#finally came up with an ending I like!!

[knight-rider-fan-2000]

Mutuality

Summary: Kitt freezes during situations that Michael is sure an AI touted to be smarter than he is shouldn't be freezing in. Michael takes this complaint to Bonnie and eventually to Kitt himself.

(Takes place early season 1)

Word count: 1774

“Bonnie, could you take a look at Kitt’s. . . I don’t know, situational awareness?”

Bonnie gave Michael a rather strange look and stood up from her chair. The debrief was over anyway, (Devon having just left), so it would make sense for her to be leaving, but the timing still felt threatening.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Oh, just uh, something out during the last mission.”

“Like what?”

Okay, so maybe he’d skimped the full extent of the danger during his recount of mission events. “Well, you see, Kitt and I ended up off the roadway. We were racing towards certain doom for me and he seemed to. . . freeze up. I’m lucky I thought of a way to stop our momentum before we reached the cliffside. Isn’t he programmed to protect me from accidents?”

“A cliffside? How steep was the incline down to it?”

“Steep, trust me.”

“Too steep for the brakes?”

“Oh, definitely.”

“And you’re saying that Kitt wasn’t responding?”

“Well, he was, but he was only saying things like ‘look at that cliff’ and ‘that fall will kill you’. Real helpful stuff!” Michael snapped. “You said this car would protect me and he has so far, but if this kinda thing keeps up, I can’t be so sure anymore. So fix him, would you?”

Bonnie let her mouth fall open, before fixing her expression into a glare. “First of all, don’t use that tone with me.”

“Well sorry, but when my life is on the line-!”

“Second of all, you don’t know the full story, so before you go blaming Kitt for not being omniscient, why don’t you think long and hard about how you can prevent yourself from hurtling off cliffs in the future!”

Bonnie stormed from the office. Michael didn’t follow. Instead, he lingered around the main office. He’d already been settled into this new job for a few months now, but the mansion still held many surprises and interesting choices of decor. Not that he was that interested in furniture, but it was better than following too close to the fuming mechanic.

Eventually, though, his comm beeped. He answered it.

“Michael, could you come down to the garage for a moment?” Kitt’s voice came through.

“Is Bonnie asking for me?” 

“No, Bonnie isn’t here right now, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Michael ended the call. He paused for a good, long moment before he made his way to the main garage. Sure enough, Kitt was telling the truth. Bonnie was gone, leaving Kitt sitting alone, glimmering under the harsh ceiling lights.

“There you are. There’s a chair on the left for you, or you can sit inside my cabin. Whichever you prefer.” Kitt greeted him.

Michael forgot his anger for a moment and almost snorted at the idea of the chair. He shook his head and gestured to the driver door. Kitt opened it without a word and Michael slid in.

“Bonnie told me that you needed to be informed in greater detail of my abilities, specifically my processing capabilities, but first I wanted to apologize.”

Kitt’s interior lights were dimmed somehow, and Michael wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not. Either way, it made him feel guilty in a way that he didn’t understand. He found the button for controlling the dash lights and adjusted the interior back to its usual glow. 

“Apologize for what?”

“I’d been meaning to apologize ever since the incident, I just wasn’t sure how. I wasn’t sure how angry you would be and I was hoping that if I didn’t mention it, you would forget about it. You haven’t. Most dangers in your life you seem to ignore, but this one has rattled you more than you let on.” 

“We were hurtling off a cliff and you didn’t do a thing about it.”

“Which leads me into this discussion,” Kitt’s interior lights dimmed me again, “about my capabilities.”

“Did Bonnie fix you up?”

“There was nothing to fix. I’m operating exactly as I was intended to. Therein lies the problem. I’ll try not to get too technical, but Bonnie and I believe that helping you understand how it is that I operate will prevent further misunderstandings on missions.”

“So she put you up to this. She couldn’t even chew me out herself?”

“No, I was the one who suggested the idea.” Kitt said forcefully. “Bonnie did want to ‘chew you out’, as you say, but I didn’t want her to. You’re perfectly within reason for being upset at me and you deserve to know why. May I explain?”

Michael blinked once at the center console. In all their time together so far, Kitt never conceded to anything, at least never without significant arguing or teasing. After a few more moments of silence, he realized Kitt was waiting for his approval. He nodded.

Kitt wasted no time. “My operating system is heavily reliant on something called advanced machine learning. In essence, it allows me to learn from experience, similar to how a human would. It also allows me to react to situations outside of any programmed parameters, drawing on any relevant prior experiences to make the correct judgment.”

