infectedhau

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The true hell of being a Bionicle fan in the modern day is watching Transformers get a whole bunch of great new media and really good LGBTQ+ rep and knowing full well that you could have that too if LEGO gave a shit about their IP

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"Drifter, you've been using Nyx a lot more than usual, I thought you weren't a fan of it?" "Don't worry about it it's fine"

Warframe showerthought

Since the Operator and the Drifter are two separate, independent people with a shared arsenal of warframes and weapons, does it sometimes happen that one tries to pick the same loadout as the other, but can't because it's already in use in another mission?

Does the Operator come to the Drifter like "Lotus said it's my turn on the Xaku"?

Do they tease each other about warframe/weapon usage and builds?

"Why would you use Oberon? He's so outdated, just pick Dante instead"

"Bramma has basically no ammo, so you better hit your shots"

"Why the fuck would you use forma to add a zenurik polarity?"

"Rhino has to be pink, you wouldn't understand, stop recolouring him"

"Did you just waste all the endo on maxing out PSF???"

"I thought it would be a huge damage increase!"

(disclaimers in the tags)

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Just realized that Drifter never needed to use transference on Lettie when saving the Hex because her fate is so intertwined with Eleanor's survival.

Eleanor rips out her own tongue to save not only herself but Lettie... to show Lettie that she's always been "here" and is more than the technocyte. The first thing Lettie says in 1999 is how they need to cut off Eleanor in order to "cauterize a wound" because of the extent of Eleanor's infection, and yet Lettie hesitates the second she's faced with the real prospect of killing Eleanor, cementing her own death.

Lettie can't let Eleanor go no matter how much she tells herself she needs to. She's compartmentalized the death and disease of her loved ones for years both as a field medic and taking care of her dying relatives growing up. She expects this to be no different. Lettie suppresses her affection for Eleanor over months and months, pushing her away, only for it to bubble up twice as strong at the end.

"Making sure you're still... you," comes WAY too late for it to make a difference. Eleanor is already completely consumed by the technocyte. By her own loneliness. A longing for acceptance that only comes from the infested after Lettie abandons their relationship.

It kills her. It kills them both.

In the next loop, after Drifter uses transference, Eleanor's last attempt to remind Lettie how much Eleanor cares for her is what saves them both the second time around. How they were "thick as thieves for a while" (Eleanor's words), and how even months of indifference didn't erode that sentiment.

They always end up in each other's arms whether they're dying together at the bottom of an infested substation or curled up on the sofa in the backrooms eating pizza. They are literally inseparable and eternally fated to live and die together no matter the loop. im fine

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My operator, watching my drifter have to navigate their way through six layers of interpersonal drama and psychological trauma to maybe get kissed on new years eve:

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its so funny to me how de made all these alternate history legally distinct names for everything in 1999 except xipe totec is still xipe totec. there was some massive point of (at the very least linguistic) divergence in the warframe timeline with our own, except for the aztecs, theyre a universal constant.

jokes aside its interesting actually whats changed and what hasnt, like it seems like its specifically the anglophonic world thats diverged the most, since plenty of myths from other cultures have apparently endured long enough to have orokin terminology named after them. and of course to some extent this is, from a doylist perspective, a result of orientalism and viewing non-european cultures as inherently exotic. which is frustrating but not surprising from a western dev team.

having said that, im going to keep talking about the in-universe perspective because its fun and toys. anyway im assuming that the sol-lua mythology is the "principle of dualism" that ballas says came before "the vain faith"- which i'm also assuming is the whole orokin thing. given that other mythologies still existed, as evidenced by xipe totec, and the context clues of it being present in britannia (enough for eleanor to complain about it sneaking into childrens stories) and höllvania (theorized to be near where cetus ends up being by some), my assumption would be that in this timeline christianity did not emerge but this new mythology is still occupying a similar role in history, which is kind of low hanging fruit to notice, but still. its particularly interesting that ballas ascribes this faith to "our people"- either the orokin or the culture that proceeded them, despite the chat logs establishing that it was not the sole mythology of this timeline, which to me seems to imply a very chauvinistic origin to the orokin, presumably the socioeconomic bloc that the icr answers to.

