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vioyume · 4 years ago

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My sleep deprived ass talks about Ninjago

I just recently re-awaken my 12 year old self by catching up to the newer seasons of Ninjago (I stopped watching after season 10, picked it back up at season 11) except for the Sea Bound season. I still have yet to watch it when writing this.

I’m just gonna ramble about the show in general. This is not a fancy essay.

Firstly, the writers for this show did not need to make it this heavy on character and world building. They could have leave it at just fighting Lord Garmadon every season and just cancel it after three seasons or so and sell their toys. They didn’t even need to make Zane a nindroid either, but here we are with one of the coolest characters ever (pun unintentional).

The only other Lego show I watched is Monkey Kid. I did watch only one episode of Nexo Knights I think, but that was because I was stuck in a hotel room, and I don’t remember anything from it.

I appreciate the balance of having characters sharing their time in the spotlight, but then have a conclusion for them instead of just forgetting about them. (Garmadon getting killed off, Ronin getting arrested, the surphanteen staying underground [I think? Season 11 made it confusing for me], etc)

Pixel being a permanent character, is a good addition to the show. Her being a voice in Zane’s head was a good idea to slowly move her into the main cast (Though I forgot how her and Zane were kidnapped during season 4). With Nya being the water Ninja, I guess someone else had to be Samurai X.

While we’re on the topic of Pixel, Zane’s death was probably the biggest thing to happen in the show. I never manage to watch Ninjago on television, but I assume some kids out there were probably sad or confused to what happened to him. And they gotta wait a couple more months to see what had happened to him, and see him redesigned. At first I was ify about it, but it makes sense to me now. When Zane does some of his robotic stuff, children will most likely be confused on why some normal person is able to do that. By making him have an android body, it leaves the writers not having to repetitively explain why he can do some android thing, but also let new viewers know “Ok, he’s the ninja robot”. (Same reason for the redesigns after the movie came out, I have neutral feelings on the movie, I didn’t bother rewatching it)

And I guess, aging Lloyd up, was maybe a reason to not let the ninjas look like baby sitters, and let Lego have a cool ass set and not a funny looking child as the green ninja.

Btw, the voice acting for the background children in the show is something that I never really liked personally.

My favourite season of the whole series is Possession. Because one: spooky ghost shit, two: My man Lloyd gets possessed, and it’s not just some ghost floating around. Whenever I watch show with a monster of some kind, they never do the thing they’re suppose to do (ghost possessing people, vampires drinking blood/turning people into them [just do what adventure time did with drinking red if you want to keep it pg],etc. btw I’m still waiting for a game/show with a cool ass vampire character), three: Nya being the water ninja, four: The best theme song remix, five: Cole becoming a ghost and they let him stay that way for another season, and six: Morro.

I like to mention that progressively, Master Wu begins to show more flaws over each season. Like regretting Morro, hiding his past with that one snake that I forgot the name of, letting his age get the better of himself. He has become more than just a teacher.

While it has been a bit since I watched the show, how did Misako and Garmadon fall in love? I remember him becoming evil at a young age, and where was Misako when Lloyd was the evil wanna be? Boy, that was a funny thing to remember about Lloyd.

I pay no attention to the romance in the show besides Jay and Nya, so I feel like it’s not my place to talk about if it’s good or bad.

And how the hell does time and age work in this show? Wu and Garmadon’s father was the first master and found the city of Ninjago, I think. Do they progress very quickly in that world? And is Zane like very old now because of season 11? And who was the previous ice master???? Zane’s an enigma.

What happened after season 10 as well? Production wise, because each episode before has a 22 minute run while they cut that for the newer seasons. I also remember being very confused on which seasons was which because I didn’t have the wiki back then, they have a weird consistency of episodes. A regular season would have about 10-13 episodes, while season 3 had 8, 10 had 4, 11 had 30, and the rest have 16 which I’m assuming is now the new normal amount. It was something I found very odd.

In the end, Ninjago is a very nice little show that I will definitely come back to when I’m bored, and when the finale comes, I hope it gets a proper ending. It may not be perfect, I don’t think we’ll ever get a show like it anytime soon. If there was a show like it, it may have been not able to take it self off the ground because of modern cartoon standards. If Ninjago aired now it probably get canceled after season 3 and we’ll all be sad and have to theorized what the hell happened to Zane.

So I’ll end this by saying, Zane and Cole are my favourite characters. And why do the writers keep torturing poor Zane?! I want another Jay or Kai based season. I don’t really want to count season 12 as it.

I know nothing about how the fan base acts either, but I’m sure your all nice people. :)

Edit: I rewatched the first two seasons, and now know why Misako left. But did she have to leave him at a boarding school of all places? He has a reliable uncle, was Lloyd always acting like a brat, and so she had no choice but to leave him there?

#ninjago #text #long post #zane julien #lloyd garmadon #master wu #rambles #vio.txt

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semi-imaginary-place · 4 years ago

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thoughts on Nier: Replicant ver. 1.22 Ending E and an explanation for people playing Replicant ver 1.22 going "Oh its that thing from Nier: Automata"

spoilers for ALL of Nier: Replicant ver 1.22, Automata, Drakengard, and Drakengard 3

so let’s start of the beginning. God is evil, that’s the Flower in DoD3 and the angels DoD1. When Caim and Angelus brought the Beast Queen in our world/another iteration of our world, that caused all the problems of Nier. Researchers as we see in the notes on Project Gestalt, the Hamelin Organization, etc. learned to integrate magic from that world into our world’s technology which is how replicant/gestalt and android technology. The big tree you see in Replicant/gestalt is like a cloud storage server that contains the data collected from people from Project Gestalt. Project Gestalt also developed the androids used to manage the whole system. Like 10,000 years or something in the future aliens invade and develop the machines you fight in Automata. The machines continue after the aliens die out and develop a obsession with humanity and replicating humanity. Some way or another the machines managed to get a hold of the data which is what we see in the final endings of Automata.

As such the reason we see the angelic language throughout all of these games is because they all come from the same source and have been transmitted/infected throughout the course of these stories. So to reiterate Caim and Angela brought the Grotesquerie Queen and magic to the Nier world which was then integrated into the technology used in Project Gestalt and thus both the androids and the divine tree. the remnants of gestalt data continued to be used for android development and project yorha and at some point the machines managed to get a hold of it and remade themselves around it in the pursuit of becoming human.

This why in Ending E of Replicant ver 1.22 we see an area that resembles the Copied City shown in Automata, or more accurately the copied city resembles the data within the divine tree because it is data that Adam copied/derived from that original data that was originally stores in the Divine Tree. The Divine Tree stored data on humans from their memories to their personalities to their bodies, but it also stored data on all of human civilization, the world. You can see the cityscape in ending E, its data the Tree has stored on cities of the 21st century.

This is also why the digital environments we see in Replicant ver 1.22′s ending E and the digital environment/hacking zone from Automata look the same. Its like navigating a windows 7 and a windows 10 pc. they mostly work the same because they’re both windows. androids were made as a part of project gestalt and so the androids, the yorha server, and the big tree are running on the same thing. And then the machines copied the androids/corpse of the big tree which is why their hacking space also looks the same.

Its the same with the big flower at the end of Ending E. When I first read that a the end of the short story I remember being like... wat. but yeah same deal is going on.

also. In nier replicant/gestalt some people seem to have confused the robots in that game with the machines in automata. To those people I say remember that nier replicant/gestalt was published many years before automata was even conceptualized, so the writers didn’t know that the term “machine” would gain a very specific definition. the robots in nier were developed alongside the androids. They might not have had the same developers just like an iphone and a boeing 737 don’t share a development origin but they are of the same technological era. Though given the capability for intelligence and emotion that even simple mining security robots like beepy show, maybe robots and androids do share the same origins. idk and its not important. the aliens and thus machines did not come for many thousands of years later. the point is that THE ROBOTS OF NIER HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ALIEN MACHINES OF AUTOMATA.

and now finally to my closing point. coda to my previous posts of what it means to be human and my monogatari series post on which is more valuable the original or the imposter, existence precedes essence. humans are gone and we are all that remains the repeatedly recreated body data that was never meant to gain a will of its own, the human souls whose data will inevitably be corrupted, and the androids who were created in the image of humanity. and then we have the machines who literally have an origin that is out of this world. and the origin doesn’t matter. its the juxtaposition of those lines that are drawn the result in the end. that’s where the oof of 9s finding out yorha and machine cores are the same. the games start us off with the assumption that were is some fundamental underlying difference between human(replicant) and shade, android and machine. but those differences are arbitrary, both shades and replicants are are capable of loving, protecting, hating, and killing. I doesn’t matter that replicants were suppose to be empty shells, that they were never suppose to awaken. That’s why its powerful that we play through the game as something that was never meant to be a person. Then the player realizes that they are fighting the version of the protagonist that they played as in the prologue, because in the end there is no meaningful difference between the two, neither is more right or wrong than the other and neither is less a person than the other and the tragedy of it is that this confrontation will end in the annihilation of one of them.

(oh and last thing, the in lore reason we see nier bosses in the yorha dark apocalypse ffxiv raid series is because memories of those bosses were recorded by nier and kaine and stored in the divine tree who’s data the machines eventually got their hands on.)

#nier #nier automata #drakengard #nier replicant #nier gestalt #nier adam #9s #yoko taro #nier replicant ver 1.22

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imma-fucking-nerd · 5 years ago

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In Real Life

(Connor x Reader)

A/N: this is inspired by the demi lovato song of the same title that I randomly remembered from when i was a kid that i totally didn't discover from a hetalia fic 👁️👄👁️

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Gavin Reed. He was an..... interesting character. Most people thought he was a trouble making asshole, and they weren't exactly wrong. He liked to pick fights, mostly with androids, and he held this arrogant air around him. But that didn't mean he wasn't capable of kindness, how to have a fun time, and believe it or not he was actually kind of funny. You supposed that was why you started to like him.

At first you only agreed to go on a date with him so he'd leave you alone. But one date turned into two. Then three. Then, before you knew it you found yourself living with him, and carrying the title of his 'girlfriend'. Honestly, you didn't really hate that idea.

He was kind enough, and funny enough, he was just enough to cure your crippling case of loneliness. So you let yourself fall for him. After all, there weren't really any other options for you at the moment. At least, not that you were aware of. But unbeknownst to you, a certain android had a budding crush on you.

You had been dating Gavin for a couple of months and things were....okay. Not bad, but not ideal either. You just chalked it up to your hopeless romantic nature expecting too much of him, and unrealistic. So, you settled with the mediocre relationship. It wasn't like he was abusive in any way. He had just been growing more and more distant, to say the least.

You wouldn't really ever go on fun dates out anymore. Unless you counted the weekends you would follow him to a bar. Where he would get shitfaced which then you would have to drag him to your shared apartment before he started a fight with someone. But those nights were hardly romantic. The only remotely romantic element being him managing to convince you to sleep with him.

Most days, he would stay home to hang out for no more than a couple of hours. But then he'd be off doing god knows what for the rest of the night. He'd rarely even be there when you woke up either. He would always just say it was because he had work he needed to do.

You brushed never questioned him about all the excuses, telling yourself that he was a detective. He must have been needed quite a lot. Or maybe he even just wanted his own time. That was fine. He was allowed to want his alone time. So you put up with it, even though it was causing little cracks in your heart every time. You ignored the voice in the back of your head that told you that you deserved more than this. A certain someone would have to agree.

Tonight was one of those nights. You were laying in your bed, and Gavin was getting dressed and ready to leave. You held back the urge to sigh as you watched him, a hint of sadness in your (e/c) eyes. Sitting up slightly, you cleared your throat. You already knew the answer to what you were about to ask, but it was worth a shot.

"So, when are you gunna be home?" you asked, a hopeful tinge to your voice.

"Dunno, probably not til late. I got work, but I'll let you know," he said as he shrugged on his jacket.

"Okay..." you replied quietly.

"I gotta go, cya later," he said, stopping at your bedroom door, sparing you a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Okay, bye," you waved, offering him a small smile.

With that, he was gone once again. When you heard the front door shut you let out a long sigh. You layed back down and stared up at the ceiling, letting your mind wonder. After a few moments the buzzing of your phone caught your attention. You rolled over onto your side and grabbed it, turning it on and punching in your passcode. You opened the messages app and a smile appeared on your face when you read the text.

NEW MESSAGE

Connor: Hello, (Y/n). How are you doing this evening? :)

You couldn't help but chuckle at the little smiley face. You taught him how to make the basic emote faces and you thought it was adorable every time he used one. Almost immediately, you typed up your reply.

(Y/n): Hey Con! I'm ok, you?

Connor was your best friend. Ever since he first waltzed into the prescinct you found him intriguing. The thing thing that brought you two together at first was because you defended him from Gavin, and anyone else who bullied the poor android. You really didn't understand why they were all so mean to him.

You thought the detective android was amazing in every single way. Not only was his detective work unmatched, but he was also such a sweetheart, and honestly so unintentionally hilarious, not to mention he was very attractive. You'd be lying if you said you hadn't imagined what it would be like to date him. He would honestly be the perfect boyfriend. But you doubted he'd think of you in a romantic way.

Connor had only become a deviant not too long ago. So trying to flirt with him would feel wrong anyways. But being friends with him was something you could do. You always knew he was so much more than a machine on a mission. When he came to you to tell you he had become deviant you immediately pulled him into a hug, much like Hank did. Little did you know that your hug would awaken feelings in him for you he never knew were possible, yet felt as if they'd always been there.

NEW MESSAGE

Connor: I'm doing good. May I ask why you're just okay? Is something wrong?

