#i hate vace so much

[junoskelton]

not enough people in the world understand me nor the loves of my life marz and rex in i was a teenage exocolonist.

they mean the world to me and not enough people know about them.

i would do anything for the both of them there's not anything i wouldn't do for them.

please play this game it's so good i promise you, i so desperately want nothing more than to fill their tags on tumblr with posts and stuff because more people should know about them.

Less than 5k reviews on Steam, i want this shit to be so popular that everyone knows about it so help me god.

[piratespencil]

Holoposters and Hopeyes

Fandom: I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

Rating: Teen & Up

Relationships: Sol/Vace

“You know,” Sol says softly, their eyes taking on that strange and dreamy look they sometimes have. “In all the times I’ve known you, I don’t think you’ve ever told me what happened to your arm.” Sol says things like this, sometimes. Weird turns of phrase. All the times I’ve known you, not time. Vace has tried to ask them about it, but they always brush it off. He’s learned not to ask—it’s just another one of Sol’s quirks, something else that makes them seem… different, in a way that made Vace hate them just as much as all the other Strato weirdoes so many years ago, but that makes them so intriguing now. Endearing, even. A quiet moment of vulnerability between Vace and Sol.

Read it on AO3

(I just finished my Vace run—which I went into mainly because I wanted to know more about Vace and I knew I’d never befriend him in a normal run—and came out of it with a lot of thoughts about this guy. I thought it was strange that the game never really brings up his arm or how he feels about it, so I threw together some headcanons...

This is definitely set after several years of Vace going to therapy/growing as a person, but I think he could get to this point. I like to think he could. 😊 I’ve only done a couple runs, so apologies for any inaccuracies or inconsistencies!)

[thewarinourstarwars]

Kiss of Death Run

Or that time when Sol's lovers would not stop dying

So I don't have this save anymore, but this was when I was trying to befriend Vace, the third time, and failed to have enough empathy to get his good ending, so I ended up going after first Dys, who is my favorite romance as I was sick of the person Sol had become to get that far with Vace. Felt like nature was healing, y'know?

Problem was, I forgot about the bomb. oops. I hadn't gotten the Gardener ending for Dys, though, so decided to see it through (I hate it so much, btw) and with Dys gone, I decide to throw myself into the arms of Sym.

I didn't get enough reasoning, so Sym died to save humanity in the end negotiations.

My end card? I somehow got Utopia to romance me, with a string of dead lovers behind my Sol.

Never change, girl.

[nordictwin]

30th Birthday Fic Sneak Peak Surprise!

I have officially made it 30 years on this world today! So to distract myself from the horrors of this stark reminder of my own existence, I decided, I wanted to do a little something for you guys!

And what better way than sneak peaks to more or less all my current WIPs? Some for well-known projects, some for yet-to-be-published ideas!

So without further ado - prepare for sneak peaks of six WIPs!

IWATEX - Fragmented Futures not-quite-canon one shot - Sickly Sol

CW: mentions of disease, emergency medical help

The alarms are blaring, and Cal is hit with the crushing realization that there’s no time left.

For all of their hard work to negotiate with the Gardeners, for all of their efforts in making them wait (not forever, just long enough to make the medicine Sol desperately needs), it’s all been for naught.

And then it hits him even harder.

Sol.

Sol!

Shit shit shit shit, SOL!

Sol is still in their room!

Sol is still in their fucking room, hooked up to fluids and likely in too much pain to move at more than a snail’s pace and-

“CAL!”

He looks up and there’s Vace and Nem, sprinting straight at him with rope, blankets and… a gurney?

“Get your butt in gear, farmer boy!” Nem calls out to him, seconds before Vace all but snags him off of his feet, forcing him into the fastest he’s ever run before, heading straight towards-

Oh, of course.

“Rex is on his way with one of those hover-wheelbarrows!” She calls over her shoulder, somehow not sounding winded at all. “We’ll use that to transport ‘em! Vace, you’ll help me secure and lower them. Cal, you’re on catching and transport duty with Rex! I’ve got Tammy and Tang at the ready with Doc Magenta in the bunker emergency medical room - now let’s get moving!”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

Though Cal high-key hates that he’s acting like a soldier at this moment, the part of him that’s scared shitless about Sol doesn’t give a single flying fuck. Because Nem is in full medic-mode and she’s got a plan and damn it all they’re going to do this.

They’re going to rescue Sol!

Vace gets to Sol’s balcony first, long-legged bastard that he is. “Look alive, Rec-room!” Vace shouts over the din, crouching down with his hands out, and Cal knows exactly what he wants him to do.

“The Recalcitrance is ready for take-off, Olive-oil!” He shouts right back, makes a small jump, foot landing in Vace’s cupped hands and-

Up.

He.

Goes.

~~~~~~~~

IWATEX - The Tragedy of the Exocolony on Vertumna IV - chapter 22:

CW: child birth, still birth, teenage pregnancy.

At age 15, Tammy gives birth for the first time.

Not to a baby.

Well…

Not to a living one.

She looks down at the tiny little would-be life cradled in the crook of her arm. With a little curl of green-pink hair on her head, unmoving little limbs, and skin way too pale and fragile body way too cold.

Chest not moving.

Dead before she made it into the world.

Oh.

Oh.

She sits there at the root of her flower, at the root of the Tree of Life itself, the very heart of the Glimmering Glade, the very heart of everything her world has become.

This is a place where life springs eternal. Where it should overflow.

No death, no pain, no suffering. None of those all too human things.

So why- why…….. why……………

“Oh, Tammy”.

Cal is sturdy behind her. He held her all throughout the birth. But it’s his voice breaking that breaks her.

Why. 

“WHY??????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

~~~~~~~~

IWATEX - Choosing Clothes - one shot:

It’s not that Flulu dislikes morning meetings. She’s aware that she, as Chief Cultivator, needs to keep the colony updated on their food situation.

It’s just that she’s also very aware that their food situation is bad, and she feels so much more useful actually being out in the fields, rather than spend hours upon hours discussing the state of the colony with the council.

That Governor Eudicot keeps her even longer after, just to discuss some topic from earlier in the meeting she can barely even remember, just adds even more to the heavy burden she’s already feeling, and it’s not even lunchtime yet.

She’s not aware she’s got someone waiting for her outside of the doors to Command, until Antecedent opens the door to leave and speaks up.

“Oh! Why, hello there Solanaceae. What are you doing here?”

Her head whips towards the door immediately, cutting off the governor mid-sentence. Sure enough, there’s that familiar mop of teal and yellow peeking around the edge of the door.

~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere University - Something Else - part 25:

The green door that stands before her is more imposing than any grand gate she’s ever seen before.

More intimidating than the Moon Empress’ staircase, more foreboding than the Goblin King’s Castle’s front entrance, more nerve wracking than the entry-gates to any ice rink before a contest.

This quaint, delicately carved wooden door, with its spiderweb and vine patterns and intricate matching brass handle- and knocker set…

It almost stops her heart dead.

The Grand Mother is behind that door.

Her however-many-times great grandmother. The first Other.

And the Royal Seamstress.

.

.

.

Her heart is pounding like a thousand galloping horses, her breath feels like fire in her lungs, and her fingertips feel as if she’s held the hand of a Winter Courtier for an entire day.

She doesn’t want to be here.

She knows what the Grand Mother thinks of her mother. She knows that she’s something completely new and different in her ancient bloodline. 

What she doesn’t know is what the matriarch of her mother’s family thinks of her. The Else born from the Other.