the orokin, if im remembering right, had access to kuva prior to albrecht's Incident (unless im misinterpreting his statement of "i will not take the kuva"- it could be that it was invented after the fact and he's recording the logs much later, but its ambiguous, and i feel like the writers would have made a bigger deal out of it being a new invention from his perspective), and a tablet in duviri explicitly refers to kuva as being void-empowered. at this point, i wouldnt be surprised if kuva is a bootstrap paradox, being introduced into the timeline from the future and allowing the orokin to emerge from the ruling classes of 1999- after all, between the technocyte coda, scaldra's attempts to use the techrot for political upheaval, and the digital extremes infestation gag in the arg, its clear that the bourgeoise of this time have no qualms about trying to use dangerous eldritch forces for their own gain. they absolutely would establish the orokin empire, given the chance. this wouldnt be a huge far reaching lore reveal if it was true, of course, if anything it would be painfully mundane and anticlimactic- but unsurprising. scaldra especially, with its religious undertones, would make sense as an origin.

that just leaves this sol-lua culture as the only unexplained variable. is it the divergence point of the warframe timeline? when did it come about? we know its ancient even in 1999, since komi apparently comes from it, but just how ancient is the question. modern german, french, and jamaican patois exist in 1999, which seems to imply that certain aspects of history havent changed- its just very unclear how much has been influenced and its driving me nuts. i need drifter to go find a world history book and take notes for me to read.

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I think that when Stalker goes out on assassinations, he leaves his kid with Kahl (because Kahl is possibly the most dutiful person he knows of in the entire system). And the entire time Kahl has them, he's just huddling around the child with a bunch of other grineer defectors going "look, brothers, a new little brother. When they are older we will teach them many things." Another grineer defector pipes up "like gatakata." "Yes, the grakata. And the blunt." "And the hellfire jetpack with homing missiles." "Slow down brother, that is very advanced." "No, look. It is smiling. It desires to take to the skies." "Ah, a smile... What's happening!? Brothers?!" *An eldritch ray of energy erupts from among the huddled grineer; this is shown as a wide pan out to Chipper, sitting on the other side of camp who is startled by the distant blast* "It yearns for beam weapons, brothers. We are not prepared."

Stalker returns, Kahl is reading a weapons system manual to the child in a fort made of blunts. There are at least six pieces of heavy armor plating swaddling the child. He lets out a long held breath. Everything is fine.

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The 1999 brainrot has consumed me

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I HAVE ACQUIRED THE CIS GUN

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Drifter stopping Amir from having a panic attack

BY TRANSFERING INTO HIM??

BY BREATHING FOR HIM???

Bitch, I'm unwell.

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I really want the Hex to meet the Operator, because yeah they've heard stories from the Drifter but also how do you prepare yourself for something like that

Your friend shows up to the function with a child. Like, twelve, thirteen years old tops, and the resemblance is so uncanny you have to remember that these are not mother and daughter, but the same person from two different realities (which you've only just recently been notified is A Thing).

And that would all be enough to swallow even if this was just a regular kid, but from the second she opens her mouth it's readily apparent that she isn't. She talks like a hardened veteran, like a kung-fu master from the movies, she holds herself upright and proper in a way that's so incredibly un-childlike, and what's even weirder is you can kinda see echoes of your friend in her, like a funhouse reflection. She thanks you for being her other self's friend, as though she's the grown-up in this relationship, and you're not entirely sure she's wrong about that.

And maybe the Drifter's more than your friend, maybe you two have grown close, and now you have this other person who, thanks to the magic of quantum entanglement, knows every intimate detail of that relationship, who is *way* too young for you to be dating, and how do you deal with that? How do you deal with the knowledge that a child untold thousands of years in the future is privvy to everything that happens there? Do you even bring it up at all?

