can you tell us about the horror game that blueballed you?
It's called The Lancaster Leak Episode 2 : Crisis At Call Center! It's a sequel to The Lancaster Leak and has already upped its game since the first episode, so I'm hyped to see where it goes next. Campy analog horror, quick and easy, SCP vibes -- we love it.
BUT...but...my little monsterfucker fearplay addicted brain thought that the (obvious) final interaction between the monster and victim was going end differently than it did. Like I was so sure in the way I was certain Nothing Lives Under The Lighthouse was going to tickle my yandere monsterfucker fantasy.
But that game also blueballed me and I wrote a 42K fic to end it how I thought it should have SO..............
Well now I absolutely want to hear all about DAX!! And the AU happy ending you hopefully headcanon'd up for him because how could you not.
Alright alright, haha.
Like a lot of my characters, DAX came about because I needed someone to fit a specific niche more than just springing to mind full-formed. A long time ago I was writing a sort of multimedia fic told with fake screenshots about the Captain agreeing to have sex with ZEX for the Shofixti maidens and the two of them developing a relationship (I’d link you to it but there are some things in it I need to fix). Eventually other VUX find out about what’s going on and are SUPER upset, and demand that ZEX be arrested and tried for indecency, and ZEX waves it off as not a big deal until he gets attacked by double-agents in his own ship (I DID write a more normal fic about that). Basically what this meant was that you’d be talking to someone other than ZEX for once, and I wanted it to be very clear immediately that the VUX you’re talking to isn’t ZEX (since the talk portrait wouldn’t change). So I needed a VUX that was, in many ways, ZEX’s polar opposite in terms of demeanor and speech pattern, and so DAX was born.
To be fair, Sub-Commander DAX is mentioned in ZEX’s dialogue at one point right before he dies, so he’s not ENTIRELY my creation, but literally all we get is a name. Everything after that was me, haha. Writing dialogue for DAX was really fun and also really easy, and it didn’t take very long for a picture of who he was to become clear to me.
DAX is a bit unusual for a VUX in that he is very terse and to the point. He says as little as possible and uses his silence as a weapon against others, and often comes off as blunt or rude. Stoic, closed-off, and cynical, he trusts no one outside of Alpha Cerenkov, and strives to look at things realistically. His VUX vanity manifests in his private, never-expressed belief that he is always the smartest and most reasonable VUX in the room, that he knows everyone else better than they know themselves, and that without his work and effort, everyone else would collapse. So despite the fact that he’s ZEX’s subordinate and defers readily to his orders, he still feels “superior” to him in some ways. Unlike most VUX, DAX isn’t disgusted by humans, but unlike ZEX, he’s not attracted to them either. To DAX, humans are just another alien species, but even that lowkey tolerance made other VUX around him suspicious about his loyalties. He doesn’t have a lot of friends for a variety of reasons.
DAX is younger than ZEX by like five or ten years or so, and he’d recently graduated from a VUX military academy by the time the War broke out. He got shipped off with many other VUX, and he and ZEX ended up in the same squadron. ZEX at this point hadn’t been promoted to admiral, but his military genius was already very clear, and he shot up in ranks rapidly. ZEX liked DAX’s skills and no-nonsense attitude and ability to mind his own business, and ended up keeping him close beneath him throughout the war. This got DAX some side-eyes from other VUX, since even at that point rumors about ZEX’s proclivities were circulating, but DAX knew being near ZEX was the safest place to be in a war. DAX and ZEX became war buddies, saving each other’s lives and such, and as ZEX got promoted higher and higher, he kept DAX close by his side. DAX became one of his closest and only confidants, and eventually he trusted DAX enough to tell him about his xenophilia (wrote a fic about that too). While DAX didn’t really understand it, he didn’t condemn ZEX for it, which was more than ZEX could say for anyone else.
After the War ended, the High Council got more and more irritated by ZEX’s open xenophilia, and voted to kick him off planet to Alpha Cerenkov. DAX, in the meantime, felt purposeless and directionless without a war to fight or ZEX to follow. When ZEX asked him if he’d come with him to Cerenkov, DAX jumped at the chance. Since then, DAX has lived on Cerenkov with ZEX as his closest advisor, taking care of daily dramas and such and handling busywork, and usually serving as a voice of reason for ZEX’s stranger ideas. He doesn’t really like socializing with others, but he’ll do it if he has to. He’s completely centered his life around ZEX and is fully prepared to spend the rest of his life with him (he’s already spent 20 years with him on Cerenkov by the time the game starts), and as such, he gets a bit threatened and jealous when you come in and start messing things up for him with your human-alien shenanigans with ZEX.
ZEX and DAX have known each other for so long that while DAX never refers to ZEX as anything but “sir” or “Admiral”, DAX feels quite comfortable calling ZEX out in ways that others might see as insultingif he thinks he’s doing something stupid or dangerous, and ZEX can tease DAX and read him better than anyone else can, often serving as a bit of a translator for him. They’re very comfortable with and around each other, and they’re a lot of fun to bounce off of each other as a result, haha.
