Mordefram3

## Background

Mordefram3: This ship remained moored to a Wuxing dock for some time before it eventually unfurled its sails: Mai1nfram3 the decisive decker was also an undecided dater as cracking the code of Mordecai's heart or brains was beyond her hacking skills.

Captain Moore on the one hand was handsome and courageous but he also "forgot" to mention his children for months.

Mordecai, on the other hand, was gruff. He was also gross, but only because he knew that bathrooms are for buffing and towels are for spells.

Both supported Ma1nfram3 during her Blast from the Past performance but Mordecai was the one who danced with her right before the event.

## Blasts from the Past

This page was started after the dramatic scene in Ep 47 (see below). This scene, however, was preceded by a lot of, shall we say, more subdued Mordefram3 moments.

Thanks to shipping officers @sheliloquy and @katekotar for the archaeological work.

This work in progress includes, as of now, scenes from

* Ep 2,
* Ep 4,
* Ep 5,
* Ep 6.

### Slumped and super-cute together

The first recorded Mordefram3 moment took place in Ep 2. With Ma1nfram3 already there and in VR, Mordecai went into a stairwell and astrally projected. Lauren's narration:

> *It's just two, like, slumped unconscious bodies under the stairs right now, next to each other. Mordecai's head leans against Ma1nfram3's arm. It's super cute.*
>
>

Dan then kept on talking, focused on the mission. A laughing Cheryl seemed to like what she pictured.

### Propping one another up

Upon learning, in Ep 4, that MMFEC had accepted Miss J's conditions to repay her employers for the medical services that had revived him and saved MMFEC from the wrath of the Merlyns' Venus, Mordecai, who at the time was at the Rapid Rabbit with Ma1nfram3 moments before an appointment with Miss J regarding their upcoming debt-repaying mission, opened up about his feeling of inadequacy and intent to leave the group.

Ma1nfram3 did her best to convince him that the whole group had fallen prey to Venus's immobilization spell and that he had been unlucky rather than useless in that fight.

She reminded him that he had summoned a magnificent Mega Sharky, which was of little comfort to Mordecai who rembered that he had lost consciousness soon afterward, which had released Sharky before he had done any damages to the Merlyns.

It may be worth remembering that, unbeknownst to Mordecai, the three MMFEC members still conscious in the aftermath of the fight, namely Cromwell, Fang and a badly injured Ma1nfram3, had all asserted their claim to leadership of the weakened group.

Later in the same episode, a confident Mordecai offered to buff the admittedly inadequate intuition of a tense, defensive Ma1nfram3 whom a defiant Elsie had just confronted over her alleged inability to locate Naseam Deylan so that MMFEC could extract them. Fearing to be offensive, Mordecai requested Ma1nfram3's consent before he could grab her shoulder and cast his spell. The puzzled smile on Cheryl's face may have reflected more than just Ma1nfram3's confusion. This, and both Jeannine and Claudia turning their heads simultaneously towards Dan on their left, made for an entertaining scene, that Mordecai concluded by stating that he was glad to be under a disguise spell because he was blushing.

### Bringing her closer

When Ma1nfram3 and Mordecai were pinned by dart-firing turrets in the run to extract Naseam Deylan, the mage's stun spell was ineffective and it was up to the decker to brick them in the Matrix. She took one out, but went unconscious *because he ran and abandoned me* after stun damage from another one caused physical overflow. Mordecai managed to levitate her closer to the safe place he had found for himself. After a good fifteen minutes of real time (and a few seconds in game time), he approached her, muttered *Consent!,* and briefly considered slapping a stimpatch over her heart area before Lauren suggested *you hover over her body for a moment*. The rating 5 stimpatch did manage to awaken Ma1nfram3, who exclaimed: *Thank God, you are amazing, Mordecai*, as the latter was destroying the remaining turret with Ball Lightning.

### Damned if you do, damned if you don't

When Naseam Deylan needed to be relieved from the effects of their Bliss addiction for an interview with Miss J, Cromwell suggested that Deylan be brought to a veterinarian who had healed him previously. Mordecai offered to call a favor from Talia, his talismonger.