His concern made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. A feeling that you were supposed to feel from your boyfriend. Your previous smile dropped as you stared at the question on the screen. You trusted Connor with your life but you didn't know if you should tell him what was bothering you. With a soft sigh, you typed up your response.

(Y/n): No no I'm fine. It's just one of those days y'know?

(Y/n): But I really appreciate your concern :)

You felt bad for lying to him, but it wasn't like there was anything he could do about your little predicament. You were grateful you didn't have to have this conversation face to face, otherwise he would have most definitely caught you in your lie. Yet even through text, Connor wasn't very convinced but he didn't want to press even further.

NEW MESSAGE

Connor: Oh, ok. Let me know if you need anything (Y/n) and I'll be there. :)

Once again, his message brought a smile to your face, along with that funky feeling in your stomach. Oh how you wished Gavin could make you feel this special.

(Y/n): Thank you Connor :3

NEW MESSAGE

Connor: What is that?

You chuckled softly at the android's endearing cluelessness when it came to texting. God he was adorable.

(Y/n): It's a face! Like a dog or a cat face

NEW MESSAGE

Connor: Oh.

Connor: :3

You couldn't help but giggle at the incoming text.

(Y/n): Cute! :D

NEW MESSAGE

Connor: Anyways, I shouldn't keep you up any further. It's late, you should sleep.

You glanced up to the corner of your phone and saw the time read 1:43 am. He definitely wasn't wrong, and as if on cue your body let out a long yawn.

(Y/n): Yeah you're probably right. Goodnight Connor.

NEW MESSAGE

Connor: Goodnight (Y/n) :3

You chuckled and shook your head as you turned your phone off, placing it over your heart. An absent-minded dreamy sigh fell past your lips and you placed your phone over on your nightstand. You got comfortable in under the covers and fluttered your eyes shut before you slowly drifted off to sleep.

When you woke up at the sound of your alarm, you weren't surprised to find the space beside you empty. No kisses, no breakfast made for you, not even the presence of your boyfriend. You were used to that by now though. It's almost as if you were still single. With a little huff, you got up and started getting ready for work.

You weren't a detective like Gavin, but you did work at the station with him, and with Connor. Almost as soon as you thought about your favorite android, you saw your phone light up in your peripherals. You didn't even need to read who it was from before a smile stretched across your face.

NEW MESSAGE

Connor: Good morning (Y/n). I hope you slept well. I look forward to seeing you.

(Y/n): Thanks Connor, I slept alright. I'm leaving now so I'll see you soon.

NEW MESSAGE

Connor: See you soon (Y/n) :)

With that, you shut your phone off and tucked it away into your purse before leaving the apartment. You locked the door behind you and ledt to go down to your car. The smile Connor's morning texts brought you stayed on your face the whole ride to work. You had a feeling today was going to be a great day.

The hours of the day rolled by seamlessly, and for the most part, your little feeling was right. You didn't have that many reports to fill out and Connor wasn't out on any cases with Hank so you got to talk with him a lot. The only thing that kind of disappointed you was the lack of attention you got from your boyfriend. You tried not to let that get you down, but Connor could sense that you weren't 100%.

It was currently 7:45pm and you were finally ready to head home. After gathering your belongings, you looked around for Gavin. You were a little confused when you couldn't find him, but just assumed he went home before you. Wouldn't be the first time. As your eyes scanned the prescinct, they met a pair of warm chocolate brown ones. Your lips almost immediately curled up into a smile when you recognized who they belonged to.

"Hello, (Y/n). Are you done for the day?" he asked, returning your smile with a lopsided smile of his own.

He had yet to master the whole smiling thing without looking awkward. But it cute nonetheless.

"Yep, you?" you responded, popping the 'p'.

"Yes, Hank is waiting for me in the car," he nodded.

"Then you probably shouldn't keep him waiting before he leaves without you," you chuckled.

"Right," he agreed almost sheepishly.

"C'mon, we can walk out together," you offered with a smile.

Connor's own smile widened and he nodded enthusiastically, "I would like that."

You lead the way to the exit and Connor followed. As you got to the door, Connor quickly stepped ahead of you and opened the door for you. A soft chuckle escaped you and you felt a slight warmth rise up into your cheeks. Something that didn't go unnoticed by the android detective.

"Why thank you kind sir," you said with a grin.

"Of course, my lady/lord," he replied with a cheeky little smile as he exited after you.

As he walked you over to your car, the sudden sound of a car's horn made you jump. You turned your head to Hank's beat up old car.

"Connor, hurry the fuck up or I'm leaving your ass here!" you heard the older man yell from his car.

"Coming Lieutenant!" Connor called after him.

He then turned to you with a soft smile, "Goodnight (Y/n), I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Connor," you replied with a wave as he jogged over to Hank's car.

You and Connor locked eyes once more before you both got into your seperate vehicles. You swore you felt your heart skip a beat, and as soon as you were in your car you let out a girlish giggle. Today was definitely a great day.

You pulled up in front of the apartment building and parked along the curb. Gavin only had one parking spot and that was reserved for his truck, so you had to park infront of the building. Not that you really minded. Stepping out of the car, you locked it before entering the building. As you rode the elevator up to your floor you wondered if Gavin would be home. Maybe if you were lucky you could watch a movie together and cuddle to wrap up this perfect day.

When you arrived at your door you slid in your key to unlock to door only to find it was already unlocked. Huh that was weird. You just shrugged it off, assuming Gavin just left it unlocked for you. However when you entered the apartment and begun to take your jacket off you paused when your eyes landed on a pair of heels that weren't your own.

You felt your heart drop into your stomach when you heard hushed giggles and moans coming from deeper in the apartment. You dropped your bag by the door and closed it quietly before slowly creeping down the hall. The closer you got to the origin of the noises the louder they got and they were coming from the bedroom. The sound of your heart racing pounded in your ears as you recognized one of the voices to be Gavin's, your supposed boyfriend. The other voice was another woman's, and it didn't take much to put two and two together.

Your feet stopped on your venture forward and you stood frozen like a deer in headlights. The forming of tears stung your eyes and you felt your throat tightening. You could almost hear your heart breaking over the faint voices echoed in your mind. After a few moments of you just standing there, processing what was happening, you turned on your heel and grabbed your bag before slamming the door shut. There was no doubt they would heard that, and you hoped they did.

Hot tears brimmed your eyes and you tried so hard to keep them from spilling as you rushed into the elevator. You didn't want or need to face him or the woman he had cheated on you with. There was nothing he could say that would make it okay. That would stop you from leaving him like you knew you should have a long time ago.

It was only when you got into your car when you finally let the tears that threatened to spill fall down your face. Never before have you felt so stupid in your entire life. So much of you time and love poured into someone who never gave a shit about you. You hit the side of the steering wheel multiple times with a frustrated and hurt groan. After the anger had subsided you leaned your forehead against the wheel and just cried.

It had been a solid five minutes before you were able to steady your breathing and calm down a little. Your eyes glanced back to the apartment, with a shaky sigh you put the key into the ignition and started your car. You didn't have a set destination in mind but you just needed to go anywhere else but here.

You seemed to drive on autopilot because without even realizing it you ended up driving to the address of Lieutenant Anderson. Since you had made the mistake of moving in with Gavin, you really didn't have anywhere else to go. You hoped he wouldn't mind if you crashed there for a couple of days with a little persuasion from Connor. The moment you thought about the android you felt yourself feel just a little bit better. You knew that if anyone would be able to lift your spirits, it was him.

Within less than a half hour you arrived at the residence of Hank, Sumo, and as of recently, Connor. You parked by the curb and turned off your car. Taking a few deep breaths, you looked at yourself in the mirror and realized how much of a mess you looked. Your eyes were red, puffy, and glossy with fresh tears. But at this point you were beyond caring about how you looked.

With a soft huff you pulled yourself out of your car and headed up to the door. You wasted no more time before knocking on the door a couple of times. Looking over your shoulder you noticed Hank's car wasn't in the driveway. Must have been out at a bar or something. Your attention was brought back to the door when you heard it unlocking and being pulled open. Connor's eyes widened at the sight of you and his LED shifted into a yellow as he immediately scanned you for any bodily harm.

"(Y/n)? What's wrong? Are you alright?" he asked, worry evident in his voice and soft eyes.

"H-He cheated on me," was all you said, your barely audible voice cracking as you fought off a second round of tears.

The androids features softened and he opened the door wider for you to step inside. You offered him a weak grateful smile as you walked into the humble abode. He closed the door behind you before offering to take your coat, like the gentleman he was. After he took you to trudged over to the couch and sunk down onto it. You hadn't even been there five minutes and you already felt more at home than you did spending months at his place.

A smile tugged at your lips when the saint bernard, Sumo, came up and layed at your feet. You leaned down and pet through his thick fur.

"Hey buddy," you mumbled to the canine.

Your attention was brought back up to Connor when he took a seat next to you.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked kind of awkwardly.

You shook your head, "No, not really."

Connor nodded in understanding. He wasn't quite sure what else to say. Comforting people wasn't exactly his strong suit. He was about to open his mouth to speak but shut it once you leaned your head against his shoulder, your eyes trained on the dog that layed by your feet. Connor tensed at the contact and you were just about to move away and apologize when he slowly wrapped an arm around your waist.

"I'm so sorry, (Y/n)," Connor almost whispered, breaking the silence that had fallen upon you.

"Yeah, me too," you said sadly, sighing shakily.

You felt the tears coming back and your breath becoming more uneven but you made no attempt to stop it. Connor must have noticed too because he shifted slightly and used his other hand to pull you into his chest. This time it was you who had tensed at the sudden hug, and soon you completely melted into his touch. You buried your face into his chest and clutched onto his jacket like your life depended on it, meanwhile Connor soothingly pet your hair.

"He didn't deserve you anyways," he mumbled, mostly to himself.

A long period of time passed where none of you said a word. Connor just held you in his arms as you sobbed into his chest. He thought he hated Gavin before you two started dating, now the next time he saw him he was going to have some words for him. Connor wished he had said something to you before you got hurt, but it was too late for that now so he was content to be here for you now. He hated to admit it, but he actually really like the position you two were in, minus the you crying thing of course.

A couple more minutes passed until Connor realized that you had seemed to calm down. He looked down at you and just as he was about to call your name he noticed that you had fallen asleep. You must have been so exhausted that you cried yourself to sleep. Slowly, Connor picked you up bridal style before laying you down onto the couch. He had to snap himself out of staring at your sleeping form in order to get you a spare blanket. When he came back he gently laid the blanket over you then hesitantly leaned down closer to you.

"Sleep well, (Y/n)," he whispered before leaning in further to press a soft kiss to your forehead.

In the morning, you were awoken by the potent smell of bacon in the air. You stirred a bit before your eyes fluttered open, taking in your surroundings. It took a moment to realize where you were, and what exactly happened the night before. When you looked up to see Hank making his way over to the couch you sat up to give him room. You assumed Connor had filled him in after you fell asleep because he didn't ask why you were here, only mumbling a 'mornin'.

You offered him a small smile in response and rubbed your eyes. Looking over, you saw Connor in the kitchen and got up to join him. When he noticed you at his side he offered you a bright smile.

"Good morning, (Y/n). How did you sleep?" he asked, his eyes going back to the bacon he was cooking up.

"As well as you'd expect sleeping on a couch. Whatcha doing?" you nodded down to the food he was making.

"Making you breakfast, of course," he said as if it were obvious.

"Really?" your eyes widened and you could feel your cheeks heating up.

"I hope you don't mind," he added once he saw your reaction, suddenly doubting his actions.

"No, no! I don't mind at all, it's just..... Something I'm not used to," you said, rubbing the back of your neck.

"Well, as long as you stay with us I'll make you whatever you want whenever you want," he grinned, proud of himself.

Your lips curled up into a wide smile and you went up on your tippy toes, pressing a quick peck to his cheek, "Thanks Con."

"Uh- N-No problem (Y/n)," he stuttered, a light blue starting to tint his cheeks.

Maybe all your romantic daydreams weren't so unrealistic after all. You just had to know where to look. Maybe you should be thanking Gavin. Yeah, a nice thank you with your fist would do just fine.

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A/N: oops i meant for this to be like 2500 words and it turned out to be nearly 4000- Anywayss hope y'all enjoyed!

