#disadvantages of human detection robot

[aionlinemoney]

Today everyone knows Artificial Intelligence as well as AI, has completely changed the world in the age of technology. AI is not just transforming the technological industry, it is also changing every corner that we can’t imagine. There are many positive ways where Artificial Intelligence is making our Daily life’s in a better way, Also there are disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence risks and benefits.

There are many better ways in which Artificial intelligence has a positive role and impacts our lives daily, but AI also has a negative role which we will discuss further in this Blog. Many people actually don’t know, what is actually AI. In this blog, we will learn what are the Pros and Cons of AI in our daily lives and in business.

What is Artificial Intelligence:

Artificial Intelligence is a computer machine or it can also be called a system, and this system is designed or programmed to copy human intelligence. This includes learning from the experiences, solving the problems or queries, understanding it, and deciding to provide output. AI is classified into two categories:

Narrow AI: Designed for specific tasks, like face recognition or email filtering.

General AI: A hypothetical form of AI capable of performing any intellectual task a human can do (still under development).

With this understanding, let’s explore the benefits and drawbacks of AI. Let’s explore what are the Pros and Cons of AI:

What are the Pros and Cons of AI?

Pros of Artificial Intelligence:

Efficiency and Automation

The main benefit of Artificial Intelligence is, that it can automate boring and repetitive tasks, which helps save time and do further tasks. For example, nowadays Chatbots can handle customer queries 24/7, which helps to save the time of employees and help them to focus on complex issues. In the sector of industries like manufacturing, there are automatic robots to process more quickly with more accuracy than humans.

Improved Accuracy

The systems of Artificial Intelligence are designed to handle with high accuracy and correct. For example, In the sector of Healthcare, Some tools that are AI-powered for diagnosis purposes help to analyze the medical data of that particular person and detect the disease more accurately. AI system analyzes patterns in medical images, this helps the doctor to make informed decisions.

Cost Savings

Artificial Intelligence helps to reduce costs by automating tasks, it helps to eliminate the workforce in some sectors, and this helps companies to focus on resources for innovation and growth. For example, an automatic assembly line in factories helps to reduce important reduction.

24/7 Availability

Artificial Intelligence systems are available 24/7, as these systems don’t need to take breaks or sleep, but humans need to take breaks and they can’t continuously work like Artificial Intelligence. The main example of this is, the AI Chatbot provides support anytime to solve the queries of the customers.

Enhanced Decision-Making

Artificial Intelligence enhances to make decisions quickly and efficiently, For example, many of Financial institution uses AI and machine learning to analyze market trends and make investment decisions better and more precise. Some of Businesses use Artificial Intelligence to read the data and predict customer behavior to improve their services.

Personalization

Artificial Intelligence increases user experiences by providing personalized recommendations using customer data. Platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, etc use AI algorithms to suggest movies, songs, or other products related to customer’s interests. So, AI helps to personalize people, this is used to sell their products or services more effectively.

Applications in Dangerous Environments

AI-powered robotics are created to work in hazardous environments. For example, AI-powered robots serve in disaster conditions by carrying out search missions and assisting in rescue operations. A perfect example is In space exploration Artificial intelligence robots assist in exploration, navigation and study research of the environment.

Advancements in Healthcare

Artificial Intelligence is changing the face of healthcare through drug discovery, robotic surgeries, and personalized treatments, while self-powered virtual health assistants provide patients with immediate consulting services.

In this blog, What are the pros and cons of AI these were some Pros of Artificial Intelligence, further, we will see the cons of AI.

Cons of Artificial Intelligence:

Job Displacement

One of the most important issues of Artificial Intelligence is, that it can replace human jobs. Automation in industries like manufacturing, retail, and transportation has already shown people are losing jobs. While Artificial Intelligence risks and benefits have the potential to create new opportunities, but will not be easier for workers to adopt the skill quickly.

High Implementation Costs

Developing the AI system is not easy, this requires a huge investment to develop the system. From acquiring the technology to maintaining it, the cost may vary on the size of that particular business.

Ethical Concerns

Artificial Intelligence raises the question of, ethical problems and privacy breaches. The AI system collects and stores the data of a person, which increases the privacy risk. For instance, facial recognition technology has faced criticism for racial bias, while AI algorithms can carelessly discriminate if trained on biased data.

Over-dependency in Technology

As Artificial Intelligence becomes the main part of life, there is a risk of over-dependency on this technology. Due to this, people can lose their job or skills. This becomes dependent on that particular tool. For example, Depending on GPS navigation may reduce to read maps or navigate independently in future.

Lack of Creativity

While Artificial Intelligence is the best technology for analyzing data and performing tasks, it has an absence of emotional intelligence and creativity. AI cannot replicate human creativity, which is essential for artistic expression, innovation, and solving complex problems.

Security Risks

AI systems are vulnerable to cyberattacks and misuse. Hackers can exploit AI to create more sophisticated malware or manipulate data, leading to severe consequences. For example, deepfake technology powered by AI can create fake videos that spread misinformation or harm reputations.

Unemployment and Economic Inequality

The widespread adoption of AI can exacerbate economic inequality. As companies adopt AI to cut costs, low-skilled workers are disproportionately affected. This creates a gap between those who benefit from AI-driven advancements and those left behind.

Unpredictability and Loss of Control

AI systems, especially those based on machine learning, can behave unpredictably. If not properly monitored, they might make decisions that are difficult to understand or control. For example, an autonomous vehicle might face ethical dilemmas during an accident, leading to unintended outcomes.

Hope you have understood what are the Pros and Cons of AI.

Balancing the what are the Pros and Cons of AI:

Even though AI presents an amazing opportunity for development, certain hurdles need to be dealt with. It is important to utilize Artificial Intelligence risks and benefits, while also minimizing the unfavorable aspects AI may have. To do so, here are a few pointers felt by the author that can be of help:

1. Improving With The Modern Workforce: Governments and other authorities must allocate funds towards educating and training so that workers may be able to cope with modern-day AI industries. Skills such as coding, data analysis, and critical thinking will become increasingly wanted in the upcoming years.

2. AI Development With A Conscience: AI Development must be regulated so that systems that are devised follow the rules set out without prejudice. This require special care to be placed in auditing algorithms to guarantee fairness alongside protecting an individual’s privacy.

3. Establishing Laws and Policy: Unclear laws surrounding the use of AI in a society can pose different problems. Therefore, AI should be deployed in a manner that serves the interests of society without posing risks. Policies should regulate the possible loss of jobs, data protection, and responsibility.

4. Interaction and Integration of Humans with AI: AI should be utilized as an enhancement to complement human work rather than taking over. For instance, while AI can help doctors make better diagnoses, teachers can utilize AI for more personalized education.

5. Encourage Responsible Use of AI: Campaigns focusing on the capabilities and limitations of Artificial Intelligence risks and benefits along will serve to broaden the general public’s horizon.

Hope you deeply understand about what are the pros and cons of AI.

The Future of Artificial Intelligence:

AI is undoubtedly here to stay, and its role in shaping the future is unquestionable. From smart cities and autonomous vehicles to advancements in education and healthcare, AI holds immense promise. However, it’s important to navigate its challenges responsibly. In this blog, what are the pros and cons of AI, you hope to learn about what are the pros and cons of AI.

As Artificial Intelligence risks and benefits continue to evolve, we must approach it with caution and curiosity. Embracing AI’s potential while addressing its risks will ensure a future where technology benefits everyone. Hope you has know about what are the Pros and Cons of AI.

Conclusion:

Artificial Intelligence risks and benefits is a double-edged, it has the power to revolutionize industries, improve lives, and solve global challenges. At the same time, it poses ethical problems, security risks, and economic concerns. By understanding what are the pros and cons of AI, we can control the benefits of AI while reducing its drawbacks.

Artificial Intelligence risks and benefits are not just a tool; it’s a responsibility. Let’s use it carefully for a brighter and better future. If you like to read latest Blogs related to Artificial Intelligence, then visit only here AiOnlineMoney.

[aihumanizerpro]

How to Craft Engaging Real Estate Listings with AI Humanizer Pro

In the fast-paced real estate landscape today, differentiating yourself is a necessity. Writing listings that appeal to buyers is more than listing features—it's building an emotional relationship. Agents are charged with finding instant results, but crafting solid content requires work and time. That's when AI Humanizer comes in to save the day. The tool turns AI to human words to help agents produce strong, genuine listings that resonate with buyers.

AI Writing Tools: Helpful but Not Sufficient

AI tools can make the content creation process faster. They are perfect to produce details like the location, size, and amenities in a matter of seconds. Nonetheless, this AI to human text does not possess the personality and the warmth that differentiates listings. In the absence of humanizing AI, the final product might come out to be robotic—more like a robot generated content than a human who had perfect knowledge of what buyers truly desire.

This is where AI Humanizer comes into play. It enhances tone, readability, and organization, transforming wordy drafts to warm, and personable descriptions that resonate with prospective homeowners.

Going Beyond Words: Focusing on Connection

Producing good real estate content is less about speed. The best listings are ones that capture emotion and tell a story about the property. They appeal to buyers on a deeper level and allow buyers to envision themselves as residents. That's the missing piece with automatically generated content.

Humanising AI aids agents in bridging this gap. It fine-tunes tone, enhances sentence structure, and makes every listing a custom fit. Whether it's a first-time buyer's starter home or a luxury villa residence, incorporating AI Humanizer lends authenticity and richness buyers respond to.

Discover AI Humanizer Pro: The Intelligent Upgrade

To overcome the usual disadvantages of AI content, AI Humanizer Pro is created to make each listing better. Here's how it works:

 Humanized Content: The tool transforms robotic content into smooth and natural listings. The description comes alive while remaining professional and precise.

 Multiple Detectors Check: Entries are checked using the best AI check software such as GPTZero and Turnitin to guarantee the text is not detected and is completely undistinguishable as AI-generated.

 Real-time AI Detection Scores: See the AI score of your listing in real time. If it looks too artificial, AI Humanizer Pro improves it instantaneously.

 Personalized Style Options: Do you prefer a high-end tone or casual tone? The tool provides options to tweak style and tone to match each property's atmosphere.

 Zero AI Mode: In the case of luxury listings or distinctive properties, the mode guarantees that your content is completely humanized without any visible evidence of AI.

 Easy Export: Finish and export listings in DOCX, PDF, or clipboard format—ready to post to websites or brochures in a couple clicks.

The Final Outcome: Listings That Connect, Applying AI Humanizer provides noticeable improvements:

Time-Saving: Less time editing and more time selling.

Improve Emotional Tone: Listings are warm and endearing.

Authenticity Check: Rest assured your content will pass all AI checkers.

Increased Buyer Interest: More targeted listings result in improved outcomes.

Conclusion 

Real estate listing writing does not have to be a chore. While AI may be helpful, AI Humanizer Pro elevates your content to a higher standard—more personal, refined, and persuasive. Use it and redefine how buyers respond to your listings.

[chriscarlsonor]

How Publishing Has Leveraged AI

Publishing is the one industry where the human voice and thought are central to its existence. However, artificial intelligence (AI) is now a part of publishing, with some platforms allowing users to create AI-generated content, changing this voice. In addition to generating content, AI has other uses in publishing.

Recent advances in AI have enabled computers/machines to process and mimic human language. This advance in AI technology allowed businesses to connect with consumers using chatbots. However, this evolution of AI and language has fueled models that can analyze numerous pieces of literature, whether in books, images, or articles. Nature Publishing Group and PNAS Journals have revised their publishing guidelines to adapt to this evolution in AI-generated content.

Naturally, those in writing and editing were likely to be the first victims of a technology that offered consumers a way to create content easily. Some in the publishing industry became uneasy when OpenAI launched ChatGPT because they thought robots might replace them. One might understand how those who write and edit content might be concerned with a platform that amassed 100 million users and spurred additional investments in similar technologies.

However, AI technologies only complement writing and editing, which enabled these professionals to be more productive. Large language model technology can check grammar, provide content summaries, or format content for social media, scripts, podcasts, or videos. ChatGPT, specifically, can assist writers with creating headlines. For instance, News Corp Australia reported in July 2023 that staff members produced 3,000 articles using AI technologies in one week. At the same time, the news organization stated that the AI technologies used involved templated information, such as daily court lists and prices.

AI has also changed content distribution, assisting publishers with determining the optimum times, formats, and channels (social media) for disseminating content. Some publishers might base their decisions to distribute content on their readers/viewers' demographic characteristics or behaviors. For instance, WordStream and Emplifi are AI-assisted technologies that provide smart scheduling, campaign optimization, advanced tracking, audience data, and advertising.

AI has also simplified the creation of the visuals that accompany many of the articles published online. Authors and editors can create visuals for their written content using platforms like Midjourney, DALL-E, or Stable Diffusion. Depending on the platform, they can do it in as little as seven minutes. More importantly, the subscription costs for some of these platforms are inexpensive, making creating visuals accessible to everyone.

Other uses of AI in digital publishing are developing ideas, predicting emerging trends, and streamlining routine tasks. It can also help personalize emails as part of marketing.

In the end, AI offers writers, editors, publishers, and anyone in publishing more benefits than disadvantages. As with most AI-integrated industries, this technology allows users to streamline repetitive work, reduce work, and allow teams to spend time on idea creation and other parts of publishing. Regarding distribution, it will enable publishers to hone in on niche markets without spending a lot on advertising or marketing.

AI tools also help journalists digest large amounts of information across stories. To find engaging, relevant stories, writers can find patterns and connections between facts, events, entities, and people. Beyond story development, AI tools are also helpful in ferreting out fake information from fact because they can compare newly published articles against reliable sources or track the history of an image beginning when search engines first detected it.

In the beginning, this tool seemed to be one that might replace publishers, writers, and editors. Ultimately, they have leveraged it to be more productive while managing costs.

[careflick]

Ethics of AI in Senior Care

We are encouraged to reshape how we discuss aging, moving towards a more positive language to redefine perceptions. This shift in terminology is timely, as advancements in medicine, technology, and socioeconomic conditions have contributed to increased life expectancy, leading to a global rise in the elderly population. With this growth, the ethics of AI in senior care becomes increasingly important, ensuring technology serves to enhance autonomy, dignity, and well-being for seniors. According to the United Nations (2023), the global population aged 65 and above is projected to reach 1.6 billion by 2050, with countries like Japan, Korea, Italy, and Greece seeing especially sharp increases.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2024), the proportion of people aged 60 and over will grow from 12% in 2015 to 22% by 2050, placing new pressures on economic stability, healthcare infrastructure, and social systems. Amid this demographic shift, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics offer promising solutions by promoting independence and improving the quality of life for older adults. Ethical considerations for AI in elderly care, however, are crucial to ensure responsible, beneficial implementation.

Why do we need AI in senior care?

The past decade has seen significant growth in technology for senior care which has shown promise in enhancing health outcomes. It improves users’ well-being, quality of life, and health. Notably, AI-based systems have the potential to reduce hospital readmissions and mortality rates, while also helping reduce healthcare costs. Here’s how AI advances caregiving:

AI-driven fall detection systems use monitoring, wearable, and floor sensors to gather movement data. By analyzing patterns, AI predicts fall risks, enabling timely intervention.

For patients with chronic illnesses, data from monitoring systems, wearable sensors, and electronic health records (EHR) can be analyzed alongside scientific studies. AI can suggest optimal medication or care, preventing symptoms from worsening.

AI systems adapt to individual needs. For example, in dementia care, the system identifies unusual patterns (like sleep or movement changes), notifying healthcare providers for timely intervention.

Patients contribute data actively, such as by monitoring their own blood pressure. This data enhances clinical decision-making while empowering patients to take a proactive role in their health.

Ultimately, AI-based technology supports healthier, more autonomous aging while helping healthcare providers deliver tailored care.

Role of Responsible AI Use in Healthcare

AI-powered elder care offers potential improvements but also carries certain risks such as:

Depersonalization occurs as AI generalizes care standards, potentially ignoring unique needs like specific dementia symptoms, which weakens individualized care.