Elsie, soon joined by Fang, was the first to ask whether Talia was a cute dwarf girl and maybe Mordecai's girlfriend. When he replied that she wasn't cute after trying to explain that *I don't judge cute*, Cromwell thought it was not very nice to say that about one's girlfriend. Mordecai's reply to that, *Maybe she is cute,* was supplemented by Ma1nfram's helpful:

> *Maybe they don't judge by cuteness, maybe that's not a word dwarves like.*
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>

Mordecai's obvious discomfort could only grow as Fang asked:

> *Is she fierce like the moon?*
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>

And he replied:

> *She's pretty fierce, yes.*
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>

And it went on, with discussion of how Talia looked astrally (which Mordecai didn't know) and Fang using the phrase *Booty call at night* to describe Mordecai's upcoming transaction.
Ma1nfram3's final take on the situation:

> *We are not spying on him and his girlfriend with the fire of a thousand suns.*
>
>

## Mixed feelings

Later in the same episode, as Mordecai came to her apartment, Ma1nfram3 thanked him for getting the detox talisman for Deylan, then for being impressive on the latest run he had been reluctant to be on in the first place. Ma1nfram3 thanked him for saving her with a stimpatch. Mordecai didn't welcome Main1fram's gratitude, invoking the Shadowrunner's code instead: *We always do what needs to be done*.

Immediately after letting him know that *it was appreciated*, she also told him that she was actually an elf. His reaction, a dismissive *That explains it* didn't go well with her. His only justification: *You misheard me.*

## Recycling

Not exactly a Mordefram3 moment, but a funny one in the tense scene where MMFEC combined their efforts to alleviate Naseam Deylan's withdrawal symptoms:

> Mordecai: *Mainframe-3, do you recycle?* (about the bag that had contained the spell Deylan was finally using)
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> Ma1nfram3: *Not in this neighborhood.*
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## Fireworks

A mission that started with a mysterious note left by a missing Ma1nfram3 ended in the rubble of a derelict warehouse. Bad tempo causing multiple granades to detonate simultaneously nearly cost most of MMFEC their lives, but this explosion was the fire that the seeds of Mordefram3 needed to finally thrive.

A shellshocked Mordecai kissed a barely conscious Ma1nfram3 (with her implicit, if not explicitly requested, consent) and a broken GM lowered the curtain on Ep 47.

A shellshocked Mordecai kisses a barely conscious Ma1nfram3. Picture posted on twitter by Shelley Low
## A bird and a bee

On Elsie and Cromwell's ride back home after the aforementioned *Fireworks,* Elsie's question about Mordecai and Ma1nfram3's plan triggered that most uncomfortable moment in a parent's life: The Talk™.

It started innocently enough with Cromwell asking

> *Did your parents talk to you about what happens when, you know, like, an elf and a dwarf like each other very much and there is a lot of tension[...]?*
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>

To which Elsie replied:

> *Well, specifically, they were, like, Elves and dwarves shouldn't be able to, like, procreate and have children 'cause they are scourge of the Earth.*
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>

Cromwell, remembering that these were the Whitetrees they were talking about, continued:

> *Sometimes a bird and a bee like each other very much...*
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And was interrupted by a frustrated Elsie.
A sighing Elsie concluded that:

> *I guess, you know, I guess it's just me and the dog now.*
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Cromwell:

> *What, I'm not going anywhere.*
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Elsie:

> *I know, but it's just like, everybody is gettin' together and I don't wanna get together with anybody so I'm just gonna hang out with the dog I think.[...]*
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And Elsie, ultimately, about meeting a boy (it doesn't need to be a guy):

>  *The trick isn't them liking me, the trick is me liking them.*
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## Back at the lodge

A little before their arrival at his lodge, Mordecai started a conversation with Ma1nfram3 by apologizing for not requesting her consent when, shellshocked, he had kissed her earlier. Ma1nfram3, confused at the time by a concussion, was still confused about both that concussion and their relationship as lovers and coworkers. Mordecai was scared of closing himself off again, being up alone forever. This was followed by a weird talk about conjuring a bed with nuyen rather than magic, or have Sharky steal one; Scooby getting along (erm) with Cornbread (Mordecai's *He's happy to have more people in his life* possibly applying to himself as well); and Tony briefly metagaming a continuation to Cromwell's conversation using imagery used by Mordecai and Ma1nfram3.