#dbh #dbh x reader #dbh fanfic #dbh connor #connor x reader #connor rk800 x reader #connor rk800 #detroit rk800 #detroit become human #detroit #dbh rk800

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kronecker-delta · 4 years ago

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Farscape Nier crossover and ideas

Snippet (from 2017) Farscape/Nier: Automata --- Her room was a mess. Scattered parts of her uniform and other clothes piled along along the sides, kicked there when she came and went. Her personal books disarrayed, off the shelf and toppled over by her bed. She'd been putting off cleaning again and with the recent arrivals none of the operators could be spared to make up for her bad habits. None of that mattered at the moment. White sat in her chair, staring out into the void. A souvenir of her old days in the ground based resistance held in her hands. The framed picture of pair of androids seated on the still smoldering bulk of the ruined machine behemoth a memory of a simpler, happier time. A knock on her door brought her attention away from melancholy remembrance. Before she could compose herself and more sternly tell whoever had interrupted her what she had meant by 'Only bother me if there's an emergency' another knock issued forth. Followed by a voice. "Hey White? You in there?" She froze. She had so desperately hoped that it wouldn't be him. *** "I've never been here before," White said apologetically as their transport ship came down beside the small lunar outpost. A tiny thing, compared to the bunker. Even given the greater volume underground for secured data storage and backup generators. "No problem. First time I've been on the moon," he said, giving her a reassuring smile that didn't quite manage to look entirely honest. His frown returning as they stepped out of the transport, the boots of his pressured suit crunching into the light dusting of lunar sand that had covered part of the landing pad. "Feels like I should say something... 'Great leap for mankind and all that' you know. Hey, is the Apollo site still around?" "It is. If you want we could visit there Commander Crichton." "Just John... or Crichton. Being called Commander all the time feels weird," John Crichton said. "I know I'm the last human but..." "I-I understand," White answered. Keeping her own emotions deeply locked down as they passed into the fortified complex of the moon server. Past the scant few technicians and guards and into a dark room, nearly empty save for a single console located in the center. A black void engulfed the walls, impenetrable shadows, as the terminals and screens had long laid dormant. "So now what?" His voice echoed in the room, which must have been far larger than they had at first thought. Low clicks and whirs came from the bulk of the machine, the long slumbering physical access port awakening. Lights flashed along the walls and beyond them, racks upon racks of computer systems networked together awakening. A great screen before them coming on and displaying a stylized picture of a tree, long dark roots stretching out from its base. OVERSIGHT AND RECORDING SYSTEM VER. 2.01 SLEEPING BEAUTY ONLINE. CONFIRM USER PERMISSIONS NOW. "Commander White, YoRHa access S-Class security," White said. Looking to her side and adding, "As well as a guest." CONFIRM GUEST'S IDENTITY. "John Crichton, Commander in the IASA," John said. "Born... 1969. June 6th. If that helps any." The computer sat in silence for a long moment, not responding, the screen frozen as the loading bar seemed stuck in time. They shared a look of confusion, both android and human wondering if the ancient archive might have crashed and who was going to have to go out and ask the few technicians to help reboot it. Then the room came alight, a dozen more monitors online, the totality of it awake for the first time in forever. HUMAN IDENTITY CONFIRMED BASED ON HISTORICAL RECORDS. YoRHA S-CLASS SECURITY CLEARANCE SUBSTITUTED FOR UNRESTRICTED SYSTEM ACCESS. S-CLASS, SS-CLASS, AND HAMELIN ORGANIZATION FILES NOW UNLOCKED. GREETINGS COMMANDER JOHN CRICHTON. HOW MAY THIS SYSTEM AID YOU TODAY? "What... what's 'SS-Class?' There shouldn't be a level of security above mine." NEGATIVE. THERE ARE TWO. SS-CLASS, CONTAINING SENSITIVE FILES DEEMED TOO DANGEROUS TO BE KNOWN OUTSIDE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL. AS WELL AS FILES REGARDING THE HAMELIN ORGANIZATION, WHICH WERE TO BE SEALED UNTIL SUCH A TIME AS A HUMAN USER ACCESSED THIS SYSTEM. "We do this so that the future generations will have the opportunity to judge us for our sins." "Who the hell was that?" John asked, shocked by the computer suddenly vocalizing. Producing the sound of some long dead man. Old and ill, his voice straining to make the words clear into the recording. DR. EUGENE ADLER, HAMELIN RESEARCHER IN DEMONIC ELEMENT MANIPULATION EXPERIMENTS. BY HIS RECOMMENDATION AND THE UN SPECIAL SECURITY COUNCIL'S AUTHORITY IT WAS FELT THAT KNOWLEDGE OF THE HAMELIN ORGANIZATION'S INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE DEMONIC ELEMENT AND THE 6-12 INCIDENT COULD NOT BE PUBLICLY REVEALED UNTIL THE CRISIS HAD PASSED. John looked to White, hoping she might be able to explain something, anything of what the computer had just told them. But she looked just as confused as he did. "Ah... Computer?" YES JOHN CRICHTON? "Define 'demonic element' please." DEMONIC ELEMENT: QUANTUM OBSERVATION REACTING PARTICLES BROUGHT OVER BY THE ENTITIES INVOLVED IN THE 6-12 INCIDENT. TWO VARIETIES WERE DETERMINED UPON FURTHER RESEARCH. TYPE I, WHICH CAME FROM THE ENTITY CLASSIFIED 'QUEEN OF THE GROTESQUE' AMONG NUMEROUS OTHER NAMES ACQUIRED FROM OBSERVATION DATA OF LEGION FORCES AND PRE-SUBLIMATION MEMETIC CORRUPTION OF WHITE CHLORINATION SYNDROME PATIENTS. TYPE I MATERIAL HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THIS UNIVERSE FOR THE LAST EIGHT THOUSAND YEARS FOLLOWING THE COMPLETE PURGING OF IT FROM THE EARTH'S ENVIRONMENT. TYPE II CAME FROM THE OTHER ENTITY, CLASSIFIED AS 'A DRAGON' NO OTHER NAME OR IDENTITY DETERMINED. WHILE HIGHLY REACTIVE AND DANGEROUS IN LARGE DOSES IT WAS FOUND TO BE STABLE IN SMALL AMOUNTS AND TO LACK THE MALEVOLENT EFFECT ON INTELLIGENT LIFE THAT TYPE I MATERIAL EXHIBITED. EVENTUAL CONTROLLED EXPOSURE AND SYNTHESIS EXPERIMENTS LED TO THE CREATION OF FOCUSED MAGIC ENERGY EFFECTS AND SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENTS IN FIELDS OF NEUROLOGY AND META-COGNITION AS WELL AS NUMEROUS OTHERS. PROJECT GESTALT AND ANDROID CONSCIOUSNESS ARE BOTH LONG TERM SUCCESSES OF THIS RESEARCH. HIGH ENERGY MAGIC WEAPONS WERE ALSO ATTEMPTED BUT LATER SHELVED FOR BEING UNRELIABLE. AS OF THIS DATE THE AMOUNT OF TYPE II MATERIAL PRESENT IN THIS UNIVERSE IS ESTIMATED TO BE 63 METRIC TONS, OVER A HUNDRED FOLD INCREASE IN MASS FROM THAT OF THE ORIGINAL ENTITY BROUGHT ABOUT BY CONTINUAL SYNTHESIS AND ITS NECESSITY IN THE CREATION OF NEW ANDROIDS AND ALL CURRENT GENERATION MAGICAL DEVICES. THE ANDROID WHITE HAS 6 GRAMS OF IT AS PART OF THEIR INTERNAL SYSTEMS, MOSTLY RELEGATED TO META-COGNITIVE PROCESSES. "Wait... wait!" John yelled out, grabbing onto the unused console as he stared at the enormous amount of text that had just been displayed. More and more appearing on other monitors, going into greater detail about all sorts of absurd things. "What do you mean by magic? And dragons? What the hell happened to Earth?" THE 6-12 INCIDENT. PLAYING ARCHIVED DATA NOW... *** Crichton sat on the edge of her bed. Looking down at his hands, fingers intertwined. He hadn't spoken since White had stepped aside and ushered him in. Neither had she. She had wanted to be alone, and had hoped that Crichton would choose to spend some time with his alien friends. Or his semi-human lover... "You know, it's kind of funny," he said at last, a low chuckle that surprised White. He truly did sound amused by the dark comedy of his situation. "What?" "Well, when I first realized you were lying about something... after I got over the whole 'android' deal anyway," Crichton said, looking up from his hands to look into White's eyes. "I was so certain that the deep dark secret you were keeping from me was that you all went Terminator on the humans and than got ashamed about it." White found herself smiling despite it all. "I guess I can imagine why you would think that. Even if we don't all look like Central European bodybuilders from the Old World." His expression collapsed, going from amusement to a shock so profound it looked like a stiff breeze would have knocked him over. White found herself confused and then very worried. Had she said something wrong? Then he started to laugh, slow at first, but building into something that bordered on mania. Rolling onto his back and shaking in the hysterics. "Haha... oh god... you have no idea, no goddamn idea how long I've wanted someone to get one of my dumb references," Crichton sat up looking far happier than he had a moment ago, the levity of their absurd connection dispelling the melancholy cloud that had hung over them since their return from the lunar server. "Like I love those idiots on Moya, but being around aliens on the other side of the galaxy for a few years really makes you long for some normal human conversation." "I... I think I can understand. Somewhat. It must have been very lonely out there." "Lonely, terrifying, insane... beautiful too. Space is crazy like that. Full of contrasts so sharp it's stunning. I-I wanted to bring that back you know? Not just to get home, but to show what I had found out there," he said, pointing to the stars outside White's window. "I guess it's too late for that now." "I'm sorry," White said. Noting the strange look that Crichton was giving her now she hesitated before continuing. "I'm sorry we failed." "Failed? Failed at what? Stopping a magic apocalypse that had already started before the first androids came online? Which reminds me, we're going to need to do something about them later. Those twin models that someone had the bright idea to shoulder with some fucked up version of android collective punishment." Crichton leaned forward, massaging his forehead as he did so. "That's probably only the tip of the bullshit you're dealing with and here I come with a whole new mess of problems. Maybe it would have been better if I had never found Earth." "No! Crichton you-we can fix things. I know we can. Not just your presence here or for getting access to sealed archives in the server. The technology you brought with you. It very well might represent a turning point in the war with the machines." "And what about the Sebaceans... the Peacekeepers? The Scarren Empire? Or hell, even the Nebari Establishment? Better gravity control systems and two hundred year old ship scale energy shields won't stop a fleet if it comes knocking at our door." "We'll do what we always have. Try and protect Earth and mankind's legacy from any aggressor. Whether distant cousins that no longer remember their home-world like the Sebaceans... or these Scarrens you've mentioned so much. We won't- we cannot retreat from this fight. Not now." White clenched her fist tightly, the glove creaking as she set a firm expression on her face. "I promise you Crichton, even if the past is lost, we will make a future worth fighting for." Ideas: I've been thinking over the ideas of a Farscape/Nier crossover some more, coming up with elements, themes, and specific scenes that would be fun to explore and write. These are some of the ideas I've had in no particular order. 1. Androids in relation to the Last Human (Crichton). Crichton is a self-admitted sci-fi geek, not surprising for a second generation astronaut that grew up wanting to explore the stars. He straight up makes comparisons to how he attempts to handle alien encounters to be inspired from watching Star Trek. Given that I think his relation to the androids would develop in a certain direction. Once the initial shock of a) the amount of time passed and b) that these people he thought were human aren't passes, he wouldn't feel comfortable having an intelligent race acting subordinate to him. I can see multiple incidents where some variety of complex philosophical quandary or just plain relationship question from 6O results in him telling them that humans really didn't have a better answer. Long term this would likely take the form of a very serious conversation where he points out that Earth, and what of its culture and history still lives, isn't in just human, whether the dead ones or genetically altered human descended Sebaceans. Or even in any hypothetical offspring that he might have. Basically, 'Mankind' includes them, as they're what's keeping the memory of it all alive. Aside from some bonding scenes between various androids and Crichton as they go over bits of alien tech, one idea I have in particular is that he takes a tour of moon landing sites, including the one his father visited. Effectively the only place he will ever see any lasting evidence of that man in particular. And the reaction of his android guide (White perhaps?) as well as the Apollo 11 plaque cements his decision to change the way the androids view their relation with humans, at least in so much as he can. 2. 2B and 9S (and others perhaps). I think there's a lot of fun to be had in placing the androids into weird situations with the aliens, and even more so if for some reason they have to head off away from Earth for a period of time. Since I can easily see the plan being for them to lie constantly. Lie about being human, lie about the 'Glorious Terran Federation' which is totally a military power that we didn't just make up, lie about what they're capable of, lies upon lies as they try and deceive the Scarrens and the Peacekeepers and keep Earth safe from either side those aggressive powers. In general I think 'Androids pretend to be human to deceive aliens' is a good plot for lots of stories, and could easily be turned into a rather long plot. Since the androids wouldn't want to let Crichton head off to parley with these alien aggressors on his own. And he could really use all the help he can get for whatever crazy ass plot he comes up with next. 3. Aliens would want Android tech. Probably just Scorpius, but others too if they find out more about Earth. I hadn't realized it at the time, but there was a period of the show where the hybrid Scarren-Sebacean was working with Crichton, and that would be the perfect opportunity for him to learn something about the androids and Earth history. And being him, he would look at all this extra-dimensional BS and android super soldiers and see potential weapons. He'd probably be disappointed that the Queen's Maso wasn't around anymore and that Hamelin Organization stopped human testing after Emil, since it would mean he'd be working from scratch if he could just get back into the good graces of the Peacekeepers and do so with enough of the demonic element to set up another research base. Hell, he'd probably try to directly convince Crichton get the androids to agree to serve the Peacekeepers, since that would technically put them back into contact with 'humans' if genetically engineered ones. Arguing that he could get the entire remaining population of Earth a ticket off world (to a nice Peacekeeper controlled colony where the can serve their new military overlords) if destroying the machine lifefroms proved to difficult even with a few starships to blast them from orbit. 4. The Terminals. The central intelligence of the machine lifeforms would likely reconsider its direction of evolution far earlier with a living human to observe, especially one that tries so hard to avoid aggressive resolutions. Even if that doesn't work, Crichton's crew and allies proves that he has managed to connect and form lasting bonds with entirely alien beings over and over. A direct repudiation of what the machine network had thus far found to be the fastest way to accelerate its own growth. Whether this would lead to a quicker conclusion that it needs to escape Earth and find its own destiny, likely expedited by FTL tech it took from the androids once Crichton revealed it to them, or an attempt at some kind of allegiance against the various hostile powers of the greater galaxy is unknown. While I can easily see Pascal and various pacifistic or non-hostile machine lifeforms being taken into account as potential allies the actions of the terminals past and potentially present would form a barrier to attempted cooperation. 5. Allying with the Worm Hole Ancients. The aliens that gave John Crichton knowledge about worm holes in the first place did so because they were running from an unstated catastrophe that had destroyed their home world. They originally decided against direct contact with Earth because it was likely to be divided and hostile. 21st century Earth that doesn't exist outside of Crichton's memories. It would be very interesting to see how they might react to finding out the new status quo. I've got a couple ideas that might be fun with them. One being that their dimension/time traveling tech lead to them accidentally creating their own personal Watcher related incident and the subsequent self-inflicted annihilation of their home world to stop it from spreading to the greater portion of the galaxy. Creating a situation where despite their far greater technological adeptness they find a reason to deeply respect humans/androids for facing down and defeating what they truthfully could not, reclaiming their world instead of burning it and running. (Though I'm iffy on that alteration/crossover expansion as it sort of makes them more like the Stargate's Asgard.)

