Viva la Pluto

A beast in the woods. Three dead villagers, two missing soldiers, livestock disappearing every few nights. The king's steward had promised Geralt three hundred crowns if he dealt with it.

Geralt had dealt with it.

Now the king had apparently decided that three hundred crowns was excessive.

“The creature is dead,” Geralt said.

The king lounged back in his chair. “So you claim.”

Geralt stared at him.

The head of the creature was currently sitting in a sack on the floor between them.

Jaskier, standing a few feet behind Geralt, made a small choking sound.

Geralt knew that sound. He glanced over his shoulder.

Jaskier was biting the inside of his cheek.

Don't.

1 like = 1 pet for Heavenly

“When your girlfriend finds out you died on your latest adventures with the avatar” AKA: I saw a movie 🤓

lol not my fault I imprinted on Suki as a kid. “I’m a warrior, but I’m a girl, too.” Ahhhh she’s the realest. ❤️

Draft sketch under cut

[SPOCK TPRING BONDING CEREMONY]

a joyous occasion… they make me sad. I left a bunch of little secrets in there, you can find the explanations below the cut!! This is technically TOS but I used the designs of Tprings parents from SNW since that's the only visual reference point I had of them so that works too in a way. ID LIKE TO THANK @jennelikejennay FOR HELPING ME WITH THE CALLIGRAPHY AGAIN!!!

The only thing that makes it better is the similarity to another piece that I adore from Vault of Tomorrow fanzine published 40 years ago... right down to the three panels and everything. This fandom is always reconnecting with itself. It's so beautiful.

dennis sits down next to him and cuddles robby into his shoulder, petting at his hair.

"hey... it's okay, you're okay, robby... whatever happened today in there wasn't your fault, I know you did everything you could."

robby sniffles into dennis's neck and then looks up to meet dennis's eyes where his own are filled with tears.

"it's not okay, dennis. trinity called me "chopped" and "unc" at hand-off and then jack laughed. it's not fucking okay!"

Bruh the "Who is Morgan?" and beyond section rly. ..well okay it starts in the "Typhon Neuromod" section.

"...but this newfound power raises a major question: the original mission aboard Talos was to bring what the Typhon can do to humans. We are trying to extract what they can do and give that to humanity. But at what point of this do you question the humanity of yourself? How many neuromods is the limit to still be considered human? As we make our way all around the space station, we encounter several different people. We talk to them. We read logs from people detailing Morgan. In most of these segments, Morgan is characterized as cold, egotistical, and not a kind person. Even on account of the new neuromods Morgan uses, the turrets that used to let him pass because he was human shoot at him now because he has traces of being Typhon. When January scans us, he tells u sour signal reads as being on the level of a Typhon... It makes you think: Who is Morgan? Because it isn't like he knows himself. he has lived so many different runs of the same life. I wouldn't be surprised if he has created another robot operator detailing to do something other than destroy the ship- ... Later in the game, Alex tries to convince you to reconsider, to save the station in another way that does not involve you destroying everything. You make it to his office, and expecting him there, we were met by no one. He calls us and tells us that he has a gift for us. The truth."

And then you see an... older? video. Of yourself. and Alex.

Morgan: What else? Alex: Why are we making this video? Morgan: Right. *huffs laugh/scoffs* Because my big brother is paranoid. Psychometric data is showing statistically significant variance in personality patterns between trial runs of the new Neuromods. Whatever (sigh) I feel more like myself than ever. I mean. -- look at this.... We did it, Alex. It's real.

O: *scraems*. And then the rest of that vid shows that, like. "Alex talks to us again, and tells us everything he has done is what we told him to do. How he didn't recognize us anymore. The constant stripping of our memory.. All he wanted was his brother back to finish what they started. All he wants is to live out his life's work."

The way I scream. Okay this works excellently in a codename theory 'verse, - and especially with the end twist - cuz it turns out... not only are "we" (the pov character) -- in this case, our pov Bond -- not the original Bond in terms of, are we the original Morgan or are we a new subsequent creation that arose out of all of the mindwipes. But that we are an entirely created being altogether. We're not even the mindwiped Morgan, who Alex - Q - can't recognize anymore. But we are a third party being, that he has implanted with the neurons, and also memories, of his brother.

//

"I've been thinking about the video Alex showed you. Your brother believes that version of you is the true Morgan. But why? Just because it came first? If someone had made you, then I suppose your truest self would be the one that fulfills whatever purpose your maker intended. I know who made me, and why. Did someone make you, Morgan? Were you made for something? If not, then you'll have to invent your own purpose. Or have none at all. Strangely, of all of the things I know about you, I don't know what you believe. You have to decide, Morgan. Who are you?"

