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ajremixBecause I'm obsessive and just about everyone I've told about this is an enabler, I present to you:
He's a laidback snarky locksmith. She's a top-rated ass-kicking machine. Together they jump off buildings. (well, one building. so far. it was coming down anyway.)
In an insignificant box-canyon there are two bases: one Red Army, one Blue Army. They fight each other constantly. Sometimes they even fight the guys on the other team. Hijinks and the occasional plot ensue.
Red vs Blue is an online machinima series based on the Halo video game franchise and created by Rooster Teeth. The series currently spans nine seasons (with a tenth on the way), a number of mini-series (not all of which are canonical) and even more PSAs (which are definitely not canonical). The entire series is available for free on their website, digital download through iTunes and Zune as well as being on DVD through their store (i've also seen season 8 being sold in best buy which i thought was hilarious and a little surreal). Recently the show won the International Academy of Web Television's award for Best Animated Webseries.
Asides from the titular Red and Blue teams, there's a third organization mentioned in season 1 and has gained so much importance in the series through the years that half of season 9 is dedicated to them. This organization is known as Project Freelancer. One of the major characters, Tex, was our first exposure to the Freelancers. Through the series proper we're introduced to four other Freelancers: Wyoming, Maine, South Dakota and Washington (two of which are major antagonists, one a minor antagonist and the last a major character). If you've noticed a pattern in the names, yes, they're all given State codenames. Also all of them are seriously messed up in one way or another.
Project Freelancer is- or was, rather -a Special Operations program that experimented in the use of aggressive AI implanted in the minds of highly trained soldiers. Horrifically, the entire 'Red vs Blue' war is actually part of a training simulation for the Project. The simulation troops, as the Freelancers call them, are culled from the military based on low scores and field skills and are basically fodder for Freelancer agents to train on. Kinda makes you wonder how much the UNSC fits into all of this is...
What it all comes down to, though, is Project Freelancer was deemed a failure; by the end of season 6, everyone involved was arrested and all the major Freelancer agents, by the way, have either been killed or driven crazy by their experimental AI (which, it turns out, they weren't even supposed to have; welfare of others was not at the top of the project director's list).
The subjects of this manifesto, if you haven't figured it out already, are two such Freelancers. And, if you also haven't figured it out already, it's not going to have a very happy ending.
It should be noted that, in the very beginning of the series, the guys behind Rooster Teeth did not expect the series to become as popular or as sprawling as it did. Occasional plotlines were put in place but never resolved due to various issues and some things were retconned causing other things to not make sense in the bigger picture. At this point, however, these contradictions don't seem to interfere with any information pertinent to this essay so I won't cover them.
Known exclusively as York, he's first seen in the mini-series Out of Mind which takes place between Tex leaving the main series near the end of season 4 and her return in season 5. The mini itself focuses mostly on Tex and gives us a little background into the Project (some of which might now be deemed questionable due to recent season reveals) but it also gives us some interesting facts about York.
The immediate takeaways are that he used to work with Tex as a Freelancer, he's an infiltration specialist and a highly skilled locksmith, he's partly blind in his left eye due to an incident with Tex and Wyoming (who she's trying to track), he's the host of Delta, the second AI (properly) introduced into the series and he's irreverent even to the show's biggest badass.
York: Whoa whoa, you said an encrypted lock. This is a holographic lock.
Tex: Is there a difference?
York: Yeah, hence the two names.
Tex: So can you open it or not?
York: Of course I can! It's just much harder. I just brought it up 'cause I wanted you to realize how kick-ass I am.
Tex: I'm convinced, get to work.
He's, unfortunately, killed by Wyoming in the last episode of the mini but in his short appearance there were two defining traits to his character. One is his relationship with the AI Delta: the two banter and work in tandem- a definite far cry from Tex who wants to hunt down and destroy her AI Omega, the big bad of the first five seasons. The second is the fact that Tex- again, show's biggest badass -actively went out for her way to get his help. In fact, throughout the entire mini-series she treats York essentially as an equal, something she really hasn't done to any other character before or since. Even though she wasn't exactly broken up over he's death, there's certainly a surprising amount of concern at his injury and a rare softness when Delta opts to stay with York until he dies (at the time she and delta both believed armor protocols would wipe the ai program). It isn't until season 9 that we begin to see why Tex might respect him as she did.
The Freelancer half of season 9 takes place in flashback and York is reintroduced into the series the same time Tex is: in the training accident that left York partly blind. The episode is basically there to show what a badass Tex is as not only is she sparing against York, but also Wyoming and Maine at the same time. And soundly curbstomping all three of them. York's skill as a Freelancer shouldn't be written off solely by this, by the way. Earlier on we're shown a scoreboard that ranks the top six Freelancers with York occupying the second slot. It should also be noted that in the fight against Tex, York seems to be the one holding her off the best and is the only one of the three that manages to block any of her attacks (which ultimately didn't mean much) and even after watching her toss Maine into Wyoming, the other Freelancers watching aren't openly impressed until she put York on his ass.
Despite the repeated (and occasionally humiliating) beatdowns, there are a couple character-defining moments for York in the episode. He repeatedly attempts to reign Wyoming and Maine (both previous season antagonists, i should note) into working as a team. He also has a sense of fairplay, attempting to switch to Tex's side when Wyoming and Maine start using unauthorized live ammunition. The training session ends when Maine throws a grenade Wyoming gave him and it explodes in York's face. Probably not the teamwork York was hoping for.
That is far from the last we see of York, however. Despite being taken away by a medical team he's soon back on his feet and inviting himself on a mission to break in and steal an unknown package. From there he goes on to unlock a door and accidentally set off an alarm at the same time, secure an escape route, help destroy a building, jump off said building, drive a car in a high speed chase, jump out of said car during high speed chase, make flippant remarks the entire time and prove he may be genre savvy. He has a busy day.