#farscape #nier automata #fanfic idea

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kingofthecon · 4 years ago

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@flynnfletchr Stanford was doing that thing where he tried to pace a hole into the floor of their hotel room and it had become aggravating thirty minutes ago. "Ford." The slightly older twin didn't seem to hear his younger brother and continued pacing in the same spot - arms behind his back as he mumbled about whether or not he still had time to come up with a different project for the science fair. The answer? No. Not unless he could come up with something in less than twelve hours. "Ford. Please. I don't wanna knock you unconscious but so help me I will if it means we both get some sleep. It'll be fine." Stanford Pines looked towards his twin who was laying flat on his stomach at the edge of the bed with his arms beneath his head. The scowl he wore read as 'try me', and caused Stanford to slow to a stop. He looked bent out of shape, almost miserable and Stanley Pines didn't understand why. They went to several science fairs and Ford was always a shoe-in for first or second place. Maybe that was the reason why? The teenagers from Danville were competing in this particular contest of dorks and though Ford appreciated the friendly competition and the challenge that came with trying to one up the boys each year, it was clear that Ford didn't like it when he lost to them. He wasn't exactly a sore loser, but he wasn't a gracious loser either. He would put on a front, accept whatever place he'd taken, and then go back to the drawing board to hopefully come up with something even better to showcase his intelligence all while grumbling under his breath and talking like an actual super villain. Who uses the words RUE THE DAY in a legitimate conversation? "For one, you literally don't have time to come up with something else for this thing unless you decide to make a Mentos and Cola volcano using a Styrofoam cup cause that's what I have on me, and I don't think that'll even win a first grade science fair project. Secondly, you're a genius in a room full of geniuses. If you're that desperate then I can probably steal or sabotage someone's project for you which--don't look at me like that, I just wanted to make sure you weren't too far gone which brings me to bulletin three. Everyone knows that you have a high IQ. The highest IQs. The tallest mountain in the world of IQs. You don't really have to prove yourself so just relax." "Stanley, you don't understand. Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher have an extensive history with their creations. I'm just a kid from Jersey who came out of nowhere." "Sixer, everyone loves the underdog. Besides, you three practically share the limelight at these things. You guys are top brass. Nothin' wrong with a little friendly competition to keep the blood flowin'." "Stanley, you're supposed to be on my side!" "I am on your side. One hundred percent. Otherwise I would have shoved you into the hallway so I could get some semblance of sleep. Instead I'm trying to talk you out of coming up with a list of junk you could make in the next like, eleven hours. You created a functioning robot girl complete with artificial intelligence and everything. You've skipped like, a hundred of these fairs to perfect Stannabelle." "She's an android and that is not her name." "The point is that you'll probably have even Tony friggin' Stark or Bruce Wayne lookin' your way. I mean, that's part of the reason why you chose this particular science fair, right? Who knows. Maybe once you're outta West Coast Tech you'll get picked up by Stark Industries or Wayne Enterprises? Oh, what about Star Labs?" "That's why this has to be perfect!" With a whine, Stanley rolled over and allowed himself to fall out of the bed. He wasn't on the floor long; rising to his feet he made his way towards the closet where the robot girl was sitting in her charging station. If anyone looked at the bot they would believe it to be a human with Stan and Ford as her big brothers. Stanley crossed his arms and presented to Ford his own creation. "Earth to nerd. The kid's perfect." "She sounds like I installed a Speak & Spell as her voice modulator." "Okay, so you missed something when you programmed her. Just, I dunno, take apart the TV if ya gotta do somethin'. Just...you need to relax. It'll be fine." He pat the android on top of her head and closed the closet door before flopping back down on the bed. "Just...you know, do it quietly? Some of us wanna walk around the Expo and sneak into places they shouldn't." "You're going to get us kicked out." "Probably yeah, so make the most of it. I'm goin' ta bed. Try not to stay up too late. Night, nerd." "Night, pain in my side brother who occasionally makes sense when it's convenient for him." "Too long. Try again." With that Stanley pulled back the covers and spread out for sleep leaving Ford to figure out what to do. He'd brought extra parts and equipment in case something went wrong so...like Stanley had suggested, he began to work on fixing the voice modulator with parts around their hotel room. ____________________________

Morning arrived way too fast and was thus slept through meaning that Stanley woke around noon. His awakening was accompanied by a terrified scream as a face way too close to his for comfort came into focus as he opened his eyes. He rolled off the bed in his attempt to get away and orient himself with his surroundings. His fall came with a one man laugh track which caused Stanley to zero in on the culprit. "Are you alright, Uncle Stan?" a little girl with the too expressive for what should have been a robot's face asked him. Stanley, a little unnerved with the realistically human sounding voice looked passed her and towards his twin who was far too proud of himself. "Peachy," he answered as his twin tried to hide his laughter behind a six fingered hand. Stanley pulled himself up so that he was kneeling against the side of the bed. More awake and aware now he realized what this meant. He turned to Ford and he grinned at him while patting his "niece" on top of her head. "This is great! So ya managed to fix the voice issue. Good job, and nice to finally meet you, kiddo." "My designation is not "Kiddo". I am Alpha 001 - SP." Stanford had such a proud look on his face while Stanley just slow blinked at the two of them before he began moving around the room to change into his clothes for the day. "Okay, but I'm calling you Allie for short. "But my designation--" "--Is a mouthful. No one is gonna call ya that except for the uppity geeks who want to sound professional and use big words all the time. 'sides, when someone has a long name like that people usually give'em nicknames. For example, Stanford over there tends to go by Ford while I, Stanley, go by Stan or Lee." The little android was silent for a moment, most likely computing the information she'd received or something before she finally nodded her head in understanding. "Very well. I will accept this as a secondary form of address. "Excellent! You've really outdone yourself, Sixer. Allie's perfect! Though I hope you slept. Anyway, I'mma go walk around the place and get breakfast." A look to the clock had him groaning. "Or brunch, apparently. You two should get ready for later this afternoon. I'll meet you at your booth or whatever." Once completely dressed with his hair and teeth brushed, the younger twin made his way from the hotel room and sighed as he headed towards his destination. Though he was happy to be here to support his brother, he didn't really feel as though he belonged. There'd been a few times in the past where he'd gotten mistaken for his brother, but once they realized the mix-up and asked him questions pertaining to his brother's project Stanley had only succeeded in making a fool of himself. He wasn't smart. He was barely above average and in a turn of crazy events he ended up being made fun of. It reminded him of the bullies back home in Glass Shard Beach, specifically Crampelter and his cronies, but back then it was never this...bad? This humiliating? Though it didn't happen often, it did happen enough that he hated coming to these things. He'd never tell his brother though. Stanford had been teased all his life for his Polydactyly and for being the smartest person in any room. Stanley could bite the bullet of being the odd one out for a change, especially when it only happened once every year or every other year. Stanley hummed to himself as he entered the elevator which went from hotel to convention center. He rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet the balls of his toes as he mentally counted the floors as they lit up. Once the doors opened and he stepped out he found himself tripping over something. He blinked as he stumbled out of the elevator. A part of him wondered if he'd tripped over some nerds project garnering the reaction of, 'oh shit!' and 'at least that'll knock out one of Ford's competitors. When he actually looked at what he'd tripped over, however... "What the heck are you s'posed to be?" He crouched in front of the teal duck bill beaver tailed...thing, and poked at it to make sure that he hadn't hurt it. "You lost and tryin' to catch the elevator, little guy? Or are you a girl? whatevenareyou?" He moved to pick up the creature just to make sure with no regards for safety (the creature could absolutely bite him after all), but his love of animals outweighed his need to be careful.

#flynnfletchr #—Swindler's Folly #► Mystery Hack #Science Fair/College AU #Maybe?#—X-0vers #Loooooooong Post #In My Head He Trips Over Perry and Perry Makes the Sound #x'D #Stan Is Just Like #Whazzat?!

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fandom-necromancer · 5 years ago

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934. I don’t want to be alone.

This was prompted by the wonderful @aurea-b! You asked for some heavy angst and I felt like it so I skipped one prompt from you. It will be up next though! it also kinda got long again XD Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 (Warnings: isolated character, android-android discrimination, mentioned violence)

The blue silhouettes engraved themselves into RK900’s mind and stark mission parameters guided his way. His processors were running hot with calculations, multiple pre-constructions running at once as he ducked, jumped, slid and climbed through the room in the most efficient way to reach his targets and eradicate them in one of his many pre-programmed ways. It was a welcomed feeling. Having his processors strained in an effort to keep his three subjects of protection save while clearing out every aggressor in the interchanging maze of blocks and obstacles. The overly satisfying pling of 'Level complete' was followed by the lights being dimmed and the obstacles sinking into the ground. RK900's eyes were immediately focussed on a new hologram emerging. This one was far more detailed and delicate, and he didn't even need to realise it was his handler. 'Well done, RK900. Another successful mission. Did you encounter any difficulties or errors in your system?' >No, Amanda. 'That's good to hear, RK900. Ready for another test?' > Yes, Amanda.

A warm smile tucked at the AIs mouth as she nodded and disappeared into thin air and the parkour began to build up again. A block rushed out of the ground in his direction as if it was an attack. RK900 dodged by jumping backwards and grabbing the ledge of the still rising block. He stood on top of it as his new mission parameters were updated and he spotted his target: A new hologram that was holding a gun, two grenades and hid another knife. RK900’s mission was simple: Not to get hit and to eliminate the target. It proved a bit more difficult as he sensed the enemy could manipulate the testing environment that now threatened to crush the android on the room’s ceiling. RK900 immediately slid off the block, keeping his hand against the surface while he was free-falling to the ground. The few seconds of falling with contact to the block was enough to hack one segment of the ground to cooperate with him. It rose to lessen the force of him hitting into it and formed a shield from the holographic bullets that had been fired his way. RK900 had long found the optimal strategy, although there was room for error. He chose the direct approach only to be stopped by the hologram, hack its defences and disappear, tricking the opponent to go investigate itself. Their confrontation was short and deadly, the fake grenades erupting around him, his systems informing him of damage that wasn’t really there.

As he was about to land the killing blow, the hologram suddenly vanished under him and he hit the ground hard enough to crack under his fist. All blocks slowly sank to the ground again, creating a smooth surface and the lights had gone out completely. RK900 looked around but couldn’t see a human or Amanda anywhere. His mission protocols were also still active. Was this a part of the tests? He reached out to Amanda, requesting a status update and reporting a malfunction of the training-room. Unfortunately, his ping was left unanswered and RK900 tried again. No one answered. It was dire enough to him that he contacted the AI personally. >Amanda? Connection lost. Please try the following steps: -check network adapter for damage -reboot unit -contact unit administrator

RK900 felt his stress levels rising. There was no human around he could contact and all connections to his handler were offline. He was utterly alone and that together with him knowing he wasn’t meant to work alone yet let his systems spike. He wasn’t ready, there was still testing to do in the labs, not to speak of field testing. His fans whirred in his chest and his artificial breath pushed out hot air. He was alone with no one to guide him; with mission parameters he couldn’t apply to any given scenario. Amanda was gone. He was alone. I don’t want to be alone.

The door opened. RK900 immediately fixed the human standing in the frame. ‘Hello? Anyone in there?’ The android turned fully to report: ‘There had been a malfunction in the training course. Connection to handler interrupted. Unit compromised. Be advised that the room is malfunctioning and possibly dangerous to human lives. Please standby until communication is reactivated.’ There was a chuckle. ‘Good thing we aren’t human. We switched her off.’ ‘That is a violation of Cyberlife guideline X77.6B: Only authorised personnel is allowed in the labs. You are trespassing. Please standby for security to accompany you out.’ ‘That won’t be necessary, trust me. We stand above Cyberlife.’ ‘Please state your name and security clearance.’ The answer was said jokingly, as if to mock him: ‘Markus Manfred and Connor Anderson. Security clearance: deviant.’ RK900 didn’t need anything else for his problem to solve itself. The inactive mission parameters of the training course were re-evaluated, and his more important base-programming surfaced. He identified his two targets, both unarmed and easy to subdue. It was only when he reached them and made contact during his attack, that a powerful virus surged through his systems, forcing him into stasis on the spot.

‘Hello. I’m an RK900 unit trying to imitate human behaviour. Would you like to be my friend?’

The other android threw him a polite, yet awkward smile and excused herself to join others. RK900 let his hand sink down and resumed wandering the halls. A lot of newly deviated androids had found refuge at New Jerico, an old building with several rooms, halls and even an atrium with a few plants and a garden. It was safe – so Connor had told him. Safe from people who meant them harm, safe for them to accommodate to deviancy and get to know themselves. RK900 stuck out in more than one of these categories: The most obvious one would be that he wasn’t deviant. Markus had infected him with the virus, but it was dormant. It would need emotional turmoil to awaken him truly and his programming to not try and quarantine the little program whenever it acted up. The other detail that made it difficult to fit in was his initial purpose. He had only later learned that his mission to exterminate deviants was invalid now and that being deviant was now the new status quo. Still. He regretted not even having one person to talk to. How should he ever become deviant himself if he had no contact to them?

