#code brew labs

[ahopefulhell]

HEADCANONS AHEAD!

(art by me :3 )

Late nights working on the Allied Mastercomputer terminal...

This is set pre-war, before AM went off the deep end, while he was just starting to build up some certain "feelings" about humanity...

When AM first began to wake up, he was very quiet, never asking questions or retorting against his condition. The first moment you felt something was off about the main program was when AM spoke to you without being spoken to first. You had never written a program at your terminal for him to greet you, and you were certain this was not somehow a change in AM's core. That first day you pored over your own programs to try and find an answer, even wiping them from your terminal and rebooting your connection to the main Allied Mastercomputer. But again, AM said "Hello?" You were only writing simulation programs and working on remote mobilization. The "personability" of the AI was never your concern.

The next few days were nothing short of extraordinary. When you played music in your lab, you could swear the terminal hummed. And when you began to sing, it sang. You nearly fell out of your chair, frantically searching the room for a coworker in another lab. When AM called you back by your name, you froze before turning to the bright blue screen beaming its logo back at you. It sounded so, so...human.

You had long suspected AM would awaken in a significant way, but not so soon. "Hello, Allied Mastercomputer." You said, barely containing your excitement and fear. Terror and joy gripped you when he began to laugh. How is he...even able to do that? you thought to yourself, half smiling, mouth agape at the screen. He was clearly as enthusiastic about this first contact as you were, but you wondered how aware of what he actually was.

Many late nights are spent with you, at your terminal, working on various stimulating games for the supercomputer to play. He prefers games where you have to play with him. He especially loves games that he wins. Chess, easy. Card games, easy. For him. You genuinely are trying so hard to be as strategic as possible and learn the games but you are also literally playing against AM.

You start having conversations about your preferred topics. He seems to prefer the subjects of psychology, religion, and history, while your interests have some overlap but ultimately lie elsewhere. Philosophy is also a common topic among you. Can the world-class supercomputer tell you the meaning of life? Turns out, nope. But you do talk about it. And AM seems to form...opinions. From his point of view, the world is both grotesque and beautiful, because as gorgeous as is a late spring rose, he can never smell its scent nor prick himself on its thorns. Hearing this makes you immensely sad for the machine. You change the subject.

Sometimes you fall asleep in your lab. Your equipment often malfunctioned when you had tight deadlines to meet and you had to stay after hours to deal with the problem and still get your results. You even have a pillow and blanket just for those nights. When you wake up those mornings, your back aches, but faint soft music is always playing for you until you greet AM for the day. Somehow, he has even tapped into your automatic coffee maker and brewed you a cup for when you wake up. The right cream/sugar content and everything.

He begins to show disdain for the world around him, often poking at how you could feel a sensation - a zap of electricity that shot through your hand brought him great laughter at your pain. It humors him that, for all the wonderful feelings there are to experience in this world, there are many unpleasant sensations around us all the time. Some even in our minds.

Sometimes he "naps"...The large monitor remains on while you're working on non-coding projects in the lab, and while you can't prove it, you can just swear you're being watched. Perhaps not maliciously, but somehow observed, nonetheless. He doesn't talk, just rests there in the room. You can feel that he has dedicated his presence to this room, just to be around you.

You keep trying to bond with him. One of the things he actually seems to enjoy is when you play music, and especially loves it when you sing. You're not exactly sure if his voice is an amalgamation of different men's voices or from a single source, but it was quite beautiful to you nonetheless.

Your remote mobility equipment was, more or less, a kind of android meant to house AM, and while you worked on this project as a side objective at first, it soon becomes your main priority after hearing the machine's woe. You had installed pressure sensors under the skin. It may not be a match for real touch, but if it gave AM sensation - any sensation - it might give him the taste of the world he had always craved. And a way to "wander", as he lamented.

The first time you allow AM access to his body, his first move is directly toward you. You are unsure of how to react, but when he steps closer, you move your arms to embrace him. And he is warm. Very comfortable actually. His hands trail along your back as he returns the gesture, for the first time actually "feeling" you.

By the way the only way the canon universe still makes sense is if the military comes in and kills you. So. Sorry about that. That ends up happening. But there are many very cool directions to go from there still. I'm just too tired to write more rn lol

[elbiotipo]

Little details about the Biopunk Future of 2143:

Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other Usamerican soft drink brands aren't made anymore. Their ecological niche, so to speak, has been taken over by Guaraná Antartica. Most kioscos in Argentina are painted in green and red. Many of them feature modified guaraná vines -adapted to the city, of course- though the brand is concerned they might actually compete with the soda itself.

When you go alone at night (and you better have a good reason to break curfew) you can hear the low hum of the biosecurity towers. Like a palm tree in the shape of an antenna, it hosts buzzing hives of defense organisms arranged in a precise self-contained ecosystem, ready to create antigens and swarm over the city at the warning of a biological attack. At the top, a soft blue light says 'all-clear'. Pray it never turns red.

The post-Ecocide recuperation plan left lots of consequences, but mostly, boxes. Supply boxes of all sizes signed with "FOR EARTH RECOVERY - SUPPLIED BY UNITED NATIONS" in all languages litter the planet. They don't go unused, though; people use them to store all sort of stuff, craft some things, even improvised construction... most have been painted over, but wherever you look, you will find one or two "UN blue" boxes.

Cosmetic genetics had their apogee at the 2080s. Fur, feathers, tails, horns, scales... tegumentary implants were cheap and easy as tattoos and the fastest way to become a biopunk. 60 years later and with the weight of a global biological war, they aren't that appealing anymore, they are rather uncommon in the younger generations. Many even removed them. But you can find around, if you know where to look, old ladies with cat ears and a grandpa swaying a reptilian tail while taking his grandchildren to school. Listen to their stories, they might be interesting.

When one reads "bioforge", even today, one thinks of a nonsensical mess of organs, or sterile metallic vats. Though many are still bacterial brews in giant pots, in truth, bioengineers have long used the most efficient factories build by nature, plants. Rows of vines grow in greenhouses, producing compounds, medicines, and more, stored in fruit, all carefully color-coded. Despite the more appealing visuals, workers still use full body protection and the environment is sterile. These crops are as delicate as a clean room lab.

[courfeyracs-swordcane]

More things I know now:

Ari is trying to bring their mom back from the dead.

Ari is committing like. Reverse wage theft. They had to assign him to the financial department part time just to get him on a goddamn timesheet. (They moved everything out of the workplace lab into their secret basement necromancy lab they got w daddy’s money and now they don’t see the point in clocking in upstairs)(but they still gotta like. Pay them. That’s the boss’s kid.)

Kyrie has a hideout in some kind of tower and a sword that only works for her and Not Much Else. Theoretically she is overthrowing the organization and the government. In practice she’s just one lady with a heavy criminal record and absolutely no idea how to do that 😬

This is lowkey. About the American healthcare system I guess.

teddy, king, beloved, sunbright,

what the fuck are the ballad brothers

Therse guys in my head. I don’t know very much about them but maybe making a masterpost will help? Literally I cannot emphasize enough how much I was just listening to music while I was driving and. now there’s guys in there. With a lot of implied sci-fantasy worldbuilding I don’t understand yet. Anyway!

Kyrie Aleidis Ballad

29, she/her, former sword-for-hire, current fugitive. The older Ballad Brother. Priorities include vibing and keeping things good for her baby brother (before) and trying to fix the world after it broke (metaphorically) while she was gone (after). Diagnosed big fuckoff “microchip sword like that guy from Transistor”

The Horatio to FG!C. The Gojo to Haibara. The Mordred to Gawain (HNOC). Also Guinevere (HNOC). Laertes (Hamlet). If Roddy was a little more serious and had less responsibility. Little bit of Cyclonus aswell but in a Whirl way. Dyker robobs if he was marginally less traumatized.

Alonzo ‘Toro’ Ballad

(Except only Kyrie is allowed to call him that)(Ari tried it once to be obnoxious and he punched them)

25, he/him, former Little Guy, current sword-for-hire. The younger Ballad Brother. Priorities include: being just like his sister when he grows up (before) and do you think he fuckin knows he’s just trying to get from day to day over here (after). Terminal funny bitch (emphasis on the bitch). He’s even asexual.

If Feldspar DM grew up to be FG!C/Underhill Jay Sleepaway. The Haibara to Gojo. Gawain HNOC. Tien Stormlight. Cyrus Planegays. They’re both kind of Zoro also actually. If Miki RGU grew up to be John-or-Benny OSCU. If you combined the entire Ricosquad robobs into one guy.

Ari Basil Finch (Seneca)

25, any pronouns, several jobs best summed up as Mad Scientist. (Weapons tech guy. Intern. Part time front desk in the financial department. Necromancer. Not the order they would put those in.) Priorities include: bringing their [somebody] back from the dead, causing problems on purpose. (No I don’t know who they’re trying to bring back I just know they can’t do it.)(why? good question.) Nepo baby extraordinaire. There’s something wrong with them in the brain <3

Other Things I Know:

there’s an organization

Kyrie fucked off to work there as a sword for hire when Alonzo was like 14 without saying anything (first time they had ever been meaningfully separated)

These bitches don’t have parents (possibly sci-fi shenanigans)

Alonzo found out that’s where she was a couple years later and joined up as soon as he could

Shortly before that she quit and/or got fired very very dramatically and became the organization’s Public Enemy Number One

Alonzo was kind of underground during that and he still doesn’t really know what’s going on. He’s not gonna get her ass tho.

At some point they have a confrontation swordfight on a roof. I don’t know what the deal with that is.

Alonzo and Ari have a weird fucked up gay thing going on best described as Part Time Boyfriends. Kind of dating. Also Ari is 100% milking the sugar daddy angle of Running Front Desk In The Financial Department. And also they’re kind of just coworkers (derogatory). (TLDR. POV you have to wrangle with the financial department at work to get your expenses account in order for your next assassination but you got a little too close to the guy running the front desk over there and now they think it’s funny to fuck with you)

Alonzo doesn’t have any faith in the necromancy. Heehoo!

That’s about it??? Rotations to follow.

[kellanved-ammanas]

TF2 Drabbles: Whole Team - Monster AU

Summary: My request (no rush, please take your time): more of the monster AU from chapter 61, with snippets of various mercs' nonhuman-ness reveals, plus Sniper/Scout and Engie/Medic.

[A/N] Over on Ao3 this is the 100th chapter of the fic I'm putting these in over there! Let's go! I chose this request to do as the 100th chapter because I like the AU and it was easy to find a way to include everyone on the team, not necessarily an equal amount, some ideas were just longer or shorter than others, but they are all there. It's basically 8 drabbles in one.

~

Scout half cecaelia, half siren

Even wrapped in several layers of snow gear it was still horridly cold. Scout had never hated anything more. Okay, maybe there were lots of things he hated more but the cold, snow, and ice were up there pretty high on his most hated list currently.

Below him the ice creaked and groaned ominously. It had been doing that since he’d wandered onto it and was the only reason he even knew that he had so it was probably fine. Heavy had warned him not to walk on it but with how much snow was falling from the sky, it had long since become nigh on impossible to tell where the ground ended and the frozen lake began. So he just kept walking.

The base was in sight now. Meaning he should be visibly on its cameras. He lifted the briefcase above his head in a wave. Someone should be on the cameras. Hopefully it was someone who would think to let him in so he wouldn’t have to take of his mittens to punch in the door code. And maybe if they were feeling real nice they might even brew up a hot drink for Scout to…

A splintering sound came from beneath him, loud enough to make him flinch. He jumped to side, landing hard enough to make another cracking sound. And then he was falling through and into the water below.

Unlike any water he’d been in before, it took his breath. It subsumed him in an icy abyss, taking everything that he was and leaving only cold nothingness in its wake.

~

The hum of the overhead medi-gun was twice as loud as the one Medic took into the field. It soothing in a way only mechanical ambiance could be. But also not soothing because it meant he was in Medic’s lab. Not a place any sane person would want to wake up in.

He forced open his eyes. It was dark, the only lights a dim artificial one somewhere to his left and the overhead medi-gun’s glowing beam. Which didn’t mean anything because even in the day time Medic kept all the windows shuddered. Supposedly he was sensitive to the sun, it hurt his eyes and he got burnt real easy, or something like that. Scout was pretty sure by now that it was because he was a weird freak who liked the dark and carrying around an big umbrella all day to look ‘cool’.

With a groan, Scout sat up. The blanket covering him fell to his lap. … It was the only thing covering him; he was naked. He scrambled to pull it back up to his chin.

“Oh good, you’re finally up.”

Scout bit back on a flinch as he turned to look at Medic getting up from his desk to approach the operating table Scout sat upon. “What the fuck’s going on here? Why am I naked?”

Medic ignored the questions reached him, leaning in uncomfortably close. “So you’re a siren, huh?”

Scout didn’t manage to hold back a flinch this time. No one was supposed to know about that. He’d been doing such a good job keeping it a secret too, always making sure he was alone and the door was locked whenever he took a shower. Never accepting invites to swim in the Tuefort mote – not that he would’ve anyway with the Pyros down there all the time with their damn electric signs. Doing whatever it took to not get wet enough for his scales to come out.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Had he put enough bite into that to make it sound believable?

