Archive of Our Own ^beta

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r/AmItheAsshole - Posted by u/betterbelieva 5 marbecs ago

AITA for accidentially revealing my crew mates’ romantic interest in each other?

I (≥, Aguatunisian, 47) am a fairly powerful psychic. I’m working as a comms officer for a group of prolldiers while on my Gallivant. Although I’ve gotten a lot better at restricting my mind-merging to solely voluntary situations (long story), I still sometimes “pick up” on people’s thoughts without meaning to (mostly my crew mates). Usually, I don’t learn anything that I don’t already know, but sometimes I get confused between what people have told me and what I’ve learned through psychic means.

Two of my crew mates (M, cloned human, 76)(F, android, N/A), who I will refer to as “the gunners”, are very good friends. They perform many actions that I’ve learned are associated with human romance, such as spending social time with solely each other even when other crew mates are available, lying in the same bed while the human sleeps, and putting themselves in physical danger to keep the other safe (more often than they do for other crew mates). I also happen to know, from accidental psychic connection that the two of them do feel romantic love for each other, and wish to pursue a romantic and sexual relationship. Although myself and the rest of the crew understand this, neither of the gunners realize that the other returns their feelings.

Recently, our co-captain (F, human, 48) was discussing her relationship with a friend whom she also clearly has romantic feelings for. She claimed that engaging in sexual activities and spending as much time possible alone with this friend at the cost of other pursuits did not mean that she had romantic feelings for her, and I, forgetting that my crew mates did not know of the gunners’ feelings for each other, said something along the lines of “sure, and (clone’s name) and (android’s name) aren’t in love either”. As soon as I realized what I’d said, I attempted to retract my statement, but as the gunners know that I’m a psychic, I had clearly confirmed their feelings for one another. My crew mates have assured me that the situation is hilarious and will make the gunners happier in the long run, but I still feel bad, as I know that “confession of feelings” is an important stage in human relationships. Did I accidentially ruin their courtship?

u/hotbox420

NTA

I still think this is hilarious BTW

u/betterbelieva

> -__- <

u/foxtrot_6

Not enough information. What did the gunners do after? Did they fight? You said the rest of the crew said it was funny, but did the couple get mad? TBH with all the important info you’re leaving out it sounds like YTA

u/underwatermonk

NTA. Your crew should know that working with an Aguatunisian means that sometimes you’re going to learn things about them that they didn’t intend. It was probably upsetting to them to have their feelings revealed, but it was hardly your fault, and surely they intended to reveal them eventually. (Also working with extraterrestrials on my Gallivant, I know how you feel)

u/betterbelieva

Thanks for the input  >^—^< a lot of people don’t understand how psychic connections work, and it gets sooo frustrating when they ask me to “just turn it off” (old captain did that a LOT)

u/Duke_Loose

NTA. You made a mistake, and TBH I agree with your co-captain that it will help the gunners in the long run. If it’s that obvious that they’re in love with each other, they must have been dancing around each other for a long time, and might have never confessed without your help. Your little slip up was doing them a favor! 

Also totally random question but do you know when you’re all gonna touch down and leave the ship for an extended period of time? Totally random I know lol

u/queerrex

YTA.

I’m pretty sure you’re an adult, but you aren’t acting like one. I get that you made a mistake, but you have psychic powers, and it’s your responsibility to make sure you don’t hurt anyone with them. Keeping secrets is very important to humans, and you just denied your crew mates the ability to choose when they told each other about their feelings. 

Also, you shouldn’t have been making fun of your captain. She’s probably really impressive and accomplished and pretty. I think we’re gonna need more info on her and her friend to tell whether YTA on the front of implying she was in love with her, too.

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r/AmItheAsshole - Posted by u/notyourscienceproject 1 maltron unit ago

AITA for pretending not to notice that my abusive captain got taken over by a cerebroslug?

I (M, human cyborg, 64) have been working on-and-off as an engineer for prolldiering vessels for the past ten cycles, with my most recent job lasting for four. When my old captain (M, human, 109) hired me, I was starving and desperate, and he took advantage of that fact to rope me into a contract that left me with barely enough money to survive, let alone begin to pay off my medical debts. Additionally, he was verbally abusive to me and my crew mates, exploitative of our precarious social identities (he was the only crew mate who was an unmodified human at the time), and generally a really bad leader. 