Conflicts between Out of Mind and recent seasons:
So I sort of lied about not mentioning contradictions. This isn't directly related to the meat of the essay but it may give something to consider concerning the environment the Freelancers work in. It was stated that, at some unspecified time, York left Project Freelancer and that it failed yet the Project is still on going for a couple more seasons and he still retains his armor, his special equipment (a healing unit) and, most importantly, his AI Delta. Considering the amount of importance AI are given, this last bit is especially confusing. Why would he be let go without having all that military property taken away from him? There's nothing to suggest York escaped on his own and is being hunted and if he was, it would only make sense that York would either disable the recovery beacon (which activated upon his death and began the second mini-series recovery one) in his armor or get rid of the thing entirely.
It leads me to think that York wasn't as 'let go' as they say. Coupled with the fact that there have been several instances where those in charge of the Project prove they aren't the most forthcoming or honest of organizations, I have to wonder how far the Project would go to keep their agents complacent... #tinfoilhat
The first mention we hear about Carolina is shortly after Tex returns in season 5. Tex explains to her occasional boyfriend, Church, where she'd been (the out of mind mini-series) and when she says she met up with York, Church automatically asks if Carolina was with him to which Tex replies that Carolina is already dead. The second mention of Carolina is in season 6. Delta, instead of being destroyed at the end of Out of Mind as he believed he would be, was recovered by another Freelancer, Wash (all covered in recovery one). Delta explains some of the AI-related experiments that went on in Project Freelancer, one of which being Carolina.
Delta: For instance, Agent Carolina was implanted with two AIs at one time.
Church: Two of them? That would drive me nuts.
Delta: Indeed. She only functioned for a short time and not very well while she did. Having three minds at one time proved far too... taxing.
During the Freelancer-flashback sequences in season 9, we get to meet Carolina and immediate consensus is she's nearly as badass as Tex. While York was given a healing unit as special equipment, Carolina has two: a camouflage unit and a super speed unit. The former is used twice in the season, the later once.
Carolina's proper introduction into the series is actually a bit of a fake-out, using her camouflage unit and the reaction of the Dakota twins (who she was sent to support) to make the audience believe she was Tex. Her fighting style, however, is very different (tvtropes lists carolina as a dance battler while tex is more of a brawler) as is her armor and voice. Carolina then 'escorts' the twins into a evac ship, trades some dry-wit banter with their pilot and assists in trying to get some pursuers off their tail.
After a debriefing with the Director, Carolina offers to speak with South who had stomped furiously off (north wisely tells her not to). This is actually an interesting difference between Carolina and Tex- the former seems to look out for her teammates, the latter... really does not. Granted, if someone says something she feels is uncalled for Carolina will firmly put them in their place but that's a far cry from Tex whose sociopathic behavior is generally played for laughs. This moment of concern also doesn't last long- the next time we see Carolina, she's watching the training match between Tex and the others and comes off as rather... aggressive about the whole thing. She seems suspicious and accusatory about the training and Tex's arrival, snaps at South accusing Carolina of being concerned about her position at the top of the board and at CT for suggesting the Director gave Wyoming and Maine unauthorized live ammo.
In the aftermath of the grenade, Carolina notices Tex's shoulder sparking but is unable to confront her before the Director arrives to berate them for interrupting the match. Soon after, the Freelancers are sent on another mission which Carolina heads up and it's obvious from her mannerisms that leading a team is not a new thing to her- another thing that differentiates her from Tex. While Tex is not afraid of taking the lead, she mostly depends on herself to get the job done and generally tells the others to stay out of her way (then again, she mostly hangs out with the blues who aren't that good at... anything). Carolina, meanwhile, seems to have little problem delegating tasks and trusts others to do their job.
So the mission begins and Carolina goes on to find the objective, kick Maine out a window, get attacked by a guy with a flamethrower, throw a purple plane and then a gravity hammer in the face of said guy with the flamethrower, jump off a building, ride in a car, fight jetpack people, apparently break the sound barrier on foot, nearly get run over by a truck, hit a wall at highway speeds and watch Tex grab the package she worked so hard to secure. She has a busier day than York.
The Freelancer segment ends with Tex taking over the top spot and the now second place Carolina talking to the Director, stating she'd do anything for the Project and the Director who she feels she owes everything to. The entire season ends with the reveal that Carolina is in fact not dead, but helped the Reds and Blues rescue Epsilon!Church (long story) so he can help her find the Director. So she can kill him. Season 10 will probably be very interesting.
Our first hint that there's something between the two is that line of dialogue from Church in season 5, asking if Carolina was with York. We've only known two other Freelancers at this point- Tex and Wyoming -and neither really seem like the partner type. That automatically brings up three possibilities behind Church's question: 1) Carolina and York were officially partnered by the program, 2) they have a familial relationship, or 3) they have a known romantic/very close relationship.
In season 9 the first and most obvious thing that suggests there may be something between York and Carolina is the simple fact that, like Tex, Carolina doesn't treat York like she does anyone else in the show. With other Freelancers, Carolina is sharp, concise and holds them at a professional distance. York, meanwhile, is only one of two people Carolina actually banters with. When York is injured during training, she hangs back long enough to call for a medical team and yet is still the first one at his side, showing open concern for him. Comparatively, when North takes a number of bullets to the chest she's not shown checking on him during evac or when they meet later.
It was episode 13 that really pinged me to this pairing: Carolina is leading the briefing for a mission and, with York still in the infirmary, hands lockpicking duties over to Wash. That is, until York comes in, having checked himself out of medical early. And Carolina- who has been shown to be a practical, professional hardass -immediately leaves the briefing table to talk to him.
And there's just something about the way this is framed and how they enter the shot that automatically makes me think of those cheesy-romantic meadow runs. You know- the one where two characters come at each other from opposite sides of the screen and fall into each others arms in slow motion. That comparison hit me the first time I saw this scene and still hits me with each consecutive viewing.