Data privacy in elder care is also critical, requiring strong protocols since seniors share sensitive health information with AI systems. 

Discrimination risks arise if AI tools rely on non-diverse datasets, reinforcing stereotypes or disadvantaging minority groups. 

Dehumanization can result from robotic automation reducing human contact, potentially making patients feel objectified rather than cared for personally. 

Finally, disciplining effects may emerge as continuous monitoring encourages patients to conform to efficiency-driven norms, impacting their autonomy and personal preferences.

This necessitates a closer look at AI and senior care regulations for a balanced approach to integrating technology while ensuring that it enhances, rather than diminishes, the dignity and individuality of elderly care.

Ethics in AI in Caregiving

Integrating AI into elderly care requires careful ethical considerations for AI to ensure seniors’ well-being. It would be beneficial to develop AI algorithms that incorporate individualized care parameters, such as patients’ specific health histories or symptoms. Integrating human caregivers at decision-making points will help adapt AI recommendations to individual needs. 

Privacy concerns arise with the collection and use of personal health data, highlighting the need for security measures and clear consent protocols. Cloud technologies, which enable real-time data analytics and information sharing across integrated organizations, must be carefully evaluated to safeguard information and minimize cyberattack risks. 

Additionally, as seniors increasingly rely on AI, maintaining autonomy and decision-making power becomes crucial, along with ensuring meaningful human connections are not compromised. This implies that setting clear guidelines to balance monitoring with patient autonomy is essential, giving seniors the ability to customize or override AI recommendations. Incorporating mechanisms that allow for flexible behavioral tracking based on individual preferences rather than rigid standards would be another recommendation. 

The rise in robotic assistance could risk confusion for seniors regarding why technology, rather than human caretakers, is handling their needs. Accessible, user-friendly AI design remains ever-important, alongside transparent guidelines and ethical regulations. Developers also need to ensure diverse datasets and regular test algorithms for bias, refining them to serve underrepresented groups equitably. Having oversight committees in place to monitor and correct disparities in AI recommendations can balance AI and senior care regulations. 

Regular evaluation and direct feedback from seniors also ensure technology serves them responsibly, supporting empowerment instead of dependence. This multi-faceted approach enables AI to become a beneficial tool, enhancing seniors’ quality of life while maintaining ethical standards.

Conclusion

It is abundantly clear that there is room for a needs-based, patient-centered approach to care planning that respects patient autonomy over AI-driven conformity. AI in caregiving can be improved with diverse datasets, ethical frameworks, and participatory design that reflects varied patient needs. 

CareFlick’s approach to elder care technology takes into consideration the ethics of AI in caregiving. AI solutions that are socially responsible and advanced on the tech front require a collaborative effort. With its HIPAA compliance and people-first approach, YANA can be a perfect example of responsible AI use in healthcare. 

Visit our LinkedIn page for the latest updates on our company, including exciting developments and new offerings. Stay informed and connected with us as we continue to grow and provide valuable learning opportunities for professionals in caregiving industries.

Want to see how AI can transform your senior care home? Get Your Free Demo Scheduled Today!

Learn more about how CareFlick is leveraging AI to revolutionize senior care. Contact us for more information.

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[fortunerobotic]

Future reception robot in USA

The use of robots in a variety of industries is growing in this age of rapid technological growth, and receiving services are no exception. Reception robot integration in the USA is not just another science fiction idea; it is actually happening. These robots are intended to increase overall efficiency in reception areas, optimize operations, and improve customer service.

Current Trends in Reception Robots

Growing Adoption Across Industries

A wide range of industries, including corporate offices, retail, healthcare, and hospitality, are implementing reception robots. Robots are being used by hotels to welcome visitors, check them in, and give them service information. Robots in healthcare help in wayfinding and delivering necessary supplies within facilities, guaranteeing that patients receive care on time.

Advancements in AI and Machine Learning

The capabilities of reception robots have been greatly enhanced by the application of machine learning techniques and artificial intelligence (AI). Robots can now detect faces, comprehend natural language, and learn from encounters thanks to these technologies, enabling more individualized and effective service. Businesses are spending more money on AI to improve user experiences and cater to the specific needs of each client.

Integration with Smart Technologies

Smart technologies like cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT) devices are rapidly being linked with reception robots. Robots and other systems, such as reservation platforms or inventory management solutions, may communicate with one another without any problems thanks to this connectivity. Reception robots can thereby enhance operational efficiency, streamline processes, and deliver real-time information.

Benefits of Reception Robots

Enhanced Customer Experience

Cost Efficiency

Improved Safety and Hygiene

Reception robots in the USA have a bright future ahead of them, with the potential to revolutionize customer service in a variety of sectors. Businesses that use this technology will boost customer satisfaction while simultaneously increasing productivity and cutting expenses. Even though there are still difficulties, reception robots have far more advantages than disadvantages. We can build a future where technology and human interaction coexist peacefully in the customer service industry by encouraging a cooperative relationship between humans and robots.

To know more click here

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #190 & 191

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re providing you a horror double feature- Mecha-Eli chan and Mecha-Eli chan Mk. II! Since they’re nearly identical (in NA) all you have to change between one and the other is how you roleplay. But hey, you technically get an extra build this week, go you!

Both of these servants are 100% Armorer Artificers for some fancy techno-gadgets built into their metal bodies.

Check out their builds breakdown below the cut, or their characters sheet over here!

Next up: She’s got so many pigs around her you’d think she opened a doughnut shop!

Race and Background

Shockingly, the robots... are robots. Specifically, Warforged, which gives them +2 Constitution and +1 Intelligence. They also get Constructed Resilience, which makes you a better ruler since you don’t need to eat, drink, breathe, sleep, or get sick, you get advantage and resistance to poison saves and damage. Elisabeth might get sick from eating all that candy, but you won’t even be tempted.

Instead of sleeping, you take a Sentry’s Rest, spending 6 hours in a still state- you can still see, but you can’t move without breaking the rest.

Integrated Protection gives you your first armored casing, adding +1 to your AC. You can also don armor by fusing it to your body over an hour, letting you wear heavy armor without having to take off your tutu.

Finally, you get a Specialized Design, giving you proficiency with Performance and one set of tools. If you want to get your Elisabeth on, I’d suggest Bagpipes, so you can clear the room just as fast as she can.

Being a robot makes your background a bit complicated, but you were made to rule Castle Csejte Pyramid Himeji so we’ll call you a Noble, which gives you proficiency with History and Persuasion. If you’re playing Mk. II, swap the latter over to Intimidation, boom, roleplay changes done.

Ability Scores

Your highest score should be Intelligence, you have a supercomputer for a brain, it’s not a huge stretch. Constitution comes next, aside from Babbage you’re the only servant made out of iron. So far. Your Strength should also be pretty good, while you do shoot people, you also hit them, and you have one of the most damaging NPs in the game when ignoring type advantage. Your Charisma isn’t bad per se, but your delivery does get a little stiff from time to time. Your Wisdom isn’t that great, neither of you really “get” people. Yes, humans might take offense at being forced to stay in their homes their entire natural lives. That means we’re dropping Dexterity. Your head literally falls off on a regular basis, that’s an accident that would kill most people. Also, you’re not exactly running around in leather, so it’s not like you’d need it.

Class Levels

Starting off as an Artificer gives you proficiency with Constitution and Intelligence saves, as well as two skills. Arcana is the closest thing to robotics in the forgotten realm, and Investigation will help you make a sweep of the battlefield with your robot eyes. Your first machines are made using your Magical Tinkering, adding minor effects to tiny objects. It’s not exactly the wish spell, but you can get creative with it. Speaking of Spells, you can cast and prepare those now using your Intelligence. All you have to do is be smart. Grab the cantrip Mage Hand for a non-combat use for your rocket arm, and Sword Burst so you can try spinning to damage nearby enemies with your tail. I hear it’s a neat trick. You can also cast first level spells, like Feather Fall and Jump (it’s almost flying), as well as Catapult for a prototype rocket arm. Also, if you can spare the slots, grab Detect Magic for robo scanning.

For more substantive mechanics, you’ll have to Infuse Items over a long rest, creating two items from a choice of four blueprints, both of which will go up in number as you level up. Right now, I’d suggest grabbing Goggles of Night and Sending Stones for recon missions, an Enhanced Arcane Focus for better bullets later, and an Armor of Magical Strength for a suit of armor that can either add your intelligence modifier to strength checks and saves or prevent you from getting knocked prone. Doing either spends one of six charges, which partially get refilled at dawn.

Moving to the Armorer subclass dumps you into a proper heavy armor setup, but you can make it even more impressive by turning it into Arcane Armor. This lets you ignore the strength requirements for heavy armor (which you can wear now), and you can use the armor as a spellcasting focus. There’s also stuff about the armor being a part of you, but that’s already true thanks to being a warforged. As the guardian of Hungary you get the Guardian Model, which gives you cool Thunder Gauntlets that use your Intelligence to attack instead of your strength. Creatures that you punch this way have disadvantage against other creatures for a round. It can also produce a Defensive Field as a bonus action, giving you your level in temporary HP, up to Proficiency times per long rest. Finally, you get some free armorer spells to go along with your new outfit. Magic Missiles do a good job of standing in for bullets, and Thunderwave gives you a finale for your Breast Zero Erzsébet.

Your first Ability Score Improvement is going towards making your regular attacks even more powerful with the Crusher feat, rounding up your Strength and making your fists able to shove a creature they hit once per turn, moving a large or smaller creature 5′ away. Your critical hits also give all other attacks against that creature advantage. (Catapult is a save, so I don’t think they work together, but that’s a DM thing, I guess.)

Fifth level armorers get an Extra Attack per action, so you can make enemies taste both of your hands each turn. You also get second level spells, like Mirror Image to put together some cheap factory-made knockoffs to take damage for you and Shatter for more sound-based pain. You can also prepare spells like Levitate for your first taste of flight, Enlarge/Reduce to make yourself the giant mecha you were born to be, See Invisibility for more robo-scanners, and Pyrotechnics for some movie magic.

Sixth level artificers get Tool Expertise, doubling their proficiency with all proficient tools. Now you’ll be really good at clearing out a bar with your bagpipes. You also get two more Infusions, with one more up at a time. Some Resistant Armor will make you deaf to your own music with resistance to thunder damage, or you can customize it to block out plenty of other types, like acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, or thunder. Makes a great gift for the totem barbarians in your party! You also get a Spell-Refueling Ring, because pretty soon you’ll be flying, and the worst thing you can do while flying is run out of spell slots. As an action, you’ll recover a 3rd level or lower spell slot once per day.

At seventh level, your Flashes of Genius make your smarts even smarter, letting you add your intelligence modifier as a reaction to nearby checks or saves Intelligence Modifier times per long rest. You were literally built to do everything for your subjects, it only makes sense that you’d be good at it.

Use this ASI to bump up your Intelligence for stronger spells, stronger punches, and more flashes of genius. You take a little bit to get warmed up, but that’s true of most computers.

Ninth level armorers can make Armor Modifications, turning your armor into four items for the purpose of infusion, and you can infuse an extra 2 items specifically if they’re part of your armor. That’ll be really cool next level, but what’s really cool right now is your third level spells, including the freebies Hypnotic Pattern and Lightning Bolt. I would’ve preferred fireball, but we’ll take what we can get for big guns. You can also prepare spells like Fly to fly under your own power instead of awkwardly levitating like a balloon, Haste to overclock your computer, and Intellect Fortress to lord your superior brain over the fleshlings, giving you resistance to psychic damage, and advantage on intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saves.

When you hit tenth level you become a Magic Item Adept, partially because you’re a magic item. This means you get an extra attunement slot, and crafting common or uncommon items is a lot cheaper and faster. You also learn the Fire Bolt cantrip for more options from your guns. On top of all that, you get two more infusion blueprints, and can have one more made at a time. I’d pick up some Winged Boots for concentration free flight up to 4 hours a day, and a Helm of Awareness to give a creature advantage on initiative rolls and immunity to being surprised. You don’t really wear a helmet, but you give one to Guda during the valentines events, so now you can do that in game.

At eleventh level, you can make Spell-Storing Items at the end of a long rest, shoving a 1st or 2nd level artificer spell into a weapon or focus. A creature can cast that spell from the item up to twice your Intelligence modifier times, and it is as powerful as if you cat it yourself. You can only have one spell stored this way at a time.

I really wanted to multiclass into sorcerer this build, but to be honest the final level of artificer is too good to really pass up. So instead, use this ASI to become a Metamagic Adept, gaining two sorcery points and two ways to spend them. Most of your spells are really just part of your body, so a Subtle spell will make that more obvious by making the casting less obvious. You won’t need somatic or verbal components. Alternatively, you can use a Careful spell to turn your giant blasty spells into something slightly more controlled, automatically letting one creature make their save against the spell. You use a lot of firepower for a single-target NP.

Thirteenth level artificers get fourth level spells. Fire Shield and Greater Invisibility aren’t in character, but they are useful, and using useful things is in character. You can also cast spells like Stoneskin, which is an understatement if anything, Summon Construct or Fabricate to build extra Elis, and Arcane Eye for your very own security drone. I also recommend grabbing the glyph of warding from level 3 so you can fully stock your castle with summoned versions of yourself to attack intruders.

Fourteenth level artificers are Magic Item Savants, letting you ignore all restrictions for magic item use, and you can attune to five items at a time. You also get the Prestidigitation cantrip for easy 3d printing, and two more infusions, plus one more built at a time. Grab the Belt of Hill Giant Strength for a whopping 21 strength, and an Arcane Propulsion Arm for a proper rocket punch. That last one does come with a pretty hefty price though- you will have to chop an arm off to put this one on. (Your armor will replace the arm if you have to make space for another infusion though, so it’s not all bad.) Annoyingly, this arm also deals force damage for some fucking reason, so you can’t use crusher on this either. I’d let you just punch people normally though.

Fifteenth level armorers get their final goody, giving them Perfected Armor. Now your guardian model lets you spend a reaction to pull a huge or smaller creature closer to you at the end of its turn if it fails a strength save, and if it’s pulled into melee range you can wollop it as part of the reaction. You can do this Proficiency times per long rest. We’ll consider this a giant hand giving them a nudge in your direction.

Another ASI, use this one for more Intelligence. Now you have the strongest and most flashes, as well as super strong spells and force punches.

At seventeenth level you get fifth level spells, like the freebies Passwall and Wall of Force. Technically it’s invisible, but a giant hand cupping around you to block damage is totally possible. Speaking of giant hands, Bigby’s Hand lets you make a giant mecha hand that actually acts like a hand for once. Yes, we are fitting Mecha Eli’s bit from Las Vegas in here. You can also use Creation to make an exact copy of your body, and Animate Objects to bring it to life. It’s not as powerful as the original, but that’s what you get with factory-made goods.

Eighteenth level artificers are Magic Item Masters, letting you attune to six items at once. You also get another two blueprints with another one built at the same time, so unless you’re powerbuilding grab another Arcane Propulsion Arm for two rocket fists, and a Ring of Protection for a bonus to your AC and saves.

Use your last ASI to become Tough, for 38 extra HP right away and another two when you level up again. You are literally made of steel. Come on.

Your capstone level grants you a Soul of Artifice, which is pretty busted. You get a bonus to all saves equal to the number of magic items you’re attuned to, and if you would drop to 0 HP you can end one of your infusions instead, sticking around at 1 HP. We weren’t able to make your mass-production work out that well, but if you have to die 9 times to actually go down, I’d count that as extra copies.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

You’re hard as hell to kill. With your lowest save being a +6 and the ability to add 5 to any save you don’t like the look of, magic will just slide right off you. Plus, with an AC of 20, just over 200 HP, and temporary HP from the guardian model, you have a lot of health to chew through from martial classes as well.

And that’s assuming they can even hit you! Flight is awesome, giving you plenty of mobility to avoid most combatants entirely and rain down fists and hellfire from a safe distance.

This build is highly customizable, with tons of tricks and gadgets to swap out as the situation calls for them.

