#gbunny writes

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Misc. Pikmin 4 Character Trivia

(Updated 03/05/24)

Ever wanted all the Pikmin 4 character trivia in one place? Well, here you go. If I missed anything, feel free to let me know and I'll update this post.

Note: I'm not covering the Hocotatians & Koppaites because the former are major characters with a lot about them already written, and the only interesting trivia (IMO) about the latter is already "common knowledge."

This also isn't a document of *every* line of dialogue that a castaway can say. This is just stuff that I thought was interesting and/or info that you can't get from just reading their ID or talking to them once. Some castaways don't have any entries because they're either not that interesting or don't actually talk about themselves much.

Recent updates: Added a new note on Patch.

Rescue Officers

Collin

Has a wireless transceiver that has been passed down to him by his grandfather. He refuses to replace it and instead just fixes it whenever it breaks.

His hobby is tinkering with machines.

He's worked several odd jobs in the past to help pay for his education. These jobs include collecting space trash, ship construction, and cleaning the "outer walls of the colony". He considers his work as the comms operator to be significantly more difficult than any of his past jobs.

This has caused him to be multi-talented, but it also causes others to take advantage of him.

Despite this, he apparently isn't one for "physical labor."

Collin considers PNF-404 to be tiny, though this may be in reference to the universe, in which all planets could be considered "tiny."

Shepherd considers him young, but in reference to who/what is unknown.

Only in the comics, Oatchi seems to dislike Collin.

Shepherd

She has the highest certificate ranking in the Rescue Corps, and a special certification in Rescue Pup training. This is something very few officers have.

She spends all of her breaks at a dog run near the Rescue corps HQ.

Apparently, she spends much of their budget on dog food.

She met Dingo before she was captain when they were both training. This may mean that she's known him the longest of the other members. Most others are implied to have met her/been recruited by her when she was already captain.

She exceeds Dingo in martial arts and cross-country.

She doesn't seem aware of Dingo's crush on her.

She seems to experience some form of imposter syndrome during the main campaign but overcomes it near the end of the game.

Her family has lived with dogs since at least the first Captain's generation. Additionally, their family is implied to be immigrants from a different planet. Their original planet is unknown, but is highly implied to be Earth/PNF-404.

Her family's motto is, "There's no better judge of character than a dog."

By her own admission, the only creatures she can "handle" are dogs. Whether this also excludes other domesticated creatures is currently unknown.

Russ

His family runs a megacorporation on Giya, and as a result is incredibly wealthy. They're so wealthy that they can regularly afford golden pikpik carrots and just casually blend them into juice for a snack.

Said family is also very large and extravagant and seems to always invite the other rescue officers to their many parties, much to the latter's chagrin.

His mother is notorious in the Rescue Corps for "being quite the character."

He claims to have only joined the Rescue Corps out of curiosity.

While he lords his intellect above most others, he still recognizes Yonny as a genius in the medical field.

He wears a lab coat under his spacesuit. His mother gifted him 64 of them to bring on their current trip.

The Emergency Kit was the first item he prototyped after joining the Rescue Corps.

He is a fan of the reporter Muggs.

His natural hair color may be green, as this is the color of his eyebrows.

He's apparently prone to "interesting" injuries, likely due to failed inventions.

Dingo

Decided to become a rescue officer after being saved in the mountains by Shepherd's father, the previous Rescue Corps captain.

He dislikes dogs due to being traumatized by one during the same rescue, as he believed the rescue pup was trying to attack him.

He appears to fear Russ's mother.

He apparently believes that any drink (and possibly food, given his theft of Bernard's pizza) sitting out belongs to him.

Acknowledges that Collin is probably their most important team member, but he still takes advantage of his kindness from time to time.

He tends to refer to most of the officers by their title/job rather than name. (Comms guy for Collin, Science guy for Russ, the captain, etc.) Except Yonny which he shortens to "Yon."

He's childhood friends with Yonny.

Yonny

He's an avid reader, but prefers paper books to digital ones. He has boxes of them shipped to HQ regularly and they would have taken up 27 shelves on the ship if he were allowed to bring just the ones he wanted.

Has experimented on at least Shepherd and Dingo without their full consent. The former by not being transparent about what was in a vitamin supplement he gave her, and the latter by abusing his tendency to drink anything that's just sitting out. He has attempted to experiment on Collin, but it is unknown if he succeeded in doing so.

Apparently bursts into maniacal laughter when working in the lab by himself. The other officers just ignore it.

He's childhood friends with Dingo.

Bernard

He is very picky about food, to the point that their food storage has a special section just for him. It consists of expensive, specialized foods.

Like Collin, he has worked several different jobs over his career (including the president of a space-flight company). In the Japanese script, this is *apparently reflected in him having a combination of different dialects.

Also, like Collin, he considers his job as an officer to be significantly more difficult than his other jobs. However, he also considers it the most rewarding.

He invented an all-in-one meal drink that put a boxed lunch company out of business, solely because he finds digging through lunch boxes to be a pain.

Shepherd recruited him after he was able to deliver some packages for her faster than the post office would.

He has a history with a castaway named Santi whom he considered himself to be a part of a "dynamic duo" with. They were born about the same time, went to school and college together, and at some point became the latter's flight instructor. Bernard thinks of Santi fondly, but the feeling is not mutual.

He once piloted a 20,000 hour (just over two years) flight.

*(source)

Civilian Castaways + Their Planets

Research Task Force

Twyla and Komo are close friends due to their mutual introversion. They consider each other "irreplaceable".

Komo considers Chet easy to talk to.

Twyla considers the concept of plate tectonics to be unheard of on her home planet. This may imply that Conohan doesn't have any natural mountains, volcanoes, trenches, earthquakes, etc.

Sammy's home planet of Ocobo was not always ravaged by perpetual storms. But once they started, the entire planet flooded and their planet's engineers developed artificial islands for the people to live on.

Sy is the youngest member of the Research Task Force.

Osa is Kit's senior.

Chet has considered asking Ren to try cooking the creatures of the planet, but ultimately decides against it.

TV Crew

Wolfgang and Muggs get engaged at the end of the game. If you talk to Muggs before rescuing Wolfgang, she will drop hints about already having some romantic interest in him.

Muggs is possibly one of only other people that can understand what Oatchi's thinking if her comments from Oatchi are to be believed.

Vonda claims that Wolfgang is apparently a good singer. Comparatively, she struggles to say nice things about Olimar's humming.

Frisé wrote a song called, "Song of Love." This is likely a reference to "Ai no Uta" a song used in the promotion of Pikmin (2001). The title directly translates to "Song of Love." However, the lyrics of the two songs seem completely different.

Satella Travel Employees + Guests

Molly appears to have a crush on Russ. She finds his intellect attractive and wants to wear his glasses.

Molly might also be of a higher intellect given that she once made and launched an unmanned rocket in a single night by herself (even if it exploded).

The name of the travel agency that Chewy and Santi work for, the Satella Travel Agency, is a reference to the Nintendo Satellaview.

Sheeba apparently resembles Chewy's boss.

Santi learned his piloting skills from Bernard.

He also seems to have a similar "accent" to Bernard, but it only comes out when speaking about the latter.

Santi appears to be fond of Chewy and is considering becoming a permanent employee for her sake. Whether these feelings are romantic in nature is unclear.

Planetary Science Club

Despite being the Planetary Science Club's adviser, Mika actually teaches ethics and knows very little about any kind of planetary science.

Sheeba appears fearful of Oatchi.

Sheeba wants to become a teacher when she grows up.

The Planetary Science Club students went on the planetary tour on a free raffle, but Mika had to pay out of pocket.

Kaia gave Mika a nickname: Meeki. Mika likes it, but Sheeba thinks it's unprofessional.

Keesh is apparently stronger than Sheeba, Kaia, and Mika combined.

Others

All of Beaux's roles in movies/shows are references to other Nintendo games and IPs. Specifically the first 3 Pikmin games where he plays the Olimar expy, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Mario, Kirby, and Link.

In a similar vein, his twin brother Alpin's company is called "e-Leader" as a reference to Nintendo's "e-Reader" accessory.

Alpin inherited the company from their father and works so Beaux can pursue his dreams of being an actor.

Alpin knows Fawks well enough to know exactly how he likes his coffee. (1 cup of coffee with 2 spoonfuls of milk, and 3 sugarcubes.)

From Kayz we learn a little about the different biomes on the other planets: Siguray has a scorching desert, Flukuey has steep, rocky mountains, and Ooji has a lush jungle.

Patch admits that he sees a "darkness" in Olimar's eyes, which implies that this is not his first life-or-death experience.

Patch is implied to have been or was inspired by a pundit to pursue his current lifestyle.

Bernise will actually change her fortune for you every in-game day.

Dalmo has been interested in creatures since childhood.

His hometown also has a waterfront, confirming that Sozor has at least one significant body of water.

While Dalmo never ascribes malice to any of the creatures, he appears somewhat cynical about society, calling adults the only beings capable of intentional deceit and acknowledging that being popular means not having to work as hard to get to the top.

Shnauz's home planet of Siguray apparently has iridescent, water-dwelling newts.

Jin has studied traditional sports, combat sports, martial arts, and the art of battle.

One of Corgwin's first builds was a dog-house.

Speculative material below the cut.

Planet Generalizations

Some castaways from certain planets seem to have similar personalities/traits. Given that it's stated that things like the Koppaites' general inability to plan/being picky eaters is inherent to their race, it's possible that these generalizations apply to the rest of the races as well. I have not included planets with only one castaway. These are detailed below.

Sozor (Dalmo, Grace, Horatio): Have anti-social personalities. Dalmo prefers creatures to people, Grace seems disinterested in society as a whole, and Horatio seems inept at social interactions.

Flukuey (Jin, Molly, Dash, Patch): Have unstable professions and/or are adventure seekers. Jin is an explorer, Molly is a streamer of limited success, Dash is a spelunker from a well off-family, and Patch is unemployed but purposefully puts himself in dangerous situations for the thrill.

Ooji (Francois, Kingsly): Love flowers/plant life. Francois studies plant-life, and Kingsly is a florist.

Koodgio (Lapi, Boris): Artistic types. Lapi is a painter and Boris is an author.

Siguray (Shnauz, Kit, Osa): Interested in the qualities/history of materials/items. Shnauz appraises treasure, Kit is interested in minerals, and Osa is interested in archeology.

Castaways where it's difficult to determine if their similar traits would be found in their race due to other factors:

Ogura (Sy, Pitunia): Bother are interested in studying the onion and their environmental factors surrounding it, but both are also a part of the Research Task Force, a group made of individuals that are interested in studying the planet in general, so it's hard to say if this would be something inherent to all Ogurains, or if they just happen to have a mutual interest in this area of study.

Enohee (Ren, Frise, Muggs, Wolfgang): 3 of the 4 are a part of the same crew so would have common interests by default. Arguably all 4 are interested in entertainment as Ren was on a cooking show, so TV might be a very important industry to Enohee.

Neechki (Kaia, Sheeba, Keesh, Mika, Chewy): 4 of the 5 are in the same club and would have similar interests by default, and Chewy has little in common with the rest of them.

Nijo (Santi, Bernard): Both became pilots and were prone to changing jobs frequently, but their "Dynamic Duo" shtick of always being a part of each other's lives is played as a joke, so their similar lives/interests may not be due to race.

Planets where I couldn't identify a common thread:

Enohay (Puddle, Vonda, Bernise): I would have said creative/artistic fields due to Puddle being a stylist and Vonda being a singer, but I don't think a fortune-teller really falls under that.

Conohan (Twyla, Chowder, Alpin, Fawks, Beaux): They all have different professions and interests, two are siblings, and none have especially similar personality traits. In a sense, I suppose this would imply that Conohan is a very diverse planet.

Ohri (Yonny, Dingo): Neither seems to have much in common with the other.

Giya (Shepherd, Collin, Russ): Another diverse group. However, given the stark difference between Collin's and Russ's financial situations, may imply that Giya has significant class inequality.

#gbunny writes #pikmin #pikmin 4

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✨🍒 Cheery Cherry Poodle 🍒✨

Ever since I found out they existed, I’ve always wanted one of these Yum Yums plushies. They just have so many of my favorite aesthetics: Sweets theming, glitter, bows, :3. This line is just so good, and I really wish that this brand could have persisted in the states (apparently they’re still going in Japan though).

I won this in an auction on ebay for a decent price (literally no one bet against me). Aside from some scratches on her eyes (which I may try to restore) and some matting in her fur, she’s in great condition! She even still has traces of her original scent (not bad for a toy that’s around 20 years old).

Overall I���m super happy with this! Normally after I get a plush for collection, I just display it and that’s it. I don’t usually feel a need to actually play with the toys I collect, but I just can’t stop messing with this one. It’s pretty much everything I love rolled into one plush and I want to look at it forever <3.

#personal post #gbunny collects #plush #toys #yum yums #hallmark #kenner #as of writing this post #there's another one of these up on ebay for around $20 #but it's in considerably worse condition than this one (which I got for about the same price) #I also saw the peppermint kitty go up for around $20 #i really do love yum yums #but i've only really felt the *need* to own the cherry poodle #we'll see what happens though #i might spring for it since it's affordable #dogs

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Pikmin 4 Planet Generalizations

I added this to the big Pikmin 4 Character Trivia post, but I know most people aren't going to be checking for updates on that (btw, there's been a few, so check that out if you're interested).

These are observations I've made about similarities between castaways from the same planet. Since Pikmin has made a habit of saying that certain traits are inherent to specific races/planets, such as the Koppaites' inability to plan and being picky eaters and the Hocotatians' preference for vegetables and seeking treasure, it may be safe to say that similarities found between castaways from the same planet might be reflective of their respective races.

However, this is all speculative on my part. Do not take any of the following as fact.

I also haven't included any castaways/planets where there was only 1 castaway to get info from since unless they explicitly said so, there's no way to determine what traits are theirs and what could be attributed to their race/culture. Info like that would be a part of the main trivia post.

Sozor (Dalmo, Grace, Horatio)

Have anti-social personalities. Dalmo prefers creatures to people, Grace seems disinterested in society as a whole, and Horatio is inept at social interactions (compared to other castaways).

Flukuey (Jin, Molly, Dash, Patch)

Have unstable professions and/or are adventure seekers. Jin is an explorer, Molly is a streamer of limited success, Dash is a spelunker from a well off-family, and Patch is unemployed but purposefully puts himself in dangerous situations for the thrill.

Ooji (Francois, Kingsly)

Love flowers/plant life. Francois studies plant-life, and Kingsly is a florist. Given that Ooji is also said to have "lush jungles," flora may be very important to everyday life on the planet.

Koodgio (Lapi, Boris)

Artistic types. Lapi is a painter and Boris is an author.

Siguray (Shnauz, Kit, Osa)

Interested in the qualities and history of materials and items. Shnauz appraises treasure, Kit is interested in minerals, and Osa is interested in archeology.

The following are castaways where it's difficult to determine if their similar traits would be found in their race due to other factors:

Ogura (Sy, Pitunia)

Both are interested in studying the onion and their environmental factors surrounding it, but both are also a part of the Research Task Force, a group made of individuals that are interested in studying the planet in general, so it's hard to say if this would be something inherent to all Ogurains, or if they just happen to have a mutual interest in this area of study.