There's also an interesting bit of dialogue from Wash: "Listen I'm happy to see him too..." That's an... odd choice of words. 'Relieved that he's okay' or perhaps 'Glad he's back on his feet' would be understandable, but 'Happy to see him' implies a certain level of closeness- at least friendship level closeness. One that Wash freely implies Carolina also shares with York and which she doesn't dismiss. Carolina brushes off Wash's concern saying, "If York says he's good, then he's good." Then she goes to York's said and asks, "You're good, right?" Even though she implicitly trusts York, she still shows an awful lot of concern for him. Also: cue the violins.
Episode 14 gives us two very subtle moments in which York returns some level of closeness. The first one comes during the dialogue exchange:
Carolina: Thanks York, but do something about that alarm system. We don't need any more surprises.
York: Does saying sorry count as something?
Carolina: ...
York: Hmm, guess not.
If you listen to the audio, York's voice actually changes to a tone I don't recall hearing from him at any other time. It takes on a lower register and becomes something I can only describe as 'smoky'. There's a clear sense of teasing and familiarity in his voice that doesn't come across when he talks with anyone else (also, if you pay close attention to wash's body language, it makes it seem like york's inappropriate flirting is not an uncommon occurrence). Then, shortly after, as York goes to secure an escape route and Carolina take Wash and Maine to find their objective, there's this very-easy-to-miss moment.
I swear to God, York takes a moment to check out Carolina's ass. You cannot convince me otherwise. Not that I can blame him. I mean- just look at them hips swing!
Episode 15 is awesome and should be watched even if it had very little focus on York and Carolina's relationship. It does have one moment, though, when everyone has flung themselves off a collapsing building and Tex gets the objective and Wash into the evac ship, leaving York and Carolina to continue plunging to their deaths:
York: Well there goes our ride.
Carolina: You think maybe we should have had a fallback plan?
Gotta love characters that make time for one final bit of banter before they go splat. Though, in their case, they participate in possibly the greatest car catch ever of all time so they can continue to be Freelancer badasses for the last five episodes of the season.
The rest of their on-screen time together is mostly action focused but there is one very important moment built up through Carolina's actions through episode 17 and culminating in with the very last shot. It is incredibly, incredibly obvious that Carolina is highly competitive just from the way she acts around Tex (the fact that she doesn't act like this at all around York, the only Freelancer whose score is remotely close to hers, says something on its own). When the race for the second objective is reduced to York and Carolina in a jeep and Tex on a motorcycle, this exchange happens:
Carolina: Don't let her grab it first.
York: Who cares who gets it first?
Carolina: I do.
We then see just how far Carolina is willing to push herself, damn near kill herself, to be the one to grab the objective. And yet, in the end, it's yanked out of her hands by Tex, leaving Carolina to stare after her, holding herself in pain. Then a ship drops in to pick Carolina up and York hangs out the back, holding a hand out to her. And Carolina, who spent most of the season being a one-woman army, being cold and harsh to other Freelancers, trying to prove herself better than the newcomer, who is hurt and beaten and lost, takes it without a word or hesitation.
The shot is focused solely on their hands. It's not about how much pain Carolina is in, it's not about the act of York helping her into the ship. It's about that one moment of York reaching out and Carolina accepting and the moment she does, the scene promptly ends. It is so very easy to infer from how that one moment ties in the rest of the episode, from how it's framed and cut, that no matter what happens, York is there for her and Carolina wants him to be there.
So the tragic part about these Freelancer-focused flashbacks is we already know what's going to happen to pretty much all these characters. We know that Wash will be driven crazy by his AI, that South will purposefully causes North's death and that she'll leave Wash for dead only for him to come back and kill her. We know that Wyoming and Tex will die, that Maine will go crazy and kill other Freelancers for their AI and equipment before being thrown off a cliff by the Blood Gulch crew, the same crew that will eventually kill CT with a floating laser eye.
We know that Carolina will be implanted with two AI at some point and be driven crazy by them. We know that York will eventually leave the Project and then be killed by Wyoming. At some point in their future- in the show's past -the two will lose track of each other. Tex believed Carolina had died, it's very likely York believed the same, was perhaps told that by the Director. He will die without ever knowing that she's still alive, a broken and tortured shadow wanting revenge.
So why, if it's already a foregone conclusion that this will all end badly, should anyone ship them? Well first off because both are so very interesting characters. Carolina is tough, confident and is the best at what she does. Despite her controlled personality she can be surprisingly passionate and has a dry sense of humor she shares only with a select few. York is a bad liar, good humored and very possibly the nicest, most well-adjusted Freelancer in the show. Despite showing open concern for his fellow agents, he's also unafraid to be openly critical about them and admits to sometimes letting his pride overrule sense.
Their personalities compliment each other and their interactions suggest they see each other as equals if not friends. And yet there's just enough differences in their personalities to give them some friction- York's growing concern about the Project vs Carolina's blind loyalty to the Director. York's eventual friendship with Tex vs Carolina's rivalry with her. It keeps them from being dull because one won't always agree with the other and they show at least enough respect toward each other that it's likely they'll work out most of their issues like adults. Except, possibly, the two subjects mentioned previously. If those are brought up, it'll probably end up being a major issue for the two and that also helps to keep them and their relationship interesting.
In a way, their tragic end is also an interesting factor in their relationship: will they have a romantic relationship before it all comes to an end? If they have one now, will they work out their issues before everything goes to hell? Or will their stubbornness or the Project itself cause them to split beforehand? How will Carolina react to news of York's death? Is it possibly one of the reasons why she's hunting down the Director? Will Rooster Teeth pull something out of their asses and make York not dead and give them a happy ending? What? I write fic, dammit- I can dream.
Personally I think these two have, canonically, one of two relationships: 1) they've hooked up and their relationship is basically an open secret, 2) their relationship is publically ambiguous due to their alternately blatantly flirting with each other and acting strictly professional but they haven't actually engaged in a relationship because they're not entirely certain if the other is just teasing or not, plus the whole focused on the mission/don't want to ruin a good thing/don't want to commit when their lives are constantly in danger thing. The last setting works for maximum drama when Tex comes into play because I fully believe she enjoys trolling Carolina and what better way than sabotaging her not-relationship with York?
