#bit of a bummer but i do feel like i dodged a bullet

[orcelito]

So I found out upon checking my email this morning that the therapy appointment isn't in the health building like I thought, but rather in the basement of a boy's only dorm further north

Which brings up two problems: that's even further away than I'd accounted for, and I find it SUPREMELY uncomfortable to go to a boy's only dorm for therapy, even if the office is in one of the general areas.

I'd already been conceding on the matter of agreeing to talk to a man, since I'm generally uncomfortable with talking to men I don't know, but it was the soonest appointment I could get... so I agreed to it, but finding out it's in the boy's only dorm is just Too Much. Not only would it make it even harder to get there, but my skin just kinda crawls thinking about baring my fuckin heart in a place so thoroughly meant for guys. Like it's a place I don't belong, which REALLY does not help give the comfort kinda required of such an appointment.

I called the office asking if the appointment could be set up on zoom (bc it mentioned it in the email), but the therapist was staunch on it being in-person, so I rescheduled with a different person for the 13th. Bc if this dude isn't gonna be understanding with my discomfort with the location, like fuckin hell I'm gonna let myself be emotionally vulnerable with him. Bet he was thinking I was being too picky like "Oh it's a stupid Girl who can't handle being around Men" like sorry I have a healthy fear of guys I don't know 😋😋😋😋😋 if U have a problem with it then change society so talking to unknown men doesn't feel like walking in a minefield. Thanks.

[smashskate]

Jackie Jett - For @thesimsters-stories​‘s Love Island

“Well damn! I’m Jackie, and I can control the weather!”

Name: Jackie Jett

Age: 26

Location: Del Sol Valley

Occupation: Weather Reporter

Traits: Non-Committal, Ambitious, Outgoing

Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity

Skills:

Charisma: 8

Wisdom: 6

Dancing: 4

Acting: 4

Bio: 

Introducing Jacqueline “Jackie” Jett, the semi-famous Weather Reporter on the Del Sol Valley Network, Channel 7. With hair about as big as her ego, Jackie is known for being loud, proud, and... another word that ends in -oud. Give us a bit to think of one, and we’ll get back to you. 

Jackie grew up in the suburbs of Del Sol Valley, with her parents and two older brothers. She excelled in school, graduating Valedictorian of her class and getting accepted into Foxbury Institute’s Specialized Biology program. It’s safe to say that years of success definitely boosted her opinion of herself, which was struck down a few notches when the job market tightened up as soon as she graduated. Jobs in her field were hard to come by, and Jackie was feeling down on her luck. One day while shopping with her bffs, she was approached by a man who she assumed to be a model scout. It turned out to be Victor Price, one of the producers at DSVN, who offered her a spot as their new weather reporter. With the show’s viewer count draining as online news becomes the new craze, Jackie’s appearance is possibly the only thing holding the studio together at this point, and she knows it.

While Jackie does have some brains on her, her most admirable trait are her wits. She’s real cunning, and knows how to play the game to come out on top. Unlike some of the other applicants, long-term romance isn’t really Jackie’s thing. She’s much more inclined to one night stands and hookups, and anyone who lasts longer gets their number deleted from her phone. Jackie claims to love this lifestyle, much to her cuffed friend’s dismay. While they think she’s crazy for not wanting to get boo’d up, she thinks the idea of being tied down is absolutely sickening. So why would she apply for a show like Love Island, where the only goal is to find true (or true in terms of reality television) love? (Reason number 1 will shock you!)

Questions:

Briefly describe yourself and your life.

“If you insist, LOL! Alright, my name’s Jackie Jett and I’m 26 years old. If I look familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen me on DSVN, during the 8am time slot, 9 on weekends. Shameless plug, I’m the hottest weather girl in the hottest city in the west! Sure, the job’s a bore at times and I really only got hired for my looks and not my now-useless biology degree, but it pays well and I get a lot of time off to do the things I actually enjoy! I’m not actually as dumb as I come off to our viewers. I’m college educated! Although, it doesn’t really matter much at the moment, so I figured why not have fun where I am now? Also yes, I’m a natural redhead. Anyone that tells you different is a disgusting liar.”

Any Hobbies?

“My hobbies pretty much only consist of me going out and getting drunk. But it’s not that bad! I’ve always been a party girl, since high school even. There’s nothing more fun than going to a nightclub and letting your inhibitions run wild for a few hours! And if I can witness some celeb drama happen live before I hear about it at the studio the next morning, that's always a plus.”

How long have you been single?

“Well, that depends on what you define a relationship as, doesn't it? If you’re talking about any kind of romance, than I’m technically never single. I’m just never with the same person! If you define it as a romantic, long term relationship, then not since freshman year of college. And I’d like to keep it that way, thank you very much. I love to have my options open.”

Why did your last relationship end?

“Again, if we’re talking longer term, he wanted to get more serious and I realized that it just wasn’t what I was looking for. I was 19 and I still wanted to experience so much before getting cuffed. He really didn't take it well, so kinda safe to say I dodged a bullet on that one.”

What are you looking for in a relationship?

“If I had to be in one? I would want the other person to know and respect that I’m not going to be tied down for the rest of time. The whole “open relationship” thing is a standard I like to set with my long term hookups, and I would like that to apply here as well. Also, they should be hot. I’ve been with every type of guy you can think of, but I’ve got standards. I like em sexy, who can blame me? I promise, if I get on the show I’ll try to restrain myself. Keyword try. Also generally don't be a dick. Just because I’ve been with a lot of men doesn't mean I’m less deserving of respect. Any guy that thinks differently goes out the door, sorry not sorry. Oh, did you know that I have Demi Lovato’s phone number? We’re, like, basically besties.”

What are you not looking for in a relationship?

“By this point in the interview I think it’s pretty obvious the one thing I’m super not looking for, LOL! But other than that, I’m open to a lot! Just depends on who’s asking.” *winks* “I’m really not territorial, but if any of the women try to shame me for my lifestyle, I’m not afraid to get my claws out. Women are supposed to support women, I’m not tolerating any bullshit.”

Something else we should know about you?

“Okay, I guess this is where I come clean. Well, to the producers at least. So, basically, for the last few months, our shows ratings and viewership have been dropping. Our analytics team looked into it, and we’re pretty sure it’s because of that Simstagram News update. Instead of watching the actual news, people are going there because it’s quicker and easier to get info. So one day, Victor comes up to me and is all like “I’ve got an idea and I need your help”, which is already fishy because that’s basically code for “I need to use your looks to get the show traction”. So I go into his office and he brings up the Love Island Application. And, like, at first I’m hesitant because I work in showbiz, right? I know how reality tv stars get perceived by the public. But then I realized that if the studio tanks, I’ll no longer have a job, which like, major bummer. So I say yes!

In the end, I’m here to stir up drama and look cute on camera, all as bait for people to come and watch live news. Of course, I get the added benefit of a longer segment on the show, and a boost in Simstagram followers! So it’s really a win-win! Honestly, I probably would have applied anyway, if I had seen the casting call before Victor showed it to me. A bunch of hot guys, hookups, and more drama than a Kardashian-Jenner Simstagram comment section? That’s basically my dream life! And hey, who knows? Maybe I’ll finally get a tan!”

Some fun facts:

Please, make more That 70′s Show references when you meet her. She’s never heard them before. You’re so original, oh my gosh.

She’s allergic to shrimp. Makes for a downer at fancy parties.

She doesn’t tan, just burns. Curse her Irish heritage.

She played volleyball in college. She was pretty good at it, but almost broke her nose, which cause her to quit out of fear of getting a nose job.

She’s definitely a B list celebrity. No, don’t look it up. The internet is full of misinformation. You can’t trust anything.

She watched Mr.Robot and now has tape over her webcam. Sincerest apologies to her FBI agent. He/She’s missing a lot.

She’s a secret drama nerd. She can’t sing for the life of her, but she did the occasional play when she was younger.

Although her brothers know she can make her own decisions, they’re still super protective. They’re like 6ft+ guard dogs that Jackie sicks on any man that harms her.

She's got a tattoo of a ladybug. She won't tell you where, you’ll just have to find out for yourself ;)

Despite her complaining, her and Victor are pretty close. They have that sibling type bond. Only if one sibling was able to fire the other.

[turqrambles]

Digimon World - Midgame - Some Assorted Thoughts

At the time of writing this post, I’m sitting at around 31 Prosperity for the first Digimon World game for the PS1, which I could consider pretty mid-game for this type of game, so I just want to write down what I think about this little adventure.

For the record, I am talking about the original Playstation version of the game. The one with the T-rating (which feels way too high for this game since there’s no swear words and the battle damage is fantasy-level at best - is it because of all the poop in this game?) and the one with the CGI Metalgreymon on the cover for the NTSC versions of the game.

I’m playing this game on a physical copy that somehow survived like five moves on my PS3, just for reference. 

(Yes that’s that actual price I paid for it. That was a big price for little kid me.)

The Past Trials of My Schoolchild Self

First thing’s first - as a kid, I actually did not like this game very much!

For starters, I didn’t get very far in the game. My Digimon would keep pooping all over the place for one since I don’t think I fully understood the timing of this mechanic. I stopped playing the game when my Airdramon was one poop away from turning into a Sukamon and I found myself unable to stop it because I saved right before my Airdramon would make the final poop, thus trapping me in an unwinnable game loop. If I turned the game back on, I could only watch as my beautiful flying feathered snake transformed into a poop with eyeballs as I was powerless to stop it.

My Digimon had to suffer for my mistakes.

But besides that, I just found the game far too cryptic to figure out just what was going on, and my Digimon would never turn into anything cool. My Airdramon really was the coolest thing my Digimon ever evolved into, so the yellow turd Digimon really was like salt on a wound.

But, to add insult to injury, one time I hatched a baby Botamon and talked to the old man, only to have this giant dinosaur run up to me and blast the literal infant into smithereens.

Greymon is a dick.

What I remember from kid me’s file of this game - I finished the Drill Tunnel, I got to the dinosaur world one time, and I’m pretty sure I entered Myotismon’s mansion one time because out of sheer luck, my Agumon digivolved into a Bakemon one time.

I know what I didn’t do - I never recruited any of the shopkeeper Digimon so I was doing an itemless run as a kid. A big mistake, considering how important items are in this game!

A Brutal Beginning

Playing this game in 2020 when I’m an adult and have a better concept in how these types of games work is making this playthrough a lot easier for me, but don’t be fooled. This game is still pretty difficult.

I’m going to be real. One of the main turn offs for this game for a lot of players, especially little kids in the year 2000 with dial-up internet and no strategy guide like myself, is that this is one of those games where the beginning starts out slow. Real slow.

Sure, most great RPGs give you a real sense of power and accomplishment once you figure out the mechanics and get stronger as you progress through the game, but in this game, you have less options at the start because, as it turns out, the shopkeepers, the superior meat farmers, the air taxi service, and all those fun little options typically available to you in other RPGs have all turned feral as a result of A Bad Thing That Happened on File Island and it’s up to you and your plucky partner Digimon to explore the wilds and beat them up one by one until they gain a little humanity (...digitanity) and expand the town. 

While it is really cool to see the town expand through the course of the game - buildings are built and lights are gradually installed - but man, the fact that you go for a long time without having a shop if you don’t know what to do kinda sucks. A lot. I kept thinking to myself about how Pokemon is a lot more generous with the item drops and, while the shop inventories at Viridian City and Pewter City aren’t great, they’re there from the beginning.

Note: To get this guy, you have to chase a rumor from a Baby Digimon that there’s a fish that shows up after a certain time on a certain map. Then you have to progress through the jungle enough that you find the one Betamon that isn’t an enemy. There. Now the shop’s open. What, are you saying that’s super convoluted? Why yes it is. Welcome to Digimon World.