Cons:

You’re super reliant on magical items to protect you, so if you get caught up in an anti-magic field it won’t be fun. Like, most artificers will have an awkward fight, but you won’t have arms.

While you have a lot of infusion options, you can’t have all of them up at once. That means you’ll have to make hard decisions constantly, and basically predict the future each long rest.

Two of the feats we took aren’t really that great, and probably should have gone towards better stats. Crusher only works on your regular punches, which are outclassed by your magic weapons, and you only get two weak uses of Metamagic per day.

[raeynbowboi]

BnHA Crossover Class 1-A

I saw a post this morning about the Teen Titans in UA, and it got me thinking about the quirks that would be found with other characters, so I cobbled together a class of 20 students from popular media, and tried to either turn their existing powers into quirks, or gave them quirks. It was a lot of fun, and I’m thinking of doing a class 1-B as well.

Name: Dick Grayson Hero Alias: Robin Quirk: Deductive Reasoning When Dick touches things, he can deduce their origins. He can tell the sort of gun that made bullet holes, whether something was written with the right or left hand, the way a knife was held while attacking a victim, or the height and weight of a culprit by finding their footprint. This makes Dick an expert in criminal profiling.

Name: Koriand’r (Corey Anders) Hero Alias: Starfire Quirk: Heartfelt Koriand’r’s quirk relies heavily on her emotions. She must be feeling a certain way to make use of her quirk, and cannot summon her powers unless she feels that way. To fly, she must think happy thoughts. For super strength, she needs boundless confidence. And for her starbolts, she must have a righteous fury.

Name: Garfield Logan Hero Name: Beast Boy Quirk: Animal Kingdom Garfield can turn into any animal he has seen before, but he can only copy the features of the animal that he knows about. This can include extinct and fictitious animals, but in order to become those, he must understand their biology and genetic make-up. Creating wings is pointless if he doesn’t know how to make them aerodynamic. This also means he can’t produce a dragon’s fire breath unless he can figure out a biological process to achieve this. Due to a mutation quirk he inherited, Garfield and any animal he becomes are permanently green.

Name: Rachel Roth Hero Alias: Raven Quirk: Psychic Soul Rachel’s soul is a semi-conscious entity within her. It is highly sensitive to the presence and emotions of others, and due to its link to Rachel, allows her to feel these sensations through her soul. This means she can tell how many people are in an area, and what they’re feeling. She can send pieces of her soul out into objects, allowing her to lift them with her mind, giving her telekinetic powers, or she can project the soul itself to create platforms, forcefields, or a bird-shaped battering ram. She can even use her telekinesis to lift herself, floating through the air, or envelop herself in her own soul and pass through solid objects. She requires daily meditation to focus and sharpen her mind, or risk letting her psychic powers become destructive and untamed.

Name: Victor Stone Hero Alias: Cyborg Quirk: Mechanical Infusion Vic has the ability to fuse technology into his body, a quirk which saved his life after his sports team bus had an accident and he was almost a casualty. The hospital technology infused with his body, and kept him alive. Since then, he’s focused on upgrading and improving his cybernetic enhancements, with a wide variety of technological detachments and gadgets built into his body. But his pride and joy is the sonic cannon he designed himself. While he can infuse any machine into his body, he’d be a horrible mechanical blob if he didn’t know how to compartmentalize. He maintains his humanoid appearance by understanding how to fold and store things inside of himself to fit as much in without overstuffing himself.

Name: Ruby Rose Hero Alias: Black Rose Quirk: Petal Storm Ruby’s quirk allows her to turn her body into a scattering of rose petals that move at a windswept speed. The petals can separate to move around objects, but must come back together for her to take human form again.

Name: Weiss Schnee Hero Alias: Ice Queen Quirk: Fairydust Weiss’ body naturally produces Dust, primarily in the form of powder. She has outfitted her revolver rapier to turn this dust into a variety of magical attacks. With enough dust, she can even create glyphs, a stationary magical property whose effect varries by the kind of dust she uses.

Blake Belladonna Hero Alias: Noir Quirk: Copycat Blake can leave a shadow duplicate of herself to take a hit for her. She can launch herself off the clones as well. However, the clones are not solid and cannot hit enemies for her. Instead they disappear after being hit by anything.

Yang Xiao Long Hero Alias: Dragonfire Quirk: Burn When Yang takes damage, it builds up in her muscles, allowing her to retaliate with tremendous strength. Her quirk causes her body to produce flames when angry, and she can shoot these flames with her punches, but not her kicks.

Name: Steven Universe Hero Alias: Pink Diamond Quirk: Gemstone Steven has a gemstone in his belly, which allows him to summon a shield made of hard light, and lets him give sentience to plants, as well as heal injuries and repair inorganic material. He can even merge himself with another person, creating a hybrid that shares a combination of their quirks.

Name: Aang Hero Alias: Avatar Aang Quirk: Force of Nature Aang has the ability to manipulate air, water, fire, or rocks within his vascinity. He has the greatest control over Air, but can manipulate the others as well. When he bends all four at once, Aang becomes able to tap into the raw power of nature itself, and awakens his full power, but becomes destructive and uncontrollable when he does so.

Name: Katara Hero Alias: Arctic Fox Quirk: Waterbending Katara can manipulate water, snow, and ice near her. Her body is highly acclimated to the cold, and with practice she can even create water by drawing moisture from the air and plants. She can even control the water inside of living things, but she doesn’t like using this unless she feels she has to.

Name: Sokka Hero Alias: White Wolf Quirk: Pack Tactics Sokka’s natural senses are hightened to the skill of a wolf’s, especially his hearing and smelling. This natural mutation quirk he inherited from his father makes him a master tracker. Sokka’s physical abilities improve when he’s around other people. As such, Sokka tends to avoid one-on-one fights if he can help it.

Name: Toph Beifong Hero Alias: Blind Bandit Quirk: Earthbending Toph can manipulate the earth underfoot, and bend it to her will. Her connection to Earth has become so finetuned that Toph can feel the vibrations of things in the ground and relay those signals to the entirety of her body. Because of this, she can see in 360 degrees, and detect small details others easily overlook.

Name: Zuko Hero Alias: Blue Spirit Quirk: Firebending Zuko can produce flames from his body when he uses proper martial arts form. However, he is highly disciplined in combat that doesn’t use his quirk, being a master in stealth and infiltration tactics. He is trained in the use of twin dao swords. His family is a prominent superpowered mafia, with his father being a notorious crime lord kingpin. Zuko applied to UA in secret, and covers for his absence by claiming to be undercover.

Name: Lance McClain Hero Name: Sharpshooter Quirk: Eagle Eye Lance’s quirk gives him extremely focused ocular perception, which makes his use of a stun gun highly effective. Lance’s gun has a built in freeze ray that turns his bullets into ice pellets. He has some skill with a sword and carries one in case he needs it, but due to his focus on ranged combat, he’s at a disadvantage once melee combatants get within close range of him.

Name: Keith Kogane Hero Alias: Yurak Quirk: Galran Keith’s appearance becomes more animalistic as he becoems angry, turning purple and developing feline-like traits. This includes the growth of fangs, claws, and animalistic eyes. This form is faster and stronger than his base human form. Keith is also very adept with a sword, carrying one into battle.

Name: Katie Holt Hero Alias: Pidge Quirk: Hacker Any technology Katie comes into contact with, she can rewire and reprogram. Because of this, Katie always has a stash of robotic drones to aid her in her field work. She had a promising future in the Support course, but she insisted on pursuing the hero course at UA.

Name: Hunk Garrett Alias: Gourmand Quirk: Iron Stomach Hunk is a walking tank whose body can dampen the damage he takes. This natural defense is increased when he eats. Especially when he eats good food. Certain spices and flavors also give him other temporary bonus features, such as spicy food dampening heat and fire damage, or mixed drinks letting him breathe underwater for a short time. He can even store energy in his stomach and fire it like a projectile, but this tires him out and makes him hungry.

Name: Allura Hero Name: Supernova Quirk: Alchemy Allura has a number of magical abilities she can perform, such as healing, creating blasts of magic, and other such magical things. Allura is skilled with a bo staff and primarily uses a segmented whip-sword. Her father was killed by a supervillain, and Allura swore she would become a hero in order to avenge his death.

[rwby-ask-central]

RWBY VOL8EP12 SPOILERS

I WAS RIGHT

I called that Penny would turn into a real girl. I called them using emerald’s semblance against ironwood. I called them dealing with the people in the Crater. I called that Robin & Qrow met Winter in the elevator. I KNEW it would work out.

I was wrong....

Unfortunately, Jaques is still alive...but hey, at least Winter didn’t want it this way. I guess he does need to serve his time and be punished for his actions, tho I would argue death a viable one at the point. I was wrong that Winter & Weiss would clash. And I was wrong that Winter would kill James. At least, not yet, if ever.

James

He got Blindsided. It was an amazing trick by the gang. And I’d like to see how they set it all up. He got STOMPED. But he also put up a pretty good fight given the circumstances. I don’t think the jail is going to hold him. He’s tough. We saw what happened against Watts. Although it was only his arm and it took everything out of him. He needed serious medical help afterwards. I don’t think he’ll let any of that stop him.

The Staff

I wasn’t expecting a spirit. I’m not really sure WHAT I was expecting. But it’s definitely safe to say that the spirit is a HIMBO. He’s taller than Jinn. I’m not into that either but DAMN he got a good shape. It’s strange. I had to think over the wishes to fully understand how Penny got to be human permanently, but I got it. I’m surprised the staff doesn’t have a cool down, or some limit. Also, it seems the spirits inside the artifacts don’t comprehend time as the outside does. The spirit seemed to think quite a lot of time had passed, as he seemed surprised to see the girls again. I wonder if Jinn works the same way? But then why wasn’t she surprised to see Ruby again? Oh well. It all worked out...for now...

Cinder

So I can’t even guess what Cinder is up to? Obviously, she wants to surprise them. But it’s not like her style. She hasn’t been stealthy for some time. She hasn’t been quiet in some time. It’s like SHES got something to prove. She wouldn’t be one to just take the relics and run. She wants to fight. Unless Neo or Watts are the masterminds behind this one, I’m confused. I guess the better question is, does Cinder even need the maiden power since the artifact has been removed? Does Salem need the powers for a purpose? Or are they just to secure the vaults? Maybe both. We’ll see.

The Warning

“Don’t FALL”. What does it mean? It’s vague and ominous. I have a theory that maybe if the powers are STOLEN and not transferred that the vaults don’t actually materialize? I have no idea how that would work, but it would explain why Salem couldn’t find the vault under Beacon? And it would cause an issue for the people they’re rescuing...more importantly, I want to know what the giant orb was when the doorways opened...how does it work? What is it for? Where is it? Does Salem know about that place/object?

Penny

It’s adorable to see Penny as a person now...but I have a question? How can she defend herself? She’s a new maiden. Not like Raven or Cinder. She doesn’t know how to materialize weapons or control her powers well, if at all. Not being a robot means her swords are gone, she can’t detect danger, she can’t fly, or not in the same way. She can’t detect danger. Combat wise, she’s at a substantial disadvantage. I have a feeling that Cinder might use that to her advantage.

Communications Down

Was this Watt’s doing? Or maybe Atlas being in the sky was acting as some sort of pseudo-tower, allowing local kingdom wide communication? I doubt it was Watts. With the equipment he has, no resources, no access, and no idea of THIS plan, he couldn’t have acted that fast. Could he?

Help

I still think Help is on the way. Possibly Raven. I still have my hopes up for a redemption arc, but I doubt it. Maybe Tai will show up and make some small plot point helping up locate summer? I’m not sure. I have a feeling that all the parents will be showing up to this one.

Wrap up

I’ll be posting a sort of “final theories” post, just to give me thoughts before the finale. It should be the last post for a while, while I work on my volume 8 meme video and think about the show. I really liked this episode. It was mostly wholesome. One think I’ll remind everyone, the last things we see in the opening are the Apathy arms, the phrase “happy never again”, and fallen weapons. Namely, Ruby’s Scythe. This could just be a choice of aesthetics, as cresent Rose is Iconic. But we do see everyone’s weapon at some point. And just a reminder, Monty wrote 10 seasons of story. So either we have 2 season left to wrap up the show...or Miles & Keri (and the others) made some changes/additions/stretched out the show. We’ll see.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Isaac the Time-Traveling Archaeologist build (Skullgirls)

(Artwork by Lab Zero games)

Skullgirls was the first fighting game I ever really properly got into. With a memorable cast of Roaring 20s-designed characters (Bae-owulf <3) and very solid fighting game mechanics the game is a blast to play for players of all skill levels. Probably the most memorable part about Skullgirls has to be its cast: despite having only 14 playable characters they all feel distinct and have unique personalities which make them memorable. (Granted the exception of Fukkua who was mostly made as a joke.)

But the non-player characters are equally memorable: Lab Zero’s orphaned scientific misfits, Ben’s old police force, the Canopy Kingdom’s democracy... and Stanley! While these characters are expanded a great deal in the mobile release they were still lovable additions to the cast. But the character who stood out the most for me was Isaac. DLC character 29, his theoretical time travel kit was truly unique and I’m really sad that we didn’t get to try Isaac as a fighter (we got Beowulf instead which I can’t complain about, but I could honestly do without Eliza thanks) and only got a mention of Isaac in one of the story modes. (No spoilers.)

Ever since the inclusion of the Archivist subclass in the Artificer UA I had a concept in my mind to recreate Isaac using that subclass. Naturally you can imagine my disappointment when Archivist was not included in Eberron: Rising from the Last War. But thankfully with the release of Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount we get the Echo Knight subclass which was exactly what I was looking for! And with a time travel theme no less? With the ability to create time clones I can finally make Isaac a reality: this was one of the builds I made this Tumblr for and I’m super excited to finally be able to publish it!

GOALS

Infinite Timelines - The core of Isaac’s kit was going to be based on summoning clones to fight for him, which we now have a class for in 5e!

Power Glove - Isaac is a smart cookie with theonite-powered inventions giving him the upper hand.

いち びょう けいか - Isaac is of course a time traveler, so we’re going to need some time traveling powers.

RACE

While never specified I’m pretty sure Isaac is a human, but that being said some variations can be taken for a time traveler... Screw Variant Human though we’re going for Eberron races because I’m a hipster like that! Originally I considered Mark of Passage humans for a one-time time traveler Misty Step but ultimately I decided on Mark of Sentinel as it fits the theme of an all-known time traveler far better. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1, and you Sentinel’s Intuition allowing you to add a d4 to Insight or Perception checks because of course you’ve been to the future and know the truth about people and where things are already.

You also get Guardian’s Shield letting you cast a Theonite Shield once per Long Rest, and you get the Vigilant Guardian ability which will let you swap places with a nearby ally if they’re going to get hit by a weapon attack: blocking a projectile is a good use of an assist too! You also get a language of your choice along with Common as a human and I’d suggest Giant to talk to your partner, but of course pick whatever you please.

ABILITY SCORES

15; INTELLIGENCE - You need to be a smart cookie to time travel, and we’re going to be using Intelligence for a lot of our features.

14; DEXTERITY - This is primarily because I like even ability scores and we need this to multiclass.

13; WISDOM - Seeing as our Wisdom is increased by our racial traits we may as well get it at a 14, and professor badass would know basic medical procedures as well as the history of the Canopy Kingdom.

12; CONSTITUTION - Extra bulk is always nice when some washed-up wrestler is hitting you with a folding chair, and we also need Constitution for our skills as well.

10; CHARISMA - Isaac has a degree of rough charm: he wears the vest well but that hair isn’t doing him any favors.

8; STRENGTH - We simply don’t need this for the build and your partner handled most of the brute forcing.

BACKGROUND

Isaac is stated in-lore to be an Archaeologist and luckily there’s a background for it in Tomb of Annihilation! You get History proficiency and I’d personally swap the Survival proficiency with Arcana since we can’t get it as easily otherwise. You can also choose between either Cartographer’s Tools or Navigator’s Tools: I opted for the former but honestly either of them work. You also choose one exotic language of your choice and again: pick whatever you think is useful.

