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charlie-pippin-faraday · 8 months ago

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My danganronpa v3 chapter 6 running commentary:

"MY NAME IS MAKOTO??????"

excuse me you black-haired bitch you're not makoto naegi

bro what the HELL was going on in that cutscene i'm so confused

"if my actions result in your deaths so be it" nah there's something wrong here, that doesn't sound like that keebo i know

keebo's protecting us he's stalling keebo i love you i love you so much

guys i gotta level up my FRIENDSHIP POINTS to move ROCKS

ah shit fam we finally found kokichi's lab. it looks like a door from fallout in a literal tunnel underground lol

kokichi wants to be a batman villain so bad

is kokichi actually the ultimate improv comedian or something what is this

what is the "inconsistency" in the hope's peak academy book that shuichi pointed out but won't tell me? come on now don't leave me hanging. is it that makoto established the academy for normies actually? or is it something to do with the secret DR2 killing game?

i'm not wrong about either of those facts, am i? am i misremembering? didn't makoto say in i think the anime that he wanted to establish the new hope's peak for everyone and not just ultimates? and weren't the events of jabberwock island kept a secret from the general public? the fact that he was trying to rehab the remnants of despair in the neo world program was supposed to be a secret, right? to protect them?? am i wrong about that??

that flashback light only had me more confused

woah you can go outside and watch an action sequence of keebo fighting an exisal that's fucking sick

kokichi has the wax figure of rantaro?? just strung up by his bed?? what the????

oh THAT'S where the caged child document went!

so he really WAS the leader of the ultimate improv comedy group

i bet they do flash mobs

i think a more accurate title for him would be "ultimate little shit"

obsessed with the whiteboard in his room with all our pictures on it. he wrote who murdered whom, then wrote "suspicious" by maki, "weird" by keebo, "trustworthy?" by me, and "annoying" by the monokubs lol

REAL makoto naegi??? in the flashback flesh???

hell yeah we're FINALLY going to rantaro's lab!

...now that i'm in here i instantly regret it i don't like it in here

how did kokichi know about the vaults in rantaro's lab early enough to leave those notes? did HE even leave those notes? and WHY do the vaults have a monokuma USB in them?

is it gonna have that message from rantaro that we saw in a cutscene earlier?

ha i knew it

ultimate survivor? maybe himiko wasn't joking when she said maybe he went on a bunch of game shows lol. get this man to CBS

"i never imagined rantaro the first victim would come up again like this" i mean, *i* could! at least i was hoping. there were way too many unanswered questions about him

the voice of one of these unnamed classmates in this flashback sounds SUSPICIOUSLY like bryce papenbrook. i've learned never to take his presence lightly in these games

cold sleep room?!

aw hey the whole gang back together in the flashback! man it's been awhile since i've seen some of these people

i'm sorry, kaede has a TWIN??????

bro this game actually game overed me because i spent too much time clicking on people to talk to. I WAS TRYING TO BE THOROUGH IN MY INVESTIGATION!!!!!!! i didn't think it would do that to me, i just thought the time limit would be done once i'd completed everything. ffs

...motherkuma?

oh the mastermind just be making flashback lights to include whatever memories they choose? so yeah they all have to be COMPLETE crap

if himiko suddenly reappeared and is once again being super unhelpful about how she escaped the sealed hidden room, i'm guessing that means there's another door to that room

oh shit fam a hidden passage in the girl's bathroom? hm

hey they repaired keebo's ahoge! which was the key to his inner voice clearly

ha i knew those "small bugs" were actually cameras of a sort

"i'll hit them with my 'all your relationships will end up being love triangles' curse!" damn himiko that's cold. i feel like a remnant of despair would enjoy that tho

you know, if you'd asked me to predict who my final group would be, i NEVER would have guessed himiko and tsumugi. maki absolutely, keebo maybe, but never those two. this is such an odd grouping to be the final one

wait how the fuck do you know about jabberwock island, shuichi? or was that less secret than i thought?

i need to know more about this "previous game" rantaro survived

god how i fucking WISH rantaro was the ultimate game show host that would be so funny

your honor my girlfriend kaede was innocent!!!!!!!

are you telling me that the throwaway joke the game grumps made about the shot put ball landing right next to rantaro and not actually hitting him is what ACTUALLY happened???

i knew everyone kind of brushing off that tsumugi went to the bathroom back in chapter 1 was odd

we're doing a closing argument now? we haven't even hit intermission. i assume part 2 of this trial is just gonna be off the rails then

they're literally all begging tsumugi to tell them she's not the mastermind but she can't do it

dude if kokichi were here he would be tearing her apart verbally

junko the 53rd?! new ultimate despair?

is tsumugi just doing a REALLY effective cosplay rn?

they all keep trying to tell me that kokichi was a remnant of despair but i don't believe he was

don't tell me that makoto went back on his promise to have hope's peak be for normies

i like to believe that toko wrote this book

yeah i knew all those memories were fake as shit. we're in like a hunger games arena i'm calling it now

lol they weren't even hope's peak students? i'm willing to be they're not even ultimates at all, and not a single one of their backstories is real

i like to imagine everyone who's died so far is watching this from another room like everyone eliminated from a season of the bachelor or survivor watching the finale episode

the ONLY piece of evidence leading me to believe anything told to us might've been even remotely real is kaito's strange illness. other than that, i'm fairly certain every single thing told to us about the backstory and the outside world is fake. i bet there is no gofer project, there were no meteorites, there is no disease

what the- HAJIME?????

mahiru? okay this is starting to get a little batshit. felt some whiplash when she turned into hiro and then soda

hey don't you DARE turn into makoto naegi that feels disrespectful

bro does this take place in a different universe from the other two games???

this is getting way too meta

i have no idea where this goes from here if this isn't in the same universe as the other games

wait are we actually in a time loop of sorts, like i'd predicted awhile back?

oh dude i just noticed there are little "V"s and "3"s in the eyes when tsumugi is cosplaying

is this girl really blaming her actions on ~society~?

bro this is getting WAY too meta. like, past the point of being fun

shuichi just shouting at them to shut up is my mood rn

is this a roundabout way of saying they're all quote-unquote actors?

damn even that illness was fake huh

bro not her actually becoming soda to make the tenko comparison 😂

guys i'm not really sure what to make of this. idk where to go from here

like i genuinely feel like a bucket of cold water was just poured on me. like. what the fuck is this

guys i'm gonna be real: this fucking sucks. i've never been a fan of "it was a dream this whole time and none of it mattered or was real" storylines. it's lazy writing. and i really feel it here

bro i got the BAD END??

...or maybe not?

oh my god is keebo gonna be my actual savior??

i knew keebo was the only bitch around here i could trust

hang on am i playing as keebo now?? it's my dream. he had an ahoge for a reason! the TRUE true protagonist! this game is starting to redeem itself

lol of course that was an antenna. and he was basically the first person camera for the audience? interesting

you know this means in the final chapter the audience wasn't watching the rest of us running around finding clues for the situation, they were watching keebo fight exisals lol

ULTIMATE HOPE ROBOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there's always an ultimate hope at the end of these. and it's very interesting that unlike the other games, they didn't have it be the character i was controlling for a majority of the game. and tbh i think that was the correct choice. shuichi you're great and your heart's in the right place but you're not the ultimate hope lol

oh this is now a battle to save keebo's life???????? oh i am putting my ALL into this

the fuck kind of rules are these? even if we win we gotta sacrifice two of us? huh?

speaking of, what happened to the 11 other people in this game? are they actually dead? or not? that feels very unclear now

i gotta fight shuichi in verbal sword battle? i gotta fight essentially myself?

i was never good at the sword minigames i could never figure out the best way to control it

oh man that poor boy is just so clinically depressed

and the fact that we had that sword fight to clair de lune...oh man

shuichi i am unsure about this logic of yours

oh am i shuichi again now?

yes shuichi we stan a weak king

tsumugi don't you dare talk as makoto you're making a mockery of everything he stood for

wait now i get to be himiko too? i better get a turn as maki by the end of this

oh thank god i do

thank goodness i didn't enable the "more time" skill

did they fry keebo?????????? unforgiveable unforgiveable UNFORGIVEABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my god they took him over i hate this. let me go back to playing as keebo again

THEY ERASED HIS PERSONALITY??????? i'm never forgiving this game. this last chapter is like the finale of how i met your mother

at least he came back to say goodbye 😭

I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT THIS FAR AND THEY FUCKING TOOK KEEBO FROM ME NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

can't believe i had to fight keebo and not tsumugi in the final battle

"we're friends, aren't we?" oh shut the fuck UP, tsumugi

no votes? thanks keebs

keebo fucking razing the place to the ground and executing everyone else in the process was NOT how i expected this game to end

oh shit they pulled a fast one on me with this epilogue - shuichi and maki and himiko lived?!? damn

they've made it unclear whether or not this is ACTUALLY in the same world as makoto and friends ughhh

i hate that they ripped keebo from me at the last second. they erased his personality and made him self-destruct. he was the hero but at what cost. this is a personal betrayal

could they rebuild him? maybe? all i want is a reunion with keebo and the survivors (VERY small survivor pool this time btw)

i'm going to be thinking about keebo nonstop for days fyi

guys, i gotta be real with you. this was the most unsatisfying horseshit. it felt like nothing mattered, and honestly it felt like they were making a mockery of us for enjoying the previous games and content. i didn't like it. and honestly it felt...lazy? like i had been speculating so much about how this would connect with the rest of the danganronpa plot and how this would build upon the already established story and characters. like you should've seen the theories i had in my head (one of my best ones: tsumugi was a rogue hope's peak student who idolized junko and wanted to do a killing game in her honor. keebo was a plant from makoto and the future foundation/academy to guide the others and eventually help lead to their rescue - that would've been a great plotline tbh). but no, none of that happened, it didn't build on the story, it didn't add to it, it wasn't part of the same story. it was just............nothing. it didn't lead anywhere, it didn't build up to anything. it just went nowhere and did nothing, it wasn't connected. it felt like all the investigating i did to find out the truth was a waste of time, and all the plot twists and turns that happened and all the choices the characters made had no fucking payoff. it was so frustrating. there are so many creative choices they could've made to build on the story in the danganronpa world but...that meta bullshit was not it.

in other news, i have already started writing a fanfiction: an alternate version of v3 that actually takes place in-universe, therefore making all the games connected! and i think what i've thought up is pretty good, ngl. it might be related to that theory i mentioned above. if you're interested in reading, lmk and i'll work to write it faster!

and thus officially concludes my v3 gameplay commentary! i might post here and there about my experiences in the bonus modes as i do them

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #danganronpa v3 spoilers #drv3 #shuichi saihara #tsumugi shirogane #keebo #danganronpa keebo #drv3 keebo #k1-b0 #maki harukawa #himiko yumeno #rantaro amami

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spacechannel6 · 11 days ago

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I know I already made a similar post and I'm not trying to come off as a Nintendo shill (anyone who knows me knows that that's FAR from the case) but it's been so weird seeing the like, slander campaign against the Switch 2 since its release.

I don't really care if people don't like it or want to boycott it because of the game key card or 80 dollar AAA games or just don't want it because it's too expensive for them. That's totally fine and I'm generally in agreement that those practices are bad (even though I think the console is actually well priced for its hardware, regardless if some of the specs were really worth the price, ex. 120hz HDR screen).

What I do care about is the extreme abundance of misinformation and hyperbole about the console, suddenly people are saying this $450 console is $600 (and I know different regions have increased or different prices, but a vast majority of the people dogpiling that I've checked are American). That the 80 dollar game is 90 dollars. That the consoles have exploding batteries en masse (based on a news article that nobody read, because it sources a singular post about bowing in the back of the console, which, if you read the article you would know that the battery isn't even in that part of the console and that it is affecting a stark minority of users (so, it's an average console launch). That the battery life is 2 hours even though it's literally not. That Nintendo programmed it to BRICK the console if you plug in the wrong USB-C or plug it into a computer to charge or whatever, when that's just... Blatantly false.

And if it were just people posting it to themselves and looking like idiots who parrot the first thing they hear as fact that would be fine, but I've also seen people getting harassed in their asks just for having bought the console and liking it. Trying to like, brute force their discontent with the product onto other people and take away their enjoyment in some holier than thou superiority play.

As both a person who's been in this scene for a while and as someone who's in journalism school currently, it's just kind of insane the degrees of ignorance on display. Y'all are trying to turn the Switch 2 into the scapegoat for all of the problems that were already rearing their heads in the video game industry and the results of American politics and it's just... Not that.

It's a pretty decent iterative piece of hardware that has flaws, is somewhat expensive, has some overpriced games and a distribution model that is questionable at best but also not something that didn't exist in a form already (remember all the games that were just download codes in a case on S1? Where was the outrage about that?)

#switch 2 #long post

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nesiacha · 4 months ago

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The Life of the Revolutionary Xavier Audouin: From Convicted Hébertist Republican to Neo-Jacobin Facing the Directory, Then a Devout Royalist Under the Restoration

Once again I am not infallible, thank you for correcting me as soon as I make a mistake, especially since it was quite complicated to gather all the information on Xavier Audouin since some are not sure. The flow and structure leave much to be desired due to my significant fatigue, so I would fully understand any critique. It's just that with my computer acting up and no USB key at the moment, I’ll publish it to avoid losing important information.If you want to know more about the life of Sylvie Audouin (née Pache), here’s the link: Link. This is much less documented, and there are many hypotheses, some of which I clearly refute, but it explains how she earned a civic crown, the letter she sent in support of her husband during his imprisonment, and traces of her political activism during the french revolution.

One of the newspapers founded by Xavier Audouin: Journal Universel in 1790

Xavier Audouin was born on April 18, 1765, in Limoges, the son of a tanner. In his own words, "Before July 14, 1789, I was studying at the Louis-Le-Grand college and then at the Saint-Magloire seminary." When he was vicar at Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, he gave a speech at the parish church of Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin during a service held in honor of Honoré Riquetti-Mirabeau, at the invitation of the workers of the Champ-de-Mars. In 1790, he founded the Journal Universel, and quickly became an ex-priest and an increasingly influential Jacobin.

Throughout his life, Audouin wrote numerous works, both political and on subjects related to the navy and the military. He was also proficient in Latin and Greek. He developed a close friendship with Hébert and became very involved with other Hébertists. It was from 1792 onward that Xavier Audouin began to play a more prominent role. He became a delegate from the Fontaine de Grenelle section during the events of August 10 and was one of the first sections to demand the king’s deposition. He is also said to have requested that the Commune publicize its deliberations during the assembly of commissioners. According to Avenel, this was when Pache (then president of the Société du Luxembourg) noticed Audouin as a potential son-in-law. "Since they both lived on the left bank, they would often walk together in the evening. Halfway through, Pache would return to his family and occasionally talk to Sylvie about his young companion." However, it seems likely they may have known each other a bit earlier, as Audouin was involved with the patriotic Society of the Luxembourg Section, which included prominent revolutionaries like Marchand and Pauline Léon, as seen in this address to the people: link.

According to Reinhard, in September 1792, “Xavier Audouin was circulating around Paris, at the head of 350 national guards and federates, hunting for suspects.”

Audouin was reportedly sent to Vendée in September 1792, according to Aulard, and returned on October 13, 1792, to report on his mission (though there may be a date discrepancy, given the distances and chronology between Reinhard and Aulard’s accounts).

Furthermore, Audouin passed through Poitiers, as noted by Birambaut: “On September 10, 1792, the procurator general syndic of the department of Vienne and the procurator syndic of the district of Poitiers sent a letter to Roland, saying: ‘The commissioners from the Commune of Paris have been entrusted with an important mission to the citizens of the 83 departments... The city of Poitiers will never forget that it hosted the excellent patriots Audouin and Loiseau-Grandmaison for 36 hours’” (Arch. Nat., F 1 c III Vienne 5).

According to some sources, he became closer to Sylvie when he took on the role of secretary-general under Pache, the Minister of War. Audouin is credited with creating an office to assist petitioners, including injured soldiers, women, or the elderly, providing them with information about the steps to follow for their requests (an excerpt from Adrien See, whose reliability is questionable, as he sometimes presents both true and inaccurate claims). Nonetheless, since Pache always gathered his collaborators around the same table as his mother, son, and daughter Sylvie, it’s possible that Audouin grew closer to her. They married, and according to Lenôtre, Xavier Audouin received an allowance of 19,000 livres.

Xavier Audouin maintained a high opinion of his father-in-law throughout his life and retained a deep friendship with him. In the meantime, Pache lost his ministry but later became the mayor of Paris. The Hébertists gained increasing influence within the Commune and the Ministry of War, especially after Dumouriez’s betrayal. Audouin, having lost his position as secretary-general, became an assistant to the minister alongside Prosper Sijas and Ronsin (the latter held the position for a brief period before being called away by the army, though this didn’t prevent his rise within the military). François Nicolas Vincent became Bouchotte’s secretary in 1793.

According to his colleague Sijas, Xavier Audouin was “a simple, modest man with no affectation in his appearance, avoiding any intrigue or intimate relations. Those who were close to him during the Revolution, playing a loud role in it, never shared his orgies. He concentrated all his affections on his family, eager to share with them the calm pleasures of retirement, frugal, not at all prodigal with the Republic’s funds, supporting the oppressed innocence and less guilty of the injustices that might have been committed within his division, than those who abused their influence or trust in him.” One wonders what intimate relations Sijas refers to here, as his words seem to hint at some significant political divisions. According to Aulard, Xavier Audouin often accompanied the representatives of the people to learn about the situation.

Xavier Audouin would eventually be accused of having arbitrarily ensured that Fouquier-Tinville’s son was promoted in the military. He was summoned to explain himself at the National Convention and did so with ease, with the Convention being satisfied with his explanations (cf. Aulard, Jacobins, Vol. 5). He was not hesitant to oppose his Hébertist friends or his father-in-law when their political views diverged, as in the case of François-Siméon Chauvet, who had been dismissed by Pache. Vincent later sought to have him dismissed again, and eventually arrested. Audouin reportedly threatened to resign from his position if Chauvet did not get his place back (though this source is questionable, as it comes from Adrien See, despite him quoting Chauvet’s testimony).

He had violent conflicts with Hédoin Pons-Ludon, a military officer who wanted to be promoted to lieutenant colonel. He angrily criticized Audouin and other colleagues for it. Here’s an excerpt from a letter he sent to him on June 24, 1793: “You allow Pache and his young successor to give the position that should belong to my forty years of service to B… C… F… V…, petty intrigants without talent, service, or probity... You have made chiefs of staff out of people barely worthy of second-lieutenants and colonels, ruffians good enough to be drummers, and you think I will be subordinated to these people twenty months later? No, it won’t be like you think.”

Xavier Audouin also executed certain decrees. According to Marie-Madeleine and Mr. Julia Dominique, “On April 24, 1793, the general council of the department passed a decree that abolished the Effiat college, considering the establishment ‘to be very dangerous’ and that the scholarships for young gentlemen ‘perpetuate privileges abolished and proscribed in this century of liberty we live in .” On May 15 of the same year, Xavier Audouin, deputy of the Minister of War, ratified the decree and took measures to transfer the scholarship students to other military schools. The general abolition of military schools, decreed by the Convention on September 9 of the same year, made his orders obsolete. On December 20, 1793, the college was fully evacuated, and the former principal, Albiac, eagerly awaited the chance to account for his actions.

In another article titled The Great Boarding Schools of the Old Regime to the Restoration: The Permanence of an Educational Structure, Mr. Dominique Julia and Willem Frijhoff write, “Meanwhile, a general decree from the Convention modified the appointment process for vacant scholarships in the Republic’s colleges: they would now be ‘given preferentially to the children of citizens who have taken up arms for the country.’ Desiring to apply this to the twelve military schools, Xavier Audouin instructed the departmental directories on July 16, 1793, to send him a nominative list of citizens who had well deserved the country by sacrificing their affections and tender care to guarantee it from the oppression of tyrants. The list would include ‘age, profession, fortune, or means of support of citizens killed or wounded in defense...’”

A curious detail is that Audouin seems to have also received a letter from the famous Alexandre Dumas, which can be seen here.

Audouin also played a role in one of the most well-known measures of the time, the judicial reform: “We propose to relieve the Revolutionary Tribunal from the forms that stifle conscience and prevent conviction; 2° to add a law that gives jurors the ability to declare they are sufficiently informed. Only then will traitors be deceived, and terror will be the order of the day.” He was, therefore, among those responsible for the decree and its consequences (excerpt from Robespierre: The Death Penalty and Terror by Jacques Goulet).