Not only that, but this game’s biggest flaw comes from one tiny feature it omits from the game - Digimon World doesn’t have a world map.

See this artwork? This is the most you’re ever going to get.

You know how a lot of RPGs - your Pokemon, your Final Fantasy, etc etc - have a world map that’s easy to access from the start menu? Yeah, this game doesn’t have that. It instead prints a rather rudimentary map in both the instruction manual and on the design of the actual disc. You know what that means? You’re SOL if you ever bought this game used.

I didn’t of course, but physically cracking open my disc case just to be like “ah okay I need to go north” was more annoying than anything. Maybe if the instruction manual came with an actual physical map you can unfold would’ve been better?

The Starter Dilemma

Like most monster collecting games, you have a choice of starters at the beginning of the game. Depending on how you answer the questions at the beginning of the game (all two of them, with only one of them truly mattering), you can start with either an Agumon or a Gabumon. Cool, right?

Well, it starts the fall apart the moment you fight the first boss in the game - a wild Agumon with weaker stats than your partner. And that’s when you realize that one of the starters starts out with a major battle disadvantage at the very start.

Agumon’s starting move is a little ranged attack that it can shoot at enemies. It can hit the enemy from pretty far away so he can evade a lot of close up attacks.

Gabumon’s starting move is an ineffective little flailing of his arms that requires him to get up super close to the other Digimon in order to hit them.

Did I mention this attack is weaker than Agumon’s starting move? This type of starter set-up is utterly baffling to me. Why would you intentionally hobble one of the choices?

So if you were a kid hoping to go on a grand adventure with your happy little dog lizard (instead of doing what a lot of people recommend, which is train your dog lizard for several in-game days until he evolves into something better) expect to see a lot of battles where the enemy Digimon just casually moves out of the way as your dog lizard yells “PWAH”.

Luckily this problem ceases to exist once you start digivolving and learning new techniques, but it’s still a major bummer to start the game on.

On top of that, unlike Pokemon, your Digimon can die. It can only faint three times in battle before he crumbles into a pile of bits and data in a rather brutal cutscene involving the flesh being ripped off your partner’s wire frame while the old man Digimon just kinda glumly stands off to the side and is like “lol he ded”.

So uh, have fun with that, children who accidentally run into a boss Digimon while trying to figure out where the hell anything is.

Sometimes Being Cryptic Is Good

That being said, in an age where I can just peek at my phone if I’m stuck, this game is kinda refreshing in a “playing your first Pokemon game” kind of way.

With no in-game maps and only vague hints of what to do next purely by talking to the villagers, you’re just kinda...left to your own digivices (see what I did there) as you explore this vast, uncharted world and slowly figure out what you’re supposed to do next and, since the world is arranged in a circle around the town, you can go in multiple directions and progress in any way you want.

There’s no set progression, with the story advancing based on how many Digimon you befriend rather than what places you’ve beaten. There’s no pressing incentive to go beyond the Native Forest if you don’t feel ready for that yet. Sure, the town won’t expand if you don’t, but you can still go at things at your own pace until you get a better feel for the environment. You’re just left to experiment as you gradually figure out how to make your Digimon evolve into cooler things.

And honestly, it’s kinda fun playing a game where I don’t know the exact numbers off the top of my head in terms of how to get a certain Digimon so a lot of times I’m genuinely surprised at the evolutions I get.

You just, you know, need a lot of patience. Especially when this game’s English translation is...not great. (which is common with a lot of PS1 games)

The land changed after the land changes happened.

Current Consensus

You need a bit of patience to play this game, but it’s definitely rewarding if you stick by it. I’m certainly having fun playing this game, but I will say out loud that I’m also playing this game while watching a couple let’s plays and having GameFAQs open.

I will say that, as an adult, I actually find myself appreciate this game more than when I did as a child.  It has its flaws, but after a pretty intense learning curve, it becomes pretty rewarding. You know, when it’s not requiring me to fish The Lake Guardian at 9 am with a piece of meat attached to my fishing rod in order to improve my gym.

I give it a “It’s Fun When It’s Not Being Bullshit” out of 10.

Quick Bullet Points

This game has some bangers in the soundtrack so at least it’s pleasant to listen to.

I do like that you can evade the enemy Digimon on screen so you can reasonably enter some places with a lower leveled Digimon than what that area requires. This is just not advisable since most of the Digimon are befriended with a boss fight. That being said, item management is a big thing in this game so enemy dodging is still a useful trait.

You can buy portapotties to keep your Digimon from shitting on the ground but since your Digimon has only one use animation, it uses it by eating it.

 Cherrymon has a radically different design in this game than any other piece of Digimon media and it’s kinda funny how creepy he looks in this game.

The Monochromon Shop minigame earned the reputation that it has - it truly does suck ass and leave you at the mercy of RNG.

It’s been proven by hacking the game that the Bonus Try in the Gym exercises is rigged so never use it.

I like how this game creates recolors to make sure you can tell the difference between the recruitable Digimon and the Digimon that are just meant to be fought against....only for the series to then make these recolors recruitable, defeating their original purpose. I guess I should be glad they’re all considered proper Digimon now.

Poop is an element. You can have creatures of the Poop type.

No seriously Monochromon’s Shop minigame has given me a hatred for Veggiemon and I don’t think I can ever recover.

[detroitwhatitmeanstobehuman]

Chapter 2 - Strange Bedfellows

Part 2/17 of What it Means to be Human

Word Count: 11,073

Warnings: Swearing and some mild suggestive banter.

Genre: Self-insert fic

Pairing: OC (Detective Rachel) X Connor

Rating: Mature

Summary: After arriving at the precinct with Detective Rachel, Lieutenant Hank Anderson is informed that he has been officially assigned to the deviancy case and assigned Connor as a partner. He’s none too thrilled about this predicament, but Rachel is happy to see him again and decides to give him a tour of the precinct and make him feel a bit more welcome.

Previous Chapter

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

It was around ten in the morning when I arrived with Hank at the precinct. I made sure Fowler knew that I was gonna be late on account of making sure Hank didn’t kill himself doing something dumb, and the captain seemed appreciative. As much as I could tell he was getting increasingly frustrated with Hank’s behaviour, Fowler still wanted Hank around and was glad I was looking out for him.

Once we arrived, we went up to the reception area, checked in, and went into the precinct. It felt pretty routine. “Alright, your car’s still here, I made sure nothing happened to it, so you can drive home now.”

“Appreciate it, thanks.” Hank replied grumpily. “You really didn’t have to do this. I would’ve been fine, you don’t have to put yourself through -”

“Friends look out for each other, whether or not you like it.” I stopped him, not wanting him to continue that train of thought. “Sure, when it’s me and myself, I don’t have a good time. But when I stick my neck out for friends like you, it feels like I have some control over my life. So, y’know, just take the help and be thankful.”

Hank nodded, walking slowly next to me. “Well, thanks for having my back.” He said genuinely. “Even if you’re a real fuckin’ pain in the neck.”

“I have to be a pain in the ass!” I joked, jabbing him with my elbow. “It’s practically in my job description to be a bastard.”

“Ain’t that the fuckin’ truth?” Hank grumbled, but I knew his words were genuine. As much as I wanted to focus on work, I couldn’t. All I could think about was Connor and Micheal. Deviants were indeed the thing that took up most of my thinking until I eventually fell asleep, my every waking thought practically glued to the case. But it was Connor that stood at the forefront of it.

And I’m not gonna lie, it was mostly the thought of seeing him again today. I wasn’t someone who was good at making friends. Well, okay, I’m good at making friends, just not that great at keeping them. But these days, I do tend to have issues making friends. I’m simultaneously terrified of intimacy and painfully lonely. My existence is a real fucking bitch, if I’m to be bluntly honest.

But somehow...I didn’t feel that around Connor. And I was really looking forward to seeing him again. I didn’t care what anyone said about him “not being a real person,” or whatever. He wasn’t anything like the other androids. Whether that was because he was just more advanced, I’m not sure. But there was something uncannily human about him. Something that made me feel like maybe we could actually be friends.

At least...it would be nice if we could be.

“Well, well, well!” An ear grating voice chimed around my head and I already knew I was in for a headache. Aw, fuck. Here we go. “If it isn’t the plastic prick’s new piece!”

I rolled my eyes at Gavin, only mildly curious about what the fuck he was going on about. “What?” I asked him exasperatedly, noticing that he and Tina, another officer in the precinct, were both looking at me with wide smirks on their faces.

Now, admittedly, I got along with Tina. Sometimes Gavin, if the mood was light, but most of the time he pissed me off. But I got along with Tina, and at one point I had my eyes on her before further investigation made it clear that we just weren’t compatible romantically. A bummer, but...eh, I still had problems I needed to work through, so I guess she dodged a bullet.

“I saw your little pow-wow in the interrogation room after it was just the two of you.” Gavin elaborated, looking like he just discovered the hottest of tea to spill. “Chattin’ each other up, flirting, I mean you were practically tossing your panties at him!”

Gavin never failed to get a disgusted or tired groan from everyone around him. “Jesus, you’re fuckin’ disgusting.” Hank grumbled, rightfully so.

“Seriously, do you have to say the grossest shit at every opportunity?” I asked him in earnest. “It’s things like that that make me wish you would never speak again.”

“Chicks dig it!” Gavin bragged.

Tina seemed not to buy it, rightfully so. That sounded like some bullshit. “You sure about that, Gav?”

I scoffed at him, rolling my eyes. “In any case, you are reading way too deeply into that.” I denied. “We were just chatting. That’s it. Nothing more than that.”

“Really?” Tina said skeptically at me, before she straightened her posture and folded her hands behind her back. “I feel as though I should inform you that I’m worth a small fortune.”

Then, Gavin wiggled his body in the weirdest way, which I was assuming was his impression of a human woman. “Really? You sure? Cause you look pretty priceless to me, dollface.”

I couldn’t help but shrug at him with what I was pretty sure was the most confused look on my face. “That’s your best impression of me?” I asked him in earnest. “Because if it is, it sucks ass. Step up your game.”

“If you’re all done being annoying middle schoolers, we’ve got places to be.” Hank said, making me thankful he wanted this to be over as much as me.

“Oh, I bet you do, Hank.” Gavin mocked, making me stand on edge in case he wanted to try something stupid. “Whatever, I got more important things to deal with than the office slut and the drunk bastard who’s probably gonna kill himself in a car accident one of these days.”

“Watch it!” I snapped at him, sensing Hank start to bristle next to me. “You can throw as many pot shots as you want at me, but insult Hank, and I’ll throw you off the nearest bridge.”

“Like I said before, you don’t fuckin’ scare me.” Gavin shoulder checked me on his way to the archives room.

I rolled my eyes, glad that he was gone. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s jealous.” I teased.

Hank scoffed. “What, that you’ve been chatting up Connor last night?”

“No, that I’m a better office slut than him.” I joked, taking the edge off that interaction, before I jabbed him sharply in the side. “And don’t you fucking start with me, you asshole. You know I’ve got my own shit going on.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Hank relented. Admittedly, one of the things we had in common was that we were both foulmouthed bastards. Actually, there was a lot we had in common in terms of personality. Where we differed came more down to life experience and general outlook on life.

Putting our encounter with Gavin behind me, I followed Hank to the office and saw Connor hanging around Hank’s desk and felt a smile on my cheeks. Admittedly, I didn’t expect to be so happy to see him, but...honestly, I can’t think of anyone else in the office that was as genuinely pleasant to be around as Connor.

Well, aside from Chris, but our relationship was pretty impersonal, aside from a few conversations we’ve had. But even then, I wouldn’t really call us “friends,” per se. Just friendly work acquaintances.

As soon as Connor saw us approach, he gave a small smile. “It's good to see you again, Lieutenant.” He greeted.