However, about a nargon back, the captain was parasitized by a cerebroslug (M, cerebroslug, ???), in a way where he could not control his own body at all. I, and the entire rest of the crew, knew immediately, because the slug actually treated us with basic respect. Also, he was honesty really bad at pretending to be human. But we didn’t do anything to try to save our old captain, because again, him being slugged made the ship a more livable place. At the time, I wasn’t thinking of his feelings at all- I was only considering the safety of myself and my crew mates. But after certain events that ended up with the slug in a new body and the captain free again, I’ve been starting to think, how was my choice to ignore him being slugged different from my old captain locking me in an abusive contract? Or the cybernetic technicians that put me in debt altering my body to make themselves more money? We were all removing other people’s bodily autonomy for our own gain. 

The old captain and the cerebroslug both agree that they wouldn’t have done any differently if they were in my place, and the captain even admits being slugged has improved his life, but I’m still consumed with horrible guilt. Help.

u/heroesofmars

ESH. Go to therapy.

u/supercomputernova

NTA. Let me be clear- I think your feelings of guilt are totally valid, but also, nobody could have expected you to have acted any different. If I’m reading this correctly, when the captain was slugged, you were deep in debt, being actively abused, and worrying for the health and safety of your friends. Who could expect you to think about other people in that situation- especially someone who was causing you stress and harm? Sure, it’s not exactly moral to let someone be slugged for your own benefit, but I don’t think it’s fair to call you an “asshole” for doing what you needed to do to survive, and for not thinking about the feelings of someone who hurt you gravely over your own. 

u/wholovesyababy

NTA. The captain said he’s glad he was slugged. All’s well that ends well baby!

u/livewire469

YTA for not making sure your captain stayed slugged. He’s clearly bigoted against cyborgs and whoever else you have on your ship. The world is better off without him.

u/cybercadet1001

Mother Void, dude.

u/notyourscienceproject

You’re not even going to give a verdict?

u/cybercadet1001

no <3

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r/AmItheAsshole - Posted by u/burner924683 3 marbecs ago

AITA for claiming some of my eccentricities come from my species instead of my personality?

I (decline to state identity) am not human, and working on a prolldiering vessel with primarily humans. My species doesn’t have much of a presence except on our home planet, so my crew mates don’t really have a frame of reference for a lot of my behavior, and whether it’s normal or not.

The thing is, I’m not exactly normal for my species. I’m a psychic when most of my people aren’t, I was raised in a very non-traditional environment (both by the standards of my own species and of humanity), and I’ve picked up a lot of weird habits to deal with some bad things that happened in my life. I’ve been letting my crew mates believe that my quirks are just how my species naturally acts, so they can’t tell me to stop, but recently I lied and actually stated that something I do (hiding in the fridge) is because of my species when I just like it in there. Is that bad? Should I be more honest with my crew mates, or is it none of their business?

u/laikas_ghost

Not enough information. Why did you lie? Was it because you were embarrassed, or because your crew mates were angry at you and you were deflecting? Or something else?

u/burner924683

Oh they weren’t mad at me they were just kind of weirded out and possibly worried about me

u/laikas_ghost

Then NTA, but also you should explain yourself anyway

u/1800_bitingyou

YTA, hiding in the fridge is a food safety hazard, and you shouldn’t be doing it regardless of species.

u/hivemind_487

NTA. I don’t know your species exactly, but from what you’re describing, it kind of sounds like you’re neurodivergent- your brain works differently from others of your species, and definitely from humans. Could it be that your deception of your crew mates is a way of looking for accommodations for your differences? If you don’t think they’d accommodate you otherwise, I highly recommend continuing to lie, but if they’d understand, it’ll probably be better in the long run if you tell them that you don’t behave like most people of your species.

u/anticensorship_wink

King/queen/monarch why were you in the fridge

u/burner924683

Please don’t call me those words

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r/AmItheAsshole - Posted by u/queerrex 8 maltron units ago

AITA for trying to get a promotion at work?

I (F, human, 49) used to work for a large-scale intergalactic company with my kind-of-girlfriend (F, human, 48). We love each other, obviously, but we also both knew that we’d prioritize our careers if it ever came down to it, because that’s what you do in that kind of a competitive work environment. One day, an extremely high ranking member of the company asked me to accompany them to an event. I thought I would be getting a promotion from it, so I agreed.