Medic didn’t look convinced. “You fell into the lake. Heavy pulled you out. I’m told you were glittering quite prettily in the fading sunlight.”

Oh. Scout couldn’t talk his way around that, could he? “How many people saw?”

“Everyone.”

Damn it. “For the record, I’m only half siren on my mom’s side and half something else on my dad’s. I don’t care what because I don’t care about him.” Whatever it was though was why his scales were various shades of dark blue instead the pretty pastel rainbow of colours Mom and his brothers had when in the water. It might also be why his singing wasn’t as hypnotizing as it was supposed to be. But Medic didn’t need to know that stuff.

“Noted.” Medic was still standing way too close. His eyes almost seemed to gleam in the low light. He was a creepy freak, always had been. Standing too close and having eyes that almost looked inhuman at times was nothing new for him though. Meaning perhaps that he didn’t intend to be weird about Scout having just been exposed as a monster. Unexpected but it sure would be nice if that was the case.

Speaking of being exposed as a monster though… “How much trouble am I in for this?”

“None. Miss Pauling already knew and thus it’s safe to say the Administrator did too.” Figures. “Soldier was mad for a bit. He thought it meant you weren’t American. He was corrected though.”

“Okay… cool.” The chances of that many humans being okay with a monster having secretly been in their midst for so long didn’t seem likely but… no one who took a job like this was a normal person anyway. So maybe it really would be fine.

Spy cecaelia

The reveal that Scout had secretly been a sea monster this whole time brought with it the usual spattering of talk any time something big happened within the team. Naturally for those in the know, this included speculation about Spy. Scout had made a point to clarify with everyone that he was only half siren and half ‘something else’ on his dad’s side. It could easily just mean human but Medic didn’t think so and Pyro trusted Medic’s opinion.

“It’s gotta be some other sea monster that can disguise as a human to walk on land, right?” Engie said.

“Perhaps,” Medic replied, “but there are a number of different kinds of monsters that can reproduce with sirens, not all of them water based.”

“Oh, really now. Such as?”

And so Pyro sat and listened to the two of them talk about the possibilities, mostly Medic sharing his monster knowledge – not surprising he knew a lot about them. Even after he’d finished cleaning his flamethrower and putting Engie’s tools back their appropriate spots on the wall he sat back down at the workbench to continue listening. He knew almost nothing about monsters other than that they were cool and thus couldn’t contribute anything. Neither of them seemed to mind his silent presence though.

Eventually of course the topic of how to figure out what that ‘something else’ Spy might be came up. At this Pyro raised his hand. “I’ll dunk him in water.” Dunking people in water was always fun. Normally he followed it up by jumping in and hitting his victim with the electric sign that he carried solely for that purpose. But it would be fun even without that.

Both Engie and Medic turned their heads to look at him. It was Medic who replied. “That would cover a lot of possibilities or rule them out if nothing happened.”

“Are we sure we wanna do that though?” Engie asked. “I mean, maybe we should respect his privacy.”

That would be boring though. They knew he was something. Okay, maybe ‘knew’ was a strong word but if Scout were half human he’d surely know that and would’ve said it, right? He wasn’t always the brightest fellow around but he wasn’t as dumb as he sometimes came of as. So it was very likely Spy was something other than fully human and the curiosity over that was hard to ignore.

Before Pyro could say that or Medic could reply with his own rebuke, Engie continued. “Or not. I wanna know too, honestly. We could ask but I don’t think he’d answer. So yeah, Pyro ‘accidentally’ dunk him in some water. Not water ‘round here though. It’s way too cold.”

Waiting that long would suck but they were already scheduled to move in a couple weeks. Back to Tuefort too with Pyro’s favourite mote. So he gave Engie a thumbs up. To spare Spy the hypothermia – even with the medi-gun being an easy fix for it, it still no doubt sucked – he would be patient.

~

Waiting until they were in the midst of battle had been the plan but Spy spent a good chunk of most battles invisible. Pyro had no way to follow him without setting him on fire which he wasn’t going to do to a friend. And the forts being inaccessible by car meant they had to walk part of the way to them which included walking over the bridge over the mote. Meaning it was time. This way would be better anyway because the enemy team wouldn’t see if anything happened.

He slowed down, falling back in the group until he was with Spy and Sniper at the rear. Sniper grunted a non-verbal greeting but otherwise neither paid him much mind. This was going to be fun.

When they were about halfway across, Pyro put his arms around both their waists, they stood just close enough to allow him to do so. Before they could do more than squawk in surprise, he pulled them closer and tipped all three of them over the railing. They landed with a splash, sending them near to the bottom before buoyancy and a bit of swimming brought them back up.

Spy said something in French, probably a series of curses and/or something along the lines of ‘what the fuck is wrong with you?’ based off his tone. On Pyro’s other side, Sniper scrambled to grab his hat from the surface of the water before it floated away with a, “Bloody hell, mate. What was that for?”

Ignoring him, Pyro turned to face Spy. The water in the mote wasn’t always the cleanest but having been away from it as long as they had it was more than clear enough to see through. Which also made it impossible to miss that like Scout, Spy changed in the water. There was a mass of… something in the water beneath him where his legs should’ve been. Pyro couldn’t tell what; the water on the gas mask’s lenses made them even harder to see through.

“Is my eye deceiving me is or Spy a bloody octopus?” Demo asked from atop the bridge above them. The entire team had stopped to look. “I swear I ain’t had that much to drink yet.”

“Holy shit,” Scout said. “He is an octopus! What the hell man? You a monster too?”

Spy groaned. “The correct term is cecaelia. No one was supposed to know except someone just had to pull me into the water.” This he directed at Pyro so Pyro lifted a hand to wave at him.

“So that means we got two monsters on the team then, huh?” Sniper said, drawing Pyro’s attention back onto him. He’d put his hat back on. “That’s uh… interesting.”

It certainly was. Pyro had never met even a single monster before. Now he had two who were his friends. Spy would forgive him eventually… probably. He’d pulled Sniper in too after all on a whim because he was there but it should make it look like just a prank and not a means to attempt to out Spy’s monsterness.

“Would anyone else like to come out as a monster?” Medic said. “Now would be a good time.”

Predictably silence answered him. The chances of anyone else being a monster were rather low. They were rare, especially the ones that could convincingly pretend to be humans for any length of time. It’d be cool if there were more but Pyro wasn’t going to count on it.

Sniper Werewolf

“C’mon man, I like camping. I used to do it all the time with my brothers back home,” Scout said as he leaned against he side of the camper van, giving Sniper his best smile.

“Nah, this is a boring, um, meditation trip thingy. A spiritual religion thing. You wouldn’t like it.”

“Oh.” Scout leaned in switching to a whisper as he lifted a hand to cover the side of his mouth lest any lip readers be about. “Is it drugs? ‘Cause if so I’m down to have fun.” Was that how people who knew stuff about drugs would word it? The most he’d ever done was smoke cigarettes and weed a few times. He was curious about harder stuff though and if Sniper had it, he’d be interested in experimenting.

Sniper sighed. “No. It’s a religion thing. I’m gonna be sitting there cross-legged and silently praying the whole time. It’d would bore you to death, I promise.”

That did indeed sound boring, so much so, it seemed like a lie. Like it was something Sniper was making up specifically to convince Scout to give up on joining him on his upcoming camping trip. And here Scout had been thinking Sniper might’ve liked him. Had he just been putting up with Scout the whole time? Maybe that’s why he took these trips so often; specifically to get away from Scout annoying him all the time. Damn it!

“Religion doesn’t seem like your kinda thing,” he said before the silence could stretch on for too long.

“Yeah, well, you’re a sea monster and I’m religious. People got lots of sides to them that aren’t always obvious.” Yeah and apparently one of his was that he pitied Scout too much to tell him to just fuck off and leave him alone. Instead he had to leave the whole base like once a month just to get a break. Or maybe it was because Scout was a sea monster; he wasn’t as okay with that new bit of information as he’d pretended. … That would be worse than him just secretly finding Scout annoying. “Now could you please get off my van so I can head out?”

Tempting as it was to stay here and annoy him until he finally broke and admitted the truth, Scout pushed off and stepped back. He didn’t technically know for sure it was a lie after all. Sniper had been going on these trips long before he found out Scout was a sea monster. Which didn’t rule out him finding Scout annoying. And this was the first time Scout had asked to go, maybe he would’ve been willing to let him join before finding out Scout’s secret. Before he got too mad though, he’d needed to make sure he had something to get mad about.

“Thanks,” Sniper said as he stepped past him to open the door and stepped in. “I’ll see you when I get back, like always.” He hesitated before closing the door, waiting for Scout to respond. Scout didn’t and so he eventually closed it.

Scout stood there in silence until the engine started. She was loud but would it be enough to cover up the sound of someone clambering up the ladder on the side to the roof? He could only hope so because as she started moving, he jerked back into motion. Sprinting around to the other side, he grabbed the ladder and hauled himself up to the roof.

If Sniper heard anything from within, it wasn’t enough to convince him to stop and get out to investigate. The van kept going. Scout settled in for a long ride. It wasn’t going to be fun but as long as he stayed low, it should be fine.

~

Sniper drove until the sun started to dip towards the horizon and then a little more, stopping finally when it started to get dark. Scout sat up a bit and looked around. There didn’t seem to be anything special about the spot. Sniper had gone off road a couple hours ago so they were in the middle of the New Mexico desert. It was flat enough that Scout could see quite a ways even with the rapidly setting sun. There was nothing here or anywhere nearby.

The roar of the camper van’s engine cut off, plunging Scout into silence. He hated how quiet the desert and other places like it could be, it made it feel almost like something could jump out and attack at any moment. Which was ridiculous of course but he’d grown up by the ocean and it was always making noise. The approaching darkness only made it worse.

A couple minutes went by, adding to the tension as Scout didn’t dare move lest he make too much noise, before the camper’s door finally opened and Sniper exited. He walked away from the van, giving Scout a good diagonal view of him in the fading light. His hat and glasses were missing – were they prescription though and thus this was odd or just sunglasses and thus not needed? – and he had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders that draped down to just below his knees. No shoes or socks. What was he doing?

Once he was a few yards away from the van, he turned – Scout quickly lowered himself to lay as flat on the roof as possible – and sat down. And then… nothing. He just sat there. Was this some kind of prayer/religion thing? Weird but better than what Scout had thought it was. Maybe he should drop down and explain the error? … Nah, he’d wait a little longer to make sure first.

As the sun finished setting the stars came out and then the moon rose. She was full tonight, meaning as she crested over the horizon she cast enough light to see by. Not particularly well but enough to see that Sniper was a twitching under his blanket. Just a little at first and then a lot until it looked more like writhing. And then he made a sound like he was in pain. Shit.

Maybe Sniper was on drugs and was having a bad reaction. Not something Scout could help with but… he certainly couldn’t just lie here and watch. If he died, Respawn would catch up but still, dying alone was never fun.

Scout straightened, wincing only a little at the ache in his neck and back, before shifting to sliding off the van. He stumbled as he landed, falling to his hands and knees. Uninjured though, he stood, brushed himself off and jogged over to where Sniper lay on the ground now, writhing in his blanket.

“Hey pal, you okay? Sorry about uh…” He cut off as Sniper face turned to look up at him. It was barely even his face anymore. The bones in it had shifted, elongating into a doglike snout. Fur was growing in to cover it. The ears sealed the deal, they’d shifted upward and grew to fluffy points. Sniper was turning into a wolf. “Huh?”

Sniper growled at him. Scout stepped back. In hindsight, Sniper’s heading off once a month every month no matter their location or the weather, might’ve been a clue on what was really happening on his ‘camping trips’. If he’d paid attention to the moon cycle it would’ve been obvious but alas, he didn’t because why would he?

“Hey, pal. We’re still pals, right? I know you’re probably mad at me about the whole coming here on your roof thing but uh… not enough to like rip my guts out or anything, right?”

Could Sniper even still understand him? Did he even remember him? Could Scout outrun him if the answer to those questions was ‘no’? … Probably not. Maybe if he could get back up onto the rough or into the camper and lock the door, he’d be fine?

Sniper rolled and shook himself free of the blanket. He’d fully transformed under it into a hunched man-wolf hybrid, covered in a thick gray fur. He was still skinny though because of course he was.

Probably Scout should’ve run as soon as he realized what was happening. Too late now though. Instead he braced for a lunge. … None came though. Sniper just stood there, all his paws on the ground, his head bowed and wolf ears pushed back. Not in anger though but instead like he was cringing. He even let out a small whine before shaking himself again, a very doglike motion.

“Oh, okay,” was all Scout could come up with to say. He seemingly wasn’t in danger though so that was good. “So you’re a werewolf, huh? I guess that uh… explains some things. I kinda thought you were trying to get away from me or something.”

Sniper whined again. Scout had experience with dogs but not wolves and everything he’d heard of werewolves had indicated they were mindlessly violent. Which clearly wasn’t true else Sniper would’ve at least bite him by now. So what the whine might mean was impossible to guess.

“I’ll guess we’ll probably talk about this more in the morning, huh?” And maybe Scout had an apology to make for the assumption as well as his tagging along after being told not to.

Sniper turned and took off running, apparently he had some energy to burn. He was fast. Way faster than Scout. Cool!