So, to my knowledge, those that write fanfiction for RvB is actually fairly small- on ff.net they're lumped into the same category as the rest of Halo -and those that focus on Freelancers and not-OC Freelancers is even smaller. So the amount of people that write York/Carolina is... not very many. But damn is there some quality if you look in the right places.
RvBfics.com is the largest website dedicated solely to RvB fics that I know of (it is, in fact, the only such one that i know of) and there's even a category for Carolina/York fics which I shall kindly link for you. Tumblr is full of amazing writers and is the second easiest place to find lots of great work. Additional work can be found on fanfiction.net, deviantart and livejournal, though they're a little harder to find.
It's tough to narrow it down to the best, but I'll try to. I'll break it up into two sections- romance and non –because most writers seem to agree that the two of them together, whether love is in the equation or not, is wonderful.
Friendship:
Above All Else by Mumblybee
"He did his job and he did it well and the only time he ever really needed a reprimand was when he seemed to forget that he was part of a military operation and tried telling knock-knock jokes over the radio."
Summary: A look at York and Carolina, early on in their relationship when York's determined to friendly up and just confuses and frustrates Carolina instead.
All Tied Up by snipingqueen
"Plan?" he asked as he searched the area again in the off chance he had overlooked anything.
Carolina laughed, "Never let you lead again."
Summary: While on mission, Carolina and an injured York are captured and must work together to escape a rogue agent.
York vs the Hospital Bed by Mumblybee
"Only you, York, would somehow manage to get yourself out of bed with god-only-knows how much tranquilizer in your veins," she grumbled at him."
Summary: After the grenade incident, Carolina visits York who apparently doesn't like beds.
Untitled by Mumblybee
"Why was it so…why was talking so hard? Talking was what he was good at; shutting up was the challenge. But somehow here he was with half his head wrapped in bloody gauze while words slipped by, thick and heavy…"
Summary: Carolina visits York in the hospital and reminds him that not everyone is a team player.
Smooth Jazz by Shaherazade
"“Welcome to York 106.7 … smooth jazz. Hey all you agents out there this is New York coming to you live from good ol’ Mother of Invention. Bringing you the tunes you wanna hear. This first song is dedicated to Agent Washington ‘Sometimes Rules are Meant to be Broken’ by Elevator #4."
Summary: Because a minor annoyance like 'hospital stay' isn't going to stop York from entertaining himself.
Take it Down a Notch by runawayballista
"We might’ve got what we went in for, but we fucked up. This –" She throws an accusatory finger at the ranking board. "This is proof of that."
Summary: After the sarcophagus mission, York tries to mollify a defeated Carolina.
Take My Hand by snipingqueen
"The world flew by in a blur; people, buildings, nothing mattered as the two raced. Delta warned him as the first bullet screamed by his left. He threw himself into a roll and came up facing their pursuers, firing as he regained his footing. Beside him, Carolina had simply ceased all movements as if unsure what course of action to take."
Summary: On mission is a bad time to figure out Carolina isn't adjusting well to her AI.
Broken Channels by Mumblybee
"Layered somewhere in the static she hears what he’s said to her a thousand missions over:
Hey, ‘Lina? We good to go home now?"
Summary: York is gone but his channel is still open.
Love:
Friends in the Dark by runawayballista
"He was grinning, though, that lopsided grin he always had, and his eyes were lidded and his face was flushed, and his mussed hair was matted to his forehead in places. He looked so ridiculous in that moment that Carolina couldn’t help but laugh again, and he laughed, too."
Summary: NSFW. After a tough mission there's a night of drinking and something that shouldn't have happened.
Dinner in Bed by Reeberry
"It most definitely is not. My answer is still that I wouldn’t do karaoke, romantic or otherwise."
"What if it was do it or die?"
Summary: A little dinner, a little bed activity and a little serenading. In other words, it's Valentine's Day.
Five Things Carolina Learned from York by Mumblybee
"She has built a career from camouflage and stern masks and silence, but he makes her want to stop hiding."
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin.
Mornings in Love by Kaiyo no Hime
"Of course, he was no longer second in Carolina's heart, he was now third. First came the Director, and now came the jealousy for the mysterious new recruit, the unknown Agent Texas."
Summary: The night before implantation, York always knew Carolina would pick the Project over him.
Policies of Relation by runawayballista
"You have no intention of pursuing an intimate relationship with Agent Carolina, and yet you continue to harbor such feelings for her. Why is that?”
“It’s out of my hands, D. I don’t really get much of a say on it."
Summary: In which Delta fails to comprehend York's emotions for Carolina.
Talk it Out by Mumblybee
"She had told him once, back when she was able to form a coherent sentence on a consistent basis, that the AI distorted her sense of time. So now he was trying to talk her back to him."
Summary: Carolina isn't coping well and all York can do for her is be there.
You Know My Darling by Reeberry
"She was sitting in a coffee shop when the speakers began to play music. Old music. The kind of music that York would listen to while making coffee in the morning."
Summary: Carolina contemplates coffee, loneliness and the person they're both linked to.
Video/Art:
Number One by rainy-has-wings
Summary: A Carolina/York tribute video. Sound quality isn't great, but it's a bittersweet song set to a slideshow of fanart.Also has the added bonus of linking all the artists featured so I don't have to do it myself!
If you feel I've missed anything that deserves mention, put up a link in the comments and thank you for reading!
Titles taken from Jeff William's Falling Toward the Sky and Can't Trust Anybody Now, Trocadero's Blood Gulch Blues, Good Fight and Champion. Transcripts taken from Rooster Tooths.
He's a laidback snarky locksmith. She's a top-rated ass-kicking machine. Together they jump off buildings. (well, one building. so far. it was coming down anyway.)