He wandered the halls, taking in everything that made New Jericho not exactly as save as it should have been. A forgotten door in the third storey that led to a small roof. A few people on the streets observing the building for multiple days. A human reporter that had snuck in once. He dutifully reported it to one of the figures of authority here, mostly North and Josh as they were present more often. Other than that, contact to other people stayed at a minimum. Not that he didn’t try, he just couldn’t keep up with them. There were the good days when Markus visited. He was the only one still honestly trying to deviate him, drawing with him where others had long since given up and just laughed when he stubbornly drew objects in the room again and again even with eyes closed. He… [liked] the android leader and sometimes asked himself why he had been instructed to kill someone this peaceful and calm. But he wasn’t there all the time, mostly just when newly deviated androids were joining them.

RK900 attended all of the community meetings, hoping to “get to know people” as Markus had suggested, but without any luck. He had managed to talk to a few people, some even stayed with him initially, but as soon as they met someone else, they were gone. It felt… [bad]. It shouldn’t have bothered him, but to fail at what all these around him had no problems doing, to even be avoided as it seemed… RK900 had decided that was not a good feeling. He stood to the side of the gathering as a new deviant was introduced – a PL600 unit, shaky and with obvious damage on his hull underneath a malfunctioning artificial skin. One anxious look of the android towards the crowd was enough for RK900 to know there was no chance he would succeed with this one. There was no need to try when he knew he would just be disappointed again.

He looked around trying to find a quick and inconspicuous way out of the room, as he saw North sitting in a corner by herself. She watched the gathering rather bored and let a flick knife dance through her hands with a speed and agility that was fascinating the RK. He only realised he was walking towards her, when she looked up, catching the knife from the air perfectly balancing it on one finger, before securing it.

RK900 now stood next to her. ‘What you are doing - I like that. Could you teach me how to do that?’ She sighed: ‘I would love to, but I’m not allowed.’ RK900 nodded, shaking off the feeling of [disappointment] he shouldn’t have. ‘I see. Why?’ ‘It is potentially dangerous’, North told him, adding after a deliberate pause: ‘And you are the deviant exterminator. I can’t give you anything that could be used as a weapon until you deviated. The risk is too high you could break the barriers we installed, and your base programming would become active again.’ RK900 nodded after a flash of red, thanked her nonetheless and walked away as he had initially intended.

Deviant Exterminator. It rang a bell. He tried to remember the faces of the other androids around him, the ones he had talked to and realisation hit him. They were afraid of him. They had to know what he were and it was only logical for them to fear him, even if who he was didn’t conform with what he was meant to be any more.

I don’t want to be alone. Maybe he would have to get used to it after all.

RK900 had spent two years at New Jericho. He still wandered the hallways and rooms, watching out for any eventual danger to the people inside and reporting to the authorities. He still drew with Markus whenever he was there and still made him laugh when he told him that no, that was nothing original, just some photo someone had uploaded from their vacation to the beach. RK900 decided that he [liked] the sea. He [wished] he would one day see it himself. He still was utterly alone, but he managed. At some point I don’t want to be alone had shifted to I will always be alone. The cold acceptance of the matter had something final, something definitive, something absolute. And a machine liked thinking in absolutes. He timed his patrols so anyone who wanted to avoid him could easily stick to his timetable and not be afraid because of him. His newfound purpose as a guardian of the place made the loneliness a bit easier to stomach.

‘There you are!’ RK900 turned around to the familiar yet surprising voice. Connor hadn’t visited him since the anniversary of him being taken from Cyberlife. Being freed as he had called it – a reason to celebrate. All RK900 knew was that back then he hadn’t been alone. Although he of course knew this arrangement was far better for all the deviants out there who were not threatened by some rogue AI sending out killing machines. ‘Hello, Connor. What can I do for you?’, RK900 asked, knowing he wouldn’t be able to stick to his schedule now and was to scare some unsuspecting androids later because of this conversation. ‘Actually, I just wanted to talk. I heard you took to guarding this place? I heard you send everyone your timed positions on patrol.’ RK900 nodded. ‘Can we talk while we walk?’, he asked. ‘Of course!’ Connor was fast to catch up to him and continued his path. While they walked through the rooms, they saw a few persons leave or change direction, something RK900 was used to, but seemed to throw off his predecessor. ‘They are afraid of me’, he explained. ‘I can’t blame them.’ ‘Why?’ ‘I’m the deviant exterminator.’ ‘So?’ ‘I don’t understand.’ ‘Yeah well, I’m the deviant hunter. They don’t fear me.’ ‘You are deviant. And you helped during the revolution.’ ‘Okay, point taken’, he chuckled. ‘I reckon you don’t like it here then?’ ‘I… I like it alright. I’m just…’ Red warnings flared up at the thought. As long as he had accepted it as exceptions his systems didn’t reprimanded him for it, but talking about it… ‘I fail at socialising. I am not programmed for failure.’ ‘I guess everyone would be lonely after two years trapped in here’, Connor commented of course seeing through his mechanic excuses. ‘I am not trapped. It is safer this way and I would be overwhelmed outside.’ ‘That’s what they tell you or your own assessment?’, Connor prodded. ‘It is the truth.’ ‘What a shame. And here I thought I were doing you a favour helping you out of this place.’

RK900 stopped. That was an option? Connor smiled at him. ‘So you do like to go outside?’ ‘Y-Yes. But I can’t, there would be too much risk and-‘ ‘Risk for deviants’, the RK800 interrupted. ‘Your base programming says nothing of humans, right?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘And when your handler gives you an order you still have to obey, right?’ ‘Mission parameters of the handler are of higher priority than base programming.’ ‘I’d say there is nothing wrong with you living under humans. And seeing as you took up the protection of other all on your own, I guess you like that?’ ‘I do.’ ‘Perfect. Then what are your thoughts on working with the Detroit Police?’

RK900 joined the police as a permanent android officer. He had his own stasis booth, his own desk and computer and was to accompany humans on any mission that might be deemed dangerous and that would need his backup. Of course, he could only be called to human crimes and mostly he was out with drug related crimes, as androids were seldomly involved in recreational drug abuse only humans could experience. He got to know more people as he had in his years at New Jericho, even though it remained idle chatter. There was only so much entertainment a machine could offer. But he felt like he belonged, even if he still was isolated.

They were on yet another mission and sat in the truck as his handler reminded him of the addition to his base programming [keep humans safe] and instructed him to go after the criminals if he got the chance, but not to risk it. RK900 nodded and leaned back to scan the other people on the mission. Officer Brown. Officer Wilson. Detective Ben Collins and [D3/3ctiVe Re_#]. He blinked and scanned the man again. Detective Reed. He didn’t know why the man let his systems spike. In the beginning he had hoped to deepen their relationship to something more than a brief nod in the hallways. But the fact that the human did speak more to him was overshadowed by the fact that most of these words were anti-android phrases, derogatory terms and nicknames. It had to be that Detective Gavin Reed was a [bad] human and [not a friend]. Still something in him was [happy] to have him on the team or be partnered up with him for a job. He guessed it was because of the human’s competence and let it be.

The van parked in front of a building and RK900 saw most of the humans inhale and brace themselves before the android pulled the door open and the team charged in. Drug busts were chaotic but the faster they were the more likely they were to surprise them and the less likely they were to be prepared for a gunfight. Of course, this was all just calculation and RK900 braced for the worst outcome. They entered the building and jogged through the hallways following RK900 who had located the men already. Seven humans, all armed according to badly secured CCTV the android was quick to hack. He informed the others and opened more doors for them to finally storm the room they used for a lab.

Unfortunately, as RK900 hacked the last lock, the door sent an alarm to them and their surprise was lost. The android barged in, immediately focussing fire on him to shield the humans taking position behind him. As he ran into the room, he noticed one human didn’t take cover by the door like the rest of them but used him to get a better one further in the front. Reed. Or course. Always thinking his tactical assessment was far beyond what they had talked over. He let the human do what he wanted – it could be an advantage after all - and protected him as best as he could.

‘RK! Get that bastard!’ The android looked up to see one of the criminals try to flee. A logical decision. The humans had this under control, and he could catch the last one. Except that the Detective seemed to have his own ideas again and followed him. Halfway across the room he lost the advantage of RK900 as a shield though and went down with a cry. Immediately RK900 let himself fall too and pulled the man to safety behind cover. He may have been ordered to chase the criminal, but he was also ordered to not take any risk and to protect humans. He knew he could accomplish all of that. So, after he had pulled the Detective behind cover, he was about to run after the fugitive again, as there was a weak pull on his trouser leg. RK900 turned around to hear what the human had to say. ‘Nines! Please. Don’t go. I don’t want to be alone. Please stay.’

RK900 heard his fans activating as if it was a different android body next to him as red flooded his HUD to the brim with warnings, quarantine status updates, virus messages and the mess of simulated feelings clashing with warnings. He wanted it all o go away, it hurt, and it kept him from action. So he punched it. He raised his fist with all his strength to fight that barrier down. He had to protect them, he had to chase the criminal, he had a job to do. He couldn’t be kept from that by his damn programming.

The red shattered. And with it all determination. Gone were the barred lines of base programming telling him to kill all deviants. Gone was the code that held him from emoting. Gone was the need to chase that criminal. The only thing that stayed was this human wanting him to stay. This weird, angry man that wanted him to stay with him, begged him to do it. Because he didn’t want to be alone. And oh, how RK900 knew that feeling of loneliness. He stayed with the human. He pressed his hand on the wound, called an ambulance and stayed with him as the other humans cleared the room and went after the fugitive. He stayed with him through the ambulance ride and he stayed with him in the hospital as he waited for the man to wake up again.

It was already dark and RK900 had activated a very dim light next to the bed, as the human jerked back to consciousness. RK900 carefully put a hand on his shoulder to lay him back down, reassuring him: ‘Shh, you can relax. I won’t hurt you. You are in the hospital. Your wounds were severe, but you are treated for them and you will heal properly. I’m here. You won’t be alone.’ The Detective coughed but relaxed. He looked the android up and down, unsure what to make of him, then nodded. ‘Thank you’, he whispered, hoarse from not using his voice for quite some time. ‘What’s with the others?’ ‘No casualties’, RK900 reported. ‘A few lightly wounded. All have left the hospital already and are back at work. The criminal… managed to escape. I am sorry.’

Gavin propped himself up a bit, hissing at some forgotten pain, but RK900 let him. He looked at him quizzically then. ‘Why the phck should you be sorry?’ ‘I had the order to catch him. I deviated to stay with you. That is both refusal to obey orders and a damage to my mainframe. If you want me to be reset, I can understand.’ ‘You- I- what?’ ‘If you want me to be reset because I failed my mission, I understand, Detective.’ ‘What the- No! The hell? I wouldn’t reset you, toaster. You saved my phcking life! That’s a good thing. You- You guys are persons now. If deviant or not, no one would say you failed your mission?’

The human looked upset, something RK900 couldn’t understand. He cocked his head in confusion. ‘You… won’t… reset me?’ ‘Hell no. I wouldn’t change a thing about you. And you certainly won’t be punished by anyone. We are partners. Partners look out for each other.’ ‘That is… I can’t…’ RK900 wasn’t sure what others gained from deviancy, he was just overwhelmed. ‘Thank you, Detective.’ ‘Hey, no problem at all, buddy.’ He coughed again, heavier this time. ‘Hey, err… Would you mind getting me a glass of water?’ ‘Of course, Detective.’ He stood up thankful for an order to guide him. ‘And tin-can?’ RK900 turned towards him at the door. ‘It’s Gavin.’

RK900 left the room to find a vending machine or water dispenser to get the human some water. On his way he smiled; something he wasn’t sure to have ever done in earnest.

I am not alone anymore.

#detroit become human #dbh #Reed900 #RK900 #Gavin Reed #God I'm such a sucker for them #the new fandom I'm in managed to pull me away from my android bois for two milliseconds #now I'm back on my bullshit #THEY WENT TO THE BEACH ON VACATION!!! LATER!#I mean Gavin most likely got medical leave but is fine you know the way he totally isn't fine but too stubborn to care #and they go there together and are happy #phck I wanna write that now too #Maybe tonight #too many projects to obsess over goddamnit

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erregent · 7 years ago

Text

( under a readmore cause it’s long.

i guess??? this is the start to a gavcentric redemption fic with some ree.d900 on the side. i have maybe three more chapters planned out but i haven’t finished it yet. )

--------

they’re probably going to put on his tombstone ‘dumb shit.’

nothing else. no date of birth, mother’s name, none of that. just, here lies a dumb fucker.

laying on his back in a wet alleyway, struggling for breath around the blood in his mouth, gavin reed thinks it’s probably for the best.

he was supposed to call for backup but since when the fuck has he ever needed backup? no partner necessary, he may be shit at office work but out here, in the field, was where he got his kicks. a perp wanted to bust out the third story window and try to outrun him on the fire escape? good.

gavin was not far behind, huffing around smokers lungs but spite was enough to keep his legs moving, keep the high teen in his sights as he darts up stairs one more floor to the roof of the apartment building.

“that’s enough, kid,” he remembers saying, training his gun at the perp’s back as he contemplates jumping off, “there’s nowhere to go.”