Enohee (Ren, Frise, Muggs, Wolfgang)

3 of the 4 are a part of the same TV crew, so would have common interests by default. Arguably all 4 are interested in entertainment as Ren was on a cooking show, so TV might be a very important industry to Enohee.

Neechki (Kaia, Sheeba, Keesh, Mika, Chewy)

4 of the 5 are in the same club and would have similar interests by default (and even then, Mika admits that she knows very little about planetary science), and Chewy has little in common with the rest of them. However, Chewy notes that Sheeba also resembles her boss, so it's possible that the "small" body type is very common (but not exclusive) to Neechikians.

Nijo (Santi, Bernard)

Both became pilots and were prone to changing jobs frequently, but their "Dynamic Duo" shtick of always being a part of each other's lives is played as a joke, so their similar lives/interests may not have anything to do with their race/culture.

Planets where I couldn't identify a common thread:

Enohay (Puddle, Vonda, Bernise)

I would have said creative/artistic fields due to Puddle being a stylist and Vonda being a singer, but I don't think a fortune-teller really falls under that umbrella. Perhaps they're all "dramatic"?

Conohan (Twyla, Chowder, Alpin, Fawks, Beaux)

They all have different professions and interests, two are siblings, and none have especially similar personality traits. In a sense, I suppose this would imply that Conohan is a very diverse planet.

Ohri (Yonny, Dingo)

Neither seems to have much in common with the other aside from being in the Rescue Corps.

Giya (Shepherd, Collin, Russ)

Another diverse group of only rescue officers. However, given the stark difference between Collin's and Russ's financial situations, there are implications that Giya has significant class inequality.

#gbunny writes #pikmin #pikmin 4 #i don't know how to tag this #headcanons #i guess? since i can't prove any of this i can't call it trivia

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It's Laurel.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in my quest to collect character trivia, it seems like Yonny is the only Rescue Officer whose reason for joining isn't really explored.

This is just another odd job for Collin.

Shepherd was born into it.

Russ joined out of curiosity.

Dingo was inspired by the Rescue Officer (Shepherd's dad) that rescued him.

Bernard was recruited by Shepherd.

I don't recall any other officer talking about why Yonny joined. Maybe it just goes without saying that a doctor would be an essential member of a rescue team, so there doesn't need to be further elaboration, but I feel like it sticks out since everyone else has a stated reason for joining the Corps, even if it's minimal.

In general, I think Yonny gets the least extra information about him from the other officers. It might be to add a more "mysterious" aura to him to make him a little more threatening/off-putting, because the things that the others do mention about him mostly relate to his dubiously unethical methods of experimentation and odd personality.

Pre-Publish Edit: I recently learned that in Yonny & Dingo's Japanese profiles, it's revealed that they're childhood friends, so I suppose that could be the reason he joined the Corps (and why he experiments on Dingo the most). That said, I haven't found any evidence of this in the English script, so I wonder if there's a piece of unused dialogue in the game about it, or if a line got translated a little differently to omit that information.

There is an End of Day dialogue where Dingo vaguely remembers one of Yonny's experiments on him, causing him to glow, but (as I remember it) there's no indication of when this event might have occurred. Given that the result was him glowing, it would be easy to assume that said experiment was related to the glow sap and thus occurred recently rather than the far past. However, it's possible that this is a childhood memory that's resurfacing.

Post-Publish Edit: That End of Day dialogue does clarify that this event occurred "back home," but whether this meant Giya (the Rescue Corps' planet) or Ohri (Yonny & Dingo's home planet) is not clear.

#gbunny writes #pikmin #pikmin 4 #yonny #it's possible that his relevant dialogue happens before endgame #so i might've just gotten locked out of it #for example there will come a time when shepherd stops mentioning her experience with one of russ's family parties #so it's possible that i just missed some yonny dialogue

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Confession

I wish I liked Zuke more than I do.

I don't dislike him, but he just doesn't do anything for me.

And when I say "he doesn't do anything," I almost mean that literally. I feel like he contributes almost nothing to the main conflict, and the conflicts he is a major part of aren't really his fault, so he has nothing to gain from being in them. Zuke basically begins and ends the main story as the same person, and I think a main character should go through a little more growth than that for me to get attached to them.

And frankly, his personality just doesn't make up for those shortcomings for me. He's funny, but almost everyone in this game is funny, so he doesn't really stand out to me.

Normally, I like a kind-of-weird dude, but he's just so subdued about it that those quirks might as well not even be there. I get that he's supposed to be the straight man to Mayday's excitability, but those traits aren't strong enough against the more colorful characters in the cast. I'm not asking for him to be a wet blanket, but he doesn't resist the world's wackiness as much as he could to be a more effective straight man character.

I also get that part of his character is that he's more "experienced" compared to Mayday, so he's also sort of the anchor to this world: he already knows of most of its eccentricities, so he doesn't feel the need to react that strongly to anything weird they might come across, but that makes him very boring to me. He just doesn't go far enough in either extreme. Because it's not even that he just blindly accepts everything: he does have a reaction to DJSS pulling out a mini-Earth to make himself grow, and he does question how Kliff got May's number. He's just... reasonable, but in a boring way. It's like his two main traits are at odds with each other: He doesn't really react to the world, and the world doesn't react to him. He simply "is."

At the end of the day, No Straight Roads is Mayday's story, so she gets most of the important story beats and character growth. Zuke is more of a support character, and that's fine, but it feels so unbalanced when he's also the other playable character. Like, I'd think he'd be at least as important as Mayday to the story, but he really isn't. He does have parts dedicated to him, but again, neither his conflict with DK West or Eve are actually started by him, so he doesn't really have anything to gain from them in terms of character growth. In fact, his fight with DK West is so unimportant to his growth that you can still beat the game and get closure on the main conflict without even finishing it.

I dunno, I just feel bad about it because I don't think I should be as indifferent to one of the leading characters as I am the numerous NPCs in this game. Part of my problem with the fandom's treatment of Kliff was that he's a main character, but gets almost nothing from the fandom, but here I am not giving a damn about one of the two main protagonists. Like, I don't think I could be more hypocritical if I tried.

I'd almost go as far as to say I care about Yiruk more than I care about Zuke. That's how bad it is for me, XP.

The only real capacity I have for caring about Zuke is how he interacts with Mayday as a part of the B2J unit, but at that point he's just an accessory, the same as May's guitar.

To put it another way, I feel pretty comfortable drawing Mayday by herself and can tell a story with just that, but I can't draw Zuke alone, or I feel like it's incomplete.

#gbunny writes #nsr #i won't main tag it to reduce fighting #i'm sorry #i just don't feel anything for him #if you ever wonder why i never draw zuke by himself #this is why

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Baseless NSR Theory #82: Gigi & Mystery Man

Y'all should know better than to get me hyped up about my own theories, but let's run with this since I haven't done one in a while.

---------

After thinking about it some more, I feel pretty confident that Gigi is NOT Mystery Man (MM). The stained-glass portraits are a little abstract from the characters they represent, but the broad strokes are always there. No character is depicted with a completely different skin hue, and Gigi's face and features are a little round for the angular MM.

Granted, given the mysterious nature of MM, I can't completely rule out that his portrait is an outlier. Let's consider that the only (human) characters depicted with gray skin are also the nameless NPCs: the ones that are almost literally supposed to be a part of the background. If MM's nature is truly about secrecy and blending in, then having a giant accurate portrait of him in your main office would probably work against that.

Still, in other "official" pieces of art depicting MM, he's always shown with sharp, angular features that Gigi just doesn't have, so I'm going to go forward with the assumption that Gigi and MM are not the same person.

(Art by Ddaddystar, a concept artist for No Straight Roads, Source: 1 | 2 | 3)

However, they could still be related in someway. It's possible that MM has underlings that help him with whatever he does. Even though we never see them, we know that DJSS has at least one other person working under him related to his work as a rocket scientist, so it's very possible that all or most of the other Megastars also have staff directly under them for their non-music roles in NSR.

If MM's role in NSR is related to secrecy, perhaps spying, given his stereotypical spy outfit, it's possible that MM has set several spies around the city to aid in that work.

(duckduckGo image search of "cartoon spy")

And since this is a setting that works on "cartoon logic" where the spies might have a uniform, it's possible that MM's underlings have calling cards connecting them to him. Perhaps, something like a hat and glasses and a toothy smile.

Oh, would you look at that.

Of the evidence that Gigi is working for NSR under MM, there isn't a lot to directly connect him to them. However, he has a few of the same, "he knows more than he should" moments that also implicated Kliff as untrustworthy in the opening parts of the game, so I do believe that the player is supposed to have some doubts about him even if it's only to be a red herring.

For starters, he's one of the few NPCs that force-triggers an interaction to continue the story. The same thing happens when Zam stops you to join the revolution. This implies that in both instances, it's the NPC stopping you to talk instead of vice versa. Given how casually they all talk to each other, the implication at this point is that he was friends with B2J before the events of the game, but as will be revealed later, this isn't actually the case.

Mayday and Zuke later mention that neither of them are actually familiar with Gigi and just assumed he was a friend of the other. This never gets commented on further, but it does confirm that Gigi is just so naturally charming that he infiltrated their friend circle without either of them really noticing until much later.

Mayday isn't even certain about his name while Zuke doesn't know it at all, implying that he may have never directly told them, or didn't tell them unless asked. This would be natural behavior if he assumed that they already knew his name, but then is this a case of Gigi also thinking that Mayday and Zuke are supposed to know him, like they've met in the past and B2J just forgot him, or is he purposefully concealing his identity?

Let's also consider the meaning of his name. "Gigi" in Malay translates to "teeth/tooth," an obvious reference to how his teeth are always showing. While it's possible that this is his real name, it's more likely that it's a nickname or an alias. So the matter is if he told Mayday that that's his name, or if she and others just started calling him that when they realized they didn't know his real name. Something like people originally calling him, "That guy who's always showing his teeth." then morphed into just calling him "teeth." Either way, he's concealing his true identity, which would be necessary for a spy.

I do assume that most of the time the characters are actually speaking Malay, but is shown in English for the benefit of the player. When Mayday encounters DK West, she doesn't ask why he speaks a different language, she asks why he speaks with a different accent, possibly implying that all the characters are actually speaking Malay, DK West just has a different dialect.

Both times Gigi stops you, it's to talk about how he's seen what B2J have been up to (first their audition and later their battle with Sayu) and to offer them a drink. He seems really insistent on giving them those drinks he offered, since after he was turned down the first time since B2J were busy, the next time he prepared for another rejection by having the drinks with him and just inviting himself to the underground hideout, which is supposed to be secret.

Granted, (I lost the source, but I swear this is at least *80% true), the reason why Kliff found out about the hideout without being directly told is that Mayday apparently posted that info online, so it's not impossible that Gigi found out about it the same way. B2J didn't react to him knowing about it the same way they did Kliff, but it's possible that by this point they realized that their hideout just wasn't as secret as they originally thought.

*I can't remember if it was just that she posted her phone number online so that's why Kliff was able to text her, or if she posted all their info. Either way, she's unintentionally created a paper trail that could lead people to her.

However, after he enters the hideout, Gigi is effectively written out of the game as he has no other interactions with B2J besides seeing them off when they leave.

This seems odd as the other two guys who join the hideout but do nothing (Robot and Yiruk) still appear above ground to talk, whereas the two guys that actually do something (Zam and Kliff) only appear underground after they're recruited. If Gigi also wasn't doing anything important in the sewers, then you'd think he'd also stay above ground to talk like the former group.

Unless he is doing something.

It's possible that Gigi is collecting intel in the hideout. Since Kliff is apparently already monitoring how the fights are going, Gigi could theoretically just get the info he needs from Kliff instead of directly watching himself as he appeared to do earlier. That would also give Gigi the time to focus on other areas of interest. Perhaps something like leaking B2J's main source of outside communication: Zam FM.

When Tatiana calls into the radio show, she admits that she's been spying on them the entire time, though by what means aren't elaborated on. At the time, the implication seems to be that she was just listening to the show, which theoretically could be listened to by anyone who knows their signal and wouldn't necessarily need additional spying to achieve, but that doesn't exempt that she could have had other spying methods.

Let's consider that Tatiana didn't consider B2J a threat until after DJSS's defeat, but doesn't get actually angry about them until Sayu's defeat. Gigi's first attempt to get info from B2J was directly after DJSS, but he failed to stop them from meeting with Kliff who gave B2J the tools to defeat Sayu. After Sayu, he finally just forces his way in, possibly as a response to Tatiana's rising stress over the situation.

However, I must concede that if Gigi truly is a spy for NSR/MM, then why wouldn't he report about Kliff's involvement? Even if he didn't know the personal history between him and Tatiana, I think it would be pretty important to report that they have a significant ally that they should keep tabs on and then naturally Kliff's involvement would make it to Tatiana.

But also keep in mind that in this theoretical, Gigi is still reporting to MM first. So if MM disregarded anything he deemed irrelevant and then sent that revised report to Tatiana, then Kliff's involvement could have been lost even if Gigi made note of him. The message could have been diluted from, "Kliff is an ally of B2J." to, "An information specialist is an ally of B2J."

It's not like NSR was trying to destroy B2J from the inside. NSR's main goal was to have B2J defeated by a megastar to strengthen NSR's political support/make an example of B2J, as to maintain order. To do this, they needed to prove EDM's superiority over rock by its own power. Using any sort of foul play to defeat B2J would conflict with those ideals and likely lead to chaos irrupting in the city had they won or even significantly hindered them in this way.

For example, an easy way to discombobulate B2J could have been to shut down Zam FM, which they actually tried to do before he got in contact with them. However, after he was able to get set up, there wasn't much they could do without rousing suspicion. Gigi theoretically could have taken down the show while he was there, but if something had suddenly happened to cut off B2J's communication with their fans, then the fans might suspect NSR of foul play and start revolting on their own or at least spread the word that this happened, which could weaken NSR's support.

With that in mind, Gigi's orders might have been to report on B2J's activities and plans, but not to directly interfere, thus explaining why B2J didn't have many major set-backs and why NSR didn't have any meaningful advantages over them even if they had someone on the inside.

In conclusion, I think there's a strong case that Gigi is actually an NSR spy, and a weaker but still compelling case that he's also connected to Mystery Man, who might be the director of NSR's spies.

#gbunny writes #nsr #no straight roads #game theory #gigi #mystery man #in other news the gigi poll ended #i meant for it to be a week like usual but i guess i forgot to change it #but it still got over 100 votes in 24 hours which is a fairly decent metric to get a general consensus #so maybe polls will be only 24 hours in the future #just over 50% of responders didn't care about him at all #but otherwise people are generally positive about him #not a lot of people outright love him but quite a few people at least like him #i dunno how many more popularity polls i'm gonna do #but i'm thinking about cutting the 'don't care' option all together #all it's doing is giving people whose opinions aren't relevant something to click on #it's not really useful to know how many people don't care about the character #when it's easier to just let the response number speak for that statistic #i can just compare the number of voters between other polls to determine how they stack up against other characters

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NSR Comic Ideas I'll Probably Never Get To

My brain worms often prevent me from doing the things I actually want to do, so here's a list of NSR comic ideas that live in my head that I just can't bring myself to actually draw. These aren't full scripts like I've written in the past, but more like general outlines.