Will the hatred, the disdain and disapproval, carry over to her? Will she sneer and scoff at having to answer to her? A tiny slip of a girl with no experience whatsoever in any sort of royalty or-

The door swings open.

The door swings open, and a deep, smooth voice flows from within the room.

“Well, are you going to just stand there, Child, or are you going to come in and greet me properly?”

……….Welp.

~~~~~~~~

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - Of Powerful Fathers and Wise Daughters - chapter 3:

Of all the things to inherit, why’d she have to get his temper? The thoughts swirl in his mind as he digs through ancient chests, sorting through clothes worn by her siblings, long gone as they are.

Of course, Adzel had had a fierce temper of her own, but it was just that - tempered. Like fine steel, polished to a shine.

His daughter’s temperament appears to be a direct copy of his. Sharp, always ready to strike out at any slight. But where he’s learned to control and hone it and make sure his attacks are precise, she has not yet obtained that skill.

Well… not like any of the children he had a hand in raising were easy.

The way she had flinched away from him, however, at the clear realization that his own temper is formidable and he is someone to fear (his own mind rattling with the vivid memory of how delicate her neck had been under his hand), had served as a stark reminder of why being soft is not a possibility for him.

Danger and darkness follows his every footstep, and the blood of Hylia is very strong in his child, even more so now that Wisdom has settled upon her soul.

So he’d removed himself from the room, distracting the call of Demise with other more pressing matters.

~~~~~~~~

Witch Hat Atelier - Winter is for Weaving:

It is snowing.

Big, heavy flakes fall from the sky, covering the land in a thick, all-encompassing blanket of silence.

Outside, it is still. No animals or people to be seen for miles and miles. Just the snow and the darkness ever so slowly enveloping the landscape, despite it being barely after midday.

Deep Winter is upon the land. 

For a few more weeks, it will get darker and darker and bitterly cold, until they have one day, where the sun barely peeks above the horizon - then it will get lighter again, heralding the coming of spring.

“Indeed,” Qifrey thinks to himself looking out at the stillness. “This is no time for anyone, witches or otherwise, to be out and about”.

Fortunately, the Atelier is warm and cozy inside, with plenty of things to do for witches and keep them busy and occupied…

“But,” he muses, looking at the three little piles of pillows and blankets all gathered by the fire, “that doesn’t mean much of anything will be done, does it?”

(The fact that he himself is currently wrapped in a blanket with a warming stone tucked away and a steaming mug of tea at his side, barely paying attention to the letter he’s supposed to be writing a reply to, isn’t lost to him).

[writingfandomsandthings]

Rex pays little mind to the strange dreams he's had all his life, even as they get more intense when he gets older and older.

They're dreams, he really shouldn't mind them so much.

(Something deep within him whines in fear because he knows in his heart of hearts he's putting off something he shouldn't)

He goes through life again.

And again.

And again.

Sometimes it goes well, sometimes not so much.

Sometimes there is music and love and a chance and sometimes there are broken boards and blood in his mouth and a planet devouring.

Eventually, Rex reaches a point where he is tired. So tired.

He tells people. He does things. He nudges.

It takes him awhile to figure out what he could do.

(There are times when he plays the military brat better than Vace and those dreams itch so much)

(Rex doesn't like to remember them beyond wild nightmares)

(Because what does that mean about him that he was a trained dog?)

Rex reaches out to Vace earlier - it doesn't always work - with kindness and empathy and decidedly a soft soldierness Vace never quite learns how to react to.

In the timelines Vace does take his hand, instead of batting it away or shattering his arm, Vace finds someone to ground him and Rex finds someone to guide.

(A guide, a righthand man, a leader with smiles and grins in the dark)

Vace needs help to temper his tongue and his knuckles. Rex needs help steeling his teeth and dressing his heart.

(Nomi-Nomi is perplexed, but they're still friends...right?)

There is a tether binding Rex and Vace (not a leash, never a leash, they learned to give and give) all the way to the surface of Vertumna. Rex smiles and grins and turns on the charm - Vace smirks and poses and breaks all the records.

Vace is a model soldier as the wormhole approaches.

Rex is a model advisor, growing a tactical mind, even as the nightmares return.

The Stratos colony is limping and hurting below them. Vace and Rex are still space kids in space.

And space - is crushing them, because Helios is burning.

Vace is thriving. He is no longer just a model soldier, but a leader and a warrior commanding the troops through a crisis. Rex finds ways to protect and hide and enable courage in the civilians.

The chain of command is dead.

Baculum was getting lead of the ship.

How was Lum the one left???

Lum. Arrogant, sniveling, bad at leading Lum. He was a poster boy for everything Rex hated on the ship.

(Rex felt something churn and burn in his gut with the ship)

Lum barked orders, yelled as people broke fingers.

He wasn't going to save Helios.

(Except, sometimes, he took credit against all odds)

Vace was mired in leading and saving the ship.

Nomi-Nomi was mired in fixing the ship as the wormhole broke it.

Rex faced Lum. Lum faced Rex.

(Rex will never never talk about what happened next)

Lum did not survive the crash.

Lum did not survive the crash but Rex did. Vace did. And Nomi-Nomi did.

They find a limping and broken Stratos, a hostile Vertumna.

They build and rebuild and fight and break and Vace kills the Array.

(Rex ties his heart tighter)

Nomi-Nomi helps craft the city of their dreams, and Marz leads the way even when Vace bites at her Stratos hands.

(Rex will not talk about the Helios crash)

"I know what you did," Vace says as an old man. "It was the right decision."

(Rex tastes ash in his mouth)

"I know what you did," Nomi-Nomi says, wringing their hands in their middle years as Rex begins to decline. "We can talk about it, if you want."

(Lum's eyes had been wide as the door caved in)

Rex builds the colony of their dreams on a dead Array on a dead poster boy on a dead dream and death follows until he goes into the night.

(And he ignores and forgets as he is reborn and dreams because he can)

(Just like he could kill Lum for Helios)

--

Cross-posted on ao3 and pillowfort

[creepyfruit]

Favorite Exocolonist characters? And maybe least favorites if you have any?

I'll give you my character tier list (I decided to include only the kids idk maybe I'll make a separate one for adults)

Answer under the cut ↓

My least fav is obviously Vace. I don't think I need to elaborate but to make it clear l, I haven't ever tried to befriend him so I don't know much about him other than his obsession with killing things, being abusive and a bully.

Next I'll have to put Nomi Nomi not because I don't like them but simply because I've never went out of my way to befriend them so I don't really have an opinion.

Cal was my best friend in my first play through so it hurts me to put him so low but he deserves it. Listen mate I love animals as much as the average gal but you're doing too much. The victim blaming as well?? I'm sorry that I was born on a spaceship set to colonize an alien planet, what did you want me to do? Swim through space and go back to earth? Also your girlfriend's dad died a horrid death and that's still all you have to say? Pacifism isn't a good look on an environment like this one.

Rex is a great dude, there's nothing I dislike about him, he's just simply not as interesting as the others.

Tammy is also kind of on the same boat. I did have a lot of hearts with her on my second play through and helping her be more confident was a very enjoyable journey, she is obviously very kind and empathetic and that makes her incredibly likable. I wish she had some flaws to make a bit more realistic.

This is where things get tough because all the next characters are kinda close but Nem will have to take this one. I romanced her in my most recent play through and she really is just the cutest... until Kom dies and she adopts the whole Helio package. She did become slightly annoying even though I understand her trauma. It's good that you can help her grow out of it, that gives her bonus points. A fun character with some nice character development.

