#(mainly so that i can circumvent all of the fucked up shit but also for sex purposes)

[jonahfagnus]

in other news im thinking about my (very very vague) portal jonelias au again

#jon as glados elias as chell #jon trying oh so very hard to be human and telling himself its because elias' test scores improve when he does #elias splorin the rest of the facility during his downtime #jon getting robot separation anxiety over not being able to see his (most beloved) best test subject #jon pretends the facility is still functional and the scientists are just doing other things but elias knows the truth #elias is just trying to find his robot boy so they can talk #and so he can kiss jon ofc #i also have some vague thoughts about. okay so #in portal 2 its revealed that successful tests are coded to be enjoyable or euphoric to the bot in charge of the facility #except that it lessens with each successful test and theyll slowly start to go mad trying to figure out how to get it back #glados ofc manages to (mainly) keep her cool even w/o this and jon does too obviously #but i have some thoughts about elias like. altering jon's code #im not entirely sure how elias ended up in the facility in the first place but im probably going to give him engineering / programming #skills (probably both) #so that he can alter jons body or his code #(mainly so that i can circumvent all of the fucked up shit but also for sex purposes) #elias: hey can i take a look at your code i wanna get rid of some of your limitations #jon: i think i hauve covid #also thinking about the eroticism of the machine. jon being able to feel everything that happens in the facility #(in the parts of the facility he can reach anyway) #he can feel elias fixing faulty wiring he can feel elias moving through the halls #he can feel elias touching panels etc etc #i imagine jon would be very much like 'im physically incapable of feeling affection for test subjects i am not defective im not broken #its fine' #rlly strugglign to grapple w/ his purpose as an unfeeling inhuman machine and the human parts of him that want to be expressed

[knuffled]

Just Practice - Chapter 14

here’s the latest chapter! hope you all enjoy it! if you could leave a comment, it would mean the world to me! not that many people commented last chapter sadly. 

ao3 link for people on mobile

Out of all of Annabeth’s friends, Piper undoubtedly had the largest house. It was a beautiful three story house with a modern minimalist aesthetic, but it somehow also managed to retain a homely atmosphere. As an aspiring architect, Annabeth thought that it was a feast for the eyes, but Piper had never liked it, mainly because her father was hardly ever home. That was ideal for someone like Annabeth, but Piper was a huge extrovert so she found it unbearable having such a huge house to herself. Piper did her best to circumvent that by having friends over whenever possible, a role that usually fell on Jason’s shoulders, but Annabeth had dropped by after school instead to work on a partner project that they had been assigned for their history class.

Piper greeted her at the front door, practically half-asleep. She was wearing pajamas that had smiling cartoon cupcakes printed on them, her choppy hair was thoroughly disheveled, and her eyes were dazed and unfocused. Annabeth was particularly amused by the impression left on her face from sleeping with her cheek pressed against the seams of two sofa cushions.

“You look positively glamorous, darling.”

Piper half-heartedly rolled her eyes and led her to the living room. “Shut up, I was doing hot girl shit.”

“I didn’t know napping qualified as ‘hot girl shit’,” Annabeth said, making air quotes.

“There’s a reason they call it beauty sleep, babe,” Piper said.

They stopped at the living room, and the sight there only made Annabeth’s smirk widen. It was a complete mess, strewn about with empty bags of cheetos, bottles of kombucha, and half-empty oreo trays. Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest and gave Piper a significant look, wondering what sort of excuse she would come up with, but Piper just flipped her off and dove belly first onto the sofa.

“Before you ask, I was too busy to clean,” Piper said, voice muffled by a sofa cushion.

“Busy doing hot girl shit?” Annabeth prompted innocently.

Piper turned her head to glower at her. “You’re such a bitch sometimes.”

Annabeth bit back a smile and lifted a half-empty bottle of kombucha from the coffee table. She gave it a ginger sniff and gagged at the fermented smell.

“I don’t know how you can drink this stuff.”

“It’s good for your digestive system,” Piper said, sighing.

“I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think it’ll be enough to offset the fact that your diet consists solely of flaming hot cheetos and oreos.”

“I’m seriously like ten seconds away from kicking you out of my house,” Piper warned.

Annabeth laughed and said, “Alright, alright, I assume that means you’re ready to start working on the project then?”

Piper groaned into the sofa and forced herself to sit upright. “You’re an absolute menace.”

Annabeth rummaged through her backpack for her laptop and the project rubric instead of looking at her. “I love you, too.”

Piper sighed melodramatically and cleared the coffee table of its aforementioned debris so that they had a place to work. They spent nearly two hours researching content for their project, and Annabeth was happy with the amount of work they were able to get done. For all their bickering, she and Piper had always made an excellent team, and this project was no exception. That being said, by the end of the two hour mark, Piper was beginning to burn on fumes.

“God, why on fucking earth did I ever think taking AP Euro my senior year was a good idea,” Piper groaned, burying her face in her hands. “Spring break can’t come soon enough.”

“It’s still over a month away,” Annabeth laughed. “We could take a break if you’d like.”

Piper looked up at her abruptly with wide eyes. “Who are you and what have you done with Annabeth?”

Annabeth rolled her eyes and said, “We got a lot of work done, so it’s fine if we chill a bit.”

Piper pressed a kiss to Annabeth’s cheek before she could react and beamed at her. “Want something to eat? I’m getting hungry.”

Annabeth scowled and rubbed her cheek. “Uh, do you still have Oreos?”

“Of course, I do,” Piper grinned. “I’m not a heathen.”

“Milk?”

Piper pretended to wipe a tear from her eye. “Oh, Annabeth, I am so proud of you.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Annabeth laughed, shoving her.

Piper danced to the kitchen and came back a short while later with a fresh box of oreos and two glasses of milk. Annabeth’s step-mother was a health nut, so they never had junk food at home. She also had to adhere to a strict-ish diet because she was an athlete, so this was the first time in literal years that Annabeth had had the chance to eat an oreo.

“These are a lot better than I remember,” Annabeth said.

“You’re goddamn right. Oreos are gods gift to humanity,” Piper said.

Annabeth smiled. “Now, I wouldn’t go that far.”

“So ungrateful,” Piper sniffed. “You can get sent to hell for that sort of thing you know?”

“For not being obsessed with oreos?” Annabeth laughed.

“For having bad taste,” Piper said, giving her a significant look.

“Guilty as charged,” Annabeth sighed. “I mean, I’m friends with you after all.”

Piper groaned and shoved her. “Bitch.”

“You started it,” Annabeth laughed. “I was just enjoying my oreos in peace.”

“I have been nothing but a gracious host, and yet you come into my house and insult me and my all time favorite snack for good measure,” Piper said, shaking her head. “This is why whites don’t deserve rights.”

Annabeth raised her glass of milk. “I’ll drink to that.”

“Sometimes, I honestly wonder how Percy puts up with you.”

“Easy, he’s a lot nicer than you, so I don’t feel the need to sass him,” Annabeth said, shrugging.

“Sounds fake, but okay.”

“You’re just in denial,” Annabeth teased.

Piper rolled her eyes and said, “How is he doing by the way? I haven’t talked to him lately, but I know State is around the corner.”

“He’s doing okay, I think,” Annabeth said. “I haven’t really asked him about it.”

“No Valentine’s Day plans, I’m assuming?” Piper asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Nah, I don’t want to break his concentration,” Annabeth said, shaking her head. “How about you and Jason? Got a hot date lined up or something?”

“We were just thinking of getting dinner some place nice,” Piper said, shrugging.

“So that means Taco Bell is a no, then?” Annabeth asked, grinning.

“Very funny,” Piper said, narrowing her eyes. “I think we’re going to some Japanese place downtown or something.”

“Hmm, sushi sounds nice.”

Piper shook her head and said, “It’s honestly impressive how you somehow always forget that I’m vegetarian, even after all these years.”

Annabeth’s face turned pink. “Oh, right, sorry.”

Piper knocked elbows with her instead of saying anything and reached for another cookie. Annabeth watched her dunk the cookie in her glass of milk a little too vigorously, causing some of it to spill onto her pajama bottoms, and couldn’t help imagining how Jason would have chided her for it if he had been here. It was still endlessly bemusing to her how two people so diametrically unlike one another had so much romantic chemistry together.

“You ever think about how wild it is that you and Jason have been together for four years now?” Annabeth asked.

Piper laughed and said, “Definitely have a lot more since graduation is coming up soon. It’s pretty insane to me too.”

“What’s your secret, oh wise one,” Annabeth asked teasingly.

Piper rolled her eyes and said, “We just communicate really well, ever since day one. Neither of us hide anything from each other. If we are bothered by something, we talk about it. Sometimes that means we get into fights, but it’s still better than bottling everything up.”

Annabeth’s heart squeezed a little in her chest. In contrast, she and Percy hardly ever spoke openly anymore. The weight of all the things they had both left unsaid had snowballed and taken on a line of its own. She didn’t think it had brewed into bitterness, but it felt like ice on the surface of a pond. Shallow and liable to break at any moment.

“We also just genuinely like each other too,” Piper said. “There’s no way we would have lasted if we hated each other’s guts or got bored of each other. Kind of the opposite honestly. The more I got to know him, the harder I fell for him.”

“How could you tell?” Annabeth asked. “Was there a specific moment you realized or something?”

Piper hummed under her breath and stared up at the ceiling. “Hard to say. It wasn’t anything big or dramatic, just little things piling on top of each other, until one day, I just knew. Kind of like getting taller or falling asleep. You don’t notice it when it happens only when you look back.”

When Annabeth was silent, Piper continued and said, “I will say that the first time I can remember consciously thinking it was after a meet sophomore year. Don’t remember how it went, but I can still picture how he looked after the race. He was all gross and sweaty and caked with mud, but his cheeks were pink from all the running and it just made him glow. And at that moment, I just remember thinking ‘Wow, I’m actually in love with this guy.’”

There was something about the way Piper spoke that even Annabeth could hear how much she loved him just by her tone, that it made a lump form in Annabeth’s throat.

“I’m so happy for you two,” Annabeth said softly. “You are both two of the most amazing people I have ever met, so I’m glad you are together.”

Piper laughed and said, “It’s weird to hear you pay me a compliment, but thanks.”

“After that shameless display of ungratefulness, I would suggest you don’t get used to it,” Annabeth said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Piper rolled her eyes and sank back into the sofa. “Is there something going on with you?”

Annabeth furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

“You tend to ask lots of questions when you’re upset about something,” Piper said, shrugging.

Annabeth blinked. She had no idea that she did that.

“Nothing in particular,” Annabeth said carefully. “Just wanted to hear from someone that’s been in a relationship for four years. I’m still new to it, and I don’t want to fuck everything up.”

“Learn anything useful then?” Piper asked, raising an eyebrow.

Annabeth was quiet for a while and tried to choose her words carefully. “The part about communicating was helpful.”

Piper gave her a knowing smile. “Really? Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

“I feel like it was easier when we were only friends,” Annabeth said.