Draw them yourself if you want, but tag/credit me if you do. It'd be fun to see other interpretations of these prompts.

Since they're mostly gag comics, I've split them into "Set-Up" and "Punchline" in-case you want to write your own punchline or don't want to spoil the joke with the misguided hope that I will someday bring these to life. Some also have "Extended" parts which I think functionally don't need to be there, but may add context or additional jokes at the risk of dragging it out.

Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy them, and hopefully someday I'll be able to make at least 1 or 2 of these real. If there's a particular one you really like, let me know and it might inspire me to actually do it~

Preview:

Game (Neon J. teaches 1010 a new game.)

Clothes (1010 discuss the concept of nudity.)

Simulation (Kliff plays a 1010 dating sim to gather intel.)

Shorts (Tatiana urges DJSS to reconsider wearing shorts to work.)

Singing (Kliff sings to himself in the hideout.)

Chill (Gigi reveals that he has ice powers.)

Wall (Kliff and Tatiana have an argument that turns violent.)

Magazine (Neon J. tries to find the culprit of a smuggling.)

Trade (Kliff makes a trade.)

"Game" (Warning: Violence)

Set-up: Neon J. offers to teach 1010 how to play a new game. They all agree.

Punchline: NJ throws a gun on the table and declares the game is "Russian Roulette."

Extended: The winner turns out to be Blue (as per the chess poll), but he is traumatized by the events. It turns out to be borderline pointless, as the losing 1010s are immediately restored by the factory. The 1010s attack Neon J. in retaliation.

"Clothes" (Warning: Suggestive)

Set-up: Green holds a meeting to discuss if the concept of "nakedness" applies to the 1010's considering that their "clothes" could also be considered "skin." White is annoyed at the prospect of such a pointless discussion, but the others make their cases. Two camps form: team naked (Red and Green), and team not-naked (Blue and Yellow). Team naked believe the skin theory, and team not-naked believe that functionally they can't be naked. Additionally, Blue believes that their clothes are technically made of skin since they're 80% recycled materials.

White refuses to participate to break the tie, so to settle this Green proposes the "underwear test," claiming that if they look more or less naked while wearing underwear will determine if they are functionally naked or not. If they look more naked with underwear, then they weren't naked before because the underwear would draw attention to their nudity. If they look less naked, then they are naked because now they're more covered up. He convinces White to model for them since he hasn't done anything to help move the conversation anywhere (the sooner they settle this, the sooner they can do something else). White agrees and models some underwear, but all the 1010s determine that he just looks stupid.

Punchline: Green bursts out laughing, revealing that this was just a drawn-out revenge plot. White destroys him and their "Days since White has Destroyed Green" board is reset to 0.

"Simulation"

Set-Up: Kliff hobbles into the sewer looking half-dead and is intercepted by Zam, asking what happened to him. Kliff explains that he was doing research for the upcoming 1010 battle. To meet that end, he discovered that they released a dating sim that was supposedly programmed with the 1010 A.I.'s input, so he figured that there might be something useful in it that he could use for a battle strategy.

"Ellie says: Please don't pirate games from independent developers!"

When asked why he didn't just use a guide or play through for his research, he claims that although each 1010 only has 2 routes (good and bad) plus an ultimate ending for playing all routes, the A.I. adapts to the player, so the information would only be useful if he played as though he was Mayday or Zuke.

Punchline: The content of the game was so expansive and the story so moving that he was burnt-out emotionally and mentally. When he recalls the final ending, he starts crying, mimicking Mayday at the end of the 1010 battle.

"Shorts"

Set-Up: DJSS was recently hired onto NSR and has been pulled into a meeting with Tatiana. Tatiana tries to convince DJSS that wearing shorts is inappropriate dress-code, stating that "There are children here." Offended, DJSS starts pointing out the obvious biases in her request, citing that Neon J. doesn't technically wear pants and Eve accidentally interrupts their meeting in her usual outfit. Tatiana acquiesces on this condition, "Don't come crying to me when you come to regret your choices."

Punchline: DJSS leaves the room in a huff, and begins muttering to himself. At that moment, Yinu and Mama are passing by as Yinu points out that DJSS often talks out loud to himself. DJSS and Mama stop to try and make small talk while Yinu zones out of the conversation. She starts looking at DJSS's leg hairs and grabs onto them. DJSS thinks that she's trying to get his attention, but she suddenly yanks them out, causing him to let out a physical scream which bursts out of NSR tower to be seen by the citizens miles away. When we return to NSR tower, DJSS has toppled over from the pain, and Mama lightly scolds Yinu as they walk away from the scene. DJSS manages to pull himself back into Tatiana's office, crying. To which she replies, "What did I just tell you about crying back to me?"

Extended: It is revealed that this is why DJSS wears platform shoes: to keep Yinu from reaching his leg hairs. He also switched to velcro shoes just to be safe.

"Singing"

Set-Up: Kliff is singing Vs. SAYU to himself in the meeting room. He's embarrassed, but can't help himself because the song is too catchy. He at least finds relief that no one can hear him in there but suddenly notices that someone is peeking in through a crack in the door. It's Zam who was secretly recording it on his phone.

"Ellie says: Don't record people without their permission!"

Zam apologizes and slowly closes the door and begins to talk away before Kliff bursts through the door and begins chase. Zam manages to get the phone to Ellie, who gets the phone to Mayday, who is confused about what's happening. Kliff managed to get back to the game room, but he's too late.

Punchline: Mayday plays the video and says, "Wow Kliff... you've got a really good voice." Zam (who is a little beat-up from the chase) agrees and says, "But he never comes out to karaoke with us." Kliff is confused because he thinks the fact that he was singing one of NSR's songs is embarrassing, but Mayday laments that it's a really catchy song, and she does the same thing sometimes.

"Chill"

Set-Up: It's a hot day in B2J's hideout. Mayday laments the heat when Gigi passes by and puts his hand on her forehead. To her surprise and delight, his hand is really cold. She asks him if he was just holding a cold drink, but he reveals that he's half-ice elemental, so he has a naturally low body temperature, explaining that's why he's always bundled up. Mayday asks if she can hug him, since she thinks a frosty hug would be amazing right now. He's a little hesitant but agrees. Mayday feels relieved from the heat, but Gigi starts sensing murderous intent from somewhere. He notices a darkness flowing out from the meeting room and sees Kliff peering out. He urges Mayday to stop, but before she can do anything, Kliff accidentally falls over into the room from leaning on the door.

Punchline: Mayday wonders why this happened and concludes that Kliff must have been jealous. As Kliff tries to say that "it's not what it looks like", Mayday says, "You're jealous that I'm hogging Gigi all to myself. You can have a turn too." Gigi and Kliff internally monologue about how dense she is, but hug each other anyway to keep up appearances.

Extended: As they hug, Kliff realizes that it actually does feel pretty good. And the next shot has Kliff apparently monopolizing Gigi from the others as the latter wonders how they got to this point.

"Wall"

Set-Up: Tatiana and Kliff are arguing about something when Tatiana suddenly slams her fist into the wall, narrowly missing Kliff's head. Flustered, he says, "You can't win by trying to seduce me!" She replies, "This isn't seduction you moron." Before they can do anything else, they both hear a "Ker-thunk!" as Neon J. has situated a table with a sign reading, "Get wall slammed by Tatiana! $5 [Or the rough equivalent in ringgits]" and a small line has already formed. Tatiana questions this as Kliff slips away from the scene. Neon J. declares that he takes any business opportunity he sees. She's about to tell him to stop when the crowd starts looking disappointed.

Punchline: Tatiana begins wall slamming various characters including:

Mayday, who squees about being wall slammed by Kul Fyra.

Eve, who Tataiana tells could just ask her to do this for her.

Kliff again, who wasn't done with their earlier argument and had to pay Neon J. double since he "got the first one free".

Extended: After all the wall slams, Tatiana is exhausted and Neon J. tallies their profits from the day and gives Tatiana her share. It is also revealed that the "table" was actually a 1010 with a board on his back covered by a tablecloth.

"Magazine" (Warning: Suggestive)

Neon J. has called a meeting for the other 1010s to discover which one of them brought a dirty magazine into the house. They ask where he found it, but he claims it doesn't matter and he just wants to know who it belongs to.

Punchline: The 1010s look to each other but remain silent. Neon J. expresses disappointment that they would disobey orders twice, but they claim that they can't determine who it belongs to without more information. Neon J. then correctly deduces that they all own copies of the exact same magazine, just hidden in different places. They are all grounded for 2 weeks.

Extended: In an attempt to make it easier to identify the culprit the next time this was to happen, Neon J. decides to give each 1010 a different fetish, so he can just match the content to the 1010. To his dismay, this just leads to them finding a magazine which miraculously contains all 5 fetishes.

"Trade"

Set-Up: Kliff sits on a bench in front of a fountain. An individual wearing a trench coat and hat obscuring their face sits next to him. Without looking at the individual, Kliff asks, "Do you have it?" They slide him an envelope. Kliff briefly examines the contents (seemingly a document) which can't be seen by the viewer. After tapping them back in, Kliff sets a USB drive on the bench. The individual takes it. "That should patch up most of your vulnerabilities." Kliff says. "Yeah. Most." The individual says with a square text bubble, revealing himself to be Neon J. As Kliff stands up he says, "I need a reason for you to keep coming back, don't I?" Neon J. is left alone holding the drive before squeezing it in frustration and curses under his breath. Kliff makes his way back to the hideout's meeting room where Mayday is waiting with a stern expression. She asks, "Did you get the goods?" Kliff tosses the envelope onto the desk and says, "I always come through, kid." Mayday examines the contents and smiles to herself.

Punchline: It is revealed that the document is a signed pin-up of Kul Fyra which Mayday excitedly hangs up in the room.

#gbunny writes #nsr #no straight roads #game is the shortest one #because that's the only one that i envisioned as a 4-koma #when writing these i realized that i don't utilize zuke as a character that much #i dunno. he's usually the comic relief in-game #but that somehow makes him more boring to write for #his brand of comedy is more of being 'comically serious' while i write from a slightly more absurdist angle #in other words: he's just too smart for me to write for #and he's also too nice for him to be the instigator of conflict #the only role i have for him is the straight-man but most of these didn't need one or had one baked into the story already #there is one mind comic that he plays a more major role in #but that one's a little too spicy (and under developed) for me to put here #to give you a slight idea of the contents: that comic's code-name is 'orientation'

[gamebunny-advance]

Today's NSR Trivia: B2J's Suit

A little context : In a Zam interview, Mayday claims that her and Zuke are actually wearing half of a suit as a part of their outfits: Mayday wears the pants and left glove, while Zuke wears the top and right glove.

Given that the buttons on the top are on the left-hand side, it's very likely that it was originally a woman's suit.

It's typical for the buttons on women's tops to be on the left-hand side, while the buttons on men's tops are on the right-hand side. While not always true in real life, this does appear true in-game as all (presumed) male characters with button-up shirts or coats have the buttons on the right side, while the one (presumed) female character with a button-up has the buttons on the left side.

#gbunny writes #no straight roads #nsr #b2j #zuke #i'm so bored #i'm just posting this so y'all know i'm not dead #been playing too much animal crossing again. i might repost my DA because I'm actually pretty happy with how my island is now #anyway i've technically posted this trivia before #but it was a part of a theory post #and y'all tend to not like those very much #i figure this may be semi-interesting to some of you #anyway you can research for yourself why buttons are like that if you want. i'm just here to post the trivia. not the history. #but i did want to check this out for myself (an afab person) and sure enough #the buttons on most of my clothes are on the left #and on my dad's clothes they were on the right #i did have one top that had the buttons on the right #but it might be a men's shirt given how it's cut #anyway gendering clothes is very silly but such is the world we live in

[gamebunny-advance]

Today's Pikmin Trivia

The December 24th Pikmin comic references a Pikmin 4 Christmas commercial, featuring a blue, rock, and white pikmin carrying a red present with a gold bow.

(source)

(source)

#pikmin #pikmin 4 #blue pikmin #rock pikmin #white pikmin #pikmin comic #gbunny writes #i guess that's neat #but it feels a little weird to reference something so recent #dunno. i just prefer when reference gags come from a deeper cut i guess #given how frequently these come out i have to imagine that most of these comics are actually made well in advance #so it might have been drawn around the same time that the commercial came out (about a month ago)

[gamebunny-advance]

Core Memory Unlocked

So, for some reason, I suddenly remembered this toy I used to have as a kid: it was an interactive space tablet. You would press buttons on it, and it would light up and give you planet facts and stuff.

I googled it to try and find the exact one I had, but it turns out there are several different versions of this thing. At first, I thought my memory was faulty because I distinctly remembered it being silver and having buttons on the side, while most of the ones I was finding were blue and/or had their buttons at the bottom.

Eventually, I was able to find the exact one I had on eBay, but I can't find any video footage of this particular model.

(Source)

I wanted video footage so I could compare the voice clips between this one and the ones I found before it, because I found that all the others used the same voice clips, even if they were different models, so I'm wondering if mine was the same. I recall this (near) exact quote being in it: "If Saturn could fit in a swimming pool, it would float."

But none of the videos I've found have had that line in it. Saturn was my favorite planet at the time, so I remember that voice line very distinctly.

I guess this sounds a little familiar, but I just can't 100% confirm it without hearing that specific quote.

From my meager search efforts, it doesn't seem like these other ones have any specific branding while the one I had was licensed(?) by the Smithsonian, so I don't know if these other ones are "knock-offs" that are using the same voice clips/programming, or if mine was somehow unique.

I'm leaning on the former, since the voice is similar enough to my memory that I can blame any discrepancies on either the video quality or just poor memory. But even though the button layouts are almost identical, mine had a "C" button for the quiz game, and none of the other versions I've found have had a third answer button. If the voices/programming are really the same, would they really go through the trouble of cutting any questions/answers that used the C button? Then again, these other ones that I've found do have a "help" button that mine doesn't have, so it's possible that this is their "C button" and mine just went unlabeled.

Mid-post update, but I did find another version of this thing that actually uses the exact same mold as the one I had, but has different branding/colors.

(Source)

It apparently has the same manufacturer (Scientific Toys) as what I was calling the "knock-off" versions, so this seems like conclusive evidence that they're probably all the same on the inside and mine just had that premium branding~ Though, from what I can tell, the Smithsonian version has a different manufacturer (Natural Science Industries), and I've yet to confirm if they're related somehow.

I was able to find that Scientific Toys still makes a version of this space tablet, but with yet another different layout and the omission of Pluto. I couldn't tell ya if the voice samples are the same though, XP. I also confirmed that NSI is still partnered with the Smithsonian and making other branded products, so I think that they are separate entities, but I couldn't say definitively who ripped off who yet. Or maybe even that there's a 3rd actor that I just don't know about.

I don't need the answers that badly, but this was a slightly amusing rabbit hole that I went through~

Anyway, the actual point of this post was that in my memory, the voice was actually pretty similar to DJSS and I thought that was kinda funny.