And here comes everyone's fav boy Dys. It took a lot of trying to befriend him, he made it very hard for me and I liked that. I liked how they made him weird and antisocial, he wasn't the misunderstood boy that no one likes but rather it's actually the opposite. His relationship with Tang is so beautifully complex I love every part of it although I still haven't gotten them to reconcile (that damn bar will be the death of me). I would have put him much lower if it wasn't for the exploration buddies relationship that he had with Sol because the most unlikable thing about him (that I honestly never understood) is his obsession with the gardeners. Maybe it's my lack of understanding or the fact that I never really went down that road (making him a gardener/befriending Sym) because it creeps me out but I just don't like his views on the subject. And also I hate his relationship with Sym, nothing cute about a 100+ yo alien praying on a 16 yo boy.

Marz is a character that I thought I was going to hate straight from my first play through. She seemed like the typical mean girl character, who's very pretty has a lot of money is obsessed with clothes and stuff and also bullies every one just because but she's not exactly like that. Sure she has kudos and status and loves her fashion but she has genuinely kind intentions behind her "bullying". She doesn't understand how words can hurt because due to her augument they can't hurt her, she thinks she's helping Dys fit in with her comments and she doesn't want him to be lonely. She's naturally a very commanding person and a true leader but she isn't looking for mindless sheep, she wants you to have self respect and a backbone and I love her for that. Also bonus points to our girl for helping us overthrow the government. I have to say though, all the above doesn't excuse the fact that she can be seriously mean sometimes, but we love her regardless.

My favourite girl, my sweet baby Tangent, who's gone through so much but no matter what you do she doesn't really get a happy ending. I had my eye on her the moment I saw her (her child sprite reminded me of Ino from Naruto that's why) and she was my first romance. Obviously that didn't end well cause my first ending turned out to be tangent's cure (I thought I was just helping my gf bro) and now I'm scared to even talk to her thinking I'll trigger it again but I love her non the less. She's such a complex character I could talk about her for days (special thanks to the person with the multiple tangent discussion posts) her relationship with Dys, the obviously toxic and abusive relationship with Instance, her importance to a whole colony at such a young age, the fact that she's held to adult standards which results in self harming habits and her loneliness, her struggle with mental illness and the death of her mother. I'm writing everything down in a synopsis pretty much because if I start I won't stop. I also love how this abusive relationship was handled compared to Nem and Vace. No matter what you say she won't see how bad Instance is for her and the product of all this abuse is ultimately horrible for her. It adds a realism that hurts to death but is necessary. I also adore her character because it gives us a reminder that not everyone gets a happy ending in life, sometimes the things people go through never really leave them, although admittedly I would kill to see my baby happy, she deserves it.

[deusexlachina]

Cheeseaged Exocolonist Age 16: Ascend to autistic godhood

Wherein I succeed at everything and try to befriend the worst child for the sake of perfection.

At this point you might be wondering why I went to so much trouble to purge out all the nonblue filth from my deck and to buy overpriced accessibility equipment. Now is the time for a showcase of the obscene power of stimming. (Why now? Because the last log was getting pretty long).

The skill checks in this game are all done via a kind of Poker game. The better your hand, the more points you get. High enough points, you succeed. Even more and you can get +1 to whatever skill that job trains. A good hand can be gotten in three ways: a flush (all the same colour), a pair (all the same number) or a straight (each card 1 greater than the last). We've eliminated our nonblue cards, so we always get a flush. The fidget spinner makes all blue cards wildcards - they can be worth whatever value would get the most points. So, if you have all blue wildcards, you can get a five-of-a-kind flush every hand.

This allows you to automatically succeed every single check, usually with flying colours (blue). There is no limit to the power of the fidget spinner. It trivializes every conceivable task, whether it's lugging around supplies:

Or helping in the kitchens:

With this power, I bravely explore the wilderness, doing countless feats of daring that are regrettably not interesting to write about. They give me a big blob of skills, though, most notably maxing out Perception, which allows me to just walk right past any event I don't like, which is most of them. This is almost as cracked as the fidget spinner: I can farm all the treasure in an area, go straight to the boss events, whatever I like. I am simply too autistic to be threatened.

Regrettably, a perfect run includes befriending Vace. This is one of the hardest challenges in the game, because Vace is an asshole. He sneers at you when you first meet. He bullies Rex. He cheats on Nem. And I'm sorry to say he only gets worse. But You Can Fix Him if you get his friendship high enough.

Unfortunately, even if you can stomach befriending Vace, it's monstrously difficult. Of the farmable gifts, the only ones he doesn't disapprove of are logs (which are badly needed for construction) and crystals (which are pretty rare). He also likes Strange Devices, ostensibly so that he can Know His Enemy. Oh, and cake. He loves cake. Even though he claims to hate it.

I repeatedly choose dialogue options that give me more Vace points, even though most of them are frankly nauseating. The devs set out to make the biggest asshole they could think of.

They succeeded.

[leastdatablebracket]

ROUND 3, MATCH 5

Propaganda under the cut!

Drake Walker

Propaganda

Jobless complainer with a codependent relationship with his best friend (Liam) who bitches about monarchy and nobility constantly, even though he benefits from staying at the royal castle for free. I think it might be mentioned once... in book 3 or the sequels that he actually does some work around the place... seems like something that the writers threw in to make Drake seem less like a useless freeloader. Rude as fuck for literal no reason, obsessed with being a man, he's chock full of toxic masculinity. Won't ice skate, hates the opera, won't drink wine or "girly" drinks, sees fancy food and I feel like he complains just for the hell of it. Just a general pill of a human to be around. Grown ass man (mid to late 20s) who hates the royal life so much, he can just leave! Get a job! Move out! He doesn't have to 24/7 be on call to emotionally support Liam! He can move into the city and call or visit his BFF whenever Liam is having a crisis or needs support or advice or whatever. Utterly ridiculous situation to have Drake there constantly hating on everything. Obsessed with manly stuff only like whiskey and eating BBQ or sloppy joes or some shit like that. Complained in the third book about a pink wedding cake (or decorations?), which caused Drake Walker stans to actually get angry (although he would literally do this, he 100% would bitch about pink) and the writers took out that line. I guess dissing on pink things was just Too Much finally for Drake Walker fans. You have to pay diamonds (the premium currency) to see the soft side of this RO, which is so hilarious to me... why would I ever pay diamonds to spend MORE time with this guy??? I don't need to see Drake's "soft for only one person" scenes, I need to punt him into the sun. Drake Walker fans used to be or still are insane so god help you if you put this horrible man in the bracket. Choices has really fallen though, they lost 90% of their tumblrinas when they introduced their subscription model, so you might avoid the DW discourse. 

His vibes are rancid 

The propaganda here is perfect, but to add a bit for Drake, at one point they rewrote some of the original game, and do you know how they tried to make Drake more likable? They made the main LI of the game, normally a sweetie, a jerk fuck boi. Like the only way the creators of Drake could think to make him more likable was to just make the other characters worse.

Vace

Propaganda

well you (the pollrunner) already know cause hes ur icon but i will say that at least he is meant to suck as a romantic partner with only one ending (two if you include astronaut) having him and sol (the player character) staying together on the other end tho there's three ways to start dating him one is to make him go to therapy n then start dating after he is no longer abusing his girlfriend (either breaking them up by convincing him to dump nemmie or convincing nemmie that hes the scumbag he is n she deserves better) another is to be his side piece and the third way is getting him so mad he drags sol off by the neck to beat the shit out of them with this event ending with either him n sol sleeping together (also causing him and nemmie to break up) sol getting the living daylights beat out of them (to the point they got knocked out n needed medical care) with the implicit threat of vace will do this again if they dont stay out of his way and sol avoiding both of those things but being so shaken by the experience that theyre struggling to breath until theyre outside and fully away from him which gives a very different undertone to hooking up with him in this event

[jami-theunknown]

I Was Alone (Vace x Sol)

I Was Alone.