In an insignificant box-canyon there are two bases: one Red Army, one Blue Army. They fight each other constantly. Sometimes they even fight the guys on the other team. Hijinks and the occasional plot ensue.
Red vs Blue is an online machinima series based on the Halo video game franchise and created by Rooster Teeth. The series currently spans nine seasons (with a tenth on the way), a number of mini-series (not all of which are canonical) and even more PSAs (which are definitely not canonical). The entire series is available for free on their website, digital download through iTunes and Zune as well as being on DVD through their store (i've also seen season 8 being sold in best buy which i thought was hilarious and a little surreal). Recently the show won the International Academy of Web Television's award for Best Animated Webseries.
Asides from the titular Red and Blue teams, there's a third organization mentioned in season 1 and has gained so much importance in the series through the years that half of season 9 is dedicated to them. This organization is known as Project Freelancer. One of the major characters, Tex, was our first exposure to the Freelancers. Through the series proper we're introduced to four other Freelancers: Wyoming, Maine, South Dakota and Washington (two of which are major antagonists, one a minor antagonist and the last a major character). If you've noticed a pattern in the names, yes, they're all given State codenames. Also all of them are seriously messed up in one way or another.
Project Freelancer is- or was, rather -a Special Operations program that experimented in the use of aggressive AI implanted in the minds of highly trained soldiers. Horrifically, the entire 'Red vs Blue' war is actually part of a training simulation for the Project. The simulation troops, as the Freelancers call them, are culled from the military based on low scores and field skills and are basically fodder for Freelancer agents to train on. Kinda makes you wonder how much the UNSC fits into all of this is...
What it all comes down to, though, is Project Freelancer was deemed a failure; by the end of season 6, everyone involved was arrested and all the major Freelancer agents, by the way, have either been killed or driven crazy by their experimental AI (which, it turns out, they weren't even supposed to have; welfare of others was not at the top of the project director's list).
The subjects of this manifesto, if you haven't figured it out already, are two such Freelancers. And, if you also haven't figured it out already, it's not going to have a very happy ending.
It should be noted that, in the very beginning of the series, the guys behind Rooster Teeth did not expect the series to become as popular or as sprawling as it did. Occasional plotlines were put in place but never resolved due to various issues and some things were retconned causing other things to not make sense in the bigger picture. At this point, however, these contradictions don't seem to interfere with any information pertinent to this essay so I won't cover them.
Known exclusively as York, he's first seen in the mini-series Out of Mind which takes place between Tex leaving the main series near the end of season 4 and her return in season 5. The mini itself focuses mostly on Tex and gives us a little background into the Project (some of which might now be deemed questionable due to recent season reveals) but it also gives us some interesting facts about York.
The immediate takeaways are that he used to work with Tex as a Freelancer, he's an infiltration specialist and a highly skilled locksmith, he's partly blind in his left eye due to an incident with Tex and Wyoming (who she's trying to track), he's the host of Delta, the second AI (properly) introduced into the series and he's irreverent even to the show's biggest badass.
York: Whoa whoa, you said an encrypted lock. This is a holographic lock.
Tex: Is there a difference?
York: Yeah, hence the two names.
Tex: So can you open it or not?
York: Of course I can! It's just much harder. I just brought it up 'cause I wanted you to realize how kick-ass I am.
Tex: I'm convinced, get to work.
He's, unfortunately, killed by Wyoming in the last episode of the mini but in his short appearance there were two defining traits to his character. One is his relationship with the AI Delta: the two banter and work in tandem- a definite far cry from Tex who wants to hunt down and destroy her AI Omega, the big bad of the first five seasons. The second is the fact that Tex- again, show's biggest badass -actively went out for her way to get his help. In fact, throughout the entire mini-series she treats York essentially as an equal, something she really hasn't done to any other character before or since. Even though she wasn't exactly broken up over he's death, there's certainly a surprising amount of concern at his injury and a rare softness when Delta opts to stay with York until he dies (at the time she and delta both believed armor protocols would wipe the ai program). It isn't until season 9 that we begin to see why Tex might respect him as she did.
The Freelancer half of season 9 takes place in flashback and York is reintroduced into the series the same time Tex is: in the training accident that left York partly blind. The episode is basically there to show what a badass Tex is as not only is she sparing against York, but also Wyoming and Maine at the same time. And soundly curbstomping all three of them. York's skill as a Freelancer shouldn't be written off solely by this, by the way. Earlier on we're shown a scoreboard that ranks the top six Freelancers with York occupying the second slot. It should also be noted that in the fight against Tex, York seems to be the one holding her off the best and is the only one of the three that manages to block any of her attacks (which ultimately didn't mean much) and even after watching her toss Maine into Wyoming, the other Freelancers watching aren't openly impressed until she put York on his ass.
Despite the repeated (and occasionally humiliating) beatdowns, there are a couple character-defining moments for York in the episode. He repeatedly attempts to reign Wyoming and Maine (both previous season antagonists, i should note) into working as a team. He also has a sense of fairplay, attempting to switch to Tex's side when Wyoming and Maine start using unauthorized live ammunition. The training session ends when Maine throws a grenade Wyoming gave him and it explodes in York's face. Probably not the teamwork York was hoping for.
That is far from the last we see of York, however. Despite being taken away by a medical team he's soon back on his feet and inviting himself on a mission to break in and steal an unknown package. From there he goes on to unlock a door and accidentally set off an alarm at the same time, secure an escape route, help destroy a building, jump off said building, drive a car in a high speed chase, jump out of said car during high speed chase, make flippant remarks the entire time and prove he may be genre savvy. He has a busy day.
Conflicts between Out of Mind and recent seasons:
So I sort of lied about not mentioning contradictions. This isn't directly related to the meat of the essay but it may give something to consider concerning the environment the Freelancers work in. It was stated that, at some unspecified time, York left Project Freelancer and that it failed yet the Project is still on going for a couple more seasons and he still retains his armor, his special equipment (a healing unit) and, most importantly, his AI Delta. Considering the amount of importance AI are given, this last bit is especially confusing. Why would he be let go without having all that military property taken away from him? There's nothing to suggest York escaped on his own and is being hunted and if he was, it would only make sense that York would either disable the recovery beacon (which activated upon his death and began the second mini-series recovery one) in his armor or get rid of the thing entirely.