The next morning, Ma1nfram3 shared with Mordecai the details of the run she had performed against an NPC group for Horizon, on the side. She recounted how, feeling *F..k everything* reckless after the nerve-wracking run that had pitted her against her parents, she had taken on a mission that involved being parachuted in the Amazonian jungle, taking out guards with Horizon-provided weapons that proved more effective than her seduction to free abused technomancers kept in forced Matrix labor. While wringing her hands, she described these technomancers as *caged animals* whose *data felt sad, and angry and very distressing*. What became of the freed technomancers remained unknown until Ep 53.

That run came on top of an operation to get the hidden Ares chip out of her head. Regarding that operation, Mordecai didn't agree with Ma1nfram3's assessment that

> *If something went wrong [...] either way it was win-win.*
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Mainfram3 then reckoned that, in the entire world, only Mordecai and maybe Fang appreciated her for more than her skills (if she even got appreciation for them).

That's when the now *reckless* Ma1nfram3 came up with the proposal of building a snowman.

Ma1nfram3, Cornbread, Scooby, Mordecai, the snow shark and its spirit model, Sharky. Picture posted on twitter by Shelley Low.At first, practical considerations of height were pondered by an embarrassed Mordecai but he became more enthusiastic when it turned out Ma1nfram3 wanted to build a snow *shark*.

## Breaking up with Captain Paul Moore

Ma1nfram3 was back at Mordecai's lodge on February 5, 2078. During a conversation that moved from Cornbread, which was being fed by Ma1nfram3, to stray cats and kittens before it was interrupted by children screaming with joy on the site of the destroyed spa near Mordecai's lodge, Mordecai remarked that:

> *I feel like things are weird between us.*
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>

> *I know you have a boyfriend.*
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To which Ma1nfram3 replied, speaking of Captain Paul Moore:

> *I dated him, really liked him. I'd have put his family at risk. I cut it off before we went to Ares.*
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>

They hadn't spoken in a couple of weeks.

She formally broke up with Paul during Elsie's birthday party nine days later, from the boat of Moore's ex-wife (Captain Rachel Grant). Moore remained on the shore (because, in words that Lauren later reaffirmed, *Rachel may or may not turn a harpoon toward the shore* when he approached) for what felt like a slightly awkward, very civil and subliminally final goodbye.

Ma1nfram3's tone changed as she concluded this relationship with an *Irish Exit* and these final words:

> *Off with this shit.*
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## So close, yet so far

Mordecai and Ma1nfram3 spent most of Ep 55 trapped out of their bodies, unaware even of their *sacks of nothing*'s physical locations. When Mordecai dove into his body after stunbolting his way through the last mana barrier that kept him out and Ma1nfram3 finally broke the link-lock that had forced her to stay in VR, it turned out that their bodies had been slumped next to each other all along.

Ma1nfram3 initially didn't recognize Mordecai, who had temporarily merged with Sharky. She pulled out her gun and exclaimed *What the drek?*

She was still in that room, blocked by the 1m-radius barrier around her, when Mordecai astrally projected and said

> *Sharky, take over.*
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>

Ma1nfram3 seemed rather excited to be with a more corporeal Sharky. The latter may or may not have tried to smack Ma1nfram3 through the barrier, but soon looked for and started eating snacks. Sharky also relayed a message to Mordecai so that he dispel the barrier and Ma1nfram3 could leave.

## First aid

When MMFEC regrouped and felt safe enough to rest after HOD's recruitment test, Ma1nfram3 used her First Aid to heal Mordecai, who had been stunned and whose own pain-killing spell had worn off.

## Abandoning ship

For both Mordecai and Ma1nfram3, being abducted by HOD meant home was no longer safe and they needed to move. Mordecai did it first, and in a dramatic way.

When the newly-homeless Mordecai joined an anxious Ma1nfram3 at the Rapid Rabbit, his plan was to use his really good fake SIN to get an apartment. Ma1nfram3, on her side, needed help to identify the object Fang's brother Rahmut had had delivered to her: a stone circle with a hole in it.

To Ma1nfram3, who worried that she had part of the problem with his lodge, Mordecai asked:

> *We could get a place together if you'd like.*
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Which made perfect sense to Ma1nfram3, because:

> *It does seem efficient. It's less addresses to find.*
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Also:

> *I think Scooby misses Cornbread.*
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And Shadowrunners need to be practical too. At any rate, Ma1nfram3 invited Mordecai, unambiguously:

> *You're always welcome in my tiny apartment ...*
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Or almost unambiguously?