“Hmm, Percy was just doing a lot of work behind the scenes for you to make you feel that way. Now that you’re in a relationship, it’s harder for him to do that, so it’s only exposing issues that were already there,” Piper said.

Annabeth frowned. “What do you mean?”

Piper shrugged and said, “Well, part of it is that Percy is stupidly empathetic, so he would anticipate your emotional needs and provide for them with you having to do much. The bigger problem is that you don’t really understand the way he thinks, so you are incapable of doing the same for him.”

A spark of anger lit in Annabeth’s chest. “Well, why don’t you spell it out for me since I’m apparently so ignorant?”

“Annabeth, chill. I’m not saying you’re a bad friend or that I know more about him than you do,” Piper said, holding her hands up in surrender.

“Then what are you saying?” Annabeth hissed.

Piper sighed again and said, “Look, I love you and everything, but you don’t fully understand that other people don’t think or see the world in the same way you do. I’ll give you an example. What do you usually do when you’re really upset about something?”

After a moment, Annabeth said, “I give myself some space until I am ready to talk about it.”

“Exactly,” Piper said, nodding. “Percy is not like that. When he’s upset, he wants someone to press him about it, like really press him. There are a lot of reasons for it, but one huge reason is that he doesn’t feel like his problems are worth anyone else’s attention, so you have to convince him otherwise.”

Annabeth was stunned. That had legitimately never occurred to her. She had always assumed that Percy would come to her if he needed to because that’s what she did whenever she was upset. She whenever she had given him space in the past, thinking it would help, it had looked like callous silence to him instead, a sign that she didn’t care enough to hear what was going on.

Her mind raced. How many times in the past had she fucked up monumentally because this had never occurred to her?

“Do you get what I mean now?” Piper prompted.

Annabeth nodded slowly and said, “I- I had no idea. I just sort of assumed he was like me.”

“That’s a perfectly normal thing to do,” Piper said. “Like I said earlier, I’m not telling you this because I think you’re a shitty human being or whatever. I’m telling you because the way that you and Percy communicate has some really deep, fundamental issues, and that it has been that way for years now.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Annabeth asked, trying not to let anger creep in her voice. “I could have done so much more to avoid hurting him.”

“Because you wouldn’t have listened to me,” Piper said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Your relationship with Percy is something sacred to you. You take pride in being close to him and knowing him really well. If I had said something contrary to that, you would have gone ballistic. You getting mad earlier was more than enough proof of that. I can only tell you now because you’re finally starting to notice issues for yourself.”

Annabeth grit her teeth and stared down at her lap. Piper was right. She was right, but it was so crippling to hear that Annabeth had been such a god-awful friend. Annabeth did take great pride in how well she thought she knew Percy, but ever since they had started fake-dating, she had started realizing she had deluded herself the entire time. It was incredibly jarring for her to realize that her vision of him compared to reality was so off, especially when she prided herself in the keenness of her judgment and intellect.

Piper squeezed her shoulder and said, “Look, I know this must have been a lot for you to hear, but you’re not alone. Almost everyone has trouble seeing people distinctly, as they are. People like Percy who do it naturally are the rare ones.”

“Then what should I do?” Annabeth asked tersely. “I feel so stuck.”

“Don’t assume so much. If you’re upset, tell him. If you want him to open up, ask him to. The only way to know what’s on his mind is to ask him. You don’t have to try so hard to read his mind for him,” Piper explained.

Annabeth nodded curtly and said, “I’m just so mad at myself.”

“I get it, but it’s not all on you. Percy also shoulders some responsibility, but it’s hard to blame him. Lord knows how much he has done for us,” Piper mused. “Besides, he has his own issues that he needs to deal with.”

“I-I’ll do what I can,” Annabeth said.

“If it’s you, I think you can do it,” Piper said, smiling softly.

As nice as it was to hear that, Annabeth had no self-confidence in her ability to be a good friend, not anymore. Still, Piper was right. Percy had done so much for her. If this could help him somehow, then she was determined to do her best.

After a few more minutes of silence, Piper said, “We should probably get back to the project.”

Annabeth smiled despite herself and feigned wiping a tear from her eye. “I never thought I’d live to hear the day you’d say that.”

:::

In keeping with tradition, Annabeth still somehow managed to find a way to be late to the State Swimming Championship. It was held at a neighboring high school not far from Westwood, but she had stayed up all night the day before painting a sign for Percy, which led to her sleeping through her alarm. She had brushed her teeth and taken as quick a shower as she possibly could before dashing out of her house, sign tucked beneath her arm.

By the time she made it inside, the first heat was already over. Annabeth scanned the bleachers and found all her friends sitting next to Sally. She took the steps three at a time and took a moment to catch her breath before she took a seat between Sally and Piper.

“Where’s Estelle?” Annabeth asked.

“Paul took her to go back some snacks at the concession stand. How have you been, dear?” Sally asked.

“I’m good. School is getting busy, but I’m getting by,” Annabeth said. “How’s Percy doing?”

“He seemed ready. Cautious, but focused,” Sally said.

“That’s good to hear,” Annabeth said.

Estelle and Paul returned with bags of snacks for everyone. They passed them around to all of Percy’s friends and squeezed past to sit next to Sally. Estelle was thrilled to see Annabeth and threw her arms around her neck.

“Annabeth!” Estelle squealed.

Annabeth laughed and hugged her back. “How have you been, Stella?”

“Good! I just lost a tooth last night. See?” Estelle said, giving Annabeth a toothy smile.

“Wow, did you get a visit from the tooth fairy?” Annabeth asked.

Estelle nodded vigorously. “I got five whole dollars!”

“What are you going to spend it on?”

“She used her money to buy snacks for everyone,” Paul interjected.

“Daddy!” Estelle huffed.

Paul held his palms up in surrender. “Oh, sorry, she told me not to tell anyone about that.”

“Thanks, Stella!” Annabeth said, smiling. “She’s a good kid.”

“She is,” Paul said proudly. “It’s the Jackson genes, I’m telling you.”

“Oh, hush,” Sally said, though she looked pleased anyways.

Paul grinned at her and turned to Annabeth. “It’s been a while since we have had time to catch up, Annabeth. I heard you got into Berkeley! That’s amazing!”

“Yeah, thank you,” Annabeth said, hiding a smile.

“It’s a wonderful school. I’m sure you’ll love it,” Paul said.

Annabeth was about to thank him, but they were interrupted by an announcement that the next heat was to begin for men’s free style. The State tournament was different compared to other tournaments held during the regular season. There would be a preliminary round of ten heats of six swimmers each, and then the top six swimmers would be selected based off their times to participate in a final round. The winner of the final would win the entire competition. It was therefore possible to have the best time in the prelims and still lose if someone placed higher than you in the last round. Annabeth had never been a fan of the way the tournament was run, but there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Percy was going to be in the penultimate heat, so there was still time before he participated. In fact, he wasn’t even out of the locker room yet. Annabeth knew that he was staying inside to maintain his focus until the start of his heat. She recognized one of his teammates that was in the next heat, so she paid attention to him even though it was hard to feel interested.

After the heat began, Annabeth was once again reminded of how much fiercer the competition was at State compared to the other meets. Percy hadn’t competed against many of the swimmers here because they lived on the other side of the state. It might have been a function of the fact that it was her first time seeing some of them, but the competition looked stronger this year than it had in previous ones. They were so skilled that Annabeth wasn’t sure Percy was a shoe-in for first like she had initially thought.

There was one swimmer in particular from the sixth heat, Castellan, that was particularly scary. The effortless, graceful way he swam reminded her a lot of Percy’s form, and he managed to win his heat by a wide margin. She had never seen him before in any of the other meets or from previous years either. He must have moved to the State sometime this season. Nevertheless, it sowed a seed of worry in her mind that continued to take deeper root even after his heat ended.

Eventually, Percy finally made his way out when his heat was announced. Annabeth was relieved to see the familiar cold intensity on his face that she was accustomed to. After the last meet, she had been afraid that his focus would still be shaky when State finally rolled around, but instead Percy looked more focussed now than she had ever seen him before. Everything about him gave off the impression that he was going to win.

When his heat finally began, Percy dove into the water clinically and quickly pulled ahead of the competition. Annabeth and the rest of their friends cheered loudly for him as he touched off the other side of the pool, almost a full body’s length ahead of the person in second. The rest of the race only solidified Percy’s lead as he pulled further and further ahead.

Once he touched the opposite wall, Percy burst out of the water and took a moment to catch his breath, but then he looked over to the opposite end of the pool and pressed his lips in a thin line. Annabeth was confused at first because his time was fantastic, and he had done so well in his heat, but then she realized his time had been slower than that swimmer from the sixth heat. Although it wasn’t an indication of how the finals would go, it was still damaging to realize that someone had done better than you in the prelims.

Annabeth worried her lip and turned to Piper when she felt her hand on her shoulder. “Why does he look so annoyed?” Piper whispered.

“That guy from the sixth heat, Castellan, had a better time than he did,” Annabeth muttered.

Piper blinked and looked back down at Percy. “Wait, really?”

Annabeth nodded. “Yeah. It’s not the end of the world or anything, but it’s gonna pile some extra pressure onto his shoulders.”

“He’ll be fine,” Jason ventured, from beside Piper. “If he keeps his cool, he can put up a good fight. Besides, I don’t think their times were off by a lot.”

“True,” Annabeth agreed. “It would have been a lot worse if it was a blowout.”

“There’s a break before the finals start right?” Hazel asked, speaking across from Jason.

Piper looked at the meet schedule and nodded. “Yeah, there’s a half hour to give the competitors from the later heats time to rest before the finals.”

“Should we go see him or something?” Hazel asked.

Jason shook his head and said, “No, there’s a chance that we just make him lose focus. Besides, there nothing we can really say to help him.”

“Well, that fucking sucks,” Rachel huffed.

Hazel nudged Rachel with her elbow and whispered, “Don’t swear! Estelle is here.”

Rachel winced and said to Sally, “Sorry, Mrs. Jackson.”

Sally gave her a mischievous smile and said, “You should be, dear.”

That got a laugh out of all of them, much to Estelle’s confusion. They talked amongst themselves during the break before Annabeth realized she needed to run to the bathroom. Annabeth wasn’t gone long, but on her way back, she ran into someone walking the other way.

“Ouch.”

Annabeth stumbled back and rubbed her shoulder. “Sorry, are you okay?”

“Oh, hey, look who it is,” Percy said, smiling down at her.

“Oh, hey,” Annabeth said, blinking. “I was just coming back from the bathroom.”

Percy laughed and said, “Yeah, I kind of figured.”

There was an awkward pause where Annabeth debated if she should continue talking to him or if that would break his focus. His body language was relaxed, but Annabeth could tell that there was some tension in his shoulders. The way he lingered there gave her the impression that he wanted to talk to her, so she figured it was alright to say something.

“How are you doing?”

Percy coughed and looked away surreptitiously. “Fine.”

Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t look fine to me.”

Percy blinked like he was surprised she had called him out. In the past, Annabeth would have ignored the signs under the assumption that he didn’t want to talk about it, but after her conversation with Piper, she didn’t want to keep making those mistakes anymore.

