why I'm telling you that. Don't worry about it. It's not about me."

were decisions I chose for myself, yeah. I'm not too mad about my lungs. I'm just mad that it was something I had to do to keep living on the surface while normal humans aren't going to follow in my footsteps. I'm kind of a freak of nature to 'em. Hardly even considered one of them.
I don't know

Her voice is without the teasing. The anger. The hostility. All it holds is a tired woman.

"I know you had to. I know it was for the best. But humanity has to suffer the consequence regardless. It sucks. Just say it sucks."

Her voice quiets, and Clef stalls a second.

"Most of my augmentations

say in what happened to them, 𝘡𝘦𝘳𝘰?
Or is that just the price you decided they needed to pay? Your 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥?"

She shoves at him again.

"If you really insist on treating me like a fragile, fleshy human and not someone on par with you Reploids, then fucking answer me."

"𝘈𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳-" shove, "𝘮𝘦."

impossible circumstances.
Maybe you did save them from the worst case scenario.

But I don't have human-like lungs anymore.
And my people will 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳

see the sun

𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

Because of 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 like you, who never gave a 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 about what humanity 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 wanted.

When's the last time 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 had a

expresses genuine anger that can no longer hide behind teasing sarcasm.

"Concern for humanity. The humanity 𝘺𝘰𝘶 hurt."

She slowly puts her hands back down, stuck stiffly at her sides.

"Maybe it's not your fault, Zero. But you're an 𝘢𝘸𝘧𝘶𝘭 protector. Maybe you really did try your best in

person embedded in that war machine, and Clef hates that she has to acknowledge that.

"Do you even give a 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 of what I'm trying to—" Clef cuts herself off with a sharp inhale through her teeth, then she drags her hands down her face. It's rare that 𝘴𝘩𝘦 loses her composure. It's rare that she

ashes

SAGE. SAAAAGE. 😭😭
the little "please" made me SO SAD. NOOO ZERO. NOOO 😭 BRUTAL

( @bitsradomniverse.bsky.social )

" . . . . . . sorry, what am i looking at here? what a . . . unique little dye job. was that DIY'ed? you should fire your barber. "

ashes

THANK YOU!!! i'm grateful, for a second i got a little scared that maybe she was ribbing him 𝘵𝘰𝘰 hard 😭

human povs are like nonexistent in mmx canon, especially during the earth crisis. clef being as antagonistic as she is means i get to explore it 🥹 i'm glad ur enjoying it!! i am too!! 🙏

ashes

i love zero. i loooveee zero. i pinkie promise. 😭 clef is a hater but i love zero 😭😭😭

over what humanity has to go through getting caught in the crossfire of 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 war.

But what's it matter what I say, Zero? You gonna act pragmatic some more? Why don't you add-in telling me how I should feel, how I should act? Does 𝘟 want you to do that, too?"

Fresh water? Sunlight? Plants? What are those? Why would they matter?

Look at me, Clef. I'm Zero, and I'm a war machine whose kind ruined the lives of the very people they swore to protect because we couldn't get a virus under control. If it weren't for your blue boyfriend you wouldn't give a 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵

need, aaallll right here. What'cha need?"

Clef bends down to search a cabinet.

"You human? Don't mind me asking. I rarely ever see 'em."

to protect unless you become the exact same as the combat machine I repaired."

them to say '𝘨𝘦𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴! 𝘋𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘺𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦!'?

Or maybe you'll just say 'what's your point', because God forbid you listen to one of the people you swore

wouldn't know of if I didn't tell you. You don't even talk to the people you think you're protecting. I bet you haven't talked to a single human outside of me. Are they supposed to be 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘧𝘶𝘭? Thankful that they can't live on their own world anymore, because it's been brought to ruin? You expect