I was alone. Growing up on the ship my mother didn’t want me and my father hated me. The only people I had were my comrades in training, and even then I became someone for them to look up to, not their friend. I was their commander not too long after. No longer someone to play games with, I was not a child. I was never a child.

I was alone when we landed on Vertumna. Nem was a great, strong and reliable soldier. Then she was a good girlfriend, until we fought so much we couldn’t recognize each other. I lost myself so much during that relationship, if I could turn back time and undo the damage I did to her, turn back the hurt, I would.

I was alone, until I met Sol.

Sol, a great soldier, fast, strong, steadfast in the heat of battle, there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do. I was impressed, I’d finally met my match and it was someone I wasn’t expecting, one of the Stratos. Sol was someone who didn’t back down from a fight, didn’t turn their face when danger reared around and snapped in their face. They stood tall and never wavered. 

Sol was alone too. Their mother had passed not too long before we had landed and their father almost right after succumbed to the pollen. But, even though they were alone like me, they never stopped smiling. They never stopped joking around with the others their age and never stopped trying to bring the people around them up. 

I didn’t get it. 

How could someone alone be like that? Someone who didn’t need others to be happy just needed to bring the others around them up. I couldn’t understand it and it made me want to be better than them even more than I did before. I had a new goal, not to let Sol pass me up. 

I trained all the time. I didn’t have time for anything or anyone else. Until Sol came in and challenged me to spar and they won. I didn’t get it, they trained but I trained more. I waited for them to gloat and hold the victory over my head, like the others would on the ship. But it never came. I looked at them and they were holding a hand out for me to take, and a smile. 

“You did really well, I could have lost if I wasn’t careful. You’re really strong Vace.” 

I didn’t understand, were they mocking me? It didn’t sound like mocking, it didn’t sound like gloating or like they were tricking me. I stared at them until they reached down and took my hand, not waiting for me to take theirs anymore. I didn’t know how to react, I didn’t know so I pulled away. No one showed me kindness that often and when they did they wanted something from me. Lum taught me that very well. But, Sol just laughed. 

“You’re like a Hopeye that just got sprayed with water.” They giggled, before taking my hand again and pulled me up without waiting. The others would think I’m weak, but when I looked around no one was watching the fight anymore. 

They worked hard alongside me and Nem until we were adults. I confided everything to them, they knew my darkest times and my deepest secrets. I expected to be met with judgment or pity but, never once got either of those. Just a nod and a pat on the shoulder. They never said much, just showed that they were there. 

Until they came to me about Nem. 

I had never seen judgment so heavy in their eyes, and anger. I’d seen their anger before when the aliens had broken through and killed our men. I’d seen their anger when Dys destroyed the wall and endangered them and Nem. But it was never directed toward me before. 

“What did you do, Vace?” 

I’d never felt pain like I did that day. I knew what Nem and I had was bad, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until Sol came to me and was going to kill me if I didn’t answer correctly. And so, I answered truthfully. 

“I don’t know.”

“I didn’t want to be alone.”

Two sentences I never thought I would ever say out loud. But it was Sol, I couldn’t lie to Sol because they could see right through me. They could break me open and stare inside me, taking everything from within and bringing it out where even I had to see it. They knew me, just like I knew them. 

I left Nem after that, it was what was best for the both of us in the end. I couldn’t hurt her anymore and that’s what mattered. Sol came to see me more often and made sure that I was not spiraling into some sort of sad, weak state. I was fine, truthfully. I hadn’t been alone in a long time at that point and it was freeing, until it wasn’t. 

Sol came to me one night after a battle with the Gardeners. They were exhausted and it showed. Their armor was in shambles and their clothes clung to their body due to their sweat. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I did what they would do for me. I put a hand on their shoulder and helped them to the shower. I took their armor and waited for them to be done. 

I didn’t realize how little I knew of Sol’s past until they came out in a towel and had scars on their body in places I hadn’t seen them hurt before. They caught me looking and then sighed. They looked away from me, turning their back and pulling a shirt over their head. 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” They threw a half, weak smile in my direction, it faded quickly. 

“You aren’t though. When did you get those? How did you get those?” They froze at my question, as if they weren’t expecting me to ask. They turned to look at me, frozen in place. Their expression was something I couldn’t read. 

“You changed this time..” They trailed off a bit. 

“What do you mean ‘this time’?” I tilted my head a them a bit, narrowing my eyes. “Do you know something I don’t?” They shook their head at me. 

“It’s late, we should-” I cut them off.

“You should tell me what is going on. I thought I knew everything about you, Sol. What aren’t you telling me? What happened to you?” They didn’t answer me for a long time, their head hung low, their expression was somber. I expected them to leave or cry or something of the sort, but they smiled softly. 

“You wouldn’t believe me. I don’t want to ruin our friendship this time, Vace. Just take what I say and go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow at training.” They kept their back to me and turned their head away fully now. They headed to the door, their hand reached for the holopad. I didn’t want to be alone and I didn’t want them to be alone either. I reacted before thinking and took their other hand in mine. 

“I would believe you if you told me this planet was orange and full of cotton candy. I would follow you to the end of the line. I would take on an army for you and then bring it’s leader’s head to you.” What was I saying? What was I doing? I turned them to face me, gently putting a finger under their chin and tilting their head up, to look me in the eyes. How long had they been holding things in for me? For everyone here?

“I would climb the tallest mountains and dig to depths uncharted for you. I would wrangle the sun closer to the planet if you were cold and fight the wormhole away when you are scared. I would tame the faceless and face down Noctilucent alone for you.” Their eyes held so much depth, fear and sadness mixed together, tears brimming the corners. “You aren’t alone, you will never be alone again so long as I’m here. I won’t let you be alone again.” I took them in my arms and held them to my chest. I don’t know what feelings were stirring in me to set me into such a place but, it felt right. 

“I couldn’t save them.. Again!” They finally cried out, sobbing into my chest. The person I had come to know to be so tough and strong, felt so small and weak in my arms. I held them tighter, afraid if I let go or showed any hesitance they would slip through my arms and fade away forever. “I couldn’t save Tonin or Kom,” They hit my chest, their fist clenched so tight they were starting to bleed. “Eudicot or Hal” They coughed a bit and I took one of their fists into my hand. “Or my parents!” They sobbed loudly as I took their other hand into mine and they hit their head on my chest. They took all the responsibility for those who had died? Why?

“How is that your fault? You were a kid in most of those instances. There wasn’t anything you could have done. They were doomed from the start, you had come to an alien plant in the middle of nowhere to start a new home, right? They knew the risks and came anyway. They knew they could die and-” It was their turn to cut me off. 

“You don’t get it Vace, I could have stopped it! I could have if I hadn’t ignored the visions and my dreams! If I would have listened and heeded the warnings of my past-” They hiccuped and coughed again. “If I would have tried harder-”

“You did the best you could with the circumstances presented to you.” I let one of their hands go to wipe the tears from their face. “I don’t really understand a lot of what you are talking about but, I know you. If you could have done something, you would have.” I put my forehead on theirs, putting my hand on the back of their neck. “I know you, as you are now.” 