It’s implied in a lot of ways that DAX’s feelings for ZEX run a bit deeper than he’s willing to acknowledge. He knows that ZEX’s passions only lie in aliens, not his own species, so he’s never said anything to him about it and probably never will. He’s content to just stay by his side and try to keep him safe. ZEX has no idea that DAX has any such interest in him - it’s never even occurred to him. Ironically, he’d probably roll with it if DAX told him. As to whether ZEX could really love DAX the way he wants though, that’s a harder thing to answer…
It’s a hard situation, I’m not sure if there’s really an answer that’ll make everyone involved happy, haha. As long as ZEX stays alive, then DAX can live with things as they are. I’m not sure a ZEX/DAX/Captain situation would help much either, since DAX will always be jealous and resentful of the Captain just for being human and he has no attraction or interest in the Captain at all. I dunno, it’s tricky, haha. And if you want, you can read DAX’s loyalty to ZEX in an intensely platonic way as well. But in general I like to imagine that ZEX and DAX are alive somewhere, going about their daily routine as usual, and definitely not torn to bits by monsters.
As mentioned, DAX usually says things as shortly and bluntly as he possibly can. One of his favorite phrases is “so you say” which he tends to use when he either doesn’t want to continue the conversation, thinks you’re an idiot, or doesn’t believe what you just told him. ZEX has known him so long that he can usually tell what DAX really means whenever he says that and loves teasing him about it, which bugs DAX to no end.
I'm thinking of getting Nier Automata next time it's on sale for a decent price, and I want to get a sense of the game overall. What was/were your least favourite thing(s) about the game?
oh, when i first read this ask i thought you were asking for my favourite thing, but my least favourite? uhh… hmmm. probably the hacking stuff tbh!! if ur unaware, theres a mechanic in the game where u can hack enemies, as well as certain locked doors or chests, and other various other plot relevant macguffins, and once engaged it involves playing a little retro style top down bullet hell shooter minigame to complete the hack. and… maaann, idk, i super got sick of it after a while. it was a fun novelty at first, and there are some key moments in the game where its used to amazing and creative effect that i loved a lot, but beyond that it rly started to frustrate me at times.
kinda vague non-plot specific spoilers, theres a certain area in the late game where you have to climb a tower thingy and to ascend to the higher floors you have to hack every chest on each floor to access the elevator, and the hacking shmup minigames really suddenly ramp up in difficulty and boy did i have a super not fun time with that section, to say the least. maybe i just suck tho lol. but anyway ya, thinking back on the game overall thats probably the only part i think i straight up did not enjoy. (especially bc once i finally got to the top of said tower, i was caught off-guard by a boss and died and had to do it all over again… one of the only couple of times i actually died the whole game too lol… really needed a break for the day after THAT disaster)
fic where tiny jacob is on your deak trying to yell at you about how badly he's treated in your stories but you just put him in an upturned jar and ignore him because you have to read more asks from the validated angst fans (sidenote hi im angst fan! i don't have anything specific to say since i think I'm enough of a "hurt *and* comfort" bitch that i think I'm slightly part of the problem, i agree with you that pure saccharine fluff ain't what I'm here for so please by all means, keep fucking up your ocs like tomorrow ain't a thing, lady!! ^w^)
Everyone: haha you just love to make Jacob suffer, don't you!!
Edix be like "Oh dear, we're leaving earth already? I could do so much more research on all this fascinating local flora!" (talan tells him earth has snakes) "PACKING UP MY SHIT LETS GO LITTLE HUMAN YOU'RE COMING TOO LAUNCH LAUNCH LAUNCH"
Edix: Earth is boring as hell compared to several of the other planets we’ve been to but all in all it’s not bad for an ecosystem in the middle of nowhere
Talan: Yeah I liked the snakes that were big enough to eat humans
Edix: I want this planet nuked. Scorch it. Leave no survivors. Destroy it to ash.
Does Jacob ever learn to speak Venandix? I'd really love to see everyone's favourite catboy actually getting to find out why his human is so "irrationally" scared of him ^^;;
Kinda, but not really lmao
Most of anything he picks up is from Mibao since she actually understands the translation better. The main reason he doesn't make more of an effort to try and learn is because he really doesn't want to be able to communicate with Edix on any deeper level, no matter how frustrating it can be sometimes. It's easier for him to see him as this awful monster as long as he can keep from humanizing him too much, lest he start emphasizing and accepting his captor
Sometimes, though, he'll repeat words he feels more confident in pronouncing which amuses Edix, but he clams up if Edix tries to push him to use it or explain what it means.
Except for the time Jacob unwittingly repeated back a swear words and Edix thought it was hilarious and made him repeat it to Ylva who was not as amused