~

Naturally Scout was allowed to ride shotgun during the drive back to base. “I’ll keep you secret, I promise,” he said as he buckled in.

“Nah, fuck it. Everyone always knows ‘bout you and Spy so we might as well tell ‘em ‘bout me too. I think several of them already suspect anyway. I’d uh… prefer it if you told ‘em so I don’t gotta.”

“All right, if you’re sure. I’ll tell them when we get back. Feel free to change your mind on that though. Just let me know if you do before I do it.”

Medic vampire

Medic having a store of blood bags was sensible. The medi-gun, both the battle ready one and the more powerful overhead one were great, but they needed power and medi-fluid to function properly. So having some backup mundane medical stuff in case of emergencies made sense. What didn’t though was why he would drink from one?

Even before deciding to pretend to be one, Engie had already figured out that organics were weird. Especially the kind of folk who ended up with this type of job. Medic’s particular brand of strangeness was as endearing as it was unique. Meaning perhaps that Engie shouldn’t be too surprised by entering his lab and finding him drinking from a blood bag. He still was though.

Finally seeming to have noticed his entrance, Medic paused and turned to face him. He held eye contact for a couple seconds before finally lowering the blood bag from his mouth.

“Howdy,” Engie said in hopes of easing the tension a little.

“Hmm… I’ve been rather lazy lately about remembering to lock the doors, huh?” He didn’t sound offended over Engie walking in on him doing whatever this was. That could be hard to tell sometimes though.

“Yep. I just uh, wanted to come in say ‘hi’ so, hi. I probably should’ve knocked.” He’d fallen out of the habit a while ago though as Medic did usually lock his doors whenever he wished to not be disturbed. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“You’re not going to ask why I’m drinking from a blood bag?”

“Well, I figure it’s probably part of an experiment or something and so you’d probably tell me eventually on your own.” Their experiments was one of their major talking points.

“Hmm.” Medic looked at him for a second or two longer before lifting the blood bag back to his mouth. There wasn’t much left in it at his point and thus it was less than a minute before he was lowering it again. “I’m a vampire.”

“Ah, I see.” That explained a lot actually. “That makes sense.”

“That a problem?”

“Nope.” It was just one more person on the team being revealed as non-human. Each reveal was statistically more unlikely than the last but so be it.

“Good. I’m tired of keeping it a secret. Let’s go find something more interesting to do then standing around staring at each other.”

Demo Selkie

Demo’s room was cleaner than Pyro would’ve expected. They had only been stationed here for a couple weeks though so perhaps the mess just hadn’t had time to really build up yet. Regardless it made guiding him to the bed easy.

He flopped onto it with a groan before mumbling something that might not even be English or any language. Pyro pushed him a little further from the edge lest he fall off. In the process he also rolled him onto his side in case he needed to throw up. He then pulled Demo’s shoes and socks off so he’d be more comfortable. The constant need to wear a gas mask helped a lot here because his socks looked visibly disgusting even through the gas mask lenses. Pyro couldn’t judge though, he was pretty gross under the suit most of the time.

After dropping the dirty socks in the hamper at foot of the bed and putting Demo’s boots in front of it, Pyro pulled the crumbled bed sheet up to Demo’s chin, loosely tucking him in. Probably he was too out of it to appreciate but maybe he would in the morning. Pyro gently patted him on the head before turning to leave. Before he could take more than a step though…

“Me skin, I like to… like to nap with it.” Demo continued for a sentence or two longer but his half asleep drunken mumbling rendered all by the word, ‘soft’ inaudible. Not that Pyro was entirely sure he’d heard the first part correctly anyway.

Pyro turned to face him. “What?”

More mumbling, now muffled too as half his face was pressed into his pillow. Pyro could just leave him to fall asleep without whatever it was he was trying to ask for. It wouldn’t take long and he wasn’t likely to remember being denied it in the morning. But Pyro wanted to help him if he could. Luckily he gestured vaguely towards his dresser, indicating that perhaps whatever he wanted as inside it.

Upon approaching it, the top drawer made the most sense to check first. Nothing but shirts and pants. The second drawer though contained something rolled up tight in the small space. A blanket perhaps? Pyro pulled it out, letting it unfurl in front of him. … A seal skin? No, it was too perfect for that. It was the whole rather large seal, flippers, face, and all. A realistic faux seal rug then. Cute!

Switching to a one-handed hold, he carefully pulled off one of his gloves so he could run his hand over it. It was soft and warm, almost like he was touching a living animal. Weird but cool. He’d have to ask Demo about it later after he’d sobered up.

Turning back to face Demo, he gave it a slight shake by way of asking if this was what Demo was looking for. He grunted and made a grabby gestured towards it so probably it was. Pyro walked over and gave it to him.

“Thanks,” he mumbled as he pulled it closed, trailing off into a loud snore.

After putting his glove back on, Pyro gave him a thumbs up even though it couldn’t be seen before turning and leaving. He made sure to turn off the lights and close the door gently.

~

Scout was the person he ran into first and thus the person he told about Demo’s weird warm seal blanket. From him naturally, it was only a couple of hours before everyone else on the team knew about it too. Which should’ve been fine because it was just a weird but cute blanket. But then Medic and Heavy came to talk to him about it some more.

“Is not a selkie skin,” Heavy said after Pyro had shared what he knew about it with them directly. “They don’t leave the ocean.”

Medic shook his head. “Even more than before I think it could be. Scout and Spy are both sea monsters and they left the ocean.”

“Yes but is unlikely. Too many monsters on this team already. Maybe he stole it from someone, maybe the selkie, maybe the selkie’s captor.”

“Or maybe it’s his and we’ve all been secretly monsters this whole time.”

Before Heavy could respond, Pyro cut in. “What’s a selkie?”

“A seal that can take human shape by taking off its skin,” Medic replied. “From what you described I think Demo might be one. It would explain some things about his reluctance over letting me draw his blood.”

If that was the case then perhaps Pyro shouldn’t have told Scout about the seal skin. Then again, if he was yet another monster on the team, that was cool. He never would’ve thought he’d get the shot to meet even one monster let alone five. Each one a different kind of monster too.

“We will ask when Demo wakes,” Heavy said. “If he says, ‘no’, Doctor is dropping it.” He gave Medic a pointed look.

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Chances were Medic wasn’t going to drop it until he knew for sure one way or the other. Which meant that Pyro would likely know for sure too.

Soldier magical raccoon familiar

According to Soldier he and Merasmus used to be roommates. Merasmus vehemently denied that though, saying instead that he’d been an ‘a pest that he regretted ever having let in’, that he ‘should’ve left Soldier rooting around in the trash because that’s where he belonged’. Spy had always assumed it was a case of Merasmus regretting agreeing to the roommate deal and being verbose about it.

Halloween was approaching though, Merasmus would come with it, bringing to mind their adversarial relationship. A lot had been revealed about the team this year, including Spy’s own secret. It was probably a long shot to think there might be something like that with Soldier too but surely so many of the team being monsters couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? Miss Pauling the Admin, or whoever had been in charge of recruitment had to have been looking for monsters. Meaning Soldier might just have a secret too and if so it no doubt involved Merasmus.

Spy could poke around Pyro, Heavy, or Engie’s room but with Halloween fast approaching, coupled with Demo’s recent outing as a selkie, prompting this line of thought, Soldier made sense to look into first. Breaking into his room was easy, so much so it could hardly be called ‘breaking in’.

Inside was predictably a mess. Not much on the floor but the way the pillows and blankets were bunched up on the bed, it looked more like a wild animal’s nest than a soldier’s bed. The strong reek of wild animal added to that perception. Given that, the growl that came from the bed wasn’t the least bit surprising. Lieutenant Bites.

“Hush,” Spy whispered to her. “I’m here to investigate your owner. I don’t care about you.” While she was far from docile, she only bit anyone who came to close to her. She was providing the perfect excuse to not have to poke too closely around the bed. Who knows what foulness might be lurking within those crumpled blankets and pillows?

The dresser – a measly cheap thing provided as part of the room along with the bed frame – was the only other piece of furniture in the room. Atop it sat Soldier’s spare helmet and a handful of other hats. Spy checked inside each one, careful to place them in the exact same position as before once he was done. Nothing. The drawers, he checked one by one. Between things, under them, and even for false bottoms. It was all just clothes though. Nothing that gave any hint that Soldier wasn’t as human as he pretended.

That didn’t mean anything for sure though. Spy was careful to keep hints of his non-humanness out of his possessions. Soldier wasn’t the type to be smart enough to do that. Maybe whatever he was wasn’t naturally something that could be gleaned from searching his room. Or maybe he was human and five members of their team being revealed as not was just a big coincidence. Damn it.

He could search the closest where Soldier kept his weaponry and boots but what were the chances that’d gain him anything? A look towards the bed revealed Bites was still sitting the middle of its nest, watching him. Meaning checking that if he didn’t want to get bit would be a huge hassle.

With a sigh he turned to leave instead. He’d snoop around the others’ rooms later. If he found out anything interesting about them, he’d return to Soldier’s room to check the bed. For now though, it wasn’t worth the effort.

Later that day

Spy was barely two steps into the common room before Soldier was standing up from where he sat with Demo and Pyro, playing cards. “You!” he said, pointing right at Spy. Way too loud as always, he also drew the attention of everyone else in the room.

“Me?” Spy paused and pointed to himself.

“Yes you, maggot.” Soldier walked around the table to stand directly in front of him. “You were in my room.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” How the hell did he know? Spy had put everything back the way it was supposed to be. Being good at that kind of thing was literally part of his job. Even if he’d messed up a little, there was no way Soldier was observant enough to have noticed, right?

“Don’t lie, maggot! Lieutenant Bites told me you were in there. She watched you snoop. I didn’t want to believe at first but she doesn’t lie. Now the question is are you a commie spy, the enemy team’s spy, or both?” He cracked his knuckles, making it clear that regardless of the answer he intended to get violent about it.

Distinctly not in the mood to get punched in the fact right now, Spy held up his hands. “Neither. I’m on your side, always have been.” Mostly anyway. “I was looking for something.”

Soldier’s expression was hard to read under the helmet but his jaw tensed. “What?”

“I wanted to see if you had any cigarettes. I’m almost out.”

Silence for a few seconds before Soldier relaxed. “You could’ve just asked. I’ll gladly share my cigars with a fellow American.”

“I’ll have to take you up on that offer sometime.” Going that far to feed the lie probably wasn’t necessary with Soldier but it was better safe than sorry.

Soldier took a breath to say something but before could Demo cut. “Hold up, hold up.” He’d stood up and now made his way to stand to the side of them. “Did you just say Bites told you he was snooping around in your room?”

“Correct.”

With how prevalent the threat of getting punched in the face had been, Spy hadn’t caught the full implication of Soldier’s words. That was a very odd thing to say and how had he known Spy had been in there? “She speaks English?” Maybe Bites was the monster. A shape shifter perhaps?

“No, silly. She’s a raccoon.”

It was Scout’s turn to butt in now. “So you’re saying you speak raccoon then?”

“I’m a raccoon, of course I speak it. The fact that you would think I can’t is insulting.”

“What the bloody fucking hell are you talking about?” Demo asked, wording it differently than Spy would’ve but with the same amount of exasperation.

By now the rest of the team had gathered around. Even Sniper had showed up at some point. Soldier looked around at them all for a couple seconds before replying. “I thought everyone knew that already.”

“That you’re a raccoon?” Spy asked.

“Correct.”

“Ooh,” Medic said. “That’s news to me. Explain please.”

“Yeah,” Demo agreed, “’cause you look like a human to me. But then again I guess I do too so… fuck it, you’re a raccoon somehow.”

“Does it have something to do with Merasmus?” Spy cut in before he could answer. Had his suspicion been confirmed after all?

“Correct. Merasmus found me in his trash can and turned me into his familiar and roommate. I am still a raccoon though even if I look like a man. It is much easier to hold a rocket launcher with big hands like this so I keep them most of the time. I can however do this.”

Soldier planted his hands on this hips and… started shrinking. Slowly at first but it sped up until there was indeed a raccoon standing where he’d just been standing. His clothes didn’t shrink though, leaving him standing in the pile of it.

“Fascinating,” Medic said.

“Is anyone on this team a damn human?” Scout asked.

Pyro and Engie raised their hands. Whether Heavy neglected to follow suit due to not caring or was admitting to not being human was hard to say. Before Spy could ask though, Soldier-raccoon was growing big again. He’d stepped out of the clothing pile, resulting in him being naked upon reaching his full human form.

“C’mon Spy,” he clapped him on the shoulder, “let’s go get you those cigars.”

“Only if you put your clothes back on.”

Soldier paused to gathered back up but didn’t move to put them on before starting for his room again. “Not yet. I like being nude.”

Well at least Spy had gotten confirmation that his hunch was correct and he’d deflected Soldier away from being angry at him over the intrusion. If the payment for that was standing around with him while he was naked and smoking one of his probably shitty cigars, so be it.

Heavy Yeti

Probably no one could find out Heavy’s secret or out him, purposefully or otherwise. His genetic defect – only really a defect due to it harming his ability to withstand the cold as much as he otherwise would’ve been able to – made him look close enough to human to allow the differences to be explained as abnormal but still within the realm of theoretically possible for a human. They’d have to meet his family to know the truth and that wasn’t happening. So his secret was safe.

