A couple of days ago, I got a notification on a post of mine that sometimes goes around, the one about how Gurathin and Pin-Lee had a joint freakout over SecUnit saying "I don't want to be a pet robot" that culminated in the two of them spending the last pages of Exit Strategy making sure it has enough fake IDs and hard currency cards to go to the end of the universe and back. And I reread the post, because I like to revolve my blorbos from time to time, and a sentence from one of the screencaps caught my attention. Arada is talking to SecUnit about potentially serving as security for their next survey trip. She tells it "In a few months, we're going on a small assessment survey."
And for some reason, it just really hit me:
Ratthi does not get a single goddamn break from All Systems Red to System Collapse.
In All Systems Red, Ratthi is mostly in the thick of the action. He isn't there when Bharadwaj and Volescu are attacked, obviously, but he's part of the rescue party. He goes out to the unmapped area (where, due to the maps being corrupted by alien remnants, he winds up waist-deep in hot acidic mud). He's one of the people who heads out to the DeltFall habitat, although he's forced to stay on the shuttle due to a lack of weapons training. He heads back to their original habitat to find the drones and the message from GrayCris. He does, at least, get to skip the bit where everyone's too close to the emergency beacon and gets blown up, but is presumably there for the aftermath and probably helps Overse stabilize SecUnit until the company comes for them. And of course, he and Pin-Lee act as SecUnit's bodyguards until it leave them at the end.
At which point, Mensah is kidnapped, and Pin-Lee, Gurathin, and Ratthi have to go to TranRollinHyfa, where they spend approximately twenty days (which we know because SecUnit says that the company gunship has been waiting at TranRollinHyfa for approximately twenty days) watching their odds of successfully rescuing Mensah dwindle to damn near nothing. (For the record, I think about what this twenty day period might have been like for the three of them a very normal amount.) Fortunately, SecUnit arrives in the nick of time, and Mensah is rescued, and apart from the bit with the killware that infects the company ship and almost kills everyone and Ratthi finds himself performing rescue breathing on an augmented human stranger because it's the only way to keep them alive long enough for SecUnit to save everyone, it goes...
It goes the same way the last one did. People almost get killed, but they don't. SecUnit should die, but it manages to piece itself together and survive. They finally make it back to Preservation and everything is great.
Except for the murder. Which Ratthi isn't too involved in. Apart from when SecUnit asks him and Gurathin for help breaking into that shuttle, which turns out to be the place where poor Lutran was murdered, and it was not cleaned after. Also then they have to stay and protect SecUnit from Station Security. And then it randomly asks them for help finding a lifetender. But other than that, it's a nice vacation.
And then he goes on survey again. And there's pirates. And Thiago almost dies. But compared to the last survey, it goes pretty --
Just kidding. Then Perihelion shows up with a last-ditch plan to save itself and its crew by convincing the remnant contaminated Adamantine colonists that it knew where they could find a really cool weapon, and Ratthi, Thiago, Overse, and Arada find themselves on an safepod with rapidly failing life support, attached to Perihelion's hull as it abducts SecUnit and Amena. The good news is that he makes it out with nothing worse than a damaged knee and some symptoms from toxic air inhalation, and everyone else is doing better.
The bad news is... well. Plague Hell Planet.
Ratthi does manage to stay on Perihelion for the entirety of the rescue mission, which is relatively safe (and also allows him to befriend another rogue SecUnit). He's not so lucky when they find out about the second group of colonists in the hidden location by the terraforming engines and he, SecUnit, Iris, Tarik, and SecUnit's remaining drones have to put on the best damn talent show documentary film the colonists have ever seen. Then Barish-Estranza attacks (again), and Ratthi gets to go on ART-drone's Wild Ride while fleeing the armed Barish-Estranza shuttle, almost runs into the unarmed Barish-Estranza shuttle, can't quite save his friends on the first attempt, manages it on the second try, oh deities there's another fucking Barish-Estranza ship --
There's a reason he kind of just slumps back into his seat when Holism shows up, is my point.
But yeah. I hesitate to say he has it worse than all of the other Preservation characters, if only because of Mensah (who, on the one hand, is on the rescue team for Network Effect onward, but on the other hand, it's her fucking family that needs rescuing so you know she's not okay). But I do really hope he's spending Platform Decay on a beach. Or in trauma therapy.