> ... *It does have a closet.*
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Later, while discussing the difficulties and the ethics of apartment-hunting, Ma1nfram3 pointed out the difficulty of finding a two-bedroom place Mordecai insisted on getting. Mordecai revealed that he had the keys to Fang's apartment. Fang had just forgotten she had loaned him three copies of the keys. Mordecai also no longer wanted to be a 45-minute drive away from the rest of MMEC. Ma1nfram3 also pointed out they would be able to play board games.

Mordecai and Ma1nfram3 ended up finding a nice 2-bedroom apartment in the North Seattle Area.

## Bonding over a bonfire

When Elsie, Cromwell and Fang returned home to decide Violet's future, Ma1nfram3 and Mordecai stayed behind with Dynah to deal with the unpleasant task that remained on MMFEC's plate: burning the corpse of the mage whose head had been fried and crushed by a berserk Cromwell. Despite his, erm, experience in such endeavors, Mordecai requested Ma1nfram3's help. They bought hamburgers and a canister of gasoline, after considering getting in line with fellow shadowrunners to purchase a butane tank and discussing the relative merits of an explosion or a more controlled fire.

Speaking of lines, Ma1nfram3 thought of this one to dispel any suspicions regarding their errand:

> *Honey, you're great at barbecueing but we need more firepower.*
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In a scene that was *déjà vu* for him, Mordecai levitated, doused the building with gasoline, lit the fire and made a short eulogy, saying only: *Shadowrun.*

They had been careful when placing the body inside the warehouse which, it was noted, didn't burn as well as the previous time.

Mordecai concluded the scene with this apropos remark:

> *We can roast the hot dogs.*
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## Parents just don't understand

Elsie went straight to Mordecai when she returned from a side run with Twiggy to fight her parents. As this had taken place while Cheryl was away and during the Pacific Rim run, Ma1nfram3's debriefing was all that was said about it. She was not in a great mood, she was disheveled and angry, her eyes were leaking. At a loss for words, she could just hug a cautious Mordecai and start crying:

> I'm not good enough [...] My parents are still fucking out there.
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>

 She didn't want to drag the rest of MMFEC into her past. After all, Mordecai didn't involve them in his problems

Mordecai, still cautious, replied:

> *I don't really have problems per se.* *People have problems with me [...] It's about others caring for you.*
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 Ma1nfram3 only got a sibylline description of his altercation with Cromwell:

> *It's almost my own fault [...] Fang really wanted me to do something. Anyway...*
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The emotional apex was still to come for Ma1nfram3:

> *I shot her.*
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And seconds later:

> *And I don't know if I'm more upset that... I shot her or that... she survived.*
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 After that, she changed the subject to getting help for Twiggy.
Ma1nfram3 needed to go out,

> *go on a boat, dancing, or drink all of the alcohol in the neighborhood.*
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 They proceeded to rent a swan paddleboat. Because of Mordecai's struggle with the pedals they only got to enjoy the sunset four feet away from the shore. After they talked about Ma1nfram3's parents, again, Mordecai mentioned his own, adoptive, parents, who had been generous, incredibly nice people until he ran away. They probably were still alive but he was too scared to face them.
Sharky, who had taken him under his fin, had

> *taught me how to focus my sadness into anger*.
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Ma1nfram3 had this to reply:

> *Parents just don't understand.*
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 And then they started yelling it around together, again and again, summoning Sharky for more effect.

*That felt good.* and *Thank you, Mordecai.* were the two lovebirds' conclusions to the scene.

## Loss

While Elsie and Fang were recovering from the injuries and deep personal loss incurred in the fight against Cutters and Merlyns gang members that had killed Cromwell, Mordecai and Ma1nfram3, who had escaped comparatively unscathed, discussed issues of trust and loss.

They both trusted each other like they never trusted anybody before.

As Ma1nfram3 said:

> *We must be strong for them right now.*
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Mordecai replied that Cromwell's death changed everything for him: even though he had repeatedly called him an idiot precisely for that, Mordecai had started to believe that Cromwell would get away with his knack for sacrificing himself. And now he was scared.

The two agreed that it's easier when you don't worry about anybody and when you have nothing to lose.