“Uh, Jesus...” Hank groaned.

“Hank! Rachel!” Fowler’s voice barked from nearby, drawing my attention to my right. “In my office.”

The dark-skinned wide-set captain turned his back and walked into his glass office, waiting for us inside. Hank wasted no time making his way in, and I followed behind him, stealing a glance at Connor. “Nice to see you, again.” I greeted.

“You as well, Rachel.” He greeted me in kind.

Walking side-by-side, we followed Hank in, Connor closing the door behind me as Hank took a seat in front of the captain. I had a bad feeling this was gonna get shouty, so I stood behind Hank at a reasonable distance, my eyes darting between Hank and Fowler. Fowler was focused on his terminal, not making eye contact with Hank, while Hank just looked mildly annoyed.

Still, I waited with baited breath for whatever was going to happen between them, and clenched my fists, fidgeting with my sleeves in anticipation. Connor was standing to my right, but I could’ve sworn he shuffled a bit closer to me while I waited for what Fowler was going to say.

“I've got ten new cases involving androids on my desk every day.” Fowler started off. “We've always had isolated incidents, old ladies losing their android maids and that kind of crap...” He then turned to face us, mostly looking at Hank, but glancing at me and Connor first. “But now, we're getting reports of assaults and even homicides, like that guy last night...This isn't just CyberLife's problem anymore. It's now a criminal investigation and we've gotta deal with it before the shit hits the fan.” Now, the captain was looking very pointedly at Hank. “I want you to investigate these cases and see if there's any link.”

“Why me? Why do I gotta be the one to deal with this shit?” I only tightened, standing more rigid in anticipation and I could already feel my gut starting to flip with anxiety. Oh boy, here we go. “I am the least qualified cop in the country to handle this case! I know jack shit about androids, Jeffrey! I can barely change the settings on my own phone...”

In an effort to perhaps keep the mood neutral, I chimed in. “You’re a millennial, Hank.” I stated plainly. “You should realize the ‘old guy can’t do technology’ excuse just doesn’t work anymore.”

“She’s right.” Fowler agreed. “Everybody's overloaded. I think you're perfectly qualified for this type of investigation.”

“Bullshit!” Hank snapped, barely waiting for the captain to finish and getting up from his seat. This was not doing my anxiety any good, so I just tried to shove it down while I was standing there awkwardly. Oh God, this is escalating real quick and I don’t wanna be here. “The truth is nobody wants to investigate these fuckin' androids and you left me holdin' the bag!” Hank turned his back to Fowler, not even looking at me.

“CyberLife sent over this android to help with the investigation.” The captain tried to reason, maintaining his composure a lot better than Hank was. “It's a state-of-the-art prototype. It'll act as your partner.”

“No fuckin' way! I don't need a partner, and certainly not this plastic prick!” Hank refused, pointing at Connor and getting up in Fowler’s face, raising his voice. I knew that Hank wasn’t going to react well to having to work with Connor, but that didn’t make this any less awful for me to sit through. “And having Rachel constantly on my back like she’s my babysitter is already enough to deal with.”

“Woah, hey!” I threw up my arms in astonishment, my anxiety briefly snuffed out by the sheer audacity. “Why the drive-by?”

Hank rolled his eyes at me as his scowl tightened, his blue eyes narrowed at me. As much as I was aware that my fussing over him aggravated him, I knew that he appreciated everything I did for him, so I let it go. Just because I know he likes having me around and just doesn’t wanna look weak in front of the squad.

Something I understood perfectly, but also learned to discard. After all, pride was something I realized was worthless if you cared about it more than your well being. A lesson I had to teach a few other people who’ve stubbornly clung to theirs.

An action that has indeed cost me friends, but honestly, I’m not about to apologize for that. And I’m certainly not about to feel ashamed for caring about my loved ones and looking out for them.

“Hank, you are seriously starting to piss me off!” Fowler snapped, getting more and more fed up with Hank’s bullshit. And honestly, I found it hard to blame him. Hank was kinda throwing a temper tantrum right now, pacing back and forth fuming like a tank engine. “You are a police lieutenant, you are supposed to do what I say and shut your goddamn mouth!”

“You know what my goddamn mouth has to say to you, huh?”

“Okay, okay...” Fowler said, getting more and more done with this and throwing his hand up as he looked away from Hank. “I'll pretend like I didn't hear that, so I don't have to add any more pages to your disciplinary folder 'cause it already looks like a fuckin' novel! This conversation is over!”

Fowler went back to looking at his terminal, but Hank was clearly not having it. “Jeffrey, Jesus Christ! Why are you doin' this to me? You know how much I hate these fuckin' things.” Hank pointed at Connor aggressively without looking at the android, leaning over Fowler’s desk. I couldn’t help but wince and glance over at Connor. He didn’t look at all perturbed by Hank’s blatant venom directed at him, but still...that couldn’t feel great to hear. “Why you doin' this to me?”

As much as I wanted to try and calm Hank, I knew that right now wasn’t a good time to do it and I was already way too anxious to say anything anyways, so my mouth stayed shut as I rocked side-to-side desperately wanting this to be over.

“Listen,” Fowler warned with a stern tone, looking at Hank, “I've had just about enough of your bitching. Either you do your job or you hand in your badge. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do.”

Hank seemed to realize that he wasn’t going to get out of this one and stormed out past me, letting out a frustrated growl as the door shut behind him, leaving Connor and I in the captain’s office.

Feeling marginally better, I let out a sigh as I shook my head. “Yep, that’s Lieutenant Hank Anderson, for ya.” I said light-heartedly trying to calm the mood, looking up at Connor. “An ornery drunkard of an old man. But trust me, this is not one of his worst days. No, I’ve seen a few of those in my time here...”

As much as I tried to make light of it, I knew full well the darknesses that lay in Hank. Things that I could not and would never make a joke out of. Which was one of the reasons I did not appreciate Gavin trying to make jokes out of Hank’s alcoholism.

Though...maybe if he knew the reason, he’d lay off. But I wasn’t about to tell him, and honestly, Gavin shouldn’t need a tragic reason not to make fun of an alcoholic.

“I don’t know how you do it, Rachel.” Fowler admitted, folding his face into his hands. “It’s really not your responsibility to look after him.”

“As a cop, no. It’s not.” I agreed. “But as a friend, it is. I choose to have his back, because all this aside, I genuinely believe he’s a good cop. He’s just...got a lot of shit to work through, and you wouldn’t keep him around if you didn’t think that he was worth keeping, Captain.”

Fowler sighed. “I know...” He agreed. “I just wish he wouldn’t make my job harder than it needs to be.”

“No, I agree. I wouldn’t wanna be you, right now.” I sympathized. “He’s being really temperamental and short-sighted and he needs to learn to just put his head down and get the worst of it over with instead of making a scene. And honestly, he’s being really selfish right now.”

Fowler nodded, seeming to finally calm down. “Well, at least he’s lucky that he listens to you.”

“Eh, usually I have to do what I do with my friends and aggressively mother him until he behaves.” I said with a shrug, my anxiety starting to finally settle. “But hopefully he’ll be less of a pain in the ass about this case going forward.”

“Hopefully.” Fowler agreed. “By the way, good work on the interrogation last night. You really managed to get through to the android and got it to open up.”

I shrugged. “Just doing what I thought was the right thing to do.”

“Hey.” Fowler said, drawing my attention. “You’re not workin’ any major cases right now. And I’m not about to put this on you, but if Hank needs your help on this case, don’t be shy about jumpin’ on.”

I nodded, glancing over at Connor. “I’ll think about it.” I said to him. Truthfully, I would really like to be an actual part of the case, but I didn’t want to put unnecessary strain on Hank. Not that we didn’t work well together, because we often partnered up on a lot of cases. But I’m fully aware that I can be...a lot, and with the nature of the deviancy case and having to work it with Connor, I wanted instead for Hank to decide how much he wanted to take on regarding it. “Thank you, Captain.” I said, walking towards the exit and opening the door.

“I'm very pleased to have joined the team.” Connor said amiably to the captain, the man not looking at the android at all. “I can assure you I'll do my very best -”

“Close the door on your way out.” Fowler interrupted, not even bothering to wait until Connor was finished.

Something which made me hold back a sympathetic whine. Poor Connor. He just can’t seem to make any friends, today. Connor glanced at me, as if for reassurance, before he addressed Fowler again. “Have a nice day, Captain.”

As Connor walked towards me, I gave him a patient smile. “After you.” I prompted.

“That isn’t necessary.” He insisted. “You don’t have to hold the door open for me.”

“I’m already doing it, just go.” I persisted with a lighthearted laugh. I was going to be nice to him and he was gonna accept it, damn it!

Connor, seeming to understand that I wasn’t going to budge, just nodded and walked after me. I took one last look at the captain before closing the door behind me, turning my back and looking over at the android. His gaze was fixed on Hank, and he was already walking down the stairs. I put a hand out to stop him, causing him to look at me in confusion. “Probably best if you just let Hank simmer down a bit.” I suggested, leaning over to whisper to Connor. “Believe me, it’s in your best interest not to piss him off too much, so letting him cool down is probably your safest bet.”

Connor, glancing over at Hank for one last moment, fixed his dark eyes on me. “I understand.” In this moment in broad daylight in the general white nose of the precinct, I could actually take a decent look at him without worrying about anything else at the moment.

His pale skin was dotted with freckles, something I found rather charming. Indeed, to say that Connor wasn’t easy on the eyes would be a falsehood. The way his dark coffee brown hair was so neatly kept, yet that one piece curled over onto his forehead rebelliously added an extra layer of charm to his overall appearance. And its placement was very clearly deliberate. Even more curious were his eyebrows. His left had a cowlick closest to the bridge of his very well-sculpted nose, adding some interesting asymmetry to him.

All this combined with his soft and delicate features and the gentleness in his chocolate coloured eyes, it was hard not to see him as an overgrown puppy. The only indication that he was an android was the blue LED on the right side of his head on his temple.

“Well, since we have a bit of time right now, why don’t I give you a tour of the precinct?” I suggested, gesturing to the office. “It would be a great opportunity for us to get to know each other better. And, we don’t get that many new faces around here. I’m sort of the newest compared to everyone else and I’ve always wanted to show someone around if we ever got someone new.”

Connor gave me an appreciative smile, folding his hands behind his back. “I’d love to, Rachel.” He agreed, making me smile in return. I’ll admit, it was nice actually hanging out with someone like Connor. Whether it was his AI or just his personality, I had no problems feeling completely comfortable in his presence. “Lead the way.” He said, stepping back to allow me to pass.

As I stepped down the stairs, I cast a glance over at Hank, who was sitting there sulking with his back turned to us. Waiting for Connor to be beside me, I walked on, looking behind me to make sure he was following me. “Hey, about Hank.” I said quietly, drawing his attention away from the office. “Don’t take any of his flack personally, okay? It’s not really even about you specifically, it’s just...he’s, uh...”

“Not particularly fond of androids?” Connor finished the sentence.

“That’s the nice way of putting it.” I affirmed, with a smile and a shrug as we made our way to the bathroom and interrogation room, which I figured was a decent place to start. “There are a few people who aren’t exactly pro-android, but for the most part everyone here seems pretty neutral towards them.”

Connor continued following along, looking down at me with interest glimmering in his dark brown eyes. “You seem to be rather amiable to androids.” He remarked. “More so than many others tend to be. You mentioned feeling some sort of kinship with deviants due to your mental atypicalities, namely your ADHD and Autism.”

