#sunlit path.

I think we can all agree that York kinda looks like a male model. Chiseled jawline, cocky smirk, baby blue eyes and golden ducktail hair. But there’s the scar, and it’s impossible not to notice. It’s split into two main tendrils, the first and longest of which extends down to the level of the corner of his lip, and the second to the level of his nostrils. It’s a big-ass scar. And I’m sure that, immediately following the accident, there were plenty of more minute scars just as red and horrific all around his eye. And while those minutae have faded, they’re still there. Plus, his left eye is completely glazed over -- there’s not even a hint of an iris or pupil left. It’s not so bad looking in animation, but in real life? That’d be pretty scary.

— — York is an absolute certified genius -- his name is on file wherever the government keeps track of that shit. His level of intellect is kinda terrifying, to put it lightly. This asshole doesn't just do algebra in his head. He does straight up calculus in his head. He contemplates (and sometimes solves!) those impossible problems that mathematicians obsess over for generations. And he does that for fun! He skips the steps that he does mentally when he "shows his work," so it's sometimes hard to follow what he did. That's also why his logic can be confusing. He makes logical leaps that are hard to understand without further elaboration.

— — In addition, he's reached the grandmaster level in chess. He managed that when he was seventeen.

— — York was a private school kid. He went to one of the top private schools in his state. Graduated high school at sixteen and got his bachelor's degree in mathematics at eighteen. He went to get his master's in physics at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and graduated as an officer of the Marine Corps when he was twenty, at which point he began his required years of service.

— — It wasn't all smooth sailing, though. Private schools are notorious for drug abuse. In eighth grade, some of the other students suggested that he try prescription narcolepsy drugs to help stay awake, study, etcetera etcetera. He experimented with different kinds for a while and eventually got hooked on ProVigil. He'd go days, even weeks without sleeping (hence his present day fucked up sleep schedule and complete lack of circadian rhythm). He eventually quit after his first year at the USNA. At the time of RvB S10, he's been clean for nine years, but the effects of addiction are still something he struggles with.

— — To help with quitting ProVigil, York started smoking, replacing one addiction with another. That didn't last very long -- about two years -- but it's still pretty significant.

— — Let's get off this sadfest and move on to something I might've mentioned before, but is important enough for me to reiterate anyway. York is absolutely in love with old movies, particularly those from the twenty and twenty first centuries. He's kinda a movie elitist, actually, since he looks down on the remakes of the twenty second centuries and on as incomparable with the original works. He also loves reading classic novels, from Rowling to Tolstoy to Dumas and on. And classical music, like Mozart and Bach (his favorite is Vivaldi). As a general rule, he likes things at least five hundred years old.

— — Speaking of old things, his favorite movies are the original Indiana Jones series (fuck the twenty-fourth century remake). The storytelling, the sense of adventure, the music, the actors -- they can't be replaced, and they all hold a special place in his heart. But he absolutely refuses to acknowledge the existence of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. For multiple reasons.

So first. York is extremely moral. He's the kind of guy who puts honor before reason, which is saying something because he's an extraordinarily logical person (hence acquiring Delta, the embodiment of logic, as the proverbial angel on his shoulder). He's one of the first people who started questioning the morality of what PFL was doing, to the point where he even wondered if they 'really are the good guys.' Someone who's immoral would not be having that sort of dilemma, and that can be observed in some of those who sided with PFL during the schism.

And now we go into loyalty. It's very easy to categorize York as a disloyal and dishonest person, considering he jumped ship from PFL. And yeah, that can't be denied -- he did betray the Project. But this needs more context than just that. He had a conflict of interests. Yes, he was loyal to PFL -- but he was more loyal to his moral code, and he chose to remain loyal to his moral compass. He was in a position where, either way, he had to betray something. He chose to try to do the right thing.

Furthermore, he didn't just abandon everyone and fend for himself. That whole Ballet Breakup scene was his (admittedly piss-poor) attempt at getting Carolina to come with him. He went back for her, because he was loyal to her. That backfired royally, but the sentiment remains. He wasn't out just for himself. He wanted to get everyone out of there, too.

Alright, so lemme just quickly explain that this has two different versions. In both versions, the cutscene music remains the same, but the battle music is different. And, I guess in terms of a video game, the way you get the two different scenarios would be by making different decisions in what to do (think "Imperials or Stormcloaks" choice in Skyrim) or different dialog choices (think "Clementine will remember that" in TWDG). The two different scenarios are just regular York boss battle or Meta York boss battle, because that second one is a v sad au i talked about with verdigrism and it deserves its own music.