Your feature Historical Knowledge lets you use some of your Indiana Jones skills to determine the original purpose of any ruin you enter, who built it, and if any artifacts you find are valuable. Fortune and glory kid.

(Artwork by MagicBunnyArt on DeviantArt)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - FIGHTER 1

Starting off as a Fighter primarily for their saving throws. You get two skills from the Fighter list: I’d recommend Athletics to compensate for your low Strength score but you can honestly choose whatever for your second skill. (I chose Perception personally.)

Fighters get a Fighting Style of their choice and while Unarmed Fighting from the Class Feature Variants UA would make sense for a fighting game character we’ll be getting some time-travel boxing gloves shortly so I’d opt for Defense instead for an increase to AC. (Dueling is also a good choice if you want more offense instead of defense.) You also get Second Wind, letting you sit in the back and regenerate red health equal to 1d10 + your fighter level once per short rest.

I will quickly mention that as a Fighter you get a choice between either Leather Armor or Chain Mail in your starting equipment and I’d recommend taking the Chain Mail. Yes you can’t wear it because of your Strength score so see if you can also grab some Medium armor before you head out but that chainmail is going to serve us well shortly.

LEVEL 2 - ARTIFICER 1

The real starting class of this build is Artificer, and we only really took level 1 in Fighter for proficiency in Strength saves. Regardless Artificers get Magical Tinkering which lets them do some theonite tinkering on non-magical objects: I recommend reading the feature yourself to see what it can do, because you can do it a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Artificers also get access to Spellcasting. You get two cantrips of your choice: Fire Bolt is a simple Quarter-Circle-Forward Punch to shoot a projectile at your enemies, doing 1d10 fire damage and lighting flammable objects on fire. Guidance will let you give a mentorly pat-on-the-back to your Gigan partner, letting them add a d4 to an ability check.

For your leveled spells Artificers are prepared spellcasters, meaning they can swap their spells out on a long rest. Regardless the spells I’d prepare would be Cure Wounds to regenerate some red health and Detect Magic to locate any  theonite reserves in the ruins you’re exploring.

LEVEL 3 - ARTIFICER 2

Second level Artificers can Infuse Items: you know 4 total Infusions and can have two active at a time.

A Bag of Holding will help you carry that chainmail I told you to grab.

Enhanced Defenses will let you block a little more damage when block.

A Rope of Climbing will help you while spelunking, and speaking of spelunking a Wand of Secrets will help you find any hidden rooms or trap doors in the ruins you’re exploring.

But remember that the key to Artificer is picking infusions that your party will find useful! Pick a good assist, or else you’d be better working solo. You can also prepare another spell and Identify will let you further identify anything you find in a ruin... duh.

LEVEL 4 - ARTIFICER 3

3rd level Artificers have The Right Tool for the Job, letting them make a set of artisan’s tools over the course of an hour. But more importantly you get Artificer Speciality and the Armorer Unearthed Arcana subclass is perfect for an inventor with a heavy time gauntlet.

Armorers get Power Armor, or as I call them power fists. You can wear Heavy Armor regardless of its Strength requirement (which is good because your Strength is poo poo garbage) as it merges with your body and can’t be removed against your will.

You can choose between two different models of Power Armor and the Guardian armor will give you a dragon punch! Your fists count as Thunder Gauntlets and do a d8 thunder damage on hit, and causes enemies you hit to have disadvantage on attacks against targets other than you until the start of your next turn. You can also create a Defensive Field as a Bonus Action to get a number of temporary hitpoints equal to your level in Artificer: remember that blocking is as good as attacking!

IF UA ISN’T ALLOWED: This build honestly works fine with Battle Smith instead of Armorer since all we really need is the ability to use Intelligence to attack. We have enough Dexterity for you to wear Medium armor instead of using the Battle Smith’s Heavy Armor. The only reason for the Armorer multiclass is that I wanted punching gauntlets instead of a robot dog.

If you’re going to play Battle Smith instead take a bludgeoning weapon (IE a flail, warhammer, or maul) and flavor them as your punchy gauntlet. A maul does more damage but can’t be used with a shield, so it’s a great option if you want harder hits but less defense.

You can also cast your Artificer spells through the Power Armor, which is neat since Armorers get the Magic Missile and Shield spells innately.

LEVEL 5 - ARTIFICER 4

Taking level 4 in Artificer for an Ability Score Improvement, or rather the Linquist Feat to be able to gather information no matter what part of the world you’re in. Along with a plus one to your Intelligence score you learn three languages of your choice (pick whatever you think will be useful) and can write ciphers. A creature can only decode your messages if you teach them the code or if they succeed an Intelligence check equal to your Intelligence plus your proficiency bonus, so Scythana won’t be reading your research papers.

With the increase to Intelligence and the level up you can prepare two more Artificer spells: Feather Fall is useful to stop you from having a ground-bounce so your opponent can extend their combo, and Farie Fire can open up an enemy for a high hit if they’re blocking low.

LEVEL 6 - ARTIFICER 5

Ah screw it may as well take another level in Armorer to get your Extra Attack already. You can punch twice now in a combo: woo hoo!

You can also cast second level Artificer spells now: Armorers can innately cast Mirror Image and Shatter, and you can prepare second level spells from the Artificer list which I’ll discuss later.

LEVEL 7 - FIGHTER 2

Bouncing back to Fighter now; level 2 Fighters get Action Surge, letting them take one additional action in combat once per short rest. Extend that combo with some time stop! WRYYYYYYYYYYY!

LEVEL 8 - FIGHTER 3

Third level Fighters get to choose their Martial Archetype and woo boys there it is: Echo Knight! Echo Knights can Manifest Echoes of themselves from the future as a bonus action. You can put a single echo down 15 feet away from you which lasts until its destroyed, you dismiss it, you make another echo, or you’re incapacitated and unable to send yourself into the past.

The echo has an AC of 14 plus your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point (don’t worry you won’t feel it if your future self gets hit... which presents some weird paradox problems), and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It’s the same size as you and occupies a space. On your turn you can make the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction without using an action but if your echo is more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn it is destroyed.

You have several things you can do with your echo:

You can swap places with your echo with 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you. Clearly it’s just you time traveling to where your future self is.

Any attack you make with that action can originate from the echo’s space if you choose to do so.

When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo’s space.

You can use Unleash Incarnation to make one additional attack from your Echo’s location when you take the attack action, adding up to 3 attacks total. You can use Unleash Incarnation a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier.

LEVEL 9 - FIGHTER 4

Talk about a lot from one level huhn? Well all you’re getting from this level is +2 to your Intelligence with an Ability Score Improvement.

(Artwork by Pantalewns on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 10 - ARTIFICER 6

May as well grab level 6 in Artificer now for more Infusions! A Radiant Weapon attachment on your gauntlets will let you use them as a flashlight which can blind enemies that hit you! A Repulsion Shield meanwhile will let you push block an enemy that attacks you. Both these items take your reaction yes, and you have Shield for Reactions as well. But remember that these are just suggestions and you’re more than welcome to build other Infusions that will help your party.

You can also prepare a lot more spells now: two total with your levels and your Intelligence, but I will be suggesting 3 since we’ll get one more spell from an Intelligence increase later on and you’re a prepared spellcaster anyways so you can swap out your spells whenever.

Enhance Ability will let you provide an assist outside of combat, aiding your allies with checks and providing them other boosts.

Heat Metal will let you put a DoT on your opponent while you fight: more of Valentine’s thing but it helps!

Magic Weapon will let you punch a little harder, turning your Radiant Fists from a +1 weapon to a +2!

I again need to reiterate that Artificers are prepared spellcasters, so remember to swap out your spells when you need them!

LEVEL 11 - WIZARD 1

Speaking of prepared spellcasters oh god it’s Wizard. Welcome to the first use of Wizard on this blog and don’t worry: we have a lot more Wizards coming after Wildemount, which scares me because I don’t play Wizards. Anyways Wizards get some more spellcasting: Mending will let you repair any chains your partner might break, and Message will let you chat with her privately. Finally Mage Hand will let your future self reach out and grab something for you in the moment. Did I just pick the three cantrips that were right beside each-other on the massive list of Wizard cantrips? Yes, but that doesn’t mean these spells aren’t good.

Sapping Sting is also worth a mention as a Dunamancy-specific cantrip that causes your opponent to trip! Remember: gay tripping is gay.

Speaking of spells you learn two Wizard spells whenever you level up, and can add more spells to your spellbook if you find them on a spell scroll. Regardless Wizards have a big list of spells they can learn so uhhhhh...

Fog Cloud is ideal for a getaway, letting Scythana kick up a cloud of dust to heavily obscure the area.

Tenser’s Floating Disk is perfect for any spelunker, as it lets you create a three foot diameter theonite disk to carry up to 500 pounds of artifacts you discover.

You also get Arcane Recovery, letting you recover a level 1 spell slot on a short rest. More uses of Shield; neato!

LEVEL 12 - WIZARD 2

Ultimately the reason for the Wizard multiclass was to get some more time manipulation powers from the Chronurgy Magic subclass from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. That’s right we’re using two Wildemount subclasses; rejoice Critters! Chronurgists have Temporal Awareness, letting them add their Intelligence modifier to their Initiative rolls which is nice because your Dexterity is only a +2, and this will bump Initiative to a +6.

You also get Chronal Shift: when you or a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can use your reaction to force the creature to reroll after you see whether the roll succeeds or fails. You can use this reaction twice per long rest, so don’t meddle with the timeline unless its absolutely neccessary!

You also learn two more 1st level Wizard spells at this level:

You should be able to afford a 50 gp diamond by this point, right? Well Chromatic Orb will let you shoot a more powerful fireball at an enemy for 3d8 damage... or an ice ball. Or an acid ball!

Gift of Alacrity is a Chronurgy-specific spell so you may as well take it, as you can speed up time for an ally and give them a d8 to their initiative. Just remember that the spell does take some time to cast!

Oh god Wizards are overwhelming. Remember: you can get more spells if you find them in scrolls, which is good because right now you can prepare more spells than you have. Also if you have the chance see if you can find a Spellshard instead of a spellbook, just to keep the Theonite shard themeing.

LEVEL 13 - FIGHTER 5

Good god Wizard never again. It’s just straight through Fighter now, though it’s not like Echo Knight is an easy class either. 5th level Fighters get an Extra Attack... that you already have.

LEVEL 14 - FIGHTER 6

6th level Fighters get an Ability Score Improvement: max out your Intelligence for maximum damage with your gauntlets and your spellcasting.

LEVEL 15 - FIGHTER 7

7th level Echo Knights get Echo Avatar. As an action you can see and hear through your echo instead of your own senses. During this time you are deafened and blinded and you can see through your echo for up to 10 minutes. You can end it at any time without using an action and you can be up to 1000 feet away from your echo while using this action. Clearly you were just there the whole time, and are telling your allies what you saw.

It should be mentioned that technically you can teleport up to 1000 feet while using this ability, making it great for infiltration. Just saying!

LEVEL 16 - FIGHTER 8

8th level Fighters get another Ability Score Improvement and we’re going to improve our Constitution so that we can get back up when a detective with tuba lungs does a JoJo impression on us.

LEVEL 17 - FIGHTER 9

Level 9 Fighters get Indomitable, letting them reroll a saving throw once per long rest. Reminder that you have two rerolls that you can use on anything with Chronal Shift, and now you have one saving throw you can reroll for yourself. Turn back the clock if you get hit because life isn’t worth wasting seconds.

LEVEL 18 - FIGHTER 10

Level 10 Echo Knights get Shadow Martyr. As a reaction you can cause your echo to teleport in front of an ally you see being attacked and make them take the blow instead. Your echo appears within 5 feet of the ally and the attack is directed towards them, and you can use this reaction once per short rest. Remember to spend the next turn going back in time to save your friend: and don’t get hit when you do!

LEVEL 19 - FIGHTER 11

Level 11 Fighters get an Extra Attack that actually goes above and beyond regular Extra Attacks, so now you have three attacks total! Rejoice!

LEVEL 20 - FIGHTER 12

The final level is the 12th level of Fighter for your last Ability Score Improvement and you’re going to want to increase Constitution again for a 20 health boost at the end of the build.

(Artwork by MagicBunnyArt on DeviantArt)

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Hang on to your hat - A good Constitution modifier and most of your levels in Fighter means a health bar that’s very close to 200, and you have a positive saving throw score in everything except for Charisma with the ability to reroll up to three failed saves.

I'm all there is of the most real - Have I ever mentioned that Artificer is dumb when it comes to AC? 21 AC with just chainmail and a shield being both improved, and up to 23 AC if you get your hands on Full Plate. Even if your DM doesn’t let you wear Heavy armor because “Armorer is OP” a Breastplate will still give you 21 AC if you also use a shield. (18 without a shield.)

Bad puppies! (Good puppies) - You are great no matter where the enemy is with three Thunder Gauntlet attacks in melee range, several spells to use at range, and your echoes to let you teleport around and effectively be in two places at once.

CONS

Smart Cookie - Even though you’re a professor you’re not the most talented. You know hella-lot about History and Arcana but your Perception is about average and your Athletics leaves something to be desired.

Push Block - You’ve got a few too many options in combat with four different Bonus Actions (one of which is one-time use and one of which is only used at the start of the fight to be fair) and Reactions for Shadow Martyr, Chronal Shift,  Vigilant Guardian, Opportunity Attacks from you or your Echo, and reactionary spells like Shield and Feather Fall. The problem with infinite timelines is that there’s infinite options to choose from.

Seconds count - A lot of your abilities have a limited number of uses, and while some of them (Second Wind, Shadow Martyr, Action Surge) come back on a short rest a lot more of them (Spell Slots, Chronal Shift, Vigilant Guardian, Arcane Recovery, Indomitable, Unleash Incarnation) only come back after a long rest.

But infinite foresight means you won’t be caught without a plan, even if you don’t have the Foresight spell. Throw a punch or ten at a zombie cat-girl and then tap out and rest up. And do get your partner out of jail: someone needs to carry your equipment.

(Artwork by Kitty-Katskratch on DeviantArt.)

[fandom-necromancer]

Let’s write together: Heart Reset

Chapter 2 - Data and Dragons

Featuring:

@sparklingrainbowdragon (‘s mom) with "Today, like every other day, the unicorns are running free." @rufina72 with “God damn, just move your- OW! Quit stomping on my feet already!”, “And here I thought it would be a disadvantage that you were so short, detective!”, “Our boys jumping/climbing out of a window” and “A very determined spider!” @aurea-b with “gargoyle” @sparklingrainbowdragon with “A dragon”

[Chapter1]

-

It had been early morning the next day that Jerry had send Nines more information. Apparently, their theory of their suspects meeting in the medieval part of the park had been correct. Jerry had reported several people arriving at the park, all of them masked but otherwise disregarding the cameras completely. Due to the park being abandoned, no one cared about them and Jerry kept them stationary. That was enough for Nines and Gavin to head out. If they wanted to prepare anything they had to do so now, not when everything was in place. They had informed Hank of their plan, who told them that backup would be ready and in place on their signal if they needed it.

Now they were walking through the trees on the edge of the areal until they got to the fence. Nines had taken a wire-cutter with him, although he didn’t need it in the end. The fence had been trampled to the ground and didn’t really pose as a barrier anymore. Nines left the tool behind a tree and followed Gavin onto the park grounds. They soon found one of the paths connecting different rides and shops. All buildings were designed to look like castles or village huts, and everything was heavily overgrown. Gavin kept him back as he was about to walk onto the path to look around for any sign of humans. ‘Hey, Nines, look over there.’ Nines followed his finger to discover a huge castle that for once actually looked to not be covered in mock-up stone. ‘If I knew one thing about Jayden, it is that he likes to be overly dramatic. Every chance to pretend to be a Rockstar he would take. I bet he would choose the biggest phcking building there is.’ ‘Well, it’s worth a shot. We have four more hours until the data is lost.’