Eventually, Percy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Did you get a chance to see that Castellan guy from the sixth heat?”

Annabeth nodded and said, “Yeah, he seemed pretty good.”

“His time was pretty insane,” Percy said slowly. “Better than my PR.”

“It wasn’t that far off though,” Annabeth said, leaning against the wall.

Percy rubbed his chin. “That’s true.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you don’t think you can beat him,” Annabeth said softly.

Percy looked up at her abruptly with wide eyes. “Uh...”

“Guilty as charged, huh?”

There was a pause before Percy laughed humorlessly and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. Usually, I never think about that sort of thing at meets. I’m only focused on doing my best. But now, I can’t help wondering if my best would even be enough.”

“I wish I could be super peppy and say that it definitely is, but I’ve had those thoughts too many times to say that to you. It would feel fake and you’d know it,” Annabeth started.

“That’s not exactly making me feel better,” Percy joked half-heartedly.

“Shut up, I was getting to it,” Annabeth said, knocking elbows with him.

Percy made a show of rubbing his elbows, which made her roll her eyes before she continued.

“Remember how you told me after the invitational that I had to believe that I hadn’t hit my limit yet, that I could still do better? I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, and I’m realizing that you were right. I’m killing any chance of improving if I believe it can’t be done. At the end of the day, I still want to keep competing, so I might as well believe in myself and keep trying.”

Percy was silent at this, so Annabeth continued. “My point is, you’ve gotta have faith in yourself. If that guy is better than you, make him prove it. Don’t do that work for him. You’re an insanely good swimmer. I know you can beat him. That’s not me saying that as a friend, but as another athlete. I know you have what it takes. Only question is: do you?”

“It’s not that I don’t think I’m good,” Percy said. “If it was just me, I wouldn’t be so worried, but so many people have put so much effort and faith in me that I can’t let them down. Like, I’ve always disappointed people, all my life, and there’s a voice in my head that tells me this time won’t be any different.”

“Fuck everyone else,” Annabeth said vehemently. “The people that care about you just want you to try your best.”

When Percy remained silent, Annabeth framed his face with her hands and forced him to meet her eyes. “Listen to me: all you have to do is go out there and swim. Nothing else matters. Okay?”

Percy was quiet for a while before he nodded slowly. “Okay.”

“You got this,” Annabeth said, squeezing his shoulders. “Give ‘em hell, Perce.”

“I will. Thanks, Annabeth,” Percy said, smiling. “I’ll see you after the finals are over?”

“I thought that went without saying,” Annabeth grinned. “There’s a chocolate milkshake from Martha’s with your name on it, after all.”

“Finally, something worth fighting for,” Percy sighed melodramatically.

Annabeth laughed and pushed him towards the locker room. “Alright, get going, champ. I’ll see you on the other side.”

Percy took a deep breath to steel himself and gave her one final nod before he made for the locker rooms. Annabeth waited for him to leave before she headed back to the bleachers. Piper gave her a questioning look as she sat down, as if to ask what took her so long, but Annabeth shrugged and remained silent.

The participants of the final heat left the locker room shortly after and stood in front of the pool. Percy’s lane was in the middle, right next to Castellan, from the sixth heat, but he looked composed and concentrated.

The swimmers stepped onto the diving boards and took their starting positions, bodies taut with anticipation. At the official’s whistle, they all dove into the water in unison. Percy and the other boy both quickly pulled ahead of the other four swimmers, but Percy lagged behind him ever so slightly. Annabeth leaned forward, forgetting to cheer, and worried her lower lip. She could tell Percy was trying to surge ahead of Castellan, but no matter what he did, the distance continued to remain unclosed for the first hundred meters.

Before they both touched off the wall for the final fifty meters, Percy seemed to lag further behind than he had all race. Annabeth’s heart sank, but somehow Percy surged forward on the last twenty meters and managed to pull alongside Castellan. At the end of the race, it was too close to tell who had won because they both appeared to finish at the same time.

Annabeth whipped towards the board on the far end of the pool and waited for the times to show, heart thundering in her chest. The subsequent seconds stretched like an eternity, but then numbers suddenly flickered on the board. It took Annabeth a second to process the results, but once she did, her heart soared in her chest.

Percy had won, but it had been unbelievably close.

Immediately, she looked back down for Percy and noticed the incredulous look on his face. It took his teammates tackling him for him to realize that he had won, a dumbfounded smile blossoming across his face. Annabeth clasped her hands in front of her mouth and tried to ignore the way her face hurt from smiling so hard. She could hear Piper and the rest of her friends going crazy beside her, but the noise felt distant like sound traveling through water.

They all made their way down to him, and Estelle and Paul were the first to speak to him before Sally pulled him into a fierce hug with misty eyes. After that, Piper jumped on his back and cheered while Jason congratulated him. Rachel and Hazel went next, followed by Frank and Leo, and through it all, Annabeth watched off to the side and tried not to tear up.

She felt so incredibly proud of him. All those years of grueling practice, nights spent staying late to get in extra laps at the pool, managing the pressure of his captaincy - all of it had paid off in the end, and she was so happy it had. He deserved all of it.

Finally, Percy locked eyes with her and slipped out of the arms of their other friends and wordlessly opened his arms. Annabeth didn’t even realize she was moving until she tackled him in a hug. He was still sopping wet from the race, so her shirt got wet but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Annabeth buried her face in the crook of his neck and squeezed Percy as tightly as she could.

It was hard to say how long they stayed like that, but eventually, she pulled away from his arms and looked up at him with a stupid grin on her face. “You did it! I’m so happy for you!”

Percy offered her an incredulous smile. “Somehow.”

“Shut up, you deserved to win. One hundred percent,” Annabeth said, poking his chest.

Percy’s ears turned red, and he tried to look away from her. “It was all thanks to a certain someone’s pep talk.”

“You’re giving me too much credit,” Annabeth said, but her heart felt ten times larger in her chest anyways.

“Seriously, I was really freaking out,” Percy said earnestly. “So thank you. Seriously.”

Annabeth bit back a smile. “You’re welcome. Seriously.”

“You never make things easy for me, do you,” Percy said, sighing melodramatically.

“Of course not,” Annabeth said. “I thought you would have figured that out after all these years.”

Percy shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a slow learner.”

“At least you’re not a slow swimmer,” Annabeth teased.

Percy rolled his eyes and said, “So what next? Martha’s?”

“You sure you want to celebrate with me and not your family?” Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh don’t worry about that,” Percy laughed. “I know they’ll monopolize me later today. But first, I want that chocolate milkshake you promised me.”

Annabeth bit the inside of her cheek and tried not to get carried away by what he was saying. Still, she couldn’t help the feeling of exhilaration washing over her.

“Alright, Martha’s it is,” Annabeth said. “Go finish your shower and get dressed. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Percy nodded and left to tell his family their plans and to say goodbye to the rest of their friends, who were getting ready to leave. Piper gave her a knowing look on her way out, but Annabeth made a show of pointedly ignoring her.

A short while later, Percy met her at the entrance to the parking lot, his hair still wet from the shower. They drove to Martha’s in silence, only accompanied by the feeble radio in her dad’s car. The sun was just beginning to set, diffusing pink and blue across the spread of the horizon. At that proximity, Percy smelled distractingly of body wash, making Annabeth’s face prickle.

“I meant what I said earlier, you know?” Percy said, breaking the silence.

Annabeth glanced at him. “Hmm?”

“What you told me really helped,” Percy said.

“You’re being too nice,” Annabeth said.

“No, seriously, I was pretty sure I was gonna lose. Like on the last hundred meters, I kept thinking that it was only natural that I would let everyone down again, but then I heard your voice in my head, saying ‘All you have to do is go out there and swim’. I don’t know how or why, but that got me out of my own head and helped me win,” Percy explained.

Annabeth’s throat was dry. “I’m, uh, glad it helped.”

She caught his soft smile in the mirror. “Yeah, me too.”

“It’ll be your turn in April,” he said. “You’ll win State too, and then I’ll have to be the one buying milkshakes next time around.”

“Damn straight,” Annabeth said. “I can’t rest until I kick Reyna’s ass.”

“I can’t tell if you hate her or adore her,” Percy said, smirking.

“A little of both,” Annabeth admitted. “People that have never lost once in their lives piss me off, but Reyna’s a good person and fun to be around.”

“I did beat her at the batting cages,” Percy pointed out.

“Doesn’t count unless I’m the one doing it,” Annabeth said, shaking her head.

Percy’s grin grew wider before he turned away from her, making Annabeth scowl. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I just thought that was a very ‘Annabeth’ thing to say,” Percy said, shrugging.

“Is that a good or a bad thing?”

“Hmm, I wonder,” Percy said, still grinning.

“Asshole,” Annabeth huffed.

There was a lull in the conversation while Annabeth began to turn something over in her mind. At first, it had seemed like a stupid idea, but the more that she thought about it, the more she wanted to go for it.

“H-Hey, I know you said you’d get me a milkshake if I won and all, but is it cool if I ask for something else instead?” Annabeth asked, fingers curling tighter around the steering wheel.

“Your wish is my command, your majesty.”

“Shut up, I’m being serious,” Annabeth laughed.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” Percy said, shrugging. “What did you want instead?”

Annabeth swallowed and said, “I’ll let it be a surprise for now. Just promise not to chicken out when the time comes.”

“You’re not gonna ask me to like run around school naked or something right?” Percy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Annabeth barked a laugh. “Tempting, but no.”

Percy hummed to himself for a while before he sighed and said, “Well, I suppose I’ll just have to trust you not to make me do something embarrassing.”

“Don’t worry so much. I promise it’s not that bad. Just wanted to ask you something. Besides, there’s no guarantee that I’ll even win, after all,” Annabeth said.

Percy yawned and curled up in his seat and closed his eyes. “I don’t know, I’m pretty certain you’ll win.”

Annabeth glanced at him. “Yeah? What makes you say that?”

“Dunno, I just believe in you,” Percy said simply.

Annabeth bit the inside of her cheek and resisted the urge to tell him that he was making a mistake. Honestly, she didn’t think she had a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Reyna at State, but she would still try her best to repay Percy’s faith in her. As a fellow athlete, he wouldn’t say something like that just to be nice. If he thought she had a shot, then maybe he was seeing something in her that she couldn’t.

The sky continued to darken, and Annabeth found herself thinking that even if she couldn’t believe in herself, maybe she could believe in how much Percy believed in her instead.

#just practice #percabeth fake dating au #percabeth #percabeth fic #percy jackson #annabeth chase #i'm really happy with this chapter #hopefully people think the character work is as nuanced as it feels to me #i will give u my first born if you comment and reblog

[dragontamer-nia-2]

Olivier [Beyblade theories on crack]

Welcome to my random rants about random beyblade things. I have a lot of things to say about the Euro Team and how tragically underestimated and undervalued they are, as characters, but also as very smart plot devices, so in these posts I'm gonna pick a fight with the writers and yell at clouds while probably drunk. If you want a trip, and you think you don't like the Euro team, then jump on.