They stared into my eyes, more tears spilled down their cheeks as they cried out and let the sobs wrack their body now. “But you don’t know my past-”

“I know you now. I know who you are now. You are Sol, the person who saved Nem, the person who fought a faceless on their own as a child, the person who pulled Cal out of danger and saved Tammy as a child, the person who..” I paused before sighing. “The person who saved me from becoming a monster like my own father. You wouldn’t let people die unless there was nothing you could have done.” I kept their head against mine and waited for them to catch their breath. “You are Sol, a good person who always does what is right. No matter how hard it is or who will get angry. You do what is right.” They continued to stare into my eyes, looking for something. Were they expecting something from me? When I raised my brow at them, they closed the distance between our lips. I didn’t hesitate to return their affections and closed my eyes, leaning down into them. I pulled them against me tighter and slid my tongue along their lower lip. 

I awoke in the morning, their head on my shoulder in my bed. I glanced down at them before lightly pulling them closer to me. I turned off the alarm that would have sounded for training. I didn’t need to go today, they wouldn’t need me. Sol needed me right now, and I needed them. I leaned over and planted a small kiss on their forehead before leaning my head back onto my pillow again. 

I was alone, until I met Sol.

[gildedwildwood]

While I do agree that Vace and Nems relationship is petty heavy handed, I do think there is some accuracy to the level of agency Sol has in their relationship compared to Instance and Tangents.

Vace and Nem are peers, and (if I’m remembering correctly) in order to break them up you have to have a very close relationship with Anemone, very solid charisma, or both.

You also have to catch it before you hit age 20. While they are still college-age teens. They aren’t married, there aren’t kids, she hasn’t yet been fully isolated from her friends and family (though it’s certainly started).

Sure, it’s probably easier than it is in real life, but it’s also not entirely out of the question that Anemone would heed the words of a very close lifelong friend, and dip while it’s still “red flag”.

Meanwhile- Instance is an adult member of the community. She’s not just Tangent’s mentor, she’s also your doctor, a friend of your parents, and she might be your mentor and/or teacher and/or boss.

Even if Sol does notice (and I do think that to some extent us as players noticing does mean that Sol as character is able to pick up on it.) Sol doesn’t have any agency to oust a prominent community member. It took a year of work to oust Lum and -everyone- hated him.

Because Sol is just a Teen. And Tangent is a Teen. And the other adults are all too busy trying to stop the colony from starving to pay attention to the emotional state that the kids are in.

With Anemone you can stick with her, and keep being friends despite her sliding face first into self-destruction, and if you have her loyalty you can convince her that the her shitty highschool/college boyfriend isn’t good for her.

With Tangent you can give her a hug, and be there when she doesn’t want to be alone, and soothe her migraine and help with her project, or talk with her about her feelings. You might even get her to reconcile with her brother. You can give her support until she has the agency to make her own choices.

For Anemone, Vace is one bad choice in a complex web of self destruction, and getting her away from him doesn’t necessarily stop that path entirely. It moves the needle, but he’s not the center of her story, just a figure in it.

For Tangent, her relationship with Instance on such a stark part of her relationship with science and herself. Her connection to Instance drives her passion for science. We see her through waves of burn out and dilemma, and it seems like at times she’s losing her passion until Instance calls her back to her work. Because Instance makes her a scientist, and being a Scientist is -who she is-.

Without Instance, Tangent would be a completely different person. From the first day we interact with her she’s already set her world view to match Instance. So the amount of influence we can have on it is minimal, we have to help Tang in other ways.

Without Vace, Anemone would still have lost Kom. Would still have come to conflict with Cal over his pacifism (we see this long before Helios drops). Would still fight with her mom about not wanting kids or babying. So we can help her cut him off, but so much of the rest is beyond our control.

In conclusion- I don’t know if I would say that one is better than the other at being a depiction of abuse. I think they both serve different purposes narratively, and the amount of agency we have to change the relationship is reflected in that.

Tangent and Instance thoughts/my Tangent theory. Spoilers for my two friends I just got into exocolonist; wait 'til you've seen the whole women's wrongs plot and then come back. @dillypillars I'm tagging you since you asked to hear my Instance thoughts.

Tangent is an abused child. Before anything else, before she's an amoral scientist or a workaholic genius, she's an abused child.

She's also brilliant. She is capable, at nine years old, of sometimes, if she overstretches herself, gives up even the little sleep she still needs with her augment, producing results on the level of an adult scientist, a habit which becomes lifelong and eventually kills her.

The only praise she cares about is Instance's, and overstretching herself like that is the only way to get that. She's taken on responsibilities most adults spend years of dedicated training to get ready for, as a preteen.

She's isolated from her peer group. In the bar arc, Dys outright tells you that since she started her gene therapies with Instance, she's thought herself smarter and better than her peers to the point that the only ones who try to keep in touch with her are Marz (who's immune to anything Tangent might say to push her away) and maybe Sol (who, if they tried to keep up with Tangent aboard the ship, is also a nerdy science kid, although not (yet) on the same level).

That her isolation is because she thinks she's smart and mature for her age (because she's being held to adult expectations and sometimes succeeding) doesn't make it any less isolation.

Instance encourages this isolation. Instance sometimes even orders it (there's a line when you approach Tangent in late-game where she's like "Instance says I'm not to be distracted by visitors").

Instance also tramples her sense of scientific ethics. Tangent comes to Sol about the engineered plague with ethical concerns about deploying it, but she's not going into that conversation with an open mind at all. She wants her friend and peer to tell her everything is alright; if Sol instead echoes her ethical concerns back to her (or comes at her with new ones), she throws up the same defenses and excuses about how she would do anything for Instance (🚩🚩🚩) that she's doubtless used to suppress those concerns for herself before.

As an aside, I also don't buy that Instance didn't start research on the Engineered Plague until ordered to do so by Lum. Tangent has mad scientist "this could change everything" moments years before in the Strato colony, when you're researching the Shimmer. It might not have been a research priority before Lum, but I don't think the evidence supports Instance not having considered inventing bioweapons to exterminate inconvenient Vertumnan species.

Then there's the epilogue; I've never seen Tangent keep the chief engineer job for more than a year despite everything Instance has done to groom her for the position (wording intentional). She's put aside a lot of her own wants and ambitions to fulfill Instance's goal of having a worthy successor, and then without Instance she realizes she doesn't even want it. If she almost built the plague, that experience is a life-defining trauma for her. She wasn't even 18 yet when she worked on that, but she trusted Instance to know what's best, did as she asked, and suffered a life-defining trauma from the moral dissonance.

One of the most glaring "something is wrong here" moments for me was one of Tangent's colony dialogue blurbs when she was like "only Instance truly respects me," she says to Sol, who she is dating at the time.

I think on some level she really believes that. There's probably some cognitive dissonance between recognizing what she has with a Sol who's approaching her on her level, for the most part, and what she has to believe for Instance (which is what she says out loud), but she navigates that anyway.

At the risk of running off even further into unpopular opinion territory, I think Tangent and Instance's dynamic is actually the better depiction of abuse in Exocolonist (which is surprising, because it's not mentioned in the game's content warnings at all). Anemone and Vace's relationship is a power fantasy of being a bystander to an abusive relationship; you catch Anemone when her heavily-armed, hyper-possessive boyfriend with anger issues is giving her the silent treatment once, tell her she deserves better than that, and she's like "you know what, you're right, I do!" and leaves him and everything is good. Tangent's is more realistic. You might not even see it unless you really focus and look. Sol doesn't see it, across multiple timelines, even if they're dating Tangent in some of them. There's nothing you can do about it; intervening even to echo thoughts she's brought to you just pushes her away. Tangent is getting an emotional need met there that she doesn't think she could get anywhere else. That's more often what it's like.

