Still looks like she's going to be tearing him a virtual new one, so that's something. Someone needs to call him on his idiocy. Maybe he'll learn. ... my hopes are not high, but it's possible.
Good shot pattern, center of chest at least two had to hit heart. This had to be back-up plan with Kyle 2.0 good to see TR still has her standby one word vocabulary.
We'll see what the creators have in mind, but to expand on my theory, if this is a Kyle puppet drone being operated by real Kyle in a sealed chamber with a lot of neurological links attached (possibly still back in his transports cargo space), then it would be reasonable to allow that the puppet's body's nanites and repair functions (along with some external help) could restore itself to some degree of functionality. It may not be able to breath, have a heart beat or pass as living any more, but it could move and interact with its surroundings and let Kyle finish his mission. (A real back up plan if ever there was one.)
I still wonder if TR read the humans in play well enough to engineer Kyle's death just to piss off Acantha enough that she'd take decisive action. like an AI named Wintermute told a hacker named Case after killing his girlfriend: "you gotta hate somebody before this is all over"... Might as well be Decimus.
It might explain why he had a job in the palace for cover when he was supposed to be moving in the direction of Aeneas to repair him. That said, that's awfully twisted, to convince Kyle to commit suicide just so as to upset Nova Roma politics. Worse, it spirals the political and security situation involved out to new depths of unpredictability: You'd think she'd want an environment as predictable as possible to operate in since by definition she cannot hold all the cards in this situation.
Agreed anonymous, Rose should want as predictable an environment as she can get. Don't see her wanting to put Acantha in the firing line though. Was planning on extracting her after all. She is too important to risk in a confrontation with Douchimus right now.
As for Kyle, he needed to be near Acantha so he could convince her to smuggle him into Aeneas' center to do the repairs. Tokyo Rose had no physical access to Aeneas otherwise. So he needed a reason to hang around the palace so he could make contact with Acantha to gain that access.
And no I am by no means trying to suck-up to the almighty Rose, because I'm sure that if I tried, I'd be the one waking up in a morgue right now wondering what the hell Rose did with my poor body.
All I have to say is, GO ROSE!!! Let Kyle have both barrels! And I hope you loaded rock salt in your verbal barrage! You probably will need it to get through a teenager's 'armor' of arrogant ignorance.
Bets on whether Kyle says something like, "But that isn't how it works in the holovids". There isn't an excuse for his actions, but they weren't totally unexpected (apparently).
Give her some credit, please. She has all of one small text balloon here. Rose has had plenty of time to line up some nice verbal barrages, which we'll probably get to see her use on the next page.
I am disappointed: This sets a bad precedent for stupidity being survivable in your story. What's next, Decimus survives too? There are other names that at least deserve consideration for the designation too-stupid-to-live as well.
I'm reminded of the tendency for teens to do stupid stuff and things they might regret. Studies have shown that it's more difficult for them to consider the consequences of their actions. They even have an inclination to think of themselves as more-or-less immortal. Well, Kyle is a teen.
It was stupid and against everything Rose told him. But, still, I think he deserves points for being daring. It was ballsy just to get involved, to plead with Rose to get involved. And even more ballsy to walk into that room, point a gun at their leader, and demand for Lynn's release.
Still, ladies may find such daring to be romantic. And what does it say about us fans of rescue stories, shows, and films?
How often have we seen Hollywood films and stories where the hero does incredibly daring / stupid things? And how often does the hero survive the ordeal, against all odds? Quite often. Is that realistic? No.
Is what Kyle did (very daring stuff and still survives a brush with death) all that different from the heroes in, say, the Prince's Bride or stories such as Tarzan or Zorro?
While it may be a fine line between daring do (bravado to rescue someone) foolishness and just plain stupidity, I think there is a distinction. If anyone in this story deserves the "too-stupid-to-live" title, that would be Decimus. He clearly deserves a Darwin Award.
Very good points, xpace. Kyle tried to act like someone from a holovid and found out the difference between real life and what you see on the info-web.
I'm curious how they pulled this trick off. I'm thinking a secondary pump (what is the heart after all) installed while Kyle was out. Then the nanites sealed the damage and started the pump up. Then they had to save him from the shock, but with a good doctor and the right drugs that wouldn't be hard. Just needs to be done in a timely fashion.