## The magic is not in the spells

During MMFEC's escape from Ciaradh's space station on a pod, Mordecai had a moment of doubt and fear that played out like this:

> Mordecai: *I can't ... I can't feel my spells.*
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Not knowing how hard reentry would be on the pod, trying to help Elsie escape stray lasers from the corps's battleships fighting it out, Ma1nfram3 was very agitated when she gave up reassuring Mordecai and blurted out:

> Ma1nfram3: *[...] Bullshit. I don't know if you're gonna be fine. But you don't need your spells. Mordecai, I love you without your spells, alright?*
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## Making it out alive

Ma1nfram3's spontaneous confession probably encouraged Mordecai to open his heart a moment later, while MMFEC's situation was still very stressful for alll:

> Ma1nfram3 (focused on helping steer the pod): *What is it, Mordecai?*
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> Mordecai (deliberate, hesitant?): *If we somehow survive this, I'd really like to make out. I dont know how you feel about tha...*
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> Ma1nfram3 (fast): *Yeah, no, we should definitely do that, at least like ... several days.*
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> (Lauren, just laughing)
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    Maybe Ma1nfram3 still had this moment in mind a few minutes later when she told Elsie that now they should just do nothing.

1. ↑ Using the spelling in this tweet as canon.
2. ↑ See Ma1nfram3's reaction here.
3. ↑ Personal note: Seeing this scene for the fist time since way back then, I remember how I liked the atmosphere of the scene, the visuals and the sounds reminding of a factory.
4. ↑ Which conditions Elsie had jokingly called *indentured servitude*.
5. ↑ Interestingly, Ma1nframe had explicitly allowed him only to touch her hand.
6. ↑ See Ep 5.
7. ↑ When asked if he had her consent, he replied that he was not touching her.
8. ↑ That is, until Cheryl and Lauren reminded Dan that stimpatches are applied directly on skin.
9. ↑ Picturing the awkward moment for Mordecai was visibly funny for all concerned.
10. ↑ See Ep 6.
11. ↑ See Ep 6.
12. ↑ See Ep 6.
13. ↑ See Ep 48.
14. ↑ This conversation then briefly returned to the explosions, the casualties, grenades, Tempo, and returned to Elsie after a detour by Fangwell that involved a bird eating a bee, and a cool frog because *this is what why being an adult is like*... An interesting mix.
15. ↑ Granted, this conversation was not all about Mordefram3, though it was triggered by it.
16. ↑ Lauren's elation at this precise moment is priceless.
17. ↑ A gift for Lauren, we learned, and we'll see in a future episode.
18. ↑ Which episode turned out to be Ep 53 and Ep 54.
19. ↑ Just like the background music, right on cue.
20. ↑ She had gotten a point of edge by getting edgier, it seems.
21. ↑ The reaction of an invisible Lauren to this completely unexpected *non sequitur* was hearty laughter.
22. ↑ In what may or may not be a coincidence, this came just after the tale of Cromwell's own relationship story in Ireland.
23. ↑ See Ep 50.
24. ↑ Cheryl was facing Dan at the moment, so it's hard to be sure.
25. ↑ Which could have killed her, according to Dan.
26. ↑ Played by Lauren, as always.
27. ↑ See Ep 56.
28. ↑ See Ep 56.
29. ↑ Using Saeder-Craigslist.
30. ↑ And Lauren making clear that *It's not going to explode* and there is a *90% probability it involves blood magic*.
31. ↑ When Ma1nfram3 reiterated this *practical* point in the recap at the beginning of Ep 57, Lauren seemingly *agreed* as she replied: *And there is no underlying emotional or sexual tension there*.
32. ↑ As exemplified here.
33. ↑ See Ep 57.
34. ↑ See Ep 59.
35. ↑ At the end of Ep 58.
36. ↑ The use of this word was not commented upon.
37. ↑ See *Abandoning ship*, above.
38. ↑ In a reference to a scene of Ep 2.
39. ↑ See Ep 59.
40. ↑ See Ep 59, Ep 60 and Ep 61.
41. ↑ Which drew a brief puzzled look from Lauren.
42. ↑ The MCF seemed out of the question, given that its founder had almost killed Twiggy in the past.
43. ↑ With, or hopefully without, a tiny mermaid.
44. ↑ For the first time, I think.
45. ↑ Which really ended with Tony alleviating the mood, urging kids to get out their parents' credit cards and susbcribe to HyperRPG for 12 months.
46. ↑ See Ep 61.
47. ↑ See Ep 64.
48. ↑ See Ep 65. Thanks to @sheliloquy for reminding of this important moment.
49. ↑ See Ep 65.