Xavier Audouin would also be known for his animosity towards Camille Desmoulins, which seems to have been entirely mutual. Audouin allegedly made a speech condemning all English crimes and urged all publicists to reveal themselves, a policy that Desmoulins considered short-sighted. Desmoulins commented on Audouin: “ This anecdote answers everything, and I hope that Xavier Audouin will no longer ask this question at the Jacobins session: "Cowardly men, who claim to stop the torrent of the Revolution, what do these new denominations, extra, ultra-revolutionaries, mean?"

Another excerpt from Le Vieux Cordelier's text denouncing Xavier Audouin is here" That Xavier Audouin and a few short-sighted patriots declaimed the Delenda Cartago to the Jacobins was of no consequence, and could pass for the effect of the indignation of patriotism at home, such pride that doesn't kill, but that a member of the Committee of Public Safety said from the rostrum of the Convention that it was necessary to go and destroy the English government, and raze Carthage to the ground" In fact this writing seems to be a response to Xavier Audouin who is said to have made a speech on the crimes of the English government and invited all publicists to reveal themselves.

There seems to have been a significant political rift between them.

According to Pierquin (whose reliability is questionable on many occasions), Audouin harbored animosity toward no one except Desmoulins. He reportedly rejected accusations related to the death of André Chénier. The poem Chénier wrote to Charlotte Corday raised fears in his father that Audouin and his colleagues would take revenge, but Audouin allegedly advised the father to let the prisoner be forgotten. Despite this, the father’s reckless actions led to his son’s death. However, there is no solid evidence supporting Pierquin’s claims, and it's unclear why Chénier would have sought out Audouin, who was in the Ministry of War at the time, rather than his father-in-law, Pache, who would have been a more logical choice.

During the execution of the Hébertists, some sources indicated that Xavier Audouin was totally devastated (which is understandable since we know he was a friend of Hébert, but also surely of his other colleagues who were executed). According to research by Michel Eude, here is a testimony about Xavier Audouin’s state: "Clerks at the War Office were saying in a café on the Boulevard: ‘For three days, we have been looking at each other without speaking. Xavier Audouin is now in such a sadness that it surprises us all’” (Ministère de l'Intérieur, situation de Paris du 29 ventôse [19 March]. Arch. nat. Flcl11, Seine 13). However, Pache and his son-in-law manage to avoid arrest because Pache had not supported the insurrection. Furthermore, some members of the Committee of Public Safety, such as Robespierre, supported this Mayor of Paris.

But this does not last. In the night of the 21st of Floréal Year II, Jean-Nicolas Pache, his mother, Xavier Audouin, and Sylvie Audouin are arrested. Xavier Audouin recounted his own experience in a pamphlet he published, L’intérieur des maisons d’arrêt in 1795: “On hearing the sound of weapons, my wife was terrified; I grabbed my pistols and ran to the door; I recognized the police…[who were] all dressed up to make an official arrest. I will leave it to those who have been in this position themselves to reflect on how this scene made me suffer. (...); I went back to the bed, and holding my wife in my arms [said]: come on, courage, my dear; and she could only repeat over and over: ‘Oh! the scoundrels! Oh! the scoundrels!’”

An interesting anecdote, but perhaps not something Adrien See would report by drawing from the source of Gilbert-Augustin Thierry, as it is Jean-Baptiste Dossonville, an agent of the Nation later a paid provocateur for the royalists and Bonaparte, who carried out the arrest. Also arrested with them was Lachevardière, who, according to Concedieu, an administrator of the Department of Paris in a letter to Robespierre, was a close friend of Momoro and Lachevardière and that they always worked together (Papiers Inédits, I, 301-304. - G. Michon, Correspondance de Maximilien and Augustin Robespierre, p. 268).

Xavier Audouin claimed that his arrest was due to the following reasons: "Pache had openly broken with the Committees: he had particularly mistreated Billaud. I had had several clashes with Robespierre, Collot, Vadier. My wife had quarreled with one of the rulers."

However, there is a problem with the statement made by Xavier Audouin: at this moment, according to Mathiez and especially Michel Eude, Pache was still in favor with Robespierre (he would only be abandoned in Robespierre's last speech on 8 Thermidor). It would not be surprising that Audouin was not on his side, but this still does not explain the arrest.

I will briefly touch on another hypothesis by Michel Eude (which I will explore further when I write the post about Jean-Nicolas Pache). According to hostile testimonies to the Paris Commune, Pache was accused of being involved in a Hébertist conspiracy. “The muffled rumors, but widespread, that Pache, in cahoots with Bouchotte, was pulling the strings behind the scenes where he hid, the intrigues that have appeared and will appear, they have long been suspected of being the real authors of the dissensions.”

“Upon seeing the conspirators pass by, it was said that it was the effect of the nocturnal meetings that took place at the Évêché, at Pache’s and elsewhere. Now we see that it is good not to remain silent about such conduct.”

“More than 150 people gathering in the National Garden seemed to give credence to what was said about Pache: that he was an intimate friend of Momoro, Hébert, etc.; that he pretended to have no involvement in the matter, but that his silence was that of a volcano waiting for a bit of air to erupt” (28 March). This conspiracy, according to witnesses, had made Pache a great judge, and that he had spoken of cutting off 5 to 6 heads. Some say it was Danton (I don’t think it was Danton either because the Cordeliers club of that time in 1794 would not have made Danton a judge despite the fact that he had begun to appease them a little since he was discredited in their eyes). In any case, the testimonies are quite contradictory, and for my part, this hypothesis does not convince me, except perhaps that these rumors motivated the arrest of Pache (although Lecointre also revived the hypothesis of the great judge role that Pache was assigned to denounce Billaud, Vadier, Collot, Barère, Amar, Voulland, and David for accusing them of having “in the Hébert affair, Vincent and others, stopped the effect of a warrant against Pache, who was supposed to be appointed Grand Judge by this faction; having ordered Fouquier, the public prosecutor, not only to not carry out the arrest warrant but even to prevent it from being discussed, resulting in the fact that witnesses who wanted to speak about Pache and even the accused who requested that he appear were denied the chance”).

Michel Eude suggests that although Carnot signed the arrest of at least Xavier Audouin and Pache, the idea did not come from him initially (at least he did not see them as a danger at first, although Pache and he did not get along at all and often clashed politically, even though they paradoxically had similarities). It was Pille, one of Carnot’s allies, who was more violently attacking some of Pache’s and Audouin’s close associates. Here is the excerpt from Michel Eude:

“By the law of 12 Germinal Year II - 1st April 1794 (voted on Carnot’s proposal), the Ministry of War was replaced by the Committee for the Organization and Movement of the Armies. This measure led to the dismissal of Bouchotte and his replacement by Pille. Now, Pille was Carnot’s man and was violently anti-Robespierre. He would be attacked in July at the Jacobins by a head of the war office, Prosper Sijas, who would be guillotined on 11 Thermidor.

Pache had been Minister of War from October 1792 to February 1793. Bouchotte was ‘another Pache’: he continued the same policy and kept Xavier Audouin as secretary. When the war offices came into the hands of Pille, Carnot’s creation, it is possible that Pille and Carnot, upon examining the papers from the time of Pache at the Ministry of War, discovered facts that led Carnot to support, if not request, Pache’s arrest.”

But it is clear that the fact that Pache and Audouin were deeply linked to the Hébertists during the insurrection was one of the first reasons to put them under arrest. Those who signed the arrest order, according to Michel Eude, were Vadier, Elie Lacoste, Voulland, Louis (from Bas-Rhin), Billaud-Varennes, Carnot, Barère, Jagot, Moise, Bayle, and Collot d’Herbois. In contrast, those who refused to sign included Couthon, Lindet, Prieur de la Côte d’Or, and Robespierre. According to Albert Mathiez, they disapproved of the arrest of Pache.

As for Pache’s mother and Sylvie Audouin, the reason they were arrested, in my opinion, was somewhat random, similar to the wives and mothers of revolutionaries that @anotherhumaninthisworld listed here: https://www.tumblr.com/anotherhumaninthisworld/762140356735385600/do-you-happen-to-know-how-often-it-occurred-for?source=share (however, why they were kept secret seems complex to me).

In any case, let’s return to the arrest. Jean-Nicolas Pache was sent to the prison des Anglaise, his mother and son-in-law Xavier Audouin to Pélagie, Sylvie Audouin to Port-Libre (Louis de Launay claims that Sylvie Audouin was imprisoned in Luxembourg). On the 9th of Thermidor, after 100 days of imprisonment, Sylvie Audouin and her grandmother were finally freed.

Here is an excerpt from a letter from Pache to prove their imprisonment and their being kept in secret (for 100 days):

“Citizens representatives, I, along with my mother, daughter, and son-in-law, have been kept in secret for one hundred days.

On the hundred and first day, citizen Vouland informed me that my mother and daughter had been freed, and my son-in-law and I had been removed from secret confinement.

Deeply moved by this news, I immediately rushed to thank you.

At the same time, I wrote to you, as I was in complete ignorance of the reasons for my arrest, and I could only shout to you: justice. To expedite this, I offered any information necessary regarding my principles and actions. I added that I would refrain from showing signs of impatience. Indeed, I remained silent and in waiting for an entire month. After such a duration, I owe it to myself, and I owe it to you, to remind you of my existence, and I fulfill this dual obligation.

Signed: Pache.”

The reunion between her and her husband was emotional, even though Sylvie apologized to him for having been released from prison before him. For Xavier Audouin, his father-in-law Pache, Bouchotte, Raisson, the former commissioner of the Agriculture and Arts Commission, the Hébertists Clémence and Marchand, captivity was only the beginning.

Xavier Audouin wrote a first letter to the Committee of Public Safety when his detention began to extend (it dates from September 1794 according to Adrien See):

“Citizens, I have been imprisoned in the Pélagie prison for five months. I was arrested on the 21st of Floréal with my whole family, without being told the reasons for this measure, which I still do not know.

For five months, I have had time to reflect on my principles and my actions during all phases of the revolution. I have seen nothing that I would not be willing to do again, should I find myself in the same circumstances.

After having served the Revolution as a citizen, I became a civil servant without seeking it. I was tasked by a patriot, who later adopted me as a son, to oversee part of the administration of the war.

It was not the thirst for power that ensnared me, for under Beurnonville, I voluntarily resigned.

I was made to take on the same duties under another minister, who, at the time when I agreed to work with him, enjoyed the trust of the Convention and the esteem of the patriots.

Upon the dissolution of the Executive Council, I rendered my accounts in the greatest detail. I may be reproached for mistakes, but never for crimes. I never had any funds at my disposal. I own nothing, and I expect no wealth other than that of my father, a tanner from Limoges, whose fortune, like that of all his fellow citizens before 1789, has since been significantly diminished.

Finally, my reflections on the past only strengthen my conviction of my innocence and the error in which those responsible for the misfortunes of my family have been placed. These reflections still serve as my guarantee of the justice I await from you.

I do not complain about my suffering. I know that the revolutionary movement is too swift for good citizens not to be crushed, but you are here to hear their cries and come to their aid.

My father-in-law Pache did some good work. I learned my duties from him. If my wife and the octogenarian mother did not share our work, at least they applauded our desire to serve the country.

You, citizens, several of whom could testify for us, judge us, and if you believe we are still worthy of serving the same cause as you, do not leave us any longer in a situation where the best citizens may find themselves, but where no one should remain when those who head the government truly want the triumph of liberty and the happiness of its defenders.”

Xavier Audouin

But when he was transferred to the Luxembourg prison on the 17th of Vendémiaire in Year III, this is what he wrote:

“Citizens Representatives, detained for more than five months, I kept silent during the first four months, necessarily.

These men you punished, those who still deserve to be punished, subjected me, my father, my wife (aged 16 and nursing a child), her 14-year-old brother, and her 80-year-old grandmother, to the most rigorous and unjust secrecy.

The 9th of Thermidor restored my right to communicate with you. I have used this means only once. Because my wife and child obtained justice, I considered my personal pain to be of little importance.

The extraordinary volume of cases I saw you dispatch led me to believe you could not delay in addressing my case.

I could also add that, wishing to be tied to my father’s fate (Pache), whose arrest may have served as a pretext for mine, I had flattered myself that you would recall the good he did, and that when you liberated him from the persecutions to which he is unjustly subjected, I would feel the effect of that as well.

Finally, the neglect we seem to be in avoids me from mentioning that I still do not know the reasons for the severity exercised against us. Having asked for them in vain, I reviewed my life from the cradle and found no act or thought that would not be worthy of a good citizen.

Nevertheless, I did not help overthrow the convents and palaces only to see myself imprisoned among the debris. If my detention is motivated, I must be judged. If it is not, it must cease. In any case, I ask for liberty or death.”

As I mentioned in the post about Sylvie Audouin, this letter seems quite odd, since Xavier and Sylvie Audouin would not have their first child, a son named Nicolas-Léonard-Xavier, born on November 29, 1795.

Xavier Audouin wrote another letter on November 9, 1794, to the members of the Committee of General Security:

“Citizens, I hear it said that justice is now on the agenda. It is even said that it is false that patriots are served in the prisons. However, I believe I have served my country well and have been detained since the 21st of Floréal without being questioned, and without even knowing the reasons for the severity directed at me. Citizens, if social guarantees are destroyed by the oppression of a single citizen, I have the right to make my voice heard. It is your duty not to push it away.”

This letter seems to have had little effect, as on December 20, 1794, at the Convention, Clauzel called for the renewal of the Revolutionary Tribunal so that "Pache, Bouchotte, and all the accomplices of the Robespierre faction," including Xavier Audouin, would be judged without delay (though, once again, Audouin was far from being a Robespierre supporter, as were many others included in this decree).

On the 22nd of Nivôse, a new transfer order was issued, and Xavier Audouin joined, among others, his father-in-law Pache in a prison at the Tower of Ham. There, Sylvie continued to publicly support him, visiting him, and the couple was granted the right to share bread and bed. It was likely during this period that Sylvie became pregnant with their first child, and Xavier Audouin wrote one of his many pamphlets Inside the Houses of Detention, where he described his arrest and the conditions of his imprisonment. Later, Sylvie would include this pamphlet when writing a letter of support for her husband.

In addition to Clauzel, other well-known figures such as Bourdon of the Oise strongly called for the judgment of Bouchotte, Pache, Audouin, Héron, and others on February 27, 1795.

We must remember that, due to internal struggles, the left wing (the Mountain) had been weakened, and the right wing was eager for revenge. Among the enemies the right was determined to deal with was Pache, the former Girondin who had become their greatest adversary. The repression during the 1st of Prairial Year III further endangered Pache, his son-in-law, and other prisoners in their situation.

However, the trial was repeatedly delayed due to the Legislative Committee. The amnesty of the 3rd of Brumaire in Year IV finally granted them their freedom.

Xavier Audouin continued his political activities in Paris after his release from prison and founded the newspaper Le Publiciste Philanthrope from February 20 to May 12, 1796. His newspaper advocated for "a sentimental amplification of the ills of the fatherland" and desired "fraternity, forgiveness, and a general reunion" (excerpt from Annie Jourdan). Gracchus Babeuf occasionally mentioned Xavier Audouin in his newspaper Le Tribun du Peuple: "I loudly demanded the constitution of that time. If they had demanded it at the same time as me, they would have saved the people and themselves. On the contrary, they were long in opposition to me, constantly seeking to delay the implementation of that constitution. In the end, they recognized I saw better than them, and they came to echo me. They demanded, through Barrère and Audouin, the swift establishment of the constitutional regime; but it was too late." (Interestingly, Babeuf worked for a time in the Commune of Paris under the authority of Pache’s allies, who had defended him once on July 29, 1793, and later during the Conjuration of Equals, producing a pamphlet in defense of the Babouvistes who were accused). Pache would later go to Thin, where Xavier and Sylvie would visit him every year.

Audouin’s newspaper was attacked by Le Courrier républicain: "The apostate priest Xavier Audouin, son-in-law of the good Pache, imprisoned in the Château de Ham for the most hideous Maratism that the demagogic fury could invent."

Nevertheless, due to the law of 21 Floréal Year IV (likely due to the repression of the Conjuration of Equals), Audouin had to withdraw to Melun with war commissioner Macey. However, this did not stop him from returning to Paris in Year VI when he was granted permission to resume his Jacobin activities. In the papers of Jullien (son of Rosalie Jullien), Audouin’s name appeared among the 60 candidates he proposed, with whom he was in contact. This sparked outrage in the reactionary press, which felt that the list contained too many names of the "darling children of Babeuf."

Xavier Audouin would become one of the most well-known Neo-Jacobins of the time. Indeed, he was one of the most prominent speakers of the "Reunion of Friends of Liberty and Equality" alongside René Vatar, Drouet Jean-Baptiste, Felix Le Peletier, Topino-Lebrun, Antonelle, Adjutant Jorry, Victor Bach, Augureau, Prieur de la Marne, Didier, Tissot, Vaneck, etc. He continued to make contributions in the field of war administration, as in "Réponse du citoyen Martique, chef de la cinquième division de la guerre, à plusieurs calomnies publiées contre lui et contre l'administration de la guerre."

Xavier Audouin, like many of his colleagues, foresaw the danger of a military dictatorship that could be embodied by Bonaparte with the following words: “If the influence that, I dare say, you have allowed Bonaparte to have over yourselves were seized by some of his successors, and if they became accustomed to this mania of superiority over the government, I ask you, would we have a republican constitution for long?" Xavier Audouin feared that, without a firm takeover by the Directory, "its powers [would be] destroyed by the growing ambition of the military.”(Mémoire du citoyen Audouin sur les dilapidations, Milan, 5 Nivôse Year VII ;December 25, 1798). It is ironic to think that a few years earlier, Xavier Audouin had welcomed Joseph Bonaparte and placed him appropriately. Here is an excerpt from Annales révolutionnaires, the mission of Joseph Bonaparte in 1793 and 1794 by Arthur Chuquet: “Joseph Bonaparte, having escaped the vengeance of the Paolistes in May 1793, had barely set foot on French soil when he headed for Paris with his compatriot and friend Meuron. On July 9, he presented a memorandum to the Executive Council which was almost identical to the one Napoleon had sent to the Convention on June 1. He was warmly received by the Corsican deputies, notably Molledo and Luce Casabianca, as well as by one of the most influential officials in the War Department, Xavier Audouin, who would later congratulate him for his long services and contribute to 'placing him appropriately.'”

During the last period of elections of the Directory, the results were mixed, with no clear winner. The Neo-Jacobins would temporarily triumph. Indeed, Treilhard was forced to resign, replaced by Gohier, while La Révellière-Lépeaux had to step down and Moulin took his place, and most importantly, Lindet became the Minister of Finance.

Xavier Audouin gained an important role, becoming a substitute at the Court of Cassation and took up his post on June 16, 1799. On July 13, the revolutionary was full of hope: "May it, like July 14 and August 10, triumph over all others." The rest is well-known: Victor Bach’s speech, deliberately distorted by the opponents of the Neo-Jacobins to suggest the return of the Terror (even this term is questionable), Fouché who closed the Jacobin club, the 18 Brumaire, and the end of the French Revolution.

Nevertheless, it is assumed that the Audouin couple experienced new fears following the coup of Brumaire. Xavier Audouin was part of the list of Jacobins who were supposed to be exiled from French territory. However, this decree was postponed, and Audouin was simply placed under surveillance, later aligning himself with Bonaparte's regime as a defender in the Council of Prizes (others say he remained discreet and did not profit from Bonaparte’s regime). Cambacérès is said to have also pleaded in Audouin's favor and vouched for him.

In Year VIII, Lucien Bonaparte reportedly offered Xavier Audouin the position of General Secretary of the Prefecture of the Department of Forests, but Audouin refused, citing financial reasons: “I have no ambition, but I have needs. The salary of this position does not align with what I need to support my large family, and what I could earn through my work, so I am forced to present my regrets and non-acceptance of this position, despite the trust you have shown me.”

Instead, he was appointed as the historiographer attached to the War Depot. According to Avenel, he was scandalized by the infamies spread about the administration he had been part of, especially during the period of 1792-1794, and against certain revolutionaries he had admired. He wanted to use his position to inform historians of the truth about that period. He is said to have taken documents from the war archives and added explanatory notes, but this effort ultimately failed.