If that is what Rose did to him then she used Douchimus' training against him to keep Kyle alive. Just like the Man With No Name in A Fistful Of Dollars. Figuring Douchimus would, "aim for the heart." :-D
So as long as he's got power, he'll be fine. They can grow him a new heart later.
@Stormwind13. I think your guess here is probably the most plausible one so far, although I am curious how the nanites in his blood system were able to prevent brain death for an extended period without being able to draw any power, or to be able to activate a secondary pump.
I guess that goes back to the premise of "technology 1600 years more advanced than ours".
6 to 10 minutes before brain death occurs, DLK. And the nanites may have an internal power source. It wouldn't need to last too long to turn on the pump when the heart shutdown. If their signal was electrical it could send the signal through the blood, even if wasn't flowing.
At first my reaction was like yours. But the more I think about it the more I think this is the right way to go. The reason being is that it emphasizes that killing/attempting to kill Decimus is not the right way to go. Whatever happens they have to proceed as if he has used similar technology. That forces those moving against him to be inventive.
There is a time and a place to actually kill off Characters.. Im not RR martin i don't kill characters arbitrarily or with out a good reason. I honestly think a lot of my readers would be very disappointed if I just randomly started killing people - Trust me I wanted to kill Kyle off .. but the story says no. he has a part to play yet in this drama ..
Actually R.R. Martin has very good reasons for death of main characters. Ned was naive enough to trust Littlefinger and believe that there is still justice served in King's court, and made bad calls. Robb betrayed deal with man who holds grudges the longest in Seven Kingdoms. That's the most "outrageous" ones, but still caused by their own foolishness. Also keep in mind, that people simply died left and right in medieval times, and I believe we have a case of similar period in his universe.
There's nothing arbitrary about not surviving an attempt at mugging a head of state in their ballroom with no backup; the only thing about this situation that might be arbitrary is presuming that nanotech can be tasked with keeping people alive like this. I mean really, we have nanotechnology in the world right now and have had it for millions of years: It's called bacteria and it's really hard to control.
But I think the main problem with your line of argumentation is that you seem to try to apply our current level in medicine and technology to a world to which those would look like bloodletting as a means to treat everything is looking to us now.
Given that, that is Rose in the red bordered speech bubble. Someone is going to do a lot of explaining and he's going to listen whether he wants to or not.
Rose's explanation should be something like, "I spliced cat DNA into you while you were out. Figured the nine lives might be needed. Didn't figure some dip$hit teenager would use up 4 of them with some macho bull$hit!!!"
Last thing Kyle needs is how he is alive, or he might try something ELSE stupid! If he doesn't know, maybe he'll be more circumspect.
Are you kidding? A toaster has one job: make toast for you. Kyle the Toaster would quite possibly, oh, I dunno, MISFILE YOUR TAXES AND TAKE NAKED PICTURES OF YOUR WIFE INSTEAD. ARGH.
Ahem, welcome to the internet. The phenomenon on display here is known as, "Shipping." Wikipedia can explain it, and the connection with slash-fiction, apparently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_(fandom)
I just just felt the use of plug seals on his chest wounds was a good indication that this was not a living human body but rather a real good simulation of one where blood and internal organs were there more for show than need.
He's now on emergency back up power so no fast moves or showy gymnastics.
Limitation of the figures there. Most male figures load in without genitals (they're a separate figure that can be added as needed), and most clothing doesn't emphasize the male crotch bulge very much. If you're not doing nude shots, it's just plain easier to leave a guy as a Ken doll instead of having to deal with the additional memory load of a genital figure, not to mention having to prevent it from clipping out through clothes that aren't designed to accommodate it.
Sometimes you can't just leave someone there to die... sometimes, as a matter of principle, you have to bring them back so YOU CAN TELL THEM EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK OF THEM!
Which brings me to another perfect end to Prince DecHead... namely ending up as Prince Brain-In-A-Jar, and being forced to watch an endless looping video feed of everyone who has ever had to deal with him giving their unbiased and uncensored opinion of him. >:=D>
Not perfect to me, Goat. Leaves Douchimus 'alive' and able to come back. There are enough whack jobs that I don't want him that CLOSE to getting loose to terrorize even more people!
If you terminated him IMMEDIATELY after he was taunted, it might work. Really want him GONE!