I nodded. “Yep, that’s correct. I feel a lot more empathetic towards deviants than androids in general, but I don’t see any reason to treat androids any differently than I would treat the average person.” I explained. “Well, obviously androids and humans are very different. That much is true, but there’s more to it. I see myself a lot in deviants because of how they’re seen compared to other androids, like you.” I took in a breath and paused, collecting my thoughts again. “My mental atypicalities affect my day-to-day life in ways both benign and malignant. But for as many disadvantages as they give me, of which there are many, they also have their unique talents they give me. For example, I can focus on a task so completely and intensely that I can complete it efficiently and quickly without stopping. Problem is, I have a horrible sense of time. I always misjudge how long something actually takes, can barely register time passing, and forget what day of the week it is, even. I’m effectively time blind. And, on top of that, executive dysfunction becomes a problem when it comes to other tasks that are important, but my brain just refuses to let me do them even though they’re very simple tasks that can get done and out of the way extremely quickly and with little effort. Jokes and sarcasm are things that tend to fly over my head and I tend to really miss social cues, but I can retain a lot of information and hyperanalyze many details at once and learn a lot more than most people can.

“For all the advantages and disadvantages these give me, it’s not that different from those everyone else has to deal with.” I continued on. “But that ultimately doesn’t change the fact that others, when they learn this fact about me, treat me like I’m some sort of defect. Despite the fact that I’m perfectly happy and see myself as whole and get by just fine, they insist I must be broken. Just because I’m not like them. But I’m not the only person in the world with ADHD or Autism. And in that sense, I personally relate a lot to deviants. That they’re seen as defective androids when in reality, they’re just...different. And their deviancy doesn’t seem to be a choice, really. Just...something that happens to them. Just like how ADHD and Autism are things that I just have and are outside of my control.”

Connor’s LED was yellow, a sign that he was taking in information as I was speaking. “I think I understand where you’re coming from.” He accepted. “I suppose it would make sense for you to empathize with deviants. Especially as another symptom of both ADHD and Autism is hyperempathy.”

I nodded, ignoring the small sting of his words. “Yeah, that definitely plays a part.” I agreed, knowing full well that I tend to empathize with others way too easily sometimes, but still trying to shove down what sounded like a complete dismissal. “But I do genuinely believe that perhaps we need to give deviants more of the benefit of the doubt than we do.”

Connor didn’t say anything in response to that. But, we quickly made our way to the end, and I stopped. “Well, you’ve already seen both the interrogation room and the observation room.” I pointed out, extending a hand. “And just behind you are the bathrooms.” He looked over his shoulder, nodding. “Not that you’d need to use them, but maybe you’d need them for something else? Who knows?” I shrugged. He looked back towards me and I pointed to the door to the left of the bathrooms. “And that’s the android repair centre. It also sits above the archive room where evidence is stored. In the event that an android officer gets injured, the repair centre has spare parts and blue blood and tools available to any staff member who has clearance to use them to help repair androids. Of which, I am one of them.”

Connor nodded. “Interesting.” He commented. “I suppose it would make sense and is more convenient for emergency services to have technicians on site with the tools readily available in the case of an emergency. Though they are typically only trained by CyberLife employees.”

“My sister worked at CyberLife years ago.” I explained, puffing my chest proudly. “She taught me a few things about how to fix up androids.” If there was one person I could always take great pride in no matter what, it was my older sister Bianca. We always had each other’s backs, growing up, and we stayed really close to this day. We don’t live together anymore, since she had to go back to Canada, but I stayed here in Detroit. “Anyways, on with the tour.” I said in a chipper tone, turning around and walking back the way we came. “Next to the repair centre behind the captain’s office are the holding cells where we detain suspects. And, over there’s the break room, and past that is the meeting room.” I explained, pointing to the right and then to the left, directing Connor’s attention where I wanted him to see. I then noticed that the break room was right next to us and realized I hadn’t had a proper coffee, yet. “Would you mind actually joining me in there? I could go for a cuppa, if that’s alright with you.”

Connor nodded. “I wouldn’t mind accompanying you.”

“Great!” I exclaimed, leading him towards it. I was kind of a wimp when it came to coffee, so I tended to like it with a lot of sugar and cream. Admittedly, I preferred hot chocolates or tea lattes to coffee, but it was good enough.

But having coffee in the break room and the break room in general was more about the communal setting than the coffee itself. Which was why my good mood was immediately put off when I saw Gavin and Tina in there, more so Gavin. Electing to just ignore him and get my coffee with Connor, I walked inside without even acknowledging him.

But clearly, he didn’t have the same idea. I heard him scoff and felt a few of my brain cells die. “Fuck, look at that...Our friend, the plastic detective, is back in town!” Oh, here we go again. “Congratulations on last night, very impressive!” He said with a very sarcastic clap.

I couldn’t help but snicker at the obvious joke that was presented to me. And, like the carrion bird I was, I snatched that opportunity right up. “Title of your sex tape.” Gavin then shot me an annoyed glare while Tina was snickering. I could always count on her to lighten the mood. “What? You practically handed it to me!”

The android - RK800, as I could read on his admittedly pretty cool jacket - turned to Gavin and nodded, a subtle smile creasing his features. “Hello, Detective Reed.” It was really weird to hear someone address the human weasel with such polite formality, especially after Gavin threatened Connor at gunpoint last night.

Gavin got up and started walking towards the android and I could feel my gut clench. I knew this shitheel was going to start trouble, and it didn’t take much for my anxiety to start flaring up in anticipation. As much as I enjoyed pissing him off, it didn’t stop the involuntary response my body gave in stressful situations like that when I’d feel my eyes well up and my body start to tremble in anger or stress.

“Never seen an android like you before.” Gavin said to Connor, eyeing him up. “What model are you?”

I sort of did a double take for a moment. It’s written on his jacket. How the fuck do you miss that? “Look down.” I suggested sarcastically.

Gavin then shot me a glare. “Hey, I’m not a plastic-fucking pervert, Rach.”

“You know I didn’t mean it like that, Gavin.” I snapped at him annoyedly.

“RK800.” Connor replied curtly. A lot more politely than Gavin deserved.  “I’m a prototype.”

Gavin scoffed in a way that was starting to piss me off. “A prototype?” He then turned to Tina and pointed at the android. “Android detective.” Asshole turned back and scowled at him, sarcasm written all over his dumb rat face. “So machines are gonna...replace us all...is that it?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Here we go again.” I grumbled. “Oooooh, technology is bad, fire is scary, Thomas Edison was a witch!” I mocked, waiting for the coffee to brew. “Gimme a fucking break.

Gavin then returned his attention to the android, opting to ignore me. “Hey,” he said inconsiderately. “Bring me a coffee, dipshit.”

I glanced over at the coffee Gavin left on the table behind him by Tina. “Seriously, were you raised in a barn? Finish the coffee you already started before you demand another one at the very least, you wasteful prick. Have some damn manners.”

“Manners don’t matter to a machine.” Gavin retorted confidently.

“Forget that!” I scoffed. “I’m the one that’s offended, nevermind Connor. It’s basic fucking decency, just finish the first damn coffee you started!”

“Why don’t you go fuck yourself?” Gavin snapped at me. I glared at him, taking a threatening step forward.

“Oh bite me, Gavin!” I sniped at him.

He then snickered at me. “I would, but you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Not from you, I wouldn’t.” I responded immediately, letting him know that even if it was a serious request (which it very obviously wasn’t), I was not on the menu for him.

A moment went by, and the tension was only serving to make my anxiety more and more apparent as I could feel my heart start beating more rapidly and my hands started to shake. “I’m sorry, but I only take orders from Lieutenant Anderson.” Connor replied courteously. I wasn’t sure if androids were programmed not to respond angrily or if he just wasn’t interested in responding aggressively to people like Gavin, instead opting to tell him to fuck off as politely as possible.

“Oh...oh.” Gavin said, laughing at Tina before he lunged forward and punched the android square in the gut.

He didn’t flinch, but his LED flickered from yellow to a slowly blinking red as he quickly slumped to the floor and my instincts overtook me and I stepped up to Gavin. “If your new pals hadn’t got in the way yesterday, I would’ve fucked you up for disobeying a human.” Gavin said to him, taking a threatening step towards Connor.

“Gavin, back off!” I demanded. “This stopped being entertaining a minute ago, but do you want Fowler to chew you out again? Because that’s what’s going to happen, and you know I will write you up again, you piece of shit.”

“He’s a fucking machine!” He started to get up in my face and I instantly became acutely aware of the pistol in my holster and the space I immediately had to move around me. “He doesn’t give a shit about you, and he’s going to take your fucking job, and we’ll see how you like androids then.”

“So just because he’s ‘not human,’ that means you can treat him however you want?” Swallowing my immediate fear, I stared Gavin down. “If that’s really how you feel, then why don’t you go and fuck up one of the android police officers in the office and see how well you like your job then, hm? I’m sure that’ll really secure your position at the precinct.” I stood my ground and stared him dead in the eye. If there’s one thing I learned from being around these hardened cops, it’s that they practically smell fear and if they even sense the smallest weakness, they eat you alive. “You just like having an excuse to treat someone like shit and not feel guilty for it. Because you know that if you treated a human the way you feel everyday, they’d probably leave you for dead in an alleyway behind a dumpster and no one would give a shit.”

I practically held my breath, waiting for what his next move was going to be. I had my hand ready to pull out my weapon if he got violent and my stance ready to move out of the way if he decided to try and fight me. But instead, he thought better about starting a fight with me and went back to Connor, leaning over him. “Stay outta my way. ‘Cause next time, you won’t get off so easy. And you won’t always have your new little side piece to protect you.”

Gavin quickly left and Tina got up after him, glancing at me with the most exasperated look in her eye. “You’ve got your asshole, and I’ve got mine.” She said to me before following him out of the break room.

I never did like the way people talked about androids. Especially people like Gavin. Even putting aside the familiar echoes of being dehumanized in very similar ways, I just couldn’t understand why people looked at androids that way. Well, I mean, I knew why from a logical standpoint, or at least the justifications people gave. But from an emotional one, it didn’t make sense. After all, I always said please and thank you to my AI assistants I had at home. And I knew plenty of other people that did the same.

And besides, humans naturally pack bond with things that look way less human than androids do. Although, maybe because androids seem more human, people are more inclined to treat them the way they see other humans. A bit of a depressing notion, but food for thought, nonetheless.

Letting out an anxious sigh of relief, I immediately went to help Connor back up to his feet. “Are you okay?” I asked him, genuinely worried for his well being.

He got up and simply straightened his tie and coat as if nothing happened. “I’m alright, don’t worry.” He replied, giving me a small reassuring smile. “I’ve checked my vitals, and I can assure you I’m unharmed. And besides, I can’t feel pain.”

I tilted my head at him curiously. “If you don’t feel any pain, then why did you double over when he punched you?” I asked him.

His LED blinked yellow as his brows seemed to furrow together in confusion at my query. “I...I’m not sure.” He replied, a certain uncharacteristically vulnerable uncertainty creasing his delicate features.

Deciding not to press him further, I looked after Gavin and shook my head. “I wish I could say I’m surprised that people like Gavin exist, but I’m not.” I complained, going back to making my coffee. “People like him have always existed. And they’ve treated actual human beings like that for things ranging from their gender, their sexuality, to the colour of their skin. Things that to people like him meant that those people that are different from him aren’t human, and thus don’t deserve to be treated as such or have the same human rights.”

Connor eyed me curiously. “Is that one of the reasons you relate to androids as a whole?” He asked me.

I scoffed light-heartedly. “Erm, it’s a bit of a tangent, but I’ll bite.” I said, propping myself up for an interesting conversation. “How familiar are you with LGBT history? Specifically regarding the trans community?”

“Passively.” Connor answered. “But if it’s important to understanding your point, I’ll gladly research more into it right now.”