They kept behind the buildings walking towards the castle that was at least four stories high. The next time they had to stop it was Nines who kept Gavin back. >Three persons at the crossroad, he displayed on his hand, pointing into the direction of them as soon as Gavin had read it and deactivated the screen. He listened intently to them talking, hoping to get some more intel. At the same time, he displayed what he heard for Gavin.

‘Why did he have to come so soon, I don’t understand. I mean… this place is creepy man.’ ‘Idiot, he is checking for traps. Ever since he fucked that Detective, he is paranoid as hell.’ ‘Doesn’t mean we have to be here, too.’ ‘You are getting paid for it, stop complaining.’ ‘Exactly. Easy money for patrolling an abandoned park. Besides who the hell knows of it anyway? Just a day spent outside going for a walk.’ ‘Still can’t wait until they are done in there.’

Gavin plucked at his sleeve grinning triumphantly. Okay, so maybe he had been right with the castle, it wasn’t as if Nines had been doubting him. He just shrugged and gestured him to follow. They snuck up to the entrance of the castle, a sign with flaking colour telling them this had been a haunted castle once stuffed with the newest robotic technologies. Nines looked up at it frowning, but in the end, they weren’t here for the attraction itself, but for the data Browns would sell here. Gavin pulled him to an employee’s entrance that led into the foyer. Apparently, the visitors had only been allowed inside in small groups at a time. Inside, Nines took over, leading Gavin through the hidden tunnels for the staff. There were enough hidden windows and maintenance doors that they could spy into the adjacent rooms in relative safety. They traversed nearly the complete first floor, until they got to the “throne room”. In sudden excitement, Gavin slapped his side, pulling him over to the one-way-mirror. ‘That’s the asshole’, Gavin hissed quietly, and Nines proceeded to scan him. Gavin was right. There was Jayden Browns, walking around the table, looking underneath it and inspecting the whole room.  Nines took the throne room in, comparing it to his blueprints. ‘Gavin, I need you to hide over there’, he whispered pointing to a little hidden hatch in the wall that would without a doubt be connected to some character appearing during the performance to scare the visitors. ‘Are you kidding me?’, Gavin hissed. ‘No way I will fit in there!’ Nines just smiled at him. ‘Oh, you will fit just fine, trust me.’ ‘Urgh, fine.’ ‘And here I thought it would be a disadvantage that you were so short, detective!’ ‘Phck you. Why there?’ ‘This room has two escape routes. One towards the entrance and one that leads to the rest of the tour. We need people at both sides to intercept him when surprising him.’ Gavin nodded. ‘Anything else?’ ‘Wait for my signal.’

He sighed, before turning and following the maintenance tunnel to the hatch. He pulled up the cover and was greeted with a small compartment housing what looked like it had once been a ghost puppet and a ton of spiderwebs. Gavin whined, hesitating to climb in there, but looking at his watch to see whether he had enough time to find a better spot he realised, it was nearly seven pm. He grimaced, before lowering himself inside and crawling over the puppet to the front. Thankfully, not one of the spiderwebs were still in use. At least Gavin told himself that. He crawled to the forefront of the compartment, laying his head on the floor to spy through the slit into the room behind it. He looked for Nines but couldn’t see the android anywhere. But he trusted that he saw him when the time was right. Now it was time to wait.

He had always hated waiting, but at least this time it wasn’t too long. Apparently whoever Jayden wanted to sell the data to surprised him. ‘You are early’, his voice suddenly broke the silence and Gavin flinched. God, he had forgotten how much he hated that guy. ‘Do you have the stick?’ ‘Right here. Do you have the money?’ ‘How do I know it works?’

Gavin tried to get a good look at the other man that spoke but found himself distracted by a movement at the corner of his eye. A spider, steadily crawling towards him. He blew the little creature further away from him, but as soon as it had regained its footing it crawled towards him again. Gavin focussed the two men talking again, side-eyeing the spider and pushing it back again and again. Shocked he found that he had gained some attention by sending a small dust cloud out under the hatch. He froze, watching how the shoes of the second man had turned towards him. But a moment later the man changed his stance as he disregarded it. Gavin sighed in relief, only to feel something crawling over his hand. He couldn’t explain his reaction properly except with the utterly idiotic instinct to get away from the tiny creature, screaming and wriggling himself out of that compartment without thinking about it.

That was how he found himself standing in the throne room being stared at by the two people, Jayden with his hand outstretched, a phone in hand for the other one to see. Reacting immediately, he pulled out his gun and shouted ‘DPD, freeze, the park is surrounded. Hands up where I can see them!’

But despite his quick call, they didn’t freeze at all, instead doing the exact opposite: They drew their guns, Jayden shouting for his men before shooting at him. He was ready to regret his fear of spiders dearly, but the bullet never reached him, Nines jumping in the path out of nowhere. The android saw the oncoming goons, the two guns ready for another shot and decided they wouldn’t be able to stop them alone. He took Gavin by the jacket and pulled him with him, only for the stubborn Detective to dive to the ground, where Jayden had let his phone fall. Nines allowed it, helping him back to his feet and sprinting towards the exit Gavin had been supposed to guard.

‘What was that supposed to be?’, Nines shouted as they left through it, running for their lives. ‘I’m sorry!’, Gavin gasped. ‘Phcking spiders!’ ‘Doesn’t matter now, run! I’ll call in Hank and his backup waiting outside.’ They ran up the stairs to the second floor and Nines was almost carrying Gavin the way he hauled him up to help catch up with his bigger steps. They ran past animatronic knights and witches, ghosts and undead kings, all hanging in their more or less intact machinery, until they reached a larger room that looked like some sort of medieval bedroom. Nines milled over their options, deciding quickly to pull open a large wardrobe and pushing first Gavin then himself inside, closing it just in time not to be seen by the goons storming inside. ‘God damn, just move your- OW! Quit stomping on my feet already!’, Gavin complained, before Nines could push his hand over his mouth. Because unfortunately, the men had decided to search the room instead of running past them.

‘What do we do know?’, Gavin asked and Nines just grinned. ‘This is a haunted castle. Let’s scare them a bit and cause a distraction. The android pulled off a panel on the back wall of the wardrobe and interfacing with the touchscreen behind it. Only a few seconds later music started playing tinny and distorted. Then a voice from a woman coming from the bed. It sounded like she was reading a bedtime story. ‘Today, like every other day, the unicorns are running free. But it wasn’t always like that-‘ ‘Oh, come on, skip to the good part’, Nines mumbled, followed by metallic screeching and what sounded like plastic being crushed. ‘Oops.’ ‘What did you do, Nines?’, Gavin asked slightly panicked. ‘I set the program to ten times the normal speed, but apparently it wasn’t made for that. We might get a bit more chaos than I wanted…’ ‘What do you mean by tha-‘ ‘Out, now!’

Nines pulled him outside just at the right moment. A second later and a large plastic gargoyle from the opposite window would have crushed them, being flung inside by a robotic arm that had never been supposed to withstand such momentum. The whole room was in chaos. The robot mother that had read the bedtime story was up in flames and screeching, the princess was shaking inside the bed, sitting up and falling back down repeatedly. The walls crumbled and rebuild themselves while a cacophony of at least three songs playing at once rung in their ears. As doors on the opposite side banged open for a dragon’s head to emerge and roar, Nines knew that they wouldn’t be able to continue this route. ‘Nines, you are right! This is too much chaos!’ At least the goons were distracted. Distracted by running down as fast as they could, as the fire from the robot mother began to spread. ‘Phck, Nines, where do we go?’ The android seemed lost himself, but caught himself, running to a window and leaning outside. Gavin, realising what Nines was thinking about, took a step back. ‘Oh no, Nines, not happening. You are insane! I’m not phcking jumping out of-’ But the android had taken him by the arm already, running full speed at the window and taking Gavin with him. They fell from the second floor and down towards a decorative moat. There was no bracing the impact, only the cold water suddenly encasing them. Gavin briefly panicked, as he tried to swim to the surface but having Nines still clinging to him and pulling him down. Thankfully it wasn’t that deep, and he quickly realised what Nines was planning, as they reached the bottom and the android near catapulted them out with one powerful kick. They emerged near the shore and climbed up the muddy hill to the trees again. They looked back up to the burning fake castle and Gavin pulled algae from his shoulder before swiping at his eyes.

‘Well, not how I expected the day to end, but not many can say they burned down an amusement park?’ He chuckled and Nines couldn’t help but smile at the sentiment. ‘Let’s just hope Hank caught our suspects.’

[>next chapter]

[lyricalive]

A soul is an electric force, full of potential energy.

——Can we find souls in unlikely places, and set them into motion?

中古技術 〜 Electric Spirit Seance

#01  Lullaby of a Deserted Hell

From a bird's-eye view, the figures of two sprightly maidens would appear like dolls amidst the surrounding range of artificial mountains, a stunning silvery wasteland.

The taller of the two small-looking girls, Maribel Hearn (Merry) planted her hands on her hips as she surveyed the junk that encircled them in all directions.

   – "I can't believe you managed to convince me to go dumpster-diving.  Is this a step up or down from graverobbing?"

   – "We didn't rob anything from the graveyard.  I definitely want to find something worth taking from here, though."

   – "So this is a step down."

   – "Nah, it's fine.  These are all things that no one wants."

   – "Or things that no one wants to be seen.  Of course, that means…"

   – "It's the perfect place for the Secret Sealing Club!"

The club's current president, Renko Usami, pumped her fist with plenty of good cheer.  Merry smiled back, although she had mixed feelings about calling a land of literal garbage home.

   – "We can't just have normal dates, can we?"

Fortunately, at least, the garbage was not excessively odorous or grimy.  The site was a landfill specifically for electronic waste: frayed wires, boxy television frames, old phone models of all kinds.

The time was just around sunset -- more specifically 7:42 and 33 seconds, according to Renko's discerning eyes.  The mild starlight reflected off of broken LCD screens, making them appear ever so slightly less lifeless.

 #02  Rigid Paradise

   – "What exactly are we looking for...  Let me guess.  Hoping to find some retro videogames?"

   – "I won't lie.  That'd be great."

   – "But finding both a game and the console to go with it is going to be tough."

   – "Did you know, if a company manufactures more games than it can sell, they end up buried underground to get them out of circulation?"

   – "How wasteful.  At least they were given a proper funeral."

   – "The first time this happened was long ago in another country.  Thousands of unsold cartridges...  Just because they weren't popular at the time, now they'll never be played.  I'd love to give them a chance."

   – "Hee-hee, so much for a funeral.  I suppose we're not in the business of letting the dead rest in peace."

In this unique sort of graveyard, the bodies had been piling up for countless years.  Most of the material would never biodegrade, so the mounds kept accumulating, one layer buried under the next.  In fact, despite the oceans rising drastically over recent years, this dumping ground remained unusually high above sea level for the sole reason that its foundation was constantly being reinforced by layers of tightly packed waste.  

Renko, who had taken the precaution to wear pants and gloves on this excursion, knelt down to examine a mess of circuitry at the bottom of a looser heap.  Merry meanwhile nudged the tip of her shoe against the ground, pondering how deep down was the earth.

#03  Poison Body ~ Forsaken Doll

The girl in black and white impatiently murmured the time, for the fourth time that hour, before stretching her back and turning around to check on her partner.

   – "Find anything interesting yet, Merry?"

Merry, who had been spacing out for some while, quickly darted her eyes around for an improvised answer. A glint of light led her gaze to a long, flat cell phone teetering unceremoniously atop of a pile.

   – "This...  Haven't I seen this model in advertisements recently?  How did this already become trash?"

   – "Oh, you know.  Technology becomes out-of-date awfully quickly these days."

   – "Mm.  I'd like to see it as a sign of progress, but…"

   – "Yeah, it's not good at all.  We're in an age of quantity over quality."

Manufacturers who design their products to poor standards, so as to improve on them soon after, are akin to the type of trickster youkai that disguises itself in beggars' clothes to take advantage of others' low expectations.  In this selfishly self-deprecating society, it had become a disadvantage to show one's best.

   – "Everyone knows this, but thinking about it makes me so irritated."

   – "Right?  Humanity is really holding itself back."

   – "On top of that, don't they know that this is how vengeful tsukumogami are born?"

An object that has gone unused for 100 years is believed to develop a consciousness.  Some end up harmless -- but if its short life was spent being used as nothing more than throwaway capital, naturally it would make sense for it to become unhappy.

Merry laid one hand gently on the phone, as if in a gesture of sympathy.

   – "Hey, be careful not to touch more than you need to.  It may look clean, but the chemicals released by e-waste can still be toxic."

   – "Ah, right..."

She felt a bit sheepish for needing safety lessons from Renko, of all people.  But, having thought too hard about it, it became difficult for Merry to view the objects as just physical material.  A great majority of one's life was lived by virtual communication, so this material had great amounts of personal information stored in it.  Of course, the information's original source was in people's minds, so it's not as if it would be instantly forgotten once the plug was pulled.  But there were certainly more petabytes of raw data in a square meter of this dump than a human brain could hold.

#04  Electric Heritage

   – "Come to think of it, though, have you ever actually heard a story about an electronic object becoming a tsukumogami?"

   – "Well, no..."

   – "I have a theory about that.  I don't think e-waste is even capable of that transition."

   – "How do you figure?"

   – "Consider the crossover of electromagnetic fields and the detection of spirits.  Electricity is a simulation of life energy, almost too spot-on.  Like forces repel... so true life energy can't coexist with it.  Because they're flowing with this imitation power, I don't think electronics get a chance to develop real souls."

   – "I see.  Then, we can't properly call this a graveyard..."

   – "...if these bodies were never truly alive."

   – "I can't decide whether that makes me feel relieved, or lonely."

Merry let out an audible sigh against their eerily silent backdrop.  Then she braced herself to deliver the next news.

   – "But, if that's so... then why can I still feel something spiritual around here?"

Renko's eyes lit up instantly.

   – "Do you?  I was hoping you'd say that!"

   – "It just started... which is odd, since we haven't covered all that much ground since getting here.  It's as if a border connecting to somewhere else just opened."

   – "That supports the second part of the theory.  Like forces repel, but opposite forces attract.  They may not have souls themselves, but these empty vessels surely attract souls."

It felt fairly certain, now that both of their minds had helped confirm it:  Some spirit, human or non-human, seemed to have decided to take up residence in the wasteland.  Merry took a moment to feel proud of herself for her invaluable contribution.

   – "By the way, where do robots fit into your theory?"

   – "Well... I mean, there's no doubt we're getting closer every day to the A.I. revolution."

   – "Oh, my.  I knew I should have tipped our e-waiter last time we went to that café."

   – "But that's a completely different phenomenon than what births a tsukumogami, right?  It has to do with the software, not the hardware."

   – "Yes.  Though, it would seem to imply that there is a border of 'false' and 'true' life that can be crossed..."

  #05  Entrusting This World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World

   – "Now all we have to do is narrow it down, and we'll --"

As if on cue, Renko's thoughts were interrupted by a loud crashing sound from behind... music to her thrill-seeking ears.  She whirled around to catch the culprit, her eyes fixating on Merry and the dark-colored object that rested a few paces away at her feet.  The blonde girl threw her hands up in a display of innocence.

   – "I didn't do it.  It moved on its own!  I just saw it fall out of nowhere."

Renko's attempt at a professional retort failed to conceal her excited, twitching grin.

   – "Merry, Merry...  This is the most basic of physics.  An object can't move on its own!  Unless..."

They approached the rectangular object and peered over it.  It seemed to be a tablet PC, roughly twenty centimeters in length.  It had landed face up, luckily enough to not have not shattered the screen, though there was a significant surface crack down its center.

   – "Hm..."

   – "We've ruled out tsukumogami.  You think it could be... a poltergeist?"

   – "I don't know.  Rather than an outside force, the energy seems very contained in here."

   – "So then... a spirit living inside?"

   – "Something like that."

In response, the light of the screen flashed briefly on and back off.

   – "Ahh!  Electricity, a simulation of life energy..."

   – "It also works the other way around!"

This was a very lucky revelation for the two investigators, as it would have been nearly impossible to find a compatible charging cable.  In an age where each and every product was developed with its own unique cord design, this feature was marketed to consumers as a collectible game; the infinite variety, a controlled channel for creativity.