It leads me to think that York wasn't as 'let go' as they say. Coupled with the fact that there have been several instances where those in charge of the Project prove they aren't the most forthcoming or honest of organizations, I have to wonder how far the Project would go to keep their agents complacent... #tinfoilhat
The first mention we hear about Carolina is shortly after Tex returns in season 5. Tex explains to her occasional boyfriend, Church, where she'd been (the out of mind mini-series) and when she says she met up with York, Church automatically asks if Carolina was with him to which Tex replies that Carolina is already dead. The second mention of Carolina is in season 6. Delta, instead of being destroyed at the end of Out of Mind as he believed he would be, was recovered by another Freelancer, Wash (all covered in recovery one). Delta explains some of the AI-related experiments that went on in Project Freelancer, one of which being Carolina.
Delta: For instance, Agent Carolina was implanted with two AIs at one time.
Church: Two of them? That would drive me nuts.
Delta: Indeed. She only functioned for a short time and not very well while she did. Having three minds at one time proved far too... taxing.
During the Freelancer-flashback sequences in season 9, we get to meet Carolina and immediate consensus is she's nearly as badass as Tex. While York was given a healing unit as special equipment, Carolina has two: a camouflage unit and a super speed unit. The former is used twice in the season, the later once.
Carolina's proper introduction into the series is actually a bit of a fake-out, using her camouflage unit and the reaction of the Dakota twins (who she was sent to support) to make the audience believe she was Tex. Her fighting style, however, is very different (tvtropes lists carolina as a dance battler while tex is more of a brawler) as is her armor and voice. Carolina then 'escorts' the twins into a evac ship, trades some dry-wit banter with their pilot and assists in trying to get some pursuers off their tail.
After a debriefing with the Director, Carolina offers to speak with South who had stomped furiously off (north wisely tells her not to). This is actually an interesting difference between Carolina and Tex- the former seems to look out for her teammates, the latter... really does not. Granted, if someone says something she feels is uncalled for Carolina will firmly put them in their place but that's a far cry from Tex whose sociopathic behavior is generally played for laughs. This moment of concern also doesn't last long- the next time we see Carolina, she's watching the training match between Tex and the others and comes off as rather... aggressive about the whole thing. She seems suspicious and accusatory about the training and Tex's arrival, snaps at South accusing Carolina of being concerned about her position at the top of the board and at CT for suggesting the Director gave Wyoming and Maine unauthorized live ammo.
In the aftermath of the grenade, Carolina notices Tex's shoulder sparking but is unable to confront her before the Director arrives to berate them for interrupting the match. Soon after, the Freelancers are sent on another mission which Carolina heads up and it's obvious from her mannerisms that leading a team is not a new thing to her- another thing that differentiates her from Tex. While Tex is not afraid of taking the lead, she mostly depends on herself to get the job done and generally tells the others to stay out of her way (then again, she mostly hangs out with the blues who aren't that good at... anything). Carolina, meanwhile, seems to have little problem delegating tasks and trusts others to do their job.
So the mission begins and Carolina goes on to find the objective, kick Maine out a window, get attacked by a guy with a flamethrower, throw a purple plane and then a gravity hammer in the face of said guy with the flamethrower, jump off a building, ride in a car, fight jetpack people, apparently break the sound barrier on foot, nearly get run over by a truck, hit a wall at highway speeds and watch Tex grab the package she worked so hard to secure. She has a busier day than York.
The Freelancer segment ends with Tex taking over the top spot and the now second place Carolina talking to the Director, stating she'd do anything for the Project and the Director who she feels she owes everything to. The entire season ends with the reveal that Carolina is in fact not dead, but helped the Reds and Blues rescue Epsilon!Church (long story) so he can help her find the Director. So she can kill him. Season 10 will probably be very interesting.
Our first hint that there's something between the two is that line of dialogue from Church in season 5, asking if Carolina was with York. We've only known two other Freelancers at this point- Tex and Wyoming -and neither really seem like the partner type. That automatically brings up three possibilities behind Church's question: 1) Carolina and York were officially partnered by the program, 2) they have a familial relationship, or 3) they have a known romantic/very close relationship.
In season 9 the first and most obvious thing that suggests there may be something between York and Carolina is the simple fact that, like Tex, Carolina doesn't treat York like she does anyone else in the show. With other Freelancers, Carolina is sharp, concise and holds them at a professional distance. York, meanwhile, is only one of two people Carolina actually banters with. When York is injured during training, she hangs back long enough to call for a medical team and yet is still the first one at his side, showing open concern for him. Comparatively, when North takes a number of bullets to the chest she's not shown checking on him during evac or when they meet later.
It was episode 13 that really pinged me to this pairing: Carolina is leading the briefing for a mission and, with York still in the infirmary, hands lockpicking duties over to Wash. That is, until York comes in, having checked himself out of medical early. And Carolina- who has been shown to be a practical, professional hardass -immediately leaves the briefing table to talk to him.
And there's just something about the way this is framed and how they enter the shot that automatically makes me think of those cheesy-romantic meadow runs. You know- the one where two characters come at each other from opposite sides of the screen and fall into each others arms in slow motion. That comparison hit me the first time I saw this scene and still hits me with each consecutive viewing.
There's also an interesting bit of dialogue from Wash: "Listen I'm happy to see him too..." That's an... odd choice of words. 'Relieved that he's okay' or perhaps 'Glad he's back on his feet' would be understandable, but 'Happy to see him' implies a certain level of closeness- at least friendship level closeness. One that Wash freely implies Carolina also shares with York and which she doesn't dismiss. Carolina brushes off Wash's concern saying, "If York says he's good, then he's good." Then she goes to York's said and asks, "You're good, right?" Even though she implicitly trusts York, she still shows an awful lot of concern for him. Also: cue the violins.