This guy. 

I love this guy.

This guy is great and I swear to god they knew what they were doing when they decided when and how to introduce him.

So, from the encounter at the top of the Eiffel Tower in ep 33 we know that this guy is mysterious and that he blades; he randomly starts roasting the Bladebreakers unprovoked, which is always fun, but fucks off before anything interesting can happen. What the writers decided to do in the next episode was split up the team, and have them find out more about Olivier separately: since everywhere they go they meet someone that has at least heard of him, we can't help but feel that this guy is kind of a big deal. From Max we learn that he's bloody rich, from Rei we learn that he's a great cook, from them both (when two guys conveniently share the information right in front of them… anime logic) we learn that he's the best blader in France, and from Takao and Kyouju we learn that he likes art, and… prepare your tinfoil hats, guys, because we're going deep.

The thing is, we know this guy is manipulative, and we know it because he offers Takao lunch in his own super expensive restaurant to distract him from the fact that he just ruined hundreds of people's day. Kyouju even points out that something's wrong when he sees Takao go into the Louvre absolutely furious at Olivier, and then sees them come out like buddies. We also know it because… come on guys, have you seen his face? Have you seen his evil smirk? He's a walking troll face. It's like the animators want us to not trust him. And yet, every background character seemingly adores him, even though we don't really get a specific reason why.

I mean… this is a kids show, I know. And the writing is messy most of the times. But this guy. This guy is shady as fuck. You can take him at face value and assume he's a well-meaning asshole, completely oblivious to normal interpersonal relationships, living in rich people's world where he can just do whatever the fuck he wants. Or. He could be one bad day away from being a chaotic-evil type of supervillain, because it's almost like he's doing everything he possibly can to lure and provoke Takao into battle while holding the façade of smiles and politeness. And the funny thing is that Takao doesn't even notice his intimidation attempts (while Kyouju falls for them at every step)

But, exactly, how manipulative is he? And, more importantly, is he even aware of it? Let's assume the worst about him for a second, that everything he did and said had the purpose to push buttons and provoke a reaction. Then just in episode 34 we have the following:

- He reserves the whole Louvre knowing that the Bladebreakers were going around famous tourists attractions

- He immediately interrupts Takao and makes him waste time on honorifics before letting him speak

- He invites Takao and Kyouju, two guys clearly not dressed for the occasion and who probably don't know proper etiquette, to his high class, really expensive restaurant, serves them delicious food he cooked himself, and even implies that he could kick everyone else out if he wanted to

- He namedrops that one guy from Team Who, in a conversation that really wasn't going in that direction, and then uses the bait to imply that he's much stronger than those guys, knowing fully well that Takao was having a hard time the previous day against them

- He basically corners Takao into battling in the middle of a fucking public park, knowing that there are a lot of people around and everyone wants to see the French champion battle

Now. The thing is, I can't prove he's the Machiavellian mastermind I suspect him to be, and the only way this whole thing works is that, in this episode, Olivier somehow got Takao and Kyouju alone and the rest of the team (Kai in particular) is not there to call Olivier out on his bullshit.

On the Eiffel Tower, at the very end of ep 33, Olivier did mention, among other things, that he has unresolved business with Team Who, and it's Kai that questions him to get more information. And what does Olivier do? He immediately cuts him off with "none of your business" and basically flees. We even get a reaction shot of Kai. Afterwards, Kai goes around trying to find out more information about Olivier on his own, and spies on the battle unseen. What's going on here? Well, Kai is not like his teammates, he's not naive, he knows what manipulation looks like and I think Olivier realizes it. That's why Olivier doesn't even try to play dumb with him like he does with basically everyone else, and that's why Kai circumvents the problem by playing bully with random kids instead of trying to confront him directly.

And I know all of this may be "chemicals are making the frogs gay" level tinfoil, but come on, just look at Olivier's reaction when Takao barges into the Louvre and somehow finds him. What does he looks like he's thinking?

At the end, it doesn't really matter, because Olivier doesn't win like he expects. Granted, at this point he can't lose - because the arc has just begun and Takao needs to work harder, and because Olivier already shit-talked Team Who in two different occasions while the writers want them to be a legit threat for the Bladebreakers. But Olivier can't win either, because we're already at the end of episode 34, we have three teams to juggle, and Takao can't keep losing and having to fight against the same people the whole arc. So they tie… and Olivier is shook. He miscalculated. For some reason this guy, this clueless, impulsive idiot, didn't lose immediately and neatly like he expected. And since Olivier does have honor, and respects people stronger than him, he immediately changes his tone, shuts down the peasants that don't understand these kind of things, and he starts treating Takao like an actual person (kinda).

Option A) Oh, what's this guy doing here while the Louvre should be closed?

Option B) How lucky, I caught him alone

One thing that stands out, though, is that he is the one member of the Euro Team who never loses. They had reasons to make his fight with Takao a tie, but why did they make him tie with Rei? Although I do have my own little theory about this, I noticed that he's the only member of the Euro Team that actually has other things going on in his life other than beyblade. The guy is rich, he is very interested in art, he works as a chef and wins culinary competitions. The fact that he's probably a bored psychopath is balanced by the fact that he seems to have his personal life together, he doesn't put his whole worth into spinning tops clashing against each other, and he has the self-confidence to admit when he was wrong. Which is… more than we say about the other European guys.

So, I'm thinking, because this is called Beyblade theories on crack after all, and there's too much reasonable stuff in this post so far… maybe the writers wanted to use the Euro Team to make a point about not winning, and being ok with it, and they really couldn't make it with the Bladebreakers because they are the protagonists. They can't lose - not permanently. Olivier doesn't win, twice, and… he's shook that he miscalculated, he seems to be honestly confused, his whole drive is not winning, but understand what's going on. That's why he sends the Bladebreakers to Giancarlo, that's why he convinces him to bring them to Ralf, he does want to study Takao, and… is he using the rest of the Euro Team as guinea pigs? Or did he notice something that's missing in them, and subconsciously wants to fix it?

Here's my hot take, and the conclusion to this dumb post. Olivier is not aware of his own machinations. He's a natural manipulator and he has a talent to read people or get info out of them, and he mainly does this by playing dumb and wait until people scream at him who they are and what they want. He reads the Euro Team, he reads the Bladebreakers, and realizes one thing: they could help each other. He baits Takao with the prospect of more beybattles and then follows him to see what happens. If it's chaos, good, if it's some life lesson, better. He manages to get Giancarlo on board and the both of them, combined with Takao, eventually get to Ralf. But what Olivier doesn't realize is that the very thing that he is subconsciously asking Giancarlo, Johnny, and Ralf to fix, is their inability to lean on other people, their skeptical and wary natures, their need to be perfect, without weaknesses, in the eyes of the world; and if Olivier was aware of his own machinations he would have realized sooner that, all this time, all he wanted was to have friends. And if I’m right about anything about this, then the writers will have done a good job with at least one member of the Euro Team, because it’s not only a fucking genius way to introduce the arc, the team, and the theme, but he’s also a damn good character.

I love this guy.

#beyblade #bakuten shoot beyblade #olivier boulanger #euro team #beyblade theories on crack #but wait #there's more #I'm just waltzing into the fandom with posts no one asked for #but I'm rewatching beyblade 2001 and it's a blast #also sorry if I made mistakes #english is not my first language #and i'm drunk and tired

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Also Nekrotefeyo was criminally underused for the legendary Eridian homeworld like I was expecting like a big abandoned city or a completely decimated apocalyptic place, not a dried up ocean bed (Are they maybe more crustaceans instead (?) of bugs???) with like 2 Eridian buildings on it and also Maliwan for... Some... Reason. Seriously. Dark Maliwan was so clearly cut content and I wanna know wtf that was all about. Also we got Promethea so it isn't like they weren't capable of making a big city area, like the restrictions of the engine wouldn't allow it, they just didn't... Feel like it? Maybe didn't have time to flesh it out given how late nekro is in the game? Seriously it feels empty as fuck, I love exploring the planets, but even as a certified lore lover I just can't bring myself to explore that place more than I have to for quests. It's really empty and boring

Also, I am bet that the big glowing thing we see coming out of the planet as it fragments is related either to the Machine and the souls sacrificed to make it work, or the Guardian soul main storage thingie. Mainly because ghosts and such are real in the bl universe and they're all that same glowing green sort of deal. It also reminds me of Krieg's mind planet projection thing which does add credence to that. That is potentially why Minos Prime 'hatched', it could have been a storage place for other, maybe reject(?) Guardian souls and that's where all the Eridian and Guardian stuff randomly came from that Tannis keeps goddamn repeating every time u play the takedown. FE Minos Prime was a testing site for prototype Guardians and the souls (I don't want to call them mind cores because the mind core we got from the Vault of the Destroyer was solid and not green and don't even get me STARTED on that whole situation because there was cut Overseer dialogue from when you take that thing out of the Vault and why WAS it even in the VAULT OF THE DESTROYER and Hhhhh) were stored in Minos Prime until whoops they got out. And I'm guessing they sacrificed the people of Minos Prime to the Machine (we literally left nobody guarding it sooo) bc Tannis says they just vanished without a trace. Which ALSO adds bonus points to my theory that the Eridians aren't dead and are just chilling elsewhere laughing at us right now.

I still think Lilith brought Elpis to the Eridian Rift on the map Typhon and Leda wrote all over and she's vibing there, too. Maybe it's a sort of stasis place where time doesn't pass so the people of Elpis don't die. Idk how Lilith would know about that but then again given the chest in her room I would honestly not bet against my whole 'Lilith had help from the Watcher and/or the Eridians during/before Bl3 and refused to tell us' which is why she just vanishes at the end of the game and takes Elpis with her.

And also why Sanctuary-III randomly exists when we have never heard of the company that made it before (seriously what is supamax mfg), it's somehow in good enough condition that Moxxi and Ellie could fix it up with their scarce resources, and they found it before any other people did (can probably chalk this one up to Tannis if there were cameras or it was hooked up to the ECHOnet of Pandora, but the other two points stand). I would've been okay with it if it were an Atlas ship Rhys sent over or smth, if it were an old Hyperion ship, if the branding of supamax mfg was Moxxi and Ellie's team effort of making a spaceship company in honor of Scooter- literally if any of these things were explained in-game, but they're NOT. So I am left to go 'what the hell where did this come from what is Supamax MFG' and like, a random company we've never heard of existing is totally fine, we're introduced to the Obsidian Black Block and Hephestus United as well, but it just feels weird that this random supply (?) ship just happened to go to Pandora for some reason and then also crash or was abandoned for some reason. If we could just get a scrap of info on Supamax MFG and why this ship was on Pandora I'd be happy. Their branding is Ships Made Quick so clearly they build ships which is fine.