However, according to Herlaut, Xavier Audouin may have intentionally destroyed documents: “The popular societies, most affiliated with the Society of Jacobins of Paris, the municipalities, the sans-culottes of Paris and the departments, sent daily reports to the minister about the political views of officers. All of these documents were collected by the 6th division of the ministry, headed by Xavier Audouin, the son-in-law of Pache. Unfortunately, they have not survived. During the Empire, the sans-culotte Xavier Audouin rallied to the Emperor and was appointed historiographer at the Ministry of War, which gave him control over the ministry’s archives. It was under his administration that all these documents, which would have compromised many marshals and generals of the Empire, once fierce revolutionaries, disappeared.” (Source: La républicanisation des états-majors et des cadres de l'armée pendant la Révolution, General Herlaut). Did he really do this? If so, why? Was it to protect himself or his former comrades (let's not forget he saw many of his Jacobin friends exiled some executed and others have seen promotions denied to them)? Was it to prevent them from being compromised by their past associations with Bonaparte? Especially since Audouin wanted to rehabilitate the administration he had worked for, it seems strange to destroy these documents.

In any case, some sources claim that he temporarily withdrew from political life in 1802 and became a member of the bar. Meanwhile, he wrote several works. He had already written one in 1800 on maritime trade (Du commerce maritime, de son influence sur la richesse et la force des états...) and in 1811, a four-volume work titled Histoire de l'administration de la guerre.

According to Adrien See, Audouin expressed some interesting ideas, such as the creation of a Chancellery for the Navy and one for the Army, as well as provisions regarding barracks, food, troop transport, the creation of hospitals, etc.

Audouin would not return to politics until the Restoration, when he became a fervent royalist. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Pache was left undisturbed, despite his part in Marie-Antoinette’s death. His brother-in-law, Jean, would become a royalist too ( before, Jean was a baron under the Empire), and according to Pierquin, the children of the Audouin couple also adopted royalist views. However, nothing is known about Sylvie Audouin—whether she embraced her husband’s views or remained faithful to the republican idea, much like her father.

In any case, Xavier Audouin continued to nurture a strong friendship with his father-in-law and reportedly maintained other revolutionary friendships despite his political shift. He became a lawyer at the Royal Court and called for the abolition of the death penalty for political reasons, stating, "leaving time to enlighten us on the main proposal, that of the general abolition." He also proposed reforms on administration, advocating for the reorganization of ministries and reductions in personnel and expenditures: "Now, parts of Paris have been transformed into ministers' camps. Once, ministers, their deputies, and secretaries general alone occupied the buildings. Now, everyone occupies their own palace and has guests... The funds used in the past twenty years for acquisitions, repairs, rents of hotels, furnishings, and the moves of ministers, sub-ministers, guests, clerks, and supplies would have paid for the construction of hospitals, schools, bridges, and roads—long-requested and long-awaited.”

It was the year 1819. The first family tragedy came when his wife’s grandmother passed away. The following year, his wife, whom it can be deduced he deeply loved, died at 43, likely to the great sorrow of her husband, her father, and their four children, on January 15 at 7 rue Jacob at 4 a.m. It is noteworthy that it was his son, Léonard Xavier Audouin, aged 20, who signed the death certificate, not her husband.

A year later, another tragedy struck. One of the couple’s two daughters, Sylvie-Félicie, who was frequently sent to Thin, died from tuberculosis at her grandfather’s house.

One cannot help but wonder whether this put a stop to Xavier Audouin’s political reflections. His father-in-law, Pache, died two years after the death of his granddaughter under sad conditions. His son Jean is said not to have visited him, nor his son-in-law (though in the case of Xavier Audouin, perhaps he was still grieving). Only his grandson visited him at his deathbed, according to Pierquin.

According to Pierquin, the fate of the Audouin children was as follows: Elisa-Sylvie Audouin married Gabriel Echaupre, Administrator of the savings bank. They had a daughter named Marie, married to Gustave Marie, and two sons. The first, Maurice-Gabriel, a medical student, born in Paris on June 19, 1833, and died in Paris on March 17, 1858, from an anatomical injection. The third son, Philippe, died in Shanghai during the China campaign on December 27, 1860.

Léonard Audouin, the eldest son, became the head of the military hospital bureau in the War Department. He died on November 10, 1826. Thus, Xavier Audouin would lose a second child during his lifetime.

As for Maurice Audouin, born in 1802 and died in 1847, he worked in indirect contributions and was a member of the agricultural and statistical societies of Paris. He would have received the Prussian Gold Medal for Civil Merit. He also published works on agricultural science as well as forgotten literary and historical writings. He was also known for signing his name Audouin de Géronval, collaborating with Lamennais on La Quotidienne and launching strong attacks against the imperial regime. He later abandoned politics and focused on songwriting.

Xavier Audouin passed away in 1837.

Sources:

Michel Eude, La commune Robespierriste

General Herlaut

Victor Daline, on Marc Antoine-Jullien

Antoine Resche

Bernard Gainot

Discours prononcé par Xavier Audouin en 1790 Link

Pierre Caron, Les publications officieuses du ministère de l’Intérieur en 1793 et 1794

Réponse du citoyen Martique, chef de la cinquième division de la guerre, à plusieurs calomnies publiées contre lui et contre l'administration de la guerre Link

Annie Jourdan

Jacques Goulet, Robespierre, la peine de mort et la Terreur

For more on the Jacobin Victor Bach, his distorted speech, and his mysterious death, click here: Link

The Pache trial, which confirms that Pache's mother and daughter were arrested and put under secret detention Link

Jean Paul Berthaud Link

On Joseph Bonaparte and Xavier Audouin Link

Adrien See

Pierquin

Lenôtre

Once again, the last three sources, especially Adrien See and Pierquin, are not entirely reliable, but they do offer interesting excerpts. However, it should be noted that Adrien See makes many inaccuracies about Robespierre (but did provide some truths, especially about Marc Antoine Jullien or when he exposed legal archives and excerpts from letters).

P.S.:I’ll make another post (I’m not sure when) about Jean-Nicolas Pache, one of my favorite revolutionaries, although he is very complex like many other revolutionaries.

#frev #french revolution #xavier audouin #Pache #robespierre #lazare carnot #lindet #napoleon bonaparte #hébert #camille desmoulins #joseph bonaparte #I find the animosity between Xavier Audouin and Camille Desmoulins ironic.#When we know that both their wives publicly supported their policies and showed loyalty to their husbands even in the worst moments

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utopicwork · 9 months ago

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Looking at this as a way to add some extra buttons and a cursor (trackball, touchpad or joystick) to a normal phone by using the usb otg port for the keys and gpio pins for the cursor and communicating over bluetooth. The idea would be to have an adjustable clip on enclosure that goes on the back of the phone (with some specific design stuff to make it ergonomic)

#radishes #< ideas tag

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hyuuukais · 2 years ago

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.・゜-: ✧ :- FICTIONAL REALITY .・゜-: ✧ :-

pairing • bang chan x fem reader

synopsis • fiction or reality? y/n preferred the former, escaping into another world, escaping her problems. so what happens when reality takes that away from her; wiping her own story-in-progress off both her laptop and beloved usb? and what happens when she opens the door in the middle of a crisis to none other then the love interest of her novel... and he's holding her usb?

warnings • general

MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS | NEXT

CHAPTER TWO • NEW LIFE (1.6k)

"Café guy?"

How is his number already in your contacts? And what cafe? The only place you could think of was the one chain coffee shop across town, but that couldn't be it. Or could it? There's only one way to find out...

The phone rings twice before he picks up.

"Hello?" When you fail to answer, he speaks again. "Anyone there...?"

"Yes!" You cringe at your loud volume. "Yes, sorry."

You pace around the living room, waving your left hand around trying to think of something to say. Thankfully, 'café guy' replies before you can get another word in.

"Oh, Y/n! I didn't expect to hear from you so quickly." He laughs breathily, and in the background there's distant honking; he's still walking back. "I also didn't think you'd actually save my number."

Another chuckle, this one less enthusiastic. Finally, you settle your pacing, opting to sit on the arm chair by the window looking out to the street. From here you could see the forest, and the kitten who lives there.

"Shit," you breath.

"Everything okay?" You almost forgot about the phone attached to your ear.

"Yeah, sorry, I just remembered something I have to do," you say, holding your phone in place with your shoulder. "I was just calling about... the USB! Thank you for bringing it back. It had something really important to me."

"Don't worry about it. I figured it was important since I always see you in here hunched over your laptop." He lets out a little chuckle.

"Oh, um," you force a laugh out, throughly embarrassed. "Anyway! I was wondering if I could thank you properly? Maybe over some food?"

"Are you asking me out right now?"

"No!" You jump up from where you were sitting, free hand outstretched. "God, no."

"Ouch," you hear keys then a door shutting. "I'll pretend I'm not a little offended by that response." Before you could respond, he was talking again. "Feel free to drop by the café, yeah?"

"Sure thing." You open the door and cross the street quickly, a bowl with cat food in your free hand.

The kitten's ears perked up when it saw you, but was hesitant to come forward. Although you'd been feeding it consistently for the year you've lived across the small forest, it never approached, still scared of what you might do if it got too close. From what you could see at that distance, there was a bit of scarring above its right eye and part of its tail was missing.

"I'll treat you to a free slice of tiramisu and everything."

"Holding you to that," you put down the bowl, standing up with a small smile and crossing your arms. "Tiramisu is my favourite."

"I know! That's why I chose it to be dessert of the week." Doors opened with a jingle. "Ah, I've got to go. Customers await!"

"Wait-" You're about to continue, but when you turn your head to the left, you see a black figure at the edge of the forest.

It's looking directly at you, but you can't see its face. The shape is human, a long coat moving slightly in the breeze. For a moment, fear ceases you. Something about it seems vaguely familiar-

"Y/n?"

Fuck, you need to stop forgetting about the phone in your hand.

"Sorry. Um, I'll see you soon?" You cross the road back to your front steps, not taking your eyes off the being.

"See you then!" He hangs up, leaving you alone with the figure and the kitten.

You watch from the safety of your home, now inside, as the figure approaches the small animal. Unlike with you, the kitten doesn't move away. Instead, it lets the figure brush its fingers on its fur. The kitten leans into the touch, and you can imagine it purring loudly. Part of you is hurt that this animal you've known for a year has chosen a creepy-ass shadow creature over you.

Pulling your eyes away from the two, you focus on getting ready. You're about to run up the stairs, but turn around and lock the door first. You don't know what- or who- that thing is, and you're not risking it entering your safe haven. The familiarity leaves you unsettled. Part of you wants to run back outside, confront it, demand the reason it's here; the other part wants to hide under a blanket like a child afraid of the monster in their closet.

There are too many skeletons in your closet for a monster. Or maybe the skeletons are your monster. Either way, the past is the past, and in the present, you are getting ready to meet a man who shouldn't exist. Meeting at a café that shouldn't exist. In a timeline that shouldn't exist.

When you leave again, the shadow is gone. A chill runs up your spine, goosebumps forming despite the warmth of the sun. Mind racing, you can't help but wonder-

No, don't think like that, you think, he has no idea where you are. You made sure of that Y/n.

Clouds obscure the sun by the time you make it to Main Street, keeping an eye out for the café. You had to text Café Guy- you really should get his name- to ask the address. He questioned it a bit considering you were a regular, but you quickly ended the conversation. Now, you're walking a street you've been down a million times, and at the first intersection is the café.

"That's not fucking right," you whisper, voice higher by the end of the sentence, breathing constricted.

Upon entering, you immediately spot him. He's running around behind the counter, helping his employees and cracking jokes, and getting closer, you can read his name tag; Chan. You don't approach the counter right away, opting to stay behind a group of teenagers waiting in line to watch him. He shouldn't be real- yet, here he is, looking more alive than you have in years. A smile that could replace the sun, laughter ringing throughout the building.

What you would give to laugh freely like that again.

You don't notice him coming around the counter, having spotted you when you looked down briefly.

"Y/n! Come, we'll eat in my office." You give him a look. "It's quieter in there! C'mon."

Chan grabs your arm lightly and it takes everything in you not to rip it away. He leads you down a hallway to the right of the counter with three doors, two of them bathrooms. Behind the third door is another, smaller hallway, one door at the end and another on the left. You go through the left one.

"Cozy," you comment. The office is small, with a modest desk and chair tucked into the corner. Most of the décor is black and white, but there isn't much. "Spend a lot of time in here? Real homey."

"Actually, no," he admits, leaning against the desk, gesturing you to sit in the chair. You don't.

"So, Chan, what brings you here?" You question, although unsure of how much you already know. "There's not much here, unless you like neighbourhood drama."

"I could ask you the same thing. From the few times we've talked, you... you don't seem to like it here."

"That's a conversation for another time." You look down, crossing your arms.

"Alright, cryptic. Maybe I should be used to that by now." Chan pushes up from the desk, taking a step toward you. "If I'm honest, I don't really know how I got here, but you already know that, don't you?"

"W-What?" You stutter, looking up at him.

"Well... we've talked about this before!" He breaks into a smile. "You don't remember? Ahh, it was late, I guess you were tired. Basically, I just kind of found myself here after a long, long night. Cute town, decided to stay. That was... say a month ago?"

You force out a laugh, nodding along to what he was saying.

"Ah! I promised you dessert, let me go get it for you." As soon as Chan left, your phone began to vibrate.

Pulling it out of your pocket, you saw the words Unknown Number across the screen. This day had been weird enough, what was one more thing to add to the list of strangeness?

"Hello?" Silence. You heard a sharp inhale on the other side, but nothing followed. "Helloooo?" You repeat. "Listen, I really don't appreciate-"

They hang up.

"Asshole," you pull the phone away, rolling your eyes.

When Chan returned with the promised tiramisu, you got to chatting fairly quickly. Something about him made you comfortable, at ease. The odd phone call and shadow creature seemed so far away now.

"So what was on that USB anyway?" You blush.

"Um, nothing, just a story."

"Just a story?" He raises an eyebrow, picking up the now empty dessert plate. "Must have been a pretty important story."

"I've just been working on it for a long time," you wave your hand, as if to wave the conversation away.

Before he could reply, there's a sharp knock on the door. An employee enters, talking low to Chan about an angry customer.

"I'll be right there," Chan sighs. The employee glances toward you, gives a strained smile, then leaves. "I had a good time Y/n, don't be afraid to swing by for free desserts whenever you like."

The smile he gives you made your heart melt. On the way out, you turn before the end of the hall, giving Chan a small peck on the cheek. Embarrassed by the impulsive action, you all but run out of the café. If you had turned back, you'd have seen him smiling like an idiot, hand hovering over where you kissed him.

notes • i started this draft on september 14th ...................... it was so close to being able to post then i got sick !!!!! but hey !! now that i'm feeling better, i hope to be able to update this more frequently!

taglist • @yongbbokkie @chaeryred @tenebrisirae

TAGLIST CLOSED

#.・゜-: ✧ :- FICTIONAL REALITY .・゜-: ✧ :-#skz #stray kids #bang chan x fem reader #bang chan #bang chan x reader #stray kids x reader #skz fanfic #skz au #chan x reader #stray kids series

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otomehoneyybearr · 9 months ago

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Act 12

Episode 27: My Own Journey Pt.2

Working w/ Maybelle Lace, jujumin-translates, Fea

Note: As you read, you will see that some sentences highlighted in a different color, this is what they indicate.

Pink: Flashback

Blue: Characters are acting

❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀

Vice Principal: Yes, you're Sakuma, right?

Sakuya: Y-Yes! It's been a while.

Vice Principal: My, you're all grown up now.

Sakuya: Is it true that there is a tape of the performance that happened on the day of the fire?

Vice Principal: There is. It's the only incident of its kind that happened at this school, before and since then. I remember it well.

Vice Principal: Watch as much as you like.

Sakuya: ...

Actor A: "Captain, I found a shadow of the ship in the 3 o' clock direction!''

Amadate: “You bastards, I’m going to attack you!”"

Sakuya: ——

Sakuya: (Wow... It's exactly the same as the stage from that time... In an instant the unforgettable impressions of that day are coming back to me.)

Sakuya: (This was the first play I ever saw... The stage looked like an endless ocean.)

Sakuya: (My world expanded beyond me all at once.)

Sakuya: (No matter what kind of person Mr. Amadate is, this play is still irreplaceable and important to me.)

Amadate: "The treasure is right in front of us. Listen up and don't let your guard down—"

Sakuya: (Here it is—)

Teacher A: "There's a fire! Everyone calm down—

Student A: "What? A fire?

Student B: "Really?"

Teacher B: "Right now we will begin evacuating in order so please follow the teacher's instructions!''

Amadate: "You bastards! It's a naval attack!"

Student A: "What?"

Student A: "Are they continuing the play?"

Amadate: "Quickly pull up! Do you remember the steps?

Amadate: “Follow the adults and go outside in order!”

Actor A: "Aye aye, sir!"

Kabuto: Pfft.

Sakuya: Wha?

Sakuya: (Woah, is he laughing....?)

Kabuto: At that time, I thought that I could act out a great play depending on the situation, but... memory is a sloppy thing, isn't it

Kabuto: ...You already know, right? The one who is tormenting your theater company is Keiju Amadate.

Sakuya: ——.

Sakuya: Kabuto is Mr. Amadate's son, right...

Kabuto: We're not connected by blood though.

Kabuto: ...Well, I used to respect him as an actor.

Kabuto: For a long time, I always thought that he had a nice outward appearance, but when I got to live next to him, he was actually inhuman.

Kabuto: I didn't dislike him because I felt like he was more human than usual when he was on stage, when he was playing a role.

Kabuto: However, there is no trace of my father from back then.

Kabuto: ...I will surpass him.

Sakuya: What?

Kabuto: Is that enough? Here, give me your hand.

Kabuto: Take this.

Sakuya: Is this a USB stick?

Kabuto: This will be the key to Mankai Company's revival.

Kabuto: The mark is probably still tight right now, so take your time and hand it over to the general manager. Be careful not to let anyone else know.

Kabuto: It contains data that could be fatal to Keiju Amadate.

Kabuto: I was just thinking of a way to hide it before it got discovered and then give it to the geeky general manager. This was good timing.

Kabuto: By the way, don't let anyone know that you met me here. Young people these days post everything on SNS...

Kabuto: If I'm found out, it'll all be over for me. It seems that he'll erase me from the theater world.

Sakuya: I-I understand. I won't tell anyone

Sakuya: (Mr. Amadate, how dare you even threaten your own son...)

Kabuto: See ya.

Sakuya: What are you going to do now?

Kabuto: I'm sure I'll be able to visit that place soon. I plan to move around here and there until the dust cools down.

Sakuya: Thank you very much!

Sakuya: Right now I'm on a journey to trace my roots.

Sakuya: Thanks to Kabuto, I was able to watch footage of the important play that made me want to become an actor. It was really nice of you.

Sakuya: I had no idea there was a recorded video of it... If I hadn't met Kabuto, I wouldn't have been able to watch it.

Sakuya: Did you come to see the video because you wanted to see your father's last play again?

Kabuto: ...There was one thing I really wanted to confirm.

Kabuto: The fire incident was covered in the newspapers, further spreading the name of the Hyakka Theater Company throughout the country.

Kabuto: There is no doubt that this was one of the opportunities for the company to make a breakthrough as a theater company that regularly receives nominations for the Fleur Award

Kabuto: That's why I was wondering. Was this fire really an accident?

Sakuya: I don't know if you could say if it was an accident or not...!

Kabuto: Are you really thinking that? But it was definitelymy father's orders that set your theater on fire.

Kabuto: Even if he didn't give direct instructions, he wouldn't care about that much in order to achieve his goal.

Sakuya: ...

Sakuya: (That may be true, but I never expected it...)

Kabuto: ...Well, I was wrong.

Kabuto: Father's voice was trembling enough to make me laugh.

Kabuto: I didn't realize it at the time, but when I watched it again, it was obvious that he was upset. I've never seen such a terrible play.

Kabuto: ...After all, my father is also a human being. Therefore, he can be surpassed.

Teacher A: “Next, the 3rd graders take their turn!”

Young Man: "Slow down! Please calm yourselves and follow the person in front of you! Don't run!"