[restlessreveries]

choosing violence: 8, 9, 10, 19

Oh boy, alright let's see...

I think I'm gonna have to roll 8 & 10 into the same response MOSTLY because I don't really know what to put on 8 exactly but I also feel like 10 kinda applies to it?

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about/10. worst part of fanon

BUT YEAH, it's the fandom's insistence that Sol is miserable/bored/apathetic and desperate to get out of the time loop (or whatever you call this not-loop arrangement). I swear, if I see another fic that has Sol feeling like shit because of the time loop thing I'm going to... not really do anything. Except maybe scream really loudly internally.

It's not like they're re-watching the same movie a thousand times and we only really see a small sample of the infinite possibilities they have on hand, but people are so fond of the despair over time loop thing and I kinda hate it.

9. worst part of canon

That we don't get a "I was a 20-something exocolonist" Continuation? No? That's cheating? Okay, let's see...

This is actually a tough one 'cause I've got several small annoyances but I think the big one is that no matter what you do, nobody will believe Sol about the visions or aliens (Like FFS even Dys can be the person who triggers Sol getting sent to be lobotomized). And special shoutout to that one event on the ridge where Utopia is more willing to believe that Dys has a secret older brother (SHE SPENT 20 YEARS ON THAT SAME SHIP! D8<) than that Sol is telling the truth about Sym being an alien. And then when you talk to the council at the end they go "Yeah no, lol we knew there was an alien presence out there". I get that Sol probably does a lot of faulty predictions too, but I just wish there was a golden route where people started trusting them if you somehow managed to mysteriously be in the right place at the right time to keep saving people's lives. Or something.

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

Vace would be the easy answer here but I'm actually not picking him for this. No, I'm gonna pick the other guy who I don't exactly like as as much as I kind of appreciate in terms of writing and find fascinating.

It's Lum.

It took me many months to actually start thinking about this guy more than writing him off as comically inept space dictator-wannabe. But when you take a step back he's actually kind of interesting. I think I'll put why under a readmore tho, 'cause while my earlier responses has some spoilers this goes into more important events.

Basically, I think Lum is interesting because he looks so dumb and inept and comically evil at first glance. But once you learn about the earth fleet, things start to look a bit differently.

Him being so rough with Utopia isn't just him being over the top evil for the sake of it. He's on a major time limit to get this planet into what the earth fleet considers shape, (with the "or else" option being them glassing the place) and Utopia confronts him in front of the entire colony, questioning his leadership and putting him on the spot. So he thinks and acts fast and brutally to force things back under his control 'cause he really can't risk losing that.

And when you think about it, a lot of his decisions are in the same line. Poorly thought out ways to handle the immense pressure he's under. He's not well suited for this, was probably never taught to handle these kind of decisions. The Helios supposedly got there in about 15 years and Lum is listed at 25 at the start of the game (30 on arrival), so he got onboard of that military ship when he was 15, grew up with a very limited worldview and was suddenly put in command of the entire operation. (he was like, second in command of communications before?) With the earth fleet threat breathing down his neck.

This isn't me excusing his behavior by the way. He did things that range from extremely shitty to horrifying. But part of me can't stop thinking about how much more chill he seems if he gets kicked from the leadership role, and that one Glow attack where he recklessly used himself as bait to lure the two faceless.

Basically, if Vace is the guy I want to put in a hamster ball and kick down the stairs. Lum is the guy I'd like to put by a pool and give a gym membership to in the peace ending, and then come back ten years later to see if he's turned into the himbo I suspect he could potentially be.

[vergess]

I kind of figured the whole "getting a Delusions card despite Flulu knowing the Gardeners exist" wasn't because she didn't believe in the Gardeners but because she couldn't believe one would be approaching any human with good intentions instead of killing them outright like every Gardener effort had been so far. And in fairness to her, Sym even says that he's unique among all the gardener consciousness, to the point where the Overseer basically has him tested to make sure Sol hasn't corrupted him and turned him against the Gardners before attempting peace. It's *that* hard for the Gardeners to believe one of their own, who's been connected to them for tens of thousands of years, would want to spare humanity.

With that in mind, if you're in Flulu's shoes - Flulu who by that point has seen the consequences of these aliens attacks arguably more than anyone in the colony given how much of their focus was on the food source, and who also still lives with her own trauma from wars she was involved in on Earth - what would make more sense: There's a single alien who approached your teenage child while they were alone in the wilds, and not only let them walk away completely unscathed, but seemed to approach with good intentions wanting to be friends? Or your teenage child, who's seen all sorts of traumatizing shit by this point and has no official mental health support since that all died with Besk, might be suffering from delusions as their brain tries to cope with the reality they're trapped in?

It's still completely fucked how they handle everything, don't get me wrong. But I feel like "As much as I hate to say it, its more realistic that my kid has PTSD-induced delusions as they try to cope with this planet and its inhabitants literally trying to kill us, than the one good alien on Vertumna is reaching out to them with good intentions." is extremely in character for Flulu, and honestly a fair conclusion to come to given the circumstances. How they handled that conclusion is another thing entirely.

You know, that's fair. This is a good interpretation and I agree with it.

I just personally tend to focus my fannish efforts on the consequences of how she, Instance, and by way of her absence Besk, responded to the delusions cards than the why and how of receiving them!

But I think I will adopt this interpretation into my own headcanon. It goes well with the way Flulu's PTSD informs so much of her own character.

Plus it goes well with the whole Vace and Noctilucent swamps plot line, which I always love building overly intricate hypotheses around. Would that I had the time and money to actually write any of them down instead of panicking about rent and/or medicine and/or food

[amielxxxangel]

Can you do a cute poly one of robin reader and vance? Basically where they go to the skate rink or are riding there bikes then reader falls and they help fix them up? (Idl if that made sense :,))

Ok so this is kind of funny because it was an accident that they sent this to me but I liked the idea enough that I’m writing a story with their oc kas and her boyfriends robin and vance. Thank you @kas-the-crime-obsessed-bat for letting me do this lol😂 also it’s my first time actually writing I’m sorry if it’s not that great. Also I might do more with either requests or my own stories wit black phone ships and maybe even with my own oc but who knows. Anyways onto the story!!!

Roller skate dates

Robin x Vance x oc (Kas)

Kas Vace and Robin decide to go to the nearest roller skating rink but things don’t go to well for Kas luckily for her she has her boyfriends there to take care of her

As much as Kas and Vance loved their boyfriend Robin they were completely regretting agreeing with his idea of a date at the nearest roller rink in their town. It was mainly due to the fact that it was only robin that properly knew how to skate while Kas and Vance didn’t, that and the fact that there were too many people in the rink. It was just a waiting game on when either Vance and Kas hurt themselves or someone else in there.

They were both outside the rink staring at Robin roller skating around and passing other skaters, both were so in love with the boy wearing the bandana they didn’t notice him stop by in front of them “so when are you guys stop looking at me all love struck and actually skate with me?” He asked as he got near the blonde and brunette breaking them from their thoughts “shut the fuck up, and I’ll get in when most of these fuckers leave the rink” Vance replied with a huff causing Robin and Kas to let out a small laugh.

“I doubt that’s gonna happen any time soon” Kas said as she continued to look at the rink filled with other skaters. “We might as well have fun” she continued finally going inside the rink grabbing Robin by his hand “c’mon vance” Kas gestured towards vance.