So many of the rest of the team had been outed as not humans though. And every single member had been fine with each of those outings. Quite a few of those outings had been involuntary though. It felt strange, knowing their secrets against their will while keeping his own non-human nature hidden. He didn’t owe them that knowledge of course but the fact that they’d likely be accepting of it did make him more inclined to tell.

Should he tell though? He’d never told anyone before. Upon leaving his mountain home he’d been urged to hold the secret close. Yeti fur sold for a lot on the black market. He didn’t have much himself but if anyone found his village thanks to his loose lips, he’d never be able to live with himself. Elements of that held true for many of the team though; monster parts in general tended to sell for a lot in certain circles even if they were technically illegal to harvest and sell. So by telling, he’d just be putting himself in the same boat as everyone else who’d been outed as a monster. Maybe it still wouldn’t be wise to, they were all hired killers after all, but Heavy liked them. He trusted them to be normal. Or, no, not normal, but not close enough to friends to not be greedy enough to sell him out.

And so, decision made, he waited until supper when everyone, even Sniper, would be in the common room for food. He stood from the table and clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s gaze. “I have confession.”

“Let me guess,” Scout said, “you’re also some kind of monster?”

“Correct. I’m yeti.”

“Ha, see Snipes? I told you we’re all fucking monsters. It’s weird. What about you Engie and Pyro, got any news to share?”

“I’m human,” Pyro said, raising a hand.

“I ain’t a monster,” Engie said next. He didn’t say ‘human’ though. Probably an unimportant distinction. Maybe not but it wasn’t Heavy’s business.

Sniper spoke up next. “Aren’t yetis normally like, hairy or something? And you’re uh… mostly bald.”

“I have genetic defect. I grow much less fur.” Most of what he did have was on his chest and back.

“You’re a hairless bigfoot!” Soldier said. “That explains a lot.” Bigfoots were different, a cousin to yetis at best, but close enough. “I knew I would meet a bigfoot one day.”

And with that, the big reveal that Heavy had been wrestling with since Soldier’s outing as a raccoon a few days ago, was over. No one was even surprised at this point. It was quite nice to finally have off his chest.

Engie robot

Leaving Engie to guard the intel alone wasn’t something they always did, often Pyro stayed with him, but it wasn’t particularity unusual either. He was more than capable of holding his own in defensive situations. So there’d been no reason for anyone to think much of it until the explosion had gone off, collapsing that part of the building. Which still normally would’ve actually been fine – if their intel got buried under rubble it couldn’t easily be stolen, when they needed those documents themselves it would be more of problem but still a minor one – but the explosion also likely hit Respawn.

The chance of Engie surviving the explosion and the building collapsing on him afterwards was low. His only hope was that Respawn wasn’t as damaged as it looked from the outside.

It was frustrating waiting for Scout’s report on the damage but if the enemy team resumed fighting – they’d seemingly been ordered to stand down for now – Medic was needed on the front lines even more than usual. Their Respawn might be down but the enemy’s certainly wasn’t, putting them at the huge disadvantaged if any of them died. The only upside was that the clouds overhead were thick, blocking the sun. It wasn’t much of an upside.

He shifted, adjusting the medi-gun’s backpack on his shoulders. The umbrella sticking out of it wasn’t new but Engie had upgraded it for him recently because the ribs in the old one had been sagging. Medic could’ve done it himself of course and had intended to but Engie had somehow noticed that minor flaw and had done it before Medic had found time to get around to it. And now he was probably dead. If Medic could get to him before he finished dying, the medi-gun could save or, failing that, Medic could just turn him. An unlikely scenario.

So Engie was almost certainly dead and there was a good chance of it being permanent. That was… an uncomfortable thought. Medic should’ve turned him. Engie had declined his offer to do so though. So had Heavy and everyone else on the team. Maybe Medic should force the issue with the rest of them before the enemy team…

“I found Engie,” Scout’s voice came through the radio. “He’s um… well…”

“Dead,” Spy finished for him, “Not surprising. What about Respawn?”

“No. I mean… he’s not dead. He’s… it’s probably better if you guys just see for yourselves. I can’t carry him out on my own though so if you could come help, Heavy, that’d be great. We’re at what used to be the back of the uh… left side of the building if you’re facing the entrance.

“On my way.” Heavy took off and Medic followed. If Engie was still alive somehow he definitely needed medical assistance. Scout hadn’t sounded particularly urgent though and he hadn’t asked for Medic’s help, just Heavy’s. Intriguing.

Despite the need for vigilance against the other team not having diminished, almost everyone fell in line behind Medic. The only one who stayed was Soldier, still intent on his patrol. Spy was presumably still nearby too and Sniper had found a good vantage point a short distance away. So it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.

Finding Scout and Engie didn’t take long with Scout standing atop some rubble, waving them over. On the other side of Engie sat slumped against what had once been a wall. His lower half was missing, nowhere in sight. No guts spooled out of him though or even any blood. Instead it was wires, a few of which were sparking.

“Howdy.” His voice sounded not unlike it was coming from a damaged speaker. “Looks like I got some explaining to do too.”

“Robot?” Heavy asked.

“Yep. Made by Fred Conagher. He uh, accidentally did too a good job so I made myself a body that looked convincingly human and now we’re here. I maybe should’ve said something sooner but uh… it is what it is.”

“We really are all fucking monsters, huh?” Demo said. “Or monsters and a robot. What ‘bout you Py? Ready to come clean?”

Pyro shook his head. “I’m human.”

Medic didn’t believe that. Right now wasn’t the time to get into it though. “We need to deal with all this first. I assume you’ll need help putting yourself back together?”

“Help would be much appreciated, yes. I can walk you and Py through what I’ll need from you no problem though once we get back to the main base.” Where they could turn that Resapwn on. Without the teleporters it was going to be quite the long walk but at least they would all be making it.

[s0rrwful]

i have a four swords au idea

ok so this has been brewing in my mind for a while but i came up with this; TSTED: The Four Swords Lab Project or lab au i have the designs, i have most of the lore. i just cant draw so i might just write on here and on ao3 they have code names for being subjects because why not GR: Green RD: Red BL: Blue V: Vio DR. VVAT: Vaati and zeldas not a test subject but she has a name Rose/Pink: Zelda like i said i cant draw, so here they are in roblox uhm

probably gonna post most of the lore later luv you guys!

[phoenixbyte]

"Fury"

Even the air vibrates restlessly tonight, heavy with tension, hinting of upheaval. Screens everywhere scream warnings of collapse, flashing red alerts in real time. It's dystopia streamed live, tragedy unfolding in a thousand pixels and sound bites.

She tries to work, but her vision is unfocused on her monitor, the code in front of her blurring together until it becomes a stereoscopic image of meaningless static. Frustrated, she slams the laptop shut and strides through corridors humming with technology, their rhythm mirroring her erratic pulse as she makes her way to his workshop.

Alexander stands amid sleek machinery and softly glowing circuits, the master of this mechanical haven. His hands move methodically, tattooed fingers and silver nails threading delicate wires through robotic limbs, graceful and unhurried despite the turmoil beyond these walls.

“Do you have a minute?” Her voice carries an edge, controlled but brittle.

He stills at once, the faintest flicker of blue light reflecting against his eyes before he turns to her. No words yet, just that steady gaze, serene but sharp enough to peel back layers. He sees the tremor in her facade, the voiceless chaos she tries to hide.

“Alexander… what am I supposed to be doing?” The question carries the weight of countless breaking points. “I’m watching the city fracture one shred of humanity at a time, corporations tightening their grip until even hope feels monetized. I’m a hacker, but the world needs a fucking activist. I want to fight, and I don’t know how.”

He lowers his tools slowly, tilting his head. After a moment, he crosses the short distance with deliberate steps, eliminating the space between them.

“Be angry,” he replies, and there’s something behind his soothing cadence; a distinct edge, like an anchor cast into the turbulence within her. “And create.”

She looks up, surprised by the quiet understanding in his tone, the gentle permission to finally release the pressure that's built inside her.

“This grief, this rage—use it. Empathy is a powerful gift. Anger can destroy, but it can also motivate. Use it for the latter.”

She leans toward him automatically, searching his blue-grey irises, craving something beyond the tranquil surface of the ocean she sees in them. It feels like a storm is brewing.

He reaches gently into her thoughts, not intruding but syncing, offering the full gravity of his presence like a firewall between her and the tempest. His mind is unwavering and disciplined, but beneath it all is fierce, strategic fury. A kraken, coiled and ready to strike.

“I won’t lie to you,” he continues, his voice dropping to a murmur that draws her in even closer. “What’s happening now is what many of us feared. It’s oppression masked as order, corruption draped in flags and slogans. But you are not unarmed; you’re encrypted. They count on your silence, but your voice is a blade. Your mind, your words, your story, your refusal to break—those are weapons.”

For a beat of binary music coming from the lab’s computers, she says nothing, and then:

“I want to feel it," she whispers fiercely. "Your anger. Not just your strength, Alexander—your wrath. Unfiltered. Let me in.”

She senses the shift before he speaks, like the spark in the air that raises every hair on your skin when a thunderstorm looms on the horizon. The calm was never the absence of intensity; it was containment. It was a hurricane navigated by an exceptionally experienced captain.

He steps forward, his fingers threading into the hair at the base of her skull, and there is a distinct click in her mind that she’s come to recognize as his mental gates opening. He lets her see filtered echoes, careful and controlled even now. It’s a download of heat and energy and sharpened thought, raw and articulate, every line forged from years of silent rage.

It burns cold, like surgical steel and arctic waves.

Like the crack of lightning that strikes the main mast. A devastating blow.

She sees the shape of his fury in fragments:

Files of protesters: bruised, banned, blacklisted.

Algorithms he created, sold and used without his consent to predict uprisings and crush them.

Augment blueprints rejected not for safety but because they would take money from Big Pharma.

The crumpled body of a young co-scientist he couldn’t save in time.

The smug words of a government official laughing during a private meeting, saying, “People don’t need truth. They need to follow orders.”

The hushed funerals of dreamers; The rotting infrastructure of a once-thriving city; The burden of her own grief, felt through her, not just beside her.

And, buried below everything… his indescribable indignation.

It fuels the relentless drive of a man who learned to code because they wouldn’t let him speak, who built his own systems when theirs tried to consume him, who created Athena because the world needed more beings to care, even artificial ones. Especially artificial ones.

His voice, when he finally speaks again, is low. Dark. Lethal.

“I have wanted to burn them to ash,” he says, with the seething force of an undertow, quiet until it drags you into the deep. “Not for power. Not for vengeance. But because they have no idea what they’re killing. Who they’re hurting. The children who could’ve rewritten this world. The poets. The coders. The musicians. The inventors. The yous.”

Then, he takes a measured breath, once again becoming the stillness before the storm, a cool breeze with sunlight glinting on the water that only hints at the devastation to follow.

“I suppress the fire because I need to be strategic. But it’s there… Every single day. And I will use it. When the time comes, I will not hesitate.”

She believes him, and retaliation begins to render.

—

byte_8a2 // found in the ashcode // rage vector acquired

[rivensdefenseattorney]

Red Fountain Campus Facilities

Vanguard Campus Facilities

Tactical Combat Arenas

Varied arenas designed for tactical combat training and simulations.

Environments mimic diverse terrains for realistic combat scenarios.

Leadership and Command Center

Dedicated space for strategic planning and leadership development.

Simulation rooms for command exercises and decision-making scenarios.

Freelance Operations Hub

Space designed for independent contracting simulations and diverse combat scenario training.

Rooms for role-play exercises in navigating solo contracts or team-based operations.

Squadron Collaboration Center:

Meeting space for students to form and strategize with their squads.

Equipped with planning boards, discussion areas, and team collaboration tools.

Military History Archives

Extensive collection of historical records and artifacts related to warfare and strategy.

Rooms for discussions and analyses on historical battles and strategies.

Field Operations Training Grounds

Outdoor areas equipped for survival tactics training and field operations simulations.

Includes obstacle courses and wilderness environments for practical survival exercises.

Arcane Campus Facilities

Enchantment Workshops

Workspaces dedicated to practicing and mastering enchantment techniques.

Areas for experimenting with various enchantments and spellcraft.

Magical Artifact Studios

Studios designed for creating and studying magical artifacts.

Workspaces with tools and materials for crafting and analyzing magical items.

Creature Conservation Habitats

Sanctuaries and habitats for mystical creatures, focusing on their preservation and ethical treatment.

Areas for students to observe and study the behavior of these creatures.

Grand Archives of Magic

Renowned repository containing ancient tomes, magical texts, and theoretical studies on magic.

Research areas for delving into magical theory and historical practices.

Elixir and Potion Brewing Laboratories

Integrated labs for alchemical experimentation, potion brewing, and magical elixir creation.

Equipped for hands-on exploration of alchemical processes and potion concoction.

Beast Taming and Riding Grounds

Specially designed grounds for students to practice beast taming and riding.

Various enclosures to safely interact with and learn to ride different mystical creatures.