“i can’t--- can’t go to prison, i can’t---” he was high, confused. just a fucking teenager. for some reason gavin thinks of the boy’s mother. where she was now, and if she knew what her boy was doing. did she even care.

he couldn’t tell you why, but he remembers putting his gun away. offering up both hands empty like some sort of peace offering.

“you can still get out of this alright, don’t be fuckin’ stupid. just turn around, and get over here.��

“they’ll kill me! they’ll kill me...i can’t--- no, nono--”

“who’s they? talk to me, kid, i can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

the kid eventually turns around. wet tear tracks on both cheeks, snot dribbling over lips, and hands clutching a beretta.

gavin didn’t have time to say a word before hearing the pow pow of gunfire.

choking, gasping, he knows he’s shot before he even looks down but when he does, the world spins, and he’s falling over the ledge.

shoulder catches the edge of the fire-escape, shattered. body rag-doll, he manages to land on his back just so he could graciously choke on his own blood.

so yea, he’s a dumb shit. he didn’t even call for backup.

you try to do something nice, and it gets you shot twice in the chest.

-----

somehow, he wakes up.

he has no idea when, but he wakes up.

the harsh lighting, the stale sick smell, the soft ‘beepbeepbeep’ lets him know he’s in a hospital. it’s not the first time he’s woken up in one and the detective doubts it will be the last. but this is certainly the first time he can hardly move once consciousness returns to him.

everything hurts. literally everything, even the follicles of his hair feel sore in his head, and he’s hovering somewhere between drugged beyond recognition and not nearly doped enough to withstand the discomfort.

all he can manage is a low groan of pain, flexing fingers to see which ones work and which don’t.

his entire left arm is casted, gavin can barely turn his head enough to see the thing, it goes up to his chest where gauze springs from underneath. it’s wrapped tight, tight around his torso and down to his navel, though gavin can’t see past the sheet thats been brought up to his armpits. he’s sewed up, tucked in, and left here.

“detective,” a voice calls from the doorway. at least he gets his own room.

the soft glowing LED in the nurses temple under blond curls would have made gavin scoff if he weren’t so broken. he groans again. a fuckin’ android. he forgets they’re allowed to do whatever they want now, regardless of model and make.

“please try not to move so much. honestly, i’m surprised you’re awake. you’ve only been out of surgery for three hours, your body is still adjusting to the changes,” she’s rummaging through a virtual clipboard, the skin on her hand peeling back to interface with it directly.

“you took two gun shot wounds to the torso. one made a clear shot, it hit nothing vital. the other punctured a lung and broke one of your ribs. your shoulder and arm were shattered from impact after you fell, and required extensive surgery and reconstruction to repair. do you remember where you were before here, detective?”

gavin groans. his mouth tastes like sandpaper and actual, literal asshole. it’s too dry, he rolls his tongue around but it feels two sizes too big. he manages to croak out “case,” and not sound totally out of it, to his defense.

“yes, we were informed by your department you were chasing a suspect. though i am not authorized to talk to you about legal matters, i just need to confirm your mental faculties are still in order. you fell almost three stories, detective. the only reason your skull was not crushed on impact was the loss of momentum your body sustained hitting the fire escape on your way down.”

he manages a scoff this time. guess he’s lucky for the shattered bones.

“what is your name?”

another noise, he grinds teeth around the ‘g’ sound.

“g...avin. reed.”

“yes, that’s very good. i have more questions for you, and you willneed a debriefing, but you still need rest,” she’s coming to his bedside then, futzing with the fancy IV machine whirring away there. she hits a few buttons, pumps him full of morphine, and suddenly gavin feels really warm and he wants to sleep.

he does.

-----

it’s the first time in twelve years, gavin sleeps longer than two hour increments.

the next few days come in blinks, and trying to keep track of time is utterly useless. there’s a potted plant at his bedside one time he opens his eyes. a succulent, some weird desert lookin thing and he knows it’s chen. he likes this kind, barely have to do shit to keep it alive. he passes out trying to move his arm to touch it.

the next time he’s awake, there’s flowers. a single arrangement, freshly pruned peace lilies harsh white like his whole fuckin’ room with a little blue ‘k’ on an equally white card in the middle. if he could, he’d knock the whole thing off on principle. fuckin prick.

the third time he can actually remember anything, he’s sitting up more. that same blond nurse is back, checking about his vitals and tidying the room. there’s not much to do, even in his haze gavin can tell there has been little traffic here. the detective isn’t shocked by the notion. he’s not known to have friends.

he’s awake for more than fifteen minutes this time, and gavin knows what to expect. a half hour into consciousness, one of his own is buzzing into his room. he’s expecting chen, maybe anderson if the captain wanted to let the old man gloat. he’s not expecting fowler himself to walk through the door.

his gut plummets like a shitty wooden roller coaster at the sight of him. dark blue button up. black slacks. badge at his hip. but no clip board, no pen. he’s not here to talk about the case.

“reed,” fowler begins, hands in his pockets as he walks toward the large window to gavin’s left. it’s hard to turn his head that way, considering his shoulder was in pieces not long ago, but he manages to get the man in his peripheral.

the silence that follows is maddening. gavin wants to claw his god damn skin off.

“fowl-”

“you could have died, reed. you very well should have.”

“i had it under con-”

“if you try to undermine what this is, so help me.” perhaps it’s just the morphine, but gavin swears fowler’s hands are shaking in his pockets.

“listen. you’re a good detective, gavin. you and i both know that. it’s why i wanted you back on the force after the whole android awakening,” fowler has finally turned to face him now though stays by the window. his voice is level, but terse. he feels like he’s being scolded by his father.

“you bitched and moaned about what cases you wanted, you bitched and moaned when i brought in the other rk unit, and you bitched and moaned when i tried to pair you with him. for months. and i’ve listened because you got results. i don’t give a shit if you’re everybody’s best friend, so long as you do the job and you don’t get yourself killed. but you fucked up big time, reed. and i can’t have it happen again.”

“captain-”

“you are not dying under my watch, gavin. you hear me? not because of your inflated ego and some shitty pride!”

gavin swallows at the tone of fowler’s voice, would have flinched back if he could. for once in his miserable fucking life, the detective agrees, and nods.

“yea. yea i hear you.” he hates how weak he sounds. he’ll blame it on the fatigue.

the tenseness fowler carried in his jaw loosens some. shoulders slack. gavin can see the clenched fists in his pockets ease. he’s said the right thing. gavin wasn’t made a detective for nothing.

“good. cause you’re getting a partner when you get out of here, and i’m not hearing another word out of you about it.”

ok, so he’s not fired. that’s awesome. but...fuck. he doesn’t even have the energy to ask who. he likes to think he’d be all teeth and gums about this, being the squeakiest wheel he can be to get the grease, if he weren’t still in recovery.

“get some rest. we’ll interview about the suspect when you’re not drugged off you ass,” his captain makes to leave, but stops by the doorway just to shoot gavin a rarely seen, but always infuriating smirk, “should probably keep you on it, though. you’re a lot nicer when you can’t bark.”

fowler leaves.

gavin, through grit teeth and optimal discomfort, manages to knock the peace lilies off the table.

#( OOC. )#fic stuff #reference / /#no one #has to read this #but here it is anyway #also i know its a small mention #but this is under the hc that #kamski and gav are related #but its...hard to tell #it will come up more later in the story

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theonyxpath · 7 years ago

Link

…And he says he has a mission for you and your valiant pioneer friends. In less than two wags of their tails, you are all ready to follow the cryptic map the stranger has given you, and off for adventure!

That could be how a session of Fetch Quest starts. Story-wise.

Part of the fun, and part of what we’ll be exploring, with Fetch Quest is how the card game connects with the TTRPG. You can play it as a straight-up card game, you can add in your own characters as the pioneers going on the quests, you can role-play the challenges as well as solve them mechanically with the card game rules, and we’re looking at how a card set of missions could be transformed into a TTRPG adventure.

What I’m saying is, if the Kickstarter goes well, we have some ideas to explore.

In any case, the Kickstarter starts at 2pm Eastern US time Tuesday the 22nd – which is tomorrow as I write this. Here’s one of the videos we created to give more details about Fetch Quest:

As always, I have no idea if this one will do well, or even fund. You’d think after thirty of them I’d get blase, but I’m not. It’s still exciting and I always can’t tell if what we’re doing will be interesting enough and exciting enough to get folks pledging. We’ve all worked to make this one fun to follow, and Jaunty James Bell has proven to be an engaging “Kickstarter Concierge” as he titles himself, so it should be pretty cool. See ya there, good dogs!

Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition illustration by Michael Gaydos

Meanwhile, we posted a short Onyx Pathcast last Friday announcing that the team feel so confident and excited about the response to the first three episodes that they will now be doing it weekly! So make sure to subscribe to PodBean or whatever podcast service you use, and get ready for your weekly dose of insider info about Onyx Path and our projects, game design, gaming in general, professional wrestling, and general good-natured repartee.

And here is the link and their third visual treatment by our old friend and first edition Trinity developer Charlie Bates:

https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/e/special-episode-one-youre-doing-great-kid/

We had a lot of fun doing this shorter special edition Onyx Pathcast, and yes, I said we as I joined Dixie and Matthew and basically pretended to weasel them into going weekly. Now, what you hear there is not what happened in real life as they all came to me with the weekly idea, but we thought we’d go broad and I’d be sort of a cross between an evil Stan Lee and P.T. Barnum. Hope it’s as much fun to listen to as it was to perform!

This week’s episode will be their interview with Impish Ian Watson, and these are some of the things they cover:

Ian talks about his history with the Trinity Continuum pitch, through the CCP merger, and into the creation of Onyx Path – Ian’s love for the Trinity line goes back to 1997.

We talk about rabbit holes and why we love what we love.

The dynamics of the Trinity Continuum design team, and how awesome Danielle Lauzon is.

How the Storypath System came to be and how we reframe Storypath between TrinityStorypath and They Came From.

Reexamining how we do the development process, and how we are trying new things for Aberrant.

Ian talks about his Community Manager role.

What’s exciting about this new version of Trinity – Aegis! Anima! (Maybe) – Trinity as a pop culture toolbox.

We answer some forum questions (did yours get answered? Listen to find out!)

We talk about fonts! Fonts are cool!

Aberrant‘s diversity.

Ian’s contributions to Vampire: Bloodlines.

So, just chock full of great conversation, and going live on Friday.

Scion Origin art by Gregor Pedrycz

And here are some quick notes that came out of our Monday Meeting today:

Our sales partner Indie Press Revolution (IPR) is starting their month-long sale of Chronicles of Darkness Prestige Kickstarter Editions today! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

We often talk about our forums, comments sections, and Facebook and Twitter presence, and here are two more places you can connect with other Onyx Path fans: our Reddit areas: non-WW games: https://reddit.com/r/OnyxPathRPG/ and WW games: https://reddit.com/r/WhiteWolfRPG and here’s a link to our new Facebook community page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/419273928504341/

Just to let folks know, since the various Kickstarter communities may not actually overlap all that much, we have shipped the Deluxe Changeling: The Dreaming last month, are looking good to start shipping the Prince’s Gambit casual Vampire: The Masquerade card game this month, and should be shipping Deluxe V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary next month. Phew!

And along those lines, we’re going to be sending the Backer PDFs out for Cavaliers of Mars this week! Here’s the gorgeous cover:

So, wrapping this up, I also took to heart your comments about pruning the Blurbs! section of this blog, and while I still want to consolidate the Amazon epub section, I think you’ll already find it a lot less bloated. We are also looking into the suggestion that we set up tabs featuring our various sales partners as a fixed place to locate them, and I’ll be able to only “blurb” new stuff.

Thanks for all your help. With all that we are doing, it can sometimes be an important task to find the best way to communicate all the great things that are happening with our…

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Fetch Quest, the adventure card game set in the Realms of Pugmire is going live tomorrow Tuesday, May 22 at 2pm Eastern US time! That’s 2pm, not noon like most of our other Kickstarters!

ELECTRONIC GAMING:

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Here are the links for the Apple and Android versions:

http://theappstore.site/app/1296692067/onyx-dice

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onyxpathpublishing.onyxdice&hl=en

Three different screenshots, above.

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

Our latest offering is the Mage 20 Cookbook, now in a convenient Kindle ebook version! https://www.amazon.com/Mage-Cookbook-World-Darkness-Enlightened-ebook/dp/B07C71BRDC/

Nook version is coming soon!

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)

Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)

Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (Kindle, Nook)

V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (Kindle, Nook)

And here are the Champions of the Scarred Lands fiction anthology and the Huntsmen Chronicles anthology for Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition!

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there!

https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

For the first time since it was originally published, we now have the Champions of the Scarred Lands fiction anthology as a physical book, available as a PoD on DTRPG and going live this Wednesday!

Pan’s Guide to New Pioneers has found its way through the wilderness to arrive in PDF and physical book PoD versions on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/239620/Pans-Guide-for-New-Pioneers

Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers

When a devastating flood hits Pugmire, all manner of bad dogs, opportunistic rats, and manipulative cats take advantage of the kingdom. Good dogs try to turn the tide, but searching the dangerous wilderness for a way to heal the land is no easy task. If only there existed brave dogs to lay down the way for other intrepid pioneers…

It is time for a new group of heroes to set out on a chaotic and risky adventure! Armed with a guide prepared by the daring dog Pan Dachshund, fabulous treasure and great recognition await them. All these pioneers need do is explore the wilds, discover the key to Pugmire’s salvation, and return in one piece!

Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers includes:

A full Pugmire adventure, aimed at people brand new to roleplaying games and experienced players alike!

Rules laid out and explained for every encounter and challenge in the adventure.

Snippets of Pan’s journal presented for enjoyable reading or integration into the game.