^ I think this is January's voice? Basically, a "backup" made in, presumably, January. And more advanced than December or October.

// Okay this has gotten so messy, lmao.

The point I'm trying to get at here is, oh these explorations into identity and like existentialism vs traditional philosophy (does existence precede essence or does essence define existence?) have such fun potential in a Bond AU verse.

.... this post already long asf so ig I just embrace that lmao. Okay let's try to untangle it.

So, in a Bond-AU situation. our POV Bond thinks he's a regular Neuromod user guy. Sure he has some lapses in memory, but that's to be expected of Neuromod use! He's closely watched/monitored/guarded by Q, who is his... handler? Neuromod engineer guy? something. Apparently psychometric testing is showing statistical deviances in personality, blah blah. for Bond, that's kind of a *shrug*. I mean, he can only know what he knows, and he knows exactly as much as he currently knows. He's only known himself, as he currently is. And that's as much himself as he ever was or is.

pov Bond probably is aware of the general stuff with Neuromods like the memory stuff, the use of the Looking Glass and Operators to bring him back up to speed after a Neuromod uninstall. He may also be aware of the fact that the memory removal may be a tool in Six's arsenal that they leverage on specific particularly sensitive? missions? And it's also like, hey that's part of the cost of doing business.

(this works in the identity stuff highlighted in the vid)

to bring in the ending twist and thus bring it into codename theory -verse -- at some point, somehow. it turns out actually pov Bond is NOT the original Bond.

You are in fact a complex recreation of the original/previous Bond. and you've been experiencing... a simulation? yeah I think we can work that element in -- that's probably part of the testing to see if the memory installation took properly. >>this maps onto the video game story of, testing to see if this Typhon-human hybrid worked.

this kind of is just the framework, I think there's room to, like, invent more Bond-genre-esque plot to realise this AU through...

although it could also work that, on realizing that it was all a simulation and he's not actually who he thinks he is, because he's a construct. Maybe he decides to do a metaphoric "burn it all" ending and try to break free. Sort of like a, "the person who signed up for this doesn't exist anymore. You killed him to create me. And I want to be free." kind of paradigm.

Or, maybe it could be much more philosophical than that. No matter how this "self" may have originated from, pov Bond only ever has the experience of being himself, as "he" "is." and to "him" - this "him" anyway - it doesn't really matter where it came from. "He" has never experienced being whoever he might have been "before." And anyway, that guy consented to all this, didn't he? So here he is now. And he's going to keep doing the work. Because that's what "he" wants. he can't concern himself with a hypothetical "what if" of someone who doesn't exist anymore. etcetc.

I think I still need to digest it all myself, lmao, this is, like. so messy, I know.

Robby comes home one day to a VHS player of all things hooked up to the living room TV.

“Pretty sure most people have moved on to DVDs.”

“Most people,” Jack smirks. He pulls a tape out from behind his back. “But not us.”

Oh, Christ. It’s been decades since Robby has seen that. Depending on which one it is the contents could span anywhere between “soft core” and “twink gets railed to the point of crying and is left covered in cum and shaking for two days.”

“That… could be dangerous.”

Jack’s grin grows. “Could be fun.”

“Do you know which one it is?”

“Nope. Don’t worry, if there’s a specific one you want, I found the whole bin.”

Robby drags a hand across his face. “Excellent.”

“Oh, come on. Little trip down memory lane?”

“You’re aware I don’t look like I did then, right?”

Jack wraps his hands around Robby’s waist and kisses the underside of his jaw, nuzzling his nose into his beard. “Thank God. What do I want with some college kid, do I look like a pervert or something?”

That’s enough to get a laugh out of Robby, which only eggs Jack on.

“Those youngins had some good ideas though from what I remember.”

Robby sucks his teeth. They did have good ideas, he’s not sure how well his 50 year old bones can withstand some of those positions, but it’d be a shame not to try… “Let me get cleaned up.”

“Yes!” Jack pumps his fist, he’s still Robby’s favorite dumb jock at heart, and beams. “This is gonna be great.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/90480371

Dennis and Park snippet of them interacting before trauma bonding part cause Park is mean a lot

https://archiveofourown.org/works/89467851

This one is the same au just focusing on Oglivie and his family and the start of his close relationship to Dennis

https://archiveofourown.org/works/90305341