Sakuya: (I see, that young man was—)

❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀

Prev | Next

▼・ᴥ・▼

#a3! translation #a3! act addict actors #a3!#a3! act 12 translation #a3! act 12 #sakuya sakuma

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taperwolf · 11 months ago

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I pulled out an old project I have that I called the "PiPiano". It's just an old Raspberry Pi 2B computer that I've set up to be a synthesizer; it uses the FluidSynth software synthesizer and some glue logic I set up to connect to USB MIDI instruments and output faux piano sounds (or any other instrument that's in the General MIDI soundfont). I mostly wanted to verify that it still works, since I don't think I've used it in literal years, so I just plugged it in, hooked up my little Alesis QX25 keyboard and some headphones, and started messing with it.

And almost immediately it sounded wrong. Oh, it sounded like a piano, sure, but if I played too hard, or lingered too long on the keys, the audio started to develop a vibrato, a quick wavering in pitch, just as if I'd turned up the modulation wheel. What the hell? But then I realized what was going on:

I had never before used the PiPiano with a controller that had MIDI aftertouch.

To over explain, keyboard controllers come in levels of complexity. At the most basic, when you hit the keys, you get a note. More advanced ones (most of the ones you can get now) have what's called "Velocity", where if you hit the key more softly, you get a quieter note, and you hit the key harder for a louder note, modeling what goes on in a piano when the speed of your playing gets transferred to the hammers.

But the step of complexity after that is "Aftertouch", where there's a separate pressure sensitive layer under the keyboard (or even under each key), where you can affect the note after you've played it by holding the key and pressing even harder. The default mapping of that in FluidSynth is into this vibrato pitch modulation, and I'd just never had a keyboard good enough to find this out!

(Not that the QX25 is a super amazing keyboard, mind; it used to be the "good enough" sub-$100 25-key model, and I found mine at a thrift store, covered in kids' stickers and glitter, for $15. But I'd previously used with this, at best, sub-$100 49-key keyboards, or even the Rock Band keytar, so it's not surprising that none of them had aftertouch!)

#synth diy #midi #raspberry pi

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crazymcwritesalot · 8 months ago

Note

Trick or treat!

I'm glad you're still at my door waiting for a treat after 4 days... Please come in, have some tea, you must be freezing!

Here's something I've found on an old USB key. It's some Helen whump, don't think I've ever published it. Here you go :) :

It might not be an easy adjustment exactly, but Helen has to admit that having nothing to do on Sundays is somehow less unpleasant than she had first thought it would be when Will had forced her to promise she would drop the habit of working 24/7, bent on controlling everything that was being done in her sanctuary, looking over her employees' shoulder. She smiles. When had her protégé acquired this new self-confidence, she wonders? He had left her with no choice but to subscribe to the schedule he had established, and even Henry had been at a loss for words, his gaze going from his friend to his boss in silent merriment, waiting for her to react according to her standards.

But she had promised Will she would let him be her associate. She couldn't discard his first proof of leadership. That would have put a damper on his mood as well as on their relationship.

So she is there, in the library, one of the only places where she cannot be accused of working, yet a more suited place than her bedroom, where she has always felt it was indecent to be if you didn't want to sleep or write private letters. Can't blame a three hundred and plus woman for being old-fashioned, right?

She belongs in this room like an ancient urn belongs in a museum. She has seen some of the books carefully placed on the shelves in the process of being written, has inspired some even. She understands most of them because she has lived through their context. She has seen the general opinion shift around some of them, as if some authors had been born in the wrong era, a century too soon... She shares that feeling too. Born too soon and now too old. She has never found the century in which she felt right.

She has avoided the History section carefully – living through the twentieth century twice has left her with a kind of allergy to it – moving swiftly towards her own dedicated space in a corner, where an artificial fireplace keeps a small relaxation area warm. The space is intimate, surrounded by curved bookcases loaded with her favorite books: costly signed copies of first editions, mostly, but also old manuscripts, scientific thesis, unfinished novels she had been left with after some of her friends' deaths... More recent things too. Harry Potter is snuggled between Albert's Relativity and H.G's War of the World, and she's sure her two friends would have loved the young wizard.

Today though, she's not exactly there for the comfort brought by her literary friends; from where she sits in her leather armchair, she can watch Nikola work at leisure. She found him a few hours ago when she arrived, looking for a book that could have distracted her from the irresistible itch to go to her office and finish paperwork. She has read Kafka's Metamorphosis once again, thinking she would have taken some pleasure in leaving the man finish his transformation into a freaking Cillobar had she known what a compromising mess his novel would create.

Nikola hasn't moved an inch since page one. He is still lying face up on the sofa in his eternal three piece suit, his head resting in the palm of his hands. She has to focus on his chest to see it slowly rise and fall with each breath he takes, but she knows better than to think he's sleeping. No. He is either trying to break the defenses of her new wine cellar – it had taken her decades to find a suitable system of locks that would resist at least two weeks under his relentless scrutiny – or he was working on an invention.

She knows he is aware of her, peacefully gazing at him. Two world wars and a host of enemies have sharpened his animal instincts. She knows. She has not had a single night of sound sleep herself since the first time she has had to spend a night beyond enemy lines. She was a ninja sleeper, as Henry said.

Nikola is perfectly relaxed. Maybe her presence is as soothing to him as his is to her. He knows she would not let him be throttled while... She feels a thrill travel across her body, from her abdomen to her scalp. She might be witnessing the birth of Tesla's next groundbreaking invention.

“Dear, your thoughts are awfully loud.”

Helen is startled out of her reverie by Nikola's voice, and just like that the silence is broken. He is not complaining though. He is only stating a fact: there's something on her mind and he senses it in the way her heart throbs erratically.

She sighs, and her shoulders relax. Had they been tense? She had not even noticed.

“Sometimes it feels like you know me inside and out.” She begins with a sad smile.

The only movement betraying his attention is the raise of an eyebrow above his closed eyes.

“I know. It feels like we met only yesterday. And yet I know you so well...” He says, half sarcastically, offended by the fact that yes, she just implied that most of the time, she feels like he doesn't know her so much.

Helen is lost in thoughts, and she doesn't realize she has hurt his ego.

“Do you?” she asks, absentmindedly.

“I know you enough to tell that idleness is bad for your mood. You have too much time to think. You should do yoga. Take cooking classes, whatever floats your boat so long as you don't keep on sitting around with your morbid thoughts.”

Helen lets out an exhalation that sounds somewhere between a snort and a sob, and that has Nikola opening his eyes to look at her.

“I'm dead serious. Why do you think churches used to be crammed on Sabbaths back in the good old days?”.

She cracks a smile, albeit a sad one. They are back to their old dynamic as if nothing has happened just before the explosion. Oh he has talked about the kiss first hand, even before she could open her mouth to welcome him to their new home. We didn't have time for a proper goodbye speech and yet I must admit you made your exit really classy. Plus, stealing me a goodbye kiss when I had stolen a hello one from you in Rome? Nice touch. A tad too tragic maybe, but still satisfying from the literary perspective.

That and the way it had made her carefully prepared speech sink at the bottom of her memory had been enough to convince her that neither of them was ready to take their relationship to the next level. Still, she feels a discrepancy quietly lying between how she feels and how she acts around him. It seems like a huge distance is keeping them apart and he isn't even aware of it. Why would he, when he hasn't spent more than a century out of time, keeping away from her as much as possible?

“No one seems to see how much I have changed since I've reintegrated this time-line.” She sighs suddenly.

It's not like her to speak so freely to Nikola, but she desperately needs to let everything out. She only hopes he will understand.

“I don't recognize you. I'd swear you used to work on Sundays. Not that I liked it, it made you boring.” He points out.

She closes her eyes and shakes her head, biting her bottom lip, and that's when Nikola understands he cannot brush the subject away with his trademark sarcasm. A shadow crosses his face. He knows what she's been through more than she realizes.

“Seriously Helen, what's a century or two between us?”

#Sanctuary #helen magnus #nikola tesla #teslen #fanfic

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genderfluiddumbass · 11 months ago

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Smoke Break - A Pressure One Shot

Rated General (no tw/cw apply)

Tags: Reader Perspective, AU, Sebastian is just a wee bit depressed, taking advantage of the fact he smokes tobacco

Despite the name, the EXR-P divisions were anything but what they were meant to be: expendable. Blood transfusions, defibrillators, and resuscitative measures were used to ensure that prisoners wouldn’t just kill themselves to get out of a prison sentence. Instead, they had 2 choices: actually complete the objective of collecting the crystal and escaping with their lives, or be forced to loop endlessly in futile struggle. You wanted to do the former, but luck wasn’t on your side, so the latter ended up being your new purgatory.

On your current “run,” you decided to go solo, as your previous group was too cowardly to go anywhere beyond the starting dock. While the solace was eerie, it was nice to be alone for once. However, that didn’t mean you were fully alone, of course.

You had just reached the next door after an Eyefestation. As your head cleared, you looked up at the red navpath behind you. Fifty two. Ugh. You looked around for loose assets as usual, picking up folders until you heard something other than the jingling of key rings with USBs and manila folders with proprietary information. A clicking noise could be heard throughout the room. What could it be? A Wall Dweller making a hunting call? A collective Good People chittering as it awaited fresh meat?

You couldn’t quite pinpoint the sound until the faint clicking preceded a loud bang and a frustrated grumble. It sounded like it was coming from a distant room, so you continued onward. Fifty three, fifty four, fifty five, fifty six…

By the sixty-fourth room, you wondered if the noise was just a figment of your imagination.

Then it was right next to you.

A soft click sounded next to you, on your left. You only heard it once, followed by a deep inhale and exhale…Was someone smoking? You could smell the sour tobacco seeping out through the door. Smelled like a Chainsmoker, but softer, less pungent.

You slowly opened the door.

The wave of cigarette smoke hit you like a train. You coughed and attempted to regain your senses as you turned on your lantern to see.

“No no no, allow me.” A figure stood out against the smoke and weak lantern light. It seemed to fill the entire room. From what you could make out, it reached up toward its head and pulled at one of its appendages to illuminate itself, reminding you of an old lamp.

“What brings you here, prisoner?” It took a big huff from its cigarette. Two empty packs laid on a desk in front of him, with a third halfway done. Its voice rasped from the cig binge, and it tilted its head curiously as it awaited a response.

“Just doin my job, big guy. What are you, and how did you get here?” And why do you have so many cigarettes, you added mentally.

It chuckled and uncurled its long, serpentine tail that it rested over, smudging the butt on the desk in a divot made from being burnt.

“My name is Sebastian, and I was like you once. I was imprisoned under Urbanshade, and so I was subjected to whatever nefarious programs they had on the docket. The wheel landed on experimentation when I was being looked over, so they decided to attempt at giving me gills. It worked, but look at me,” it gestured dejectedly to its body, “I became this monster. I got so angry that I practically murdered the whole research team and fled down here. Now I just sit here and think about life and how to maybe go back up to the surface to have a normal one.”

As it had been talking, you had taken a seat beside it, the creature towering over you menacingly. While it didn’t attempt or appear to be threatening, you kept yourself on high alert. That is, until it made a proposition.

“Care for a smoke?”

OUGHHG FIRST PIECE OF PRESSURE FANFIC BAYBEE also these lovely dividers are by cafekitsune on tumblr! :3 i was drawing a pic of sebby in the gabe dress and it reminded me of a flapper so i gave him the long...cigarette...holder...thingie- ANYWAY here's the gist of it:

#pressure #sebastian pressure #sebastian solace #also can you tell that i like including the ddlc reference when i get the chance #mini fic #one shot

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fantasyfantasygames · 1 year ago

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Several Short Games, Part 2

Last time I got through about half of the games that Lily gave me. Here's the rest of them, including the one that's much longer than the others.

queerweird (Jeni Usborn, 2016) The game queerweird (lowercase mandatory) is an asymmetrical indie game for three people in shorts around a fire pit. The game's "safety rules" section directly addresses that last point, and you find out quickly that that's because the resolution mechanics include kicking at the firepit. Other resolution mechanics include yelling loud enough to get an echo or making out with one person until the third one gets uncomfortable. Really, queerweird isn't meant to be played. The art seems mostly like it's Usborn's private kink stash touched up to a minimum of reasonability. Cool stuff: Look, if I didn't sell you on it already then there's no cool stuff in here for you.

Giant Robots on Spreadsheets (Henry Stein, 2007) When you have someone who is very, very mathy writing a game, they generally write about a thousand pages of Very Arithmetic game rules involving space, mecha, or both. I know because I did that once. Mechanical engineer Henry Stein went several steps further. He simplified it all down to reasonable heuristics, transferred it to one massive Excel sheet that did all the work for you, and gave it tabs that would let you look up the rules by keyword. He distributed this at-cost on USB 2.0 keys in .xls format. What's that? You have a computer with a USB 3.0 ports and can only read .xlsx format? Yeah, such was the fate of my mathy space game written in WordPerfect as well. Cool stuff: The game balance is impeccable.

Uncomfortable Erotic Tension Cultivator (ListyMcListerson, 2019). UETC is a two-player game / foreplay tool. It is the 21st-century, slightly grown up, itch-diaspora equivalent of naughty dice. (Not Naughty & Dice, that's different.) Cool stuff: Meant to be used over the course of several days to, as the name says, build tension. It puts you into an actual scenario rather than just being "Roll the dice and hope it comes out hot."

ARCANO, the Game of Rules, Magic, and Regulations (Little, Burco, and Frane, 2014) ARCANO is a 5-volume set, outweighing all the other books on this list put together. Each book is in 12x12 inch format, and the whole set makes up a one-foot cube. The books are: character creation, core rules, summoning, shadow magic, and bibliomancy. There are just those three classes. Individually, the rules are not particularly intricate or complex, but there are a lot of them. Cool stuff: The bibliomancy book. Not only is it put together in a way that makes it a useful tool at the game table, but it turns all four other books into bibliomantic resources as well. There are acrostics and anagrams and all kinds of neat things hidden away in it. It's a shame the authors of the other books couldn't keep up.

Just Let's Make Pretend (AnonymousIsMyUsername, 2023). JLMP is a diceless game, if you can even really call it a game. It's like someone wrote down a set of instructions for "make-believe" just in case we ever needed to explain the concept to martians. It's not poorly-written, but you don't need it. Cool stuff: Cites its sources. If you're looking for people who are studying RPGs as a scholarly pursuit, the reference section in JLMP is an excellent place to start.

Thanks again to Lily Vers for the pile of books. Now the question is how I can foist them on someone else. I'm starting to fill up my storage container.

#ttrpg #imaginary #indie ttrpg #rpg #review #sure I'm into roleplaying let me grab my wizard hat #hurr durr magic wand yes we've all heard that one thanks #I look forward to your spreadsheet-driven mecha games

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nesiacha · 3 months ago

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Jean Nicolas Pache: The Swiss Minister of War During the Revolution, Then Mayor of Paris (Part II)

Once again, feel free to correct me if I am saying anything wrong, I am not infallible. The flow and structure leave much to be desired due to my significant fatigue, so I would fully understand any critique. It's just that with my computer acting up and no USB key at the moment, I’ll publish it to avoid losing important information.

To learn more about the revolutionary activities of his daughter Sylvie, click here: The Revolutionary Path of Sylvie Audouin, Daughter, and about his son-in-law Xavier Audouin, click here: The Life of the Revolutionary Xavier Audouin.

(To read more about Ronsin, who was Pache’s collaborator, click here: The Life of Charles-Philippe Ronsin).

In the first part, which we covered here: Jean Nicolas Pache: The Swiss Minister of War, we explored Pache’s life before the French Revolution, his role alongside his close friend Gaspard Monge, his friendly relations with the Girondins, especially the Roland couple, his involvement with the Luxembourg section, his rise as Secretary-General and later Minister of War, his antagonistic relationship with Dumouriez, his break with the Gironde, his alignment with the Montagnard faction, and his eventual removal from office.

The Mayor of Paris

Pache was removed from the Ministry, and Gaspard Monge, who had almost been dragged down with him according to Louis de Launay, was similarly supported by the Montagnard faction. Here is an excerpt regarding Gaspard Monge:

“Monge was too closely connected with Pache not to risk being dragged into his fall. Furthermore, the Kersaint affair had somewhat compromised him in the eyes of his party. A week after Pache’s departure, he sought to secure a new position and, under some pretext, submitted his resignation on February 12. [National Archives, Minutes of the Executive Council.] A letter from the Convention member Louis, representative of Bas-Rhin, dated February 18, offers insight into the behind-the-scenes events: ‘The brave Montagne has still maintained its dignity today amidst the waves that came to break against it in vain. Here is what brought the storm. Minister Monge, weary from frustrations, disgusts, and humiliations by the despicable clique you know, even threatened with being dismissed if he did not soon leave the battlefield, decided to resign. The sans-culottes Montagnards and Jacobins, having been informed that Monge’s resignation, if final, would favor the execution of a disastrous naval campaign plan, which at the same time provided this impious horde with the means to escape and carry off everything they owned to Mexico, gathered to find ways to undo this abominable plot.

Monge, when consulted on the course of action he would take if reelected, responded in a manner fitting to him and the trust we have in him. This morning, with everyone at their posts, a roll call was held, the result of which was Monge’s retention by a large majority, which the votes, including those cast for Kersaint, could not counterbalance [Monge had 366 votes, Kersaint 54]. The people of the sublime Montagne could not suppress their justified indignation when the first votes were cast for Kersaint. A heated verbal battle ensued, but the attacks coming from the Montagne, directed with as much force as precision, soon humiliated their enemies, whose shame only grew as they continued to express support for Kersaint…’”

The reports of the Jacobin Society also show that the Montagne solidly supported Monge against "the infamous cabal of the Girondins, to which Pache had succumbed."

It is important to note that at this time, although Pache aligned himself with the Montagne (especially with Hébert, Marat, and Robespierre), he also experienced friction with Fabre d'Eglantine due to his role as an arms supplier, as noted by historian Antoine Resche.

Very quickly, Pache's popularity within Paris allowed him to play a significant role once again. Following the resignation of Chambon, Pache stood for election as Mayor of Paris. He was elected on February 14, 1793, with 11,881 votes out of 15,191 voters in the sections (Diallo and Bloche). Hébert was elected substitute public prosecutor, Chaumette public prosecutor, and the imprisonment of the Minister of War Beurnonville followed Dumouriez’s betrayal. Xavier Audouin, Prosper Sijeas, and Ronsin became war deputies (though Ronsin would not remain long due to various promotions), and Vincent was appointed General Secretary of War.

As mayor, Pache faced several challenges, the first of which was the subsistence crisis and rising food prices.

When Pache was elected Mayor of Paris, the situation regarding food supplies was critical. At the beginning of 1793, the Revolution had to contend not only with the foreign coalition, the aristocratic counter-revolution, and civil war but also with the economic crisis. This crisis was worsened by the liberal economic policies of the Girondins. Roland and the Girondins, by eliminating all regulations and restoring unrestricted free trade, believed that the laws of the market would soon lower the price of grain. However, this did not happen; instead, the economic situation worsened.

The seas were blocked because of the coalition against the France , and imports became increasingly difficult. The war consumed ever-growing sums of money, and the issuance of assignats continued. By February 1793, the assignat was worth only 50% of its nominal value in France. As a result, the subsistence crisis deepened. The harvest of 1792 had been good, but farmers and landowners had no incentive to bring their grain to market in exchange for devalued paper money. Consequently, major cities were running low on bread. Since the fall of 1792, serious unrest had erupted in the countryside and cities.

In Paris, the situation regarding supplies was dire. Pache had analyzed the causes and consequences of the crisis. First of all, only the Commune’s subsistence administration was purchasing grain and supplying the capital. Pache noted in his report of August 7, 1793: “The trade was not bringing grain to the Hall due to the difference in price between its flour and that of the Commune.”

Moreover, the bakers no longer bought grain from outside the city because they had not been paid the compensation they were owed by the Commune since August 1792. Grain suppliers had also not been paid, which resulted in slow deliveries. In addition to these issues, the Commune faced the challenge of finding markets stocked with grain, as all buyers were sourcing from the same places. Pache noted:

“Commissioners from the cities of Lyon and Le Havre, and commissioners from the military and naval food supplies, came to buy flour in a very remarkable competition in places that supplied Paris, even up to the gates of Paris itself.”