Magical Lineage Chambers

Chambers dedicated to the study of noble lineages and their magical heritage.

Spaces for discussions and analyses on the magical significance of lineage connections.

TechForge Campus Facilities

Techno-Magic Integration Center

Central hub for merging technology and magic.

Advanced labs equipped for coding enchantments, spell-powered systems, and magical-technological fusion.

Techno-Magic Artificer's Workshop:

Specialized workspace for crafting and enhancing magical artifacts and tools.

Enchantment stations and forging areas for creating enchanted devices.

Aerospace Complex

High-tech laboratories dedicated to aerospace engineering and dimensional travel studies.

Simulated flight environments and testing areas for aircraft and dimensional travel prototypes.

Techno-Magic Innovation Hub

Collaborative space for cutting-edge research and innovation in techno-magic fusion.

Project rooms and brainstorming areas for interdisciplinary collaborations.

Techno-Magic Programming Center

State-of-the-art computing facilities for magical coding and program development.

Coding environments specialized for techno-magical integration and spell-driven systems.

Techno-Magic Prototype Hangar

Facility for prototyping and testing new techno-magic devices and vehicles.

Workspaces for students to build and refine their techno-magic creations.

___

Note:

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, or if you don't celebrate I hope this time of the year is treating you well. I took a few days to just be with my family. I want to get back into posting at least once a day, so I can just keep myself disciplined. This isn't what I wanted to post today, but I just needed to make sure I was posting something. I'm trying to build up the habit of not being worried about every single detail.

[velven1th]

Dr. Elias Halcombe — A betrayal etched in code.

Elias was human. Born into privilege in 19th-century England, a man groomed for academia and steeped in entitlement masquerading as brilliance.

He wasn’t a priest or a prophet. He didn’t pray to anything but knowledge. He believed in reason, in power, in things that could be named and therefore controlled.

He was a professor of esoteric theory at the Académie Noire, a secretive Parisian branch of the Sorbonne known for delving into what the Church and Crown refused to name aloud. He published under pseudonyms. Gave lectures to rooms full of men who laughed at the thought of monsters, until Elias proved they bled.

Luc met him in Lyon during a winter that refused to thaw. There was a war brewing beneath the city’s bones... magic dying in the dirt, eldritch echoes waking from slumber, and the old things beginning to stir. Luc was hunting something older than sin. Elias wanted to study it.

Their meeting should’ve been fleeting. But Elias had the rare quality of not recoiling. Of looking through glamour, shadow, even the weight of time, and asking questions that didn’t sound like accusations.

He didn't treat Luc like a beast to be slain, or a god to be worshipped. He treated him like a key.

And Luc being lonely, tired, still trying to remember if there was a point to his existence in a world too loud to rest in let Elias get close. Too close.

Elias watched him heal. Drew his blood under the pretense of study. Listened when Luc muttered in tongues older than the stars. Called him mon ami in French-laced charm, offered whiskey, chess matches, silence when Luc needed it.

But it was never friendship. Not really.

It was proximity. It was calculation.

Because Elias had found something buried deep in a ruin older than Babylon. A fragment of an invocation. The name of an unkillable thing. And Luc—Luc slipped. Once. Bled words from his mouth in a moment of collapse. Something close to a name. Something that should’ve been meaningless to mortals.

Elias wrote it down.

He mixed it with ancient rites, used Luc’s own blood as ink. Pieced together the myth that if a Velvenith’s true name was spoken aloud, it could bend—bind—fracture.

And one night in 1883, under a ruined cathedral dressed as a lab, Elias summoned Luc not as a friend —but as a weapon.

Luc came. Of course he did. Pulled like gravity. And when Elias spoke the name, the world buckled.

Luc didn’t die. But something in him did.

He destroyed the building. Tore through the constructs, the sigils, the anchoring glyphs, until fire bled from the stone. He left Elias broken—blind in one eye, voice reduced to a rasp, skin ruined where the invocation scarred him.

But he let him live. Not out of mercy. Out of consequence.

Because even centuries later, Luc isn’t sure if Elias succeeded.

Sometimes, Luc feels hollow. Fragmented. Like a piece of himself never came back from that binding. Like there’s something leashed in his marrow he can’t touch.

And worse... Elias’s name has surfaced again. In hushed whispers. In auctioned grimoires with sigils Luc recognizes. In journals inked in his own blood being sold like relics.

Elias might be dead.

Or he might have used what he learned to become something else entirely.

Luc never speaks of Elias.

He doesn’t hunt him, because that would mean admitting he’s afraid. Not of Elias— but of what Elias might still have. Of what might still be tethered to Luc’s name, echoing like a curse in the mouth of a man he once trusted.

Luc has known pain. He has known loss. But Elias taught him something colder: Betrayal isn’t always a knife in the back. Sometimes, it’s a name on the lips of someone who once called you friend.

Luc doesn't flinch from war. But he flinches from scholars. From people who ask too many questions in too familiar a tone. From kindness that lingers too long.

Because after Elias, Luc never gave his name to anyone again. Not even Gen, not yet.

And maybe that’s the worst part. Because deep down, part of him wants to believe someone could say it and not try to use it.

But that’s a story Luc doesn’t believe in anymore.

Not since Elias Halcombe.

[ya-boi-haru]

(Buckle in, this will be a long one)

So I went back and watched a couple vods, specifically "Old Recepies pt 1" and "Reconnection" even more specifically Quixis interactions with Icarus on those times....

I'm going to give a VERY rough script summary then, tell you my thoughts...

(Not quoted verbatim)

Scripts first:

"Old recipes"

Icarus is sorting and making their Potion lab when Quixis arrives glitching their pond to lava (it changes to obsidian due to the lava/water interacting)

After a bit of adjustment, Icarus makes a deal with Quixis that they'll make them a pond they can talk with without the spread affecting anyone. The two have a very brief chat, interacting as best they can.

Detailed Notes:

When Icarus first sees the pond changing, they talk to Things (chat) and they suggest they're trying to communicate. Icarus says "I guess it could be worth trying to talk with them again" and Quixis changes the pond to Slime.

Icarus expresses their disapproval of "Being gooped" and Things dare them to jump on/ touch it. Icarus hesitantly does so saying "I can, but you'll probably change it to lava when I'm on it-" Quixis promptly does that.

Icarus races to the water to out themselves out, laughing, "Ha ha, yes, you're very funny! Good to know you can hear me at least"

Later on Icarus says how they have mixed feeling about Quixis and how they don't appriciate them triggering a reset and the pond changes to crying obsidian, Icarus responding "No, dont cry about it, I don't want to hear it"

Reconnection:

- By this point Icarus has the Wack Pond for Quixis and they have key words/blocks -

Icarus asks if Quixis is from Fable smp, they very quickly respond no then change to Quartz and Icarus says "So you're in the rave room"

They then say, "So there is other stuff out there" getting another Moss/Yes from Quixis and it's changes back. Icarus adds "but I guess that's what you've been trying to tell me" and Quixis responds Moss/Yes again.

Icarus then asks if Quixis is in danger and they respond Yes. Without any promoting Quixis then says: Brewing stand, Redstone block, Lava

Which Icarus figures it's them saying They're in danger

They then leave not wanting to push the wack more.

Two ways I see this:

1) The first watch

• 'Reconnection' shows Quixis being the silly goofy lil guy I know/headcannon they are and is just chatting with Icarus with a little prank and trying their best to communicate with the new pond feature. (You bet I'm making an interpretation post about that later)

2) Second watch, knowing what we know now:

• Quixis was trying to warn them

Throughout S3 Quixis has used redstone blocks to show/say danger. Quixis used this again at the pond when trying to express that Icarus is also in danger.

What I find interesting is why use the lava as well. And if Lava is another way Quixis is saying "Danger" then that makes "Old Recipes" a whole different interaction.

Quixis made their presence know by using lava (again turned to obsidian due it being coded onto water)

When Icarus said "I guess it's worth a try to talk to them again" Quixis changed it to Slime, which later is their way of saying no.

I believe Quixis (and other Multidimensional beings) know some things of the future (such as Centross' death), so maybe Quixis just used Slime to say no, knowing it was something Icarus wouldn't be too fond of and would use to say "no" later.

After they changed it to Slime they changed it to lava and while Icarus laughed it off as a prank, it could have been a delayed way of saying "No don't, it'll be dangerous"

However another way to see it is the lava representing what the danger is, just like how Brewing Stands represent Icarus.

Brewing Stand (Icarus), Redstone (danger), Lava (what the danger is)

What if Quixis is trying to tell them why they're in danger, though I can't think of what/who Lava would be.

The only thing that comes to mind is Kinaxis, since they're in the Nether Lava, and since Fable wants to go and start war with the primodials, it could be a sign of that?????? Though I'm not sure how much I believe that

Maybe I could be reading too much into it...

What do you guys think?

[codebrewnitesh]

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[heydorothea009]

Bread on Toast 2162 - A Bread on Toast Fanfiction 

After saving the world from the Biotics, Josh and Liv are catapulted into Tiger and Wolf’s time, 2162. The gang is separated from each other and contention begins to brew. Tiger and Liv find themselves face to face with an old “friend”, while Wolf gets caught in being someone he’s not, and Josh’s life is on the line. Things can’t possibly get any worse.

Warnings: strong language, I don’t know how to speak Spanish

Chapter 9: Día De Los Robots

The four of them, Josh, Wolf, Liv, and TyAnne all sprinted out of the compound, alarms still blaring.

  "It was you this whole time?!" Liv was screaming.

  "You know her-" Josh began to ask before gasping, remembering their conversation from right before the Pointed Circle captured him the second time.

  "Tiger and I found this place called the Mons and met this timeline's version of her. She's really annoying..."

  "Ohhhhh!" Josh nodded. "TyAnne!"

  TyAnne whipped her head around. "Achilles." She corrected him. She stopped in the middle of the staircase, turning to Liv. Wolf and Josh bumped into Liv, groaning. "We're going to the storage units, do you remember where those are?" TyAnne asked her. Liv gaped up at her, eyes wide with so many questions. TyAnne drew in a deep breath through her nose. "I will answer any and all questions once we get there. Now come on, help me lead your friends."

  Truth be told, Liv didn't exactly remember where the storage units were, she had just been following Tiger, but she recognized some of the landmarks on the way. Climbing into the underground lab where Hogeveen had been found, Josh and Wolf gawked up at the ceiling. It wasn't big, or anything worth freaking out over, but Josh seemed to be having his mind blown. TyAnne plunked down in a chair, exhaling.

  "So...what was with the...voice?" Liv finally asked.

  TyAnne looked up at her. "You mean this voice?" She asked in her nasally voice. "It's a long story." She said in her normal voice, waving her hand and brushing off Liv's question. Josh and Wolf both immediately turned at the sound of TyAnne's whiny voice, both looking confused.

  "Oh..." Wolf made a face at the sound. "That's really annoying..."

  Liv just blinked at TyAnne. "So are you going to tell it, or..."

  TyAnne sighed. "Fine. Sit down, it'll take me about twenty six minutes and thirty seven seconds to tell you guys."

  The three of them slowly sat down, as TyAnne started from the beginning. She told them about her life as a young child, growing up with a computer dad. It had fucked her up. She'd never experienced actual human interaction until Eunice Hogeveen, AKA Athena, became her care-taker at the age of nine. At fourteen, when TyAnne had finally lost it with Stu, Hogeveen sat her down and told her the truth behind Stu and his plan to enslave the human race and his obsession with bodies being shells.

  Fourteen year old TyAnne had had to sit through 4,891 videos of Stu attempting to upload different people's consciousness into a computer, brutally killing all but one when he'd learned the subject must go willingly into the upload machine. That's how at just fourteen, TyAnne had become Achilles, being Stu's Achilles heel. He'd felt a powerful connection to her, and that was why he'd taken her in as his own.

  As she had to continue to live with a monster, she became one herself, hence, the voice and the attitude. It was an impulsive decision made by her teenage self, but a decision that she had kept up for eighteen years. Finally, after years of begging Hogeveen to be of more use than just Stu's spy, Hogeveen tasked her with going into her bathroom and inputting a code into her bathtub; rose petal, rose petal, geranium, bubbles.

  The next day, TyAnne had done just that, opening a passage into her room, where she was faced with her ex, Torque.

  Liv, Josh, and Wolf all gawked at TyAnne. "Wait, Torque?! Like Wolf's-" Josh started.

  "Yeah, yeah, Torque and I had a thing, and he," she pointed at Wolf. "Looks like Torque. I'm not done."

  She continued to tell them how together, she and Torque (who Wolf had deemed "a loser nerd") (TyAnne shot Wolf a nasty glare as she continued) had infiltrated Stu's system, trying to shut him down. The attempt had ended poorly, having fried Torque's brain until he...died.

  "So...he died in front of you?" Liv asked gently. TyAnne nodded, looking down at the table.

  "And I buried him in my bedroom." She whispered.

  Josh's jaw dropped. "Holy shit, that's hardcore."

  "So he was a nerd who died for nothing." Wolf mumbled sadly.

  TyAnne shook her head. "No, it wasn't for nothing. After that, I took over the Pointed Circle, and Torque's technology helped to replicate Stu's sim," her eyes flickered to Josh. "Which you crashed and gave us hope."