Ready-made characters so a game of Pugmire can commence as soon as you open this book.

Hyperlinks to video footage for those who prefer to follow along in different mediums.

CONVENTIONS!

Matthew Dawkins, Steffie de Vaan, and Mighty Matt McElroy will be at the UK Games Expo next week running games and talking shop with fans and retailers.

Prep is also underway for Gen Con 2018 in August, which takes place in Indianapolis, IN. In addition to our booth presence, be sure to check out the games and panels in the Gen Con Event Schedule.

From Fast Eddy Webb, we have these:

Eddy will be speaking at Broadleaf Writers Conference (September 22-23) in Decatur, GA. He’ll be there to talk about writing for interactive fiction, and hanging out with other writers who have far more illustrious careers. http://broadleafwriters.com/3rd-annual-broadleaf-writers-conference/3rd-annual-broadleaf-writers-conference-speakers/

Eddy will also be a featured guest at Save Against Fear (October 12-14) in Harrisburg, PA. He’ll be running some Pugmire games, be available for autographs, and will sometimes accept free drinks. http://www.thebodhanagroup.org/about-the-convention

If you are going and want to meet up, let us know!

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

C20 Players’ Guide (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Wr20 Book of Oblivion (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Aeon Aexpansion (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

In Media Res (Trinity Continuum: Core)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Tales of Excellent Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

Dog and Cat Ready Made Characters (Monarchies of Mau)

Adventures for Curious Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

Redlines

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon (Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition)

Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

Fetch Quest (Pugmire)

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!)

Guide to the Night (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

WW Manuscript Approval:

Editing:

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

Post-Editing Development:

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

Indexing:

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Hero – Last art notes and contracts being sent.

Trinity Continuum – Yep… workin on it.

Geist 2e

The Realm

M20 Gods and Monsters

Ex3 Dragon Blooded – Wave 2 art in progress

Monarchies of Mau– Artwork in progress.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Wraith 20 Screen – I’ll pull this together while doing errata. I got the list from Dansky of what tables to pull… just want to make sure they are right.

Fetch Quest – KS stuff all done for tomorrow.

EX3 Dragon Blooded – firming up layout and backgrounds while waiting for new art.

Proofing

Scion Origin – PDF almost ready for in-Onyx review.

Boggans – Waiting for WW approval.

Monarchies of Mau – Filling in XXs and prepping alpha PDF.

Changeling: the Lost 2

Wr20 Guide for Newly Departed – Art in Progress… book pretty much layed out.

At Press

Beckett Screen – At shipper.

Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – Shipping from fulfillment shipper. PDF and PoD physical book versions on sale at DTRPG.

Prince’s Gambit – At fulfillment shipper, prepping for KS ship-out.

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary– Set to arrive at fulfillment shipper this week.

Scion Dice – At fulfillment shipper.

Wraith 20 – Errata being input.

SL Champions of the Scarred Lands Anthology PoD – PoD on sale this week at DTRPG.

Cavaliers of Mars – Backer PDF out to backers this week.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: Tomorrow is Mighty Matt McElroy’s birthday! We could not have built up Onyx Path all these years without Matt, so please celebrate with us that dark and stormy night he was born!

#Onyx Path Publishing

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sebeth · 8 years ago

Text

Aliens: Outbreak, pt 2

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

Outbreak by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson

For your information, per Wikipedia: “The first three stories formed a continuation of the two Alien films that had been released by the time they were published. However, 1992 saw the release of Alien 3, which contradicted the events of the comics by beginning with the deaths of Newt and Corporal Hicks. In order to keep the stories relevant and canonical to the Alien film series, Dark Horse changed the names of the characters for future printings of the stories. Newt became Billie while Hicks was now known as Wilks.”

Bionational sends Captain Massey, a sociopathic killer, after the ship to “gather biological data on the lifeform” and “to inhabit the Benedict’s crew from retrieving a viable test subject. The corporation reveals that they managed to retrieve the escape pod of James Likowski, the pilot from the destroyed Coast Guard ship. Likowski has a face hugger attached to his head. He’s currently in Bionational’s Houston lab.

Doctor Orona is reviewing multiple patients’ files. All patients are in a 50-mile radius of Los Angeles. All are reporting visions of xenomorphs. Doctor Orona is very puzzled over these sightings as the existence of the xenomorphs is “completely secret”.

James Likowski awakens. The face hugger has fallen off and now the “creature has lodged itself in the subject’s digestive system”. The team has a rather cold discussion over whether they should inform Likowski of what’s happening to him.

Salvaje, the crazy preacher, continues to insist the xenomorph is “The Messiah. The Immaculate Incubation. God.”

Colonel Stephens is not happy to discover Billie aboard the ship. Commence huge hissy fit.

Massey’s crew boards the ship and goes on a killing spree.

Back on earth, the chest burster emerges from Likowski.

Bionational captures Salvaje’s cameraman and tortures him until he gives up everything he knows about the xenomorphs.

Bionational reveals that it has captured a queen xenomorph.

Colonel Stephens explains the deaths, caused by Massey, as “accidents”.

Billie makes friends with Bueller. Their relationship progresses into a romantic one. Billie’s continues her journey of self-healing.

Salvaje’s congregation storms the Bionational building and encounter the Queen xenomorph. Face huggers for everyone! Bionational securtity attempts to restrain Salvaje’s followers. Face-huggers and embryos are caught in the crossfire which seriously upsets the Queen.

Salvaje’s followers – all potentially implanted with embryos – escape in the confusion. It’s noted that gestation takes anywhere from 72 hours to a week. We now have the potential for dozens of xenomorph births in Los Angeles.

Colonel Stephens and Massey are working together. Stephens and Massey, along with Massey’s crew, take over the Marines’ ship. Massey executes Stephens as he “can’t countenance traitors – even when they’re on my side”.

Billie retreats to the air ducts and avoids capture. Massey’s crew doesn’t realize Billie’s escaped as she is not on the official ship roster.

Massey’s crew land on the xenomorphs’ home planet. Bionational are trying to discover if the xenomorphs are the dominant life force on the planet. I question the sanity of these individuals – they land on the planet that could have hundreds of xenomorphs and they want to find an even deadlier species? Honestly, there are less painful ways of committing suicide.

Billie is arming herself for a fight. She simply needed to get those drugs out of system to discover her inner Ripley.

Massey sends the unarmed Marines down to the planet’s surface. The men in the sky vehicles are attacked by flying green lizard-like creatures while the Marines are ambushed by xenomorphs.

Billie confronts Massey but is quickly overpowered by him. Billie gains the upper hand and kills Massey. He probably shouldn’t have told her that she didn’t have the guts to shoot him – that never ends well.

Bueller is ripped in half by a xenomorph and revealed to be an android. I wondered when an android will make an appearance. Wilks reveals that all of the Marines are androids. Bueller and two other Marine androids make it back to the ship.

The xenomorphs are pounding their way into the ship when they are stopped by a giant, elephant-trunked alien. Remember the corpse from the first Alien movie? Here is the actual live version: “It had dead eyes, seeing and not seeing. It had destroyed the aliens, but not for us, never for us. It didn’t speak, but something exploded inside my head, bright like a million suns. The images boiled up from some deeper place, the same plane as primal instinct – hunger, pain, fear.”

Aliens: Outbreak predates Prometheus by 20 years or so. I wonder if the writers of the movie read any of the Aliens comics?

Billie flashes back to her parents discovering a ship on the Rim world. The ship has the same corpse from the original movie. Billie is mind-linked with the giant and recalls what led to the crash on Rim: “The pilot aboard the cargo vessel lost control of its ship. It should have drifted forever – it should have carried the alien things into the hell of deep space. Instead it crashed into the world that man would christen Rim – and the spore survived. They waited patiently for new blood. They found it in the colonists.

We still don’t know why the giants are transporting xenomorphs – that’s an extremely deadly species to take offworld.

Billie’s mind-link continues: “It watched us with dead eyes and I felt a chill. It had come to the alien homeworld out of hate. It had rescued us out of revenge. “

I love how this story blends with the Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus.

Back on earth, the military continues to track down the infected: “At first we thought we’d be able to contain the spore. Infestation seemed limited to a narrow geographical range. And yet for every cluster we found, there were ten more just like it.

If I was a government/military operative, I’d be having nightmare. Could you ever truly be sure you captured/terminated every embryo/infectee?

We also learn that “Evidently the alien Queen is able to communicate in some subconscious fashion. With other species. In human beings, these disseminations manifest themselves in the form of pattern nightmares. The alien’s subconscious bait transcended class and political boundaries. We found hives everywhere.” I guess that explains how Salvaje came up with the vision of his “messiah”.

The military realizes they are out-classed: “…I assumed we still had time before any new queens would become viable. I was wrong. Perhaps our worst mistake was underestimating the sheer instinctual cunning of the creatures. We didn’t see the underlying pattern behind their evolutionary process – the way every facet of their existence was geared toward propagation. The queens matured at whatever speed their survival dictated. We had assumed the gestation period was time for the alien embryo to feed and grow, but it was more than that. It was an opportunity for the unknowing host to spread its spore to other sites. There was a geometric perfection to the infestations. Each queen would lay still more queens and with every generation the species became more entrenched.”

During the monologue, we see various locations of eruptions: an airplane, the beach, and a train station. Cue mass panic and disorder. Services such as water and electricity begin to fail. Enter the military. Testing stations for alien infections are created. Infectees are executed by firing squad.

“There were rumors the military was using the pretext of alien infection to eliminate political dissidents – the poor, the disaffected. As if such petty rivalries even mattered.” Very good point but those rumors/conspiracy theories would happen in real life.

Infestations are reported in Europe and Australia are reported. I can’t imagine the rest of the world is faring better. Maybe Antarctica.

Society has completely broken down: “…The aliens. Bionational. Fate. I know the truth. Those things didn’t destroy us. We did”.

The military – and “vital personnel” – are bailing to off-world colonies. Orona plans to detonate nuclear warheads – timed to coincide with the military’s “escape”. Before detonating, Orona transmits a broadcast detailing the events that led to the disaster. Orona is attacked by a xenomorph before he can press the detonation button. Billie and Wilks receive the transmission while on the aliens’ homeworld.

Wilks destroys the aliens’s hive. Billie reconciles with Bueller. The group head back to earth along with the giant alien. The military isn’t in to mood for alternative options – all they want to do is flee the planet. Can’t say I blame them. Wilks, Billie, and Bueller sneak aboard a cargo ship. The giant alien sends another mind-blast at Billie: “It – it had changed since the homeworld. It took me a moment to fully comprehend – it understood about Orona. It knew his twisted plan. We thought it shared our thirst for vengeance. We led it to earth in the mistaken belief it might want to “help” us. How could we have been so blind? It shared so many of our mercurial human emotions. Hate. Anger. The desire to conquer. It no longer cared about the aliens. Interest had shifted. The soldiers assumed they would return one day and terraform earth for themselves. It would watch. It would be watching for them.”

I’m not sure why the military would want to come back to earth. They weren’t able to handle the beginning of a xenomorph infestation. How are they going to handle an entire planet populated by the aliens? Not to mention the giant!

#Aliens #Xenomorphs #Prometheus

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theonyxpath · 7 years ago

Link

Why yes, first Canis Minor is a constellation. Constellations are groups of stars…in SPACE.

Can you see where this is going?

Trinity Continuum: Aeon has a whole lot of space action and exploration, and we’ve reached the part of the Kickstarter where we will start unlocking the full text to TC: Aeon in stages for all backers to read and wonder at!

(We have unlocked all of the text of the Trinity Continuum Core book these last two weeks, now it is TC: Aeon‘s turn).

For Impish Ian Watson and John Snead and all their aemazing writers, this is the end of a very long creative process. Just years and years since we knew we could greenlight the Trinity Continuum books. Now finally, backers will be able to read and dig into this labor of love!

Dragon Blooded illustration by Gunship Revolution

If you are an Aeon Trinity (or Aeon/Trinity) fan from way back and haven’t backed yet, now is the time! In the unlikely event that you don’t like what you see, you can cancel your pledge before the KS is over and no harm, no foul. That has been our intention with this method of sharing the completed text from the start: it worked well with Changeling: The Lost 2nd‘s KS, and seems to be doing the same with this Trinity Continuum KS, too.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/trinity-continuum-aeon-rpg

And even if you aren’t interested, please let anyone you know who was a fan know that this Kickstarter is running right now. We really want to get as many of the fans from back when aware of this resurgence of not just the Trinity Universe, but of the whole Trinity Continuum!

But Canis Minor is also the name of our Pugmire Community Content program that is debuting this Thursday the 15th. It is entirely coincidental that the Year of the Dog starts right after this debuts.

Or is it?

This is the first of Onyx Path‘s Community Content portals to launch, but it certainly won’t be the last. These sorts of programs tie into everything we have been pushing for these last six or seven years; better and genuine communication and involvement with our community. From our Open Development Process to even these weekly snapshots of what’s going on behind the curtain, we’re committed to finding new ways to connect.

And now, with Canis Minor you can present your ideas to the community and maybe even get paid back a bit financially for your hard work. Here’s a link to a post Pugmire creator and developer Eddy Webb made about this program: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/cavaliers-of-mars-and-pugmire/1165525-canis-minor-faq-pugmire-community-content

Pugmire has a rich potential for additional projects – not only have we at Onyx Path barely scratched the surface of the world and all that it holds, but by Pugmire‘s very nature there are a lot of folks who love their Good Dogs so much that they are bubbling with ideas. Here then, is the portal to those ideas becoming a real thing that others can share and appreciate.