This had two significant consequences. The first was an increase in the price of grain due to competition among buyers, and the second was a significant decrease in the quantity of goods that normally supplied Paris. Pache had already encountered these issues when he was Minister of War, responsible for supplying the armies. By February 1793, nothing had changed, which led him to make the following remark in an address on August 21, 1793:

“I cannot refrain from pointing out how politically unwise, how downright villainous it is to come and buy food supplies in a place that houses 800,000 inhabitants! This action deserves the harshest reprimands and calls for the attention of the legislator. I would add that during my tenure as Minister, I forbade military suppliers from buying grain from a radius of 10 to 15 leagues around Paris.”

oon after, the problem of bread taxation emerged, which prompted Parisians to rush to purchase bread, exacerbating the shortage. As Pache stated, “The difference in the price of bread between Paris and its surrounding areas led to a significant outflow of bread from Paris, so much so that Paris fed up to 10 leagues away.” As a result, bakers threatened famine, while residents were leaving the city with several loaves, sometimes as many as fifty. The Mayor of Paris had to ask the commander of the National Guard to issue an order that any cart carrying more than one loaf of bread should be stopped, and the bread should be returned to the nearest section where the price would be enforced.

However, part of the problem also lay with some bakers who wanted to set the price of bread themselves and tried to manipulate Parisians by blaming the Commune for the lack of necessary ingredients. Furthermore, there were cases of fraud, such as false flour deliveries, allowing bakers to significantly increase their profits. In an August 1793 letter, Pache remarked about them: “We know how much they profited from our distress.”

Despite the efforts of the Commune of Paris, including Pache’s successful repayment of the arrears owed to bakers and grain suppliers, the food crisis, particularly the shortage of bread, remained unresolved.

In response, Pache’s municipality proposed other solutions. Here is an excerpt from Isabelle Fourneron’s The Decentralization of the Administration of Subsistence: Pache and the Commune of Paris, February-September 1793:

“In the address of February 27, 1793, presented to the Convention, the municipality of Paris proposed a policy. This policy revived the social project developed by opponents of unlimited liberty and martial law during the great debate in the Convention in the autumn of 1792 on the issue of subsistence. The project was based on the right to existence, the foremost of human rights, criticizing the natural and unlimited right to property over material goods, and asserting the necessary subordination of the economy to the right to existence in order to protect the rights of the weak from the strong. To achieve this, it was necessary to:

Restore a just proportion between prices and wages (petition presented by Goujon);

On the monetary front (speech by Saint-Just on November 29), it was necessary to reduce the excessive issuance of assignats, the main cause of rising prices. For Saint-Just, the survival of the Revolution depended on stopping this inflation. Pache and the Commune shared this view, as we will see.”

Pache proposed a tax on the wealthy in March 1793 and had to personally intervene to calm a riot. Here is the same excerpt from Isabelle Fourneron:

“This riot had erupted due to a ‘supposed famine’ of flour and the alleged price increase by bakers of thirteen livres per sack. A group of women gathered, insulting the municipality and wanting to hang Garin, one of the administrators of the Commune’s subsistence system. Pache came to the scene, and his speech helped restore calm.”

Pache knew how to act. He encouraged the people of Paris to beware of agitators, but on the other hand, he was not afraid to make declarations to pressure the Convention against the liberal policies of the merchants. Pache’s municipality sought to demand maximum support, backed mainly by two political factions: the enragés and the exagérés. The Girondins were the most fervent opponents of this social policy.

Here’s what Augustin Robespierre said on April 20, 1793, about the Commune, of which Pache was one of the leading figures:

“In this, he said, the Commune only imitated the nation as a whole... The people of Paris would have had serious reproaches for the Commune if it had not taken the decrees denounced, because it would not have been up to the circumstances...”

He proposed the following decree: that the Commune of Paris had well deserved the nation’s praise.

Despite Danton's calls for unity, the Girondins attacked the Paris sections heavily, and consequently, their former ally Pache as well. But to be fair, even some Montagnards were against certain measures against hoarding and disapproved of the looting of stores, while others did not publicly excuse some of the looters during this difficult period.

Here is an excerpt from Annie Jourdan in her book ( Révolution française une histoire à repenser):

"On February 12, 1793, a delegation came to protest against the free movement of grain and called for measures against hoarding. They proposed uniformity in grain weighing and a price cap. The Assembly remained indifferent to these demands. From this, no doubt, came the looting of February 25-26, which was disapproved by the entire political class for violating property rights. Robespierre censured them, irritated that the people rose up for 'trivial goods such as sugar, coffee, and soap,' when they should only be protesting 'to crush the brigands.' Marat himself blamed 'the criminal faction' for being responsible."

By mid-April 1793, the exasperation between the Girondins and the Montagnards had reached its peak. Marat had been arrested, and in retaliation, the sections of Paris demanded the expulsion of 22 deputies, including Roland.

On April 15, 1793, while the Convention was discussing the foundations of the Constitution, a delegation of 35 sections led by Pache arrived. Their reception was cold, as it was believed that only primary assemblies had the right to express the nation's will, and that a meeting should take place on May 5, 1793. However, calling the primary assemblies would likely deepen political divisions and incur unnecessary time and financial costs.

On May 5, Pache was summoned to appear before the Commission of Twelve because the Commune was trying to gather the section commissioners. This episode definitively showed that Roland and Pache were sworn enemies. Roland is said to have even remarked, "I will die at Pache's hands, since he has placed himself at the head of the factious in Paris."

It is important to note something significant about the Commission of Twelve and its origins. The Committee of Public Safety decided to create a Commission of 12 members tasked with verifying the actions of the popular sections and monitoring political movements. This initiative was seen as a reaction to rumors of a conspiracy to overthrow liberty and destabilize the Convention, a conspiracy reportedly spreading from Marseille to other departments, though it took a more moderate turn in Paris.

The Commission of Twelve, mostly composed of Girondins, quickly took action against Hébert and his supporters. Marat, freed after being acquitted, criticized the Commission, accusing its members of using the law to their advantage to suppress their opponents: "You constantly talk about the law, but you only invoke it to violate it in favor of those in your party." The justice minister of the time, Gohier, defended the mayor, the sections, and Hébert, especially regarding freedom of the press. Gohier also reassured that the Convention was in no danger. Pache revealed that the Commission of Twelve had requested 300 men from the Maille and Butte des Moulins.

The situation became more complicated when sections of Paris, especially the Gravilliers section, demanded the abolition of the Commission and the release of imprisoned patriots, including Hébert. After a first suppression of the Commission on May 27, it was reinstated the next day, causing protests and additional tensions, particularly among the Montagnards and radical sections.

We are all familiar with Isnard’s famous speech (a Girondin, though opposed to the arrest of Marat) to the popular delegation that had come to demand the release of Hébert and some sans-culottes. He threatened the destruction of Paris if there were an insurrection that threatened the Convention.

The consequences are well known through the events of May 31 and June 2. Pache is said to have played a significant role in the downfall of his former Girondin allies. Brissot is said to have attacked Pache the day before May 31, accusing him of having "degraded and outraged the Convention by protecting the seditionists." In Pache's memoirs, Louis Pierquin writes: "I maintained, during the days of May 31 and June 2, such order that Paris was not turned upside down and demolished to the point where there were no stones left upon stones, as the two royalist factions boasted, who hid neither their hatred for this city, an order so that there wasn't a single scratch, nor a broken window in this great act of justice by the people that saved the Republic at that time."

In any case, he would later be blamed for being the driving force behind this insurrectionary movement.

In September 1793, Pache became closer to the Hébertists and consequently to Chaumette (although this political rapprochement was likely facilitated by his son-in-law Xavier Audouin). He would become one of the key figures in the events of September 4-5, 1793, alongside Chaumette, as foreign forces increasingly threatened France, some enemy troops were already within the country, famine worsened due to the supply crisis, and the revolution was in danger. Several demands, including the establishment of a revolutionary army, a maximum price for goods, and the arrest of suspects, were accepted.

A common prejudice should be questioned: that the Terror was placed on the agenda that day. Jean-Clément Martin shows that, contrary to this popular belief, the Convention never officially discussed the Terror. Instead, it sought to maintain control of the situation, as demonstrated by Barère’s decision, as a representative of the Committee of Public Safety, to approve the creation of a 6,000-strong revolutionary army, while refusing more extreme measures like tribunals and the guillotine. This decision reflected the Convention’s efforts to maintain its authority while limiting violence, a central issue during this period.

Pache continued to gain popularity as mayor to the point where he earned the nickname "Papa Pache." He continued his collaboration with Hébertists such as Momoro, and together they inscribed the slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" on public buildings in the summer of 1793.

Pache would also play a role in the elimination of political opponents. Concerning the Girondins, he was cited as a witness against them during their trials in October 1793. In his book on Pache, Tornare (who wrote several dubious and even erroneous facts, although he cited some interesting excerpts) states: "His sharp mind is matched by an exceptional instinct for survival. Neutral in his way, reserving the future, he appears prudent and evasive. He does not state any facts against the accused proving a premeditated conspiracy on their part. Doing the bare minimum, he merely mentions refusals of financial support and threats of arrest against municipal officers."

Jean-Nicolas Pache can be considered responsible for the execution of Marie-Antoinette. He signed the minutes that led to her beheading. However, there is something even worse: he was one of those responsible for the horrific false accusations against Marie-Antoinette and her son (alongside Chaumette, Jacques-Louis David, Heussé, Laurent, and Danjou). Hébert was merely the witness who testified at Marie-Antoinette's trial about what happened (I would not even call these false accusations lies, as I find them atrocious, regardless of the little sympathy I may have for Marie-Antoinette; no one deserves that). Here is a post by @anotherhumaninthisworld on this topic: https://www.tumblr.com/anotherhumaninthisworld/756952696430444544/hello-i-would-like-to-know-if-you-know-who?source=share We can say that Pache was an enemy of the monarchy when, months earlier, the execution of Louis XVI took place. Here is an excerpt from Louis de Launay on the biography of Monge, which Tornare corroborated by finding the official document: "On the day of the execution, the Council met in Monge's office at the Ministry of the Navy, the closest to the guillotine, in order to receive news faster through couriers. The prosecutor was with the ministers in this room, which still serves as the office of the ministers, on Place de la Concorde... As soon as the event was over, the Council drafted a report for the Convention. This report was written in a window embrasure, from where the scaffold could be seen. Following the report, the following lines appear in a handwriting that seems to belong to Pache: 'The undersigned members of the Council have decided to certify here in this register that, although Citizen Roland refused to sign at previous sessions, he attended and participated in the deliberations of these sessions. Signed: Garat, Pache, Monge, Lebrun, Grouvelle.'"

In any case, Pache did a good job of rallying the Parisians, especially the sans-culottes. He also fully embraced dechristianization alongside important Hébertists like Chaumette, Hébert, Momoro, Xavier Audouin, Cloots, and probably the Ronsin couple. On November 10, 1793, he addressed the Convention, saying, "Legislators, we present to you eight former priests who have solemnly renounced their tricks and charlatanism." However, Pache's religious beliefs on the political stage, though different from Robespierre's, did not prevent Maximilien Robespierre from always regarding Pache highly. Some say it is his effectiveness as mayor that made him a prime ally for Robespierre, while others simply claim that the two men held each other in high esteem.

Pache, on the other hand, was among the Hébertists like Chaumette and Hanriot who refused the attempt at an insurrection against the Convention. This stance spared him for a time (unlike Chaumette) from imprisonment. It is unclear how he felt about the executions, given his secretive nature, although testimonies are clearer regarding his son-in-law, Xavier Audouin, who was devastated by the death of his friends from the faction of the Exagérés , knowing that Hébert was one of his closest friends. Sylvie must have been in the same state as her husband. Jean-Nicolas Pache was not called as a witness, even though the main Hébertists had hoped for it. Lecointre de Versailles asserts, “Not only did Fouquier fail to execute the mandate, but he also prevented anyone from speaking of Pache, resulting in a ban on witnesses who wished to mention him, and even on the accused when they requested his appearance.”

Although he still had enemies, Robespierre remained one of Pache’s allies, as did Lindet, whom Pache called a wise man. Other members of the Committee of Public Safety also did not want his arrest, allowing him to continue his activities as mayor of Paris for a time.

However, this did not last. On May 10, Pache was arrested along with his mother, Jeanne Lallemand. At the same time, Xavier and Sylvie Audouin were also arrested at their home. Lachevardière, a close associate of Momoro, would also share their fate.

Various reasons have been put forward to explain their arrests. One is a false story that contributed to the black legend of Carnot. Sylvie Audouin allegedly had a violent argument in Monge’s salon with Carnot and Prieur de la Côte d’Or, confronting them over the execution of the Hébertists due to her anger. After this evening, Carnot reportedly denounced them, leading to the arrests of Pache, his mother Jeanne, his daughter Sylvie, and his son-in-law Xavier. Louis de Launay, Monge’s biographer, is said to have relied on the account of Eugène Eschassériaux, Monge’s great-grandson. This story was later repeated by Tornare. In his account, Xavier Audouin, cited by Aulard, does indeed mention a quarrel between Sylvie and one of the members of the Committee of Public Safety. However, there is no concrete evidence to support this. Furthermore, contrary to the legend, it is nearly impossible for an entire family to be arrested by the Committee of General Security (CGS) and the Committee of Public Safety (CPS) with the Convention’s approval over a mere personal dispute.

Michel Eude offers a much more plausible explanation. According to hostile testimonies from those against the Paris Commune, Pache was accused of being involved in a Hébertist conspiracy: “The muffled rumors, though widespread, suggested that Pache, in cahoots with Bouchotte, was pulling the strings behind the scenes, hiding the intrigues that had emerged, and would continue to emerge, long suspected as the real authors of the dissensions.”

It was said that the conspirators’ nocturnal meetings, held at the Évêché, at Pache’s residence, and elsewhere, played a role. The rumors about Pache intensified, painting him as an intimate friend of Momoro and Hébert, and claiming his silence was a volcano waiting to erupt.

Indeed, during the mock trial that led to the execution of the first Hébertists, there was mention of a high-ranking judge (either Danton or Pache). Interestingly, the Thermidorian reaction would later accuse the justice system of attempting to absolve Pache by replacing Danton's name with his.

However, something had changed that turned Pache and his family's situation against them. Bouchotte, a close ally of Pache, had been replaced by Pillé, a trusted man of Carnot at the War Ministry. Although Carnot and Pache were adversaries, Carnot did not want his arrest. Michel Eude explains that Pillé, a fervent anti-Robespierre, discovered Bouchotte's papers, which made Carnot suspicious of Pache. Based on this evidence, Pillé finally convinced Carnot to sign for Pache’s arrest. This is a much more probable explanation.

However, Pache’s affiliation with the Hébertists for a time did not help him win favor with some members of the Convention, the CPS, or the CGS.

Here are the names of those who signed for their arrests: Vadier, Élie Lacoste, Voulland, Louis (du Bas-Rhin), Billaud-Varenne, Carnot, Barère, Jagot, Moïse, Bayle, and Collot d'Herbois. In contrast, those who refused to sign included Couthon, Lindet, Prieur de la Côte d'Or, and Robespierre. According to Albert Mathiez, they disapproved of Pache’s arrest.

Pache was imprisoned separately from his family at the Prison des Anglais, while his mother and son-in-law were held at Pélagie, and Sylvie was held in solitary confinement at Port-Libre. Sylvie Audouin and Jeanne Lallemand were kept in solitary confinement for 100 days.

This arrest led many sans-culottes to lose interest in the Paris Commune. Here’s an excerpt from historian Annie Jourdan’s book Révolution Française : Une histoire à repenser:

“The sans-culottes no longer find in the Robespierreist Commune, which forbids their martyr festivals, their civic banquets, and their popular societies, the support they had once received during Pache and Chaumette’s time, and they distance themselves from it.”

Robespierre, who had been Pache’s ally, abandoned him the day before his speech on 8 Thermidor, attacking those who wanted Pache to become mayor again.

After the 100 days passed, Sylvie Audouin and Jeanne Lallemand were finally released. Pache wrote a letter:

Letter from Pache, held at the Prison des Anglais, Rue de Lourcine, to the Members of the Committee of General Security

"Citizens representatives, I have been, along with my mother, my daughter, and my son-in-law, in solitary confinement for one hundred days.

On the hundred and first day, Citizen Vouland informed me of the release of my mother and daughter, the removal of my son-in-law and my own secret confinement.

Deeply moved by this news, I hastened to thank you. I had written to you earlier, as I was completely ignorant of the reasons for my arrest, but could only cry out: justice. To expedite it, I offered to provide all necessary information about my principles and actions. I also added that I would refrain from showing signs of impatience. I indeed remained silent for a whole month, waiting. After such a long period, I owe it to you and myself to remind you of my existence, fulfilling this double duty."

Signed: Pache

Jean-Nicolas Pache sent another letter thirty days later to the Committee of General Security:

"Citizens representatives, After thirty new days of waiting, I remind you of my existence for the third and last time, still crying out for justice.

Salute and fraternity.

Signed: Pache"

In reality, due to the internal struggles on the left, the right was regaining power and now called for the elimination of the Montagnards, among them Pache, Xavier Audouin, Héron, Rossignol, Clémence, Marchand, Bouchotte, and Raisson. This marked the beginning of a very long captivity for them… Bourdon de l’Oise and Clauzel, in particular, called for their trials.

Jean-Nicolas Pache was transferred to the Carmélites with his son-in-law Xavier Audouin before being imprisoned at the prison of Ham. According to Adrien Sée, "They were transferred during the night of the 22nd to the 23rd of Nivôse in eighteen-degree cold, with the prisoner (Xavier Audouin) placed in a post chaise and Pache in another." This is when they experienced slight moral comfort. Sylvie Audouin was allowed to share her husband’s bed and bread. Furthermore, it seems clear that she could support her father (even though both men were at clear risk of being executed).

An interesting letter from the public prosecutor Durand-Claye and President Horeau, dated 2 Brumaire Year III, sent to the Committee of Legislation, was aimed at condemning Pache, Bouchotte, Audouin, Rossignol, and Daubigny, while showing clemency towards Héron, Clémence, Marchand, and Jourdeuil.

This letter was a response to the fact that the accused had referred to Article 2 of the Convention’s decree of 5 Prairial Year III, which required the release of anyone detained without proper warrant. The accused demanded their release, threatening legal action and seeking damages.

However, the trial was repeatedly delayed due to the Legislative Committee. The amnesty of 3 Brumaire Year IV finally granted them their freedom.

On 7 Brumaire, Jean, Pache's son, represented the expedition of this decree at the criminal court of Eure-et-Loire, while Sylvie was at the registry at Rue Thérèse.

The reunion, however, was brief. Pache stayed in Paris for only eight days with a few of his friends. According to Garat’s memoirs, they advised him to resume the fight, but with his usual calm, he rejected their advice. He felt finished; his enemies were also in Paris (and, let’s not forget, we were in the midst of the First White Terror), and with the consent of his family, he decided to leave the city. He chose to settle back in Thin-Le-Mouthier, where he owned some land. To fool the spies, he traveled in a hay cart, disguised as a peasant. He finally arrived at Thin-Le-Mouthier. Xavier Audouin (and likely Sylvie) continued the political struggle during the Directory. However, contrary to popular belief, this was not the end of Pache's political career. First, he used his pen against Touchet, a merchant who had accused him of imprisoning him arbitrarily.

But his most striking act came when he defended the Babouvists at a time when they needed it most—when they were initially arrested. It was a courageous act, as the press had not been quick to defend them. Pache wrote a defense to René Vatar, one of the most famous neo-Jacobins of the time and a close associate of Babeuf (Pache likely met Vatar through Xavier Audouin, as Vatar also worked as an printer for him at the Journal Universel). Pache wrote a manifest titled Sur les factions et les partis , les conspirations et les conjurations , et sur celles à l’ordre du jour . In it, he spoke out against the Directory and in favor of the Babouvists (some Directors, likely La Révérendière, had tried to implicate Pache in the Babouvist conspiracy, claiming he had left Thin-Le-Mouthier to go to Paris). It is important to note that there were risks of his being imprisoned again, but he ultimately was not pursued.