“Fuck that I’ll just stay here” he replied back resting his arms on his chest glaring at the other skaters “alright then” both Kas and Robin reply back at Vance rolling their eyes.

Even if Kas hated having to be surrounded by other people and constantly tripping and almost falling seeing the sight of Robin laughing at her almost tripping and him holding her hand guiding her, it made her felt warm inside, but she’ll definitely never admit to it.

Kas was so preoccupied with staring at robin and trying her hardest not to blush that she forgot that she can’t properly skate, until it reminded her. It reminded her by making her trip on herself and fall face first on the ground hitting the floor with a loud thud.

“Shit are you ok mi Amor?” she heard Robin ask, it was really faint, she didn’t even notice Vance trying his best to make his way to both of them due to everything being blurry “fuck are you alright?” Vance asked as he was finally able to get near you two.

Vance and Robin helped Kas get up to her feet and dusting her off, “are you ok Kas?” Vance asked her again “y-yeah I think I am” she replied her vision going back to normal that’s when she saw a few people had stopped skating and were staring at them.

Kas was already fighting back tears from the pain but seeing the reaction from others made her internally embarrassed and somewhat freak out “What are you guys looking at!” She screamed at the on lookers who immediately went back to their own business skating “let’s just go” she continued grabbing both Vance and Robin out the rink with her head hanged down.

They were sitting at one of the tables with Robin and Vance making sure if Kas had any cuts, which they did find a few small searches on her elbow which were slightly bleeding “I’ll go get some Band aids from the counter” Robin told the duo who were sitting down the table and left.

“You alright” Vance asked with a hint of worry in his voice “yeah… I am” Kas distantly replied looking at the blue table that they were occupying “are you sure you looked like you were gonna cry there” Vance continued which made Kas irritated “I said I’m fine!” She said raising her voice towards Vance, and immediately regretted her reaction, “I’m sorry…..it’s just it was so embarrassing for that to happen and the others just staring at us made me panic” Kas told Vance as she rested her head on Vance’s arms.

“It’s fine I kinda understand” Vance tried reassuring her the best he can, Kas found it sweet that her boyfriend who completely sucked at things like this was trying his best to comfort her. They stayed there silent only listening to the music playing from the speakers and holding hands until Robin came back with a few bandages in his hands.

“Here let’s patch you up hermosa” Robin said as he went to work on Kas scratched arm, she didn’t know how she ended up gaining these scratches but she didn’t mind because now her boyfriends were there to comfort her maybe falling on the ground and eating shitwasn’t so bad after all.

“Ok done!” Robin happily expressed as he proudly looked as his care for his girlfriend which continued with a quick kiss to the lips from the boy in the bandana “Bitch that’s not fair” Vance retaliated leaning in to kiss Kas as well leaving her flustered “awww none from me” Robin sarcastically cried out giving vance a pout “ugh fine c’mere” Vance’s huffed as he leaned up to Robin to give him a quick kiss as well.

“So you guys just wanna leave and go to my house to watch movies and just cuddle?” Robin asked “yeah that sound better than this whole thing” vance replied back “I’d rather would have done that in the first place” Kas continued with a harmless eye roll.

“Alright then let’s go” robin declared grabbing both Vance and Kas up from their chairs and back to robins house to watch some random move that was one. It might’ve not been the best for Kas but she was just happy she could spend her time with her Boyfriends.

Welp hope you guys enjoyed this story because I sure did love writing it! And again I might start writing more and take requests

“Don’t fall and eat shit y’all “

Till next time💙🤍💛💙🤍💛

[ochamocha]

to start with. tammy and sym. sym is quite possibly one of the best written characters in the game, and if it wasn’t for one scene he’d be very high because i love the way his creepiness is counterbalanced by the fact he’s never seen humans before. however, the scene where he drugs you without your knowledge or consent, and the game then glosses over it by turning it into a mechanic to remove stress while exploring? far, far, far over the line. creeps me out to hell and back so yeah the alien gets the shaft and not in a fun way.

2. nomi nomi. i am curious how much you’ve played overall, because nomi is even more broadly enmeshed than vace. they’re not as involved with the broader plot of the game but part of the point is that unless you follow their arc, they’re a jack of all trades who kinda sucks at EVERYTHING but they never ever seem to get truly insecure or lose their spark because of it, and they’re one of the only people dys seems to find tolerable between both ships. at the bare minimum i know nomi can be found exploring plains, working in robotics, and i believe in a few other non-barracks jobs.

third, rex. he’s definitely a bit one note, but frankly he didn’t feel that way to me because for about 3 or 4 lives straight, i was certain he was a hello spy. surely no one from the helios besides nomi could be so welcoming and full of joy? i was sure befriending him would lead to disaster so i avoided him like the plague, only to find out he’s really just that loving and earnest. also, i’d argue that as a primary companion, he’s still more fleshed out than most other characters, and he’s necessary to give my darling tang her ideal ending so i can’t hate him.

lastly, seedent on the other hand i will circle back around to the earlier points about tammy and sym, because tammy and seedent are high for similar reasons: i just like them. they both would be much higher if they weren’t frustrating to work with, but seedent performs one of the most important jobs in the whole colony, and i’d argue being able to do it without pissing off the helios is a strength rather than a weakness. she’s not exactly a political powerhouse, but she is a cornerstone of both communities. tammy, similarly, is a wonderful wonderful depiction of the fact that even though all the original stratos were volunteers who wanted to come, tammy was born along the way. she didn’t get a choice. tammy is the closest thing we have to a normal person in the colonies. she’s not super smart, or brave, or strong, or skillful, but the point of her character is that much like with seedent, she’s just as important for the broader colony because she helps care for the next generation and helps support the colony with what she can do, even though frankly she’s not suited for frontier life at all. even though the colony needs tangents and cals and dys’s and marzipans, it could never survive without people like seedent and tammy supporting them. also, aside from themes and logistics, i just think tammy is a darling angel. she’s just so sweet. even if she is so stupid it’s literally unironically contagious, she cares so goddamn much about everyone, including the player, and frankly no matter how repetitive and ridiculous it gets, i will always enjoy her silly little game of pretending to want me to share my cake with her.

objectively correct tier list feel free to ask why i put ppl here bc almost all had specific (if subjective) reasons for their positioning even within their own tiers

[exocolonistfeelings]

Okay Fuck I keep on not finishing my drawings for them so let me explain a bit of my digimon AU for a second cause I have thoughts about Tangent specifically in that AU.

So similar concept of "digital world runs parallel to our world" I imagine it in a more dawn and dusk setting though, with like full cities and such. Partners are a mutual choice thing, but once chosen that's a lifelong bond right there. Partners can be forcibly chosen but this harms both sides (this isn't relevant to Tangent but it may be relevant to Vace if I figure out what I want to do with him) uh, digimon are connected to there partner's mental states in some way and they are influenced by them, just not as strongly as, like, Adventure or Survive where the partners are basically the other half of their soul, yeah that's the most important stuff.

Anyway so Tangent partnership happens isolated from everyone else's for a while, Tangent is the 4th (Sol, Dys and Cal being the first 3) and Tangent has a very...interesting relationship with her partner, because it's amicable but it's very much not a personal relationship, at least at the start. They get closer after a Dark Evo Fiasco.