I guess the video voice is close enough, just more nasally~

#gbunny writes #gbunny collects #kinda #i don't remember what happened to mine #it might have finally broken because i played with it so much #i do remember it having some gunk on it at some point #or maybe my parents hid it also because i played with it so much. #it was like my favorite thing in the world for a while #i also blame this thing for my fascination with disembodied/ mechanically stilted/filtered voices #much in the same way that i blame PJ Sam 3 for my fascination with food based characters #it was all buried there in my subconscious

[gamebunny-advance]

Mini Metro Division Theory (Draft)

This is basically a shower thought, but here goes anyway:

I've talked about how Robot apparently tells Zuke a couple of things:

He doesn't live in the Metro Division for some reason, despite most of Vinyl City's robot population being there.

When Robot is told that B2J are heading to the Metro Division, he says something that would cause Zuke to respond with, "We'll stay safe."

While NJ's post-defeat speech is kinda throw-away to the main story, there's a particular line which I think has some far-reaching implications:

"The things that I've done in the name of NSR, I would not wish it to my worst enemy."

Since most of NSR's goals seem based around restricting or otherwise eliminating their competition, it's possible that these "things" are related to that.

Many of the observable objects in the Metro Division allude to the idea that Neon J. is using some manipulation tactics to keep the residents of the district from seeing how poor conditions really are, but there aren't any real implications towards any kind of back alley violence aside from the general militaristic theme. (But I dunno, I would be at least a little threatened by the fact that Battle Bots are roaming the district at all, even if they're in a benign state.)

Nonetheless, his status as a military leader imply that whatever he did that he regrets was likely violent in nature. I wonder if maybe people/robots have a habit of "disappearing" in the Metro Division if they posed a "threat" to NSR.

#gbunny writes #nsr #neon j #1010 #robot #draft

[gamebunny-advance]

The Disappearance of Kul Fyra (Theory)

(Skip to the Read More to start the theory.)

This was originally a response to someone else's theory/headcanon that they left on one of my posts, but after what happened the last time I tried to engage someone in a theory, I've decided to just post my response on its own without tagging the person.

I'm just... tired of accidentally making people feel bad because they take me disagreeing with them too personally. But, I still like the theory/headcanons I made in the end, so I still want this out there.

I'm sure if that person really cares about my response, then they'll find this post on their own time, and those of you that care about what this is a response to will likewise just click the link and look through the reblogs.

So yeah, that's why this post is written like I'm talking to someone: because I originally was. But even if y'all don't wanna do the extra footwork of finding the original theory, I think you can figure out what I'm responding to through context.

---------------------------------------

Whoo, time for some good old' theory debating~ Haven't done one of those in a while.

This is an interesting theory, but you are jumping through some real hoops and over some sharks to get there friend, so I'm sorry to say that most of your points just aren't sticking for me. >A<;.

So, I'm gonna offer my counterarguments~

Firstly, I cannot ignore how you're just wrong about the characters' skin color.

I don't know where you're getting that Tatiana is a "slate gray" unless you're talking about a totally different color.

(DuckDuckGo search for "slate gray")

Tatiana is white. Maybe not a pure #FFFFFF, but certainly not "slate gray."

(Tatiana's Briefing Profile)

But, even if you don't want to say she's "white" because she isn't #FFFFFF, Kliff under NO circumstance has lighter skin than Tatiana.

I know that I just made a post joking about how he's "WHITE 🫵," but he still has *some* color to him.

(Tatiana, Kliff, and the photo desaturated)

He's still obviously light skinned, but he's still a little darker than the literally white Tatiana. The only reason she isn't pure white is that she would lose a lot of dimension and detail if she was, so she's shaded a little more harshly than other characters. But it's still just shadow, not her actual skin.

The point is: I cannot fathom how you can think the figure in the middle of the signed photo is too pale to be Tatiana, but somehow pale enough to be Kliff. It's just contradictory. But since your entire theory depends on the idea that the middle figure resembles Kliff more than Tatiana, I can't ignore it, and the entire theory falls apart for me.

However, if we put that to the side, there are still interesting things to talk about the theory.

I have also wondered how literally no one in the entire city besides Kliff seems to know that Tatiana was Kul Fyra. But, I propose that Tatiana used her power as NSR's CEO to erase that part of her history.

We witness first-hand how NSR uses propaganda and otherwise manipulates the media to be in their favor, so it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that Tatiana would have done everything in her power to erase her ties to The Goolings once she got into power. This would be especially easy to do if she already kept her private life and stage persona separate, like you suggested. (Though, I still don't think she'd be so secretive as to *never* appear in photos).

The way Barbara talks about Tatiana implies that she knows that Tatiana has had some experience in the music industry before NSR, but doesn't know the exact capacity. So, it would appear that Tatiana was mostly successful in burying her identity as Kul Fyra, but anyone who digs into it will find that the story isn't complete.

With that in mind, it's not unlikely that Mayday wouldn't make the connection either, simply because she doesn't have access to the information (and let's be honest, she's kinda stupid). She became a fan after The Goolings had already disbanded and after the hypothetical cover-up, so she wouldn't be able to learn anything that wasn't public knowledge.

It could also be that Tatiana has just changed so much since that time, that younger pictures of herself don't have an obvious resemblance to her current self. Mayday never saw The Goolings live, so she wouldn't know exactly what Kul Fyra looked like. It's even established early on that Mayday has a hard time recognizing people from photos in reality, given that she doesn't recognize Kliff when meeting him for the first time, despite him apparently sending a photo of himself with his message.

However, her first guess about Tatiana's identity is Kul Fyra's mom, so Mayday must see some resemblance, but can't fully believe that they would be the same person without direct confirmation.

For why Kliff knows about it, in his own words, "Everyone turned their backs on you when The Goolings disbanded, but I stood with you." This implies that he was close to Tatiana even after the breakup. It's very possible that this is the real reason she hates him: because he kept trying to drag her back to her past failures that she was trying to escape.

Additionally, none of the other characters we meet ever describe themselves as fans of rock. Most of B2J's supporters that aren't Kliff support them because they do something else to earn it: they give Zam a place to run his radio show, Gigi disagrees with the injustice at the Lights Up Auditions, and Robot appears to just be friendly. They do convince Yiruk to start a career in rock, but it's obvious that he didn't start with an appreciation for the genre. Also, given the additional evidence from the Ex-Jay poster in Akusuka that rock was already dying in Vinyl City before that point, it's clear that there just weren't that many fans or performers of rock left in the city. Thus, there weren't many people left who would care enough about The Goolings to know the truth, let alone people that were also in a position to reveal that information. So while at first, it might seem strange that only one person in the entire city seems to know the truth about Tatiana/Kul Fyra, there's actually a lot of evidence that Kliff truly is one of the last people in the city that could possibly have that information and use it against her.

As for the photo itself, I also don't think Tatiana really looks like the figure in the center, but none of the people in the photo look like the same people from the Goolings poster.

(The Goolings Poster and The Goolings Photo)

Granted, the photo appears to be in sepia and both are somewhat abstract, so the colors and designs probably aren't going to be 1:1. But just the style of the hair is what stands out the most as being inaccurate. That said, I've always interpreted the photo to be The Goolings "off-stage" where they're in more casual clothes/hair. We know that Tatiana can turn her fire off, so her natural skin color might have always been white, and later her hair started as another color (likely red) and turned white with age.

Then for whom the photo belongs to, it could just be Aunty's. If we follow the theory that the photo is of the "off-stage" Goolings, then it's possible that the photo was actually taken and signed in Aunty's shop when the band was having a lunch break or something. There are plenty of places that will take pictures of the famous people that visit and display them as a sign of prestige without actually being invested in the person.

This would explain why Aunty doesn't seem to have any special dialogue regarding The Goolings despite having a signed picture of them and (probably) knowing that Mayday is also a fan. Although she's genuinely nice and supportive, Aunty is also using B2J's popularity to increase sales by introducing new menu items named after them, so she's not above using the fame of her customers to boost her shop. She may have been a legit fan of The Goolings, but just not to the same extent as Mayday or Kliff. She might not have been invested enough to know what happened after the Goolings disbanded.

Finally, this post is very old. I posted it only 5 months after the game came out and information was still coming out from data miners and the devs. I know now that the signatures aren't supposed to be "real." I know that NSR has some pretty tight world building and lots of little extra details, but the signatures are officially not one of the things with a lot of thought behind them. They're just symbols designed to resemble a signature because if one of them is obviously a real character's name, then that opens up all the others for interpretation, and the devs wanted to leave that kind of thing open-ended. It's the same for the 1010 signatures: no "signature" in this game has a special meaning or is supposed to resemble a real word/name, and that is confirmed by the devs. So the signatures probably belong to Kul Fyra and the other 3 members, but it doesn't matter which one is which, and it would be impossible to figure it out.

Anyway, after all that, I think there being a secret 5th member of The Goolings that's actually Kliff's relative is cool, but I just don't think your theory as you've written it supports the idea strongly enough for me to personally believe it.

But, there's nothing wrong with having a headcanon that doesn't fit into the actual canon. Even everything I've said is just speculation based on my interpretation of the game. If what you said was your honest interpretation of things, then I can't really take that away from you or change your mind.

#gbunny writes #nsr #no straight roads #tatiana #kul fyra #the goolings #kliff #mayday #aunty #game theory

[gamebunny-advance]

"Gbunny's NSR Relationship Charts: NSR Side"

Navigation (Will link as they become available):

B2J Side

Mixed Groups

1010 Expanded

In general, I think they're all like one big family, so if there isn't an explicit line between them, assume that their relationship is neutral to positive. Simplified list + some explanation under the cut if I thought the chart wasn't sufficient.

Note: In this chart, White represents 1010 as a group unless otherwise stated.

1010

Has a brother-sister dynamic with Yinu. (They're instinctively kind to all children, but since she's also NSR staff, they treat her extra nicely.)

Has a complicated relationship with Neon J. (See the 1010 expanded chart.)

Trades dance inspo with Dodo.

Tila finds them all attractive, but would not pursue any of them romantically. (Since Tila is a minor, they don't actively flirt with her, but 1010's "charm effect" is strong and passive, so she still developed a little infatuation with them, though neither party would seriously pursue the other.)

DJSS

Surprisingly good friends with Eve. (They relate a lot to each other's emotional shortcomings and have bonded over it. Due to her influence, he's developed a small appreciation for art when he previously found it a pointless endeavor in the face of inevitable oblivion.)

Refuses to ever talk down to Yinu. (He believes Yinu has suffered more than enough for someone her age, so he doesn't feel the need to crush her dreams further. That's what he says, but...)

Fears Mama more than his own existential dread. (He also fears Mama's retribution.)

Rivals to lovers to rivals to lovers to rivals to... with Neon J.

Eve

Basically family with Tatiana. (Post revolution, their relationship has improved dramatically. While Tatiana still struggles to be vulnerable and emotionally open, and Eve is still growing out of her codependency, they've formed a more genuine bond)

Is a part of the "Tatiana Simp Squad" with Neon J. (See the Mixed Group chart for more info.)

Surprisingly good friends with DJSS. (They relate a lot to each other's emotional shortcomings and have bonded over it. Due to his influence, she has slowly developed more rational modes of thought rather than letting her emotions spiral to the worst possible outcome at any given moment.)

Mama

Is feared by DJSS.

Is still protective of Yinu, but is trying to loosen up. (While she's still cautious of leaving her alone, she generally trusts NSR staff enough to let Yinu be alone with them, as long as they're all nearby. Otherwise, Mama is always with Yinu.)

Neon J.

Has a complicated relationship with 1010. (See the 1010 expanded chart.)

Rivals to lovers to rivals to lovers to rivals to… with DJSS.

Yinu doesn't trust him. (She suspects that Neon J. is involved in the disappearance of the original 1010.)

Is a part of the "Tatiana Simp Squad" with Eve. (See the Mixed Group chart for more info.)

Remi owes him a favor. (No one knows how Remi came into Neon J.'s debt, but whatever it was has made it difficult for him to refuse any of Neon J.'s requests (which are luckily benign in nature)).

He and Tatiana keep each other in check. (Usually this is a case of Tatiana reeling in Jay's eccentricities when White isn't around to do it, but occasionally it's Jay that has to bring Tatiana back to Earth when she starts drifting towards destruction. He is one of few people that knows about Tatiana's past.)

Tatiana

Basically family with Eve.

She and Neon J. keep each other in check. (Usually this is a case of Tatiana reeling in Jay's eccentricities when White isn't around to do it, but occasionally it's Jay that has to bring Tatiana back to Earth when she starts drifting towards destruction.)

"Aunty Tati". (Tatiana is close enough to Yinu's family to practically be a godmother to Yinu. Tatiana tries to take off as much pressure as she can from Yinu, but even Tatiana can only do so much to protect her from the ills of being a child star.)

Yinu

"Aunty Tati". (Tatiana is close enough to Yinu's family to practically be a godmother to Yinu. She is also one of the few NSR members that knew that Tatiana used to be a guitarist since it slipped once during conversation, but she didn't know that Tatiana used to be a rock star.)

Has a brother-sister dynamic with 1010. (As long as they're not busy, they're Yinu's go-to babysitters.)

DJSS refuses to be mean to her. (Because of this and to the frustration of everyone else, she thinks of DJSS as a really nice person.)

Mama is very protective of her. (Yinu loves her Mama more than anything else in the world, and she wishes that Mama wouldn't push herself so hard. She tries her best to not cause Mama any grief, but she still tends to wander into trouble.)

She doesn't trust Neon J. (Because...)

She knew a previous 1010 model, and misses him. (Yinu was acquainted with an MKI 1010 very early in her career with NSR. However, as the MKI was retired shortly afterwards, she never got to see him again. The circumstances around his sudden retirement has made Yinu suspicious of Jay, but they still treat each other with respect and Jay himself is just as protective of her as he is the rest of the NSR staff.

Sayu Crew Friendship Circle

They're all best friends that can count on each other for almost anything.

In their downtime, they still hang out a lot together.

Dodo

Met Remi through their school's anime club.

Supports Tila's pursuit of Remi, but hasn't had much success in pushing them together.

Trades dance inspo with 1010.

Remi

Met Dodo through their school's anime club.

Acts clueless, but the feelings are mutual. (He's a little scared of changing his relationship with Tila and worries that it would get in the way of working on Sayu. To this end, he's masterfully learned how to dodge the question.)

Owes Neon J. a favor. (No one knows how Remi came into Neon J.'s debt, but whatever it was has made it difficult for him to refuse any of Neon J.'s requests (which are luckily benign in nature)).

Sofa

Was originally hired help, but has developed a genuine friendship with the others. (Sofa is a good few years older than the rest of the crew, and was hired for his editing skills after he found some interest in the project. It's not on the chart, but he'll sometimes have friction with Remi due to clashing visions, but their friendship usually wins out in the end.)

Supports Tila's pursuit of Remi, but hasn't had much success in pushing them together.

Tila

Has a crush on Remi. (It hasn't fully developed, so she hasn't seriously pursued him yet and questions about it fluster her. However, it's clear to everyone that she has feelings for him.)