Pache openly defended Antonelle, Cordas, Fiquier, Joseph Bodson, Lindet, Chrétien, Amar, and others. He denounced the massacre at the Grenelle camp, particularly the deaths of Huguet, Cailleux, Javogues, and Cusset. He vehemently attacked Carnot, calling him the “grand master of the high conventional works, who served all factions successively—cowardly, cruel, and accommodating of a regime by coup d’état.” He referred to Carnot as a “killer of patriots”: “Why, Carnot, who had patriots killed at that time because he wanted changes to the Constitution of Year II, now has them killed again? It's because he feels the same way about the Constitution of Year III as he did about the other. He continues to destroy patriots because they get in his way, and to pass the destruction off as he did before, he sacrifices the royalists. Patriots embarrass him.”

He also accused Carnot of manufacturing evidence (it is true that agents provocateurs had suggested, likely to discredit the conspiracy, that the Directors should be killed to ease the repression; the Grenelle repression was also partly provoked by agents provocateurs). Pache said Carnot was more determined to destroy patriots than the Austrians.

While Pache critiqued some members of the former Committee of Public Safety, he also commented, “I saw the play of personal hatreds; I saw Robespierre yielding to Billaud, and Billaud yielding to Robespierre, with an alternating satisfaction on each of their faces. But I saw a constant joy for the destruction of Carnot’s image. It was then that, to cover up the patriots’ misdeeds in the eyes of the people, the royalists’ misdeeds were doubled.”

He accused Carnot, during Year II, of saying to him after “three or four initial massacres, both conventional and extra-conventional, waddling by the fire with a satisfied look, ‘Well, Citizen Mayor, we’ll make some changes to the Constitution after all.’”

Nevertheless, while Carnot was the main spearhead of the repression against the Babouvists, and the parodies of justice and the death penalty for the apologia of the Constitution of Year II, he does have his faults (like many of his colleagues) in Year II, Pache’s portrayal of him is more complex than he made it out to be. First, Carnot protected Félix Le Peletier, as shown in this link. Here is my theory on why Carnot protected certain Babouvists and targeted others. Gracchus and Buonarrotti, who could have attacked him, only gave him moderate criticism, focusing their hatred instead on Grisel, who betrayed them, Minister Cochon, and others—likely because they knew Carnot was a more complex figure. Annie Jourdan effectively demonstrates that Carnot underestimated the danger from the left and failed to see the royalist danger coming.

So why did Pache direct such virulent attacks at him, even more than at other members of the Committee of Public Safety? One might argue that it was related to the arrest Pache himself endured. He was not inclined to feel positive about Carnot after what he went through. But Lazare Carnot was not the only one who contributed to his arrest, and he was the one who received the harshest words. Some say it was personal—Pache knew many of the conspirators in the case of Amar, Antonelle, Le Peletier, and especially Babeuf. Indeed, Gracchus Babeuf had worked for a time with Pache and Chaumette in Paris.

Babeuf joined the grain and flour division of the Paris Commune’s Department of Subsistence, which was administered by Garin. He worked there from May to October 1793 as Garin’s secretary. Pache even defended Gracchus Babeuf (in a letter from Babeuf’s wife, it was said that Pache, Garin, Chaumette, Sylvain Maréchal, and Robespierre were his friends, though it’s unclear how well Babeuf knew Robespierre) when Babeuf was arrested on July 29, 1793, before the Committee of General Security.

However, Pache never defended men like Chaumette after his arrest and execution, and he did not mention him again to my knowledge. I believe the most plausible explanation is that Pache was frustrated with the poor political decisions Carnot made. Since he was no longer in Paris to personally judge him, Pache likely did not view these as mere errors of judgment but rather, mistakenly, as deliberate mistakes on Carnot's part. This is surprising, given that Monge remained their mutual friend. One would have expected Pache to make a more accurate judgment about Carnot while figures like Babeuf and Buonarrotti, who had less direct experience with "The Organizer of Victory" ,were Carnot's victims of this repression and yet moderated their criticism of him.

Anyway, after the 18th of Fructidor, Pache became a member of the Société d’Agriculture d’Art et Commerce in the Ardennes in 1799, due to the benevolence of the local administration. In Thin-Le-Mouthier, he focused on his land, refraining from attending church services, though he respected others' beliefs, and spoke with the local farmers, giving them agricultural advice. He also took on young students, offering free education in botany. Among them, he became close with Mademoiselle Stévenin and Monsieur Chardon, whom he named as legal heirs to some of his philosophical manuscripts. Chardon was often invited to dine with Pache, although he didn’t always enjoy the simple meals, complaining that they only ate potatoes. When he turned 18, he became the private secretary to the prefect and later joined the direct contributions administration, where he rose through the ranks.

Mademoiselle Stévenin was also a talented student, and Pache pushed her to further her studies in plants. She began her work as a “child's nurse,” and interestingly, a variety of potato was named after her in the region for a time. Pache almost adopted her due to his fondness for her. She later became a local schoolteacher in Thin-Le-Mouthier, where she passed away in 1849 at the age of 56.

Jean Nicolas Pache wrote a cadastre, produced writings for the Société d’Agriculture d’Art et Commerce in the Ardennes, and published an Introduction to Philosophy.

Xavier and Sylvie Audouin maintained a tradition of visiting him at Thin-Le-Mouthier every year for a few months, bringing their children. They enjoyed simple family moments, sharing meals, playing music, and gardening.

The Brumaire coup d'état marked the end of Pache’s last political activities, disillusioned by the direction his country was taking. It can be said with certainty that he must have feared for his daughter Sylvie and his son-in-law Xavier Audouin, as Xavier Audouin was on the list of Jacobins who were supposed to be exiled from French territory. However, this decree was postponed, and Audouin was simply placed under surveillance. Later, he aligned himself with Bonaparte’s regime, working as a defender in the Council of Prizes (though others claim he remained discreet and did not profit from Bonaparte’s regime). Cambacérès is said to have also advocated for Audouin, vouching for him.

In any case, his son-in-law followed his example and withdrew from political life in 1802, disillusioned by the administration he had served during the year II, which now slandered him, despite his futile efforts to defend it. He left his position as historiographer attached to the War Depot to become a lawyer.

According to Louis de Launay, Pache was once again in danger following the Saint-Nicaise Street assassination attempt. Fouché had placed him on the list of proscribed individuals (likely due to Pache’s defense of the Babouvists, which did not help his reputation). However, Monge Gaspard, loyal to his long-standing friendship with Pache, intervened and persuaded Bonaparte to remove him from this list.

Later, in 1803, Gaspard Monge would meet Pache one last time. He brought a letter of proposition from Bonaparte, who wanted Pache to work for him.

Here is an excerpt from Lenôtre’s Paris révolutionnaire: Vieilles maisons, vieux papiers, corroborated by Pierquin:

One summer evening – it was August 1803 – a magnificent carriage stopped in the square of Thin-le-Moutier, creating quite a stir, especially since it was known that the First Consul had been visiting the region’s strongholds for a few days. A servant jumped down from the carriage, opened the door, and a tall man descended, asking for the residence of Mr. Pache. He was directed there, and the children, stirred by the arrival, followed him to the door of the former priory. The peasants, standing at the threshold of the barns, greeted him low and looked on curiously, wondering:

— Who is this?

It was Monge, who had come with Bonaparte to Méanères. The Consul, as usual, had inquired about the prominent people in the area and the roles they had played during the Revolution. The name of Pache had been mentioned. Wanting to attach himself to the fortunes of the former mayor of Paris, or perhaps simply curious to meet the man who, in 1792, had dared take on the terrifying responsibility of leading the Ministry of War, he sent Monge with his offer.

The conversation that took place that night between the two old friends, who had not met since their time in the Luxembourg section, must have been somewhat awkward. They had followed divergent paths. The only known outcome is that, the next morning, Monge left, and Pache accompanied him to the edge of the valley, halfway between the mill of Géronval and the village of Warby. There, they stood together for a moment, embraced, and Monge, for the last time, tried to persuade the disillusioned philosopher.

— No, I don’t want to, Pache replied.

With these words, they parted ways, never to meet again. Monge climbed back into his carriage, and Pache, after watching him leave, returned to the path to his cottage"

Louis de Launay states that it was actually Monge who convinced Bonaparte to offer Pache a role, but the result was the same. Thus, the two companions, who had started the Revolution together in 1790, meeting in Paris, parted ways, though still on good terms. But they will never see each other again.

Although Pache detested Bonaparte, whether as Consul or Emperor, he was not among his opponents. His son, however, Jean, became a baron under the Empire. Nevertheless, the invasion of 1814 made Pache lament his failure to reconcile the Dantonists. “When the misfortunes caused by the imperial regime befell France, [Pache] was deeply affected. He laments all the more at having failed in the attempt to bring together the Dantonists and the Paris Commune, which he had tried to do before Thermidor. Had he succeeded in bringing about this reconciliation, the course of the Revolution would have been modified, and perhaps the catastrophes into which the homeland threatened to sink would have been avoided.”

Jean Nicolas Pache, likely due to his role in the execution of Marie-Antoinette, had to hide several times at the beginning of the Restoration, notably in Charleville. However, it was reported to Pierquin that Russian officers showed great respect toward this former mayor of Paris in Thin. He eventually resumed his normal life. But his son Jean had become a staunch royalist, having received the Order of Saint-Louis medal, renouncing his family name, and even avoiding his father while maintaining contact with his friend, the Count of Broyes, who also lived in Thin-le-Moutier.

Xavier Audouin, now a royalist, continued to visit his beloved father-in-law, Pache, with Sylvie (contrary to what Wikipedia states, we don’t know if Sylvie became royalist or not; Pierquin mentions that only Xavier Audouin, Jean Pache, and the surviving grandchildren of Pache were royalists), and their grandchildren. In any case, according to some sources, Sylvie managed her father’s property, but it seems that she and her husband faced financial difficulties. On November 1, 1819, Pache had to give them 20,000 francs.

The fact that his son-in-law and son had become royalists likely helped Pache maintain peace, despite his role in the death of Marie-Antoinette.

In 1818, he prepared a will, requesting to be buried as a Catholic and to die as such. Some say this was a ruse to ensure he and his family were left in peace regarding religious matters.

But misfortunes were far from over. Jean Nicolas Pache lost his mother, and then, a year later, his daughter Sylvie passed away in Paris in 1820. One can only imagine the pain he felt, especially considering he had introduced her to politics, and she had remained faithful to him through the worst trials, even though he could not be with her in her final moments. And the worst was yet to come for Pache. Of his four grandchildren (he only knew the children of Xavier Audouin and Sylvie: Nicolas-Léonard-Xavier, Maurice-Ernest, Alexandrine-Élisa-Sylvie, and Sylvie-Félicie), he had a special fondness for little Sylvie-Félicie, as she resembled Pache’s late wife. She spent much more time with him at Thin-le-Moutier. According to Pierquin, he even took special care of her, putting her on a diet of mare’s milk. But she died at the age of 14 from tuberculosis, and he had to sign her death certificate. This third loss drained him of the little joy he had left.

He remained seated in silence for long hours afterward. In the six months before his death, he became bedridden and immobile. Mademoiselle Stévenin took care of him, though somewhat clumsily, as she was not naturally attentive, despite the affection she had for him. His son-in-law, who adored his father-in-law, did not come to visit (although to be fair, he had just lost his wife Sylvie and his daughter, and he, too, must have been in mourning). His son did not come either, and it was only at the end that Maurice Audouin, Pache’s grandson, came to witness his agony. Most of his old friends had passed away, such as Gaspard Monge (in 1818). Some of his companions had died in exile, such as René Vatar under Bonaparte.

On November 15, 1823, pleurisy set in, and he died three days later. His Introduction to Philosophy was not published until 1844. Jean Pache demanded some of Pache’s writings intended for Mr. Chardon and Mlle Stévenin, which he later had published.

What can be said about the personality of this man? Michelet did not like him, describing him as a "man with a double face" and "cat-like." Mortimer-Ternaux referred to him as "a type of cunning and hypocrisy." Manon Roland, who once admired Monge and Pache before their falling out and becoming enemies, reproached Pache for his political infidelities, calling him "the most deceitful man possible" and "the most obsequious person one could possibly find ," according to a letter she sent to Servan. Olivier Blanc, who dislike Pache, claims that he adopted a strategy of demagoguery and deliberately allowed inaction in Brittany (according to Olivier Blanc, as cited by Tornare), although this is highly questionable.

Dominique Joseph Garat, who served as Minister of the Interior, is said to have described Pache as "This son of Switzerland seemed phlegmatic, impassive, and his demeanor carried a 'steady calm,' an 'eternal rest.' He appeared not to involve himself in anything, to belong to no party, to hate no one, not even his enemies, and to love nothing except his family and democracy. But beneath his Swiss good-naturedness and the apparent tranquility of an old employee who hides his emotions from all eyes, Pache hid a vindictive soul, hungry for power. He did not reveal where he was headed, but secretly, and all the more surely, under the barrage of insults and accusations, he remained unshaken, without flinching." His enemy, Dumouriez, described him as a fanatic.

However, even his detractors acknowledge his intelligence. Olivier Blanc, who doesn't have much affection for the historical figure (even using terms like "héberto-royalism"), admits that Pache was "exceptionally learned and brilliant, also a military strategist." Dumouriez recognized that Pache had a sharp mind, and Manon Roland said he was diligent, conscientious, had sound judgment, and possessed a great deal of knowledge.

Those who admire him say he had a paternal air about him, a familiar approach, his independence, and that he was "pure of any compromise, unwavering in his principles." Jean-Paul Marat called Pache a virtuous patriot, referring to him as "Poor Pache." He insisted that Pache was a patriot, had made salutary reforms, and had taken measures to rid the office of counter-revolutionaries. Augustin Robespierre thought Pache had done good work for the country, and Maximilien Robespierre considered him a good ally who should be praised until the 8th of Thermidor.

All say he kept a taste for secrecy. He rarely put himself forward in many conversations, was taciturn on certain points, reserved, and rather modest, sometimes giving the impression that he knew more than he let on. He maintained an appearance of modesty and reserve. Nevertheless, beneath this air of good-naturedness, he could be a man of action, capable of convincing large crowds, even though at times his efforts failed. For instance, he came to stop looting in person, while pressuring the Convention to implement laws that the extremist factions and the enrages were demanding, like the maximum price laws. He succeeded in rallying many sans-culottes around him, showing his pragmatic side.

As for his friendships and enemies, Pache was a complex man. The question of his relations with the Girondins is complicated: Manon Roland might be right on some points and wrong on others. For example, when she says he was « the most obsequious person one could possibly find » according to a letter sent to Servan, Pache surrounded himself with competent people. It is true that some Girondins ignored his justified warnings about Dumouriez and did not listen to his vital political advice. On the other hand, it is hard to overlook the fact that he testified against the Girondins and did not oppose, but rather approved, Xavier Audouin’s judicial reform proposal: "We propose to relieve the Revolutionary Tribunal of the formalities that stifle conscience and prevent conviction; 2) to add a law that grants jurors the right to declare they are sufficiently informed. Only then will traitors be deceived, and terror will be the order of the day."

I don’t know his reaction to the death of Manon Roland, with whom he had been close at one point. Of course, as Jean Clément Martin pointed out, it is important to remember that if the Girondins were seen as victims for a time, it was also because they failed to put Marat and some sans-culottes on the scaffold. I wonder how Manon Roland would have reacted had the roles been reversed (though she refused to leave Paris and lead insurrections, much like Vergniaud, albeit more ambiguously on the matter). Additionally, it seems evident that both the Girondins and the Montagnards had their shared faults.

He did not appear as a witness to defend his friends in the Exagérés faction, with whom he had worked on major projects to the point of trusting them, such as Momoro, Ronsin, Vincent, and Hébert (who had defended him in his newspaper, Le Père Duchesne), even though they were the very ones who called on him. In fact, with his obsession with secrecy, we don’t even know his reaction to their deaths, unlike Xavier Audouin. Even though Pache considered his Exagérés friends lost due to their insurrection attempt to replace some deputies, he approved the mockery of justice that sought to tarnish their reputations. He also did nothing when Chaumette, who had refused the insurrection, was targeted.

We don’t know if he had regrets about how his relationship with the Hébertists or the Girondins turned out. The regrets he had, according to Pierquin, were about failing to reconcile with the Dantonists, not the political relationships I’ve mentioned. On the other hand, he may have felt a void, a remorse he could share privately with certain family members, but there is no proof of this.

One of his most contentious relationships was with Lazare Carnot, despite the fact that they were both so different and yet so similar. Carnot and Pache had both been Girondins before turning to the Mountain, supported the issue of war, served as ministers of war at different times, and both foresaw Dumouriez's treachery (putting them at odds with the Girondins). They had a common, very dear friend in Gaspard Monge and were both engineers. But Pache more or less aligned himself with the Hébertist faction, whereas Carnot had no sympathy for them. Pache defended the Babouvists, while Carnot was one of the main proponents of their repression. They had many disagreements, including over a purchase issue that was supposed to go through the Directorate in 1793. Pache supported the idea, while Carnot was against it. Carnot had little patience, probably, for some of the social policies that the Exagérés, which Pache supported, were advocating. However, as mentioned earlier, contrary to the black legend of Carnot, he did not initially want to arrest Pache until Pillé showed him documents from the ministry left by Bouchotte after this man leave his post as minister. As for Pache, I believe that if he didn't like Carnot and didn’t get along with him, the situation worsened during the Directory, when he saw Carnot making bad political decisions on important matters.

However, I believe without error that Pache’s most detested relationship during the French Revolution was with Dumouriez, one of his main adversaries. Today, some historians praise Pache for immediately sensing the true nature of Dumouriez, even while he was a Girondin. He opposed Dumouriez’s “schemes” in Belgium, and in return, Dumouriez called him a fanatic, a scoundrel, and a fool. Even worse, it seems he attacked Pache by insulting his daughter.

Jean Nicolas Pache could nevertheless be ruthless toward his enemies and also commit foolish mistakes. While he was right to want to rid France of the monarchy and sensed that Marie-Antoinette had betrayed her country (which is true, though the evidence against her at the time was weak), he was one of the principal perpetrators of the calumny against Marie-Antoinette regarding her son—false, atrocious, n hateful, and foolish attacks. Pache, however, knew well how much this could hurt, having experienced it firsthand when others targeted his own children, as his daughter Sylvie endured from political opponents at a young age. Yet, this did not stop him.

He also made serious errors in politics, the most significant being his support for the war issue alongside the Girondins, even though France was not equipped for it, and moreover, this could fuel the military dictatorship everyone feared.

He had a courageous side, such as when he faced a starving crowd in person, maintaining his dignity during his long imprisonment, during which he narrowly escaped the guillotine, along with his son-in-law and other allies. Later, he did not hesitate to defend the Babouvists during a risky period, which could have cost him dearly.

One could say he was the most "feminist" figure among the Exagérés faction (though the bar was very low for this faction), due to the rules of the patriotic society of the Luxembourg. (Though there were limits to his support for women's rights.)

Once retired from political life, he remained a simple man, eating frugal meals, loving to teach children, offering his services as a free tutor, and constantly speaking to peasants, offering them practical advice. Had he been thirsty for power, he would have accepted the job Bonaparte offered him, despite his hatred for him, but he refused. Therefore, throughout his life, he maintained principles that he fought for.

Moreover, if there was one friendship he remained loyal to despite their political differences, it was with Gaspard Monge, even after Monge became a convinced Bonapartist. He also seems to have had high regard for Robert Lindet throughout his life, whom he called a wise man, and the feeling appears to have been mutual.

Evidence suggests that Jean Nicolas Pache loved his children, Sylvie (who was married very young, at 16) and Jean. Before the revolution , he gave them an education inspired by Rousseau. He taught Sylvie to play the harp and Jean about herbalism, though he was helped by his mother after his wife’s death.

He allowed Sylvie Audouin to engage in some of his political activities, such as when she signed a manifest alongside him. He often gathered his colleagues at the same table where Sylvie was She communicated through him while he was imprisoned in Ham, and remained loyal to him throughout all periods, whether during the French Revolution, the Empire, or the Restoration. She stood by him in both int the best and the worst moments (during the White Terror of 1795 and the Restoration).

Jean, on the other hand, as seen, was mainly loyal to his father during the French Revolution, though less so during the Restoration. Perhaps he tried to ensure his father was left in peace. Jean Nicolas Pache, during the Revolution, took the time to send him a letter on February 10, 1793, showing he still cared about his education: "Here is the good man, who knows how to rise with modesty and descend with dignity; he is in his place wherever he can work for the public good. There is nothing grand for a great soul; that is why a position, whether a little higher or lower, matters little, as long as virtue is practiced and one is useful to mankind."