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I like to think they're just humoring the Drifter

They come back from a mission with armfuls of days-old infested pizza and burgers, random comic books and cds, and also some cool rocks they found because that's what you do, right? You find stuff out in the world and give it to people and they like you, that's how it worked for the Holdfasts and the Cavia, and all the other factions, right?

And they're like yeah, sure bud, good job, and they don't really complain because at least they can still drink the beer.

Started laughing again at the highest hex standing item being a box of pizza because the implication is that like with plumes and voca we find these out in the wild. that box will have been sitting in a fully-infested radio shop, open and exposed to the air, for three days by the time we find it and bring it back. are you guys going to eat that. somebody send umbra back to 1999, these guys need a father before they die from food poisoning

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Drifter calling up the Operator up and going "AYO THEY GOT FOOD IN TRIANGLES OVER HERE"

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Why did they put this in there. I’ve never in my life seen a developer use their patch notes to say “we’re pretty sure our community has no game, so here’s a pro tip. Don’t be an asshole to the person you’re trying to date”

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🏳‍🌈❓

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Drifter talking to an actual normal adult person for the first time ever.

Amir teaching Drifter that "some thoughts are inside thoughts, okay..." because she's never had to take anyone else's feelings into consideration.

Drifter and Aoi listening to music, and learning that she likes On-Lyne and not understanding why everyone snickers about it. It has so much heart. (She can't relate to much of the love stuff, though, despite Aoi's best efforts)

Arthur and Drifter getting into overly-heated "discussions". Honestly, they're just in it for the serotonin. But Drifter usually gets a bit out of hand with the future stuff, leaving Arthur both horrified and confused.

Quincy trying to Haze Drifter by giving her the weapon with the most kickback, but she takes it like a fucking horse. Noticing his bewilderment she just "riiiight, owwww owww, that was... my fucking shouuuulder..." before looking him dead in the eyes and just shooting a laser out of her hand. This results in a group message from Broadsword about... not... doing that again.

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I think about this dynamic a lot, because like who's the real adult here?

The Drifter is physically older, yes. But also she's been stuck in Duviri for however long, not doing much but dying over and over. The void *has* numbed her, to the point where getting stabbed through the chest was just an everyday routine for her. Even after getting out, she spends most of her time on the Zariman, hanging out with ghosts.

Meanwhile the Operator has had a life, she's fought in a war, trained and grown alongside the other Tenno. Most of her memories of that are gone, but even after that she's gone through so much, seen so much more than the Drifter has. I imagine there's some resentment there, how could there not be, but more than anything I bet the Drifter is proud.

The Drifter sees this little void gremlin who's become a folk hero, champion of the oppressed and downtrodden and says "man, my little sister is awesome."

The Operator logs onto the POM-PC in the Orbiter, rereads the chat logs of this big gangly loner finally making real friends, and says "man, my little sister is awesome."

Okay but warframe 1999 gets me. The thought of my Drifter, after ALL she's been through, getting to have friends... to talk... to feel safe around people. Fully expecting it all to finally catch up with her soon. But maybe the void really has numbed her...

The way she talks to the Operator is NOT the same as how she talks to the Hex, and how could it be?? Can you image the mixed feelings she has? Wow... The operator made it out. That's fantastic. Why did she have to save her, though? Why couldn't she have been the one to have been saved. But of course, Drifter doesn't have time to unpack this stuff... I imagine that the operator is more of a little sister to her.

Fucking hell. When I came back to warframe after MANY years, this was not what I expected. Like... I am having FEELINGS.

And yes. I did leave tumblr for a hot minute and now I am back, jumpscaring you all with WARFRAME angst. Apologies.

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OH MY GOD SHE'S ACTUALLY DOWN BAD FOR LOTUS