She finds the 1010s attractive, but wouldn't pursue them romantically. (Despite working with them frequently, she's yet to develop a resistance to their charm effect. She has a preference for the Blue one.)

#gbunny writes #nsr #no straight roads #yay y'all get to see the sayu crew icons in action #hopefully i didn't forget anything in the written list #i don't know when the other charts will become available #knowing how infrequently i follow up #probably never #however they are all drafted #it's just a matter of arranging them #with so many characters #it's hard to organize these in a way where i can get in all of my lines and have room for text #more subtle relationships weren't included in this chart for clarity #(like how i had to cut that eve and djss taught yinu how to play video games #and regret it because she instantly became better than both of them)

[gamebunny-advance]

Heart and Soul

AN: A story about Yinu and Tenten's first meeting.

So fair warning, I haven't written fiction like this in literal years (unless you wanna count my comic scripts), and I think this whole thing is actually pretty trite and cliché (if the trite and cliché title didn't already tip you off to that), but sometimes you just gotta write some fluff to help you sleep at night.

This is also probably one of the worst platforms for posting long-form fic like this (this is over 12,400 words long, so I don't blame y'all if you don't have time for it here on tumblr). Maybe I'll open an account on a proper fic-sharing website and post it there.

But for now, I hope you'll enjoy this silly story from me.

-------

"...I assure you, Yinu will surely flourish under NSR's care."

The adults talked to each other intently as Yinu's eyes wandered around the office. On the desk was the usual boring collection of things that no child would usually pay much mind to: a small canister of varied writing utensils, a paper holder holding many papers and documents. Among them, she saw the papers that her and her Mama had signed earlier. She was very proud of her own signature: she'd practiced it a lot before coming here. It had taken some time to make sure she could stay on the line. She liked how it looked next to her Mama's, even if she couldn't understand what Mama’s squiggles meant.

Of slight interest was the triangular name plate on the desk. It adorned the name of that lady who would be her new "boss".

"Tatiana Quartz."

Yinu said it in her head a couple of times. She thought she had heard the word "quartz" before. Something to do with measurement maybe? Music? "Oh, like a quarter note!" She was impressed that her boss knew so much about music to be named after it.

She noticed the big portraits on the wall behind Miss Quartz. They were tall and imposing, scary even. The center one she recognized as Miss Quartz herself. The painted lady seemed to glare down at Yinu with incredible force. Her intense expression was very unlike the warm smile of the real Miss Quartz. It was a little scary, so she averted her gaze to the right portrait. This one was another lady, or was it two ladies? There were lots of hands too. Maybe it was even more ladies! Yinu couldn't quite understand the portrait, but she thought she liked it. She looked to the left of Miss Quartz's scary portrait and there was a very strange person wearing a square mask. Yinu had never seen a mask like that: what did the circles mean? Where's the mouth? Or the eyes? Or any kind of face? The strange masked person was surrounded by a few other people. They weren't wearing masks, but they didn't look quite "right" either. They reminded her of the shiny people she saw on TV sometimes, though she couldn’t quite remember what they were called.

Yinu's eyes and mind continued to wander about the room as the voices of her new boss and her Mama blurred and slurred together. She knew they were talking about her, but she didn't really understand what it was about. When she heard her name she would focus again and try to listen, but it was always about things like a "salary" and "management" and other boring and adult topics of that nature. Nothing fun. Nothing interesting.

As Yinu kicked her legs a little in the slightly too big seat, something urgent suddenly struck her. She tugged on her Mama's hand to get her attention.

"...I'm just worried that- oh, what is it Yinu?" Mama looked down into Yinu's eyes. "Mama, I have to go wee."

"Oh, okay I'll take you.” Mama took a hold of the hand that was tugging her fingers, “I'm sorry Miss Quartz may I-" Mama had begun to rise from her seat, but Yinu tugged back, trying to break free from the grasp.

"I can go by myself." she said. Yinu was a big girl after all. Surely at 8 years old she could use the restroom all by herself she thought.

"No Yinu, I don't want you to get lost." Mama said firmly.

"But, Mama..."

Yinu tried to insist, but she knew she could never win an argument against Mama, and there wasn't much time to argue anyway. The situation was becoming more than urgent.

Miss Quartz seemed to notice this and decided to speak up.

"The restroom isn't far, it's only down the hall to the right. It would be easier to get lost walking down a runway."

Yinu was impressed at her new boss’s attitude. She was rarely given any kind of support when it came do doing things her way. But now was not the time to think about how cool Miss Quartz was.

Mama wanted to protest, but the tugging at her hand was getting fervent. She sighed and let go. "Okay, but come back as soon as you're done."

"Okay!" with that Yinu ran quickly out of the room.

Miss Quartz chuckled to herself lightly at the girl’s enthusiasm for simply being allowed to relieve herself.

"I'm sorry about that." said Mama as she lowered herself back into her seat. "It's quite alright. Even at that age, kids want to prove themselves. Sometimes you have to let them. Even if it's just to go to the bathroom."

Mama laughed a little too.

"And I'm sure she'll prove herself a great asset to this company as well. As I was saying-"

---------------------------------

Yinu had some trouble reaching the sink, even on her tippy-toes, but she still managed to help herself up and get her hands sparkling clean, just like Mama and Papa had taught her. She looked at herself in the massive mirror in front of her. Mama had dressed her in her formal clothes: a white button-up shirt with a small pocket adorned with a red ribbon around the collar and a long flowing skirt. Yinu liked to twirl the skirt by spinning around. It made her feel magical and reminded her of when she and Mama would dance in the living room while Papa played the piano.

She looked at her hair in the mirror too. Mama had tied them into two twin buns. Each one looked like a mini rose bouquet. Yinu thought it was pretty, but it was a little heavy on her head and they were twisted just a little too tight. She had been sitting for what felt like hours in that big chair, and her neck was starting to hurt just a little too much for her comfort.

As she climbed onto the counter to get a better look, she decided to take off the bands that her holding the buns in place. They were cute little bands: red with little flower bead decorations. She thought they were very pretty and was always happy when Mama let her wear them, especially as bracelets.

Her hair fell just below the bottoms of her ears like a waterfall ending in little rosebuds.

Yinu felt relieved and still thought she looked like a proper young lady even with her hair down. Satisfied with her work, she put the bands around her wrists: they were cuter this way anyway, and she hopped back down from the counter and left the rest room and began to make her way back to Miss Quartz's office.

The hallways were terribly quiet. Yinu's foot steps echoed through the halls and the smell was what she could only describe as "fancy". She had been through halls like this numerous times: the concert venues that she frequented always had long halls like this. Sometimes they scared her because they seemed to go on forever, but as long as Mama was there holding her hand, they didn’t feel as scary.

She slightly recalled meeting Miss Quartz at one of those concerts after a certain competition some time ago. She was the one who presented Yinu with her trophy for winning first place in the event. She remembered because she was so happy to tell her Papa about it after the show. They both wished he could have been there in person, but he'd said he was so proud of her for winning. They would rewatch the recording in Papa's room and Yinu was so happy to see Papa smiling again.

All the while, she played with her hair bands on her wrist. She liked the way it felt to twirl the beads and tug on the elastic. Her foot steps got slower and smaller as she continued to focus on tugging on the band. It hurt to have it snap back at her, but it was still kind of fun. As she fidgeted with it, the bands found themselves off her wrists and into her hands where she tugged on them to watch them snap back. She could launch them really far if she pulled back hard enough.

Curious about the result, she stretched one of the bands as far back as her tiny hands could stretch them and she let it fly. And flew it did.

"Oh no!" she cried.

It flew so far that it straight past Miss Quartz's office room and landed in front of the grand elevator. She ran to retrieve it from where it had fallen. She quickly picked it up and returned both bands to her wrists, not wanting to accidentally lose them again. Her curiosity of how far the bands could be flung had been satiated, but a new curiosity crept as the doors to elevator opened in front of her.

She had promised Mama that she would go back as soon as she was done, but she really wanted to know where the elevator would go.

They had been in that office for hours already, or so it felt. They would probably be there for several more hours. Besides, they weren't talking about anything that Yinu could be involved in anyway. It wouldn't be bad if she looked around just a little bit.

As she walked into the little room, she heard her Mama and Miss Quartz call after her, "YINU!"

But the doors had already closed shut.

"Mama!"

Yinu began to panic, she hadn't ridden on very many elevators and she didn't know what the buttons meant. She pressed all the buttons she could, which wasn't many given her short stature, but the doors remained closed. She could still hear her Mama and Miss Quartz outside, yelling incoherent instructions, and trying to stop it, but it was too late. The elevator began to lower, and Yinu was alone.

-------------------------

No sooner than Yinu had begun to cry, the elevator finally released her. The screen which read the floor number was too high for Yinu to see clearly, but she knew if she'd stayed in the elevator, she would be trapped again. She didn't want to spend another moment in that scary box, so she stepped out and watched the door close behind her as it continued its descent to whatever random floor she had managed to hit.

She looked around, this floor was almost identical to the one she'd been on: the same echoey halls, the same endless closed doors. She called out, "Hello?"

It reverberated through the halls, but became deafly silent again. No answer. No sound. Just the small scuffle of her own feet as she began to walk forward, hoping to find someone, anyone, that would help her.

She jiggled the handle of every door she came across but each one was tightly locked. Every step made her a little more anxious as she walked down what seemed to be an endless corridor. For a moment she decided to look behind her, but she'd already walked so far that the elevator was nowhere in her sight. The hall just seemed to stretch forever in both directions, leaving her utterly lost. As she began to feel the hopelessness of her situation catch up to her, she'd begun to cry again.

"Mama... I'm sorry... please help me..."

Her legs stopped walking and she fell down where she stood, balling her eyes out.

As she did so, she'd begun to hear something else in the hall. It was a quiet, but rhythmic thudding, like heavy footsteps. It echoed through the halls and seemed to get closer. Yinu called out towards the noise, "Who's there?"

The sound paused for a moment as if to consider the question. In return, the pace of the thudding quickened and began to get louder, moving towards Yinu.

The source of the sound finally came in view at the far end of the hall. It was person. At least it looked like a person. They were too far away for Yinu to make out any particular features besides the vague silhouette of a person wearing a tallish hat. But somehow, despite the dim lighting, the figure's face seemed to be glowing, causing unnatural shadows to be cast across their face.

Feeling a little embarrassed about being found crying, Yinu tried to suck up her snot and tears with all her might and stood up. "Hello, can you help me?" she called out. "I lost my Mama. I... just want to go back to my Mama."

The figure paused again until it received the entire message. Then it began to walk towards Yinu. At first Yinu was happy that someone had finally found her, but something felt off about that person.

Their footsteps were just a little too heavy and the way they moved looked a little too stiff as their arms refused to sway naturally at their sides. As they grew closer, the sound of mechanical creaking and whirring had became audible. Eventually the figure came close enough for Yinu to make out the features of its face: its reflective metal shine, its glowing white eyes, its unflinching expression. It was just like the shiny people she had seen on TV. The scary shiny people that shot lasers from their eyes and enslaved humanity. The things Yinu finally remembered that were called “robots”.

Yinu screamed and began running away back down the hall. She ran as fast as she could, trying her best not to look back. She didn't hear it getting faster, but she wouldn't stop now just to find out if she was actually making headway. There was no way that scary things like that could really be in a place like this. If this was the kind of scary place this was, then she'd want nothing to do with it. When she found her Mama she would tell her as much. “Mama...”

As Yinu recalled that she was still technically lost, she tripped on herself and skid her knees across the rough carpet floor.

"Ow, ow..." she cried as she sat up to inspect the scrapes on her legs. As she did so, the mechanical being was still making a steady pace towards her. Even as her tears welled, she tried to pick herself up again to run, but it hurt too much. The figure was getting closer. She couldn't run. She couldn't hide. The best she could do was cover her face and hope the monster would be quick in whatever it was going to do.

As she cowered she heard it stop in front of her and did… nothing. It stood motionless for a while, waiting for some kind of response, or perhaps it was analyzing the crying mass in front of it. Eventually, the light sobbing was interrupted.

"Are you hurt, Little Miss?"

A synthetic voice poured out of the monster. While it was clearly inhuman, it was a little deep and gentle. Almost warm. "Wh-what?" sobbed Yinu.

There was a brief pause between answers.

"Are you hurt, Little Miss?" it asked again.

"Little Miss?" she thought. She liked the way it sounded. It was kind of like a grown-up. Having received this bit of respect, she felt herself growing braver.

Yinu uncovered her eyes to look up into the monster's face. Seeing it up close, even though it still wasn't human, it wasn't as scary as she thought it was just moments ago. The arrangement was very simple, just two glowing white orbs for eyes and a line for a mouth. When it spoke, its mouth wouldn’t move but light up in rhythm to its words. She thought it was like a doll she used to have as an even smaller kid.

"Uh-huh..." she nodded cautiously and rubbed her knees. The speed of fall and the friction of the carpet had given her small red scrapes across both knees. A little blood had trickled out, but nothing so ghastly as to need any serious medical attention.

"I see. May I treat your wounds?" asked the voice. Yinu nodded again, "Okay..."

"Very well." The android crouched onto one knee as to be more level with Yinu. It had stood so incredibly tall and imposing earlier, but up close it appeared much more friendly. It inspected the cuts briefly. Besides her knees, Yinu's face had also gotten a little scuffed from the fall, making her already rosy cheeks even rosier.

"I am about to administer an antibiotic. You may experience slight discomfort, but it is necessary to reduce the risk of infection."

The android raised its left hand towards the wound on her right knee. At first it held its entire hand flat with palm facing down. It curled all its fingers towards the palm, leaving only its index finger extended towards the wound. Suddenly, the tip of its index finger unhinged upwards at the first knuckle and revealed a small nozzle which quickly sprayed what it claimed to be an antibiotic onto the wound.

Yinu winced a bit from the sudden pain and the android apologized for the discomfort again. It repeated this for each area that it had considered as needing attention. Once all the antibiotic has been "administered", it dispensed 4 bandages from its mouth. Yinu giggled a bit, thinking it looked like it was growing a very long tongue.

"Would you like me to apply the fabric adhesive strips?" it asked.

Yinu laughed out loud at the funny way that it referred to the bandages.

"No, I can do this part myself." Yinu said proudly as she gently tore and peeled the bandages apart and applied them to both her knees and her cheek. “I don’t need this one.” she said as she tried to return the extra bandage. “You may keep it. Extra fabric adhesive strips are good to have on hand.” it replied as it gently pushed the offer away. “Okay.” so Yinu stashed it away into her shirt pocket along with the bits of wax paper so she could throw them away later. Mama always told her to throw away her trash in the trash can like a proper lady.

"Was my service satisfactory?" asked the android as it stood back up onto both feet. “Yes.” she replied with a beaming smile. “Very good. I am happy to hear that.” replied the android. Yinu looked up at the android to really take in its features: it looked like it was dressed in somewhat fancy clothes that she thought she had seen somewhere before. Maybe in a movie or a store or something like that. The big hat it was wearing was equally as fancy. On the side of it she caught the glimpse of something shiny. She turned her head to try to get a better look, but now that it was standing at full height again, it was hard to make out. She thought it looked like some lines and circles in a nice neat row.