The device seemed to call out to them, understanding what they wanted.  The power flashed again, on and off and on, in a quirky rhythmical pattern that almost evoked a personality.

   – "We've definitely found something worth taking home!"

   – "Wait.  Isn't it wrong to remove a spirit from the place it's attached to?  We can't just adopt a ghost like an abandoned baby."

   – "Like you said, it's attached to the item, not the place. We're just fostering it for a bit before it moves on!"

   – "All right...  Just don't raise it to be wild like you."

   – "And you, Merry, make sure you don't spoil it!"

#06  Nostalgic Blood of the East ~ Old World

The pair reached Renko's dorm with the haunted vessel tucked inconspicuously into their satchel, grateful that the spirit hadn't chosen to bind itself to a full desktop monitor or CPU instead.  The question moving forward would be how to unlock its secrets.

   – "How old do you think it is?"

   – "Because it wasn't buried under anything, it seems like we should assume it to be fairly new.  But it just feels so out of place."

   – "Actually, I meant the spirit."

   – "Oh."

Hand in hand with the phenomenon of planned obsolescence, the fashionable aesthetics of electronics changed as often as water under a bridge.  Sleek designs were popular, then retro designs, then designs that mimicked the mimicry of two eras past, a vaguely deteriorating cycle.  As a result, it was difficult to tell which era this piece of technology belonged to.

   – "Remember that I saw a border open?  Maybe not just the spirit, but the whole item came from somewhere else..."

They had been scrutinizing the home screen for quite some time, attempting to navigate the ancient interface, and hadn't made much headway.  As far as they could tell, the data was heavily corrupted, and most of its history had been erased.  They were able to access only the most basic types of apps, like the calculator and the keyboard.

   – "Hey, Merry.  I think we should use that other thing we picked up."

   – "That?  I don't even understand how we would use it..."

As evidenced by her smug grin, the more scientifically-minded of the pair had full confidence in the strange idea she was about to suggest.

#07  A Tiny, Tiny Clever Commander

   – "I mean, really?  A mouse?"

Renko had insisted that they bring home a wired peripheral mouse, which she had spent an extra half hour scavenging for.  However, of course, the end of the cable did not match the outlet on the tablet.

Currently, she was back in the scavenging position, digging through the pile of unorganized junk that cluttered her closet (mostly books and occult items). Or rather, it looked unorganized, but she seemed to know exactly where everything was.  ...Or rather, Merry concluded, it truly was unorganized, but her eyes were sharp at scanning through even a complete mess.  She wondered if this small pile would ever become as large as the one at the dump.

   – "A-ha, found it!"

Renko had managed to track down the very particular treasure she was seeking, the final piece of their forgathered puzzle.  A small cube with many variously patterned notches rested in her open palm.  The material's finishing was uncolored and plain, likely to have been produced independently with a 3D printer rather than as a commercial product.

   – "W-Where did you get a thing like that?"

   – "I have connections you don't know, Merry."

Merry thought she had heard this line before, and felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck just like the first time.  The source was certainly shady.  Universal adapters were not at all legal.  Treating it like a Rubik's cube, and glancing back and forth for reference, Renko cleverly manipulated the block in her hand in ways that Merry was unable to understand.

Renko's partner, who had long embraced being an accomplice, appreciated her resourcefulness; she only wished to be kept more up to date when the other girl's mental plans ran ten steps ahead.  But she supposed that this was how Renko felt in return when it came to supernatural sights that she couldn't see, so perhaps they were even.

   – "Just like that?  Like magic..."

   – "Tell me, Merry.  Can you see the border of magic and science?"

With all the pieces aligned, Renko ceremoniously linked the mouse to the tablet through the intermediary box.  As a pop-up window indicated the drivers being registered, it was, they determined, a truly magical feat.  The light on the screen dimmed a bit, as if the spirit were expressing slight disappointment that it was no longer their only option for a power supply.

   – "Still...  Better technology has been around for decades.  These are so unwieldly.  Does anyone use an optical mouse anymore?"

   – "No, but no one's done this ritual in a long time either."

#08  No More Going Through Doors

Renko took Merry's hands in her own and conveyed them in a stack atop of the mouse.  Holding this pose, Merry squinted at the screen in front of her, which displayed a neatly spaced virtual keyboard with a complete set of lettering.  A mild shiver ran through her, either nervousness or excitement.

   – "Hang on.  This setup looks familiar somehow."

   – "That's right.  We're having a séance!"

Although Renko was very skilled with computers, hacking was not her expertise.  She did, however, have the kind of mind that was able to think around the box, discovering back doors.  The opportunity here was simple:  If they couldn't reach the secrets, they would consult the only one who knew -- the spirit itself.

   – "Huh!?"

   – "This mouse is a perfect planchette to use as an interface.  Sure, we have voice and touch technology.  But you don't want the spirit to possess your actual body in order to touch the screen or activate your voice, do you?"

   – "Definitely not.  ...Wait, did I ever say I wanted to be the medium at all?"

Merry pulled her hands back from the mouse and saw the screen's light flicker weakly.

   – "Oh, er...  You're right.  We didn't really decide that, did we?"

   – "Mm..."

   – "I think you'd be better suited, but I'll gladly go first.  I've always wanted to try something like this."

Merry's eyes glazed over as she thought about the prospect of communicating with the spirit.  They had assumed the sealed entity was harmless enough to bring home, but could there be some risk in directly channeling it?

Then again, what was the other option?  To leave their investigation at a dead end?

You don't belong on this side of the unknown.

A faint voice bubbled up inside of Merry, almost like an intrusive thought.  This had been happening to her increasingly often lately, though she always forgot about it after the fact.  Because, at the same time, they certainly felt like her own feelings...

Maribel Hearn was sparked with a surge of curiosity that made her want to take the lead.  These were precisely the club activities she had signed up for.  How much more dangerous could it be than anything else, so long as one made sure to follow the protocols and say goodbye at the end?

   – "No...  I'd like to do it."

Renko blinked in surprise.

   – "Really?  ...Well, gee, make up your mind.  You made me get all excited for myself.  Go ahead, but I call next!"

#09  Shoutoku Legend ~ True Administrator

Having cleared the area and turned off all the lights, Merry sat with her back straight against a chair and took a deep breath.  No candle was necessary, as the warm glow of the screen cast a ring of illumination around the table.  They had thoroughly discussed the questions they desired to ask, though the words felt awkward to speak out loud.  Nevertheless, the young medium opened her mouth.

   – "What is... your name?"

...

The atmosphere of room was deathly still.  Merry let all the muscles in her arm relax, preparing.

...

I...

   – "It's working...!"

The spirit was conscious and listening.  The planchette began to glide beneath Merry's loose grip, landing on the letter I.  When it paused on the letter for several seconds, she clicked the mouse button to confirm before the involuntary movement slowly began again.

...FO RG OT.

   – "Ah.  So it's going to be up to us to give it a name."

   – "Did you own this tablet?"

While Merry was lost in thought about a potential name, Renko chimed in with a question of her own from the opposite side of the table.  However, the spirit seemed to hesitate in answering.

Suddenly, the other girl's focus returned.  On an instinct, she broke the silence with an unexpected change of the question.

   – "Does this tablet own you?"

...

YE S.

   – "Huh... The tablet owns the spirit?  How did that happen?"

Although Renko's words were more thinking out loud than a direct question, the spirit was responsive.  Merry's hand immediately began to move.

...

SN AP.

   – "Snap...?  That sounds kind of scary."

   – "What does that mean?"

The cursor then swerved dramatically past all the letters on the keypad and down to the app menu along the bottom edge of the screen.  It hovered over an icon barely recognizable as an antique camera.

   – "Ah..."

The app launched, reproducing a dark, blurry image of the table on which the device's lens was turned.  Upon clicking the screen, a photograph was taken, and the damaged speaker emitted a distorted snapping sound.

   – "Spirit photography!"

The two girls burst out in unison, solving the riddle simultaneously.

   – "Right.  We've all heard the old belief that getting a photograph taken of you might steal a piece of your soul."

   – "It has some basis.  If captured in a photograph by accident, a minor spirit's energy might become trapped."

Somewhere in the hidden files, such a photograph must exist, binding some foreign essence to this device.  The spirit was likely eager to get free.

Merry minimized the camera app and returned to the keyboard.

   – "Who took the picture?"

...

Unlike its own, this name seemed to be one the spirit knew.  The pair observed with bated breath as the cursor navigated itself around the maze of letters.  Ultimately, it came to a halt, and Merry clicked on the final letter.

   – "...Eh?  Merry, stop kidding around!"

Merry turned to her partner with a genuine, solemn expression.

   – "I'm... not.  I swear."

Renko's face went pale. In ink-black font, three familiar syllables stood on display beside a blinking cursor.

#10  Dream World Folklore

To disprove the influence of the ideomotor effect, they had asked the question several more times, using both girls as mediums, until the spirit ultimately stopped responding altogether.

   – "Oh, no.  We scared it away..."

   – "Well, it did spook us first."

   – "Renko...  You weren't kidding about your connections, were you?"

Renko scratched her head with lingering bewilderment.

   – "Is the spirit messing with us?  Or could it be..."

Her gaze wandered over to the stream of occult paraphernalia still spilling out of the crack of her closet door, and she experienced a strange sense of longing.  The adventurous scientist was heavily accustomed to investigating mysteries from an observational and objective point of view.  Finding herself personally a step closer to the subject was a bizarre and almost gut-twisting feeling.  She supposed that this was how Merry felt in return when the focus of investigations was on her own powers, so perhaps they were even.  Almost.

After a few more sessions of séance, they managed to navigate to an encrypted folder.  A full-screen photograph had flashed open... but, before they were able to make out any details, the tablet's power instantly cut off.  Following this, it no longer responded to any input.

Their assumption would be that the spirit had been able to cross over, after deleting its digital ties to the physical container and unsealing the information it was attached to.

   – "I suppose this is goodbye..."

   – "Is the spirit free now?"

   – "I think so."

   – "That's good for it, at least."

   – "Too bad for you.  If we kept it, maybe it would have served as your personal shikigami."

   – "Isn't that a bit cold-hearted?  It was supposed to be our child!"

A shikigami is the perfect phantasmal servant.  The owner may input commands, and it carries out orders with extraordinary speed and calculation.  Of course, a normal computer already fulfills essentially the same purpose.  Outside world humans of the modern era aren't in need of such a spirit under their possession.

Even so, the force of attraction that had drawn them to cross paths with this spirit would be a mystery to chase going forward.  The two present members of the Sealing Club had a new story to tell, an urban legend that could be shared only amongst themselves.

Afterwords

Hello, this is someone who absolutely promised themself that they would publish at least one Hifuu fic per calendar year.  The idea for this one began with a conversation with my real-life partner (as is usually the case of inspiration) about the excellent aesthetic of using a computer keyboard as a Ouija board.  This subject in turn came up because of a "ghost" that haunts her keyboard by making a certain cryptic message appear on the screen at random times because the "." and "0" keys are in an easy position for us to accidentally press.  So, this story is dedicated to our precious child, ".0-chan."

Then, while it was already being written, WBaWC came out and confirmed that a technology-themed fic would be totally appropriate, and my favorite song from the soundtrack had the perfect title to be used in it.  (Also, its blatant dystopian themes justified playing up the similar themes of the Sealing Club's society even more than usual.)  And yet, despite many things lining up, it almost didn't get finished in time.  It's been such a busy and stressful year, which I hope gets better next year...

Another source of inspiration was the blog "Yukarisuggestion," whose portrayal I respect a lot.  When they drop minor bits of supernatural trivia, it definitely feels like they are coming from the youkai sage herself, very natural to accept.  I latched onto these posts in particular, finding the concept fascinating, and I only hope I interpreted it acceptably.  ...I was really aiming sharply this time at the Sealing Club's conversational aesthetic of "casual confidence in super obscure things that outside listeners would hear as nonsense," so I'm afraid some parts may have crossed the border of B.S.

Also, I wonder if it's okay that the second half of the song choices are almost entirely bad puns?

ASA    (Our ghost child's pen name would be "0.4" / "Rei-ten-shi"!)

Hifuu CD-style stories:

��  [Tumblr]  [AO3]  自封夢幻 〜 Sentimental Reverie

»  [Tumblr]  [AO3]  陶然夢幻 〜 Transcendental Revelry

»  [Tumblr]  [AO3]  羨望横断 〜 Unenviable Crossroads

»  [Tumblr]  [AO3]  外来土産 〜 Adventive Reminiscence

»  [Tumblr]  [AO3] 中古技術 〜 Electric Spirit Seance

»  [Tumblr]  [AO3]  幻想惑星直列 〜 Phantasmal Syzygy

[toucheholland23]

Giggles and Gunshots

Winona(oc)x Gage fic

When sole asked if Winona wanted to go with them and nick to Nuka World she was too curious to say no. She heard about the place and only dreamed she could’ve been there when the park was still up and running, but seeing it now was fairly close.

Gage watched as the trio arrived at the transit center and laughed. A vault dweller, an old synth and some curly haired chick? They wouldn’t last a sec on the gauntlet, but what the hell, he needed to get rid of Coulter.

The detective was smart enough to not buy Harley’s bullshit but they decided to come anyways. He had to admit, they had balls.

They crossed the gauntlet using their abilities to disarm every trap, destroy every turret and kill anyone who threatened their life. Surely a dynamic trio.

The vaultie was the force, the detective the brains and the chick had the agility.

A good team.

When they arrived at the arena, the first one to look down at him and Coulter was the curly haired gal. The overboss catcalled her, making the other two turn their heads and send him a deep glare.

As for him, he thought she was pretty.

She had a fine body, and she was tall, like, REALLY tall. Not that it was a bad thing, on the contrary, he liked big women.

But she seemed like the person who was too nice for her own good, so that made her weak.

He told them that they should use the squirt gun and use their number advantage to place Coulter in a disadvantaged position.

They had a good plan. The curly haired girl distracted Coulter, dodging his attacks skillfully while the detective fired the squirt gun at him, leaving the vault dweller to fire at him with their laser machine gun.

They managed to take him down, proclaiming the vault dweller, as they were the one who took coulter down, the new overboss. Unfortunately one of Coulter’s hit made the chick stumble, making her fall, hitting her head hard against the floor. She was out cold.

As soon as they won the detective rushed to the gal and the vaultie picked her up, since they were stronger.

Gage led them quickly to the market, making their way though the place searching for Mackenzie.

When Winona finally opened her eyes, still feeling a bit disoriented and dizzy, it was a relief to everyone, mostly for the detective.

They spent the day telling her how the things on the park worked, the places Gage showed them and what responsibilities Sole had now that they were the overboss.

Sole considered passing the title to Winona, since she was a clever and ruthless woman. If someone could humanize the raiders, it was her. But she had a lot to loose, she had a child to take care of and having a bullseye on her back wasn’t exactly on her wish list.

Gage’s eyes widened at the mention of her being a mother. She was so young! He totally wouldn’t have expected that. The guy that got her pregged sure was a lucky bastard for getting a woman like that, he was almost jealous.

The trio stayed for almost a week in the park, they managed to take back the galactic zone in just two days and had a successful meeting with the gangs.

The gangs had their favorites of course. The pack absolutely LOVED Winona, mostly Mason witch gave her a suggestive look from time to time

They liked her for her ruthlessness and they surely didn’t want to be given orders by a minuteman or a synth.

Unfortunately, the vaultie had things to attend to in the commonwealth and something about a guy, Eddie something.

Of course Gage could’ve handled the park on his own, after all he’s done it a lot of times as right hand man, but Winona insisted on staying. He was confused. Didn’t she have a kid? Shouldn’t she be taking care of him right now? Fortunately she calmed his toughs, assuring him the kid was in the care of one of her close friends who also happened to be the mayor of goodneighbor.

So that’s how it went, the robot and the vaultie left, leaving Winona as the one in charge with Gage helping her with what he could as her second in command.

