“Come now, it hasn’t been as long as all that, now has it?”

Miller glared from his seat, arms pulled tight behind him, lips still bright red from the struggle. A growl rumbled at the back of his throat as the silver-haired man before him stepped forward, plucking the pair of fallen glasses from the floor. He hadn’t even had the decency to track ice into the cabin, the damn cat.

“We’re almost at the end now, of our little agreement, and I’ve come to make good on my side of the bargain.”

“Is that all you’re here for? To gloat over your victory? You and that brat?”

Ocelot flashed a sliver of a smile. “He’s certainly nothing like the obedient dog you ended up training, although I admit I must envy you that. It must have been much easier, working with such a pliant mind…” His fingers fluttered over the holster at his side, pausing only as a single bead of sweat rolled down Miller’s neck to glint in the frigid air.

“It’s too bad for Eli the plans for his little coup were doomed from the start, but that hardly matters to us now, doesn’t it?” He pulled the revolver out at last, bringing it in one graceful swoop to rest gently beneath his opponent’s jaw.

“Foolishness really, some nonsense about restoring Outer Heaven, reviving the Boss’s vision and I suppose in some way, the Boss himself.” He leaned in at that, the weathered skin of his cheek resting flush against Miller’s golden grey stubble. His voice grew softer, almost overshadowed by the soft click of the pistol, cradled gently in cracked red leather.

“But then, you can’t revive what hasn’t died.”

Kazuhira Miller closes his eyes and for a brief second he thinks of the past, and of loss, figureheads and phantoms. He thinks about David.

He thinks of peace.

I’ve used the tag ‘the brothers joy’ for stuff before, sure. I think it’s an interesting character dynamic to explore? They’re two of the most different characters in the series. One who enjoys causing pain, one who makes huge mistakes out of an effort to avoid doing so. One who is singleminded in his devotion to an individual, and one who seems to fall in love almost too easily. 

I’m not sure if the two count as “technical brothers” because ahh... well it’s never really made clear to us what kind of relationship Strangelove and the Boss had, if any at all. It’s possible that they did, but it’s equally as likely that Strangelove only knew her for a short time and pined after the version of the woman that existed in her mind. But her goal was to pass on The Boss’s memes to her child, and in some other discussions I have heard others reason that Philanthropy comes the closest out of anyone’s efforts to actually achieving the Boss’s will. So there is merit to the theory that Strangelove succeeded. 

The part where there is a hiccup I guess is that Ocelot did *not* receive any form of memes from the Boss. Not really. He wasn’t raised by her (and it’s questionable as to whether they knew they were related when adults in MGS3) so you can say while Hal inherited the memes, Ocelot inherited the genes. And true to the theme of the game, the memes won out in the end.

So in the context of the game I don’t know if we can call them brothers. The only reason to do so would be to bring up how different they are and how different their paths were. But maybe that’s reason enough?

I am definitely *here* for your AUs where there is more of a relationship between them though. (Although then I guess it gets weird with Dave and Hal like... my step-mom is your adoptive grandmother... I guess we just need a healthy dose of handwaving and lampshade hanging.)

//braids bijou’s tail//

Ah okay, so earlier today I mentioned how it was the MGS4 novel that really caused a shift in the way I perceived the character, or at the very least made me want to spend more time considering him. Because before I spent much time thinking about everyone’s favorite man-cat, I just sort of... well I didn’t write him off, so much as... meh just never got on board. 

Like, I get it. I understand the appeal. He’s a ridiculous character in so many ways and there is no amount of posturing that will ever erase “MRAAAOWWW” from our minds. And that is appealing and endearing in it’s own way, sure.But as someone who isn’t BB’s biggest fan (maybe he was talked up too much for me but I didn’t come away from MGS3 loving him) I guess I didn’t have a lot of sympathy for his one-man fanclub.

What changed for me upon reading MGS4 (this was before V came out, I should add) was that we got a glimpse of Ocelot... without BB. It wasn’t a long passage, but towards the end of the novel Hal talks about how terrifying it must have been to undergo such strong psychotherapy, to be absolutely convinced that you were indeed another person- but to have those moments of doubt, looking in the mirror and unsure of who you were at all. And to me, that notion of being willing to erase oneself for the sake of (what I then saw as) getting closer to someone who was important to you- really had an impact on me. I mean at this point it wasn’t a show of bravado in front of BB to prove himself worthy of his attention- as far as Ocelot knew the man was dead (I think? Who can keep track?). I guess “destroying oneself for the sake of the mission” isn’t an uncommon theme in this series- and we got a bit more insight into how Ocelot has made these kind of tactical choices in the past, but wow, y’know? It’s one thing to die for someone, or even to live for someone - but to go on living while erasing your sense of self... that... that’s not something you see every day.