone screams until their vocal chords burst in their throat. Daniel is maming and mutilating right and left (and this is NOT where those partiers were killed, that was earlier and said very nonchalantly during the dating montage. Daniel made some drunk bachelor party guys who cat called Ivy walk into the ocean and drown... I think he killed the entire party...)

Daniel finds the occultists and traps them all in terrible nightmare half-concious states but still weakened and unable to return to The Dreaming he goes to apologize to Ivy, knowing she was being controlled but it's too late, she's ODed and brain dead.

He takes her soul with him to flee to another universe.

Dora, meanwhile, gets a hold of Destruction's sword, briefly meets up with Nuala (who has learned Titania's true name thanks to Daniel stopping by for help with the fae). Daniel gets the egg that Titania has from back during the original Books of Magic, this is the "Mundane Egg" able to open or create another universe.

Anyway, back in The Dreaming Wan (the AI) is trying to run things and doesn't know it has a secret dark side programming to destroy the place.

Wan legitimately wants to do good and blacks out when the other side takes over. An AI with a split personality. Wan talks Abel into taking the initiative and kill Cain...

Cain does not revive. Wan also digitizes the entire dreaming library because of Lucien's memory problems. Lucien decides he wants to die.

Abel scooped out Matthew's eyes with a spoon and gives him his own eyes so Matthew can see what he sses, the secret that Wan is destroying The Dreaming. Matthew with giant human eyes sticking out of his tiny raven head, Abel (whose eyes grow back), and Dora, head out to save the dreaming.

Cain, meanwhile, his soul was uploaded into an AI at the home of Not-Steve Jobs. So he's there. The heroes make their way there and learn the story of why things are happening. Poor not-Steve Jobs was dying of cancer (this was really tasteless to model him after Steve jobs). And Daniel briefly came to him, showing him what he was destroying in destroying The Dreaming, Hyperion tried to set things right but his own minion stopped him.

Dora shows up and accidentally shuts down Steve's life support system. Rose gets told more exposition dump from "Desire" (I'm telling you, there are clues it's actually Morpheus) She hijacks a bus to get to Steve Jobs' place. Here we discover the re-created ruby dream stone was inside Dora the whole time. Lucien, meanwhile, had tried to be re-abosrbed into The Dreaming with the help of his dream friends (eve, Merv, etc). And he has a brief visit with Death who introduces him to Steve Jobs and gives him a special book that has all of Lucien's lost memories. Dora returns to The dreaming with the dream stone, and her, Lucien, and the other dream folk are able to summon Daniel back, breaking the geas spell he was under (Ivy is left behind).

Dora is a Night Hag, by the way. That was her big secret besides having the ruby in her. They kept harping on how special she was, that she wasn't like the others in the Dreaming. ...she was a Night hag, that's it. They kept going on about her being special, this big secret, she's a night hag. Eve delviers a line I cannot forgive. She says something like "We were worried he only kept us around out of laziness or loneliness. We were wrong." They were HAPPY they were there as a failsafe, as tools in case he got captured again in the waking world. They would rather be tools than for someone to want them around out of loneliness?! Daniel uncreates Wan but as Wan begns to fade the good side of Wan helps Daniel set things right and apologizes for its other personality. Daniel erases Rose's memory of the entire adventure (which I think is bullshit). She lost her f--king daughter, you asshole! And Lucien learns to be 'More assertive" and when Daniel requests he come to the throne room so he can thank them formally Lucien says no, because he's drinking with Dora.

"character growth" TM

hated Simon's run of The Dreaming but not as much as I hate Caitlin R. Kiernan's.

Dreaming Waking Hours is about a Nightmare named Ruin who escapes to the waking world because he's fallen in love with a mortal. It's so much better but all the events of Simon's Dreaming are still canon so that's a problem. The villain being modeled after Steve Jobs even if he sees the error of his ways in the end was totally tasteless. My hands ache from writing all that out...

Oh, and Cain is back to normal (for him) he and Abel took turns in a sort of tag team tormenting the tech support for Wan, via nightmares. So they couldn't intervene in stopping the destruction of the AI. That was actually a fun scene. "There will be no tech support today." Cain shows up with a chainsaw.

Also the reason "not Steve Jobs" knew about Dream was because he found a journal from an occultist at a garage sale that described Morpheus' capture.