Or at a beach resort with a trauma therapy clinic attached, maybe. Preservation might have one of those. Hopefully they do.
andrew smoking everyone at kevin day bingo but allison was doing a pretty decent job too to be fair. aaron know who meredith blake is because he watched the parent trap 4 times with katelyn in the 2 months she kept inviting him over for tuesday movie night and he was trying to work out if she liked him (he stupid) (same movie 4 times out of 7 because katelyn is one of those people who will put on a 2000s movie and go oh i used to watch this every time i had a bio exam and my sister broke up with her boyfriend again! i can probably quote it backwards lol! and you nod like that’s a thing)
Ok, so ratchet's theme is super interesting to me. Cuz my biggest two questions were, " Dude, who hurt you?" And why is he blind like how did he got blind. So there is somebody or some event that caused Ratchet to be this way is the black fruit his blindness ? Like a past lover whom perhaps the reason why he holds no love for anyone like the experience they received made him unable to enjoy helping people? Or love anyone anymore? So he is stuck in a cold, emotional state enjoying suffering of his patients imagining it to be one who left him this way ? A love that betrayed or faded in a dark way ? I have so many theories.
Yeah so you know how og Ratchet is always about the importance of lives and about how as long as he's alive he will find a way to help people?
Imagine holding onto that kind of thinking in the middle of a war that you can't even do more than stop things from getting worse than it already has, all that hope and want to help buried under increasing bodies of nameless soldiers you failed to save, those you can't stop to grieve for because you have to move onto the next one.
Imagine that being your lifeline and imagine sending those precious lives you managed to save back out to the war over and over again until you don't even get to bury the body, because there's too little time for you to do so in a war.
Imagine loving your work and for it to be forever ruined by a war you have no choice but continue to be in because the alternate is worse.
'o-oh, i haven't really done this ever uwu' vs "been a while since I've taken a pill from a stranger without knowing what it was".
'i don't want to ever face stratt/panic attacks about her/needs a protective squad from her' vs "well I'll die in space but thank god at least I won't have to hear you say I told you so".
'melodic voice and a heart of gold' vs constant rasp and constant bickering and crankiness the entire time on the hail mary
'can whoever's watching this punch stratt for me' vs "you're smart. you'll figure it out."
AAAAAAAHHHHH it's kinktober and I am going to be contributing for the first time ever!! I haven't written anything in ages, I'm so burnt out but have this
cw just in case (they are mentioned, not detailed): pregnancy, breeding kink, dd/lg, ageplay, bdsm, puppyplay (i tried at least 💀), waxplay, knifeplay, cnc, sexual guilt, electrostimulation kink, bondage, mirror sex, masturbation, body worship
Listen guys, we all know that John has a breeding kink. He loves the thought of you pregnant with his kid. He did that. He made you all round and glowing and he's going to be the one to rub your feet and hold your belly when it gets too heavy. Massages from him are like heaven to your aching muscles and if you have cravings in the middle of the night? You just stay in bed and let him fix you up some of those apples with pickles and ketchup you're itching for.
But beyond that, I like to think he's into dd/lg boardering on ageplay. This is a man who just wants to take care of you, so letting him have more authority in your life is his dream. He'd love to pick out what you wear if you let him. He's more than happy to feed you himself, brush your teeth for you, and keep you happy in anyway that he can. You're his little luvie, afterall. Just let him be your daddy.
Kyle is a huge BDSM guy. He's got quite the collection of gear at home, including but not limited to: gags, whips, blindfolds, ropes and specialty toys. You name it, there's a good chance he's got it. I could see him being a pleasure dom and more than happy to adjust his style to indulge your wants. He would be extremely attuned to your needs, attentive and intuitive. Most of the time he can gauge when you have to stop for a second even before you voice it.
It's not necessarily the power he likes, but the feeling of being so trusted. That sense of responsibility carries over into the realm of puppyplay and he's such a good owner. He'll let you pick out a nice choker and then a tag to go with it. He likes having you sit on a plush dog bed while he works, or sometimes in a big cage.
For Simon, I think he enjoys fucking hard and nasty and rough in the moment, but gets a ton of guilt after. He's hardcore - into knifeplay, waxplay, risky sex, cnc. In the heat of the moment it's almost like he's a different person. More focused, intense. In the afterglow, he fades back into the version of himself he wants to project.
Aftercare is not optional in his mind. Because of his intense interests he often feels like a bad person for wanting to hurt and control and dominate, so he apolagises silently by taking extra care and time to rub a soothing cream or salve over your nicks or bruises. He holds you close and kisses you softly, reassuring you both that you're alright and safe.
Johnny is probably into every kink under the sun. Electrostimulation? He's hard already. Bondage? Tie him up. Mirror sex? His belt is already off. What can he say, he's a loverboy at heart. One of his favourite things though, is when you send a video or pictures of you masturbating because you couldn't wait for him.
He could get turned on by literally any part of your body. Thighs, stomach, hands, neck, the inside of your elbow... he just adores everything about you and will worship you like a dying god. Every mole, every mark, every scar on your body he knows better than himself.
