#hound posting

OR ELSE

Please please I just wanna huff your gunpowder scent please please just shove your ass in my face please

Five simple words. Five simple words uttered in desperation. That blend of anger and panic stewing with the tinge of real care or just pragmatism. Like you could hear how their fingers curl into a fist or clench the mug of coffee tighter.

Silence is common in the field. Useless chatter is useless. But this kind of quiet is wrong. Wait a beat. Wait a beat. Wait a beat. Wait a beat. Wait a beat.

A wet cough. A wheeze maybe. A sign of life that rings the death bell just as much as vitals going dark. Sure the frame is willing. Is the hound willing? Is flesh willing? How much can they take? Is the hound willing?

Is the hound willing? A question no handler likes to admit they have to ask. That their authority is undermined. Even the most obedient pilot has a will of their own. A living weapon is still living. How much do they want this life? How much do they want to live? Do they want to get up?

Still waiting for a real response.

"I gave you an order, now get up"

Should have gotten sterner stock. Something more hardy. Not something like this, prone to give up. Prone to bleed in the cockpit and curl into a ball dying slowly. The frame is willing. Steel alloy is willing. Onboard combat systems are ready.

|𝑳𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑯𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑻Ø 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑮𝑹𝑨𝑽𝑬|

Since I don't know literally anything about mechs OR the whole "warhound" thing (i suppose it's some kinda book?) and my only expertise is evangelion and Warhammer 40k, please don't look for logic in these.

→ WIP

• he's one of the most calm hounds (pilots, will be used interchangeably since idk and idc). Always quiet and really, really obedient. He doesn't even need one of those obedience drugs they give all the other hounds in the facility. He's just so perfect for it. So he's always used as an example. Which... Causes him to have a massive ego. As much as a hound can posess an ego at all, he's really proud of himself.

• this all also causes him to be REALLY sensitive to praise. Since he doesn't really get scolded much (he's got a fixation on numbers. After each fight Robert is the first to check the leaderboard. For sure his name is right at the top, with all the regalia displayed besides. And a ridiculously high efficiency/battlepower/kill count.) but when he does get scolded he just shuts down. When some other hound can lash out and attempt to bite it's handler (or whatever hounds do, idk) Robert just... Sits there. He doesn't cry, of course, all emotions have been surely eradicated through years of conditioning, but the deep feeling of inadequacy remains. And don't even mention having his name at the #2 spot on the leaderboard. It's his worst nightmare.

• he's one of the pilots who always chills with the maintenance folks down in the hangars. He can surely do everything himself at this point, but he's just a pilot. He isn't allowed to do that. And he can't do that. (He can but shhhh)

But when he's alone he sticks his fingers inside the parts he can reach and caresses the cold smooth metal. Sometimes he sniffs the oil. (He's always spacey after, because aside from oil he huffs every single solvent and liquid he can find. He's a hound after all, has a sensitive nose. Plus it just feels good.)