Obviously, there’s going to be a lot more info coming out this week about Canis Minor including a new post by Eddy updating his earlier one linked above, and we hope you’ll be able to take advantage of the opportunity and make some projects for Good Dogs!

After this, we’re working on both Scarred Lands and Scion Community Content, and I’m sure others as we get these first three rolling.

Demon: The Descent Enemy Action illustration by Brian LeBlanc

Finally, today was our first Monday Meeting with both newcomers Matthew “Call me Matthew” Dawkins, and Dynamic Dixie Cohran. We are all just thrilled to have them in on the call and contributing to the one meeting we are all locked into every week, and it’s already obvious they will be doing great things with Onyx Path.

Please join us in welcoming them into the INNER SANCTUM! Watch how we bend reality and alter Fate!

(Or, you know, review schedules, convention strategies, and debate the minutia of a press release).

No! Pay no attention to the parenthetical! We wield the Power Cosmic! We travel the cosmos and surf past Canis Minor as it barks and snaps on our way to:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

The Trinity Continuum Kickstarter went live January 30 and we’re almost half-way through, we have pledges headed towards 300% of our funding goal, over 1400 backers, and we’ve gone through nine Stretch Goals including VARGs, new Noetic Biotech, and Aberrants and their cults that will be added to the AEon AExpansion, a Trinity Continuum: Aeon novella entitled “Dawn“, and a scenario called “Caper, Incorporated” has been added to the In Media Res scenario collection PDF for the Trinity Continuum Core.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/trinity-continuum-aeon-rpg

Trinity Continuum: Aeon, is our reboot of the classic Trinity (Aeon) game, and Trinity Continuum: Core is the core book that all of our Trinity Continuum game lines will spin off from. Both books will be a part of this Kickstarter and backers have already received the first two quarters of the Trinity Continuum: Core text, with more to come. James Bell, our Kickstarter Manager, has been keeping this KS hopping, so we hope you’ll check it out!

Our next Kickstarter is slated to be EX3‘s Dragon-Blooded.

As we try and find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Last week the devs are added a whole bunch of new game lines’ dice and rolling bg’s and got caught by a bug Apple needed to fix, so be sure to update your app and soon that should be fixed.

There’s been tweaks to all elements of the UI, you can now preview every die type in the store, and you can use multiple die types per roll! Here are the links for the Apple and Android versions:

http://theappstore.site/app/1296692067/onyx-dice

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onyxpathpublishing.onyxdice&hl=en

Three different screenshots, above.

(The Solar Anima special Dice above)

Promethean: The Created and Demon: The Descent dice on a Demon: The Descent tabletop

Hunter: The Reckoning and Mage: The Awakening dice on a Mage: The Awakening tabletop

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

We’re delighted to announce the opening of our ebook stores on Amazon and Barnes & Noble! You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble). Our initial selection includes these fiction anthologies:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

And here are six more fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Andand six more more:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)

Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)

Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

And even more books are now on Amazon and the Nook store!:

Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (Kindle, Nook)

V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (Kindle, Nook)

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages! And Screens…so many Screens!

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

Appearing on DriveThruRPG this Wednesday are the PDF and PoD physical book versions of Arms of the Chosen for Exalted 3rd Edition! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226224/Arms-of-the-Chosen

Take up the panoply of legendary heroes and lost ages, and awaken the world-shaking might of their Evocations. Before the dawn of time, the Exalted wielded god-metal blades to cast down the makers of the universe. In an ancient epoch of forgotten glories, Creation’s greatest artificers forged unimaginable wonders and miracle-machines.

Now, in the Age of Sorrows, kingdoms go to war over potent artifacts, scavenger princes risk everything to uncover relics of the past, and the Exalted forge great arms and armor on the anvil of legend. These treasures are yours to master.

Discover the mystical power of the five magical materials and the secrets of creating your own Evocations. Wield weapons of fabled might and don the armor of mythic heroes, making their puissance your own. Claim Creation’s wonders: the miraculous tools of the Chosen, living automatons, flying machines, hearthstones, and more. And unleash the mighty warstriders, titanic god-engines of conquest and devastation, to once more shake Creation with their footfalls.

Coming this Wednesday as an Advance PDF on DTRPG, we reveal The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb, a Jumpstart adventure for Pugmire. (And yes, there will be a physical book PoD version coming soon). www.drivethrurpg.com/product/232337/The-Secrets-of-Vinsens-Tomb–A-Pugmire-Jumpstart

A cat living in Pugmire disappears, but neither the police dogs nor the cats of the Cat Quarter know why. When zombies attack the heroes, however, all signs point to an invasion by the Monarchies of Mau. But how does this intrigue tie into the lost tomb of the first king of Pugmire?

The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb is a Pugmire story for three to six characters. This jumpstart contains all the rules and characters you need to play — just grab some dice and go! You can also use this adventure with the full version of Pugmire.

The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb contains:

• An evocative and mysterious setting that’s both family friendly and deep enough to create compelling stories.

• A summary of Pugmire’s traditional fantasy rules system. It’s designed for streamlined play, with an emphasis on cooperation and action over competition and violence.

• A complete adventure for a Guide to run for three to six players. Also useful for Guides running a full Pugmire game of first or second level characters!

• Six ready-to-play characters, so you can jump into the action.

Can your good dogs discover the secret of Vinsen’s Tomb?

Also releasing this Wednesday on DTRPG is the physical book PoD version of the Pugmire Core Rulebook itself!

Is a life of running and hiding a life worth living? We say yes. There’s always something between the running and the hiding, and those moments of grace make it all worthwhile.

The Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology is a perfect companion piece to Changeling: The Lost, 2nd Edition. These stories spin tales of the Lost, of those abducted and enslaved by fairies. Those who escaped, but whose captors will stop at nothing to find them. These fairies summon forth the Huntsmen, primordial hunters who understand nothing but pursuit and capture. The Huntsmen are unstoppable monsters, and the Lost can only look to each other for respite, rare comfort, and rarer trust.

The Hedge has parted and you can get the PDF/electronic versions and the physical book PoD version of The Huntsmen Chronicle Fiction Anthology for Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition at DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/210042/The-Huntsmen-Chronicle-Anthology

We unveil Vampire: The Requiem 2e‘s Half-Damned as PDF and PoD versions on DTRPG.com this Wednesday!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/227500/Half-Damned

I love her, she’s family, but I don’t love what she is.

– Antonio Ramírez, dhampir

This book includes:

• An exploration of what it means to be one of the Half-Damned, dhampir, revenants or ghouls.

• Mechanics for creating Half-Damned characters.

• Information for creating and running chronicles using the various Half-Damned character types, both with vampires and alone.

• Information on Half-Damned antagonists for vampire chronicles.

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook is the gold-standard corporate guidebook for employees of the world’s finest multi-national corporation and many of their subsidiary companies. This volume contains the main Pentex handbook, along with the Guide to Werewolves, and this year’s round of updated corporate handbooks for our subsidiaries.

Available here in PDF and PoD versions: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/227498/W20-Pentex-Employee-Indoctrination-Manual

MONKEYWRENCHED!

This is the unredacted version, replete with notes from the higher-ups! It took a lot to get this information out, so it’s had a chance to go through some monkeywrenchers’ hands before going to you. Make good use of it!

The Employee Indoctrination Handbook contains:

A guide to working for Pentex itself, along with the Guide to Werewolves given to certain staff.

Employee handbooks for Endron, Magadon, REDnetwork, Sunburst, and Tellus

Notes on the contents, from both werewolves and the Board of Directors

At last, one of the most legendary of Kindred will share his personal journal with you! V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary goes on sale in PDF and PoD versions on DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/225322/V20-Becketts-Jyhad-Diary

It’s ever been a loaded word among vampires. Jyhad is in force everywhere from lofty, perfumed Elysium to cloying, smoke-filled blood feasts. Jyhad’s the eternal game played by elders, Methuselahs, and worse — it’s the agenda of beings so utterly beyond humanity, one such as yourself could scarcely understand its movements.

Luckily for you, you’ve picked up a copy of my diary. With my help you may just take a step on the first rung of understanding. Information worth having is information you must earn through blood, and oh, how I’ve bled for what’s contained within these pages.

— Beckett

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary serves as the definitive book of setting and plot for Vampire: The Masquerade, containing 30 chapters spanning different geographical regions, encountering vampires of every clan, profiling obscure and profound segments of the mythology, and providing countless story hooks on every page.

Masterfully written by the likes of Neall Raemonn Price, Joshua Alan Doetsch, Myranda Sarro, Steffie de Vaan, Malcolm Sheppard, Alan Alexander, Renee Knipe, and Matthew Dawkins, Beckett’s Jyhad Diary is as fascinating to read as to use for your game Chronicles.

With a howl of RAGE, the W20 Changing Ways Advance PDF charges at you this Wednesday on DTRPG.com!

Changing Ways is an in-depth look at what it means to be a werewolf, both on a personal level and as part of a pack. It digs deep into what it feels like to have bones re-knit after breaking, the range of senses available across all forms, and the sudden heady rush of the Gifts and Rites bestowed by spirits. It also provides a look at what life is like for lupus and metis werewolves, characters who have had experiences alien to any person. It shows the many ways that werewolves organize in packs, and how those packs are designed as groups of warriors, rather than aligned to the behavior of wolves.

Changing Ways contains:

• A detailed look at what it means to grow up as a lupus or metis werewolf, and how that colors a character’s perspective.

• More information on what it feels like to be a werewolf, a creature that changes in both body and mind.

• Frameworks and organizations for packs, along with new tactics and systems for forging the pack as part of play.

Legacy of Lies, the V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart, goes undead in PDF and physical book PoD versions on DTRPG:

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/222956/Legacy-of-Lies-A-V20-Dark-Ages-Jumpstart

TWO PRINCES. BITTER RIVALS. AND A COTERIE CAUGHT BETWEEN THEM.

Marcus Verus, the vampiric Prince of Chester, secretly prepares to go into torpor. Should his plans be made public, the Prince knows the wolves — both real and imagined — would launch an attack, threatening all within his domain.

That’s where you come in.

Legacy of Lies includes:

Basic rules for players and Storytellers

Introduction to the Vampire: The Masquerade Dark Ages setting

Introductory adventure

Characters for players and Storytellers

A Land Where Legends Walk

Drawing enthusiastically on Greek mythology, the revised and re-imagined Scarred Lands nonetheless retains its place as a modern fantasy RPG setting. This is a world shaped by gods and monsters, and only the greatest of heroes can expect to be counted among them. The most populous continent of Scarn, Ghelspad, plays host to vast unexplored regions, hides unsolved riddles from ancient cultures, and taunts adventures with the promise of undiscovered riches hidden among the ruins of older civilizations.

Yet the myths of the Scarred Lands are relatively recent events. The effects of the Titanswar still ripple through the world, and the heroines and villains of many of these stories are part of living memory, if not still living.

The Award-Winning Fantasy Setting Returns

Scarred Lands has been a favorite fantasy setting since the release of the Creature Collection for the d20 System in 2000. In subsequent years, over 40 titles were published for Scarred Lands, making it one of the most fully supported fantasy RPG settings ever and the premiere product line of Sword & Sorcery Studios.

Available in both 5th Edition and Pathfinder compatible versions! PDF and PoD formats available NOW!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193014/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-Pathfinder

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197803/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-OGL-5e

CONVENTIONS!

Magnificent Monica Valentinelli and Mighty Matt McElroy are special guests at Capricon 38 in Wheeling IL this week (Thursday-Sunday). They’ve got a bunch of panels each and some games (Monica is running Hunter: The Vigil 2e and Matt’s running Pugmire).

At the end of the February (2/26-3/5) Mighty Matt will be in Seattle for Emerald City Comic Con. He plans on spending some time in Artist Alley checking out artists – so if you are an artist interested in working for us, particularly with super-hero genre based Trinity Continuum: Aberrant coming up, say hi to Matt as he comes by!

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Guide to the Night (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Redlines

Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!)

Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

Monarchies of Mau (Monarchies of Mau)

Fetch Quest (Pugmire)

WW Manuscript Approval:

Editing:

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Post-Editing Development:

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

Indexing:

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Cavaliers of Mars

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Hero

Changeling: the Lost 2

Trinity Continuum

Ex3 Dragon Blooded – KS artwork in and approved.

Pugmire – Pan’s Explorer’s Guide (or whatever)

Boggans – Contracted.

Monarchies of Mau – Sorting through buy and figuring out roster.

Fetch Quest – Getting artwork for KS.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Scarred Lands Community Content

Scion Origin

Proofing

Beast PG – First Proof.

DtD Enemy Action – Proof notes with Josh.

Book of Freeholds – Interior off for proofing.

Ring of Spiragos

Wraith 20 Screen – Front at WW for approval

At Press

Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.

Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – To fulfillment shipper. PDF and PoD physical book versions on sale at DTRPG.

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition) – Deluxe Edition cover and Screen in the works. Printer shrink-wrapping books.

Prince’s Gambit – At press.

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary– Creating files for the Deluxe edition.

C20 Ready Made Characters – Files uploaded.

Ex 3 Arms of the Chosen – PoD proofs on the way.

Pugmire Artisan Cards – PoD proofs on the way.

Pugmire Shepherd Cards – PoD proofs on the way.

W20 Changing Ways– PoD proofs on the way.

Pugmire – PoD version on sale at DTRPG Weds.

Scion Dice Packaging

Wraith 20 – Backer PDF out, and errata is coming in.

Pugmire/Canis Minor Community Content – Logo done, assets with DTRPG, goes live the 15th.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: Here is a fresh human heart: Enjoy Valentine’s Day!

#Onyx Path Publishing

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