Did Lilith contact them? If so, cool, could we get an ECHO log of that? Where did she get the money after Sanctuary-II blew tf up? Did she or Moxxi or Ellie have connections that allowed them to get the ship made for cheap or free? Why did they decide to make the ship out in the open when they knew about the rising CoV threat?? Was the ship stolen? Did the Crimson Raiders just kill a bunch of people to get their hands on it? I doubt it, but this shit isn't explained! So yeah when I write theories like 'Hm well maybe this ship was planted here by the Watcher' its not because I'm driven insane by the Eridians it is because we literally have no other reason to go 'maybe not' and with what little information we do get during the game, it could be fuckin possible!!!

Lilith apparently knew more than she was letting on, she was contacted personally by the Watcher during the end of TPS (brick specially had to ASK what the Watcher said to Lilith), so yeah fuck it the ship and everything that wasn't explicitly explained was given to Lilith by the Watcher to help her in her quest for whatever the Big One is in bl4. Bc you KNOW that Bl3 was just the lead up to get the Destroyer to slip out of its chains thru Tyreen's meddling (literally in nyriads log right before the final boss and its not like ty absorbed an entire planet sized monster and was the size of, like, a shortish tree so you know the Destroyer is still in there as it's further confirmed by Scourge when he says shit like you don't even know what you just did blah blah shut up loser- the only thing pointing to the Destroyer ACTUALLY being dead is that the Vault (????) of the Destroyer (???????????????) opened after Tyreen died but then we can make the Vault of the Architects argument that maybe it considered her part of the Destroyer and her dying confused the Vault into opened, iunno. I don't even know why that Vault was there in the first place wtf was its purpose I thought the Vault of the Destroyer was either the other Pandora one (emergency human feeding port to a monster that doesn't need sustenance) or literally Pandora itself in which case killing Tyreen should have destroyed the whole planet by opening it soooooo I guess that Vault exists to circumvent that extremely specific problem only the Eridians would have guessed could happen idk) and to set the Guardians up as villains cuz fuck them that's why (>:( please gearbox don't, make the Eridians the bad guys if someone has to be evil pretty please the Guardians aren't the bad guys they are literally gaining sentience right now give them a chance they gotta figure themselves out and the Eridians fit the whole 'corporations exploiting their workers' vibe with the Guardians being forced to work even after the Eridians are gone so don't let those parallels slip away with shortsighted storytelling) but then it hurts even worse cuz the story could've been so much simpler and just... Sweeter and better than what we got if that's all they had to do was set those two things up. Bro I hate how every time I go to ask questions abt the game it leads me back here. Because it's true!! And it hurts I just wanna sit down with the lore manager of the game and ask them all these questions because I'm genuinely curious, but I'm afraid of the answers or non-answers I'll get. Again, I get the whole 'things have to happen for plot, not everything should be questioned, give the writers some slack to write a story' argument but when EVERYTHING falls under that category and the story didn't even end up being that great, it gets really frustrating because HONESTLY? if we had gotten good lore and explanations to things and actual world building and details and all that? I wouldn't have minded the main story so much. But unfortunately we got neither good lore (I wanna tell Nyriad she was lied to very badly because it's either the Eridians are evil and liars about a lot, or nobody thought twice the implications of giving the Destroyer a feeding port that explicitly calls humans to it) nor good main story (you know.) and it just. Is annoying. That's all.

#Hm. This post derailed real quick #Nekrotefeyo -> supamax mfg speed run #borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #19- Ambulon and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

We got a major reveal at the end of last issue, and now it’s time to put the rest of the pieces together so we can finally understand the mystery that is the Ultra Magnus situation.

So back when Magnus’ seemingly lifeless body stole a shuttle, fucked off into space and landed on the moon, Tyrest was there to greet him.

And by “greet him”, I mean punch through the windshield and carry him bridal style, as if he weighed no more than a baby bird, into his moon base.

Pharma did his thing with his crazy new hands, Magnus was saved, and he woke up shortly after his lifesaving operation. Then Tyrest punched Magnus in the face, because fuck the healing process. He’s an engineer, not a doctor, he doesn’t deal with the SOUL and FEELINGS or anything like that.

In the here and now, Rodimus is still trying to comprehend the fact that his SIC isn’t dead, and is also actually another, much smaller guy with a mustache. Minimus Ambus attempts to explain just what the hell is going on, and we get back to our flashback.

After some good old-fashioned face violence, Tyrest showed Magnus around the place, specifically the terminal he’d set up for his on-the-fly, real-time law amending. With how many war crimes the Cybertronian race has committed in the last several million years, I’m sure it was needed.

Dang, wonder who pissed off Big Brother.

Magnus is more concerned about how it is exactly he isn’t dead right now, and also why his boss looks like a swiss cheese party platter.

Turns out that Tyrest isn’t actually mad at Magnus, just disappointed. He went and read his diary while the operation was happening, and in the 18 months that the Knight Quest has been running, Tyrest has deemed the work done to be unsatisfactory. Instead of arresting criminals, Magnus had been handling infractions so minor, most people wouldn’t have even noticed them. Tyrest doesn’t know where he went wrong.

Well, Tyrest, it was probably the anxiety that manifested itself as OCD, because you picked someone without factoring what the end of the war might do to them. Magnus needs structure to flourish, and if he cannot find it, he will make it himself. I mean, look at all this:

No wonder he was struggling on the chaos engine that is the Lost Light.

Still, Tyrest wants nothing to do with someone who’s cracked under the pressure (lack of pressure?) and the deal was that Magnus only got to be Magnus if he did what Tyrest wanted. Tyrest divests him with the literal push of a button.

Good grief, he’s naked!

As Minimus Ambus mourns over the loss of his stature, both literal and position-wise, we get back to the present, in a double-page spread no less, as Minimus tells everyone about the storied history of the Magnus Armor. Ultra Magnus was originally an actual person, but then he died, and Tyrest was kind of bummed out about that, so he decided to make up a lie (lying, while perhaps morally dubious is not illegal, so he’s allowed to do that) that Magnus faked his death, and then built the armor. There were at least a few wearers of the armor prior to Minimus, some of who were even known by the other crew members. Whenever someone got offed, their hand would spasm and press a recall button in their palm, which would bring the Magnus Armor, and the dead body inside, back to Tyrest.

You can tell he’s still real shaken up about losing the Magnus Armor, because he’s truncating his words. Poor guy.

Minimus asks what exactly happened after he got stabbed, seeing as he was too busy dying to really pay attention to the Overlord plot. Rodimus tells him it’s been handled. Brainstorm jumps in, wanting to know about the other things on Minimus’ resume, which leads into Minimus revealing the fact that he is a Point One Percenter, and something known as a Load Bearer. Load Bearers circumvent that niggling little issue that we saw presented in the “Shadowplay” arc, where spark strain due to not being able to handle a different frame type would outright kill you. Minimus doesn’t have that problem.

Tailgate wants to know how exactly it is that Minimus isn’t dead, seeing as he was clearly on his way out prior to his grand theft auto. Tailgate may have a personal interest in that sort of information, what with still being terminal and all.

Everyone’s real handsy this issue.

Minimus lets Tailgate know that Tyrest’s medical equipment is off the hook, and we get a reminder that Tailgate’s got basically a day left to live. Harsh, Roberts.

Back in Minimus’ flashback, Tyrest sort-of apologizes for punching him in the face, and laments on the loss of one of his greatest Enforcers of the Tyrest Accord.

Oh, so you DID know that this was a possibility, and instead of ordering your subordinate to go make that follow-up appointment with the only therapist on Cybertron- which, while being borderline sectioning, would have at least kept Minimus from sending emails to Rodimus about how he was spiraling- you just let it happen. The Vector Sigma pulse wave went all over the galaxy, there’s zero possibility you didn’t hear about the end of the war before Magnus loaded up on the Lost Light and didn’t call for a year and a half.

Anyway, so Tyrest’s got a new Enforcer lined up, seeing as he’s going to retire the Magnus Armor after all the shenanigans Minimus got dragged through while wearing it. Let’s see what we’re working with.

I thought we were supposed to have separation of church and state, what the hell?

In the present, Rodimus has questions, mainly about why there are so many people in this prison cell. Minimus admits that he asked to be put in here, to try and prove Rodimus and friends’ innocence on the charge of harboring a criminal, by recording their conversation and proving that they had no idea what SKIDS deal was.

Yep, Skids did a bad, and Tyrest wants him in jail.

Minimus also drops the bomb that everyone else in this cell is going to get he death penalty for that whole “crimes against creation” thing. I mean, all Tyrest has to do is wait for a little while and Tailgate will be dealt with, no sweat.

Minimus pulls a device out of his hip compartment, uses it to disrupt the electro-bars of the cell (it’s cool, he was an undercover cop for this whole thing and can therefore break out of prison without it being a crime), and goes to have a chat with his boss about all the weird new stuff he’s shoved into the Autobot Code in the last year and a half. Rodimus doesn’t really want him to leave, but there’s no time for that, because the cell just got a little more full.

Uh oh, Swerve’s badge has gone missing again. Rung, why don’t you slap yours on his crotch, that way Minimus won’t try to murder him when he gets back?

While this is happening, Whirl and Cyclonus are standing on the rim of a smelting pool, absolutely not having a dick measuring contest.

Luna 1 said Bi Rights.

There’s a structure built over the pool that looks an awful lot like living quarters, but is probably actually a prison that violates the Geneva convention. Whirl suggests they find some weapons and go hog-wild, but Cyclonus is more concerned about finding something. When Whirl asks what in the hell he could possibly be looking for in this sort of crisis, Cyclonus turns into a moody teenager.

Well, at least he’s respecting Tailgate’s wish to keep his looming demise under wraps. Not that Cyclonus tells anyone anything anyway.

Over in the Luna 1 medibay, Ratchet is being subjected to having his very fucking soul threatened with a paring knife. Pharma’s having what probably an inappropriate amount of fun, especially since he’s realized that Ratchet took his goddamn hands after the shitshow that was Delphi.

It turns out that every single piece of tech that Ultra Magnus ever repossessed is floating around on Luna 1, even the stuff that really ought to have been destroyed. This is why they were able to save Magnus from certain death at the start of the issue. Somehow I’m not surprised that Tyrest kept all those toys for himself. Corruption of an authority figure? In my Cybertronian Justice System? It’s more likely than you think.

Some of the little art quirks in MTMTE are added in by Milne- see Brainstorm holding any handgun ever if you’d like an example- but I know for a FACT that Pharma humping Ratchet’s headless body was specified by Roberts.

Ratchet, unimpressed and likely mildly queasy by the display going on before him, proposes that Pharma’s afraid of failure, which is why he hasn’t taken his hands back. Pharma disagrees, and a wager is set to see who the better doctor is- winner gets to keep the hands.

Over with the fly boys, alarms are going off in a deserted building, as Whirl struggles to open a door with his claws. Cyclonus takes over on door duty, and asks why Whirl hasn’t gotten his shit fixed yet.

Whirl’s worried that if he gets help for his trauma, he’s going to lose a huge part of himself as a person, and then where will he be? Of course, he says it in a much more Whirly fashion, full of vitriolic self-blame, but reading between the lines is fun. Whirl fires the “let’s get into each other’s personal issues even though both of us hate talking about ourselves and also each other” missile right back at Cyclonus. He wants to know about Cyclonus’ facial situation.

