#Anchorage Market

[shutterbulky]

From Dogs Sledding to Glacier Hiking: Explore Alaska’s Wilderness

Looking for a place to get away from the scorching summer? Well, How about planning a getaway to the winter wonderland : Alaska. The supposedly remote place is actually bustling with activities. From rock climbing to exploring restaurants, Alaska offers a wide range of activities to entertain everybody. We have made a list of things to do in Alaska for your convenience so that you can enjoy it…

[dh5ryxhgbctgr]

Vehicle ISOFIX Anchorage Market Trends and Future Growth Overview 2024 - 2032

The Vehicle ISOFIX Anchorage market plays a vital role in enhancing child safety in vehicles. ISOFIX, a standardized system for securing child safety seats, provides a simple and effective way to install these seats in cars. This article explores the dynamics of the Vehicle ISOFIX Anchorage market, including its components, current trends, challenges, and future outlook. The Vehicle ISOFIX Anchorage market is critical to improving child safety in vehicles. 

Understanding ISOFIX

What is ISOFIX?

ISOFIX is an international standard (ISO 13216) that provides a method for securing child safety seats directly to a vehicle’s chassis. This system uses anchor points built into the car to which child seats can be attached, ensuring a secure and stable fit. ISOFIX significantly reduces the risk of incorrect installation, which is a common issue with traditional seatbelt-based systems.

Components of ISOFIX

The key components of the ISOFIX system include:

ISOFIX Anchors: These are metal connectors installed in the vehicle, typically located between the seat back and seat cushion.

Child Safety Seats: Designed to fit the ISOFIX system, these seats come with connectors that latch onto the vehicle's ISOFIX anchors.

Top Tether: An additional strap that further secures the child seat to the vehicle, preventing forward movement in the event of a crash.

Market Overview

Current Market Trends

The Vehicle ISOFIX Anchorage market is experiencing several significant trends:

Increasing Awareness of Child Safety: Growing awareness among parents about the importance of child safety in vehicles is driving the demand for ISOFIX-compatible seats and systems.

Regulatory Standards: Stricter regulations concerning child safety in vehicles are pushing manufacturers to incorporate ISOFIX anchorages in new vehicle models.

Rising Vehicle Production: As global vehicle production continues to increase, the demand for ISOFIX systems is also on the rise.

Market Segmentation

The Vehicle ISOFIX Anchorage market can be segmented based on:

Type of Vehicle:

Passenger Cars

Commercial Vehicles

SUVs

Region:

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

Key Players in the Market

Several prominent players are leading the Vehicle ISOFIX Anchorage market, including:

Daimler AG: Known for its commitment to safety, Daimler integrates ISOFIX systems in many of its vehicle models.

Volkswagen AG: A leader in automotive manufacturing, Volkswagen has adopted ISOFIX in its range of passenger vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corporation: Toyota places a strong emphasis on safety, ensuring ISOFIX anchorages are standard in many of its vehicles.

Challenges Facing the Market

Technical Challenges

The Vehicle ISOFIX Anchorage market is not without its challenges:

Compatibility Issues: Not all vehicles are designed to accommodate ISOFIX, leading to compatibility concerns with certain child safety seats.

Cost of Implementation: The addition of ISOFIX anchorages may increase manufacturing costs, which can be a barrier for some manufacturers, especially in budget segments.

Market Competition

With numerous companies striving to meet the growing demand for child safety features, the competition within the market is intense.

Future Outlook

Growth Projections

The Vehicle ISOFIX Anchorage market is poised for substantial growth, driven by:

Continued Focus on Safety: As consumer demand for safer vehicles rises, more manufacturers are likely to incorporate ISOFIX systems into their designs.

Technological Innovations: Advances in vehicle safety technology, including enhanced ISOFIX systems, are expected to bolster market growth.

Conclusion

With increasing awareness of child safety, stringent regulations, and ongoing innovations, the market is set to experience significant growth in the coming years. As manufacturers continue to prioritize safety features, the ISOFIX system will remain a crucial component in modern vehicle design.

[munimjiubwebs]

Top Digital Marketing Agencies in anchorage

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[trucenz]

SOJOURN IN TOWNSVILLE

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Range Rover British Trans-Americas Expedition, 1971. Two original series Range Rovers were supplied by BLMC's Specialist Division for the British Trans-Americas Expedition from Anchorage, Alaska to Tierra del Fuego between December 1971 and August 1972. The expedition was led by John Blashford-Snell. Both vehicles were the LHD Swiss market specification and were modified by Rover with roof racks, bridging ladders, capstan winches, double front bumper, off-road tyres, single rear seat and stowage for vast amounts of equipment, spares and supplies.