I think I'm still traumatized from reading it, especially the early issues where Merv was used as a Trump supporter allegory. And Abel did give Matthew back his normal raven eyes while they were in Steve Job's house. Though don't ask me how Abel even did the initial eye surgery of putting his eyes in Matthew while he was blinded.

Someone tried telling me Simon Spurrier wasn't trying for a Republican metaphor, he was making a commentary on the Tories How is that better?!?

It's still a very dated political reference.

#The Dreaming #The Sandman Universe

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atlascompanymanrs · 4 years

Text

Guilty or Innocent

Asked someone to marry you? - “Innocent. None of my relationships have ever gotten to that point. Not that I haven’t thought about it, but no. Never done it.”

Kissed one of your friends? - “Guilty. Vaughn and I have shared a few kisses. Nothing too hot and heavy, cause he’s not like that. But... eh. Happened.”

Danced on a table in a bar / tavern? - “Guilty. Pretty sure it’s the real reason I crashed Helios. No one will ever see those videos again.”

Ever told a lie? - “Guilty. There’s no telling how many I’ve had to tell... But I’ve told a lot.”

Had feelings for someone you can’t have? - “Oh so Guilty. Pretty sure everyone knows his name too, so I won’t go into details.”

Ever kissed someone of the same sex? - “Guilty. Especially since I’ve had more ex-boyfriends then girlfriends.”

Kissed a picture? - “Innocent. Yeah... that’s a bit creepy.”

Slept until 5pm? - “Guilty.”

Worked at a restaurant? - “Innocent. First job was a mail clerk at Hyperion... then I was there until I took Atlas.”

Stolen something? - “Guilty. ID drive, AI program, Hyperion, and well.. I did sort of steal Atlas.”

Been fired from a job? - “Guilty? Technically Vasquez had be fired... but then Jack made me President of Hyperion so that might have undone that? I don’t know if it counts.”

Done something you regret? - “Guilty. I dropped a space station full of people onto a planet... yes I have done somethings I regret.”

Laughed until something you were drinking came out of your nose? - “Guilty.”

Caught a snowflake on your tongue? - “Innocent. My home planet was too warm for snow, so I pretty much avoid it. I don’t do so well in the cold.”

Sat on a roof top? - “Guilty. I love to go to the roof of the Atlas HQ and watch the city light up at night.”

Kissed someone you shouldn’t have? - “Guilty. Pretty sure it’s what got me in my last huge mess.”

Sang in the shower? - “Guilty. Vaughn used to leave the apartment when I went to shower. Apparently I’m loud and can’t carry a tune.”

Been pushed into a body of water with all your clothes on? - “Guilty. I’ve also jumped into a pool with all my clothes on.”

Shaved your head? - “Innocent. Do not touch my hair.”

Made a boyfriend / girlfriend cry? - “Innocent. I’ve had them make me cry though.”

Shot a gun? - “Guilty. I’m the CEO of a weapons manufacturer. Yes I know how to shoot a gun, stop asking.”

Still loved someone you shouldn’t? - “Guilty. Jack.”

Have / had a tattoo? - “Guilty. Goes from my neck all the way down my left side to my foot.”

Liked someone, but will never tell who? - “Guilty. Oops.”

Been too honest? - “Guilty. Lost my last serious relationship because of it.”

Ruined a surprise? - “Innocent. Most people don’t tell me surprise things, so I can’t ruin them.”

Been told that you’re beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said? - “Innocent? Pretty sure no one finds me beautiful.”

Stalked someone? - “.... Innocent. It wasn’t stalking. I worked for him. Totally different.”

Thoughts about murder? - “Guilty.”

How about mass murder? - “Guilty.”

Cheated on someone? - “Innocent. Never. In. A. Million. Years.”

Gotten so angry that you cried? - “Sort of both. Because of damage to my head, which lead to my Echo-Eye, my tear ducts don’t work the way they should. Have I gotten so angry I wanted to cry? Yes. But I can’t actually cry.”

Tried to stay away from someone for their own good? - “Guilty. I left my best friend on a killer planet... because it’s safer than coming with me to Promethea.”

Thoughts about suicide? - “Guilty.”

Had a girlfriend / boyfriend? - “Guilty. I’ve had both.”

Gotten totally drunk during a holiday? - “Guilty. Mercenary Day, probably every year since I first tasted alcohol.”

#muse; headcanons

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