I blinked at him a couple of times. “You can do that?” I asked him, dumbfounded. “Just decide to learn something and pull it from an archive somewhere and absorb it?” I then leaned forward closer to Connor, my eyes taking in his whole face as my interest piqued. “Man, what’s your brain like if that’s how you take in information that isn’t actively in your physical environment? Is it like an encyclopedia where you have all the information in the same place and you just have to look for the index? Or is it more like an archive where the information is not necessarily available at a moment’s notice but can be accessed when it’s convenient?”

Connor smiled a bit more. “It’s more like a library where the information is actively supplied and whatever is not already in the library can be ordered or searched and added to it.”

“Fascinating.” I said, staring deep into his chocolate brown eyes. “I wonder if other androids’ minds work the same way yours does.”

“I’m a far more advanced prototype, so I sincerely doubt their metaphorical libraries are even nearly as expansive.” He replied confidently.

I nodded. “Right, so how familiar exactly are you?” I repeated.

His LED spun yellow once again before quickly settling back to a gentle cool blue. “‘Trans’ is shorthand for ‘transgender,’ which refers to individuals who identify differently than their assigned sex at birth, the antonym of which being ‘cisgender,’ or ‘cis,’ referring to individuals whose gender identity aligns with that which they’re assigned at birth.” He started off. “Many anthropologists agree that the existence of trans people dates back to the beginning of human civilization itself, being prominent in several cultures globally. However, in western culture, until the 1970’s, transgender people were considered secondhand citizens and did not have equal civil rights.

“The catalyst for the modern-day LGBTQIA+ community was in New York, 1969, in the Stonewall Inn, in what would be known as the Stonewall Riots.” He continued to explain, capturing my attention flawlessly even though I had heard all this already. “Interestingly, the Genovese crime family was one of the main backers for the underground LGBT community, the Stonewall Inn being a massive gathering place for members of the community. One day, a police raid was conducted on the inn and all of the patrons were told to line up against the wall and produce identification, and because drag displays and public displays of affection with the same sex were seen as crimes as illegal as money laundering, if any of the patrons’ genders didn’t appear to match their driver’s license, they would be arrested, and those without identification would be taken into another room to have their sex verified. The riot against the police raid was headed by two trans women of colour named Marsha P. Johnson and Storme Delarverie. Since then, equal rights have continued to be fought for by activists both in and out of the LGBT community.”

I nodded, following along. He seemed to grasp it pretty strongly. “Alright, so you know a thing or two. You’ve got the idea.” I suddenly got stuck, my brain failing to capture the right words to explain my feelings. “Oh boy, I’m so sorry. My brain tends to get stuck a lot and I’m really bad at words and talking good and everything tends to ge-sc-abla-blgudfa-get scrambled -” I stopped, getting really annoyed and embarrassed with myself. “Like that. I’m really bad at explaining my points in a way that makes sense. Speech impediment, and all. Not good with speaking.”

Connor tilted his head in confusion. “I find it strange to hear you say that about yourself.” I gave him a confused look. “You’re very detailed and analytical and very articulate. You’re actually quite skilled with language and analysis. I find it invigorating to hear what you have to say.”

I felt myself shrink at his compliment. “I-uh, well. Thank you, I guess. Sorry, I don’t know how to take compliments without making it awkward.” Now I was more lost than before. “Even then, I have to expend considerable amounts of effort to not trip over my words or lose my train of thought. Where was I again?”

“I believe you were about to explain how the trans community relates to your ability to relate personally and empathize with deviants.” Connor answered.

“Ah! Right!” Once again, I took a moment to collect my thoughts and give my two cents. It was actually nice getting to talk to someone about my thoughts on stuff like this. After all, it had been many years since I’ve had long in-depth conversations about topics of such complicated nature. “Well, you know how androids are considered less than human? Just machines, and thus not worth the respect of humans?” Connor nodded. “Well, the things that are said about deviants and androids...reminds me a lot of the way people used to talk about me and my friends when I was growing up. If you didn’t realize it, I don’t blame you. I don’t really go out of my way to present myself a certain way, and I just kinda roll with whatever works. But I’m not cis or straight, and neither were most of my friends growing up. In case you’re curious, I’m bigender and bisexual.” It wasn’t a thing I really admitted a lot, but I figured Connor wouldn’t judge me for it. “And a lot of the things that people say about androids and especially deviants ring in my head like a horrible echo. Because I’ve heard it before.”

I glanced over, pouring a cup of coffee and mixing in the cream and sugar. “The excuses to dehumanize us because they think we’re pretending to be something we’re not. That we’re crazy or delusional. That we’re just confused. That there’s just something wrong with us, and if we stop being what we are, it’ll somehow fix us, believing that we are broken and thus need to be fixed. But their idea of ‘fixing us’ is not helping us feel more comfortable in our own bodies and in society, but rather forcing us to hide ourselves and conform to what they think is ‘normal,’ not caring about how miserable it makes us. And a lot of people have paid with their lives at the hands of the people that say that about us. So when I hear similar sentiments towards androids and deviants, forgive me if I’m skeptical of the rhetoric that they deserve the treatment they get, or that they’re less human because ‘they’re just machines made to obey humans.’ No matter what way you dress it up, humans always look for excuses to treat someone as worthless without even a semblance of guilt.” I let out a sigh. “And I refuse to treat anyone the way I’ve been treated. Because it doesn’t entail good things for anyone and I refuse to be someone else’s echo that they’ll have to hear years from now. For as many advancements as humanity continues to make, the more things change, the more things stay the same.”

I noticed that Connor’s LED was still spinning yellow even after I finished talking. “I find your perspective rather intriguing.” He finally spoke. “If you ever have time, I’d like to hear more of your thoughts.”

I scoffed at him. “On what?” I asked.

“Anything.” He answered plainly. “I’m sure you could make a detailed analysis on anything, if it caught your eye.”

“Well, thank you. I appreciate the compliment.” I smiled at Connor, a warmth blooming on my cheeks. Admittedly, I tended to get flustered and embarrassed rather easily. A fact that was, well, rather embarrassing. But somehow, I didn’t really mind in this situation. Once I was done making my coffee, I pushed myself away from the counter and stood squarely towards Connor once again, taking a sip and relishing the feeling of the warm bittersweet liquid trailing down my throat. “Well, we’ve still got more tour to do, but there isn’t much left of the precinct to see, so this shouldn’t take too long and you can start working with Hank.”

Connor nodded. “Of course.” He said curtly. “Thank you in advance for your time, Rachel. I really enjoy chatting with you.”

His compliments were starting to feel a bit excessive, but I wasn’t about to stop him. Honestly, the attention was really nice. “I like talking to you, too.” I admitted to him. It wasn’t until this moment that I had realized truly how lonely I’d really been. But, shrugging the feeling off, I leaned towards Connor as we left the break room. “FYI, I was half-tempted to respond to Gavin’s ‘go fuck yourself’ with ‘fuck me yourself, you coward.’” I joked. “But I didn’t because I wasn’t completely sure that he wouldn’t take it seriously and I wasn’t about to take that risk.”

Connor didn’t laugh, which didn’t surprise me, but his smile did seem to widen a small bit. So even if he couldn’t laugh, he could at least feel amusement, and that was good enough for me. “So, where is there left for me to see, Rachel?” Connor asked me.

“All that’s really left is the archive room and the office, and you’ve seen the office already.” I said to him. “But, I can show you my desk. Unfortunately, it’s next to Gavin’s. But, weirdly enough, when he’s working at his desk, he is mercifully quiet. So, I can actually get work done!”

“Lead the way, then.” Connor suggested.

I cut through behind Fowler’s office, stealing a glance through the glass wall over at Micheal and seeing him lock eyes with me. I reminded myself that I needed to see him later once I was done with this. “Right over there is the hallway leading to the archive room, and the actual room is to the right.” I explained, pointing at the glass door. “It goes downstairs underneath the repair centre. It’s where evidence is filed and collected and stored.”

Once I was done explaining, I walked back towards the office area. My desk was directly across from Hank’s on the opposite end of the office and Gavin’s desk was right in front of mine. But up ahead in the corner, I noticed Chris working at his desk and decided to take Connor to say hi. After all, I didn’t want Connor’s only experience with the police here to just be Gavin being an asshole and Hank being angsty.

And besides, Chris was a really good guy, and I felt like he and Connor would actually get along really well.

So, making my way over, I quickly found my way to Chris’s desk and gave him a little wave. “Hi, Chris!” I greeted.

The black man gave me a smile as he took a break from what he was working on. “Hello, Rachel.” He returned. “How was your morning?”

I bobbed my head back and forth. “It was...an eventful morning, definitely.” I replied.

Connor quickly stepped up beside me, his hands folded behind his back as he looked at Chris with a neutral expression. “You still here?” Chris asked when Connor approached. “I thought your assignment was over.”

“It's just been extended.” Connor replied matter-of-factly.

Chris scoffed. “Hank's gonna be overjoyed to hear that...”

“Oh, he wasn’t.” I assured Chris. “Captain gave him a whole earful. Hank’s been officially assigned to the deviancy case and Connor’s been assigned as his partner, so they’re gonna be stuck together for a little while longer.”

Chris let out a strained breath, his eyes widened in what was the universal facial sign of yikes. “Best of luck to you, Connor.” The black man wished, shaking his head. “You were right about that android...it's been quiet in the cell all night.” He then mentioned. “Scheduled for transfer today.”

I blinked at him, realizing that Micheal was likely not going to survive today unless I acted fast. “Really? When?” I asked him.

“Not sure.” Chris responded. “I think around six is when CyberLife’s gonna come pick it up.”

I nodded. Right. That’s how much time I have to figure out how to help him. Giving Chris a pleasant smile I backed away. “Well, nice to see you again, Chris.”

“Nice to see you too, Rachel.” Chris replied kindly. “Have a good day.”

“You too!” I called, already walking towards my desk with Connor in tow. Once we reached it, I took a seat in it, putting my coffee down and sighing. “And this is my desk! Thankfully Gavin’s not here yet, so I’ll be without him for a little while.”

Connor nodded, his eyes scanning over what seemed to be about everything on my desk. His LED was spinning yellow, no doubt that he was learning everything he could about me just from the contents of my desk. Once his LED spun back to blue, I glanced over at Hank, who was still pouting, stealing glances back at me on occasion.

Giving him a smile, I turned in my chair. “Well, you’ve got work to do.” I said, ending the conversation. “But feel free to get my attention if you need something, got it?”

Connor smiled. “Got it.” He replied.

I glanced up at him, offering him a reassuring grin. “Good luck.” I whispered to him.

Connor then turned around to approach Hank. Whenever I was focused on something, everything else sort of faded into verbal equivalents of static. Well, not everything. I could hear and pick up much smaller noises. The ringings of phones, footsteps, specific conversations while others were complete garbled nonsense, the sounds of birds outside, cars. It seemed that I could very easily hear and pick up on sounds from very far away that most people wouldn’t be able to hear, while the things that happened directly around me just weren’t processed by my brain.

As much as I tried to work on something - anything at all - I couldn’t tear my focus away from Connor and Hank. “I get the impression my presence causes you some inconvenience, Lieutenant.” Connor started saying calmly to Hank. “I'd like you to know I'm very sorry about that.”

I couldn’t help but melt a little at him. Awww, bless his soul. Granted, he didn’t have one. But honestly, he might as well have.

But Hank clearly wasn’t taken with Connor, so the android persisted. “Now that we're partners, it would be great to get to know each other better.”

Still nothing.

“In any case, I'd like you to know I'm very happy to be working with you.” He tried once again. “I'm sure we'll make a great team.”

Nothing. Connor wasn’t going to be getting anywhere with Hank, and it was honestly so upsetting. He was genuinely trying really hard to bond with Hank.

But...I knew Hank wasn’t going to be that easy to crack. At least for Connor. So this was probably going to be a long process to watch. But bless Connor for trying so hard. “Is there a desk anywhere I could use?” He asked.