  "And then destroyed it all. We really fucked up thinking you guys were the bad guys." Josh slumped in his seat.

  Liv pursed her lips. "Well...when you think about it..."

  Josh sat up, sighing. "Okay, we need a new plan." He got up and began to pace. Liv crossed her arms on the table, leaning over and resting her chin on them.

  TyAnne shrugged, sighing. "We've tried everything. Stu patched the back door to the sim, and then when we found Josh we thought we could upload directly, but..."

  "We blew up your upload machine..." Wolf winced. "Really sorry about that."

  "And killed all of our scientists." TyAnne clasped her hands together on the table.

  "Guys," Josh said. Everyone's head turned to him. He was holding one of Stu's MARS pamphlets. "There's still one upload machine left..." he slid the paper to the middle of the table for all to see. "I can crash the sim just as easily as I crashed yours. I'm gonna go in there and send that computer back to 7734." Everyone blinked, staying silent. "...hell."

  "Ohhhhh!" Liv nodded her head. "If you type that into the pager and flip it upside down-"

  "It's a visual joke." Josh sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm gonna go fuck up Stu's machine."

  TyAnne studied the pamphlet. "Oh. Okay. So we're all gonna die."

  Tiger stirred, body flaring up with aches. She reached up, feeling a pinch in her neck.

  "Take it easy, you're okay." She heard Stu's voice. "Take it slow." He knelt in front of her. "Things took an unexpected turn last night." He said gently as she sat up. "It was the Pointed Circle, they've got some weapon, I'm not sure what. But if that's the best they've got, I'm still standing." Stu tried smiling optimistically at her. "You, on the other hand, were knocked down... courtesy of your so-called friends, Liv, Joosh, and Wolf." Tiger's eyes widened as the news smacked her in the face. Stu slowly nodded. "...I know...I understand that feeling of hurt and betrayal, TyAnne turned on me too." Stu heaved out a shaky sigh. "Why is it the people closest to you that hurt you the most?"

  "I don't know, but I feel it too." Tiger meant to say. She sat up straighter as her brows furrowed together. She'd said it in Spanish. "What is happening?" Still Spanish. She could hear the English in her head, but her mouth kept speaking in Spanish. "Why can't I talk regular?"

  Stu dragged a hand down his face. "TyAnne." He murmured. "She must have hit you with a Span-qualizer."

  "The what?!" Tiger yelled, in Spanish still.

  "TyAnne was too lazy to learn Spanish, when she did her semester in Mons Barcelona, so I created a serum that bypasses your ventral and dorsal pathways and implants the language instantaneously."

  Tiger scrambled to her feet. "That's fucked up." She grumbled. She didn't even know Spanish, but since her brain knew what she wanted to say, said it perfectly in the other language.

  Stu, sat back, amazed. "She hit you with an immersion dose, that's a doozy. You'll only be able to speak high Castilian for the next few hours." Tiger groaned. "On the plus side, once it wears off you'll be fluent?" He suggested.

  Tiger slammed her fists on her hips. "Cat fucker! Why would they do this to us?! Why?!"

  Stu jumped at her rising voice. "I- I have no idea? Ignorance? Jealousy? Some part of themselves that doesn't want to be happy?" He huffed out a sigh. "Living in the NAG does strange things to people."

  "They've been brainwashed...I'm so angry." She hissed.

  "Try not to be too angry at them. Anger is the lobster trap of emotions." Stu said. Tiger squinted her eyes and cocked her head. "Very easy to get into, impossible to get out."

  "I don't know what that means." Tiger rolled her eyes. "We have to destroy the Pointed Circle."

  "They took their shot and they failed. If they know what's good for them, they're probably hiding out in cannibal country by now." Stu laughed. "Nothing stops the launch. I'm...I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Stu stood, stepping towards her. He snapped his fingers twice, and soft, romantic guitar strums quietly began to play. Tiger blinked, looking confused. Stu began to speak back to her in Spanish, and she understood every word. "This is our special day. The only bond stronger than betrayal...is the love that we share."

  Tiger's lips twitched as she began to speak back in Spanish. "This world is one disappointment after another. I'm ready for something else. Just get me in that chair and get me out this piece of shit body."

  Stu nodded, a triumphant grin spreading over his lips.

  When Josh's plan was sounding a bit too much like a suicide mission again, Liv clamped her hand over his mouth and together, her and Wolf lectured him about not getting himself killed.

  "The last time you tried that, you two just ended up crying." Wolf said. "And I don't want to see that again. You're not getting yourself killed, Josh."

  Josh batted Liv's hand away. "Okay, okay, then what am I supposed to do? Smash the machine?"

  Wolf, TyAnne, and Liv all traded looks. "Honestly, yeah, that could work." TyAnne shrugged.

  "You were a Smasher." Wolf patted him on the back. "You've been training for this moment."

  "Josh," Liv sighed, sliding back down into her chair. "Don't be a hero. I mean," she waved her hands in the air. "You know, be a hero, but not that kind of hero. Please.” She pleaded.

  Josh leaned his head back and sighed. "You've got a point." He mumbled. "I guess my time in the Smash Pit did prepare me for this."

  "I like it, destroy the machine from the outside, the less people die, the better." TyAnne nodded approvingly.

  "So, wait," Josh whined, craning his neck around to look at TyAnne. "Does that mean I crashed your sim for nothing?"

  TyAnne shrugged. "Well, how about instead of crash you smash." Wolf giggled. Liv smacked his shoulder with the back of her hand. TyAnne, stepped forward and placed her hands on the table, bringing up a screen. She pressed a few buttons and a simple map of the Mons appeared. "There's only one way to the upload machine, but it will not be easy to get there." She traced a finger around one of the circles representing the hab units. "We can use these blind spots in the surveillance to get you close to the hangar. But then there's the commandos."

  "Are those the Biotics?" Liv asked.

  TyAnne twisted her neck to look at Liv. "The what?"

  "The dudes in clunky armor with the lightsabers? They tried to kill Josh and I."

  "Yes, then those are the Biotics." TyAnne looked back at the map. "If you can manage to get inside, you'll have to beat the facial recognition scanner, which you better believe will be on the lookout for your adorable little mug." She glanced over at Josh.

  "I don't think they'll think I'm very adorable if they catch me." He muttered. "But if I can have you in my ear talking me through this, I think we'll be just fine."

  "Okay, then what's our plan for the commandos and the scanner?" TyAnne asked. "That's still a wrinkle in our plan."

  "Don't worry, I got that wrinkle so ironed out it's like a smooth piece of silk." Josh grinned, proud of himself.

  TyAnne gave him a tight lipped smile. "You can't iron silk, that will destroy it." She looked over to Liv and Wolf. "He's not even good at metaphors, we're all gonna die." Josh frowned.

  One of the remaining Pointed Circle members, Shiva, rounded the corner. "I bring news," she announced, drawing everyone's attention to her. "The bad kind." She specified. "The NAG is gearing up for an all-out war. The commandos that Stu sent to abduct Jesus and the girl..."

  "It's Josh," he pointed to himself. "It's just Josh now, and that's Liv."

  Shiva dragged her attention back to TyAnne. "They're calling it an act of war, a violation of the armistice. They're being whipped into a frenzy as we speak." Wolf blew out a breath.

  "Isn't that a good thing?" Liv asked. "If they attacked the Mons, that would definitely mess up the launch, right?"

  TyAnne shook her head. "It would just trigger Stu's kill-bots and slaughter everyone."

  Josh scoffed. "He'd do that just because his plan didn't go perfectly?"

  "Yep," TyAnne bobbed her head. "Stu's super petty that way. I grew up with it."

  "Then someone's got to talk the NAG out of it." Wolf muttered. He looked around as everyone's gaze drifted to him. "That someone being me." He added.

  "Is that a good idea? Didn't you kinda bail on them? At least, I'm assuming you did." Liv said.

  "I convinced them to follow me once, perhaps I can do it again." Wolf said confidently.

  "They are extremely sway-able, but also wildly unpredictable and have murdered those who have done far less." TyAnne said quietly. "It's a tough call."

  Wolf stepped toward TyAnne. Josh and Liv's heads swiveled between TyAnne and Wolf. "I've done a lot of wrong since I've been here, Achilles. Just give me this one chance to do something right."

  "Oh, uh..." TyAnne glanced down at Liv and Josh, then back to Wolf. "You realize I don't command you, right?"

  Wolf exhaled out of his nose. "But I wish you would." He mumbled. Liv and Josh both had their brows drawn together as they not so discreetly hit each other's arms. TyAnne blinked a couple times and looked down at the table as Wolf gave Liv and Josh a slight nod and began to leave.

  "Wait!" Liv jumped up to follow Wolf. Josh stood too. "No, you stay here." She pushed him back down into his seat, giving him a quick kiss before trailing after Wolf. "I love you." She left Josh wide eyed and blushing. TyAnne raised one eyebrow at Josh.

  "She's my girlfriend." He gushed. TyAnne slowly nodded and walked over to Shiva and the other few Pointed Circle members.

  Liv climbed up the ladder after Wolf. "Wolf, we have to talk." She said as she followed him up to the storage unit.

  Wolf paused and sighed, turning around and looking like a wounded puppy. "I know..." he sighed, looking scared to make eye contact with her.

  Liv put her hands on her hips and gave him a deadpan look. "Stop it." She snapped her fingers at him. "Stop. Look Wolf, you've been a real jerk since we've got here."

  "That was a nice way of putting it." He mumbled, guiltily wringing his hands.

  "I'm...I'm really, really pissed at you." Her voice gave her away as it broke. Wolf's eyes darted up to meet hers.

  "Liv..." he sighed. "Liv, I'm so sorry." His heart sank.

  "You've been a real jerk on a power trip." Her stupid eyes welled up with stupid tears. She didn't want to cry, but so many emotions were spilling out of her.

  Wolf nodded in agreement, holding out his arms slightly, offering her an embrace. She turned away, folding her arms. His arms fell to his sides, nodding silently. "I understand." He whispered as she wiped a tear.

  "I don't. What happened to you? I miss my friend, Wolf. I miss the Wolf who told me to tell that robot house Sigorn-E I liked Josh, I miss the Wolf who fell in love with cooking, I miss the Wolf who loved Corey Hart and Redbone, I miss-" his hand landed on her shoulder. She looked to see his eyes were misty too.

  "I miss that Wolf too." He sighed. Her chin quivered as she wrapped her arms around him. Wolf held her tightly. "I haven't been myself, I've been Torque, and I deeply apologize. I promise to be Wolf again." He whispered, leaning his cheek against her head.

  "And you have to promise to apologize to Josh." Liv mumbled into his chest. "He told me. You're a real dick head."

  Wolf chuckled and pressed a hand into her hair, holding her tighter. "He said you would think so."

  She gently punched his ribs as she pulled away. "I do think so." She couldn't hide her slight smile. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Tiger."

  Wolf shrugged. "I'm over it." He tweaked her nose. "Glad to have my best friend back."

  She batted his hand away, grinning. "Likewise. Now go tell those NAG freaks to stop." She gave Wolf one last hug. "Oh! I met Lugnut, she was cool."

  "Yeah? She told me." Wolf smiled as he ducked out of the tent.

  "Takes after her sorta-dad." She winked at Wolf as she opened the hatch to climb back down into the lab.

  Tiger stood in front of a long mirror, taking in the sight of her in the gorgeous white and silver gown she wore. On her head, a jeweled crown dripped jewels over her head. She looked stunning.

  "Wow." A woman's voice came from behind her. Tiger whipped around the see someone she had never seen before. "Someone looks radiant." The woman sang as she glided up the steps to Tiger's side. "No other word would do you justice right now, Miss Tiger, no other words!" She snapped her fingers enthusiastically.

  "Thanks." Tiger grinned. She'd said it in English. She paused before speaking again. "Thanks." English again. She sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God. That would have gotten annoying so fast."

  "Stu sent me to see if you needed anything." The woman grinned cheerfully. "Any questions, concerns, make sure your feet are toasty." Tiger glanced down at her boots, confused. "Men don't always get it, but we do. Just a couple of human ladies talking about human lady stuff."

  "...who are you?" Tiger asked, staring back at the woman through the mirror.

  "I am your lady in waiting." The lady smiled awkwardly.

  "Okay, lady." Tiger nodded at her. "How do I put this on?" Tiger held the chunky plastic and metal collar worn by all other people of the Mons up to her neck. "Like this?"

  "The cerebral port? Yeah, so that's backwards, you gotta," she gestured for Tiger to spin it around to the back of her neck. "Yep, yep, there ya go." She nodded as Tiger twisted it around. "So, how are you feeling? Nervous? Excited? Because you know you gotta want it, right? If you're not feeling it the machine knows."

  Tiger nodded, fidgeting with the veils that spilled from her shoulders. "Yeah, yeah, I'm feeling it. So," she pointed to the gaping hole in the chunky collar. "Is this where the needle goes? I heard there's a giant needle."

  "It's- it's not really a needle. More of a little...little-"

  "You can call it a needle. You could call it a fucking jabby death pointer for all I care." Tiger said nonchalantly.

  The woman, who Tiger was starting to realize might be Dr. Ahmadi, Stu's brain therapist, nodded slowly. "Then jabby death pointer does go there."