As always, my Two Steps from Hell bias is very real.

So regardless of scenario, the opening cutscene would have Code of Honor by Two Steps from Hell. Because, y'know, regardless of the player's choices, York still has a moral code (though it may have been twisted, it's a code nevertheless). In addition, as far as the piece itself goes, it's short and quick, short enough for a little bit of dialog and then getting the player right into the action. What little music there is in there is militant, and I suppose very befitting of an introduction to a boss battle.

Now is where the split comes. In I suppose the "regular" version of events, the battle music would be Dragon Rider by Two Steps from Hell. It has a fast pace, a boss battle vibe, and it's still rather indicative of the fact that York is trying to do the right thing. Also, I think it kinda suits the sort of combat you'd expect from him -- quick bursts, lots of close-range weapons and hand-to-hand, close-quarters combat. The music's in-your-face, and so is he, literally and metaphorically.

In the Meta version of events, we instead have Over My Dead Body by Two Steps from Hell for the battle music. This obviously contrasts a lot with the other piece. It's more mechanical, and so is the Meta, y'know? And it still conveys the type of combat he'd do -- close-quarters, but I think with a lot less remorse involved, a lot more brutality. Not necessarily more violence, just more disregard for the loss of life and limb. It still retains the same in-your-face vibe as the other piece, as well.

εжз : What about nature do they find calming? What about nature do they find disagreeable?

ghdfjk this is actually the hardest question — I really can’t think of much that he’d dislike. He likes parks and other places of natural beauty, likes the quiet spots in them. They’re good for thinking, you know? The quiet’s perfect for thinking about philosophy and doing complex problems and playing chess and generally just doing York things. He likes sunshine, he likes drizzles, snow, hail, thunderstorms — he really just likes nature. He can find something philosophical or interesting about any sort of weather or any part of nature, at least that he’s familiar with.

Of nature that he’s not familiar with, there are things that he wouldn’t like if he ever became acquainted with them. The majority would be natural disasters. Being a man of morals, the needless loss of life is something he definitely doesn’t like. But, y’know, he doesn’t dislike natural disasters, because he’s never been in one, so to him that means he can’t really form a real opinion on them. He definitely dislikes the idea of them, though. I think he also doesn’t like jellyfish. They freak him out. I mean??? They’re water?????? But they’re alive??????? It’s weird, man. He’s not okay with that.

♧ : Is fate something your muse believes in?

It’s definitely something he thinks about a lot. However, despite spending nights deprived of caffeine thinking about fate and destiny, he doesn’t really believe in individual fate as much as he does the fate of humankind. Which is pretty understandable, considering he’s in a war defending humanity against a confederation of alien races hellbent on wiping humans off the galaxy. But as far as everyone having their own fate? He’s not a big fan of that, because that would mean some people are fated to be evil and do evil things, and maybe that’s a nicer view than people choosing to do bad things, but it’s also more upsetting, in a way. He’s much more a fan of free will.

☁ : Nietzsche said that “hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man”. How does your muse feel about that?

I mean, the context of the quote was in reference to the story of Pandora’s box, in which Pandora opened a box releasing all evils into the world, but at the very bottom of the box was hope. A lot of people interpret this as saying good cannot exist without evil and vice versa, but it appears that in Nietzche’s view, hope is the very worst evil, because if you have no hope, then whatever the world throws at you isn’t that bad. If you don’t know anything but pain, then it’s bearable. It’s when you have hope that it hurts.

York definitely thinks about this a lot, but he’s not entirely certain which view he likes better. On the one hand, theory one has a lot of hope in it! And at his core, no matter how logical and realistic he can be, he’s still an optimist who believes that history leans towards justice. But on the other hand, theory two is so groundedly realistic and logical, in that sort of way that human emotions can be logical. But at the same time, human emotions aren’t logical and can only be appear to advance in what can be perceived as a logical manner. It turns into this very cyclical debate with himself. In the end, he favors the first stance, but he gives both very serious consideration.

❤ : Plato said that “love is a serious mental disease”. What does your muse think of that?

Anubis: How do you feel about death?

Alright, I already answered his view pre-grenade, so this’ll be post-blinding. After he lost sight in his left eye, he — ironically — had his eyes opened to the crimes Project Freelancer committed. As a result, he really started thinking about death a lot. He was raised in a vaguely Catholic household, so he buys into the whole heaven/hell shebang. And considering some of the things he did in association with PFL, he’s dead certain he’s going all the way down. He knows he can’t fix all the wrongs he made, but he wants to stay alive long enough to at least try.