As she thought of that she suddenly remembered her manners, "Thank you for helping me." she said sincerely to the android.

"You are welcome Little Miss." it replied.

With that formality out of the way, Yinu began another one, "What's your name?" she asked.

The android replied: "I am: 1010-XJ L-Type Version 2.0.1"

"That’s really your name?” asked Yinu, not believing that the string of numbers and letters the android had said could really be a person’s name.

"Can I call you something shorter?" she asked.

The android paused, searching for an answer before finally responding,

"You can. You may call me: "Tenten".

"Tenten? Like the number? But two times?" Yinu asked as she open and closed her hands twice for “ten, ten.”

"Yes." Said the android. While it had searched its memories for an acceptable answer, it had noticed that when being spoken about, humans would often shorten his name to only the first part. When it was relevant, it would be referred to as the "L-Type," and when the Captain was angry it would be referred to as “Soldier,” but "Tenten" was usually sufficient and would probably be easier for the Little Miss to say.

"Okay Mr. Tenten, my name is Yinu."

"Yinu. That is a very nice name." Tenten replied. While its face made no change in emotion, its voice sounded sincere in its tone. Perhaps it thought every name it heard was a "nice name," but without even considering the possibility of this being a stock response, Yinu beamed, "Thank you!"

In what was only a handful of minutes, Yinu had gone from thinking she was in a literal nightmare realm to quite liking the nice android that had helped her out. For a moment she had again forgotten she was still lost until Tenten had reminded her.

"Little Miss, I do believe you were calling for help just a moment ago, yes?" it asked. "That is why I followed your voice, but you ran away before I could help you."

Yinu felt a little embarrassed about her earlier behavior, but having remembered her original goal, she explained the situation about how she had flung her bracelet and gotten on the elevator and separated from her Mama and how she couldn't remember which floor they were on or where she was, and how she saw this scary monster, and oh wait, that was Tenten.

After intently listening to her story, Tenten replied, "Miss Quartz's office is at the very top of NSR tower, so it will be very easy to return there from the elevator." As he said this, he raised his arm and pointed down the corridor in the direction that Yinu was running. It didn't look so far away now, and she was sure that now knowing where her Mama was, she would be able to get there herself.

But after everything that had happened, Yinu was tired of being a big girl for one day.

"Will you go with me?" She tugged on Tenten's free hand, causing him to look back down at her.

Her hand was lightly trembling. Even though she really wanted to see her Mama again and give her big hug, she was equally scared of how much she was going to get yelled at for running off. Mama had sounded really angry when she had gotten on the elevatr. Even so, she felt like it'd be a little less scary if Tenten was there too.

Tenten lowered his pointed hand and wrapped his fingers around the tiny hand which had grabbed him. "Okay. We will go together. From the elevator, it should not take more than a minute to reach the top floor."

No sooner than he had given this assurance, the building intercoms began to sound with Miss Quartz's voice, "Attention all NSR employees. We have a code orange. Currently be on the lookout for Miss Yinu. She is approximately 8 years old, has yellow hair-" the two listened to the alert until it concluded with, "If found, please make a report using the intercom system and return her to the lobby. Until she is found the building will be on lock down and the elevator will be suspended. Thank you."

Yinu felt another huge rush of embarrassment come over her and she began to panic. "What do we do now?" she asked.

Tenten was about to offer a few comforting words to the panicking child, but was stopped by an incoming transmission.

"Tenten, do you copy?" said the voice in its head.

"Yes sir, I can hear you." it replied out loud.

"Who are you talking to?" Yinu asked as she started swinging Tenten’s arm in anticipation.

"My captain is calling me." said Tenten. "Captain?" Yinu thought. She couldn't hear what the "Captain" was saying and began to wonder if Tenten was playing some kind of game with her to make going back not as scary.

On the one hand, Yinu didn't like being treated like she was some little kid who still played make-believe, but on the other she appreciated that Tenten was so worried about her to even think to turn this into game. If that's what he thought was best, then she would play along too.

Meanwhile, the conversation between Tenten and its Captain continued.

"Are you with someone Tenten? Never mind, we need to call off your test right now. At the moment, it is of utmost importance that we locate Miss Yinu. Did you take note of the physical description in the announcement?"

"Yes sir, I am currently with Yinu."

"Oh, very good! The training really is paying off. Okay, I'm down here with Yinu's Mother right now, so if you could-"

"Yinu! Are you there?! Can you hear me?!"

Tenten's inner voice was interrupted by Mama's cries of concern.

"He doesn’t have a receiver on his end Madam, but it seems my robot has already found Yinu. I'll direct him to bring her down immediately. Did you catch that Tenten?"

"Yes sir. We were about to take the stairs and-"

"My Yinu is with a robot?! I swear if it did anything to hurt her, I'll tear it apart!"

"Madam, please relax! Robots are very safe nowadays. Furthermore-"

As the Captain continued his lecture with Mama about the great strides in safety and advancement robots had made in recent years, Tenten turned his attention back at Yinu, who was still gripping his hand and looking back at him patiently. It looked at the bandages across her knees and cheek. The bandages which covered wounds that he had inadvertently caused.

It had hurt Yinu.

If it had hurt Yinu, then it would get torn apart.

Getting torn apart would result in system failure.

If he could somehow avoid Mama but return Yinu, then he could fulfill his current objective without being destroyed, but its system failed to generate any possible solutions that didn't also put Yinu in grave danger. It considered giving her directions to send her alone, but he had already promised to go together. As the situation was, it would be impossible both return Yinu and avoid assured destruction. Then the next best option...

"If I may interrupt sir."

"You can even find robots in hospitals nowa- Oh, what is it Tenten?"

"It is no longer possible for me to return with Yinu under these conditions. I will keep her with me until conditions improve."

"Wait, what conditions?! What happened!? Is she hurt?!" yelled the Captain, desperately trying to get details about the situation, but to no avail.

"I am sorry. Good-bye."

Tenten disconnected from the call and set himself to "cloaking mode.” For now, it was in his best interest to move as far away from this place as possible to avoid being tracked to his last known location.

"Okay Miss Yinu, I know I said I would take you back, but would you like to play hide-and-seek with me first?" he asked.

"Uh-huh!" Yinu smiled at him. She knew right from the start about his plan to make this a game, so she was happy to oblige him. "Okay, we are going to hide from my Captain for just a bit. I know a good place where we can hide, but it is a little far. Do you think you can walk for a while?"

"Yes, sir!" she saluted with the wrong hand, but Tenten accepted this answer.

"Then let us go."

As the two began walking towards the stairs, a new announcement came through the intercom. This time it wasn't Miss Quartz. It sounded like Tenten, but more natural and much more angry.

"Attention all NSR towers employees and visitors! This is code red! A rogue android has taken the missing child Yinu as a hostage. It is to be considered armed and dangerous! Please take cover wherever possible and do not approach the android under any circumstance and allow security bots through. The android is approximately 203 centimeters tall and is wearing a naval style uniform. I repeat, this android is considered armed and dangerous! Please take cover-"

"Oh, is everyone playing?" Yinu asked quizzically as she looked up at the speaker making the announcement.

"It would appear so." replied Tenten calmly, as he continued walking with Yinu to the first set of stairs, still holding her hand firmly.

"This will be lots of fun then!" she said happily.

"But, that man said you were dangerous? Is that true?"

Tenten paused to think of an answer.

"You were hurt because of me, were you not?" it replied. Yinu hmmed a bit as she considered the bandage that was currently itching her face. "Yeah, but that wasn't your fault." she said as she let her free hand glide on the stairwell's railing. "Besides, you helped fix me up, so it's okay."

"I see." replied Tenten as it made note of this opinion.

Finally the two had reached the top of the first flight of stairs. There would be many more flights before they reached Tenten's intended destination, but Yinu was eager to get a move on.

For a while, the Captain's warning message had echoed through the building, but it had finally ceased as the two had cleared their 2nd flight. Now it was just the echo of their foot steps through the stairwell, occasionally interrupted by walking through the halls to avoid any security bots posted near the stairs. It became a tango of walking then ducking for cover as they raced past the less advanced security bots to the next flight of stairs. Yinu thought the security bots were very funny looking. They were all boxy and had very long arms. They were nothing like the humanesque Tenten that was with her.

Although this ducking and running was somewhat entertaining, Yinu was beginning to grow tired. Tenten slowed his stride to keep from dragging her along, but the situation was still urgent to him.

"Miss Yinu, we still have a ways to go, you should keep your pace up." he inquired.

"My legs hurt..." she replied wistfully.

Tenten immediately stopped. "I am sorry. I have caused you pain again."

Under the usual circumstances, Tenten would have forced Yinu to pick herself up by her bootstraps and continue on, but he had been taught recently that he could not expect that same kind of force to work on civilians, especially children. He had to be gentle and considerate of their needs and wants, and right now he realized that he had been neglecting this.

He began to reconsider its current objective: he was determined to keep Yinu safe from further harm, but even traveling the building like this was taking a toll on her. They still had a few more floors until they could reach what Tenten considered a "safe room". Even if they made it to that room, he knew that they could not hide there indefinitly. He could easily keep making the Captain and the security bots keep circling around the tower looking for him for hours if not forever, but Yinu could not. Eventually she would need food or water, and other basic needs that Tenten could not provide while they were hiding. If he prioritized Yinu’s condition, then eventually they would get caught.

Right now, all he could do was prolong the inevitable, but he was determined to do so for as long as he was able.

"Miss Yinu, I can carry you the rest of the way. Would you like to ride on my shoulders?"

Yinu sleepily nodded. In response, Tenten crouched down and arched his back in a way to make it easy for the small girl to climb on. She carefully stepped onto his back then slung each leg over each of his shoulders, resting her body on the back of his head and her head on top of its cap. She thought that its body would be cold and metallic, like a refrigerator, but the robot was surprisingly warm and metallic, like a preheating oven. It was cozy.

"Are you secured?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." she replied. At this, the android began to rise again, holding onto her legs from the front. From here the floor seemed so far away from Yinu, but she always liked being up so high, especially on Mama's shoulders: it was a new, great perspective for her. She wondered if everyone this tall saw the world like this everyday. Even through her sleepiness, she couldn't hide that she was excited about getting carried.

"Okay, I am going to walk a little faster now, so please hang on tight." he said as it began to dash for the next flight of stairs. Yinu wrapped her arms around the robot's head. She giggled sleepily as she felt the rush air blow over her face.

------------------

They continued this steady pace for the next couple of floors, so Yinu broke through the monotony by asking the questions that were on her mind. She had been thinking of several since getting properly acquainted with Tenten and now seemed to be as good a time as any to ask them.

"So... what were you made for?" she asked. It had taken her until about now for it to really sink in that she was with a robot. She'd seen robots on TV sometimes, usually in movies, but sometimes in the news too. She thought a lot of them were scary since a lot of them tried taking over the world in a fight against the human race, but clearly Tenten was different from those robots. Those robots never printed out bandages or carried kids on their shoulders (unless they were giant friendly ones).

Tenten did not answer for some time both as he pondered what an acceptable answer for a child would be and wanting to keep his voice down from the guards.

He had not been around many children since it had been activated, but it was programmed into his core that he should absolutely handle them with care. Anything that his system categorized as "scary" couldn’t be said to a child.

So it decided to describe itself in its simplest of terms. "I was made to help people."

"Like what you did for my ouchies?" she asked as she swung her legs a bit to emphasize her bandaged knees.

"Yes, and much more. I can administer basic first-aid as well as perform other helpful functions."

"Like what?" Yinu kept pressing. She wanted to know everything that Tenten was capable of, but it started listing mundane utilities like opening and closing doors, twisting open jar lids, playing catch.

"That's all kinda boring." she said honestly. "Can you shoot lasers and stuff?" she asked. Almost all the robots on TV could shoot lasers of some kind, usually from their eyes.

To Tenten this was a "scary" subject, but since Yinu was the one to mention it, perhaps she was not scared of such things? So, weaponry was cleared from his “scary topic” filter so he could be a little more honest about himself. So it answered, "Yes. I can shoot lasers, but only when absolutely necessary."

Yinu's eyes lit up, "That's so cool! Can you show me?"

"It is not absolutely necessary that I do that right now. It would also be very dangerous."

"Aw..." she was very disappointed at this answer, but she figured he was right.

As she thought this, she looked at some of the framed pictures of instruments on the walls that she could finally see from the higher vantage point. They were all artsy renditions, using abstract shapes and colors, but they were still clearly recognizable as people playing instruments. A saxophone player, a cellist, a keyboardist, and many more.

"What about music? Do you play anything?" she asked. They were in the tower of a record company right now. Even if Tenten was a robot, maybe he could do something with music.

"I have not learned how to play any instrument, but I can sing and dance."

Yinu lit up at this. Even if he couldn't play anything, she'd never seen or heard of a singing robot before. "Can you sing something for me?" she asked excitedly. "Not right now. We need avoid detection right now." he said as he steered them up another stairwell.

Yinu's expression sunk, and she lowered her head deeper into its cap. "Can you sing for me later?" she asked in a begging tone. He thought about this. Would there even be a "later" after they got caught?

"Yes, if I have the opportunity, I will sing for you." Yinu was satisfied with this answer for now, so question after question continued to tumble out.

“How old are you?”

“I am approximately 3 years, 7 months, and 2 days old.”

“Hah, that’s younger than me! I’m 8 and a half years old. But you’re a really big kid.”

“My physical age is irrelevant to my size.”

“What does “ear elephant” mean?”

“Irrelevant means it is of little to no consequence.”

“What does “con see quince” mean?”

“It is the result of an action.”

“Will I ever get as tall as you?”

“If your genetics favor height, then possibly.”

“What does that mean?”

“If your parents are tall, then you are likely to become as tall as either of them when you reach maturity.”

“Oh! My Mama and Papa are really tall! Maybe even taller than you!”

“Then you will likely be tall when you become an adult.”

"Do you have a Mama?"

"No." replied Tenten.

"Then do you have a Papa?"

"No."

"How about a Grandmama?"

"I do not have any form of parent." said Tenten, having finally found the common thread in this string of questions.

"Oh..." she said sadly as she balled her fists into the cap, creasing it slightly. Noticing this, the robot stopped walking.

"What is wrong Miss Yinu? Did my answer upset you?"

"You don't have someone who looks after you? Or takes care of you?"

It considered this new definition for a moment. Someone who looks after it and takes care of it?

"I believe my Captain matches that criteria." he replied. The Captain did indeed look after Tenten during his training and the Captain was usually in charge of managing his maintenance checks.

"Then that's your Papa, silly!" Yinu perked her head up again and smiled to herself, but Tenten still didn't move.

"The Captain is my Papa?" he asked. Yinu thought for a moment, "Huh? Well yeah, if he loves you and cares about you, then he's your Papa."

"So a Papa is someone who looks after you, and takes care of you, and loves you, and cares about you. Is that correct?" he asked. "I think so." replied Yinu, though she was a little unsure if this was a satisfactory answer herself. She thought it didn’t exactly describe what she thought of as a “Papa,” but it was technically correct, so she didn’t add anything else.