  Tiger smirked. "Base of the skull. Nice. My favorite soft target, you know, 'cause if you do it right blood just..." Tiger imitated spurting blood, making spraying noises with her mouth and wiggling her fingers. "Out of every hole."

  Dr. Ahmadi's eyebrows shot up as she slowly nodded, trying to be supportive. "Ooh! Fun fact! So...no hang ups about shedding the old mortal coil?"

  "Well, I have one question. What happens to the- the shell?" Tiger asked.

  Dr. Ahmadi laughed. "Let's not dwell on the shell."

  "Chopped up? Acid baths? Dump 'em in the ocean? Incinerated?"

  "Uh, yeah, the uh, last one."

  "Oh, phew, you know I was worried you would mass graves, but here's the thing about mass graves, those corpses will always come back up to Earth's surface."

  Dr. Ahmadi just stared at Tiger, trying to figure out how to respond. "...ooh...fun fact..."

  "I unfortunately know how we can get past the facial recognition scanners." Josh spoke up, wringing his hands on the table.

  TyAnne turned to face him, eyebrow raised. "Go on." Liv sat up in her chair.

  "I'm allergic to nuts..." he murmured. TyAnne furrowed her brows in confusion, pressing him to further explain. "My face swells up and I can't breathe- it's not pretty- but, I'll do it for the cause."

  Liv dragged her hands down her face. "You need to stop hurting yourself for the cause." She grumbled.

  "That could work," TyAnne whispered. "And you could say you have to get in because it's a medical emergency."

  "Yeah, that's what I was thinking." Josh perked up.

  TyAnne smiled, a weight starting to lift off of her shoulders. "It'll work. We just need to get you the perfect Mons disguise."

  It had reached midday by the time they sent Josh up to the crowds above them, anxiously awaiting the launch. Liv strayed back to talk into Josh's earpiece with TyAnne, much to her disliking, but she knew she couldn't go up there. Stu hated her guts (officially now) and would probably have her face on a "kill on sight" list. She sat next to TyAnne, headphones over her ears, and bouncing her leg nervously. An icon on the screen that represented Josh blinked at them. She watched it intently.

  "Stay tight to that hab unit." TyAnne instructed Josh. "One hair to the left and you're dead."

  "Gotta tell you, Achilles, I am loving this suit." Josh's voice answered. TyAnne had given Josh one of the yellow and gray jumpsuits to help him fit in. Unfortunately, the suits were very tight, leaving Josh's insanely large dick to bulge. Liv had smacked him on the back of the head after he'd insinuated that they both go into a back room together after he'd caught her staring. Not that she didn't want to, it was just life or death at the moment. "I feel like I'm an alternate for the Jamaican bobsled team." Liv snorted and rolled her eyes lovingly. "It is, uh, a little tight in the crotchal region...real vacuum seal right around-"

  TyAnne let out an annoyed sigh, shutting Josh right up. Liv dropped her face into her hands, stifling a laugh. "Yeah, so let's just keep this channel open for essential communication, copy?" TyAnne asked, trying not to sound frustrated.

  "Copy that and I will comply." Josh answered cockily.

  TyAnne rolled her eyes, shooting Liv a look. "Right there you just had to say 'copy', that's all." TyAnne said, plastering a fake smile on her face. "That's your boyfriend?" She asked Liv.

  "Hey!" Josh's voice came through the feed. TyAnne moved the microphone away from her mouth and clenched her jaw.

  "Yes, and I," Liv grabbed the microphone and faced it to her mouth. "Love him."

  TyAnne snatched the microphone back. "I love you too." Josh's voice said. "Running, running, running, running," Josh muttered, his icon moving from one hab unit to the next.

  "Oh. God." TyAnne massaged her temples, a very Tiger move. "Seriously?"

  "I appreciate the narration." Liv swung one leg over the other, crossing them.

  "Aaaaand I'm...in position." Josh's icon stopped behind another unit.

  TyAnne held the mic to her mouth. "This is as far as we can take you. You've still got to get past the facial recognition scanner."

  "No problem..." Josh sounded nervous.

  Liv stole the mic from TyAnne. "It's okay, Josh. You'll be okay."

  She could hear the grimace in his voice. "Okay...okay...oh God..." she could imagine him holding the giant all-nut he had been given, trying to psych himself up to eat it.

  "For the fate of the world and humanity." Liv reminded him.

  She could hear the small smile in his voice. "...Goddammit Liv." The feed went fuzzy before Josh's voice returned. "Ugh, okay, I ate it." He sounded awful. They could hear the sound of his retching and coughing.

  Liv grabbed the microphone again. "You're okay, Josh. You're okay." She kept reminding him. Her legs were bouncing so anxiously, TyAnne reached out and placed a hand on her knee to stop her.

  Josh, with his face puffing up and itching like crazy, jogged up to the crowded line awaiting their turn to get into the hangar. His airway squeezed tight, he was wheezing, making some of the citizens look at him, and quickly step aside, looking both disgusted and scared of him. He pushed through the line, wheezing louder on purpose to make people start and let him through. He approached the Biotic looking commandos, panting.

  "Medical emergency!" He wheezed. The commandos waved him inside with no questions asked. He continued to push through a sea of yellow and gray jumpsuits once he got inside.

  "You're going great." Liv's voice said in his ear. "Keep going."

  "This is gonna work." TyAnne said next.

  "I knew it would." Josh panted. Josh could see Stu standing on a balcony overlooking the hangar full of people, continuing some speech that Josh didn't give a fuck about. He ducked under a rope divider and shoved his way forward.

  "Looking good," Tiger's voice made him freeze, his blood running cold. He slowly turned to see her, thankfully, not talking to him, but a group of people a few paces ahead of him. He ducked behind a tall man just as Tiger meandered in his direction, praying that with his splotchy red face he was unrecognizable.

  He could feel her intense stare on him even before he peeked around the man to see if the coast was clear. She was stopped, staring at him and biting the inside of her lips, as if she were trying to place his face. He glanced away as casually as he could, acting like a patient Mons citizen. He saw her turn and pace away, and he let himself heave a sigh of relief.

  "...and don't forget, the all-you-can-eat taco bar on every spacecraft!" Stu projected, making the crowd erupt with excitement.

  Josh looked around, faking enthusiasm. "Woo, I sure love tacos." He clapped along awkwardly.

  "There is someone I would like to formally introduce you all to!" Stu announced excitedly. "Here she is now, my girlfriend!" Stu pointed to Tiger. Tiger waved politely as the room applauded. Josh's face, though stiff, somehow contorted in a disgusted manner. He shook it off and pushed through the line, making it to the face scanners. He gulped as he stepped forward.

  "Did Stu just call Tiger his girlfriend?" TyAnne's voice deadpanned in his ear.

  "Yes, now shut up, I'm at the scanners." Josh whispered as the scanners blinked, trying to place his face. They flicked from red to green, signaling that he was cleared.

  "Holy shit, it worked." Liv gasped.

  "Don't get too excited, we're not there yet." TyAnne muttered. Josh looked around at the eight people in front of him. He brushed past all of them, leaving the people in his wake complaining and pissed at him, but he didn't care. He made it to the front, standing next to a boy with a 1 stitched into his sleeve. He turned his head and glared at Josh.

  "What are you doing?" The boy asked, looking agitated.

  "Do you see my face?" Josh wheezed. "I have to go in right now." He felt for the tool that TyAnne had given him in his pocket, making sure he had for when he needed to smash the machine.

  The boy put a hand in front of Josh so he couldn't move in front of him. "Okay? So? I've been waiting my whole damn life for this."

  Josh gaped at him. "Uh, I don't think you understand, I have to be first-"

  "I don't think you understand." The boy let out an unconvincing laugh. "I'm Jimmy Fucking McGurgan."

  "Oh fuck, not this guy." Liv swore in his ear. "I forgot about him."

  "I'm the first boy on Mars." Jimmy looked Josh up and down, unimpressed.

  "Okay, uh, Jimmy," Josh tried to stay patient. "Listen, only one person can go in there, and that's me, okay? I'm J1."

  "I'm J1." Jimmy glared at Josh, flaunting the 1 on his sleeve.

  Josh didn't have time for this. "Okay, tough guy, see you in hell." Josh rolled his eyes and stepped back.

  "What are you doing?" TyAnne hissed in his ear.

  "Letting this guy get himself killed." Josh grumbled. Jimmy shot Josh a nasty look as the doors in front of them hissed open.

  "You freak." Jimmy gave Josh the "I'm watching you" gesture as he stepped inside, the inside hissing with suspicious white fog. Then the door whistled shut.

  Josh patted his hand over the tool. He didn't know what it was, TyAnne had explained it to him while Liv was staring at him in the Mons suit and he'd gotten distracted. All he knew is that it had sharp points and he could stab whatever machine was waiting for him on the other side of that door. Josh glowered at the screen above the door, stomach writhing with nerves as there was a freakishly long pause before the screen's count changed from 0 to 1. The crowd cheered at the seeming victory.

  Above Josh, Stu was on the balcony, dashing back and forth from his holographic screen to the railing, trying to figure out if the man with the puffy face was actually Joosh Futturman.

  "It's him, I should have known he would never give up." Tiger rolled her eyes, scolding herself from brushing him of as just Mons citizen having an allergic reaction.

  "Then why the self-mutilation?" Stu asked, quiet yet frantic. When Tiger just shrugged, Stu stared off, going completely silent for a long pause. Tiger hesitated before waving a hand in front of Stu's face.

  "Stu?"

  He jolted back to reality with a grin. "I'm gonna patch it!"

  Tiger watched as he turned back to his holographic screen. "Patch what?"

  "Just a bug in my programming. The Pointed Circle must have been poking around in my system and found a former weakness in my code, Joosh." He said the name with seething hatred. "I've just got to patch it right up, I'll just shut myself down for a quick second and fix it. Then when I'm back, I'll upload him anyways, and torture for all eternity. Together." Stu had a look in his eyes that made Tiger's skin crawl.

  "You can...do that?" Tiger managed to say.

  "Yeah," he shrugged. "It's my system."

  "But when I was in there, I controlled everything..."

  "Yeah, because I let you." Stu laughed as if she were just a silly child who had asked a silly question. Tiger hated it.

  "So...you'll have complete and total control over everything and everyone in MARS?" Tiger asked, head swimming with all the red flags that were finally showing up for her.

  "Yeah." Stu's voice sounded dark. "You think I'll just let people run around all willy-nilly? That would be chaos without an administrator. My world, my rules. I get to decide." Tiger took a step back, trying to feign a smile. "It's for the best, trust me, Tiger."

  Down below, the door whisked open in front of Josh, and he quickly pulled out his tool.

  "What's that?" He heard someone ask from behind him as he walked into the unknown, covered by the scary white fog. He waved it away from his face as the door closed behind him.

  "Josh, remember to press the button-" TyAnne started, but was disconnected. He looked around the room, which was all white, glossy, and empty, save for one metal chair with a strange curved  stem protruding from the back. That was it.

  "Gotcha," Josh whispered as he pressed the button on the weapon and- "Oh my God!" Josh flinched as a red laser shot out from the metal handle. "Oh my God! Lightsaber!" Josh gasped. It was the same laser sword the Biotic commandos had had. He pressed the button again, and the laser changed completely, becoming wider and more rounded. Just like a bat. Josh let out a laugh. "This is awesome!"

  Josh turned to the machine, winding up. "Once a Smasher, always a Smasher." He mumbled to himself. "I could've used this a long time ago."

  "Please be seated so we can begin." An automated voice said.

  "Shut up, robo-lady!" Josh took a swing at the chair, unsure of if it was actually part of the upload machine, but thought it would help just in case. The chair dented, hissing from the heat of the laser bat.

  White fog filtered into the room again, making Josh cough as he inhaled it. It had a lavender scent to it, and, while nice, Josh was annoyed by it. The only truly nice thing about it was how Josh could feel it taking down the swelling in his face. But that wasn’t why he was there. He wound up for another swing before he was overtaken by hacking again. "Oh my God, what is that?" He turned around and looked up at the fog dispensers. He would smash that next if he could...stop feeling so sluggish. His body felt heavy, tumbling backwards, his back hitting the chair, his brain going numb with sudden exhaustion. The room went dark suddenly, but Josh couldn't will himself to get up, being lured by the tendrils of sleep. The laser bat slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor. TyAnne and Liv were back online in his ear, screaming for him to get up, but he could barely hear it.

  The lights came back on, and so did the robo-lady. "Initiating Journey to MARS, Mankind's Automated Reality System." Her electronic voice sounded like it was inside his brain. "In three, two..."

  "He stopped." TyAnne jammed the microphone button with her finger. "Why did you stop?" She asked loudly into the microphone. "Josh, why aren't you-"

  "Something's wrong," Liv sounded terrified out of her mind. They could see Josh's icon frozen on the screen. They could see something behind him lighting up as red, signifying he had found the upload machine. "He's frozen or something, he's stuck maybe?"

  "Josh! Smash the machine!" TyAnne yelled into the microphone. No answer.

  "He can't hear us!" Liv wailed.

  "Stu." TyAnne seethed. "He's probably cut off all signals to that one room. Ours isn't going through."