So Dark Evos are generally caused by extreme negative emotion, intense anger, recklessness, vengeance, the want to kill, often times this emotion consumes the Digimon (favorite example of this is Hurricane Touchdown with Wallace's Chocomon, who is representative of Wallace's inability to move on from the past)

Tangent partner's Dark Evo is somewhat representative of Tangent's identity issues, burnout, and depression, I imagine the first evo was purposeful though, Eosmon Adult was an experiment after all, Eosmon Perfect being a continuation of that experiment, though one out of Tangent's control.

The Ultimate is AvengeKidmon, Avengekidmon is a bit of a left field choice but the main reason is cause AvengeKidmon is a mostly humanoid Digimon who hated MagnaKidmon so much that it evolved into AvengeKidmon (black colorswap of MagnaKidmon) and Hates It, and is on a quest for revenge, that it has forgotten the meaning of.

I imagine this happens around when Tang is 15-16, and Terriermon Assistant (Child form) met when Tang was 9 so there's a good bit of time in-between that.

You can tell the plot details are...non-existent, but I really like the concept so...yeah.

I imagine Terriermon Assistant never evolved before this either so it's quite a traumatic first evo.

However it does get them stuck on the Adult form Snatchmon, oh and is also unresponsive...for a bit, they get better, takes a while though.

After this Snatchmon is basically there base form but they can de-evolve to Terriermon Assistant for a bit, it takes a while for Snatchmon and Tangent to even try evolution again though...and you can imagine how there partnership was after this all went down.

As you can tell, it's a bit of a situation. The details are not there but I like the base concept and I know full well that if I don't do this, this idea is Never going to see the light of day, so here.

[gothicmilktea]

She had her last words

PLEASE READ

( cybertronians age every 7 human years

So rust is the equivalent of being 25 in cybertronians but if we went by human years he'd be 175

From what we know cybertronians live forever and only die due to injuries and sickness..)

[This aging process is going by what was stated in rescue bots]

Also when a character says something and the bar surrounding it looks like this [ ] there speaking a different language.

If you see the name amber is lilliana i just missed it to chang it.

Lilliana was lying down in her bed resting. Thinking about her life and all her experiences.

How her body used to be young and could run for hours.

she heard the crack of her bedroom door interrupting her though proses.

Her eyes open as her heart starts to flutter from excitement when she saw who came to visit.

As heavy metallic footsteps walked towards her.

A young voice spoke

"Greetings Lilliana, how is it you are feeling?"

Holding a bokay of flowers. She smiled seeing he brought …tiger Lillies, her favorite.

standing by her bed. He turns over to her night stand to remove the dead Lilies from their vace sitting on the nightstand and replace them with new ones. As Lilliana watches she gets a youthful twenkle in her eyes.

Whilst Lilliana replied her voice withered and dry yet confident.

"I've been feeling tired lately… yet I'm happy

But that is probably because waiting until the next time you visit keeps me running…

And you rust?"

She said with a slight grin.

Now facing up and looking at him.

He slightly blushed at her statement.

Rust replied

As he began to stare out the window.

" I've been doing good … I've teamed up with a new partner.

They're much nicer than my old partner, they treat me fairly."

He spoke softly

When Lilliana chirped.

"Are they cute?!"

His eyes widen his face becoming flustered.

The pace in his voice quickened

" No no, it's not like that besides I- I have my apprentice to teach she's quite …a mess to handle. "

At the end of his panic pace slowed

Lilliana chuckled

*Cough cough *

Her face frowned as she looked to the side

Fidgeting her finges.

Rust could tell something was on her mind.

"Lilliana, what is wrong?.... You’re fidgeting."

She signed then looked at him with a sad expression.

"I'm dying rust."

She almost looked relieved to tell him.

She had hidden from everyone that she was dying and becoming weaker with every passing day.

"I'm sorry for ruining the mood but I had to tell you it would be cruel to not tell my-"

"What!"

His face contorted in a confused shock

“I don't understand I don't see visible injuries

And your pigment seems normal

An -”

He rambled in confusion as to why she would be dying

“Rust .”

She looked concerned as he scans and looks at her health on her data chart.

His voice quivered

“ i - don't understand”

He repeats

"RUst!"

Lilliana shouted to get his attention

His face was full of tears twisted in a painful expression as he sobbed.

"No don't leave…you can't…I need you-"

He whimpered

He was kneeling on the floor face down on her lap as she rubbed the back of his head.

"Rusty…the day we first met looking back now was the best thing that happened to me."

She lifted his head up to look at her holding his face her thumbs rubbed on his cheeks softly.

Calming him down enough for her to continue.

" I didn't know at first I had found an alien robot.

You had shrunk yourself down into a ball.

I thought if I brought you to school I could find out what you were.

When you woke up You were so confused and scared to where you where and what where the odd creatures that surrounded you.

The other students and i where frightened and within the cayos… someone caused a fire that almost killed everyone.

But instead of just leaving you saved me.

At first, I hated you for my scars but now I see them as a symbol of our… friendship."

She spoke to him about stories of their past as hours passed by.

["Rust!?]

He placed a hand on one side of his head to hear.

[“Rust comes in we have an intruder trying to steal from our base we need backup."]

A loud crackling voice came in through the come link.

He frowned; he didn't want to leave Lilliana knowing her condition.

"You should go rust from what I could understand from the frantic voice something was not well."

“No, i-”

"They need you Rust I'll be fine I promise And besides you can always come to visit me agian."

He stood up trying to proper his demeanor

He took a brave posture but this time his usul poker face frowned.

As he was about to walk out the door he heard.

"Oh and Rusty…I love you. "

He turned back to look at her. she had a huge grin on her face as a flash of her youth came through.

His eyes teared up once more.

"I love you too. "

He turned back around shutting the door behind him.

She smiled in the direction he left then turned to her nightstand pull a letter from the door and set it on top and preceded to get comfortable in her bed.

Her though were calm and quiet she had very few regrets except one for not telling him she loved him sooner

And still… he wouldn't know what she meant.

Days passed as she watched out her window and got a few visits from her daughter.

Watching out the window brought her more peace. she counted the leaves that would fall from the tree out side now it only had four.

She felt so sleepy that day so she closed her eyes

Her body became calmer and calmer and her heart was now resting until the room was silent and her thoughts had went quite.

Hours passed when a nurse walked in to serve her dinner and found her.

her death was reported to her only family. her daughter.

As more hours passed and her body was now covered with a fin white sheet.

Her daughter sitting outside the room grived over her mother.

Her sobbes echoed in the halls.

Metallic footsteps rang agents the tile flooring of the retirement home. He hummed As he walked towards the room he turned over to greet alaina

He was surprised to see her she usually is never around.

“Oh greetings Alaina….”

As soon as he saw her face he came to a screching halt

What are you doing… here?" he said hopeing to primus it not what he feared.

She looked at him with red puffy eyes, tears still running down her face.

She pointed to the door.

His face dropped as he walked towards the door. He then slowly… opened the door.

He scanned the room. His eyes landed on the bed.

Taking another step… forward.

Staring at the white sheet.

As he stood next to the bed he felt even more scared

He slowly pulled the sheet off revealing The frail old woman.

Her skin was pale and she was cold to the touch.

He scanned her for any signs of life. He didn't want to admit it. He looked over and over again untail he couldent deney it anylonger.

He let out a loud sob. Pulling her out of her resting spot. he held her close As He sat down on the floor and started Stroking her hair tears bluring his vishon.

Throuh greet teeth he says

"Im so sorry … im so sorry.”

He regretted leaving her that day he should of stayed forever.

His sobs mixed with her daughter filled the halls as they slowly fade out.

Rust.

Lilliana.

Story by Milktea