Winona always had a little stroll around the market every morning, greeting the raiders, merchants and slaves that she encountered along the way, much to Gage’s disliking. But overall she was a good leader, handled everything well, she always tries to satisfy everyone even if it means to do things she doesn’t really like and all, but made her position clear if anyone disrespected her.

Gage kept finding it weird that she always kept up a cheery demeanor everywhere she went or that she smiled sweetly at everyone and her politeness. He suspected that it was just a shell, that she would probably turn on them and pull up a cynical and horrifying bloodthirst all of a sudden, but he never knew.

Winona decided to keep clearing parks so she thought Safari Adventure was a great place to start, after all, how hard could it be? Gage obviously accompanied her, wouldn’t want the gal to get killed.

When they first arrived at the park they saw this dude fighting a weird kind of deathclaw. Gage wanted to just leave them be and watch how this turned up, but Winona obviously thought otherwise and, well, if boss says so then it’s done.

After they helped the guy kill the creature he started rambling about more of them attacking him and his family. This man talked funny but they made no comment on it.

Okay. What the hell.

So it turned out this guy was raised by gorillas.

That explains a lot.

But whatever, the three of them headed to the place Cito said the things emerged from and of course the found another one of those bitches.

Winona was lucky that Gage grabbed her in time, saving her of the claws of that thing as the other guy took it down.

The girl squirmed and giggled at the man’s touch, she was ticklish. The adorable chuckles of the gal made Gage feel funny on his gut for a sec before he brushed it off and released her.

They went into a weird place with glass panels covering holes on the wall that they later learned were a place where pre- war reptiles, like snakes and iguanas were kept so that the people could see them. Gage made a comment on how he kinda liked the idea of little not-so-mutated deathclaws as pets, witch made Winona giggle.

Passing the reptile’s section they found an old lab that turned out to be where those creatures, that they now learned were called “gatorclaws” were made.

So they shut down the machine and cleared out the rest of the park, going up the treehouse and placing the pack’s flag up the flagpole.

The woman took a minute to appreciate the view of the park from there, It was dawn so the sun going down really made the scenery look even more beautiful. As she looked at the horizon with a calmed look in her eyes, Gage caught himself staring at the beauty before him.

She was truly a work of art herself, better yet with the orange sunlight coating her tan skin and chestnut hair and making her ocean eyes shine in a beautiful way that made his cheeks grow a shade of pink

He was mesmerized by this woman, blinded by her beauty, hypnotized by her laugh, and he hated it. He hated how his face grew hotter and his stomach felt weird because of her. And the worst was that she probably had a husband waiting for her at home with their child.

But then again.

Why had she decided to stay?

He was still confused by that, so he couldn’t stop himself from asking her.

“Isn’t your child and husband waiting for you at home? Why have you decided to stay, boss?”

Her face seemed to darken at the question, looking at the side for a second before turning her head to meet his eyes. “I, um... i only have my son” , she responded with melancholy.

Shit, he fucked up.

Of course, that’s why she left her child with a friend, why she always felt uncomfortable by romantic advances on her. The guy wasn’t there. “Oh, shit sorry i-“

“Don’t bother. He isn’t dead, he abandoned me” ,she interrupted him, her look darkening even more. Perfect, he fucked up even more.

Gage was suddenly infuriated. How could that son of a bitch abandon his woman, pregnant with HIS child! To fend for herself!? The ‘wealth was dangerous and even tough he knew Winona was a tough girl, she was all alone.

He couldn’t imagine the hell she’d been though.

“Oh boss. Im sorry i brought it up, im an idiot” The woman looked at him and smiled sideways, taking ahold of his hand.

“It’s okay, i guess i needed to tell someone eventually...” she sniffled and kept on talking, “after some time, i had the luck of finding my cousin, Laura, and she led me to Goodneighbor.”

“She told me that there i could get proper medical attention and that i could have my baby safely. I was three months pregnant at the time by the way.” She chuckled dryly making the man furrow his brows.

“So there i met Nick and John. They helped me a lot though my pregnancy and while giving birth.” She smiled at the memory of the men she held so close to her heart. “When i first held Alexander in my arms, i knew i had to toughen up, I couldn’t keep crying myself to sleep because of that man. I had to do it for him”.

“But even so, the pain never truly goes away. Everyday he reminds me more of him and i just-“ tears started falling from her eyes like a waterfall. Gage froze, he wasn’t good at comforting people.

Despite his awkwardness and showing his pride aside, he wrapped his arms around her.

Winona was taken aback by the man’s actions, but then she started crying harder, hugging him back as she fell to the floor.

He never let go of her.

He knew what it was like to be betrayed by the ones you thought you could trust, to be backstabbed and then thrown away like garbage. She didn’t deserve that.

She was probably the kindest person he’s ever met and yet there was an asshole out there that just threw her out like if she was a broken ragdoll.

That piece of shit surely earned himself a place in Porter’s list

Still he held her as she cried in his shoulder, holding her as if she were made of glass, that started cracking with her every sob.

After a few minutes, her crying died down and she lifted her head from his shoulder, looking at him with puffy and red eyes.

He couldn’t stop the hand that separated itself from her back and wiped away a stray tear from the corner of her eye, making her giggle wholeheartedly.

The man let a small chuckle leave his mouth before he stared at her again, this time tough, she was staring right back at him.

Subconsciously they both started to get closer and closer before Winona got them out of their transe by yawning.

“You wouldn’t happen to be tired, right boss?” He said with a grin and raising his brow at her.

The woman was about to respond but was again interrupted by her yawning. Gage sighed, as he shook his head in a mocking way.

“There’s a sleeping sack over there, you take a rest and i’ll keep guard” he said graving her hand and leading her there to lay down.

As he was about to leave, Winona grabbed his arm, catching his attention. “Hey Gage?...” she said, tiredness clear on her voice. The man hummed at her in question.

“Thanks...”

And then she fell into the arms of tiredness, falling asleep.

[tenaciouschildengineer]

In-Situ Resource Utilization Capabilities, Sustainability

“Advancing in Situ Resources Utilization Capabilities To Achieve a New Paradigm in Space Exploration”, defines In-Situ Resource Utilization “(ISRU) as involving any hardware or operation that harnesses and utilizes ‘in-situ’ resources to create products and services for robotic and human exploration. (page 1) “In Situ” refers to resources found at the site of the exploration which are not carried to the site by spacecraft. Some of the main advantages of  ISRU resources is reducing the cost of launches by optimizing propulsion, reducing launch/landing mass, to create new products, improve our infrastructure, and decrease crew health related mission risks. ISRU products do not require resupply missions, are more efficient, self sustainable, and extend the range for NASA’s missions to the Moon and Mars. Table 1 from the article illustrates the impact of ISRU in terms of propulsion, life support, habitat, mobility, and power.   

Why is this a big deal? Sustainability practices are the future for Earth, Mars, and the Moon. Using Regolith, we can improve our life on Earth by utilizing our resources in a variety of uses. Regolith can be used to make a radiation shield for the ROV, and allow the ROV to fix its own damages with the help of 3D printing mechanisms. 

ISRU can be used to improve existing propulsion systems. As the propulsion system relates to ISRU, ISRU can provide the ability to generate propellants using either sent materials or utilizing space resources. If we could 3D print propellants and generate pressure vessels, we can conceivably manufacture rocket propulsion devices on the Moon. The greatest challenge in 3D printing propellant is that it’s highly flammable. The use of other processes in the production of propellant would be much safer, because it is easier to avoid overheating propellant. 

The article, “System Architecture Design and Development for a Reusable Lunar Lander” exhibits the propulsion design in Gateway. In the design of Gateway, the propulsion system is reusable, using liquid propellant. A pressure-fed system and a pump-fed system uses nitrogen or helium to create movement using the pressure. It works by pushing “the propellant down to the combustion chamber, where it is ignited and exhausted. These types of systems are very reliable for small changes in velocity due to the simplicity of the design.” The design would have to be able to handle extreme amounts of pressure. Also the propellant design could greatly support in situ transportation operations, as mentioned in the Advanced ISRU article: ”Making propellants and establishing surface and potentially orbital propellant depots can also support and enable surface hoppers, reusable landers, and cis-lunar transportation systems,” thus reducing the amount of flight trips, and providing a tremendous reduction in life cycle costs. 

Life Support: Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate HEOMD focuses on the “Moxie” Mars Oxygen Isru Experiment, which can convert oxygen using Mars’ atmosphere. This would result in a reduction of the mass of the rocket, due to the decrease in oxygen tank requirements. Understanding how to create oxygen from Mars' atmosphere also makes us more independent in our conquest of Mars. The Resource Prospector mission (RP), uses a land rover, with ISRU capabilities. RP helps attain a further goal of spending more time on Mars/Moon to “perform a low cost mission to a near-permanently shadowed location at a lunar polar location to perform the first ‘ground-truth’ measurement of water and other volatile resources.”(page 7) The RP mission helps us better understand future explorations in the conquest of regolith. 

Habitat: Using regolith as a way to manufacture and construct elements to create radiation protection, also known as radiation shielding used in infrastructure. Using ISRU resources, radiation shielding can be created to help with maintenance and repair of other systems that need the protection. Advancing situ article points out the advantage of using this for habitat “ in case(s) of life support system or logistic delivery failure, radiation shielding not possible with Earth delivered options, feedstock production for in situ manufacturing of replacement parts, and propellant production to eliminate leakage or increased boiloff issues.”(page 3) This is a clear advancement in situ feedstock manufacturing (proving this may be difficult).

Mobility:  “Hoppers” are an important part of extending surface travel. The “Advancing in Situ” article states, “ these hoppers could be one-way, i.e. refueling the original delivery lander to hop to another location, or two-way where hoppers could be fueled to travel to a destination, perform science and take samples, and return to a centralize base location (Hub-and-Spoke surface architecture).” thus allowing more mobility, and providing a redundant base for resources and energy storage. In the event of a catastrophic failure, the operation can continue and it's not a complete loss in scientific exploration. 

Power: storage and regeneration using thermal cycling (energy) or radioisotope power systems is a better alternative to solar power. Operations cannot be dependent on solar energy. The difficulties of solar energy do not allow operations to be done in the shadow condition. In advance, relying on thermal or radioisotope power would avoid the troubles of worrying about dust storms blocking up solar arrays. Solar panels can be used for redundant power supply. Supplementing a solar array but a backup battery use would be more beneficial in more difficult climates. 

The “Ionic Liquid Facilitated Recovery of Metals and Oxygen from Regolith” article shows the importances of retaining regolith. Regolith is made up of useful material such as Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum, Iron, Magnesium, and Calcium. Elements that are needed for ISRU utilization. The process of recycling these metals is done by using the process of  electroplating. 

For example, a metal-like substance called Nickel Chromium Alloy (can be found in iron meteorites), is used for heating elements’. This substance is temperature resistant, and can be used to create structures. Nickel Chromium Alloy can be recycled and can be electroplated, to form as a sheet and be used as a thermal protection against the sun, to avoid corrosion. Bulk electroplating is used to recycle the metal by using electrolysis. The disadvantage of this process is the energy needed to perform needs full heat capacity, meaning it can not perform as well in shadow regions. These metals are dependent on this process. Luckily, we can use Ionic liquids(organic salts) as a potential source to shape metals in room temperature. The challenges that come from collecting regolith as stated in the presentation is that “these materials are found in highly stable oxides.” To process regolith, it would require recovering the elements back into their original and pure elemental form, and  require “processing these oxides to recover high purity materials.”The disadvantages that come with this process can be highly abbassive to RP because they require lots of chemicals in use, heat, and a tremendous amount of energy to achieve final pure substances.

The article “Lunar Prospecting: Searching for Volatiles at the South Pole”,  demonstrates the challenges from the Resource Prospector (RP) mission. The RP mission includes “a rover for mobility, prospecting instruments to locate and characterize volatiles, a drill to collect regolith samples, and an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) payload for analysis.” in the lunar polar location in order to deposit measurements of water and volatile sources. The RP main goal is to prospect, acquire or gather, then process the feasible materials found. The Impact of RP is the reduced risk of human exploration. Some of the mission strategic knowledge gaps include, lunar cold traps, detecting volatile species, inconsistent irregular patterns of water, and  “the mineralogical, elemental, molecular, isotopic makeup of the volatiles” as well as 

“ the lunar surface trafficability”(page 1). The RP poses an uncertainty in real time science. The article states “uncertainty introduced by the communications networks and the DSN make this infeasible” (page 4), making it harder to complete “real time” science.  Improving antenna signals, could do so much more with ISRU, as well as adding an antenna to the “hub of the hopper” using the shielding material of lunar regolith. 

 How does “real-time science” influence the path and the timing of the planned operation system of the lunar rover, Resource Prospector, to prospect, collect, and process in-situ resources on the Moon?

“Real time science” refers to the ability to make decisions in the moment, near time. Data has a relay. The data from a rover is communicated through orbiters which relay using X band radio waves,  then that information is passed on to the Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth, which uses antennas to capture the messages. Raw data has to be then translated. The Lunar article shows how data in RP is relayed in space, “Previous testing has shown that a rover can be teleoperated manually with a short round trip delay of up to ten seconds, though even at that delay operators preferred waypoint driving. Delays in the tens of seconds make direct teleoperation driving unsafe, as the rover may crash before the operator sees the crater it is falling into.”, this makes it dangerous to drive using teleop mode, therefore the robot has to use both teleop and autonomous modes in order to travel safely. An advantage of RP, is that it has no sleep times or distance limitations. RP has to find feasible material, gather it, then process in situ. 

In prospecting, RP has to use pre planned navigation, using “ relatively fixed predetermined paths (rails) between the science stations, with adjustments made in near real-time for rover safety.”(page 4), because of this, rover data relays take longer to receive to the Deep Space Network. This is because distance signals take longer to travel in space, rover control takes fatal delays to react to the surrounding environment. In order to complete “real time science”, it requires tactical planning, pre programming in autonomous mode because of the time delay. Developing AI autonomous mode would reduce natural time delay. In autonomous mode, operators must preprogram to avoid collision. For decisions to be made at the moment, the rover must be able to stop when finding the material and wait for the operator to respond. As the voyages become more successful, the rover should be able to drive for itself.  Real time science is better than the alternatives because we waste less time and resources, explore more, and optimize the lifespan of our rovers, making voyages more flexible. As explained in the lunar article “the real-time scientist would have the option to call for a halt and further investigation if they see the rover is driving over a spot that is significantly higher in water concentration than previous areas.” (page 4) From there, the RP creates a known path, more success in RP’s travels will result in RP to meet a closer goal of driving with “real time.”

 Stated in Ionic Liquid Facilitated Recovery of Metals and Oxygen from Regolith, “An Ionic liquid-based process to recover metals and oxygen from regolith has been developed and demonstrated that could make resupply of chemical reagents negligible.” What is the closed-loop ionic liquid (IL) reprotonization process, and what are the benefits of this process to future space exploration?

In oxygen reduction, extreme heat is used to separate materials. In regolith, in order to keep oxygen from reacting, a constant amount of heat is necessary. The oxygen would have to be oxidized, while the metals would get reduced. The benefits of doing this process would be attaining these elements and reusing them on site. When exposed to oxygen, metals will oxidize in the state of metal oxide. The ionic liquid can be liquidized (except for sand) using oxidation reduction, allowing it to retain back to high pure metal by itself. Closed loop refers to recycling the purity of the substance, so that way you can constantly reuse the chemicals. 

Closed-loop ionic liquid (IL) reprotonization is useful for mining and refining tasks in space where either satellites or installations can use a compact system to harvest and refine precious materials. Reducing waste material to optimize space and weight within small satellites and installations, they make the process of  gathering valuable material like platinum, for either furthering the lifespan of an installation or bringing valuable materials back to Earth.