Episode 14 gives us two very subtle moments in which York returns some level of closeness. The first one comes during the dialogue exchange:
Carolina: Thanks York, but do something about that alarm system. We don't need any more surprises.
York: Does saying sorry count as something?
Carolina: ...
York: Hmm, guess not.
If you listen to the audio, York's voice actually changes to a tone I don't recall hearing from him at any other time. It takes on a lower register and becomes something I can only describe as 'smoky'. There's a clear sense of teasing and familiarity in his voice that doesn't come across when he talks with anyone else (also, if you pay close attention to wash's body language, it makes it seem like york's inappropriate flirting is not an uncommon occurrence). Then, shortly after, as York goes to secure an escape route and Carolina take Wash and Maine to find their objective, there's this very-easy-to-miss moment.
I swear to God, York takes a moment to check out Carolina's ass. You cannot convince me otherwise. Not that I can blame him. I mean- just look at them hips swing!
Episode 15 is awesome and should be watched even if it had very little focus on York and Carolina's relationship. It does have one moment, though, when everyone has flung themselves off a collapsing building and Tex gets the objective and Wash into the evac ship, leaving York and Carolina to continue plunging to their deaths:
York: Well there goes our ride.
Carolina: You think maybe we should have had a fallback plan?
Gotta love characters that make time for one final bit of banter before they go splat. Though, in their case, they participate in possibly the greatest car catch ever of all time so they can continue to be Freelancer badasses for the last five episodes of the season.
The rest of their on-screen time together is mostly action focused but there is one very important moment built up through Carolina's actions through episode 17 and culminating in with the very last shot. It is incredibly, incredibly obvious that Carolina is highly competitive just from the way she acts around Tex (the fact that she doesn't act like this at all around York, the only Freelancer whose score is remotely close to hers, says something on its own). When the race for the second objective is reduced to York and Carolina in a jeep and Tex on a motorcycle, this exchange happens:
Carolina: Don't let her grab it first.
York: Who cares who gets it first?
Carolina: I do.
We then see just how far Carolina is willing to push herself, damn near kill herself, to be the one to grab the objective. And yet, in the end, it's yanked out of her hands by Tex, leaving Carolina to stare after her, holding herself in pain. Then a ship drops in to pick Carolina up and York hangs out the back, holding a hand out to her. And Carolina, who spent most of the season being a one-woman army, being cold and harsh to other Freelancers, trying to prove herself better than the newcomer, who is hurt and beaten and lost, takes it without a word or hesitation.
The shot is focused solely on their hands. It's not about how much pain Carolina is in, it's not about the act of York helping her into the ship. It's about that one moment of York reaching out and Carolina accepting and the moment she does, the scene promptly ends. It is so very easy to infer from how that one moment ties in the rest of the episode, from how it's framed and cut, that no matter what happens, York is there for her and Carolina wants him to be there.
So the tragic part about these Freelancer-focused flashbacks is we already know what's going to happen to pretty much all these characters. We know that Wash will be driven crazy by his AI, that South will purposefully causes North's death and that she'll leave Wash for dead only for him to come back and kill her. We know that Wyoming and Tex will die, that Maine will go crazy and kill other Freelancers for their AI and equipment before being thrown off a cliff by the Blood Gulch crew, the same crew that will eventually kill CT with a floating laser eye.
We know that Carolina will be implanted with two AI at some point and be driven crazy by them. We know that York will eventually leave the Project and then be killed by Wyoming. At some point in their future- in the show's past -the two will lose track of each other. Tex believed Carolina had died, it's very likely York believed the same, was perhaps told that by the Director. He will die without ever knowing that she's still alive, a broken and tortured shadow wanting revenge.
So why, if it's already a foregone conclusion that this will all end badly, should anyone ship them? Well first off because both are so very interesting characters. Carolina is tough, confident and is the best at what she does. Despite her controlled personality she can be surprisingly passionate and has a dry sense of humor she shares only with a select few. York is a bad liar, good humored and very possibly the nicest, most well-adjusted Freelancer in the show. Despite showing open concern for his fellow agents, he's also unafraid to be openly critical about them and admits to sometimes letting his pride overrule sense.
Their personalities compliment each other and their interactions suggest they see each other as equals if not friends. And yet there's just enough differences in their personalities to give them some friction- York's growing concern about the Project vs Carolina's blind loyalty to the Director. York's eventual friendship with Tex vs Carolina's rivalry with her. It keeps them from being dull because one won't always agree with the other and they show at least enough respect toward each other that it's likely they'll work out most of their issues like adults. Except, possibly, the two subjects mentioned previously. If those are brought up, it'll probably end up being a major issue for the two and that also helps to keep them and their relationship interesting.
In a way, their tragic end is also an interesting factor in their relationship: will they have a romantic relationship before it all comes to an end? If they have one now, will they work out their issues before everything goes to hell? Or will their stubbornness or the Project itself cause them to split beforehand? How will Carolina react to news of York's death? Is it possibly one of the reasons why she's hunting down the Director? Will Rooster Teeth pull something out of their asses and make York not dead and give them a happy ending? What? I write fic, dammit- I can dream.
Personally I think these two have, canonically, one of two relationships: 1) they've hooked up and their relationship is basically an open secret, 2) their relationship is publically ambiguous due to their alternately blatantly flirting with each other and acting strictly professional but they haven't actually engaged in a relationship because they're not entirely certain if the other is just teasing or not, plus the whole focused on the mission/don't want to ruin a good thing/don't want to commit when their lives are constantly in danger thing. The last setting works for maximum drama when Tex comes into play because I fully believe she enjoys trolling Carolina and what better way than sabotaging her not-relationship with York?