The only thing that bothers me about that scenario Cpt is the fact the murderturd might not eat him. It probably has standards that Douchimus doesn't meet!
Am I the only person here who doesn't want Decimus to die outside of through the direct consequences of his own stupidity? Really not a fan of the death penalty.
At a guess anonymous, yes you probably ARE the only one that doesn't want fatal things to happen to Douchimus, under any circumstance that can be arranged.
Be afraid!
And then get a new whipping boy ?
is no longer being dead
A royal ass chewing rose style! I do so enjoy watching OTHER people getting those. probably not so much fun getting one yourself!
Yup, you go, Rose, and tell him...
(Don't ask me why, but I always somehow confuse Wintermute and Winternight...)
As for Kyle, he needed to be near Acantha so he could convince her to smuggle him into Aeneas' center to do the repairs. Tokyo Rose had no physical access to Aeneas otherwise. So he needed a reason to hang around the palace so he could make contact with Acantha to gain that access.
Bets on whether Kyle says something like, "But that isn't how it works in the holovids". There isn't an excuse for his actions, but they weren't totally unexpected (apparently).
In the other barrel, a whole lot of .. penetration!
I don't feel sorry for Kyle. >_<
Besides, I thought it was a fitting opener.
It was stupid and against everything Rose told him. But, still, I think he deserves points for being daring. It was ballsy just to get involved, to plead with Rose to get involved. And even more ballsy to walk into that room, point a gun at their leader, and demand for Lynn's release.
Still, ladies may find such daring to be romantic. And what does it say about us fans of rescue stories, shows, and films?
How often have we seen Hollywood films and stories where the hero does incredibly daring / stupid things? And how often does the hero survive the ordeal, against all odds? Quite often. Is that realistic? No.
Is what Kyle did (very daring stuff and still survives a brush with death) all that different from the heroes in, say, the Prince's Bride or stories such as Tarzan or Zorro?
While it may be a fine line between daring do (bravado to rescue someone) foolishness and just plain stupidity, I think there is a distinction. If anyone in this story deserves the "too-stupid-to-live" title, that would be Decimus. He clearly deserves a Darwin Award.
I'm curious how they pulled this trick off. I'm thinking a secondary pump (what is the heart after all) installed while Kyle was out. Then the nanites sealed the damage and started the pump up. Then they had to save him from the shock, but with a good doctor and the right drugs that wouldn't be hard. Just needs to be done in a timely fashion.
If that is what Rose did to him then she used Douchimus' training against him to keep Kyle alive. Just like the Man With No Name in A Fistful Of Dollars. Figuring Douchimus would, "aim for the heart." :-D
So as long as he's got power, he'll be fine. They can grow him a new heart later.
I guess that goes back to the premise of "technology 1600 years more advanced than ours".
But I think the main problem with your line of argumentation is that you seem to try to apply our current level in medicine and technology to a world to which those would look like bloodletting as a means to treat everything is looking to us now.
Last thing Kyle needs is how he is alive, or he might try something ELSE stupid! If he doesn't know, maybe he'll be more circumspect.
Turns out Kyle was only "MOSTLY dead." :-D
So I googled 1 UP.
... there's .. there's porn of it !
I'm sorry, is this your first time on the Internet? ;)
Well, fellow students. Please help Sheela out here and recite with me:
"Rule 34 of the internet: If it exists,..."
But it still manages to surprise me from time to time. :)
...oh...
Did you end up on Hentai Foundry too ?
And then it would die.
there's a thin line between bravery and stupidity Kyle, and you leapt over it.
Maybe that's just my secret wishes for Acantha and Lynn to become a thing... Lol
I mean, considering the outcome of what he just did. >_<
He's now on emergency back up power so no fast moves or showy gymnastics.
The internet would be shocked, SHOCKED I say!!
Possibly by the powerplant that Tokyo Rose owns, but that's another matter. :)
Which brings me to another perfect end to Prince DecHead... namely ending up as Prince Brain-In-A-Jar, and being forced to watch an endless looping video feed of everyone who has ever had to deal with him giving their unbiased and uncensored opinion of him. >:=D>
If you terminated him IMMEDIATELY after he was taunted, it might work. Really want him GONE!
Nothing is getting his remains back then.
"DANG! HE SHOT ME!!!"