Regolith mentioned in the article, includes sources for solar energy, cement applications for infracture, and life support. Metals are critical for building trusses to support livable structures, resupplying deep space expeditions for maintenance/repair, and oxygen is incredibly useful for sustaining human life far from Earth. Common metal refining processes use heat or fire which is incredibly dangerous in closed ships and pose an expensive refining cost for ship crew. The benefits of this process to help future space exploration, by potentially supplying a limitless and autonomous method of preparing raw material for 3D printers in space. The initial investment of rover engineering durable parts and shipping supplies from Earth can be extremely expensive so having the capacity to manufacture parts outside of Earth can be incredibly lucrative. We can completely recycle the metal-like materials. An important step toward von neumann probes, is self replicating probes. Manufacturing spare parts out of metals found from regolith can extend life span rovers and missions. An alternative to using ISRU resources is sending elements that can be recycled and harder to find in space, elements like Nickel Chromium Alloy, which can be completely recycled. A one time send is required if it's reusable.  In order to make waste material viable again, we can build refinery facilities using RP and situ manufacturing to gather and build recycling systems respectively. Rovers are ideal for resource gathering being deployed in large numbers and with simple autonomous control, they can scour the expanse of space or aboard the same ship for resources. Then these rovers can deliver these materials to CNC machines either to 3D print, mill, assemble, and so forth. These raw materials can be reused back into viable material for use once again.  Waste material can be used to also generate fertilizer, refine vitamin supplements for bone mass supplement. Rovers are ideal in terraforming oxygen, making robots handle the preparation of ready in use oxygen on Mars or the Moon, a tremendous contribution for life support in space. This is also the basic principle behind von neuman probes or self replicating probes which are economical in reducing waste material. ISRU is a step forward toward sustainability goals, benefiting resource utilization here on Earth.

Sources:

  NCAS Subject Matter Lecture Susan Martinez, Additive Manufacturing Engineer NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL (2020).

Advancing in situ resource utilization capabilities to achieve a new paradigm in space exploration.Sanders (2018).

 Lunar Prospecting: Searching for Volatiles at the South Pole Trimble & Carvalho (2016).

 Ionic liquid facilitated recovery of metals and oxygen from regolith. Karr, Curreri, Thornton, Depew, Vankeuren, Regelman, Fox, Marone, Donovan & Paley (2018).

System Architecture Design and Development for a Reusable Lunar Lander.Batten, Bergin, Crigger, & McGlothin (2019).

[fortunerobotic]

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With their smooth adaptability to multiple applications, Alice AI robots may be tailored to fulfill a wide range of corporate requirements, from managing hotel reservations to advising patients or helping shoppers.

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[towardsrobotics-blog]

Automobile robotics: Applications and Methods - Towards Robotics

Automobile robotics: Applications and Methods

Introduction:

An automobile robot is a software-controlled machine that uses sensors and other technology to identify its environment and act accordingly. They work by combining artificial intelligence (AI) with physical robotic elements like wheels, tracks, and legs. Mobile robots are gaining increasing popularity across various business sectors. They assist with job processes and perform activities that are difficult or hazardous for human employees.

Structure and Methods:

The mechanical structure must be managed to accomplish tasks and attain its objectives. The control system consists of four distinct pillars: vision, memory, reasoning, and action. The perception system provides knowledge about the world, the robot itself, and the robot-environment relationship. After processing this information, sending the appropriate commands to the actuators that move the mechanical structure. Once the environment, and destination, or purpose of the robot is known, the robot’s cognitive architecture must plan the path that the robot must take to attain its goals.

The cognitive architecture reflects the purpose of the robot, its environment, and the way they communicate. Computer vision and identification of patterns are used to track objects. Mapping algorithms are used for the construction of environment maps. Motion planning and other artificial intelligence algorithms could eventually be used to determine how the robot should interact with each other. A planner, for example, might determine how to achieve a task without colliding with obstacles, falling over, etc. Artificial intelligence is called upon to play an important role in the treatment of all the information the robot collects to give the robot orders in the next few years. Nonlinear dynamics found in robots. Nonlinear control techniques utilize the knowledge and/or parameters of the system to reproduce its behavior. Complex algorithms benefit from nonlinear power, estimation, and observation.

Following are best-known control methods:

Computed torque control methods: A computed torque is defined using the second position derivatives, target positions, and mass matrix expressed in a conventional way with explicit gains for the proportional and derivative errors (feedback).

Robust control methods: These methods are similar to simulated methods of torque control, with the addition of a feedback variable depending on an arbitrarily small positive design constant E.

Sliding mode control methods: Increasing the controller frequency may be used to increase the system’s steady error. Taken to the extreme, the controller requires infinite actuator bandwidth if the design parameter E is set to zero, and the state error vanishes. This discontinuous controller is called a controller on sliding mode.

Adaptive methods: Awareness of the exact robot dynamics is relaxed compared to previous methods and this approach uses a linear assumption of parameters. These methods use feed-forward terminology estimation, thereby reducing the requirement for high gains and high frequency to compensate for uncertainties/disturbance in the dynamic model.

Invariant manifold method: the dynamic equation is broken down into components to perform functions independently.

Zero moment point control: This is a concept for humanoid robots associated, for example, with the control and dynamics of legged locomotion. It identifies the point around which no torque is generated by the dynamic reaction force between the foot and the ground, that is, the point at which the total horizontal inertia and gravity forces are equal to zero. This definition means the contact patch is planar and has adequate friction to prevent the feet from sliding

Navigation Methods: Navigation skills are the most important thing in the field of automobile robotics. The aim is for the robot to move in a known or unknown environment from one place to another, taking into account the sensor values to achieve the desired targets. This means that the robot must rely on certain factors such as perception (the robot must use its sensors to obtain valuable data), localization (the robot must use its sensors to obtain valuable data) The robot must be aware of its position and configuration, cognition (the robot must decide what to do to achieve its objectives), and motion control (the robot must calculate the input forces on the actuators to achieve the desired trajectory).

Path, trajectory, and motion planning:

The aim of path planning is to find the best route for the mobile robot to meet the target without collision, allowing a mobile robot to maneuver through obstacles from an initial configuration to a specific environment. It neglects the temporal evolution of motion. It does not consider velocities and accelerations. A more complete study is trajectory planning, with broader goals.

Trajectory planning involves finding the force inputs (control u (t)) to push the actuators so that the robot follows a q (t) trajectory which allows it to go from the initial to the final configuration while avoiding obstacles. To plan the trajectory it takes into account the dynamics and physical characteristics of the robot. In short, both the temporal evolution of the motion and the forces needed to achieve that motion are calculated. Most path and trajectory planning techniques are shared.

Applications of Automobile robotics:

A mobile robot’s core functions include the ability to move and explore, carry payloads or revenue-generating cargo, and complete complex tasks using an onboard system, such as robotic arms. While the industrial use of mobile robots is popular, particularly in warehouses and distribution centers, its functions may also be applied to medicine, surgery, personal assistance, and safety. Exploration and navigation at ocean and space are also among the most common uses of mobile robots.

Mobile robots are used to access areas, such as nuclear power plants, where factors such as high radiation make the area too dangerous for people to inspect themselves and monitor. Current automobile robotics, however, do not build robots that can withstand high radiation without having to compromise their electronic circuitry. Attempts are currently being made to invent mobile robots to deal specifically with those situations.

Other uses of mobile robots include:

shoreline exploration of mines

repairing ships

a robotic pack dog or exoskeleton to carry heavy loads for military troopers

painting and stripping machines or other structures

robotic arms to assist doctors in surgery

manufacturing automated prosthetics that imitate the body’s natural functions and

patrolling and monitoring applications, such as determining thermal and other environmental conditions

Cons and Pros of automobile robotics:

Their machine vision capabilities are a big benefit of automobile robots. The complex array of sensors that mobile robots use to detect their surroundings allows them to observe their environment accurately in real-time. That is especially valuable in constantly evolving and shifting industrial settings.

Another benefit lies in the onboard information system and AI used by AMRs. The autonomy provided by the ability of the mobile robots to learn their surroundings either through an uploaded blueprint or by driving around and developing a map allows for quick adaptation to new environments and helps in the continued pursuit of industrial productivity. Furthermore, mobile robots are quick and flexible to implement. These robots can make their own path for motion.

Some of the disadvantages are following

load-carrying limitation

More expensive and complex.

Communication challenges between robot and endpoint

Looking ahead in the future, manufacturers are trying to find more non-industrial applications for automobile robotics. Current technology is a mix of hardware, software, and advanced machine learning; it is considered solution-focused and rapidly evolving. AMRs are still struggling to move from one point to another; it is important to enhance spatial awareness. The design of the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm is one invention that is trying to solve this problem.

Hope you enjoyed this article. You may also want to check out my article on the concepts and basics of mobile robotics.

[fallout-snippets]

Oh my gosh your writing is so good - I'm loving that ask about companions realising they're in love! If it's ok, could I ask for you to expand it with X6 and the robots? If it's not too much trouble 💕

(I assumed the robots in question, if I missed one please let me know. also thank you!!!)

Ada has the capacity to love; so’s she been told. And she can certainly detect a certain favoritism in her programming towards her companions. When they die, she feels empty.

She appriciates the stranger who helps her get revenge and although dissapointed the villain wasn’t as villainous, she remains satisfied that it’s now over. Her future is now unclear and she expects that she might be left behind as Sole seems more than capable to handle things on their own; this quest they were on were for Adas benefit, not theirs.

But they offer her a new home, a new family. They ask her to come with them, because they like her. Like? Her programming IS pretty special and she is designed to be approachable but when Sole says it it feels different. It feels… warm. It’s an unusual feeling and she has to check her cooling system to see if it’s failing. It’s not.

They travel together some more and Ada is more than happy to help carry the scrap Sole spots with eagle eyes. They express gratitude that she doesn’t complain and she doesn’t understand why anyone would complain if they got to travel with Sole.

The warmth she experiences, that apparently has nothing to do with her hardware, grows day by day until one day they’re in a settlement. The settlers don’t mistreat her but she’s nothing but a robot to them. The difference in how Sole approaches her and how everyone else does is vast and she begins to remember her original companions talk to themselves about their feelings.

Sole treats her like a person, like an individual. Not just scraps put together to pull a heavy load, but like a friend. More than friends. Family. Or…?

Ada does have the capacity for love, it was programmed into her, but it was never specified which kind of love.

Codsworth immediately cares for the family he’s been designated to help. And how easy it is to care for them! They’re a picture perfect family and even though he is only a helper, they invite him in to become a part of it. It is such a shame when the bombs fall but luckily the vault is nearby and the family appears to make it. He checks the area afterwards, once the dust settles, so to speak, and doesn’t find them.

Some charred remains are difficult to identify but he takes his time and determines that his precious family must be safe. If he had lungs he’d sigh with relief. Instead he takes it upon himself to clean up the house to the best of his ability until their return.

Years go by but he doesn’t falter. It’s only reasonable to assume that the family would live out their lives in the vault, safe from the radiation outside (though he does begin to loathe his solitude) and perhaps their descendants will instead emerge, ready to resume living.

Instead two centuries pass and he’s hanging on by a thread. The house never gets clean enough, he hasn’t spoken to anyone for too long and he misses them. His family. When a figure finally returns to the house he’s shocked but finally things will return to normal.

Well, as normal as it can get. Their better half is dead and their precious child has been taken but he sees something new in them, a fire in their eyes. He expects them to clean up the world! And in the meantime he’ll make them a new home to come back to but instead they ask him to come along.

“Codsworth, I need you.”

He feels electricity spark inside his chassis and how could he deny? His beloved Sole finally returned to him, he’ll do anything they ask. And they’ll need protection out there! He sees an entirely new person grow from the ruins and yet they remain true to who they’ve been all along. The new radiation-filled world seems to turn people into demons, but not Sole.

They still carry themselves with dignity, still treat him with respect. They grow a reputation in the world as a hero and he agrees but they still come home. To him. It makes him… feel different. Not that he’s supposed to. But it’s hard not to grow excited when he hears them approaching home, when he sees them in one piece. When he sees them smiling at him, as if they were coming back home to their better half.

Nick has been around for a long time. Too long, probably. He’s seen things that makes your skin crawl and heard things that’d make you nauseous. So when this vault-dweller rolls around with an unbelievable story, he believes them. When they ask for his help, he helps them. That’s what he does.

What he doesn’t expect, however, is for this unhardened pre-war stranger to turn out to be braver and kinder than anyone else who grew up in this disadvantageous world. You’d think someone who lived comfortably up until now would have a harder time adjusting, of fitting in. You’d think they’d try to find another place to be comfortable in.

But Sole fits in this world like a glove and it’s beautiful to watch them perform. It’s even a pleasure to travel with them, despite all the horrors he has to see them experience for the first time, although they don’t always get discouraged by what you’d think. The first time they saw him they were surprised, to say the least, but immediately accepting. Maybe it was the trauma of having their world turned upside down but not once did Sole ever question his loyalty or integrity.

They even go to him for comfort, leaning on his shoulder and crying into his coat. It’s been a long time since anyone’s bothered to get close to him and he can’t say he doesn’t enjoy it but he knows what he is. He’s a robot with a human personality, a human past, and he doesn’t dare imagine a future with them.

Until that’s all he does.

It’s an early morning in Diamond City when he hears papers shuffling in his office. It’s too early for Ellie to be there but he isn’t too surprised to find Sole looking through some files.

“I already solved those.” he tells them, leaning on the doorframe.

“Oh yeah? Bet the butler did it.” they say with a smirk and he feels the fans kick on, hoping they don’t make too much noise.

He knows then and there that resistance is futile but he also knows that he’s too complicated and he wouldn’t wish that mess on anyone. But Nick has been around for a long time. Maybe it’s time to get some closure on some things.

“Actually, I could use your help on a case. Been working on it for a while. It’s kind of personal, though.”

X6-88 is not supposed to feel anything. It’s not a part of his programming, his training or job description. When he first meets Sole he’s unfazed, although curious, and he can see straight away that they don’t trust him. That’s okay. He doesn’t need their trust.

He escorts them through a mission that’s standard for him but ends up on a different note than what he’d done. That’s also okay, he was not leading the mission. He expects to return to his duties as Sole is a capable survivor topside but they ask him to come with them. He doesn’t question it, because why would he, but his curiousity grows. He smothers it with logic.

They ask him all sorts of things, about the Institute, its people and history, but also about him. There’s nothing to tell about him. He’s a courser designed to retrieve runaway synths. That’s who he is, what he is.

He can tell they’re dissapointed by his answer but there’s really nothing else to say. They ask if he’s really okay with it, to be told what to do and treated like a tool. He tells them it’s not up to him to decide what he’s used for but he is built to be used.

“You’re born.” they correct him, touching his hand.

“I am not human.” he replies and attempts to withdraw but is surprised at how warm they feel. He finds himself unwilling to withdraw despite their current breach of conduct.

“You’re alive, aren’t you?”

“I am… sentient.” he says, unable to smother the whirlpool of confusion. “A Mister Handy is sentient but not human. It does what it’s told.” he says trying to convince himself more than Sole.

He likes the way they look at him, even if their eyes are currently sad. He’s used to people looking at him with fear or anger but Sole looks at him with… affection. Why?

Sole withdraws their hand, assuming the conversation ended nowhere. They sit in silence for a while, taking a break from the burning sun above.

“You don’t owe them anything. They may have created you but they created an individual. They don’t get to control you like this.”

X6-88 feels mostly confusion and turmoil for a long time after that. They treat him like an equal and it’s hard not to revel in it compared to the coldness he faces in the Institute. They ask for his opinion, about his expertise, and they care for him when he’s wounded.

His training tells him to ignore any and all “feelings” but Sole makes him feel appriciated, happy, and he likes how it feels. Why is something that makes him feel good bad? When Sole talks to him he makes more of an effort to reply, when they tells him a story he tries to react appropriately. They smile at his attempts and it causes his gut to drop but not in a terrifying I-have-made-a-huge-mistake kind of way but a pleasant one.

One night back at the Institute where he waits outside Fathers room he hears them arguing. They are clearly disagreeing about something and it’s none of his business but Sole is upset when they leave and he finds himself mad on their behalf. Mad at Father.

It shakes him to his core to realize that he can feel that way but it doesn’t take more than a second for him to decide that Sole is more important than the Institute and Father and if needed he will take their side.