“No one's using that one.” Hank finally responded, pointing to the empty desk in front of him, still pouting with his arms crossed like an angry child.

Connor slowly rounded to the chair and took a seat in front of the unused terminal, sitting across from Hank and in full view of me. I noticed him steal a glance at me, and I quickly looked away, instead laying my eyes on the keyboard as I took another sip of my coffee.

As much as I tried to at least act like I was working, I couldn’t for the life of me stop focusing on Connor. Somehow he had completely taken over all my focus. Probably because what he was doing was a lot more interesting than anything else I had to work on.

“You have a dog, right?” Connor asked.

Hank seemed taken aback for a moment before he answered. “How do you know that?” He asked suspiciously.

“The dog hairs on your chair.” Connor explained bluntly. “I like dogs. What's your dog's name?”

Hank narrowed his eyes at Connor. “What's it to you?” He asked grouchily. But, it seemed he couldn’t help but relent. “Sumo,” he answered. “I call him Sumo.”

I smiled at them. I knew Hank had a lovely St. Bernard. Though the story behind him was actually a really sad one to hear. Apparently he belonged to a murder victim Hank was investigating and he took the dog in after they inspected the crime scene. Apparently he didn’t actually know what the dog’s real name was, so he decided to call him Sumo.

A moment of uneventful quiet. I already gave up on working while they were taking up my attention, so I just listened absentmindedly to their conversation. I honestly didn’t mean to eavesdrop as much as I was currently doing, but my attention span was garbage, so this was apparently the only thing my brain thought was worth paying attention to.

“You're a Detroit Gears fan, right?” Connor asked, getting a little snicker out of me. Ah yes, sports. The ideal male bonding strategy. “Denton Carter scored 53% of his shots from the three-point line yesterday. Did you see the game?”

Hank seemed to glare at Connor for a moment before replying. “That's what I was watchin' at the bar last night.”

Oops, that was awkward. “Oh...” Was all Connor could say, and I wanted to hug his poor face. Well, at least you tried, Connor. The secondhand embarrassment was making me shiver a bit, so I decided to have another drink of coffee.

“Do you listen to Knights of the Black Death?” Connor asked Hank. “I really like that music. It’s full of...energy.”

I had to stop myself from making the sort of noises I make when I see my dog at him. Awwwww, he’s so cute! 

Hank seemed to hesitate for a moment before he answered. “You listen to heavy metal?”

I quickly laughed the kind of laugh you laugh through your nose when you’re trying not to laugh, but I was trying really really hard not to draw attention to myself, but as I was starting to let out a wheeze, I realized I had already lost.

“Well, I don’t really listen to music as such,” Connor replied, “but I’d like to!”

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing and clearly Hank noticed me. “What’s so funny?” He asked me.

While I was trying to compose myself to try and answer him without wheezing, I leaned over in my chair, letting out a few sighs to try and convince myself that I was done laughing. “I mean...he’s an android...that likes heavy metal.” I said, very much trying to draw attention to the coincidence, and also feeling another fit of giggles worm their way into my chest. “Do you get it?”

I started laughing again, keeling over my desk, not even looking at either of them. “Yeah, hilarious.” I could practically hear the eyeroll in Hank’s response.

“Oh! I think I do understand!” Connor said. I looked back at him, a dumb grin on my face as I was trying really hard not to laugh again. “The fact that several components in androids are made of metals makes the fact that I enjoy heavy metal music a rather amusing coincidence.”

I kept snickering. I just looked right at Connor’s cute dumbass face, my wide grin still plastered on mine. Usually when someone explains a joke, it makes it unfunny and immediately kills it. But there was something about the genuine sincerity in Connor’s dry explanation that was...completely endearing. “Yeah, you get it.” I giggled, keeling over again. “Ohhhh, that’s too good. Oh, that’s fucking precious.” I quickly calmed down, letting them get back to their conversation. Although I was turned away from them, I still couldn’t help but keep snickering, the conversation repeating in my head.

“A lot of people don’t appreciate having androids around.” As he said that, he glanced over at me, and our eyes met. Feeling like a deer in the headlights, I quickly looked away and pulled up one of my papers to act like I was reading it intently. I assumed he looked away from me when he started speaking again. “I was wondering...is there any reason in particular you despise me?”

Hank was quiet for a moment before he talked again. “Yeah...there is one.” He responded. It seemed like he was going to elaborate, but evidently he decided not to. I couldn’t really blame him. He was the type of person that kept his closest and most vulnerable feelings under lock and key. He was a very private person. I knew the reason, but I wasn’t going to tell Connor. Hank was very selective of who his personal details are shared with, and I wanted to respect that.

I, on the other hand, tended to overshare my personal feelings and experiences in contrast. People are surprised that I’m able to be so open about such vulnerable topics, but I never really feel vulnerable. In an ironic sense, it was a sort of defense mechanism for me to overshare my traumatic experiences in an effort to feel like I have more control over my life.

“Have you known Captain Fowler for long?” Connor asked Hank.

“Yeah...” He answered, glancing back at Fowler’s office. “Too long.”

There was clearly a lot of history between Hank and Fowler. After all, Hank and one other person were the only people who could get away with referring to him by his first name. They had been here longer than everyone else, it seemed. But Fowler was made captain, and he hardened a bit. Not completely, but a bit.

“I was wondering...” Connor said, breaking through my thoughts. “Do you always arrive at the office at this time?”

“I arrive when I arrive.” Hank said loudly. “Stop busting my balls, okay?”

“Would you rather he bust your nuts?” I said with zero hesitation, feeling proud of myself, before I quickly realized that I probably shouldn’t have said it. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!

Although, it got a pretty good reaction out of the surrounding officers, as Officer Wilson almost choked on his coffee and started laughing. And very quickly, I started snickering again, too.

Hank looked over at me and groaned very loudly. “Very funny, Rachel.” He grumbled.

“I know, I’m hilarious.” I said with brazen confidence, trying to mask the horrible embarrassment I felt.

I finally decided to just laugh it off and get back to finishing some work, deciding to ignore them altogether.

That’s what I decided. But was that what I did? Nope.

Even as I was doing the minimal work I could do, I could barely tear my attention away from Hank and Connor, more specifically Connor. “If you have any files on deviants, I'd like to take a look at them...” He suggested.

Hank looked over at him and pointed to the screen in front of Connor. “Terminal's on your desk. Knock yourself out.” He said, clearly trying to keep their relationship as impersonal as possible.

Which I couldn’t really blame him for, really. As much as I thought Hank was being a bit of a brat, I also understood that he didn’t want this to go on longer than a day at most. So, this sucked for him.

“243 files...The first dates back nine months...” Connor began explaining. “It all started in Detroit...And quickly spread across the country...” As Connor’s eyes focused on the terminal, his LED spinning yellow, he then turned towards Hank. “An AX400 is reported to have assaulted a man last night. That could be a good starting point for our investigation.”

Hank was being rather sour with Connor, having already turned away from him with his head in his hand. Connor got up to approach Hank, who turned around harshly and started picking up data pads and was just moving them around, pretending to look busy. An action I found rather petulant and annoying, nevermind what Connor was thinking since he was clearly just trying to do the job he was assigned to do. I knew Connor was going to have a difficult time dealing with Hank, as he could be rather ornery and already couldn’t stand androids, but there was a sense of unwavering determination in Connor that I couldn’t help but respect. I got the feeling that he would stop at nothing to accomplish whatever task he was set out to do.

As I wrapped up the last of my minimal work, my attention was completely focused on Hank and Connor. “I know you didn't ask for this investigation, Lieutenant,” I looked over and Connor was leaning over Hank trying to reason with him, “but I'm sure you're a professional.”

“Why don't you go fuck yourself?” Hank snapped at Connor.

The moment had gone sour, and Connor turned towards me as if to silently plead for my help. I just gave him a shrug and took another sip of my coffee.

“I've been assigned this mission, Lieutenant.” Connor insisted. “I didn't come here to wait until you feel like working.”

In an instant, I saw Hank shoving Connor up against the wall of his desk in a threatening manner and felt my anxiety shoot up again, making the room go completely dead. “Listen, asshole.” Hank growled at Connor. “If it was up to me, I’d throw the lot of you in a dumpster and set a match to it. So stop pissing me off...or things are gonna get nasty.”

I noticed some movement in the corner of my eye and saw Chris getting up from his desk and walking over to Hank. My eyes followed the officer intently. “Lieutenant, uh...sorry to disturb you.” He started with as Hank put Connor down. “I have some information on the AX400 that attacked the guy last night. It’s been seen in the Ravendale District.”

Ravendale. That’s Camden, I’m pretty sure. My brain echoed. I think that’s about a ten minute drive from where I live. “I’m on it.” Hank agreed, not taking his eyes off of Connor. I very quickly looked away, but realized that Hank was approaching me. “Hey.” He said to me. I looked up at him wondering for a moment if I was about to be reprimanded for my behaviour before he put a hand on my desk. “I’m going to investigate that aggravated assault case, you wanna come with?”

I was surprised that he asked me to come with him, considering what just transpired. But he probably didn’t want to deal with Connor alone. Fowler’s words reverberated in my mind at Hank’s request. Me, seeing an excuse to hang with the both of them, agreed. “Sure, why not? I got nothing else better to do, and you two could probably use my help after last night.”

“Great.” He said, nodding as he started walking away. “We’re heading out!”

I got up out of my seat and made sure I had everything I needed, following Hank and approaching Connor. “I guess I’ll finally have the opportunity to see how you work in the field, Connor.”

“Indeed.” He replied curtly. “And I’m looking forward to seeing how you perform as well.”

“Well, I’m hard-wired for investigation.” I said, a smug smirk plastered on my face. “But you’re more so than I am, I bet.”

“I am.” He replied, not catching my joke. “You could even say I was specifically designed for the task.”

I shook my head, giving up for now on jokes since my mind had gone blank. “Well, I can’t think of any puns I can make right now. But now I’m curious if you have a sense of humour in the same way humans do, Connor.”

“Oh, dear God. Please don’t encourage her.” Hank groaned.

Connor looked confused. “Why’s that, Lieutenant?”

“Her jokes are terrible.” He quipped.

I just grinned smugly at him like the bastard I was. “That’s what makes them so great!” I said with a gremlinesque giggle. “You can pretend you don’t find them amusing all you want, but you’ve smiled at a few. Even chuckled, if the mood had you.”

“Pity smiles and pity laughs, Rachel.” He said defensively. “Just don’t quit your day job, is all I’m saying.”

I scoffed at him. “Whatever you say, Hank.”

We followed Hank out of the precinct and into Hank’s car, thankful he wasn’t drunk this time and that I didn’t have to worry about him.

And I couldn’t lie, this was the most excited I felt about something in a long time. 

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

Next Chapter

[mulanxiaojie]

Disney is releasing a live-action remake of its 1998 animated film "Mulan" in March 2020.

Insider asked the original "Mulan" codirector Tony Bancroft and Mushu animator Tom Bancroft their thoughts on the remake along with its first trailer.

The twin brothers said they're interested in it for the same reasons which may make some fans upset. They're happy it doesn't look like the remake will feature Mushu or be a musical.

"I want these remakes to be as unique and original as possible... It should feel reminiscent of what it's based on, but not be 'The Lion King' in CG animation that is like shot for shot," said Tony Bancroft.

Tom said while he kind of wishes Mushu was in the movie a bit, he says he probably would have been "a little disappointed."

"Mulan" is one of the next Disney movies that's getting remade for a new generation, and already has  the thumbs up of the team behind the original movie.

"I was excited about that," Tony Bancroft, the codirector of the original 1998 animated "Mulan," told Insider of the coming remake.

Tony, who worked at Disney Animation for over 12 years during its renaissance period, watched the trailer almost immediately after it came out in July. He remembers receiving a notification about it on his phone while walking to church. He stopped right then and there to watch it.