“Okay, yeah, you think like a human. Got it.” He nodded again.

“No, I don’t.” Kitt contradicted. “I think like a computer, because I am a computer. Such a learning matrix simply allows me to be constantly rewriting myself to fit with the situation at hand.”

“Sounds busy.” Michael cracked an attempt to lighten the mood, but Kitt did not seem to register his comment at all.

“Michael, I draw from previous experience and current inputs in order to make decisions. If one of those two things are lacking, then. . .”

Kitt’s voice faded out, something which disturbed Michael. He fought to suppress a shiver, and, before he knew it, he put a hand on the steering wheel.

“If one of those two things are lacking,” Kitt started again, “I can’t effectively respond to the situation at hand. I’m compromised. That’s what happened on our way to the cliffside the other day.”

Michael didn’t know what to say. He’d always known that he was the better one at improvisation, and that Kitt was a horrible guesser sometimes, but this. . . this didn’t seem right.

“I’m programmed with a variety of parameters to which I can rely on in a dangerous situation, but like any other computer, I’m limited to the oversight of my programmer in those scenarios.” Kitt’s voice tried to regain a more clinical tone, but it still grew quieter in volume. 

“. . . I see.” 

“I’ve gotten Bonnie to print out a manual that further details the exacts of my automated responses. I want you to read it so you know how I will respond in certain scenarios. Being prepared for my-”

“Kitt, I know you.” Michael interrupted. 

The AI was silent for a moment. “Knowing how I operate will-”

Michael couldn’t place it, but the way Kitt was talking about himself as if he was just another computer was just flat-out incorrect, so he spat, “No, I know you!”

Kitt’s voice modulator froze mid-flash before resuming its normal resting position. Michael put his other hand on the steering wheel and grasped it firmly.

“I don’t need to read about you in some manual,” he sighed, “because I know you. You’re my car. And now that we’ve had this little chat, I know a little bit more, so I’ll be prepared for next time.”

“But Michael, I don’t understand. My limitations put you in danger. Surely you’d want to know of all the other circumstances where my behavior could threaten your well-being?”

The words hurt worse than a well-placed gut punch, and Michael suddenly realized how stupid he’d been.

“You’re not a threat to me. If anything, my own human stupidity puts us in danger more than anything.” Michael lowered his hands from the steering wheel. “And just because you think a different way doesn’t mean it’s bad, or putting me in danger, or anything.”

“Go on.”

“I mean, you understand things and do things that I can’t wrap my head around. It’s the same for you then, right?”

“Correct, but-”

“Then it isn’t fair to ask you to be like I am. You’ve had to catch up on all my ‘human’ stuff; who’s to say I can’t adapt to all your. . .” Michael vaguely gestured to Kitt’s dashboard, “this.”

“Is that feasible? I mean, you’re certainly not my technician.”

“Partners cover each others’ weaknesses.” The assertion spilled out of Michael’s mouth before he even had a chance to think about it.

“I’m not supposed to have any.”

“Hey, I have to stay useful somehow.”

“I never meant to imply you weren’t.”

“Good! I’d have started to feel real out-classed if you did.” Michael patted the dashboard. “You’ve got my back, and I’ve got yours. Good chat?”

Kitt hummed. “Yes, Michael. ‘Good chat’.”

Michael smiled. He reached for the door handle, but before he could grab it the door opened the perfect amount to allow him to slide out. At some point, Kitt has learned his preference. Michael now wondered if there were little things about Kitt that he could learn in return. They were partners, after all, even if the idea of being partnered with a car still sat somewhat awkward in his head.

He paused in the doorway out of the garage and looked back at the black Trans Am. The molecular something-or-another bounced the light right off of its surface, but if he squinted he could perhaps see a bit of a smudge just off the hood.

“Say, you like getting waxed, right? Do cars like wax?”

“I don’t need such care. My molecular-bonded shell will never get a scratch.”

“Didn’t answer my question. Would you like it?”

“Can’t say. As I said, I’ve never needed such care. Though I suppose having such attention directed at my bodywork couldn’t be a bad thing.”

Michael shrugged, before turning back into the garage. “Let’s find out.”

—

Thirty minutes in, Bonnie entered the garage. She lost any huff she had about her. She jokingly scoffed at the rag he was holding, handed him a buffer that had been tucked away on one of the back shelves, and left.

Two hours later, Kitt emerged from the garage almost unbearably shiny. Michael had thought it impossible for a car to preen in sunlight, but Kitt was sure managing to make it seem that way. Was that overly imaginative? Maybe not.