Cyclonus doesn’t like this question.

Then he gets stabbed with a sword.

Back with the docs, it’s apparently much later, as Ratchet’s just woken up from surgery and has a body again. He gets up from the operating table and finds that Pharma’s gone ahead with setting up their gentleman’s wager.

First Aid seems less than pleased with the current situation. Ambulon’s arms are long as hell in this panel, and he doesn’t seem entirely present in the moment. Maybe he’s practicing Rungian Re-Experience Therapy.

Pharma wants to cut both of the boys in half to see who can put the pieces together back the fastest. Ratchet tries to deescalate the situation, because he’s usually pretty good at it, but Pharma’s set on using his chainsaw attachment on someone today.

Ratchet attempts to console his coworkers, saying that their Springer-on-Pova treatment be over soon, and they’ll get a nice lollipop at the end for being such brave little robots.

Then Pharma cuts Ambulon in half, in a way that Ratchet hadn’t accounted for.

We’re gonna need a little more than some bandaids and a kiss to make it feel better for this one. It’s amazing what censorship laws will let you get away with when the blood isn’t red.

Speaking of blood, Cyclonus is more or less okay with being stabbed, because Whirl did him a solid and chopped his assailant in half- lengthways- with a super sweet sword he found in the armory they just opened up. Cyclonus pulls the blade out of his midriff and we finally find out what happened to the Circle of Light.

Back in the prison cell, Perceptor’s been given the job of doctor, even though Rung, Swerve, and Chromedome are all here and at least somewhat closer to being general practice doctors than our science sniper.

Seems like Swerve filled everyone in on the situation on the Lost Light off-panel, which is good, because they’ve been in the dark up to this point.

Chromedome hypothesizes that the reason Skids is a wanted man has to do with that mysterious gun he was holding when he fell out of the sky all the way back in issue #2. This is the point where Skids wakes up from his stabbing and admits that this is probably what happened, even though he still has no recollection of ever stealing the gun or even it existing up until he entered the story, but he apologizes for the trouble anyway.

Shh.  Someone’s coming down the corridor. It’s Star Saber, and he’s brought yet another prisoner to stuff in this cell.

And there’s something else. Can you hear it?

Is… is that music?

Are those the beginning synth riffs of “Tainted Love" by Soft Cell?

Over with Minimus, we’re treated to a taste of Tyrest’s personal brand of disinterest, then get a quick run-down of the birds and the bees. The forging process is a little more convoluted than originally implied, needing Primus to send out a pulse wave through Vector Sigma in order for the Hot Spots to be ignited.

Then the pulse waves started to slow down, Nova Prime had a little freak out, and cold construction was invented to prevent the Cybertronian race from becoming an endangered species.

Minimus of course knows all of this, because he, like basically half of the cast of MTMTE, is old as shit. What he DOESN’T know is that cold construction isn’t managed the way that anyone thought that it was, because there was a government coverup going on about the whole thing. You don’t splice sparks to make a new one, you use the Matrix to create new life.

I know, it’s crazy.

Tyrest was on the team that fiddled around with the Matrix until it started spitting out robot zygotes, and he’s now convinced that they bled the Matrix dry. Nobody tell him what happened to the thing after the war ended.

Wait. If the pulse waves have stopped, and the Matrix is busted beyond repair, doesn’t that mean they can’t make any more Transformers? Once they finish up on their stockpile of sparks, that’s it. No more. The Transformers are a protected species now, we’ve got to treat them like giant pandas.

One of his team members stole the Matrix and hid it in the black market, so its strange, mystical baby powers could never be used again. Except someone obviously found it later on, because we have half of it on the Lost Light. Minimus isn’t sure why any of this is actually relevant to the current situation, or why Tyrest feels guilty about pulling a Eugenesis Fulcrum and finding out where babies come from.

Tyrest is convinced that by draining the Matrix, his team somehow corrupted it, and all the sparks made by this corrupted Matrix are straying further and further from Primus. This is why Rodimus and friends have been charged with crimes against creation- some of their party were created in a way that predisposes them to crime. Or so Tyrest thinks.

I thought we were supposed to have separation of church and state, what the hell? This is still the same guy who was appointed as Chief Justice by the space pope because of his levelheadedness, right?

Yes, actually, but this sudden flip in priorities and personality has been induced by the guilt he felt during the Aequitas trials. Tyrest turned to self harm to deal with the weight of it all, and one day tried to go for what in most species would have been a suicide, by drilling with his drill fingers into the spot between his eyes. Instead, he most likely gave himself a lobotomy and became a religious zealot, fully believing that the gods are real, and he can go visit them by using his super-cool space portal.

Outside the moon base, Whirl and Cyclonus have freed the Circle of Light, and everyone’s ready to kick some ass. Both the fly boys have found themselves a Great Sword to play with, further cementing Cyclonus as our replacement Drift. Rodimus will be so thrilled.

Dai Atlas, the leader of the Circle of Light, tells our boys that there used to be a lot more of his group, but a lot of folks ended up being used to build Legislators.

Hm. I’m sure that’ll never be brought up again, and won’t paint future events in a much darker light. Nope. Absolutely not.

Cyclonus thinks that they need to get a move on, because if that sort of horrific shit can happen to the Circle of Light, it can also happen to Tailgate and the others. He does specifically name Tailgate in his dialogue, but it’s not like he actually cares about the guy, right? Feelings are for nerds.

Then the Legislators show up and it’s party time.

Wonder how that’s going to work out for you, Whirl.

Back with Tyrest, it’s revealed that Tyrest’s plan has a small snag- only people completely absolved of their guilt can go to Cyberutopia to hang out with Primus and the gang, and Tyrest is feeling awful guilty. Not about his weird space-eugenics thing, but about inventing cold construction. Now, how in the world is he going to handle this?

By committing a genocide.

Minimus is, understandably, not a fan of this plan. Tyrest had anticipated that the Universal Killswitch wouldn’t be universally appreciated, and has some of the new law come into play.

And that’s a series wrap on Minimus Ambus! Let’s give him a hand, folks!

#transformers #jro #jro punches me in the face #mtmte #remain in light #issue 19 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #comic script writing

[agent-murica]

Is there a magic phrase I can send you to ask your updated thoughts about season 15? I read through all of your season 15 tags and I wanna know more of your thoughts on it? If it’s too much trouble for you I completely understand season 15 was a long time ago and if you don’t want to do it I don’t want to make you. I just really like heading your thoughts. Thank you!

Oh man, my updated thoughts? I’m always down to talk about s15 no worries!

Well for starters, I can still confidently say that it’s still one of my favorite seasons. I just really loved the new characters introduced. Dylan Andrews is, I think, in my Top 3 of my favorite woman in RvB, right behind Kaikaina and Shiela. I also still like Jax, since I know people didn’t really like him cause he was constantly making movie references and was annoying, but I liked him! I thought he was funny. And of course, my favorite villain in all of RvB- Temple.

I have many, many thoughts about Temple as a character. For starters, I love Joe for even attempting to address the fact that SIM Troopers and the SIM Trooper program was a MASSIVE unethical operation and was very fucked up. Since RvB is a comedy driven show, I never thought that it would get pointed out, so since Temple did that, I automatically loved him. Plus, I like that they didn’t change that he was a SIM- he’s stupid, he looks up quotes and monologues to sound more intimidating, he has no strength to go against Freelancers so he circumvents that by freezing them. He’s so creative! And I know a lot of people are skeptical about the validity of the cause of Biff’s death, and I personally flip-flop depending on the AU or fic that I’m writing, mainly because this is RvB. I didn’t even think twice about a SIM dying by a flagpole, I just went ‘yeah that checks.’ But I can also vibe with other interpretations of Biff’s death.

Now, I’m not above having some criticisms of the season. For one, my biggest gripe has GOT to be the fact that in the last few episodes when they’re on their way to stop Temple, they made the other Red and Blue SIMs like... that. Seriously, I hated that when it first aired and I hate it now. Like, I’m not even going to get into the implications of when writers have a villain with a reasonable and justifiable ideology but then go forward to make it impossible to sympathize with said villain by making them do a bunch of evil shit, there’s a really good post I saw earlier that discussed this in a broader sense. Like, the Blues and Reds were used for human testing unknowingly and thus without their consent, and thus have had their rights violated. Also, they apparently club baby seals so you definitely shouldn’t feel bad when the Reds and Blues kick their asses. Like, I get that you’re supposed to root for the BGC, but they could have done that in literally any other way.

Also, quite a few of the jokes were distasteful. I won’t go into which ones, because I’m pretty sure we all know which ones by now (the ones with Tucker and Kai...). In a similar sense, I feel like it had the build-up to be a somewhat Red Team focus, with Grif leaving, Simmons dealing with this, Sarge switching sides, and then Lopez being the one to get help. But after Wash, it switches focuses kinda jarringly. And I think both Red and Blue fans can agree that Wash has been hurt enough by now, let the man rest he deserves it.

On a more positive note, I know the fight scene between Carolina and Texas was weirdly paced, yeah whatever who cares about fighting when the character emotes were so GOOD!! I would gladly give up all fight scenes in favor of having the characters move around casually more. Any day. It just added so much character and more emotion than the fight scenes do. (I am ALWAYS thinking about Caboose hugging Locus).

Uhm, I think this is everything at the top of my head right now. I’m sure if I go back and rewatch the season (I’m due for a rewatch anyhow) I could say so much more.

TL,DR; I love s15, and can also recognize it’s flawed, and it still holds up as my favorite season of RvB so far!

#season 15 lives in my head rent free #long post// #ask #fandomsurfergirl #rvbS15

[forevfangirlwrites]

Your Choice: #1, #4 or #7: first kiss

Before any logical or coherent thoughts can actually process in his head, he’s broken out into a jog, crossing the room in six steps to (gently) shove Luke out of the way, halting to a stop in front of one, very shocked, Annabeth.

In a detached sort of way, maybe because his thoughts are just now returning to him, he takes a moment to think about the specific sequence of events that have led him to this moment. This moment, where all eyes in the room are on him, the sweater he’s wearing is itching his shoulder and Annabeth’s red lips are quirked into a small smile with a raised eyebrow to match.

It probably started, now that he’s exploring his decisions, with their (stupid) plan to circumvent the onslaught of annoying questions and pity looks from Annabeth’s stepmom and the sympathetic concerned look from Percy’s mom, and, frankly, the insistent teasing from their friend group.

“Let’s just date,” Annabeth had said casually over pizza and Percy had actually choked on a piece he had been chewing.

His shock was overpowered by his coughing fit and Annabeth had been his friend long enough to ignore him and continue talking.

“I mean, our families will ask the usual questions about dating. I know for a fact my stepmom won’t let it go, especially since Bobby has a boyfriend he’s bringing.”

She stopped talking to glare at her plate as if it was Susan and her intrusive questions on dating life.

All Percy managed to do in that time was drink some water and normalize from his couching fit.