"Even though it was small and the sound wasn't great, I could see where the director was going with it," he said of his initial reaction to the teaser. "It felt like they were taking the best parts of the story — a girl who will do anything to save her father [and] bring her father and her family honor."

The 1998 film followed Hua Mulan as she took the place of her father in the Chinese army to fight the Huns. She chopped off her hair and disguised herself as a man in order to protect her father.

Production on the live-action movie started in August 2018 with Liu Yifei cast as the lead and starring Donnie Yen ("Star Wars: Rogue One") and Jet Li. The Niki Caro-directed film will be the company's 13th remake of one of its classics since 2010's "Alice in Wonderland."

When the first trailer was released, Bancroft noticed what most fans did. It didn't have any of the iconic songs people associate with the film like "Reflection" or "I'll Make a Man Out of You." That's because it won't be a musical. In 2017, Caro told Moviefone there were no songs in the movie at that time, describing it as a "martial arts epic."

More importantly, the trailer didn't have Mulan's dragon sidekick Mushu, who Bancroft's brother, Tom, animated in the 1998 film. Unlike the fans though, Tony actually liked that the trailer didn't feature either.

"All the things that a lot of fans are upset about are the things that I was happiest about because I really want them to go off and make a new version of 'Mulan.' I love that character. I love who she is," said Tony of being OK with the fact that the remake doesn't appear to have music or Mushu.

"I love what she represents and I love seeing more Chinese culture portrayed in a new different way," he said of Mulan.

Tony's brother, Tom, was also at Disney for about the same amount of time. The two started as interns before working full-time on, what became, many of the studio's classic animated fairy-tales.

Tom said his initial reaction to hearing about a "Mulan" remake was positive and made him eager to see how Caro and Disney would retell the story. After all, Tom and Tony have already seen a string of classics they worked on ("Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," and "The Lion King") remade by Disney. What's another one?

But then Tom started to have some questions.

"The fear sets in and immediately after that I'm like, 'OK, but how are they going to do Mushu? How are they going to do this sequence? Are they going to keep that really strong father-daughter relationship?" Tom told Insider of initial concerns for the remake. "When I saw the trailer, I was pleasantly relieved."

Even without Mushu? Yes, even without Mushu.

"A lot of people I know I think are surprised by that because I created Mushu, I should be really upset that Mushu's not in it. I'm really not," Tom said of people's reactions when they learn he's fine with the Eddie Murphy-voiced dragon not appearing in the trailer.  

He's afraid he would probably be disappointed if Mushu was in the live-action remake.

"While I kind of wished he was [in the movie] a little bit, just to see how that would have happened, I probably would've been a little disappointed," Tom said of an adaptation of Mushu in a remake. "In a way, I think I dodged a bullet."

While Mushu isn't expected to be in the remake (it's been reported he may be replaced by a phoenix), Tom would love to see more of Mulan's relationship with her father in the new adaptation.

"I'm hoping they're going to show a training sequence when she was very young and that her dad would sneak her off and privately train her to be a warrior because that'll make even more sense later on." he said.

Have Walt Disney Studios or Caro reached out to Tony about the remake? No.

"Nothing," said Tony, who doesn't harbor any ill will, "I kind of understand that from the standpoint of the new director. Do you really want to go back and kind of regurgitate old ideas?"

"It's almost better that they work in their own vacuum of researching on their own to try and make it as unique as possible," he added. "I understand it from their standpoint, although it would be great if there was a nod to the original and the team and the directors that worked on those original ones."

According to a press release from Disney in August 2018, the live-action "Mulan" is an adaptation of the '98 animated film, but will also be based on the narrative poem "The Ballad of Mulan." Tom said if they're going back to the original poem, and if they've have already seen the original movie, he doesn't think they need any pointers from them.

"I'm not offended by that," said Tom of not hearing from anyone about the "Mulan" remake. "I've worked for the Disney corporation for so many years that I really don't expect that. Most of the departments don't talk to each other. It's such a big conglomerate."

That seems to be the case for the majority of the remakes. When Insider spoke with "Aladdin" codirector Ron Clements earlier this year, he said he didn't consult with anyone on the live-action remake. In 2017, "The Lion King" codirector Rob Minkoff said that new director Jon Favreau had shown him some of the VR technology that was used to create that remake.

After the trailer release, Tony said he has attempted to reach out to Caro on social media. He shared an early character design of Mulan on her horse which he was reminded of by a shot from the trailer.

"I wanted to show some support for the trailer so I posted online and tagged her on my posts," Tony said of trying to connect with the new director.

"I never heard anything back, so that's kind of a bummer," said Tony. "All I can hope is she isn't online very much."

While they may not be involved with the new 'Mulan' film, the Bancrofts are plenty busy these days teaching, animating, producing, and podcasting. 

The Bancroft brothers left Disney in the early 2000s and worked on "VeggieTales." The two are passionate about 2D animation and currently teach animation at universities in California and Tennessee, go to animation expos and conventions, and cohost an animation podcast together, "The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast."

Tom is also producing a documentary called "Pencil Test" on the art of 2D animation and its future with interviews from animators like Glen Keane ("The Little Mermaid") and John Musker ("Moana"). You can watch a trailer for it here.

More than 20 years after its release, Tony's contribution to "Mulan" is still recognized worldwide as he continues to work on indie animated features.

"Most of them have connections to China," Tony said of most of his animation films being coproductions with China. "I have a lot of involvement with China these days because of 'Mulan' and they seem to be very interested in working with me on projects."

When it comes to the remake, which will hit theaters in March 2020, Tony says he's very supportive of where it's going as long as it's not a direct rehash of what has already been seen on screen.

"I want these remakes to be as unique and original as possible," said Tony of Disney's reimaginings. "It should feel reminiscent of what it's based on, but not be 'The Lion King' in CG animation that is like shot for shot."

[recentanimenews]

Touhou: Azure Reflections Is A Great First Step Into An Amazing Series

I’ve been a huge fan of the Touhou Project for a long time. I have loads of fond memories, from streaming “one credit clear” attempts for friends, to endless conversations about the messy but fascinating lore of the mainline series with other fans. So, back when it was announced that not only Touhou fan games but the main series would be coming to Steam just last year, I was ecstatic. Not only did this mean that there was a much more convenient way to get my hands on the games, but that a wave of new fans and interesting fan-created experiences were soon to follow.

  Alongside the main franchise came RPGs about exploring the world of Touhou, a stellar Metroidvania set in one of the franchise’s most iconic locations (along with a bunch of fan-made bullet hell shoot ‘em ups just like the mainline.) Considering the franchise’s most popular aspect was a hail of bullets that became increasingly more dense as the levels progressed, each fan-made game took their own approach to such a visual spectacle.

  Touhou: Azure Reflections is one of the several bullet-hell style fan games that have come out on Steam and it arrives alongside its own interesting takes on the Touhou formula. With fully voiced characters and beautiful 3D models, we head to the Scarlet Devil Mansion from the first Windows game as one of three playable characters to fight well known characters from both the aforementioned first game and from other titles in the series.

  Fans of the series will be familiar with most of its systems, such as the six stage format (plus an extra stage,) every boss having a series of special “spell card” attacks, four difficulties including Easy, Normal, Hard, and Lunatic, and a limited amount of lives alongside a limited number of arcade-style continues. Where Azure Reflections begins to mix things up, though, is now the player can shoot both in front of them and behind them as enemies and bosses can attack from either end of the screen. This means that while the setting, characters, and systems may feel familiar there’s an extra level of strategy that goes into the stages and bosses.

    The plot is relatively simple - a red mist is covering up the sun just like in the events of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, so you point a finger at the most obvious suspect. As a result, you set out as either Reimu, Marisa, or Cirno to go confront Remilia Scarlet to resolve the incident. In typical Touhou fashion, each of the characters have their own specialties and shot types. For example, Marisa is more powerful than the others and has a faster movement speed that's perfect for aggressive players, while also having relatively limiting shot types. Meanwhile, Reimu is less strong and a fair bit slower, but has access to a homing shot that lets players focus on dodging more than attacking.

  The player is equipped with two lives and two “bombs” that temporarily make them invulnerable (and can even be activated in a small window after death to survive just at the cost of a bomb.) Each of the six main stages and extra stage are relatively short and feature a mid-boss as well as a standard boss that’s one of the characters from the mainline games, all of which drop power items that fittingly power up your attacks, point items that, well, give you points, and a green collectible that can be exchanged for accessories for the girls between runs. 

    Where Azure Reflections begins to turn things on their head is the addition of a new “burst” attack and their adaptation of classic boss attacks. Now, alongside bombs, players have a gauge that fills over time and once it’s completely filled, you can unleash a large amount of damage by ramming into enemies while turning bullets into points. This new attack is the only way to finish off mid-bosses and every boss’ spell cards and in several cases it's even more useful than bombs as there’s no notable punishment for defaulting to it whenever you’re in danger.

  On the other end of things, many bosses have attacks from their source game, but on occasion these attacks are modified to fit this game. On the better end of things, Cirno’s infamous Icicle Fall no longer has an incredibly simple blind spot on Easy. On the worst end, Sakuya’s spells and attacks no longer freeze time which unfortunately makes them a lot less impactful. Overall, many of the infamously hard attacks from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, like Sakuya’s Eternal Meek, have been taken out in favour of easier attacks that still capture that Touhou feel.

  In fact, I’d say that “overall easier” is a great way to describe Azure Reflections’ difficulty, as it's added a lot of conventions that make playing it much more accessible to new players. There's an option in the settings that allows you to always see your hitbox rather than just when you’re focusing fire, getting hit only stuns you and you have to get hit again while stunned in order to properly die, and bullet patterns are less dense even on the highest difficulty.

    Along with these gameplay decisions, there was also the choice to use full 3D models for the characters and backgrounds, which makes for a tremendously pretty game. Additionally, every character is now fully voiced so you can hear every quip and reaction. A pretty large flaw, unfortunately, is that despite the game being available in English, not all of the Japanese dialogue is translated.

  Specifically, during boss fights, the boss and the player character will quip back and forth at each other and unfortunately, none of it is subtitled or otherwise translated in any way. While the short one-liners that the characters say upon being selected or clearing a stage also aren’t subtitled, it’s a much bigger bummer that there are full conversations completely lost to players who can’t understand Japanese.

    Whether you’re a fan of the mainline series or someone who’s been waiting for an easy way to get into the games, Azure Reflections proves to be an accessible but tough Touhou game that's absolutely worth playing. This game serves as both a great first step into Touhou  (especially with more and more of the mainline coming out on Steam since Hidden Star in Four Seasons’ release,) and as a nice callback with an interesting cast for those already familiar with the series. So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to go on a trip to Gensokyo’s Scarlet Devil Mansion!

  REVIEW ROUNDUP + Extremely pretty with full 3D environments and character models + Creative yet faithful callbacks to the main series + Range of fully customisable characters that supports a variety of play styles + Accessible to new players that aren't used to the level of difficulty Touhou games typically offer +/- Some of the more iconic attacks have been simplified to the point of losing their charm - Full conversations go completely untranslated from Japanese despite the game being playable in other languages

Are you a fan of the Touhou Project or someone looking for a reason to take the dive? Let us know in the comments below!