The android began trying to process this new definition of "Papa."

"Then I do not believe my Captain meets all the criteria." it replied.

"Why not? Didn’t you say he takes care of you?" she asked a little concerned.

"I am not capable of quantifying "love," so I can not determine if the Captain "loves" me or not."

Yinu didn't understand what Tenten meant. Love wasn't something you "quantified." What did quantify even mean? It was just a feeling, and she had a feeling that she had a lot to teach this android. She tried to think of all the things her Mama and Papa did that made her feel loved.

"Does your Captain ever tell you stories at night to help you sleep?" asked Yinu.

"I do believe he has shared his personal history with me before, but not to aid in my rest."

"Does he kiss your ouchies better?"

"No. I do not get "ouchies.""

"Um... does he stay by your bed when you're sick and feed you soup?"

"No. I do not have a bed and I am incapable of any organic consumption."

The girl was running out of ideas for how to explain the feeling of "love" to the android.

"Well, how do you feel about him? Does he make you happy when he's with you?" she asked, grasping for anything that she could reasonably call love.

Tenten repeated the question to itself, "Do I feel happy when the Captain is with me?"

Tenten tried to analyze all of his memories with his Captain which contained feelings of “joy.” It came up with less than a handful of results, but they were still results.

A day when after a particularly long dance practice session, the Captain remarked, "Good work! You're finally getting it down!"

Another time at the shooting range when it'd managed to achieve 99% accuracy and the Captain said, "Impressive! You've still got it Tenten!"

Earlier this year when the Captain said, "This is it, we finally made it to the top brass: NSR! I know you and the squad are going to shine out there!"

"Yes." it finally replied.

Any instances of praise did cause a reaction of "joy" in Tenten. It knew it was programmed to please the Captain and he was rewarded with "joy" for meeting these expectations, but if this reaction could be considered "love" and the expression of praise was likewise "love" then perhaps the Captain did love Tenten, and Tenten loved its Captain in return.

After considering this assessment, he also considered the warning that his Captain had also just given, condemning him as an armed and dangerous robot. His Captain had essentially given anyone who saw him permission to kill him. That action did not seem to line up with any definition of love that Tenten currently had.

If the Captain did love him, then the Captain did not love him at this time.

Tenten began moving again, determined as ever to complete its current objective, but he hadn't noticed that while it was stopping to think, a couple of security bots had seen the duo and were starting to close in.

"They're going to get us!" Yinu cried playfully. This game was getting very exciting, and the sudden idea of getting caught had woken her from her near stupor.

Tenten quickly looked around the hall, looking for anywhere, anything he could use to help them escape, but there was nothing he could use without causing unnecessary damage. Crashing through the window would surely harm Miss Yinu. Just evading them wouldn't stop them from following them afterwards: once these security bots had their target in sight, it would be almost impossible to shake them off.

There was only one solution right now to both get through to the upper floors and keep the bots from following after them.

Tenten grabbed his cap from off his head and placed it onto Yinu. It was a little big, falling just over her eyes.

"Hey!" she cried as she peeked from underneath it.

"You wanted to see me shoot lasers, right?" he asked, as aimed his right arm towards the bots and pointed at them with his index finger.

"Uh-huh!" she said excitedly.

"You can peek, but cover your face with my hat when my lasers hit those bad guys, okay?"

"Okay!"

The moment he got this assurance, Tenten fired a short beam from his finger tip, aimed squarely in the middle of the first security bot's rectangular chest. It shot straight through the bot leaving an opening big enough to see the other side of the hall through. It was so fast that Yinu nearly missed it, but she guarded her face as the bot began to explode into pieces of debris and scrap metal. Tenten helped hold her in place on his back with his free hand and tried to block as much of the scattering parts from hitting Yinu as he continued blasting through the small wave of bots.

Yinu could hear them bursting apart and desperately wanted to see it happen again, but hearing the little flecks of metal bounce off the cap convinced her that keeping cover would be for the best right now.

Once the way was cleared, Tenten began to sprint up through the next flight of stairs. The commotion had attracted the security bots to guard the top, but Tenten blasted through them all the same.

"Miss Yinu, please hang on. We have almost reached our destination."

Tenten made a dash through the hall until he had his sights on a pair of grand double doors.

"We have arrived." he said as he crouched down to let Yinu off his shoulders so he could open the doors. He allowed Yinu to scurry in first before following and closing the door behind them. Yinu was in amazement of the room: it was a large concert hall, one of the biggest she'd ever been in before. Even the smallest sound she made seemed to echo throughout the room. But more than all that, what caught her interest was the grand piano on the stage.

Of interest to Tenten were the many rows of seats and balconies which could be used for cover and barricades if needed. They could hole up here for several hours and make quick trips to the dressing room to procure bottled water for Yinu.

"We should be able to hide h-h-heeeeeere. Y-Y-Yiiiiiinuuuu." Tenten's voice began to stutter and distort, creating an uneasy sound which echoed through the hall. His legs began to buckle and he dropped to his knees, nearly collapsing on the floor. "Oh no!" Yinu rushed back to his side. She tried to help him up, but he was much too heavy for her to even prop up. This game was starting to get a little too serious.

"Tenten, what's wrong! Do you feel light headed? Do you need some candy?" she cried, thinking of all the ways she tried to help Papa when this happened to him.

"I'm r-r-r-runnnnnnnnning ouut of p-p-p-pooooower." by instinct, Tenten wanted to process how he could have saved more power by being more efficient, but even that act would have quickly drained him of what little power he still had left.

"Power? How do you get power?"

"M-m-m-m-mussssssssic-c-c-c." he hissed.

"Music? Any kind of music?"

"Y-Y-yes..."

Yinu looked down at the stage with the grand piano again then back to Tenten. "Okay. I'll play something for you." Yinu stood up, ready to get on the stage, but she felt her leg getting pulled back.

"B-b-b-but we we we we we willllllll bbbbbbbe caught. Caught. Caught. If you plaaaaaay."

She crouched back down and took Tenten's hand into hers, it was burning hot from all the shooting he'd done just moments prior.

"It's okay. Eventually everyone gets found during hide-and-seek. And I... really don't want you to die yet. Please... don't die yet." she said. She remembered saying the same thing to her Papa once. It hadn’t worked back then, but maybe it would work now.

Tenten said nothing, but he loosened his grip on her leg and gave a weak nod. "I had a lot of fun today Mr. Tenten. You did a lot for me, but now it's my turn."

Yinu began to scamper away and back towards the stage. As she did so, memories of today replayed in her head: losing her hair band. Being scared and running away from Tenten. The funny way he treated her scrapes. Feeling safe holding his hand when they were lost. The satisfaction of talking about the meaning of love. The excitement of tearing through the security bots. Everything came together to be what she considered a very entertaining day. There was no way she could let it end with her new friend dying trying to help her. Days like this deserved a happy ending, she thought.

Climbing up the steep steps, she admired that beautiful grand piano. Its ebony hull seemed to sparkle with the invitation to be played.

Yinu adjusted the piano bench's height to accommodate her short stature. Upon sitting she lifted the key cover and took a deep breath. Soon, her fingers were gliding across the keys, playing sweet melodies which reverberated through the entire room and beyond. Everyone, who had been in a panicked fervor trying to locate the missing Yinu a few floors above and below stopped to listen to the sound. It carried far and wide throughout the building, reaching even Mama's ears.

"That's gotta be Yinu playing!" she cried. Miss Quartz who'd been with Mama since Yinu disappeared declared, "We have a grand piano on floor 10, that’s got to be where they are. Jay, order all security to that floor immediately!"

"I'm on it!" as Tenten's captain motioned for the team of deluxe security bots to follow him up the stairs.

Still planted on the ground, Tenten looked out to the stage, watching as Yinu lost herself to the ivory keys. Each note sent just a little more power through his body and began recharging his battery. Soon he had enough power to stand back up, albeit clumsily.

He began to hobble down the lane, using every other seat as a balance as he moved towards the stage. He just had be closer to the wonderful source of sound. It was a song unlike any he'd ever heard before, and never would have.

This was a family piece that Yinu's Papa had taught her when she was very small. They played it together often, and when Papa had passed, she always played it for her Mama. It was a happy song that reminded her of sad times. It was the song that won her many awards and got her signed onto NSR. It was still precious to her and she was happy to play it for anyone who would listen.

It wasn't long before Tenten had joined Yinu on the stage and was hovering over her, listening intently until the piece had concluded.

Yinu turned around to see him clapping for her. "That was a wonderful performance Miss Yinu." Yinu's face lit up again at seeing her friend well and standing. "Tenten!" she practically jumped off the stool to hug him, so relieved and happy that he was okay.

He almost fell over, not expecting such a sudden great force bashing into his legs after he just recovered his balance, but he nonetheless returned the gesture by patting her on the head. He lowered himself again to meet Yinu at eye level.

"I am feeling better now thanks to you. So, thank you." He held out his hand for her to shake it, but she leaned in to give him another hug. This time, he properly returned it. "I'm just glad you're okay." she said, hugging him tighter.

At this, Tenten stood up once more and turned his gaze towards the piano. "I did not know that you could play the piano so well." he said.

"Yep!" Yinu beamed. "That's why I'm here, so I can play the piano for everyone!"

It had finally occurred to Tenten that he had not once asked why Yinu was in the NSR tower. He had put all his objectives before learning anything about her, and for this he felt somewhat ashamed. He would need to make up for this grave error before his many other grave errors caught up with him.

"Do you think you could play for me one more time? I’m not fully charged yet, and I would like to sing for you, like I promised." he asked.

"Of course! What do you want me to play?" she giddily made her way back to the piano bench ready to play any number of songs for her friend.

"I am not capable of improvising, but I am familiar with a small library of popular songs. Could you pick one, and I will tell you if I know it."

"Okay... do you know this one?"

She began to play a few bars. He listened intently as he tried to match the sounds to his database.

"I believe so..."

He seated himself next to Yinu on the bench. "Mama and Papa used to play this one a lot together." she said as she continued through the first measure.

Tenten counted to himself until he began to sing.

Outside the hall, all manner of security bots being led by Jay, were getting ready to storm inside, but all ceased when a voice began accompanying the piano.

"Heart and soul,

I fell in love with you.

Heart and soul,

The way a fool would do:

Madly, because you held me tight,

And stole a kiss in the night..."

"Who is that?" asked Mama, who was close behind Jay and Miss Quartz.

"It sounds like… Tenten?" answered Jay, surprised that his rogue soldier would be doing something as quaint as sing a song during an apparent kidnapping.

"Shouldn’t he be trying to hide?” asked Miss Quartz who was similarly flabbergasted that such an advanced military A.I. would do something to blatantly blow its cover like this.

“Maybe this is his way of giving up? Or it’s a trap and he’s getting ready to ambush.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter why it’s singing. Go in there and get Miss Yinu!”

“I can’t just barge in there without knowing the situation!”

While the two bickered, Mama listened closely to that sadly familiar song. Without thinking, she opened the doors to the hall herself. Although the other two were too late to stop her from walking headfirst into theoretical danger, there was no sudden shooting of lasers or other obstruction. Instead, the sound of the duet just poured out into the halls for everyone to hear clearly.

Yinu had started to join in the song too. She was a little off key and she stumbled slightly, her talents were truly in the ivory keys, but the two of them were having too much fun to worry about something like perfect pitch.

"Heart and soul,

I begged to be adored,

Lost control, and tumbled overboard,

Gladly...

That magic night we kissed,

There in the moon mist."

Both were so lost in the song that they failed to notice the all the security bots trickling in along with the Captain, Mama, and the CEO.

"Oh, but your lips were thrilling,

much too thrilling.

Never before were mine so

strangely willing."

As the bots quietly closed in around the stage, the adults stayed back watching the strange display before them: A little girl playing piano and singing happily with a military-class battle bot. Surely, this was the kind of sight you could only find in a place like this.

"But now I see,

what one embrace can do

Look at me,

it's got me loving you,

Madly, that little kiss you stole,

Held all my heart and soul..."

Yinu continued to play, but Tenten had noticed the sound of the doors opening and the movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked out toward the seating area, seeing all the security bots now surrounding them at the foot of the stage and his Captain looking back at him, arms folded in what Tenten recognized as "disappointment.”

"Oh, but your lips were thrilling,

much too thrilling.

Never before were mine so

strangely willing.

But now I see,

what one embrace can do

Look at me,

it's got me loving you,

Madly, that little kiss you stole,

Held all my heart and soul.

Held all my heart and soul.

Held all my heart and soul."

As the last note of the piano played and reverberated through the fall, it was followed by clapping from the human watchers. Yinu almost jumped in surprise since she hadn't noticed that the hall had filled up. She looked towards the back of the hall and saw her Mama with one hand resting on her cheek. She was trying to keep her smile from showing after hearing her daughter play so beautifully. Right now she had to look serious.

When the clapping stopped, a voice broke through the silence, the Captain's voice.

"That was very nice you two! Very lovely!" he called out giving a couple of last claps. Yinu looked out at the source of sound. His body looked the same as Tenten’s, but the face… was he wearing a mask? She felt like she’d seen it somewhere before, but he was too far away for her to make out the details.

"But Tenten, you need to let Yinu go now before I order security to fire! Stand and keep your hands up where I can see them!"

Tenten stood up from the bench with his arms raised to his head. Yinu mimicked him, but hid behind his legs, scared of the security bots below. When did the game get so scary? Were they still going to be in trouble even though everyone was playing together? Tenten turned his gaze towards her and noticed the tears welling in Yinu’s eyes. He moved to place his hand on her head again to help her calm down.

"HEY! Keep both your hands up Tenten! Miss Yinu you don’t have to do it too!" called out Jay. As Yinu lowered her arms, Tenten could sense the guide lasers from the security bots being aimed at his head. He dared not move again unless instructed to.

"Miss Yinu, you’re safe now! Please step away from Tenten and come off the stage. Your Mama is very worried about you!" he called.

Yinu stepped a little from behind Tenten, but quickly ducked back again and hugged his leg when she too noticed that all the security bots had their hands pointed at Tenten. These bots were different from the blocky ones that Tenten had blasted away. They looked like bigger, meaner versions of Tenten, and if they were anything like him, he was going to be blown up to more than just pieces.

"Don't be afraid! They won't hurt you, just come down and-!"

"I won't go if you're going to hurt him!" she cried out.

The room was quiet again as the adults murmured to themselves about what to say next. Tenten wanted so badly to turn to Yinu, but he could not risk it. Instead, he tried to focus his sonic hearing on the adults across the room.

“Did he brainwash her or something?” whispered Miss Quartz.

“I don’t think he’s capable of that.” said Jay. “We haven’t added the “smooth talk” feature yet.”

“Can’t you shoot him from here and get Yinu back?”

“We can’t be hasty. That is still a highly-trained military class battle bot. He hurt Yinu earlier, so he might be willing to use her to protect himself if he needs to.”

Had his processor been capable of it, Tenten would have been appalled at the mere suggestion that he would ever willingly hurt Miss Yinu. Instead, he broke through the murmurs himself, speaking loudly so that all could hear him:

"Yinu, we have caused a lot of trouble for everyone today. Please return to your Mama. That was our original objective, was it not?"