“Now, let’s make sure to not go hurtling off any more cliffs, huh, partner?” Michael said.

“Partner. I do like how that sounds.”

“Me too. Me too.”

[palossssssand]

Finally able to share my piece done for @inkpopzine ! “I Gave 1000 Super Sea Snails to this Urchin” live Spyke reaction

[noxious-fennec]

Snapshots of simpler times..

[dangoulains-devotion]

🐺🌸

[samanthamulder]

THE X-FILES (1993-2018)

SEASON FIVE — What do you hope to find? I mean, in the end.

[skitskatdacat63]

2010 Bahrain Grand Prix - Fernando Alonso

[muzzleroars]

Michael, the Ruined Prince

Michael, having used all of his power to seek out God, had failed as the Prince of Heaven. He had abandoned his people, absent for centuries on a fruitless search filled with unheard, increasingly desperate prayers and an unrelenting, bone-deep exhaustion that is now permanent. His grief grew day by day, and an angel in isolation begins to wither, to warp – they must be with one another lest they twist into their extremes, retreating into their divine purpose until it becomes self-destructive parody. And Michael had already been scarred long ago by his role in banishing Lucifer, by God’s own ever-mounting wrath that ate away at the mercy he was meant to feel alongside it. Michael had already been insular, something had already pulled at the seams of his soul, and now centuries of failure consume him. He would return to Heaven with nothing for his people. Nothing for the siblings he swore to protect.

So his final thought in a deeply troubled mind urged him to try one last time. That if he could not find God, then he must bring God to himself. He must sin, he must beg for punishment, and then God will come to deliver it onto him. Just as He once did to Lucifer. It disgusted him, to think he had to debase himself to be as the sinners he held nothing but vile contempt for ever since he couldn’t cope with the guilt of the first fallen angels. But his prayers have failed, his days of weeping have failed, he moved Heaven, Earth, and all of Hell to come up with empty hands. Less than that. Not even a feeling. So Michael, even as a Cherub who could not, did everything he could to replicate his memories of when he had witnessed God Himself tear the light from His angels. Michael had seen it every time, it was he that had to bind any fallen angel that survived it to their place in Hell. He knew, implicitly, what the ritual was even if God seemed to enact it in one beautiful, elegant motion. And he did just that. Imperfect pantomiming, flawed execution, but the same ritual as best as Michael could copy it. All to himself.

But only God and the high Seraphim can sever an angel from their light.

His soul was rent from his body. His light was torn to shreds by his inexperienced hands. The agony that it screeched resounded all the way back to Heaven in unintelligible, muted whispers of nauseous grief no one could understand. Michael felt himself die, but it was incomplete. He was left in a corpse, a body destroyed and succumbing to all it meant but with him still inside of it. God did not come, and Michael was trapped a ruined body, bereft of a soul, of his light, giving way to rot and deterioration yet fully functional. He could do nothing but take this as a sign from God, one that he will not be punished no matter his crime for being such a loyal servant. Even as his body falls apart, as plants begin to burst from his remains, he believes himself to be blessed – see how he grows God’s garden. See how his crown remains pristine. He adorns his exposed bones with gems and finery, ostensibly as thanks to God for keeping him alive, keeping him sinless when he had so despised his impending fall from grace. But. Michael is, in the back of his mind, highly aware of what he’s become. He knows he is rotting, he knows he is in a dead body, he knows, somewhere, God had nothing to do with it. It was just a mistake, it was just his own foolishness with catastrophic consequence. He is more noxious than a fallen angel now, a botch job shambling numbly back to Heaven when he feels the death of Gabriel.

Upon his return, he largely attempts to hide the rot of his body, at least from the citizenry – he cannot hide it from Raphael or Uriel, nor does he try. To Michael, it proves his devotion, it shows God’s still present love for him, and it is a testimony to how he cannot fall, that he can never lose his place in Heaven. Raphael begs for him to be healed, Uriel pleads reason to him, but neither had ever been as strong as Michael and ultimately, he is their leader. No matter the state he returns in, he is the Prince of the Archangels and truthfully...they both fear him now. He is not the Michael they loved, not the one that had been quiet and stoic yet still loving in return. The Michael that would have done anything for them, that never wanted to lose another like he lost Lucifer. He commands them now to join him in binding Gabriel, his tangible grief the only thing that seems to be left of who he had once been.