[northameicanblog]

The Carenage, St George's, Grenada: The Carenage is St. George's bustling waterfront promenade that winds around Grenada's Inner Harbor. Its name is derived from the French word carenage, meaning "safe anchorage." Lined with colonial-era buildings, the inlet offers boutiques, seafood restaurants, and cafes, and is close to Grenada's bustling open-air market... St. George's is the capital of Grenada. The city is surrounded by a hillside of an old volcano crater and is located on a horseshoe-shaped harbour. Wikipedia

[thefallenangelsgang]

Fuck it, I'm throwing my hat on the ring about the Emil announcing Nate from Fallout 4 is the bystander Soldier in the Fallout 1 opener.

First and foremost, it was a stupid thing to say. As he backtracks to later, the conceit of Fallout's protags is they are supposed to be anyone (and that issue is precisely why some people hate the extensive prewar character background given to you in Fallout 4). For the lead writer to pull a JK Rowling (why would you do that? None of those went over well) is such a major marketing misstep that it wouldn't surprise me if Emil gets reprimanded for it before we even get into the implication of what he said.

Emil your voice is as good as God when it comes to the canon. You can't just say shit like that and expect it to go well. Especially considering the implications.

Speaking of the implications, I'm not mad about Nate being a war criminal. It's a coloring I actually would welcome if the games discussed concepts like Capitalism, Racism, and War in any meaningful way anymore. And if Emil also didn't say this.

Fallout's canon is rooted in reality. That is part of its whole thing. It's fun to do goofy shit like becoming the Silver Shroud and having a make believe superhero fight with the Mechanist or write a woman obsessed with Nuka Cola so much she traverses two games to basically kidnap the CEO's cryogenically preserved head so she can talk to him for all eternity, but the setting is very much rooted in reality.

You aren't dealing with fictional countries, you aren't dealing with fictional races, you aren't dealing with fictional hypotheticals. That is The Elder Scrolls job. You are dealing with actual countries, actual racism, actual history, and actual fucking politics. You have to be mindful of what you are doing and saying. You can't just do things because it's an interesting plot device without first thinking about the implications.

Fallout's world is a heightened version of our own, a path we seem to stumble towards with ever passing year unless we do something about it. It fucking sucks. I'm sure writing it feels like prophesizing the future and eats your soul a bit. It would mine. But that doesn't mean Fallout can just take a sharp left in terms of story and reality and get away with it.

To have Nate be the bystander Soldier and then meet him when he has a very good thing going for him (an expensive house during an inflation crisis, a robot butler, he gets into a vault for free for fucks sake) very much speaks to life rewarding him for his crimes. There is no hatred in his words when he looks at the flag of the country that made him kill innocents. His speech is speaks of remorse for leaving his family and the cycle of war, it does not speak of the horrors. Of watching you comrades bleed out in the Anchorage snow. Of the scream of shells overhead. Of the fear in civilians eyes as your buddy puts a bullet between them.

You all have to see how it looks like the man is fine with what he had to do during the war, right?

Not interacting with these concepts enough paints a picture of apathy and acceptance. In this day and age where being keeping the government honest and responsible for their actions is so important, that isn't going to slide without it being EXTREMELY purposeful, which it is not. It's tone deaf and lazy.

I respect a lot of what Emil has done in the past, but I am not above keeping him culpable when he has something so delicate in his hands. I hope this situation is what he needed to get his head on straight, or is the light bulb moment where he realizes he needs to pass the torch onwards. There is no shame in subject matter becoming too much as time goes on. There is shame in letting a previously critical series become the very thing it was criticizing.

He is going to keep getting dragged until he realizes that or he manages to convince the fans to be complicit in the degradation of setting. In doing so he is going to lose Bethesda most of its biggest fans who well and truly love the series and what it stands for.

But that's just my take, and I'm just a kid who studies polisci and history and can't shield myself from the inherent horror of nuclear war no matter how much I try.