What actually happened was the higher ranking member decided to quit their job, and left me to take the fall for it. I covered for them by pretending we’d gotten engaged, and using holograms to back up my claims. I neglected to inform my kind-of-girlfriend, but I planned to tell her later once everything had blown over (which it turned out took a lot longer than expected). By the time I was able to clear things up, I had lost my job and all my connections at my old company, and was forced to take a job doing menial labor on my kind-of-girlfriend’s vessel. She keeps talking to me like she’s my boss and not a close friend and confidante. What should I do to win her back?

u/pantherapod_onca

YTA. I have literally never seen a more blatant attempt at making you look like the good guy and yet somehow still failing. You “neglected to inform” your “kind-of-girlfriend” that you were pretending to marry someone else? You “both knew you’d prioritize your careers”? More like you treated your own feelings as more important than hers, and then expected her to be totally okay once you eventually got around to telling her what the hell you’ve been doing. Honestly, it doesn’t even sound like you’re clear on what your relationship is, but if you ever were dating, then you got broken up with. Let her go.

u/jugglenaught

YTA. Literally why would you need to pretend to marry some high-ranking official just because they quit their job? Did you like secretly want your GF to break up with you?

u/queerrex

It’s not that simple. They were very, very powerful, and I could have been in serious danger if anyone thought for a second I was the reason they disappeared. I was also the only reliable witness of them leaving, so I was likely to be blamed. I would have done something smarter if I’d had the time to think of it.

u/crystallineknife

YTA

Also she’s treating you like she's your boss because she is your boss dude

u/graywolf_3636

So is she your girlfriend or not???

u/queerrex

Not anymore :(

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r/AmItheAsshole - Posted by u/theoriginalsundrysid 30 martrons ago

AITA for being jealous of my boyfriend’s recently-reunited-with clone brother?

I (F, droid, N/A) feel like I have a really unique relationship with my boyfriend (M, human, 76). He’s a clone, and when we first met, he believed that the entire rest of his pod had either died or betrayed him. I was the first and only droid of my line, and had just escaped from creators that wanted to shut me down.  For a few cycles, we basically only had each other to depend on— I had my database and willingness to hurt people in self defense, and he had at least a little understanding of how the “real world” worked and how to find us prolldiering jobs, and we had each other for moral support. Even once we got a steadier job as gunners on a ship, we relied on each other to survive working for a terrible boss. I was the first person he ever told about his clone brothers. I held onto them like they were my own memories. And he was the first person to treat me like more than a hunk of plastic and wires, even when I still thought I was. He’s my best friend and I don’t know if it’s possible for me to make a connection as deep as the one I have with him.

During a prolldiering mission, my boyfriend realized that the clone brother (who I’ll call N) that he thought had killed the rest of his pod in cold blood (also M, also human, also 76) had not done it of his own free will. He immediately set his sights on rescuing him, and by the end of the mission we had succeeded. I’ve never seen my boyfriend happier than when he got his clone brother back, and I’m so happy for him. It’s also been cool to meet N and learn more about him from himself, since I only ever heard about him from my boyfriend.

It’s been a few nargons now since N joined the crew, though, and I can’t help but feel a little replaced. For one thing, he’s also a gunner, and the ship only has two stations, so we had to get a new one built for him— literally between my boyfriend’s and my stations. My boyfriend has obviously been spending a lot of time with him. N had spent all his life either in a clone pod or captured and unable to control his body, so he needed some help to cope with that trauma and learn some social skills. But I feel like he’s doing really good now, and my boyfriend is still with him all day every day. I rarely get to see him at all, let alone without N. It makes me worry that he only liked me because I could understand what it felt like to want to be part of something bigger, and now that he has his clone brother back, he doesn’t need me anymore. It doesn’t seem like something he would do, at least not on purpose, but I’m so scared anyway. What do I do?

u/plastick9949

YTA.

I’m shocked your boyfriend would ever have dated someone so insensitive to his feelings. Clones have a bond with each other that goes far beyond just family, and your disregard for that is honestly disgusting. Why is he “ignoring” you for his clone brother (who, may I add, he thought was dead for cycles)? Maybe that’s because he LOVES him, dip shit! Also, he’s been captured by enemies! He needs all the extra support your boyfriend can offer him, and maybe will for the rest of his life, because some scars don’t ever go away (not that I’d expect you to understand, since you can probably just wipe your memory of upsetting events). Suggesting he doesn’t love you because he will always love his clones more is also VERY anti-clone BTW.