Internally, Michael sees their fear, he feels the crushing guilt of Gabriel’s fall, he is violently ill with one true look at himself. He had gone wrong a long, long time ago, when he lost Lucifer, and now all of that was being made manifest, but he can’t face it. As flesh falls away, he covers it more and more with jewels as if that could hide the decay he can feel spreading night and day, the only thing he feels now. He must retreat into his purpose, he must not allow such devastating failure to be his legacy. So he turns on Gabriel. Gabriel, whose light had been severed. Who walks freely in an abandoned Hell. Who still has a living, breathing body. Michael’s vitriol toward the damned hones in on Gabriel, consumed with being sure he is left nailed to the lowest pit in Hell for his treachery. All the love he once had turns to hatred and in it, the other three can see that Michael has been left shattered, that nothing in him truly believes God made him this way. God’s most loyal, left to rot.

Additional information:

Michael now always exudes the Odor of Sanctity, but there is a distinct undertone of mold to it

The opalescent webbing that runs through his body is the angelic brain - normally it is iridescent and transparent with a strange glow, but Michael's is opaque and dull

Michael now prefers walking, something noted as unusual when he returned to Heaven, but it's simply due to the fact that his body has been left entirely numb and so it's difficult to maneuver in the air properly

He is very protective of his crown and dragon-skin bag, as they seem to be the only things left uncorrupted on him

[fidgetspringer-art]

✦ Linger ✦

[basilpaste]

this is an EXTREMELY first-draft design for odile in a silly little swap au of mine!!! this au is old as sin. as in it predates osis.

odile takes isas role (though isa doesnt take hers)! here she is. dame odile.

[brittie-frog]

I'm so down bad for Maddox and Ashlyn that my three favourite scenes are:

3. The Redlyn breakup - the chillest break up, Red supporting Ashlyn going after Maddox and the most insane storyline of Red realising he's bi because he kisses Seb

2. Just the entirety of Maddox during opening night - having an existential breakdown over your love life that you break the sound controls and then just give up on your stage manager duties and disappear (probably to help quinn)

1. The confession - a scene I want on repeat: the explanations of how afraid they are of how much they like the other then the "should we just stay friends?" Before having such a love induced make out their just completely ignore Carlos being there. (Also Maddison giving up and telling Maddox to stop coming back to her when she clearly likes Ashlyn... my baby just needed that push)

I love all my queer children but these two are the wlw so I love them just slightly more.

[ultratradmalewife]

I feel like something is shifting… kinda

The Buddie shippers on Twitter are backtracking but not fully. They all of a sudden care about Buck’s bisexuality and don’t care if he’s with a man or not, but still don’t like Tommy (not that it matters I’m glad they’re finally waking up to celebrating Buck, but this after all the homophobia they spewed), and they’re telling each other not to pay attention to interviews and for reporters to stop asking about Buddie… What’s happening?

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

i guess it’s less that they Completely Understood each other and more that . just. they met each other at the perfect time . they had a bond that could never be replaced . they could be their true selves around each other, even if it only lasted for a year or two . but it still meant so much to the both of them !!! those two years alone meant so much more than the ten years they spent apart and that completely fucking Destroys me . they had something that neither one of them would ever find again and if it’s not Total Understanding then i truly believe it was unconditional love . soulmatism. the feeling of finding your other half . they had each other for two little years and it was the single most vibrant blue spring of their lives

[artsy-1diot]

i think my tablet pen might've broke again anyways here's a wip

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

3l!grian is frequently depicted as a tragic figure and sometimes i wonder if we even watched the same series

[vero-niche]

with all these grim times going on with matakara where arajin is somewhat sidelined i almost forgot about the stone! the recurring item of the friendship/love stone!! the stone nobody else has appriciated only matakara!!!

im so sure arajin is going to bring back matakara with either the old stone he gave him as a kid or a new one he made (maybe even the one above that he meant for mahoro?) bc of this frame in the op too:

and it would be such an amazing move to mirror mahoro's disgusted reaction in ep1 with matakara regaining his kind self from it in ep12, something something not the love that arajin wanted but the one he needed to be brave again

[piratadelamor]

love how the second season walks towards the exact opposite direction of the first season's ending... first we follow thorfinn's journey through rage and violence, holding onto his only goal in life, revenge, and we see him losing it all in such a tense, bloody scene at the end. he's completely lost and miserable. now the second season is ending after we followed thorfinn's path towards finding peace and a new purpose for living. the whole farewall is simply beautiful and it feels incredibly light. thorfinn isn't alone anymore and despite not raising his fists he's stronger than he ever was before. he finally found true determination to build his own path in life.