War really never changes

[ltwilliammowett]

The Hancock off Lahaina, Maui, 1791, by Mark Myers (1945-)

The Boston brigantine Hancock is shown surrounded by native craft as she comes to anchor at the island of Maui in Hawaii on her voyage to the Pacific Northwest in 1791. The view shows the ship off West Maui near Lahaina with the island of Kahoolawe in the right background. Based on the topography of the West Maui Mountains and the perspective of Kahoolawe, the area depicted is near Olowalu, an anchorage just slightly east of Lahaina.

Hancock was typical of the American fur-trading vessels active in establishing the early trade routes linking the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and China. These early trading voyages would later help to justify America's claims to sovereignty over these areas. The Hancock sailed from Boston under the command of her owner Samuel Crowell in November 1790 bound for the rich seal and otter hunting grounds in the Pacific Northwest. En route, after first stopping at Staten Island to take seals before proceeding around Cape Horn, she arrived in Hawaiian waters during the spring or early summer of 1791. This arrival is depicted in the present work. During this visit a plan by local natives and beachcombing ex-mariners to capture the Hancock was discovered and thwarted by her crew. Hancock then sailed north and east, arriving off the Queen Charlotte Islands on July 14, 1791.

There she joined company with the brigantine Hope, also out of Boston, owned by Thomas H. Perkins and under the command of Joseph Ingraham. In August, 1791 Hancock encountered Captain Robert Gray and Columbia Rediviva at Masset Sound on Graham Island in the northern part of the Queen Charlotte Islands. In October Hancock was back in Hawaiian waters, again in company with Captain Ingraham and Hope. Both ships were bound for Canton with a cargo of seal and otter pelts. It is not known if Hancock and Hope proceeded to China together, but both were at Canton in early 1792.

After successfully marketing her cargo in Canton, Hancock departed China on April 26, 1792 sailing with Hope and the small sealing schooner Grace. They arrived back in the Queen Charlotte Islands on July 3. George Vancouver, on board Discovery, reported encountering Hancock at Nootka Sound in May, 1793. Further data regarding this voyage has not been uncovered. However, it is likely Hancock sailed again to Canton in the winter of 1793 before returning home to Boston via the Cape of Good Hope.

[redsparrow2117]

"The End of the World is a Product".

I don't normally make....any posts, but the Fallout show, and some of the response to it has me wanting to actually put some words down here. There will be spoilers for the Fallout show if you want to avoid that.

Several people whose opinion I respect a lot have their own thoughts on the show, Amazon making it, and general disappointment with where Fallout as an IP has gone in the several decades it has existed. I agree with a lot of these statements and think that Fallout peaked with New Vegas, and Bethesda's ownership and usage of the IP has been uninspired at best.

That said, I did watch the show. And generally, I liked it. I have some complaints (like, wtf if the Brotherhood even doing? Who is really in charge? The writers *blew up* the NCR, just like that? For....some reason?) The main thing I have an issue with, is the dissonance between the message of the show, and the company that made it.

I think the parts that really made the show were Coop's flashbacks to before the war. I love his character, so much. And from Coop, The Ghoul, I get my dissonance.

We see him interacting with general Hollywood. It's basically the same as ours. Despite what Some People(tm) will say, Hollywood is a tool of the United States Machine. An extension of the country's will. Coop is making a cowboy movie, one of many he has made. He expresses being uncomfortable with his new movie's seeming obsession with killing, not wanting his character to kill the villain when he is begging for his life. The director tells him "people want to see a good man pushed too far." We see later, after the war, Coop made the movie the way the director wanted.

Coop's wife works in marketing, or something like it, for Vault-Tec. Coop likes the idea of the Vaults at first. Save people from the end of the world. Good stuff, thinks Coop. He was in the Marines, fought at Anchorage. He believes in protecting people and his country. So when his wife asks him to do an ad for Vault-Tec, he says yes.

Very quickly, he leaves making movies, and basically now works for Vault-Tec. Has a big party, invites a bunch of his friends, and only one of his acting friends shows up. Says everyone else declined on moral grounds, because they don't like Vault-Tec, and all the other mega corporations working with them or around the world. Coop's friend mentions he sold his voice/a character he created to the company that makes Mr. Handy's, and how everyone and everything is a product now, and embracing that is the only way to make money anymore. "You're a product, I'm a product, the end of the world is a product."

Coop later meets one of his acting friends, Charles Whiteknife, to talk about the party and why he didn't go. Charles brings up Vault-Tec, the mega corporations, and "Fiduciary Responsibility". I never, ever, in my mind would think a Fallout show, executive produced by "Thanks" Todd Howard, would bring that up.