If you’re upset about your boyfriend not paying you enough attention, I suggest you go find someone else who will give you all their love, even if you don’t deserve it. Maybe wipe your memory so you don’t remember you liked him at all.

u/pantherapod_unica

NTA… yet. It’s totally valid to feel upset that your boyfriend is ignoring you, even if it is an honest mistake! But if you let those feelings fester instead of talking them out, they could turn into real resentment and make you treat your boyfriend like a villain when he doesn’t deserve it. Better to talk about this with a friend than strangers on Reddit, but mostly you need to go talk to him. I sincerely doubt that your boyfriend was using you for cycles, and you’re only just seeing hints of it now. Also, don’t listen to plastick, they’re inconsistent and don’t know what they’re talking about.

u/Soren_Flyen

Needs more information. You only talked about N and your BF, but you mentioned feeling replaced. Is the rest of your crew treating you and N like interchangeable cogs? Is anyone besides your BF looking after N, or spending time with you? If not this might not be an issue with your BF OR you but with a shitty workplace environment.

u/theoriginalsundrysid

The crew is definitely not treating me and N as interchangeable, I think that’s mostly me being worried. My BF is pretty much the only one taking care of N, though. He doesn’t need it as much anymore but now that you mention it it is pretty weird. I’ll talk to my boyfriend and the captain about it, thank you so much for the suggestion <3

 

u/spaghettificationray

NTA. I get that your boyfriend needs to support his brother, but that doesn’t excuse ignoring you for nargons. He needs to think about someone other than himself and his pod.

u/SierraLavadas

You don’t have to answer this, but are your boyfriend and his clone brother from the Barry Battalion? If so can you let them know that the Infinity Acres pod and Mama Nelly look up to them so much? Dr Bohunk and the Battalion will always be heroes in our hearts <3

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r/AmItheAsshole - Posted by u/thisisafakename12345 1 maltron unit ago

AITA for being jealous of my crew mate because my other crew mates forgave her more easily than me?

I (M, human, 110) was the former captain of a prolldiering operation, and I was BAD at it. I wasted funds, morale was low, and I squandered the talents of my crew, as well as disrespecting them for lots of things that they couldn’t control and a better captain would have helped them fix. Recently, they mutinied, and now I am the lowest ranking member of the crew, replaced by a new captain (F, human, 48) who runs the ship much more efficiently than I ever did. I find this deeply humiliating, but understandable. I never had any hope that my former crew would forgive me for what I did to them, nor do I really care if they do or don't.

My actual issue is with a totally different crew member, the chef (F, human, 51). She’s a new hire. I do not know much about her personal life, but from the way I’ve heard people talking about her I think she used to work with the captain, who was maybe in love with her. That’s not my issue. My issue is that she kidnapped and tried to violate the ship’s previous chef (who is now the comms officer), as well as almost succeeded in kidnapping the comms officer’s friend/child(?) and trying to sell it, and nearly killing many, many innocent people. (That last bit she was forced to do, but I cannot stress enough that she kidnapped the comms officer for money and political gain of her own free will.)

Call me crazy, but I think that’s a little worse than what I did! And yet she gets preferential treatment from the captain and most of the crew. Everyone’s walking on tiptoes around her trying to make her feel safe so she can “heal” from taming up with a genocidal maniac, while they either ignore me or run whenever I walk by. I hate the chef so fucking much but everyone acts like she did nothing wrong. The only other person who acts like this is even a little bit of a big deal is the comms officer, but they’re more neutral on the chef than they are angry. Am I going insane? Should we be keeping this woman on our ship?

u/arandomstringofnumbers

There’s absolutely no way this is real. This person kidnapped the ship’s chef, tried to kill a bunch of people, and was like “make me the chef” and everyone just… let her? You’ve gotta be exaggerating something man

u/thisisafakename12345

They weren’t the ship’s chef when she kidnapped them. To the best of my knowledge my crew kidnapped them away from her, they became the chef, then when we took on the current chef the old chef became the comms officer. She doesn’t even know how to cook. Also it was real

u/solidarity5eva

She doesn’t even know how to cook…

u/SuperBlaze

YTA your crew does NOT have to forgive you for shit!!! I highly doubt the new chef actually did any of that stuff

u/thisisafakename12345

Learn to read moron I said I don’t think they’ll forgive me. Also it IS real

u/spikledogs

ESH, assuming any of this is even real. Your crew has every right to treat you like a pariah (TBH you’re lucky to be alive at all if they mutinied) but they also shouldn’t keep the chef on— if not for moral reasons, just because she’ll probably pull something like that again given half the chance. If you think the captain will listen to you, maybe tell her your concerns? Or ask the previous chef to do so, if she’s more likely to listen to them than you.

u/thisisafakename12345

Oh the captain would never listen to me (she is biased) And it happened the comms officer told me themself and everyone on the ship knows it happened

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r/AmItheAsshole - Posted by u/burner924683 8 matron units ago

AITA for fact-checking everything my co-worker says because she lied to me?