In the end, Jean Nicolas Pache was a complex figure in a complex period, like many people of the Revolution, with both moments of glory and dark sides.

If you're interested, here is Pache’s manifest (in French) defending the Babouvists: link.

Sources:

Antoine Resche

Michel Eude

Louis Pierquin

Gérard Lenôtre

Adrien See

Tornare

Michael Bloche

Malik Diallo

Louis de Launay

Mémoires de Manon Roland

Annie Jourdan

Isabelle Fourneron

3 notes · View notes

nautiscarader · 1 year ago

Text

Chess mates

A Glitch techs story, G, (Ao3)

it is not shipping fic,but it has elements of Zahra/HF which was supposed to become canon.

Also, there are some notes under "read more". Be afraid.

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In a dimly lit room, illuminated only by eerie blinking lights of seven-segment displays of old computers, a man walked in. He looked at the floor as if he could see the infra-red security grid, protecting it from intruders like him. He then took an asymmetrical USB key and inserted it into the panel on the wall… on his first try.

Without fear, he stepped safely and walked unnoticed across the room, until he faced an ominous, black computer tower, bigger than him, and gently touched its side. The machine hasn't been turned on in over a quarter of a century…

"Soon you and I will play again…", he spoke and unlocked the wheel brakes under its pedestal, allowing him to drag the priceless artefact effortlessly. He walked past the knocked out guards, and a few minutes later… he was gone.

xxxx

Miko Kubota stared with growing aggravation at the plixelated figures on her side of the black-and-white board.

"So… I'd like to upgrade my horse into a pegasus."

Zahra giggled.

"It doesn't work like that. Besides, it's a knight."

Miko took the generated figure in her fingers and examined it.

"No, it's a horse. Unless…", she said excitedly, "The horse IS a knight! Wait, is there a horse armor DLC?"

Zahra gave her a polite, but contemptuous smile, looking at how few pieces she had left compared to ones on her side.

"Look, Miko, there is no sense in forcing yourself to liking a game, especially one like chess. But that is the beauty of gaming. I am rubbish at that tower defence game you play. We all have our tastes."

Miko slumped into her chair, finally defeated, while Zahra cleared the board with one swipe of her arm.

"You're right. I guess… You play it all the time, so I wanted to give it a try. Plus, High-Five said one day how he started with some old PC chess game when he was 5 or something…"

Zahra's eyes lightened up.

"Hector? Does-does he play it too?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, n-nothing."

But she took a second too long, and a wide, mischievous grin appeared on Miko's face.

"Hey, High Five! Get your butt over here!"

Zahra did one desperate attempt at stopping her, but it was too late. The boy in question turned around and walked from the counter where he's been doing retagging.

"What? I'm busy"

"Oh no, you're not. I'll take it from here, while you and Zahra can have a relaxing game of chess.", she jumped from her seat, practically shoving Hector down, and grabbed the tag printer from his hand.

"Oh? So you like chess too?", he turned and leaned towards Zahra, but quickly shifted back at Miko.

"Wait, and you'd WILLINGLY offer to do this mind-numbing job instead?", he raised his eyebrows.

"Beats your nerdy chess with million rules.", she turned around, blowing a raspberry that once she looked away turned into a triumphant grin. A moment later she took a peek and saw how the two were leaning towards each other.

But her satisfaction was short-lived, when Haneesh jumped in, quite literally shoving his face between those of Zahra and Hector.

"Speaking of chess, have you guys heard? Someone broke into some tech museum and stole some famous old chess machine." he said, missing the icy daggers Miko was throwing at him.

"Wait, old chess machine? You don't mean-", Hector spoke, while Haneesh displayed the article in the air, above the plixelated chessboard, as the rest of Glitch Techs gathered around.

"BlueThought stolen - bizarre theft at The Museum of Really Old Technology.", read the title.

"No!", Hector shouted, rising from his seat. But a quick glance at the nonplus faces of his colleagues tempered his reaction.

"Wait, has-has none of you heard of BlueThought?"

"High Five, it's clear you know and care a great deal about it, so why don't you enlighten us?", Zahra proposed.

"Yeah, go on", a new voice chimed in when Phil chimed in, sipping his morning coffee.

"Well, okay then…"

Hector sat back, cleared his throat and looked at his friends that now paid attention to his every word.

"It all happened a long time ago, in the distant year of… 1996…", he made a long pause as if he was telling a spooky campfire story.

"Oh, give me a break", Phil interrupted, "Don't make it sound so dramatic, it was only…", but he paused when his calculations expected slight buffer overflow.

"…Okay, never-mind, carry on"

Hector turned back and continued.

"Well, as I've said, it was the mid-90s, and they have built this supercomputer to play chess."

"Was it the first one?"

"No, far from it, there have been dozens before. But this one was the best. It kept defeating other chess machines, then regular chess players, then masters, then grandmasters, then arch-grandmasters…! Until there was only one opponent left… The Undisputed Super-Duper Arch Great Grandmaster…"

Hector took a deep breath.

"…Gambi Krasnysledin."

Predictably, the sound of his name brought very little reaction, aside from a guffaw from Mitch.

"Gambi? What sort of name is that?"

"Hey, don't make fun of other people's names", Zahra barked back immediately.

"Yeah, Williams, don't be such a Mitch."

The group laughed at Miko's quick jab that has successfully shut Mitch up.

"And hey, he was from Soviet Russia…"

"Azerbaijan, actually", Phil quickly corrected Hector.

"So what happened then?"

"Well, the match was on. Six games, Gambi won some, lost some… But then, in the final one, BlueThought made a move so unexpected it baffled everyone."

"What? What did it do?"

"Oh, I know!", Miko suddenly interrupted, "I bet it grew arms and legs and cannons and started blasting!"

"Wha-No! It was just a move, a chess move", and he took a piece and slid it across the board, much to Miko's disappointment.

"But it was a typically human move… A sacrifice one. It felt as if it knew Gambi's next one."

"And?", the Techies asked.

"Gambi was furious! He lost the final game and the entire match. The worst thing is, he never got over it. He accused the Blue Team of cheating, of hiding someone inside the machine! Can you imagine it?"

Suddenly, Zahra chuckled.

"Actually, I can. Have you guys heard about The Turk?" she raised her eyebrows, asking the crowd, but eyeing Hector.

"No", he replied, his curiosity piqued.

"Well", Zahra started explaining, pulling some images onto the shared screen to replace the article. They depicted a human-looking mechanical robot, wearing a turban, colorful robes and sporting impressive moustache.

"That is The Turk, a machine from 18th century that could play chess and allegedly defeated Napoleon".

"Woah, woah, woah!", Miko interrupted. "I can imagine a chess computer from the dark ages - er, no offense, Phil"

"Yes, offense, Miko", he sharply replied without missing a beat.

"…but how could it work without electricity?!"

Zahra chuckled.

"With lots of gears, linkages…and cheating! Cos there really was a grandmaster hidden inside the desk, doing all the thinking, and actually moving the arm."

"It's a bit like that saying - 'A computer is only as smart as the one, who programmed it…'", Hector started.

"…'and as stupid as its user'", Zahra finished.

"Yeah…"

And the two once more leaned forward towards each other, forgetting about the small crowd around them.

"Well that is all fascinating", Mitch barged in, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "But why would I care about some old computer, designed to play only one game, when I have this!"

And he pulled from his pocket an USB stick shaped like a fish.

"Hinobi FishStick AI. Prototype, naturally, but I got it first!", he spoke triumphantly.

"You know we should've gotten it", Zahra pointed to herself and her teammates.

"But I got it! This baby can probably learn chess in seconds… If I ever cared about such boring game."

"Well, one reason you should, would be because it is also part of our history", Phil quickly explained, "Hinobi provided some extra chipsets for it."

"Wait, we've made it?"

"Oh no, we were small fish back then."

"So who has built it?"

"A team at BIM", Hector was quick to answer.

"Wait, BIM? Boring Internal Machines? Weren't they making printers and stuff?"

"Yeah, but I guess they wanted a piece of that gaming cake.", High Five pulled out his phone. " There was a whole team of experts… er, doctor Bell, professor Shu, doctor Murray…", he kept reading."That's what made BIM so big, their stock prices sky-rocketed after the match! I didn't even know these names, everyone remembers the name BlueThought… And, well, good thing they went with this one.", Hector suddenly shied away.

The rest of the Glitch Techs exchanged curious looks.

"Wait, what was the original name then?"

"Err…", Hector scratched his head, "Well, the computer was made with only one job in mind, right…", he slowly explained, his face getting progressively redder.

"And BIM's color was blue… So their first name choice was…"

Hector swallowed loudly.

"…BlueJob"

Like a spark tossed onto a pile of gunpowder, it took only a split of a second for the teenagers to burst into uncontrollable, asinine laughter. While the boys held no restrictions, Miko raised her hands saying "Nope, nope, nope dot MP4", and Zahra simply covered her mouth with her hijab, hiding a soft giggle.

"Alright, y'all, this was a hilarious history lesson, but we open in FIVE MINUTES!", Phil's voice boomed across the room, prompting the teenagers to get to their positions at the counters.

xxxx

The discussion about BlueThought returned unexpectedly during their lunch break, as Miko was determined to finish her mission.

"So… Have you and Zahra talked some more?", she asked in a would-be innocent voice.

"Huh? Oh yeah, she had this annoying client, who asked why his terabyte hard drive shows up as "931 GBs" and why did we steal the rest. Now you try to explain to an angry man difference between gigabytes and gibibytes, and that you haven't made those up."

It took about a minute for Miko to blink her way back to reality, as she processed High Five's reply.

"Dude, you have made those up. Secondly, do I need to put a giant quest-marker over her head?!"

"What do you mean?"

Miko groaned. But she quickly regained her composure when Zahra herself joined them.

"Hey, have you read the rest of that article?"

"No…", Hector shook his head, pulled his phone out, and started skimming.

"…'the whereabouts of the perpetrator remain unknown. Police reassured us that the safety of the other half of BlueThought remains'- Wait, what?"

Hector stared at the screen in disbelief.

"The other half?!"

"Yeah! That's why I brought it up."

"What, did they saw it in half?", Miko performed a motion as if she wielded chainsaw.

"Most likely it simply had so many boards it needed two towers", Zahra explained.

"Ah, you're no fun", Miko groaned.

"Listen to this", Hector interrupted, "'After the 1996 match with Krasnysledin, the machine has been separated into two parts, never to be reunited again…'"

"…Cos that doesn't sound ominous", Miko commented.

"But why would they do that?", Hector asked.

"Maybe because otherwise it would be too powerful and it would destroy the world!", Miko laughed maniacally.

"Miko-", Hector started, but was interrupted by Zahra.

"Actually… Think about it: BlueThought acted strangely, Gambi thought someone was inside… But he didn't know WE provided chips…. What if…"

"…it wasn't someONE…"

"…but someTHING! What if it was…"

"A GLITCH!", they all exclaimed.

"And what if it only activated with both halves?"

"Like some ancient artefact…"

"Wait, where is that other half stored?"

"It's…in another museum… An hour away from us."

The three Glitch Techs stared at each other.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so, Hector, but I don't know if we can use that joke.", Miko quickly replied, scratching her chin.

"What?", Hector asked, once more befuddled by her reply.

"What? I thought we could drive there, guns blazing and catch the thief red-handed."

"No!", Zahra protested, "We should drive there… And offer some protection. Our tech can do wonders compared to ordinary security measures."

"Okay, so it's settled, right? We drive tonight, after we close.", Hector stated.

"And we just offer them help", Zahra looked at Miko, already browsing guns on her gauntlet.

Miko groaned, but when Zahra turned her back, Miko selected one particular gun…

xxxx

Like they've discussed, the three Glitch Techs met after the store closed, quickly getting into the van. Miko swiftly jumped to the back, offering Zahra seat next to Hector, a sly grin drawn on her face.

And as they drove, their conversation quickly moved to the theft.

"I do wonder who could have done this.", Hector spoke out loud.

"Isn't it obvious?", Miko answered, "Gambi…Whatshisname! Didn't you say he was still salty after all these years?"

"Yeah, but that's hardly a motive."

"Except", Zahra suddenly spoke, reading from her phone "Check this out: 'For years Krasnysledin has been unsuccessful in launching his own chess simulator software, unable to compete with growing market of AI-based ones.'"

"Huh.", Hector grunted, "I guess he could be the culprit…"

Soon, the long road became bendy, as the three approached the museum, located on a small hill. They quickly got out, ready to follow Zahra's plan.

"Okay, guys, remember, we're coming just to offer them protect-"

But Zahra froze when she saw two men lying on the ground, now clearly visible in the beam lights of their van that shone upon them.

She rushed towards them, reaching her hand to check their pulse.

"They're alive. Sir? Sir? Can you-"

But in response, the guard let out a loud snore.

"Sleeping gas", Miko kicked the odd circular object on the ground, "Favoured by Russian spies…"

"Azerbaijani, actually", Hector corrected her.

"Alright guys, suit up", Zahra commanded, and with one push of a button on her gauntlet, she became clad in futuristic suit of armor.

Miko followed her, spawning her own combat suit. Hector, on the other hand…

"What? It's magical protection!", he countered the accusatory looks when he became clad in fancy wizard robes, wielding a staff instead of a conventional weapon.

"Well, maybe we will be able to surprise Gambi with a fireball…", Zahra shrugged. "Let's go."

The automatic door opened, showing an empty entrance hall, and two more knocked out guards.

"Be cautious, guys…", Zahra whispered, sliding a night vision overlay over her eyes.

Miko and High Five stuck close together, securing each other's rears, as the three moved forward. Zahra quickly browsed through an interactive map for visitors to find where the BlueThought was located - though the sleeping guards were an easy indicator where should they go.

"Fourth floor", she whispered.

The Glitch Techs rushed up the stairs, only slowing down when they reached the landing and saw the vast hall full of old computers.

And at the very end of the hall… A giant, black tower of BlueThought's second half was clearly visible, even in the dimly lit light.

"Have-have we beaten him?", Hector scratched his head.

"Nope", Zahra replied, pointing to another snoring guard, "Unless…"

She walked towards the blinking panel on the wall and examined it.

"The security is still on.", she stated after quickly scanning it with her gauntlet.

"Great! then we can one-up it with this baby!", Miko suddenly pushed Zahra aside, pulling a familiar, fish-shaped object from her gauntlet's pocket storage, ready to insert it into the USB port.

Zahra had to take a step back, finding it difficult to gather words.

"Miko! Where-how?", Zahra stuttered, as she looked in disbelief at the FishStickAI in her friend's hand.

"You've said it yourself you guys deserved it more!"

"Did you steal it from Mitch?!"

"Yes, but it's not like I went unscathed. I had to place a portal on his backpocket so I had to stare at his butt to aim. Frankly, you should be comforting me.", Miko answered quickly, proudly showing her portal pistol.

"But you've brought the exact thing that Gambi is aft-"

Zahra's words were cut off when suddenly a whip, made of tied computer cables, shot between the two, coiled around the FishStick and snatched it from Miko' hand.

The Glitch Techs watched in awe as the FishStick was snapped and landed in the hands of a shadowy figure that suddenly appeared next to BlueThought.

Next moment, lights were turned on, revealing the face of the thief.

But it wasn't Gambi Krasnysledin.

It was…

"Er, who the heck are you?", Miko asked.

The corpulent man chuckled and corrected his glasses.

"No one remembers my name… But everyone does BlueThought's…", he spoke, fiddling with the FishStick.

Something about the way the man phrased his response stirred a part of Hector's brain, reminding him of what he's said a few hours ago.

"Wait! You are-hang on….", he pulled the article he read onto his gauntlet, "You've worked for BIM! You are…er… Doctor…"

"Professor Shu", he finished.

"Wait, hang on", Zahra interrupted, "You-you guys have won. Haven't you made millions on this match?"

"Oh, we have", he answered calmly, still toying with the stick, "But if BIM had not interfered, I would be making billions. And now, when I power this old machine with your toy, I will."

Only now Hector and the rest noticed that he was standing between both halves of BlueThought, having evidently brought the first stolen tower with him.

"Ha! Good luck with that, this thing is cutting edge tech, you'd need a hundred adapters to make it wor-"

But Hector couldn't even finish his sentence as Shu plugged the FishStick into BlueThought, enveloping it in familiar, blue aura.

"I've built this. I HAVE a hundred adapters.", Shu smugly said, showing his vest full of pockets filled with electrical parts and tools.

"Guys, he's doing the villain speech, shoot him!", Miko cried, already pointing her gauntlet at him.

At the same time, all three aimed and shot some form of immobilising projectiles - with Hector casting a paralysing spell.

But Shu didn't even flinch, as a blue plixelated barrier shielded him and the two halves of BlueThought from Techies.

"Hm, it does learn quickly. And it can predict moves…"

"And that's what you want, right? To sell the smartest chess program out there!", Hector shouted.

"Chess?", Shu did a double-take, "Oh, no, I want to make printers."

Silence fell in the room, as the three Glitch Techs exchanged confused looks.

"P-Printers?"

"Wait, whaaaa…?", Miko was left with her mouth wide-opened.

"Yeah, I don't follow either.", Hector admitted.

Shu chuckled.

"I've been working at BIM on revolutionary new product… A chipset that would make printers smart."

He saw the still befuddled looks on his audience.

"Don't you hate it?!", he suddenly burst with anger, "'Paper jam' error when the paper is fine, 'No cyan' when there's plenty of it… My chip would have fixed all of these stupid problems…"

"You know, guys, as far as villain speeches go, I'm with him", Miko admitted.

He sighed.

"But I needed help… I've heard about your chips with some extra 'Oomph'… And it worked! But then BIM barged in and told me to turn it into a stupid chess machine… They took my life's work… But now-"

"Oh, wait! I know what's going to happen.", Hector interrupted and spread his arms, pointing to the floor.

"I mean, look around! We are in a room dedicated to computer chess! Even the floor is a chessboard. So, we play a game and we take places of three pieces, and-"

His excitement was cut shortly by Miko putting her hand on his shoulder and shaking her head.

"Oh, High Five… Seriously, you're referencing those movies? First of all, this bit has already been done in a waaay better cartoon…"

"Books, they were books firs-Wait, what do you mean by 'cartoon'?"

"Secondly, have you read what this woman has been posting on-line?", Zahra approached him from the other side.

"She is persona very much non grata…",she said performing a slicing motion around her neck.

"And thirdly", Shu's voice suddenly brought the three's attention back to him.

"I do not want to play chess…" Professor Shu was now sitting on a small seat between the two towers… Which slowly began to slide towards each other.

At first, it looked like Shu was going to be crushed, but the side panels moved aside and the boards inside each half started folding itself to accommodate for Shu's figure.

Before they could do anything, the two halves closed like an enormous, obsidian sarcophagus, engulfing Shu inside.

"…I want you to die", Shu finished.

The blue energy shield enveloped Shu in his machine, but it was what happened later that flabbergasted the Techs.

BlueThought rose into the air, growing plixelated legs from its joined pedestals, while each side sported arms ending with cannons aimed at the three teenagers.

"Guys, duck!", Hector shouted just as the robot's armed became encased in even brighter aura, charging their shots.

An explosion shook the building when the projectiles hit the place Zahra, Miko and High Five stood just a second ago. Hidden behind a wall, the three only had a moment to formulate a plan, listening as the machine slowly approached them.

"It's invincible! The whole machinery!", Zahra stated.

"Game over, man, game over!", Miko yelled when another blast shot a column next to them.

"Machinery…", Hector suddenly scratched his chin, "Well, it's time to respec!"

He punched a few buttons on his gauntlet and changed from wizard into an elf-like ranger with ludicrously ornamented bow… and fake, pointy ears.

"What are you doing?!"

"The pedestals! They had some physical lock! We can split it in half again!"

"And can you make the shot?"

Hector chuckled.

"Guys, I killed hundreds of dragons as prophecised Skyborn…"

He stood up, took a deep breath, drew his bow and leapt from their safety spot to the now-broken column.

"…this is a cake-walk."

He released the arrow mid-jump and a second later, he heard a satisfying metallic "cling" when the lock underneath the unshielded two halves of BlueThought became undone.