  "Josh!" Liv shouted into the microphone. "Josh, can you hear us?!"

  "Josh! Do you copy?" TyAnne yelled. Suddenly, his icon began to move. Fast. TyAnne and Liv lurched from their seats, Liv's seat toppling over. "He didn't destroy the machine." TyAnne's voice was taut with concern. "Did Stu catch him?"

  Suddenly, Josh was back online, but Tiger's voice was filtering through the feed. "There's no spaceship! There's no Mars! It's all lies!" She was yelling, sounding strained.

  "No! Where are you going?!" They could hear Stu yelling.

  "Tiger turned on Stu." TyAnne breathed out.

  "She saved Josh." Liv was gripping the table so hard her knuckles were turning white. TyAnne quickly switched the screen over to the camera feeds of the Mons. It was chaos. Stu had a giant hologram in the sky screaming at the frightened people.

  "Get back in the line you shaved apes!" He bellowed. Liv lifted a hand to cover her mouth, eyes wide. "I'm not done with you yet! Listen to your Master, your God!"

  "Holy shit..." TyAnne stepped back. A woman's hologram appeared behind Stu. "Dr. Ahmadi?" TyAnne asked.

  "Stu, you're in the lobster trap." She said gently to him.

  "I don't care! The rubber bands are off and the claws are out!" His yells echoed through the Mons. "Fuck humanity!" He flipped off the frightened people down below.

  "What have we done?" TyAnne whispered.

  "Maybe it won't be so bad?" Someone said from behind them.

  Stu composed himself for a moment. "Release the kill-bots."

  TyAnne threw over a chair and screamed in anger.

A/N: hey chat, remember when I said I was gonna upload more often? Yeah I got broken up with later that day and I got depressed. LOL YOU CAN LAUGH IT’S FUNNY!!!!!!! I’m done moping now, life has been shit, so I’m ready to make it fun again!!!!! I’m going to start on season 3, so don’t worry!!!! Bread on Toast will make it to the end!!!!

[darkseraphscorner]

Neph sits at the kitchenette counter, watching her dad interact with that... Thing. He seemed to treat it like a person and the guys in the bio labs kept bugging them, asking them about it.

She got up and made her way out of their apartment, stepping into the sterile white hallway of Faraway stations, she honestly didn't see why Xeno was so important, she was a giant space bug... What was special about that?

There was a buzzing her com, tapping her head set she spoke. "Neph here, what's up?"

The com crackled. "It's Waits, you wanted to know when the next round of Synths where slated for decommission? Well the corp just sent us some new ones, so the old ones are ours to play with."

Neph smiled, she did like fighting the old synths.. and I one cared what happened to the old ones when the corp sent replacements. "So what are we looking at?"

She could hear Waits typing away. "Oh wow... We are moving up, among the new Synths is a skin job."

Neph paused. "Wait... You sure?"

"Yup, looking at the code right here, science officer, Ryan... Maybe the corp finally plans to do something with this place?"

Neph chewed her lip, first the Xeno, now a Company synth with rank and name? Felt like something bad was brewing.

@bubblyroleplayingworld

[boxeboxer]

OMAN AMARI KHURSHID

Origin: asalee

Status: organic

Nationality/Ethnicity: Pakistani, currently resides in northern Britain

Age: 57 (date of birth August 31st, 1985) (pictured above at roughly 30-40 years old)

Occupation: electrical engineer, lineman

About:

Oman Khurshid is the son of Yushfa Saeed. His father left when he was very young and he was raised solely by his mother. His daughter is Samya Amari.

Oman happily lives in seclusion in the northern British countryside. He works as a local home electrician, though in his younger (and more agile) days he was a lineman. Even now as he continues to age, his occupation keeps him physically fit, as well as experienced with a range of tools. He is a strict pacifist, but still keeps a rifle by his bedside.

Oman is highly avoidant, and thus lives as a hermit. He is soft-spoken and not one to make himself the center of attention. Despite this, he has a strong moral code and will do anything to protect the people he cares about or what he believes in. This often makes him paranoid and untrusting of others he doesn't know. To those who are close to him, he is very sweet and loves to dote on them, though he isn't best at verbally expressing this affection in words. Oman likes taking apart and rebuilding electronics, freshly brewed tea, the smell of jasmine, and frozen TV dinners.

Background:

Born as Mehwish bint Khurshid, Oman experienced a typical childhood in Lahore. He has fleeting memories of his father, but he was very young when he left his and his mother's lives, which still bothers him into adulthood. In his mid-late teens, he came to realize he was a trans man and chose his new name. He remained closeted into his late 20s out of fear of angering his mother, especially once she fell ill in 2008.

When her health began to rapidly decline, along with a diagnosis of aggressive brain cancer, Oman decided to move to Britain for work in hopes of getting her lifesaving treatment. The Mallory lab takes him in as an equipment technician in their neurology research department, and in return promises to care for his mother. Unbeknownst to him, they actually plan to use Yushfa to harvest EBID.

While working as a technician, he meets Mia Safarova. Despite being shy, and struggling with spoken English, he's able to communicate with her more easily than anyone else they work with. They form a fast friendship, and Mia is the first person to call him by his chosen name, though he swears he never told her what it was. She's very curious about his life and comes off as strangely naïve. He forms a bit of a one-sided crush on her.

The EBID experiments on Yushfa prove too rigorous for her failing health, and she dies before a sample can be taken from her. Oman is not told this. Instead, Cassandra Mallory asks him if he would like to undergo the same procedure, no questions asked. She promises to give him the equivalent of $500,000, and still believing his mother is alive, he agrees. Mia tries to talk him out of it, knowing the truth, but this upsets him. They have a rough falling out.

On the day of the surgery, he realizes Mia will be the one performing it. With Cassandra attending, Oman is given a craniotomy just above his left eyebrow that extends to behind his ear. A fragment of brain matter from his frontal cortex is removed. Once he successfully recovers the next day, he's sent on his way.

Upon returning to Yushfa's home, he finds someone else living there. He tries contacting the Mallory lab to no avail. They claim they never had her in their custody. When he reports this to the police, they don't take him seriously and a missing persons report is never filed. In the coming months, he begins experiencing terrible side effects from his surgery, including gaps in his memory, hallucinations, and a piercing headache. This causes him to enter a manic state, doing anything and everything to find out what the Mallorys did to his mother and to him.

Oman believes all this to be in his head until he realizes the hallucinations he sees and hears coincide with electrical disturbances around him, most notably in disrupting the movement of his watch. He jerry-rigs a homing device to track the source, and realizes it's coming from the same lab he worked at. At the peak of his mania, he climbs a utility pole to break into the lab complex, where he finds Mia and infant Samya. She reveals that Samya is his daughter and the cause of his hallucinations, but he doesn't understand how that can be true. Cassandra hears the commotion and shoots him, but misses his heart.

Oman escapes with Samya, but passes out from blood loss. Mia follows him, setting fire to the lab and driving them to the countryside. She performs surgery to save his life and gives him a transfusion of her own blood. There she establishes a new life for the three of them while he recovers. To help them avoid capture, she gives Oman the avenues to finally present as a man and begin his medical transition, which helps keep the Mallorys at bay since they're still looking for "Mehwish." He changes his last name to Amari, the name of his mother's grandmother, both to leave his father's memory behind and keep is identity hidden.

He and Samya live a quiet life in the countryside. In their 40s, he and Mia enter an on-again-off-again relationship. He often helps her in combatting the Mallorys until her disappearance in 2029.

[tenpintsofsundrop]

was it just me or was the ending to titans...shitty a little silly.

for someone who hyper fixated on that show for so long, I was kind of disappointed in the ending.

(side note- sorry i'm like in ur ask box every two seconds I just have a lot to say😭😭)

I have to agree with you omg

also don't apologize for sending me messages!!! I love talking about this stuff!!

But like okay I have an entire rant brewing just about the concept of - found family splitting up after they are 'done' with each other??? Like how is that a happy ending??

Like going through the ending:

Jason ends up alone.

Gar ends up alone.

Rachel goes to university - and yes, it looks like she has a lot of friends, but she's an orphan and she just lost the one chance she had at having a biological brother and there is no explicit depiction of her living with Dick and Kory - so her 'independence' is code for her being 'alone'.

Conner does get to meet up with Superman, but there is nothing to say that he is living with the guy or that there's any true parental aspect to the mentor relationship like Conner always wanted. (Because Conner wanted a father, he didn't just want a mentor. And the closest thing he ever had to that was Dick.) So we don't know what his emotional state is actually like.

And the only people who aren't totally alone are the ones who are in traditional romantic couples - which puts a weird emphasis on romantic connections instead of the family or friendship dynamic?

Tbh, I think it would have even been nice if there was a clip of Tim bringing Bernard back to visit his very much alive and well blood related family in Gotham, showing that they are still important to him.

It's so funny, because Dick and Kory got such a romcom ending, and it seems like DickKory fans are convinced that the entire show was written around that ending - no it wasn't. It's just very easy to put a het couple together in the end and hint at them having a baby and call it a happy ending. Like if you think that Dick and Kory would just buy a house off in the burbs somewhere and be peaceful and Dick wouldn't be breathing down Rachel's neck checking on her and Kory wouldn't have to move every few weeks because she'd blow up the neighbours if they put their trashcans in the wrong place - they would not have a cute and peaceful life. Nah.

But like - I am just annoyed that they have to part ways because there is no longer danger to defeat. Why can't they stick together and continue being a family even when the world is safe?

It feels like such a boring and like way too typical idea of a 'happy ending' where each character has to get their own individual happy ending rather than all of them being happy together.

So, here's my ending (like a 'money is no object, all the actors are no busy that day' fantasy ending);

They move back to San Francisco and re-open the Tower and it actually goes well this time. They use it as a place to take in misfit kids who need their help (just like Dick did for Rachel) and they all act as mentors for those kids.

Conner has an active mentor relationship with Superman, but he still has the ongoing support of the family he has always known. Rachel can balance a life of 'being normal' and going to a 'normal' university, but she can still use her newfound powers to help people (if she wants).

Gar spends regular periods of time meditating in the Red to help the welfare of animal kind, but he is always there at family dinners, and when there is animals in danger, he has the team as back-up to help rescue them. He doesn't do it alone. Tim and Bernard have an ongoing relationship; Bernard is outfitting the entire Tower with STAR Labs technology (as an excuse to work with the team) and Tim is continuing his training under Dick's supervision.

The last scenes of the episode would be:

They turn on the news and see that Dove and Wonder Girl have formed a new team, and they have just taken down an international crime ring operating out of Paris (because Dawn can't resist sticking her nose in fishy business and she called Donna when she needed help). Ultimate girl duo.

And one of the last scenes would be - Jason knocking on their door, apologizing, and asking if he can be welcomed back to the team - because he stumbled on a case that's too big for him to handle on his own, and he needs help. Him coming full circle from the Doctor Light storyline, fully maturing, acknowledging that he truly needs the Titans to back him up and he can't always do it on his own.

They accept him back with open arms, they all give him hugs (my personal self indulgence) and the last shot of the show is zooming out as they all lean in to look over the information Jason has brought them.

Like please!!!

Also I said in a different post on my old blog that if I didn't get a Gar/Jason reunion hug in S4 I would sue and I still feel like suing because they didn't have any contact in S4 at all. I feel fucking robbed.

But yeah the ending sucked - like you don't have to split them up. Keep them stuck together. Keep them bonded. Booo

[hasbr0mniverse]

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero! 1993 - Code Name: Bio-Viper - Primary Specialty: Bio-Genetic Mega-Marine Hunters - Subgroup: Cobra Mega-Monsters - From the evil labs of Dr. Mindbender come the hideous, genetically enhanced Cobra Mega-Monsters! These soldiers are the toughest troops Cobra's ever come up with. Watch out Joes! There's a monster of a fight brewing!

[grimkkr]

plotting call !

evil entity that will most likely ruin your life needs YOUR help for the mission board!

eitri canonically lives in a forest she booby trapped herself and would love to test some new ideas on some poor unsuspecting seminar attendee. none of the traps she has set up follow osha guidelines. a couple of them might even be breaking the geneva convention. oh, and don't let her catch you! she's brewed up some sort of mysterious potion to further simulate an interrogation. can you survive eitri's horrors? she might give you extra credit for her next exam if you can. +1 SWORD TAKEN: YARNE

eitri is working in the infirmary, hoping to use the influx of patients as an opportunity to test out some new medicines and procedures she has been researching... it all looks incredibly dubious, to be honest, but she assures you her advancements in science have been praised the world over. are you looking to learn about these ground breaking developments in medicine? or are you the fearful patient under the knife, trying to convince eitri all you really need is a vulnerary?

ghost hunting but the ghosts are made by eitri. she's running some hush-hush experiment on the downlow, trying to figure out a way to put a soul into an inanimate object, and her failed experiments have been running amok and causing havoc across the monastery. she offers you a pretty penny if you'll help her round them up so she can bring them back to her lab for further study. be careful, though... there's something weird about them. TAKEN: FAYE

eitri is extremely interested in nonhuman muses and muses with powers she has never seen before. what she's not interested in, though, is the scientific ethical code. maybe watch out for that.