The co-worker did kidnap me and my friend, try to kill my friend, and tried to force me to murder a whole lot of people, so I do have a good reason for not wanting to believe her. I got rescued and now she and I are both working on the same prolldiering vessel, so I’m trying not to act like she’s my enemy (because she isn’t! We’re allies now!) but I also thought that right before she kidnapped me. So every time she tells me anything that I don’t know is for certain true, I ask my friend if it’s true. It makes her run out of the room and cry most of the time, which makes me feel bad, but I just don’t wanna risk it. AITA?

u/calltothevoid

NTA. Holy shit, you are a saint. This (I assume) woman tried to murder your friend, and force you to do the same? I’d fucking strangle her every time we were left alone. Then again, prison does things to a man…

u/thisisafakename12345

I think it’s really funny. She deserves to get knocked down a peg, with all the special treatment she’s getting

u/burner924683

Well you’d think that wouldn’t you >:(

 

u/thisisafakename12345

I’m sorry don’t be mad

u/4lpha8eta

ESH. What she did was horrible, but if she's your ally now, you need to start acting like it and not making her cry every day. You should talk to her about your feelings so you can stop having issues (I REFUSE to believe you feel totally fine about her kidnapping you. TBH you seem so calm I suspect it either never happened or it wasn't really kidnapping, but whatevs)

u/contrarycranberry

Wow, victim blaming much?

u/arandomstringofnumbers

Would you by any chance happen to be a chef

u/burner924683

Not anymore :( the co-worker I was talking about is the new chef :(

 

u/arandomstringofnumbers

Holy shit. I need to apologize to someone

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r/AmItheAsshole - Posted by u/hotbox420 4 marbecs ago

AITA for hiring my ex best friend?

I (F, human, 48) recently quit my job and took a new one as captain and manager of a very successful prolldiering operation. Part of this change was because I had realized that my old job was unsustainable, emotionally and morally speaking, but another part was that my best friend of many cycles (F, human, 51) had recently gained a promotion through something other than her own hard work, and I felt betrayed. During the first nargon of being a prolldier, my crew ran into her as she was opposing us on behalf of my old workplace and her own alliance with a terrorist, and we eventually thwarted her plans and took her as a prisoner.

However, the more time I spent talking to her, the more I realized that she got kind of a bad deal, all things considered. What I had thought was an undue promotion was actually her being forced to cover up for her boss’s irresponsibility at risk of her own life. What I thought was collaborating with a terrorist was probably also significantly more forced. And we were best friends for cycles. I can’t let that go! So I kinda ended up hiring her as the ship’s chef, just so she can get back on her feet and away from her old job. 

A lot of my crew are… less than pleased. Reactions range from suspicious but attempting to get along with her to outright hostility. The former chef (who was promoted and given a raise after I hired my friend) also lodged a complaint that her food is honestly not good. I am inclined to agree. However, if I left her at some spaceport, she’d be assassinated within the marbec, and I don’t think she deserves that. What should I do? 

u/boatsinspace

YTA. I think it’s reasonable to still feel some loyalty to your friend, and even to keep her on the ship, but expecting her to be part of the team that is your crew when she was working for the enemy not long ago? That’s not cool. Have you considered simply keeping her on the ship but not employing her? Then the real chef could have their job back and she would be safe but not in contact with the people she tried to kill

u/arandomstringofnumbers

Oh my void it’s all coming together

u/thisisafakename12345

I TOLD you so!!!

u/buggywuggy849

YTA. Do you have any proof that she’s changed her ways? And being mistreated by former employers does not count, people can be mistreated and still be untrustworthy themselves. It seems like you’re putting your own wants before the needs of your crew. Most uncaptainly.

u/osha_violator_9000

ESH as a captain you have the right to make whatever calls you want about your crew, and they shouldn’t complain. With that being said, why would you hire her on as a chef if you already had one? That’s just inefficient.

u/hotbox420

Thank you for your input, Osha Violator 9000. Your endorsement makes me want to fire her more.

u/queerrex

Please don’t fire me I’ll do whatever you want

u/puff_puff_fail

Are you going to post more nudes

u/puff_puff_fail

Hello

u/puff_puff_fail

When are you going to post more nudes

u/puff_puff_fail

Please post more nudes

u/puff_puff_fail

Please

u/puff_puff_fail

Please