Charles lays it out for Coop: Vault-Tec makes money selling Vaults. If they want to make money, then everyone's fear of the end of the world is really what is for sale. The end of the world is the product.

So no peace talks to calm down the war between the US and China. No safe feeling. They need fear. They want to make money, so you cannot feel safe. We see a prelude at Coop's earlier party: two Vault-Tec executives are talking about heading off those exact peace talks before anything definite is done so quarterly profits go up. Even the president is mentioned as missing, but that could be a kidnapping or a reference to the Enclave.

Coop doesn't want to believe that. Why would his wife work there if that was the case?

We see, as the flashbacks go on, how much she knows, but won't give away. She needs her job so her family can get into "one of the good Vaults". Coop ends up spying on a meeting between his wife, a Vault-Tec exec, and a bunch of major corporations and private entities. A nice cameo set up for big fans. We see West-Tek, Big MT, ROBCO, all of them. Vault-Tec wants them to buy into the Vaults, so they can make money.

So they can control the end of the world.

They think a total monopoly in the post-apocalypse will save the world from war.

Then the real reveal: Vault-Tec, in order to make guarantees on their experimental Vaults, and to make guarantees to the investors, is going to drop the bomb. Maybe not all of them, but definitely start the Great War.

Because it will make them money now, and when the world is over, they can rule over the ashes with a gaggle of experimented-on, traumatized survivors, brainwashed to do what they want, and led by the preserved executives that helped end the world.

"Well, thanks for the spoilers, RedSparrow, but what is the point?"

Well, when people write about the future, like George Orwell did in 1984, or Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451, or even Suzanne Collins in Hunger Games, they weren't really writing about the future. They were writing about the problems they dealt with in their present, exaggerated to make them stand out.

"What happens when the cattle ranchers own half the town?" Charlie Whiteknife asks Coop when they meet at the bar.

"The town burns down."

"Exactly. The ranchers are in charge now."

This isn't really new stuff for Fallout, if you have played any of the games beyond 3,4, or 76. (Hell, 76 tries to act like Vault-Tec are the good guys for some stupid ass reason.)

We now live in that moment. Maybe we didn't when Fallout 1 came out, or maybe it was easier to hide then. At this point, it's nearly impossible to really ignore, and anyone saying that is incorrect or a good thing is just burying their head in the sand to avoid the truth.

Maybe we don't have Vaults, or Vault-Tec, but we have Amazon, selling us everything and grinding employees to dust on vague promises of earning a living.

We have our own ROBCO, and the CEO of our version of ROBCO bought Twitter because his ex left him for a trans woman and is currently trying to sell losers online his idea of a sex bot and shitty cars that rust and explode.

We have social media monopolies that live off of hate-engagement and spreading fear. Hell, the US government is banning social media platforms they can't control, and privatizing things like internet access through Starlink. Elongated Muskrat tried to cut off Ukraine's access to it after one of their generals told him to shut up and stop sucking up to Russia.

None of this is new. I'm probably sounding like your weird boomer uncle online right now.

But your weird boomer uncle doesn't think they will end the world.

But they will.

So here's the dissonance I struggle with: why is Amazon, one of the many companies enshitti-fying everything right now, making a show that tells you the plan?

It's easier to imagine the end of the world, than it is to imagine the end of capitalism, so the saying goes.

But the end of the world is the plan of capitalism. That's the end goal.

And it's wild to me that the Fallout show, made by Amazon, is the one telling us this.

[stephensmithuk]

The Sign of Four: The End of the Islander

Mediæval is an archaic spelling of medieval, using the æ letter that is rare in English, but far more common in Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic, for example.

Ceylon was the name used for what is now Sri Lanka until 1972, when that country (which become independent in 1948) become a Republic. Today, the name only really remains in the country for Ceylon tea, apparently for marketing reasons.

There has been a police force dedicated to the Thames since 1798, being founded as the privately funded Marine Police to tackle the high volume of cargo theft from ships there. Two years later, the government set up the Thames River Police to replace the successful force. The Metropolitan Police took it over in 1839 and made it the Thames Division, it now being called the Marine Policing Unit. Historically, they also did search and rescue, today done by the RNLI.

They had just acquired their first steam launches by 1888, historically relying on rowing boats that had proved inadequate in an 1878 two-ship collision that had killed 600 to 700 people.