“And I know your mom will also want to know about any potential girlfriends,” Annabeth continued, “And to top it off all of our friends won’t hop off our backs.”

She took a sip of her Pepsi and looked at him. “So really, it makes sense.”

“To date?” Because after all this time that’s the part he was still stuck on and wasn’t really sure if it had been established.

“Yeah, or rather, fake date. For the holiday season at least, then we could break up or something later.”

“Break up or something…” he had repeated slowly.

Maybe he should have known from the blush on her cheeks or the way she rolled her eyes but avoided his gaze that this would turn out…interesting.

“You in or not?”

It’s not every day your close friend of two years/the girl you’ve had a lowkey crush on for those two years asks you to date her, albeit fake date.

Point is he wasn’t going to let the opportunity go, even though it could end up a bad decision.

Or actually, maybe it was that moment when he nodded is response that defined what was to come.

-.-

Fake dating Annabeth was painfully easy and he swore that if they weren’t actually together by the end of it he was going to do….do something drastic…probably (he hadn’t gotten that far).

As it was, he was mainly hoping she’d see how nice and easy and fun it was to be his girlfriend (especially if the way the night had been going so far was any indication) and want it for real.

And it was going well, it was their first holiday party of the week (for Annabeth’s family, Susan was eating it up) when the second sequence of event happened. Luke showed up.

Being a close family friend, it wasn’t a surprise, but Percy still made a face at Susan’s enthusiastic greeting and hug.

So what if Luke was Annabeth’s old crush, he was her boyfriend. Fake boyfriend, whatever, that’s just semantics.

And so what if Percy clenched his fingers around the napkin in his hands when Annabeth gave him a hug and what if he stalked over to them and wrapped an arm around Annabeth’s waist pointedly.

“You remember Percy,” Annabeth re-introduced and he managed a small smile, grip tightening on Annabeth.

“Oh yeah, nice to see you again man,” Luke had replied, so maybe he wasn’t a horrible person and Percy was just horribly jealous.

The conversation ended shortly after and Annabeth pinched his arm when Luke had walked away.

“What was that,” she hissed, frowning at him. (He really shouldn’t have found it as cute as he did).

“You’re my girlfriend,” he replied shrugging.

She didn’t say no, he noticed.

Instead, she tilted her head at him the way she did when she was solving a particularly hard math problem and Percy had wondered then if she had seen through him.

Well, if she didn’t then, she sure did now, since they’re face to face in a doorway that he had literally ran across the room and shoved Luke out of the way for.

His eyes flick up the mistletoe hanging above them, the reason for his mad dash.

He’s aware of everyone’s eyes on them as he leans closer, hoping he hadn’t been standing still for too long. He moves slowly towards her, asking for permission with his eyes, though he really can’t make out any of her thoughts.

He stops inches away from her face. Her grey eyes are blown wide open and her red lips that he had most definitely not been staring at all night, part a little.

It’s enough of an invitation for him to close the gap and capture her lips in his.

And holy shit, he’s here, in this moment, kissing Annabeth Chase. Her lips are soft and she tastes like peppermint and Percy is enraptured in the feeling of warmth she brings. He’s been waiting far too long for this moment.

Her eyes are dark when they break away, probably only seconds later, but it feels a lot longer.

He could get used to seeing her look at him like that.

Matthew’s whistle breaks the moment and Percy tries to will his heart rate down. He doesn’t know when it started beating so fast, was it when he ran across the room, or leaned into the anticipation, or when her lips finally met his? Probably all three, but he can’t really think straight, and things are kind of a blur from that point on.

He’s aware of people cheering, Luke chucking and patting him on the back, and most importantly Annabeth never leaving his side.

Time slows down again when they’re seated on the couch, next to each other and a little ways away from the others and Annabeth turns to him with A Look.

“So,” she starts and he’s really not ready to get off of cloud nine yet.

“Pretty good first kiss, huh?” he blurts out, picking at his itchy sweater. He can’t bring himself to look at her reaction because after all this is she decides she doesn’t want him, it’ll fuck him up even more.

The taste of what he could have had been too good, and he wasn’t ready to lose it.  He’s had a taste of a life he wishes for, one where she’s his actual girlfriend and not just a friend that knows so much about him and comes over every other day and occasionally cuddles over a movie.

“Yeah, it was,” she agrees, making him look up at her. It’d be a Christmas miracle if she’s about to say what he thinks she’s going to.

“Never going to forget the way you ran across the room to shove poor Luke out of the way.”

Okay, not what he thought she’d say. He groans and hides his face in his hands, god that had been embarrassing. The only silver lining was that it didn’t happen in front of their friends. And that he got to kiss Annabeth. That was a big one.

She laughs at his reaction and tugs his hands away from his face, forcing him to look at her.

“You could have told me you know,” she says, tone becoming a bit more serious.

He wants to pretend like he has no clue what she’s talking about, but he does, and he can’t shy away this time.

He sighs. Better get the truth out now. “I was afraid of the answer.”

“Well, why don’t you ask me?”

She has a soft look on her face, her eyes encouraging, and her hands reach out to hold his. It’s enough to give him hope for an answer he so desperately wants to hear.

Well here goes nothing.

“Want to be my girlfriend?” He asks quietly.

The answer that he had been afraid off was words.

The answer she gives him is a second kiss of many more to come.

A/N: Hello! You gave me three options and told me to choose and I thought, why not all of em! I hope you liked this amalgamation of a prompt! And of course, thank you for sending me one (or rather, three), I really appreciate it :)  

#percabeth #percy and annabeth #percabeth oneshot #ask #prompts #oneshot #percabeth au #fake dating #first kiss #mistletoe #writing prompts #thank you again!

[characteroulette]

Vektor, EVERY NUMBER

trash prince. it’s gonna be a long one.

1. What is your OC’sfavorite color?

  > Vektor is fondof gold, golden browns, and khaki or really ugly yellows.

2. Does your OC collectanything? What do they collect?

  > Not.. really??If anything, he collects interesting bits of code he sees and storesit all in his backup modem space. Like a nerd.

3. What kind of thingsis your OC allergic to?

  > He’s allergic tosuccess–no, haha, he has no known allergies currently.

4. What kind ofclothing does your OC wear?

  > Suits! He likesrefined, rich-styled clothes, mostly suits and button-ups and a tieor two here and there, but he hates shoes so he runs everywhere withbare feet like a heathen.

5. What is your OC’sfirst memory?

  > Hisgrandfather’s battle with a Mainframe enemy and his parents’ bodiesdisappearing into the code. (Always gotta have dead or estrangedparents I swear)

6. What’s your OC’sfavorite animal? Least favorite?

  > He thinks bearsare pretty neat and he’s not really a fan of vampire bats.

7. What element wouldyour OC be?

   > Computer.……nah probably metal or light, he’s got a nice glow to him withhis creation magic and all.

8. What is your OC’stheme song?

  > He finds comfort in thesound and the shape of the heart, how it echoes through the chestfrom under the ground. And as the hills turn into holes, he’ll fillthem with gold..

9. Do you have afaceclaim / voiceclaim for your OC?

  > NOPE I’m notreally good at those kinds of things. I always use my own voiceswhenever writing them (and reading their dialogue out loud to myself)and therefore have a hard time separating the tone/inflection/accentI give them and that makes looking for voices for them REALLY HARD.

10. What deadly sinwould best represent your OC?

  > Probably Pride?His carelessness and disregard for others’ feelings tends to be forprideful reasons..

11. What are your OC’shobbies?

  > Getting annoyedwith Dante and wandering around reality in WONDER with a perpetualtourist expression. Also chasing after Vektoria.

12. How patient is yourOC? How hot-headed are they?

  > Not all thatpatient, actually! He gets antsy very easily and likes to pace ifthings are taking too long, as well as getting aggravated at othersaround him if matters are not progressing quickly enough. Hisimmaturity holds him back from being a good King candidate…

13. What is your OC’sgender / sexuality / race / species / etc.?

  > Vektor is codedMale, with no clear sexuality, mostly looks Israeli, and is acomputer being!

14. What foods doesyour OC like to eat? What are their least favorite foods?

  > Vektor likes allfoods, whether or not they taste good, haha. He’s dumb and likes todrench his foods with different condiments to watch how the codingchange, with no regard as to how much food he ruins Vektor why do youact like such a rich kid don’t waste food

15. If your OC couldhave any pet, what would they choose? Why?

  > Vektor’s perfectpet fit would probably be a puppy, as they’d both be so excited andtire each other out. However, I can definitely also see him gettingalong well with ferrets.

16. What does your OCsmell like?

  > He smells alittle like the school labs and a little like a certain cologne nearconstantly, despite never using cologne or being seen in the labshimself….

  (I know nothing aboutsmells tbh don’t mind me)

17. How do they make aliving? What kind of job do they want / not want? What is their dreamjob? What do they think of their current job?

  > These are allgood questions that I’ll think about later after Vektor is out ofschool

18. What are your OC’sgreatest fears? Weaknesses? Strengths?

  > Vektor’sgreatest fear is that he’ll fail his people and that they’ll alwaysconsider him a failure. His weakness is his impatience with otherpeople’s faults, while his strength is his pure belief in the best ofothers.

19. What kind of musicdo they listen to? Do they have a favorite song?

  > Vektor’s beenenraptured by every piece of music he’s heard out here in reality andwhile his favourite sounds tend to be techno or electronica (or videogame), he loves it all.

20. If they came fromtheir world to ours (if not already in our’s) how would they react?What would they do?

  > Vektor is theliving embodiment of this question holy shit hahaha

  He’s a perpetualtourist expression, wowed by everything he sees and impressed by eventhe littlest of wonders. His favourite thing to do is wander theschool campus at nights and just look at the scenery and he continuesthis even after his sleeping schedule stabilizes.

21. What personalproblems/issues do they have? Pet peeves?

  > Despiteeverything being so amazing and wonderful out here in reality, he’snot sure why he gets so frequently told not to use his powers.Surely, the others remember being able to utilise their powersoutside of the game? Also he’s struggling with the fact that hefucked up and projects pretty hard onto the others, especially Dante.Also he gets to go through an existential crisis YEAH

  His pet peeve woulddefinitely be someone having the power to circumvent issues, but notmaking use of that power.

22. What kind ofstudent were they/would they be in high school?

  > Vektor’s apretty grade-A student, mainly because he’s kinda a computer.

23. What is a randomfact about your OC?

  > In his currentform, Vektor is at a disconnect with his emotions, which is why hetends to slip into a more robotic tone and expression (kinda like hedisassociates due to being unable to tap into his emotions properly?)

24. What is theiroutlook on life? What is their philosophy / what do they think ingeneral about living?

  > Vektor’s prettypositive about life, believing that any sour situation can be rightedwith the correct steps and a fervent belief! If only that weretrue….

25. What inspired youto create them / how did you create them? Were they originally afancharacter? What was their personality / design like when you firstmade them?