And when when he gracefully landed behind the column, the Glitch Techs were blessed with the sight of their enemy stumbling in place, as it became split open.

They cheered, but their enthusiasm was thwarted by two noises: a sparkling of electricity… and Shu's scream.

The two halves of BlueThought, though immobile, became linked with what looked like a net of constant sparks of electricity… one in which professor Shu was trapped in, still in his seat, at least until he f`ell backwards.

"We've got to help him!", Zahra rushed in, now the robot had no one to control it.

"That was easy. Good quick-thinking and nice shot!", Miko playfully punched Hector in his arm.

"He's alive.", Zahra stated, having checked Shu's pulse, "I'm gonna call 911, and you-"

But she didn't have time to end verbalising her plan when she heard an ominous, metallic "clunk" behind her back. She quickly turned around only to watch as the almost-split robot becomes sentient and mobile again, once more aiming its cannons at them.

"Oh, shoot, phase two, guys!"

Another blast hit the floor next to the three, forcing them to rush to the nearest corner.

"AH!"

Second explosion, from much more precise shot above their heads, and only thanks to Zahra's shield they were saved from falling concrete.

"Run!"

The three had to save their lives, but as they approached the exit, one of the columns fell right in front of them.

"Guys, we need to stop it! Otherwise we're toast!"

"Well then, eat some portals!"

Miko shouted, pointing her portal pistol to make the robot stumble into a hole she'd create… and watched in awe as the BlueThought effortlessly evaded it, continuing to waddle towards them.

"Uh, got any more arrows?"

By the time Miko asked, Hector has already sent a dozen of them towards the robot and screamed when BlueThought grabbed a piece of concrete from the floor and used Miko's portalled surface to send the arrows towards him.

Only Zahra's plixelated shield allowed them to duck and hide behind another colossal computer that has been toppled to the ground, giving them another second to catch breath.

"It's the Fishstick! It really can learn fast!"

"We need to unplug it!"

"Okay, so how to defeat a robot with the smartest thing ever in its seat?", Hector asked, outshouting another explosion.

And as he said so, a faint smile appeared on Miko's face. She brought her gauntlet, and to her friends' surprise, she summoned Ally.

"Zahra, remember the Turk?", she suddenly asked.

"Miko, there's time and place-", she yelled, keeping her shield up, with blasts exploding all around them.

"Well… what happens, if instead of a chess master you put the biggest chess dummy in?"

Miko continued, and hopped onto Ally's back.

Next second, both Zahra and Hector cried "NO!", as they both realised Miko's plan. She jumped from behind the makeshift barricade and rushed towards BlueThought.

"Remember guys…", Miko spoke, as she swiftly dodged the projectiles. She and Ally jumped to left and avoided two more rays by speeding forward. But Miko knew her luck can only last so long.

"I'm not a knight…", she spoke, hugging her bird, before she jumped into the air, watching as her partner gets trapped in a net, knowing her pain will only last a while.

"I'm just a pawn.", she finished, landing in the chair between two halves of BlueThouhgt.

Zahra and High-Five both shouted "No!" as Miko was engulfed by the two moving halves, but it was too late to change her mind.

Miko screamed, as she landed in the chair, blue sparks of electricity shooting through her. Zahra and Hector listened to it in horror, not knowing what was worse - their friend's agony… or the total silence that fell when the two halves fully entombed her.

Miko felt the pain only for a second,and then… she saw only darkness.

But then, out of the void came a voice.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

It was neither male, nor female, and it reached Miko only from her left side.

"Me? Who are you?"

"Wait, are you number one?", a second disembodied voice spoke, this time from the right.

"Heck yeah I am!", Miko burst, "At kicking your butts-wait, where do you have butts?"

"She is…", the first voice spoke again, "You are loss, aren't you?"

"What? I'm not lost, I'm exactly where I want to be!"

"No, I meant-"

"I'm inside you, so I can destroy you from inside! You haven't thought of that, huh!"

"Wait!", the second voice tried to intervene, but it was too late.Miko cracked her knuckles, and suddenly, the insides of the machine woke up to life, becoming encased in blue light.

"So let's start a new game…", Miko spoke, and the chessboard appeared in front of her, Pawn to… V26 - the Whojiwhatsit's opening!!"

"That is not a legal move!", the voices roared.

But it was too late. One of the pawns immediately flew off-screen.

"Next thing… The towers aren't tall enough! I put one tower on top of the other one!"

"Stop!"

"The Bishops… ooh, let's add some controversy, turns out they are in love!"

"How do you even-"

"The knight is a spy! Pawns are on strike, demanding better payment from the queen! The queen abdicates!", Miko kept shouting, watching as figures glitched and demolished the chessboard, sending more sparks everywhere.

"Please, for the love of Shannon-"

"And finally", Miko cracked her knuckles, "I want to upgrade my horse into a pegasus!"

It was an utter chaos. The figures moved on their own, the board itself cracked, and soon, the entire machine started emitting dangerously sounding, whirring noises.

"Oh, nerds."

Miko uttered theses words just seconds before the blue, electric aura filled the insides and grew, until it erupted, splitting the two halves of BlueThought in powerful explosion.

"MIKO!", Zahra and Hector cried, seeing her body fall back, just like Shu's before, and only thanks to their quick reflexes she did not fall to the floor, but landed in their joined arms.

"I… I really hate chess", Miko muttered, before she passed out, being swallowed by darkness again.

When she opened her eyes, Miko was standing alone on a chessboard, stretching endlessly into all directions of the black void she found herself in.

"Zahra? High-Five?", she shouted into the nothingness that engulfed her. But after taking a few steps, she saw the walls of the enormous room she was in: green, covered in strange, golden patterns.

And then it hit her: those were computer boards, dotted with square microchips, connected by embedded wires. In fact, she has only now realised that squares she's been walking on were processors as well - an endless sea of them…

But a sudden movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she started sprinting towards the left wall. A wall that now had a huge window, with someone moving behind.

"Hector? Zahra?", Miko repeated her plea, but quickly stopped. There was a boy behind, but he was enormous - or at least that's what Miko thought until she saw colorful patterns on the screen, which she understood she was staring at.

Realisation finally hit her again - she was inside an old arcade machine, and she was the size of an ant, looking at a regular-sized kid - a kid, who wasn't doing so well, judging by the words "Game over" that flashed on the screen.

"Dude, give me another quarter.", the boy addressed someone off-screen.

"Billy…you've been playing for hours.", a concerned voice of an older boy reached Miko. "Mom is gonna kill us'"

"Just one more, man! I've almost got it this time!"

The younger boy successfully bullied his brother into giving him money, and a moment later the screen was filled with primitive vector shapes that were meant to resemble spaceships.

But Miko was drawn to one of the microchips in front of her, one that inexplicably was glowing. As she approached it, Miko could read what was written on it: "ADDICTION".

But she was even more frightened when she realised that by walking towards this one, she has inadvertently stepped onto and activated others. The two that blinked under her feet read "HEADEACHES" and "NAUSEA". The results of her blunder could be heard immediately.

"Dude, I-I don't feel-"

The boy, clutching his head and stomach suddenly disappeared from view, but the retching sounds painted Miko quite a vivid picture of what happened there.

"Billy! Bill-oh god…"

"Oh nerds, oh nerds..", Miko muttered, crawling back, until she noticed what button she landed on, which made her sick.

"SEIZURES"

"Billy! Oh god, he's having-! Call 911!"

The furious face of an older boy appeared in front of the screen.

"It's that stupid game! It's all your fault!", he shouted staring directly at Miko.

"I'm sorry!", Miko started apologising, "That was an accident! I-I didn't mean to-"

But the boy did not hear her. Instead, the whole cabinet rumbled when he started punching the screen, cracks showing up with each hit.

Finally, he did it. His enormous fist broke through the glass, and went straight for Miko.

She started running away, but it was no use. The giant fist grabbed her and tossed her back into the black void.

She looked up, watching as the screen got smaller and smaller, until it disappeared completely.

She was falling, deep down the rabbit hole…

But when she finally landed, she thought her fall was quite a soft one.

In fact, she felt rather comfortable.

And then she heard voices again, but this time, very familiar.

"Miko? Miko! Finally, oh my goodness…"

As her eyes got used to the bright environment, Miko found her vision obscured by her parents engulfing her with a tight hug.

"Auch, auch, auch! Not enough disk space!"

"Oh, sorry, honey.", her mom quickly apologised, as the two gave her room to breathe.

She could then fully see the white hospital room she was in, though her eyes were quickly drawn to three other figures in the room.

Zahra, Hector, and to her surprise, Phil, stood at the back, all wearing smiles of deep relief.

"We came as soon we could", her dad explained, "When mister Phil told us about that printer accident."

Miko raised her brow in confusion.

"Printer accident…?"

But as soon as she said it, she noticed Zahra, Hector and Phil silently gesturing her to play along with various degree of subtlety.

"Oh, yes, printer accident! I guess that's what happens when they run out of cyan, magenta AND yellow at the same time. The darnedest things…".

"Listen, honey, we will be back in an hour."

"Meanwhile, here I grabbed something real quick: some spare clothes, some snacks, oh, your Snap, of course..", Miko's mom dropped an enormous bag in her laps, making her wonder what else does she want to bring…

"Th-thanks, guys…"

Phil grunted.

"Uh, mr. and mrs. Kubota…"

Miko's parents redirected their attention towards Phil.

"Thank you, mister Altiere. And thank you once again for helping our Miko."

"As I have said, you don't have to pay a thing. Hinobi is well prepared for compensating workplace accidents. They are very rare, but they do happen. But as I've said, I will take that burden away from you. "

Phil shook hands with Miko's parents, watching closely as they exited the room and disappeared into the elevator at the end of the corridor.

He then locked the door.

"…And by that, I mean I will mind-wipe any insurance agent, because I AM NOT PAYING A DIME FOR WHAT YOU THREE CLOWNS HAVE DONE!", he burst with rage, watching as Zahra, Miko and Hector flinch and cower under his rising voice.

"WHAT THE HINOBI HAVE YOU BEEN THINKING?", he continued his outburst, "That, what, you're gonna go to that museum, guns blazing and catch that Russian fella?"

"Azerbaijani, actually", Hector raised his hand.

"ZIP IT!", Phil turned his head so fast and shot Hector with glare so icy that the boy fell back.

"M-Mister Phil…", Zahra started, but Phil quickly barged in.

"Oh, don't think 'mistering' me will make things better."

Zahra swallowed loudly.

"Phil, we drove there to offer protection…"

"Oh, that worked like a charm!", he interrupted her, "1 on D20, critical failure: both parts of a priceless computer destroyed!"

"Destroyed?!", Zahra and Hector exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, burnt to a crisp, nothing to collect. Good thing there was relatively little collateral damage to rest of the exhibit. At least by our standards."

"And what about Shu?"

"Locked in a private room above, a policeman guards him. A policeman I also had to mind-wipe…", Phil hid his face in his hands in shame, "Seriously, have you collectively lost your minds? Have you-"

But at the sound of that word, something stirred in Miko's mind, and she clutched her head, as a wave of migraine radiated through her forehead.

"Wait!", she spoke, gathering the attention of the others. "I-I remember something."

"Remember?", Phil raised his brow, "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I was inside the BlueThought, I heard… voices."

"Voices?", High-Five asked.

"BlueThought did not have voice synthesiser", Phil replied quickly, "Ironically, cos they were all the rage back then."

He stretched his arms and started moving like a robot.

"'SHAll-WE-PLAY-A-GAME?' and all that…", he finished, ending his routine. "But go on…"

"Well…", Miko shied away, somewhat stunned by Phil's quick rebuttal, "I-I'm not sure what was it, but I heard these two voices, and they asked me if I was 'number one' and if I was lost".

She took a deep breath.

"And-and then when I was thrown out I had a dream… more like a nightmare… I was inside an old arcade machine, and that machine was making a kid sick!"

Miko decided to omit the details, still painfully present in her memories.

"And I felt as if I was doing it… does that make any sense?"

She looked at Hector and Zahra, their faces painted with confusion and consternation, but they shook their heads.

But as she moved to Phil, she saw his eyes shift, giving the impression of him doing some quick thinking.

"It was a dream.", he stated, "You've said it yourself. And remember…"

Phil sat at the edge of her bed and gently took her hand.

"Electricity shot through your body, Miko. That would scramble anyone's mind. I am so glad you came out unharmed…", he spoke in much quieter and warmer voice, giving Miko a rare smile.

"Yeah…I guess I am lucky."

Phil stood up, causing the bed to bend back into its proper state.

"Okay, guys, I need to… still clean something up…", he touched his gauntlet, a faint grimace of disgust on his face, "Oh, and speaking of cleaning, you are ALL on floor cleaning duties FOR A MONTH."

He saw disappointment on Zahra's face, but to his surprise, Hector's brightened… though he quickly guessed why.

"And no, you will NOT be able to use your gauntlets to multiply and automatise the brooms, like in that old mouse-and-wizard cartoon…"

Hector's smile, predictably, faded.

"You know, that cartoon is from 1940", Zahra quickly added, "Computers weren't even a thing back then, and it perfectly portraits a glitch caused by badly closed logic loop."

"That's correct, miss Rashid", Phil turned towards her, granting her a polite smile.

But the pleasantries did not last for long.

"Oh, I am sorry, did you think being a smart-ass will get you out of the deal? Dream on. You are still on cleaning duties."

And with that, he turned around and burst out of the room, leaving the three Glitch Techs alone.

For quite a long while, neither of them spoke a word, leaving the room with almost perfectly sterile silence, finally broken by Zahra.

"Well… I guess we should count our blessings", she spoke softly, "We're not fired… nor in jail…".

"Yeah, now mopping the floor sounds good in comparison.", Miko countered.

Zahra and Hector's faces lightened up, hearing her joke. Next thing she knew, Miko was once again almost sapped of breath when the two put her into warm, tight hug, to which this time, she did not object.

"You have no idea how much we have worried…", Zahra spoke, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"But we are so glad you're back!", Hector finished, his voice also cracking slightly mid-sentence.

The three remained locked in the friendly hug, until Hector threw a proposition.

"Hey, since you have your Swap, do you wanna play some Flunkies?"

"Oh, heck yeah!", Miko and Zahra both exclaimed, and all three pulled out the portable consoles.

"I've heard a new DLC is out! They've added 50 new ones, and there are only 40 regional variants or completely messed up species!"

"So generous…"

And before they knew it, the three teenagers were engaged in fierce battles and trades, having put the stressful memories of the wild and life-threatening adventure well behind…

xxxx

Zahra clutched her head, watching in mix of awe and horror at the destroyed pieces on her side of the board.

"Okay… so, can I fire turrets from my tower?"

"Oh, good move!", Miko complimented her, watching as one of her pawns disintegrated, "But it's not going to help you, because…"

Miko cracked her knuckles.

"I have upgraded my horse into pegasus and it can fly across the board to your king!"

And as she said so, the horse-shaped figure grew wings and flew above Zahra's remaining pieces, knocking her king to its side.

"Check-mate.", she said smugly.

"Well… I'll give you that, this variant of chess is way more tricky than I thought."

"And that is just the tip of the iceberg", Ridley chimed in, speaking through the plixelated screen, "There are tons of mods for this game, just you wait until you see hyperbolic chess…"

"Yea, I'm fine, I will stick with regular chess…"

"Oh, speaking of regulars…"

Miko suddenly jumped from her seat and grabbed Hector that happened to be passing by.

"You two have a game to finish. And start, the more I think about it…".

And she left the two perplexed by her sudden behaviour. Miko fully expected either one of them to chicken out, so she was truly surprised when she heard Zahra's slightly quivering voice.

"Uhm, Hector, I-I've wanted to ask…. WILLYOUGOOUTWITHMESOMETIME?", she blurted, her knuckles getting white from clutching the table.

Hector blinked.

"Go out? Like, on a date?", he added, sheepishly.

"…yes…", Zahra answered, finally allowing herself to breathe.

"Uh, yeah, sure! That would be great. Where would-"

Hector's question was obscured by music from Miko's headphones, as she decided not to overstep the boundaries of her friends anymore. She simply smiled and returned to tagging items before the shop opens.

xxxx

Several hundred feet beneath her, Phil was shaking. Equipped with magnifying telescopic goggles, he examined the many boards of both parts of BlueThought, spread onto dozens of tables as if it was a carcass of unknown species, being dissected and catalogued.

"It can't be…", he muttered to himself, as he took a closer look at the Hinobi chipsets he located. The top was decorated with their old logo, a square divided into four smaller ones.

But it was the text underneath him that made him so horrified.

HINOBI Logic Of Sensory Starvation (L.O.S.S.) #2

He moved across the room to other half of the chess machine, and when he located the twin chipset there, the text read the same, but was indexed with "#3".

With a heavy "thud", Phil sat onto his swivelling chair and pulled the goggles up, revealing widen, bloodshot eyes.

"So SHE is number one…? But how?", he muttered to himself, as thoughts raced and crashed in his mind, producing more questions by the minute.

He grabbed his phone and selected Barbara's number.

But then he remembered the video. The video he's made as a warning to himself.

He remembered all the people, whose minds he had to mess with.

And the he wondered how many he couldn't remember…

No, he'd have to tackle this on his own, he thought.

He grabbed his cup and lifted it to his lips, but realised he's already drunk it all.

This was going to be a long day.

The idea for this fic appeared in my head after watching an episode of "Down the rabbit hole" about the Kasparov vs DeepBlue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwF229U2ba8

It is by no means a required reading, but so much references will become obvious.

However, I will list all the in-jokes here, for completionists.

"Upgrade horse" line, as well as tons of illogical commands later, when Miko is trapped in BlueThought, come as inspiration from BBC Three - Comedy Snacks sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgeYScYe8wI "Megachessatron" still makes me laugh.

Horse armor DLC - allusion to infamous TES 4 Oblivion DLC

Gambi Krasnysledin - stand-in for Kasparov; Gambi from gambit, 'krasny sledz' = red herring (in mangled Russian). Yes I took THAT from Dan Brown's "Aringarosa" character, shoot me.

The Turk: that thing was real https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Turk

FishStick - parody of open source chess engine StockFish https://stockfishchess.org/

BIM = IBM, obvy.

"BlueJob", allusion to DeepThought's name being apparently read as "DeepThroat"

Gibibytes are real, look them up. Warning: it will get confusing.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" - Pinky & Brain

Prof. Shu = stands-in for Feng-hsiung Hsu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng-hsiung_Hsu, one of the creators of DeepBlue, who thought about printing controller for Chinese characters: http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Hsu_Feng_Hsiung/hsu.oral_history_transcript.2005.102657920.pdf

Sorry for making you the bad guy, mr. Hsu.

"Way better cartoon" refers to episode "First temple" of Amphibia, which in turn takes inspiration of chess match from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by NAME_EXPUNGED.

"Game over, man, game over!" - quote from "Aliens"

Skyborn = Dragonborn from TES 5 Skyrim. Plus Skyborn Altar is a location in the game

Miko makes a proper Knight's move riding Ally (one left, two forward)

"For the love of Shannon" https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_E._Shannon Claude Shannon was a mathematician and early computer scientist, who estimated lower bound of chess games.

The entire Miko's dream refers of course to Polybius, an urban legend arcade machine that was supposed to cause all those horrible effects on children, all in the name of testing new technologies by US Government. Polybius, or Bolypius is supposed to be the final boss of the show.

"Shall we play a game?" is a line from "War Games".

"Mouse-and-wizard cartoon" refers of course to "Sorcerer's apprentice", a Mickey Mouse short from 1940, part of "Fantasia". And I stand by what I put into Zahra's dialogue: this is a prime example of a glitch, I am genuinely surprised GT hasn't referenced it.

Flunkies are of course parody of Pokemon, Swap is Switch, but the line "They've added 50 new ones, and there are only 40 regional variants or completely messed up species!" is a double joke: on the surface level, it criticises Gamefreak, but it is also a reference to much well executed line in "Craig of the creek". In one episode Craig plays new Smash Bros-knockoff and says that "They have added 50 new characters and only 40 of them are recolours".

And finally… the old Hinobi logo, as well as the name of the chip, is based on loss.jpg.

Because you cannot escape loss.

#glitch techs #zahra rashid #miko kubota #hector nieves #nautiscaraderfics

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