Yinu began to cry, "But... you're about to die again... You can't die yet... you said you wouldn't..."

"I did not vocalize such a promise. And this situation is different. I am about to be killed. That is different from dying." he said so matter-of-factly.

"You still promised! You promised you wouldn't die yet!" she cried.

"I am sorry, but I do not have any choice in this matter."

"Then I'm not going!"

"Yinu, do not be stubborn. Go to your Mama."

"No!"

"Yinu."

The two went back and forth like this for a bit bickering the same way that siblings would over who’s turn it was to use the computer. It was beginning to be comical to those looking in. Or so it would have been had this not been a literal crisis situation. All the while the adults continued to murmur to themselves.

"This is ridiculous!" grumbled Jay as he pinched around his “face” where a brow used to be. "What is even going on here anymore? Is this even still a kidnapping?”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t let that thing free-roam!” chided Miss Quartz.

“I have to do the field testing somewhere! What am I supposed to do, let him walk around the Metro Division by himself?”

As those two bickered and the kids bickered, Mama was lost in thought. Anger had long since subsided as she was more than relieved that her little girl was alright. But as she listened to the playful way in which the android and her daughter was speaking, she began to think that maybe she really wasn’t ever in danger with him by her side.

Finally, the verbal battle on the adult’s side had come to an agreement.

Jay called out again, "Okay! Tenten, you come here with Miss Yinu! Keep your hands up and we won't shoot! We're just going to have a talk about this!"

Yinu cried out, "You promise you won't hurt him!"

"I promise! Now both of you get down from there so we can all go home!"

The security bots lowered their weapon hands.

Yinu looked up at Tenten, "Okay... let's go..."

Slowly, Tenten began making his way off the stage, hands still raised. Yinu followed behind, not letting her hand off of the back of his left leg. They descended the steps off the stage, and started walking down the aisle towards the adults until they were standing no more than a few feet apart.

"Yinu, are you okay baby?" asked Mama calmly.

Yinu was still behind Tenten, but she replied with a sheepish, "Uh-huh."

She was about to go back to her Mama’s open arms, but then Yinu looked up at Tenten's Captain. Now that she was closer she could see the details of his mask... it wasn't a mask, it was his actual face. Was he a robot too?

Yinu wondered how a robot could be the boss of another robot, but she supposed that some people were the boss of other people too, so it made sense. Just before she could walk back over to her Mama’s side, the Captain began talking, very angrily.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself solider?" the Captain asked sternly.

"Papa..."

"...What did you just call me?" exclaimed the Captain.

"I mean, Captain Neon Jay, sir." Tenten quickly rectified his blunder.

"I sincerely apologize for my actions today. It was not my intention to endanger or harm Miss Yinu in any way. I-"

CLANK!

"I am not asking for your excuses soldier!" the Captain slapped his hand across the android's face, turning his head a full 90 degrees to the right. The loud clang of metal on metal froze everyone in their spots.

Yinu cried, "Tenten!"

"I was not hurt, Miss Yinu..." Tenten assured the girl as he clicked his head back to its original position. This was half-true. It did not hurt him physically aside from a small scuff from metal clashing against metal. The slap had probably done more harm to the Captain's hand than it did to Tenten's face, but the gesture was agonizing. Never before had the Captain reacted with such violent disappointment.

"How could you possibly disobey direct orders like that!? Not only did you put a child in a dangerous situation, but you used firearms in an unauthorized zone! Not to mention cloaking without express permission! Do you know how much this is going to cost us!"

The android could do nothing but stand and listen as all of his failures today were listed out in great detail, each one causing him to feel just a little more shame. But, more than that, he began focusing on Yinu holding onto him tighter and tighter. He could feel her tears streaking down his leg, and right now that was the most important detail.

"You are making Miss Yinu cry."

"And you know- What did you say?! After all that you still have the nerve to interrupt-" Jay was about to raise another hand towards Tenten until he repeated:

"You are making Miss Yinu cry."

Jay turned his attention to the girl still cowering behind Tenten.

She was murmuring to herself, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... it's my fault...if I didn't run away then... you wouldn't be getting yelled at…"

“Yinu… it’s okay Yinu...” Mama finally stepped forward to comfort her daughter with a hug. Yinu gave a half hug back, not wanting to let go of Tenten’s leg.

Tenten looked back at Yinu. "Miss Yinu, No one is mad at you." he said.

Tenten so desperately wanted to comfort Yinu too. It was taking every bit of restraint in his processors to keep him from moving from his current position, for he still had not been given permission to lower his arms. He hoped that his words would be enough comfort, though he doubted their effectiveness.

"Everyone here was very worried about you. They are mad at me because I got you hurt." he continued.

Yinu broke away from everyone.

"But you didn't hurt me! You protected me from everything." she chided the android for saying what she thought was a lie.

"Then why are you covered in bandages?" pointed out Miss Quartz. Yinu felt the bandage on her cheek again. It had happened so long ago already that she'd forgotten it and the ones are her knees were even there.

"I tripped and fell when I was running away. Tenten fixed me up." she admitted between sniffles.

Neon Jay crossed his arms and turned back towards Tenten. "Is this true, Tenten?"

The android said nothing.

“Soldier, you answer when I ask you a question. Is it true that Yinu was hurt because she tripped and fell?”

“...Yes sir.”

"Then why did you say you hurt her?"

"Miss Yinu tripped and fell because she was frightened of me. That means the fault lies with my poor approach."

Neon Jay sighed. "That's... You blew this whole thing out of proportion! We thought you did something to seriously hurt Yinu!"

"Is this not serious?"

"I mean, accidents happen Tenten. Something this small doesn’t necessitate all the hell you put everyone one through today."

"But I was threatened.”

“When? By who?”

“I quote, “I swear if it did anything to hurt her, I'll tear it apart!” end quote.”

The Captain looked at Yinu’s Mama who was still hugging Yinu before turning back to Tenten and pinching at his face again "We really need to refine your ability to understand figures of speech."

"It wasn't a figure of speech." murmured Mama. “But… no, I wouldn’t have done it if I knew that’s what happened.” she finished as she picked up Yinu to carry in her arms and get a good look at the “harm” that had been done.

"What about your hair Yinu, how did it come undone?" asked Mama.

"I did it myself. It hurt to have them that tight, Mama."

Mama furrowed her brow. "Why didn't you say anything?" she asked.

"Because I know Mama worked really hard to make it really cute like that. I didn't want to disappoint you…" Yinu said shyly.

“Oh Yinu…” Mama kissed her cheek.

“Well, I’m glad this has been resolved and no one was seriously injured, but this has still been a major incident.” started Miss Quartz. “Jay, I expect you to file the proper reports on this and make-up for your robots’ mess today.”

“Yes Ma’am!” the Captain saluted, but his tone had the slightest bit of annoyance behind it, aimed at the much too cautious android.

Then Miss Quartz turned toward Yinu and her Mama. “As for Miss Yinu’s transfer, we can continue this another day. I’m sure you would both like to go home and relax after all this nonsense.”

They both nodded. “And Miss Yinu,” she turned her attention specifically to the little girl. “I am willing to overlook today’s events as a simple accident and misunderstanding, but I’m expecting a lot less tomfoolery from you in the future. When your Mama asks you to come back immediately, you do so. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do things by yourself, but you must still obey your Mama, understand?”

Yinu nodded, “I understand.”

“Very good, then everyone move out. There’s a lot to catch up on! Chop chop! I’ll escort you both to the exit.” Miss Quartz clapped as everyone exited the concert hall to return to their respective stations.

As the Captain and Tenten were about to walk away to survey the damage done to the security bots a few floors down (which would certainly have to be deducted from the Captain’s salary), Yinu called out. “Wait, Tenten!”

The robot stopped and turned around to look back at her calling his name. “Go ahead.” said the Captain. With permission, Tenten walked over to Mama carrying Yinu.

“Yes, Miss Yinu?” Tenten asked.

“A little closer.” she said. Tenten took another step forward towards Mama and Yinu.

“Closer!” she laughed. He took a few more steps, enough that he noticed that Mama was getting a little uncomfortable having to look at the robot so closely.

He became so close that his face was only a few inches away from the girl’s face.

“Now turn your head to the left.” his face whirred into place.

“My left.” he whirred again until his left cheek was facing Yinu.

Finally Yinu reached into her pocket and pulled out the extra bandage that she still had from earlier. She applied it to the scuff that was left from the Captain’s slap.

“There, now we match.” she said proudly.

Tenten turned his head back to look at Yinu and the bandage that was stuck to her left cheek too.

“Yes, we do.” he replied as he touched the freshly applied bandage. “Thank you very much Yinu. I hope we can see each other again.” he said.

“You probably will,” started Miss Tatiana. “She’ll be working with us very soon. Once we clear all the paperwork.”

Yinu nodded and smiled. “Yeah! We’ll get to see each other a lot!”

“Yes, hopefully with a little less excitement next time.” said Miss Quartz towards the android. “But right now, it’s time for you two to say good-bye.”

“Okay. Good-bye Tenten.” said Yinu as she waved farewell towards him.

“Good-bye, Miss Yinu.” he waved back and began to walk back to the Captain’s side.

As Mama began leaving with Yinu, the girl let out a small yawn as her sleepiness caught up with her again. “I’m sorry I made you worry Mama.” she said sleepily. Mama kissed Yinu on the forehead again. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Mm-hmm…” Yinu’s eyes started to glaze over until she finally closed them as she nuzzled into her Mama’s warm arms, falling fast asleep.

Meanwhile the android and cyborg walked in relative silence back towards the stairwell to investigate the lower floors.

There was a lot that Jay had to consider about what to do with Tenten. Whether it had good intentions or not, an android that so clearly disobeyed orders did not give the Captain confidence in its current programming. Something would have to be done about this, but until then, there was one question still weighing on Jay’s mind that he wanted answered sooner rather than later.

“Tenten, why did you call me “Papa” earlier?”

-------------------------------

Several months passed since Yinu had been properly signed onto NSR. She was already raising the ranks in Natura. By next summer it was all but guaranteed that she would take over as the top charter. During such a small amount of time, she had already accomplished much at NSR, but she hadn’t seen Tenten again since she returned. Apparently he had been undergoing maintenance during his upgrade to MK III. She did however learn that Tenten was actually a part of group of other Tentens.

She wondered what that would be like, five different versions of Tenten. Would they all be as nice as the one she’d met before or would they all be a little different. But today she would get to seem them during their new debut. She was excited to meet them again after what felt like forever.

“Yinu, please don’t run in the halls!” Mama called after her trying to match her daughter’s energetic pace.

“I want to seem them Mama! I want to, AH!”

“Yinu!” gasped Mama as she ran over to her side.

Yinu had accidentally collided with someone and fell over. “Ouchies…” she cried, rubbing her forehead. Whoever she hit was unnaturally hard, and metallic. Wait, metallic?

“I’m sorry, are you alright Little Miss?” asked the voice. It was clearly synthetic, but it had a warm and familiar tone.

Yinu looked up to see a robot looking back down at her. Its face a little different than she remembered. It was a lot more human than before, but the glowing white eyes and fancy clothes were a dead giveaway.

“Are you al-”

“Tenten!” Yinu beamed. “I missed you!” she said.

“Oh, but you didn’t miss me. You ran right into me, Doll.” he laughed.

“Huh?” she said slightly confused at this answer. Tenten never really told jokes like that. He smiled back at her, but she thought he would be a little more excited to see her again.

From behind Tenten the Captain appeared.

“What did you bump into this ti- Oh, it’s Miss Yinu again! How are you?” said Jay as the little girl came into his viewing range. “Hello Mr. Jay. I’m well,” replied Yinu a little more formally. She hadn’t gotten to see Neon J. much either since coming back, but the last thing she remembered about him was him yelling at Tenten, so she was still a little frightened of him.

“What happened to Tenten? He’s a little… different now.” she said, looking back up at the white haired robot. Did Tenten even have hair the last time she saw him? She didn’t think so, but it was a little hard to remember everything that happened that day.

“This is the new MK III Tenten!” exclaimed Jay. “He’s a little more natural and a lot more stylish, but he’s still got the same Tenten moves.” he said.

“Yeah, new and improved, Babygirl!” said Tenten with a wink.

“But… do you remember me?” asked Yinu, looking straight into Tenten’s glowing eyes, hoping to find a hint of the answer she wanted to hear. Jay was silent and was about to stop Tenten from saying anything else, but it was already too late. He had improved his reaction time too much:

“I can’t remember someone I’ve never met.”

---------

AN: Originally I wrote a bit more after the last line, and after Jay asking about why Tenten called him "Papa" but neither were going anywhere, so I cut them. If y'all like it though, maybe I'll write about both aftermaths. Fair warning though, neither are going to make this ending any happier.

#nsr #no straight roads #yinu #1010 #white 1010 #yinu's mother #tatiana #neon j #i don't really know how this will factor into any of my canons going forward #I think it's just it's own thing #i don't think anything really needs to be trigger tagged #i dunno... #cw: corporal punishment #cw: parental death #yinu's dad being dead isn't too integral to the story #but it does come up #if you managed to read through this behemoth #let me know if there's anything else i should tag #gbunny writes #fanfic

[gamebunny-advance]

Baseless NSR Headcanon #52

Gigi has ice powers.

I think that all the people in the NSR universe can have an affinity with any element/concept. The most obvious canon examples are Yinu/Mama's connection to roses and trees respectively, Tatiana's control over time and fire, and DJSS's manipulation of space.

I don't believe most people have as strong of a connection over their element(s) as the previous examples, and even fewer can have an affinity for more than one, but even a weak affinity is still an affinity.

It's my headcanon that Gigi's affinity for ice is very weak, but still affects him. He can't blast ice from his fingers or freeze anything instantly, but he has a below average body temperature and has trouble retaining heat, and could theoretically freeze a small puddle of water if he focused on it long enough.

#gbunny writes #nsr #no straight roads #headcanons #i had a couple of comic ideas about gigi and his ice powers #but i just never got around to 'em

[gamebunny-advance]

Self Reflection

Originally my idea for the visual edits was to try and make it seem like all the events were happening in the same night sky, so there are a lot of pans from "grounded" games up into the "space" games, but I don't know how well that came across since I didn't really make each space backdrop look similar. Achieving that effect probably would have been harder to achieve than some may realize. Not all the games have a simple "change background color" option that I can toggle, and trying to color match using filters would be a nightmare.

Part of that idea which I'm also not quite sure came across was how the Space Kickers summoning the grayscale zone took some time to affect the other games since they're higher up in the sky.

I really think this mix would have benefitted from some custom textures. The entirety of the Second Contact translations are written as though the farmer is DJSS, but anyone who isn't familiar with the character might think that the dialogue is kinda random otherwise~ I also have a very clear vision of the Batter actually being Mayday and using the Zuke mask power-up for the mask changes. The rest are kinda up in air for how I would change them.

Otherwise, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Maybe it's a little conceited, but I keep replaying that last minute of the mix because I think the edits are so good~ Maybe one or two things could be cleaned up, but I think it's a really tight mix~

#gbunny writes