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Tsuyuki Arumaya is a fiction author, editorial writer, and anime reviewer. You can find his editorials on the blog Anime Corps and follow him on Twitter @Dististik.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[elementseries]

EleMenT Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Stalemate

 “Ah you’re finally awake!” a nurse said as she entered the medical tent where Dale was lying in bed. He had several bandages wrapped around several parts of his body. He also has tubes hooked to a bag of blood next to him. “Mnn…” he groaned as he woke up. “What happened…?” he asked. “While the Novastars were fighting that space elemental, me and my buddy were able to pick you up and move you to our medical station” another soldier said, sitting in the bed next to him. He only had bandages wrapped around his left shoulder. “You passed out while we were carrying you; you gave us quite a scare. The nurse said you were ok, just lost quite a bit a blood. My pal’s still out there so I’m gonna go back in and help him in a bit” the soldier said. “Hey, you should be getting some rest, lay down!” the nurse told him. “What? I’m fine… just got a bullet in my shoulder, it’s out now. I can still fight…” “Ah… that’s right… I’ve got to get back in there too…” Dale weakly said as he attempted to get up from bed. “Not you too! Both of you stay in bed!” the nurse shouted. “Don’t make me taser you both…” she said with an intimidating glare as she had an electric current go through her index and middle finger {Nurse: Veronica Voltaroli (Age 18)}.

  “…” Dale blinked as he looked at her. For some reason, he found her intimidating and fierce temper quite… attractive. “…what?” Veronica asked, blushing and looking away with a pout as she caught him looking at her. “!! That’s right… Dominic and Dante, what happened to them? Did they win? Did they lose?” he asked. “Actually… there hasn’t been a winner yet” the soldier said. “What!?” Dale shouted in shock. “Then… how’ve long…” “Eight hours…” the soldier said before Dale could finish. “Same as General Grover, he’s been fighting for eight hours straight…” the soldier said.

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  Eight hours has indeed passed since the two battles have started. The sun was beginning to rise and made the sky a deep orange and purple color, although not much light has shined yet. Dominic and Dante stood across from Lloyd, both of them battered and bleeding from heavy battle damage. Lloyd however, had only light damage. They didn’t made much progress after Dominic’s Space Exchange technique worked. However, they still stood their ground and stared their enemy down, refusing to give up. “Hey Dominic… got any more ideas?” Dante asked. “Sorry, but I’m spent…” Dominic told them. Both of them were breathing deeply from exhaustion. Lloyd began walking towards them, cracking his neck in anticipation. “Then… we go for broke?” Dante asked, gathering energy in his hands. “That’s right, just keep going will we win or drop!” Dominic grinned and tapped his fists together.

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  “I’m surprised General Grover…” Royd said as he stood in a field of large broken jade crystals, starting down the old elemental. Grover did his best to stay on his feet, despite having many bleeding injuries. “Even after all this and you’re still standing, that’s quite remarkable for a man your age” Royd said. “Bastard, ignoring me like that…” Alexander said. His mech had a few scrapes and scratches on it, as well as some crystals stabbed into it. “Hmm? Do you ever show praise to a fly after trying to swat it for so long? No, you get aggravated… cause it’s just a disgusting annoying insect” Royd said without even looking at him. “Insect huh?” Alexander said and pointed the mech’s shield at the two, the front opening up and revealing a gem. “Ever saw a fly with a giant LASER BEAM!?” he shouts as energy gathered around the gem, and then shoots a giant devastating beam of energy from it. Royd quickly disappears as he teleports, but Grover had no way of dodging. “Jade Wall!” Grover shouts and creates a giant wall made of thick green crystals, having several of them envelop over each other and make many layers. As the wall starts to break apart, Grover tried to continue making new layers to keep the wall up.

  The beam finally stops and Grover still had a single layer of his Jade Wall standing, but it was heavily cracked and shattered not too long after. Grover fell on to his knees as he breathed heavily. “Damn it, that’s it… I’m spent…” he thought. Royd swipes his finger and tries to bend the buster’s arm, but is unable to break it. “Hmnn… guess this long battle is taking its toll on me…” he said. The buster begins to emit steam from various points and shakes as it moves. “Damn it, it’s getting overheated…” Alexander said. Suddenly his transceiver began to go off and spoke, “Colonel Alexander, this is Sergeant Leroy, please response!” “…” Alexander answered it. “Colonel Alexander here…” “Most of our army are down and we have very little reserves left. While we dealt a massive blow to the enemy armies, we too suffered quite a loss. I advise that we retreat…” Leroy said. “…very well, have all remaining soldiers pull out and return to base” Alexander said. “Yes sir!” Leroy spoke. “Well, as sad it is to say I must take my leave. I’ll finish my business with the both of you some other time. Sooner or later, the human race will take their place as the top race, you better remember that!” Alexander said with a grin as his Elemental Buster flies off.

  “Big words from someone who has to use a hunk of junk to fight evenly with us…” Royd said. “I could keep going for a few more hours myself, however I’m sure my soldiers are exhausted by now so for their sake I’ll retreat too, for now…” He turns his head to Grover and smiles. “I give you my praise human lover, you lasted a lot longer than I thought you would. You’re a worthy opponent” he said. “…” Grover looked down to the ground, feeling defeat and shame. “Now now, no need to be so down. We’ll settle this another time and actually finish it. Rest up and prepare yourself till then” Royd told him. He got out his own transceiver and spoke into it. “Lloyd, we’re finished here. We’re going to regroup to the rendezvous point and make our retreat” There was no response. “…Lloyd, do you hear me? ……… Lloyd! This is your father speaking, answer me!” Still, no response. “…damn, he might be having ‘too much fun’ right now…”

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  Dominic and Dante where lying on the ground, severely injured with blood all over them. Despite that, they were still conscious. Dominic tried to get up, pushing his arms against the ground to lift his body as blood dripped on the ground. “I can’t give up now… I have to… get back up again…” he thought as he struggled to force himself off the ground, but it was all for naught as he collapsed on the ground once more. Dante watched him struggled, clutching his fist in aggravation. He couldn’t move without feeling severe pain; as well as the pain of utter defeat. “Damn this guy… he’s a monster… even after we gave everything we got…” he thought and shuts his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth. “…it wasn’t good enough at all!” Lloyd tilts his head to each side, repeatedly cracking his neck joints. The transceiver in his pocket was going off, but he ignored it. “What a bummer, I was having fun with you two. I wish it could last more, but seems you guys ran out of steam already. Well, maybe I can squeeze a little more out of you by force…” Lloyd grins as the space around his hand ripples, the vibrating space taking the shape of a knife.

  “Spatial Scalpel!” he shouts and gets ready to cut down on the two, but stops when Royd teleports behind him. “Lloyd, didn’t you hear me?” he asked him with a very stern look. “…” Lloyd slightly moves his head to glance at his father, than brushes him off by moving towards the two on the ground. “Lloyd!! Enough. We’re done here. We’re falling back right now.” Royd told his son in a tone that sounds like he was giving him a warning. “It’ll just take me a second to kill these two. I’ll leave when I’m done” Lloyd told his father, not even looking at him. Before he could take another step, he froze as Royd’s hands were tightly clasped onto his neck from behind. “Son. You listen to me, we’re leaving RIGHT NOW! When I say now, I mean NOW!” Royd said quietly but full of anger. He dug his fingernails into the skin of his son’s neck, drawing a little blood.

  “………understood, father…” Lloyd begrudgingly said quietly and the rippling around his hand disappeared. Royd released his grip and said, “That’s better… now go to our meet up point” “…” Lloyd said nothing and teleports away. “……” Royd looks over at Dominic who glares at him. “…don’t misunderstand the situation. I’m not showing mercy to you human lovers and saving your lives; I’m just trying to teach my son obedience and make sure he does what he’s told exactly when I tell him” he told him. “Although… it’s quite impressive you lasted this long fighting my son. What are your names?” he asked them. “……Dominic and Dante Novastar. Remember it well cause the next time we see you and your son… you’re going down!!” Dominic boasted, still motionless on the ground as he stares at Royd with an intimidating glare. “…Dominic and Dante huh… you’re Dominic right? Yes… I heard of your clan… the ones who adopted the rare energy elemental Dante… interesting threat while your face is in the gravel…” Royd smirked. “I’m eager to test your strength myself. We’ll meet again soon…” he added and then teleported away. “……” Dominic closed his eyes and grimaced, pressing his face into the ground.

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  Grover and the rest of his soldiers were inside the infirmary getting patched up. “That’s right, we found them passed out on the ground. They’re severely wounded but their injuries are not life threatening, however they’ve exhausted a huge amount of their elemental energy to the point where it’s at a critically low amount. If they used up any more of their energy it could have put their lives in danger” a soldier reported. “I see… how are they doing now?” Grover asked as his arm was being wrapped in bandages. He also had bandages around his head and he sat while smoking a cigar. “They’re sleeping in a medical room right now. After a few days they should recover all their energy, but knowing those two they can probably recover sooner than that” the soldier said. “That’s great news. I also heard Dale is making a speedy recovery too.” Grover said and blew out some smoke. “Yes sir, he should be back on his feet very soon” the soldier said.

  “…” Grover closed his eyes. “All three factions have lost many of their men… all those lives gone… and the village has been completely destroyed too. People have lost their homes, their lives, their peace… and the battle was a complete stalemate. No one won anything… we lost so much for no reason at all. What an utterly pointless war…” Grover said as he bit into his cigar. “We’re all done with your arm sir” the nurse said. “Thank you” he stood up and moved his arm in a circle. “Sir, where are you going? You need to rest” the nurse said. “I’m fine. There a big weight in my heart right now and I need to get rid of it. Hundreds of humans just lost their homes right now; getting caught up in this senseless battle that led to nothing. I need to find a way to make it up to them… we’ve taken so much away from them, it’s only right to give them something as an apology…” Grover said.

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  Meanwhile, an airplane descends at an airport in a certain town. “Sir, are you really sure about this? Both the human and elemental extremists have their hideouts not too far from this place, you’re in great danger if you stay here!” a suited official said as he walks with another suited man down to the plane’s doors. “I know very well the danger, but I cannot just stay in the building and wait as our brave soldiers fight to the death to solve this!” The man steps out of the plane and down the airstair as he adjusts his tie. “We’ve been fighting for too long with very little results, it’s time to approach this with a diplomatic touch!” the slim blonde man said {Government Official: Theodore C. McLaren (Future Chairman of the Council)}.

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[50--50]

Admittedly I was pretty surprised to see you posting again on your blog. After going for coffee, I kinda believed that was it. Blogs done. I creeped your insta, you look happy and active. It seems like you and C do a lot of different things, and that's good. The cross stitching is really cool as well. Wouldn't have guessed that as a hobby but to be fair I probably couldn't guess too much about you now. It seems like you've got a handle of things though, and I really am happy for you. I understand the memory bits you mentioned. I know at the time I was happy. Things were great, and like you said I remember that as a fact. Fact of life just seem to be kinda shitty. Which is shitty in and of itself. Kind of a bummer. I want to apologize again, for everything I did to you. I never helped keep track with family planning. I didn't offer much support up to and during the abortion, and I certainly didn't offer any after. Looking back I don't think I offered you too much at any point in time really. You kind of held us all together for almost 4 years. I'm not really sure where to go with all this. I don't think there's a right thing to say but I'm worried there are wrong things. It almost feels like I don't have the right to comment on what our kid would have been like. And I really don't have the right to tell you anything about what your children will be like. However I do not think your eggs will be dumb, or that you will end up with someone who is infertile. From who I remember you as, you were always the kind of person to help, and to try and do right by whoever you can. As random and mean as the universe can be, I don't think you're going to be punished. If and when you want kids, I think they will be lucky to have you as their mother. Having these concerns seems like you love them immensely already. That you will give them your all and it could not be possible for you to love them more. I'm sorry I can't help you with feeling like the first one is gone. In all honesty I'm not really sure how to process it myself. In the moment I think we made the right decision. And when you do have the blake thoughts I hope you think of them as a bullet dodged. In the same sense that a person feels relief when a nuke gets blown out of the sky or magically disarmed and falls into the ocean harmlessly. Also if you do ever see me crying in a flea market, I'll probably open with "hello", before getting to the heavy stuff.