So, to my knowledge, those that write fanfiction for RvB is actually fairly small- on ff.net they're lumped into the same category as the rest of Halo -and those that focus on Freelancers and not-OC Freelancers is even smaller. So the amount of people that write York/Carolina is... not very many. But damn is there some quality if you look in the right places.
RvBfics.com is the largest website dedicated solely to RvB fics that I know of (it is, in fact, the only such one that i know of) and there's even a category for Carolina/York fics which I shall kindly link for you. Tumblr is full of amazing writers and is the second easiest place to find lots of great work. Additional work can be found on fanfiction.net, deviantart and livejournal, though they're a little harder to find.
It's tough to narrow it down to the best, but I'll try to. I'll break it up into two sections- romance and non –because most writers seem to agree that the two of them together, whether love is in the equation or not, is wonderful.
Friendship:
Above All Else by Mumblybee
"He did his job and he did it well and the only time he ever really needed a reprimand was when he seemed to forget that he was part of a military operation and tried telling knock-knock jokes over the radio."
Summary: A look at York and Carolina, early on in their relationship when York's determined to friendly up and just confuses and frustrates Carolina instead.
All Tied Up by snipingqueen
"Plan?" he asked as he searched the area again in the off chance he had overlooked anything.
Carolina laughed, "Never let you lead again."
Summary: While on mission, Carolina and an injured York are captured and must work together to escape a rogue agent.
York vs the Hospital Bed by Mumblybee
"Only you, York, would somehow manage to get yourself out of bed with god-only-knows how much tranquilizer in your veins," she grumbled at him."
Summary: After the grenade incident, Carolina visits York who apparently doesn't like beds.
Untitled by Mumblybee
"Why was it so…why was talking so hard? Talking was what he was good at; shutting up was the challenge. But somehow here he was with half his head wrapped in bloody gauze while words slipped by, thick and heavy…"
Summary: Carolina visits York in the hospital and reminds him that not everyone is a team player.
Smooth Jazz by Shaherazade
"“Welcome to York 106.7 … smooth jazz. Hey all you agents out there this is New York coming to you live from good ol’ Mother of Invention. Bringing you the tunes you wanna hear. This first song is dedicated to Agent Washington ‘Sometimes Rules are Meant to be Broken’ by Elevator #4."
Summary: Because a minor annoyance like 'hospital stay' isn't going to stop York from entertaining himself.
Take it Down a Notch by runawayballista
"We might’ve got what we went in for, but we fucked up. This –" She throws an accusatory finger at the ranking board. "This is proof of that."
Summary: After the sarcophagus mission, York tries to mollify a defeated Carolina.
Take My Hand by snipingqueen
"The world flew by in a blur; people, buildings, nothing mattered as the two raced. Delta warned him as the first bullet screamed by his left. He threw himself into a roll and came up facing their pursuers, firing as he regained his footing. Beside him, Carolina had simply ceased all movements as if unsure what course of action to take."
Summary: On mission is a bad time to figure out Carolina isn't adjusting well to her AI.
Broken Channels by Mumblybee
"Layered somewhere in the static she hears what he’s said to her a thousand missions over:
Hey, ‘Lina? We good to go home now?"
Summary: York is gone but his channel is still open.
Love:
Friends in the Dark by runawayballista
"He was grinning, though, that lopsided grin he always had, and his eyes were lidded and his face was flushed, and his mussed hair was matted to his forehead in places. He looked so ridiculous in that moment that Carolina couldn’t help but laugh again, and he laughed, too."
Summary: NSFW. After a tough mission there's a night of drinking and something that shouldn't have happened.
Dinner in Bed by Reeberry
"It most definitely is not. My answer is still that I wouldn’t do karaoke, romantic or otherwise."
"What if it was do it or die?"
Summary: A little dinner, a little bed activity and a little serenading. In other words, it's Valentine's Day.
Five Things Carolina Learned from York by Mumblybee
"She has built a career from camouflage and stern masks and silence, but he makes her want to stop hiding."
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin.
Mornings in Love by Kaiyo no Hime
"Of course, he was no longer second in Carolina's heart, he was now third. First came the Director, and now came the jealousy for the mysterious new recruit, the unknown Agent Texas."
Summary: The night before implantation, York always knew Carolina would pick the Project over him.
Policies of Relation by runawayballista
"You have no intention of pursuing an intimate relationship with Agent Carolina, and yet you continue to harbor such feelings for her. Why is that?”
“It’s out of my hands, D. I don’t really get much of a say on it."
Summary: In which Delta fails to comprehend York's emotions for Carolina.
Talk it Out by Mumblybee
"She had told him once, back when she was able to form a coherent sentence on a consistent basis, that the AI distorted her sense of time. So now he was trying to talk her back to him."
Summary: Carolina isn't coping well and all York can do for her is be there.
You Know My Darling by Reeberry
"She was sitting in a coffee shop when the speakers began to play music. Old music. The kind of music that York would listen to while making coffee in the morning."
Summary: Carolina contemplates coffee, loneliness and the person they're both linked to.
Video/Art:
Number One by rainy-has-wings
Summary: A Carolina/York tribute video. Sound quality isn't great, but it's a bittersweet song set to a slideshow of fanart.
If you feel I've missed anything that deserves mention, put up a link in the comments and thank you for reading!
Titles taken from Jeff William's Falling Toward the Sky and Can't Trust Anybody Now, Trocadero's Blood Gulch Blues, Good Fight and Champion. Transcripts taken from Rooster Tooths.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-03-28 01:45 am (UTC)I absolutely loved this and spent the whole nodding and going "yup, yup, that's right" and about busted a gut laughing at the York checking out Carolina's ass.
Read it on your Tumblr first (so glad you have a link on the side here) that I read on the ol' ipod, so I love being able to see the images here on lj on my computer. So thanks for that because the images are AWESOME!!!
So, yeah, York/Carolina FTW!!!!!!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-29 05:49 am (UTC)(and also thank you^^)
no subject
Date: 2012-04-01 02:30 am (UTC)