  > YO OKAY so allof my Game Kids were supposed to be Code: Lyoko OCs, BUT HERE’S THESCOOP ON VEKTOR SPECIFICALLY:

  Vektor was meant tobe more sarcastic and deadpan, like my OC KS, but as I wrote him hejust turned into his excited tourist expression child haha. I wantedto create an Aelita-like character who held the keys to unlocking thedifferent areas in the game, and some of that has stuck (Vektor is aKey and has unlocking powers), but then there was also supposed to bethis huge thing about Day/Night shifts and a huge emphasis on notgoing against the stream which got phased out because it was toocomplicated.

26. Who is the mostimportant person in their life? Why? Who is the least important tothem (that still has an impact and why?

  > Dante isprobably the most important person in his life, for spoiler reasons.Both Jonathan and Frank are very important to Vektor as well, and Vektor has to admit that Vektoria is also kinda important.

27. What kind ofchildhood did your character have?

  > Vektor lived asheltered childhood in a rich setting and never wanted for anything(besides being able to go bare footed). He loved walking around thetown with his people and enjoyed the lessons his grandfather gavehim. The scariest thing really was learning all the different enemiesthat existed in the Mainframe and training his abilities in order tocombat them should they ever get loose again.

28. What kind ofnervous habits do they have? Do they stim? Do they have any kinds ofaddictions?

  > Vektor paces alot. It kinda drives Sonya a little crazy. Which is why Vektor tookto walking around the school after hours.

29. If they couldchoose their epitaph for their grave, what would they choose?

  > Uh. Vektor’s waytoo pompous to believe he’d die, ever. But after certain events, he’dprobably just want it to be his full name and title: Vektor Ketziah,Crown Prince of the Mainframe Kingdom.

30. Do they want to getmarried? Why or why not? Would they ever want kids? Do they havekids? Why?

  > Vektor has neverthought about relationships, much less marriage. (In the future,maybe, but first he has to solve the issues going on in his Kingdom.)

31. What is their mosttraumatic memory/experience? What is their favorite memory?

  > Probably thestory of his parents’ deaths that his grandfather told him is the most traumatic thing he can remember. Hisfavourite memory becomes the group hug with Dante and them, whoaccepted him and forgave him for his incomplete nature.

32. If they could haveone thing in the world, what would it be?

  > His people’seternal happiness.

33. Would they everkill someone? What would someone have to do to push them to killsomeone? If they would kill someone, why?

  > Even if Vektortried to kill Vektoria, I’m not sure his coding is capable ofdeletion at all. He could defeat her in the game, but that wouldn’tkill her…

34. What social groupsand activities does your character attend? What role do they like toplay? What role do they actually play, usually?

  > Vektor wanted toattend EVERY school event, causing a lot of scheduling hell for Paigeand Abraham (and total disaster as Petel couldn’t attend some of theevents due to band stuff and therefore no one was able to keep Danteor Vektor in check at times), but Vektor is eternally the tourist. Hehas to see the sights and try every stall and see everything! He’sgood in a debate, but he’s also kinda the worst customer at timesbecause of his tendency to list math equations explaining certainthings.

35. How is yourcharacter’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of thetime? Living in memories?

  > Vektor livesmostly in the present, as he’s not that great at daydreaming.Something in his processing is broken there. He has flashes ofmemories from when he was growing up in the Kingdom, but they’re notvery strong and as such he can’t get caught in them. Vektor is waytoo confident to be worried most of the time, at least.

36. What does yourcharacter want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively?What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

  > The thing Vektorwants most in his life is to take back his throne in the MainframeKingdom and heal the wrongs that Vektoria caused. Compulsively,Vektor needs to put others down to forget about the fact that hefucked up. To obtain his people’s trust once more, Vektor is willingto sacrifice himself to make things right once more.

37. What’s somethingthat your character does, that other people don’t normally do?

  > Vektorcalculates the formulas for how things work. I’m pretty sure not verymany people do that.

38. What would yourcharacter do with a million dollars?

  > Vektor has noconcept of monetary worth! (He’s a hopeless dork who would ask thecrew what he should do with the money and Paige would proceed to leadVektor through a very complicated series of steps that would end withthe crew suddenly owning some very illegal hacking tools)

39. What is in yourcharacters refrigerator right now? On their bedroom floor?Nightstand? Garbage can?

  > On top ofVektor’s desk in the dorms is his school books and notebook. Hisgarbage can is always clean it’s sorta terrifying to Sonya. Andmostly on the floor of their room is Sonya’s music sheets ofunfinished pieces he and Petel have been working on. (Vektor ownssurprisingly little in reality)

40. Your character isgetting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What do theywear? Who will they be with?

  > Vektor’s off towander the campus in the dead of the night because he’s all readyfulfilled his sleep requirement! He just wears his regular suit,nothing fancy for those late night rendezvous with that lab nightowl….

41. What does yourcharacter do when they’re angry? Why?

  > Vektor shoutshaha. He gets mean when he’s really angry, most of the time you seehim he’s just irritated.

42. Does your characterhave any scars? Where did they get them from?

  > Vektor does nothave scars at the moment! Not sure if he ever will.

43. What was the mostoffensive thing your character had ever said?

  > Good question.

44. How does yourcharacter react to / accept criticism?

  > Vektor doesn’tdo well with criticism in the beginning because he’s so goddamnheadstrong and he’s right, you’re wrong. Royalty always has to beright, after all! As time goes on, though, he does start taking astep back to analyse his actions when told he’s doing somethingwrong. He starts to accept his faults rather than outright reject them.

45. If your characterwas given a slice of pineapple pizza and they HAD to eat it (orsomething bad would happen), how would they react? Do they even LIKEpineapple pizza?

  > Vektor’s neverexperienced it before, so he’d be open to try it. Not sure if he’dlike it, but Vektor likes weird shit so he probably would find itinteresting even if he didn’t like it. (Good luck finding somethingthat trash prince doesn’t like, though. He likes onion ringssmothered in mustard.)

46. Your character isgiven a voodoo doll of themself. What do they do with it? Do they seeif it actually works?

  > Vektor wouldtake it to Frank or Jonathan, convinced one of them would know whatit is (or know who made such an interesting code that was attemptingto ensnare Vektor’s health values). In the end, Dante’s the one whofigures out how to de-link the doll from Vektor’s health safely.

47. Can your characterdraw? What do they like to draw? Do they doodle?

  > Vektor’s neverthought about drawing or doodling, but he’s a mixture of disgustedand fascinated by all of Dante’s drawings.

48. What were theirparents like? How has that affected how they are as an adult?

  > Vektor wasraised by his grandfather, as far as he can remember, so thatdefinitely shows through in Vektor’s antiquated manner of speech andmannerisms. Vektor is still a child, so he’s plenty flawed and moreof a mess, but that vindictive streak and callous disregard for humanfeelings definitely comes from his creators.

49. Does your characterlike candy? Do they get sugar rushes? What are they like when theyget a rush?

  > Vektor does likecandy, even if he thinks they’re a bit boring. He understands thatsugars attribute to energy gain, but has never experienced a sugarrush (and probably never will, his body processes that stuff fardifferently than a normal human’s would).

50. If your characterwas presented with imminent and unavoidable death/fatality, how wouldthey react? Would they try to avoid death anyways? Would they try tomake their last days count?

  > Vektor acceptshis death graciously, trying not to let on to any of his friends thathe’s going to die. After all, sacrificing himself to save someonewould cause a stir, but would be a much better use of his life thanthe current inevitable failure he’s destined for, right?

#Momo replies to things #Game Kids need their own tag #Vektor #sighs heavily #why did I do this to myself #trash prince is one of my faves though #couldn't think of a non-OMAM song whoop #more info here than you'd ever need #Vektor is a train wreck here's 50 reasons why #Momo talks about OCs no one knows about

[lamthanc-blog]

10, 11, 12

Headcanon meme || @hecomes

10. Neuroses? Do they recognize them as such?

Oooh, he has maybe just a few of them. ( Read: he’s so fucked, I’ve kind of just been sitting here for two days trying to decide which I want to talk about. ) To get the latter quickly out of the way, though, no, he really doesn’t recognize any of them as such, nor will he. ( Probably. ) This is mainly because he has no will to deal with any of his emotions and will instead play a proverbial game of whack-a-mole. Which is ironic considering the fact that most of his responses are knee-jerk emotional responses, but that’s another story. ( I lied. Mainly, this is because it takes him a good while to actually process any of the impulses he just followed, and a lot of the time, after he does, the whack-a-mole and self-delusion begins so that things stay neatly in their place in his mind. )

Perhaps the longest-standing one he has, though, pertains to the relationships he has with other people. ( It may be wise to brush up on this post, as I shall be referencing it some / it may give better context to what I’m talking about. ) Now don’t misconstrue my words; for the most part, Melkor avoids relationships of any and all kinds worse than the plague because he doesn’t like caring about people or letting them in. It’s weakness. It’s dangerous. But mostly, it stresses him out because of the way interactions with others have gone in the past. ( He isn’t someone who is at all used to being liked, to the point of the very idea of it being genuinely strange to him ) So when he finds himself in such positions of caring about other people, he needless to say doesn’t handle it well. More often than not, he will be either horribly cruel in an attempt to put distance between them, be incredibly possessive, or else attempt to be kindly because he does indeed care for the person in question.

Mind you, it’s entirely possible to circumvent this sort of response, but also incredibly difficult to do. ( And mind you, it’s also a very convoluted process that requires a great deal of the aforementioned whack-a-mole. ) First, you would need to be in a position in which it’s extremely unlikely for Melkor to actually give a heck about you in the slightest. And then of course, you’ve got to find the sweet spot of his being amiable enough to get to know you and interested enough to put any sort of effort into being around you enough to get to know and like you. From there, one simply just has to be very certain to not so much as jokingly mention something like ‘see you do like me’ because then he’ll actually recognize it as such, start treating you like shit, and the whole process is ruined. Manage to not do that, though, and thanks mostly to Melkor’s habit of not dealing with his emotions, he can have a friendship or w/e with someone and not be a ten pound bag of dicks. ( At least probably anyway. As to be expected with a fickle creature as Melkor, the process is by no means set in stone, and should even one little thing be off, things might get dicey. )

11. Intellectual pursuits?

If I’m being honest, Melkor’s more street smart than he is book smart, so while he enjoys learning things, it’s typically done through other people. ( Such as allowing the elves in Valinor to teach him Quenya, or allowing someone to teach him about their culture. ) Even still, as you perhaps noticed, the subject matters are all very tangible and used in practical ways for the things he wants done. All this is to say that he doesn’t exactly have traditional intellectual pursuits, even if he does enjoy learning and knowing things.

12. Favorite book genre?

Eeehhhh…. I’m liable to say he doesn’t really have one. Books are a very new thing to him, as his own culture doesn’t itself have a written language. It’s something taught to them by the elves, and by the point that it was really adapted in Valinor, Melkor was no longer a present entity. Of course, while he was a prisoner in Valinor, he was introduced to these sorts of things, though he never took a great interest in them, and thus didn’t really incorporate them into his life as the others had.

#hecomes #darkness rises as silence falls ( ask. ) #all you have is your fire and the place you need to reach ( headcanon. )