Gravesend is on the south bank of the Thames, twenty-one miles from Charing Cross. It was the first port of entry into London for a long time, but the opening of Tilbury Docks on the other side of the river took much of its traffic. The pilot station for the Port of London remains there, along with a RNLI lifeboat station.

There was also a ferry from Gravesend to Tilbury until March 2024, when it stopped due to lack of funding from the 'bankrupt' Thurrock Council, despite being popular.

Pocahontas is also buried in Gravesend.

The Downs is a ship anchorage off the port of Deal in Kent; ships would - and still do - anchor there to protect themselves from strong southerly or westerly winds (as the coast blocked them) or if waiting for suitable winds to head elsewhere. Indeed, the port town grew up to deal (pun intended) with their needs during their says.

There would be six bridges east of Westminster Bridge on the Thames at this time; Tower Bridge, opened in 1886, would be the easternmost crossing point that a pedestrian or carriage could use at this point. The Thames Tunnel was by now a railway tunnel. Those to the east of that were reliant on ferries until 1897, when the western part of the Blackwall Tunnel opened, in a few years becoming the bottleneck it still is to this day.

St Paul's Cathedral, at 111m high, was the tallest building in London from 1710 until 1939 when Battersea Power Station was completed at two metres taller. . Today, there are still restrictions on building new skyscrapers in London to ensure the catherdal can still be viewed.

The Tower of London had been a tourist attraction since at least the Elizabethean period; it was getting over 500,000 visitors a year by the end of the century, but still retained some non-tourist uses.

The Pool of London is the bit of the river from London Bridge to Limehouse - it was the site of the original port until the Docklands were built to deal with massive overcrowding. The maritime industry here effectively collapsed along with the rest of the docks in the 1960s, but this area hasn't seen as much regeneration as parts further east.

The West India Docks were three large docks and associated buildings built at the beginning of the 19th century (1800 to 1802) to deal with trade to/from the British West Indies, to wit the sugar produced by the slave labour in the plantations there; Robert Milligan, its architect, was a slave trader who was unhappy about the delays and theft of his goods at the wharves, so wanted a more secure facility. Closed in 1980, it was converted into the Canary Wharf development, with the famous Underground station built in the former middle dock.

Now I have mistaken a Newfoundland dog for a coat-wearing homeless person in the dark myself - they are very big dogs. However, this has to be taken in the context of the rest of the description of Tonga.

Barking Level is where the River Roding enters the Thames. It is a largely industrial area today.

Plumstead Marshes were an area of low-lying soggy ground that was used by the Royal Arsenal (see "The Bruce-Partington Plans") as a testing range; no human inhabitants (since Roman times, when the water levels were lower) and the soft ground could absorb explosions better. They were drained in the 1960s and most of the area become the new community of Thamesmead; one of those "futuristic estates" that instead became crime-ridden due to bad planning and lack of amenities, which have not yet been fully corrected.

A slightly graphic (including a nasty facial/eye injury) discussion of the problems of recovering bodies from the Thames can be found in this February 2024 news article on the search for a chemical attacker's body: https://news.sky.com/story/the-traumatising-search-for-dead-bodies-in-the-thames-and-why-dozens-are-found-every-year-13071612

[birbs-in-space]

hi @tomirida every day i rembered this and then forgor before i could do it :')

current song: deep sleep by the anchorage !

currently watching: s6 of house - started...a few weeks ago if i had to guess? haven't had as much time to crochet in the past few days so it's going a tad bit slow but i'm waiting on a friend to figure out some color combos so i'll be back on my tv watching bs in no time i'm sure :')

currently reading: nothing in particular. need to remember to try to get back into reading before the end of the year for the thematic bookends of it all though, since i started the year similarly

current obsession: fairly evenly split between a) crocheting market bags b) frying things (current victims: string beans, vienna sausages, the pelmeni lol) c) the achievement memes oh my god i want a break just so i can go back to making them gjfdsigfjdi

tag 9 people: @chenchurrochan, @the-lavender-farie, @heyfagbutt, @makingshortstorieslong, @notrenu, @nikkifromtabs, @pkmndaisuki, @ariasune (hey!! i hope you're doing alright and if not that you feel better soon!), @gaytedlasso (and as always no pressure to do this!! feel free very much to take this as just good vibes being sent your way!!)

[bopex-guru]

Shrngga Global Solutions (About Us)

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Much more than consultants, we allies on our clients digital journey.

We believe in transformative power of Consulting & Training solutions to elevate excellence in System, Operations, Process, Business & People.

SGS innovation solutions approach and methodologies go beyond traditional analytic consulting approaches. Our innovation solutions will help our client discover the unknown – and identify and leverage opportunities and markets that don’t yet exist.

SGS support organizations/Business & Stakeholder to anchorage capabilities and virtues that they already have to drive Organic Growth i.e. more sales per customer , more revenues per customer, or more customers for the same products . This focus enables us to bring deep expertise, experience, judgment, and pattern recognition to growth problems.

We at Shrngga Global Solutions are committed to provide leading edge Business Consulting and Training Services in Business Excellence, Process Excellence, Operation Excellence, Digitization enhancement and Strategy Execution with the usage of Lean Six Sigma, Lean Management, Robotics Process Automation, Project Management and Business Analysis & analytics.

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[ask-de-writer]

SEE STORY (Part 4 of 5) A tale from the World of Sea

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

See Story

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

Cover art by @wind-the-mama-cat​

14372 words

copyright 2023

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users   of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may   reblog the story. They may use the characters or original characters in   my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical   compositions. I will allow those who do commission art works to charge   for their images.

All sorts of Fan Activity, fiction, art, cosplay, music or anything else is ACTIVELY encouraged!

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Sea is a colony assumed lost somewhat over a thousand years before this tale opens.  They were sent on a one way trip, not knowing that there was no land at all on the whole world of Sea.  Thus, aside from humans, NO CREATURE OF SEA IS IN ANY WAY ITS NAMESAKE.  They were simply named for a superficial resemblance to some Earthly creature by the early colonists.

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New to SEE STORY?  Read from the beginning HERE.

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The next morning brought the unusual sight, first of mast tops, then later the masts and yards bare of sail, and the massed hulls of the many ships riding at anchorage.  The only sails visible belonged to the many small boats plying between the ships and the giant rafts that made up the Gathering marketplace.  Sails visible on the horizon told of a few other ships slow to come, but like the Longin, not late.  The Longin was assigned to an anchored float, where she tied up.  The Grandalor could be seen riding at her float some ways off.  

Two large ship construction rafts had been lashed together near the center of the Gathering.  These monsters were nearly four hundred feet by two hundred feet.  They were the dull yellow-grey of untinted, glued Strong Skin.  They floated, decks about six feet above the waves on six long pontoons each.  They  majestically ignored the small surface waves entirely, rising and falling gently to the long, deep waves. The rafts were designed to build new ships on and to serve as a market square and place for ceremonies, like marriages. On them was the only city that anyone in the Naral Fleet had ever seen.  It was a mass of tents in all sizes and shapes, in every hue of natural or bleached mussel fabric.

Captain Mord asked Cat, “Will you come with me to the Gathering Council? We must present ourselves and formally announce the Longin’s presence to get permission to trade and conduct our other business.”

“Captain, I will gladly go with you.  I need to gather a few things first.  They should be ready now.”   Quickly, she was back with a net bag containing a number of carefully wrapped things.

As Cat was putting her back into the oars, along with three other crewmen, First Officer Alys looked curiously at Cat’s bag.  “What is in there, Cat?  It looks like there are, perhaps, some lobsters?”

“It is a bag of politics.  You will see.”

The Captain’s gig pulled up to the market platform.  They secured the boat and all got out.  The Captain, First Officer and Cat, with her bag, went to the Council Pavilion.  Cat stood back while Captain Mord and First Officer Alys presented themselves to the Council.

“To the Council of the Spring Gathering, we bring the greetings of the Longin, moored this morning. We seek permission to trade and conduct other ship’s business,” intoned Captain Mord, formally.

“Be welcome, Longin.  Conduct your trade in honor, and your ship’s business likewise,” said the Chief of the Council.

Captain Mord bristled at the veiled warning, insulting as it did the reputation of both himself and his ship, “Since when has the Longin needed to be cautioned about honorable trade and business?  I demand a private hearing to know the reason for this dishonor. I can think of many others, some in this pavilion, who owe us more than favors.”

“We have more than an hour before the next ship can present its business,” said the Council Chief.  “Let us use it.  The Longin has the right to know what has transpired and to defend their honor and rights.” All agreed to that, and the group withdrew to a partitioned area of the Council Pavilion.

Once the flaps were drawn, Mord turned to them in genuine anger and bewilderment.

“What can have happened to tarnish the reputation of the Longin to the extent that we needed a public warning to trade fairly?  We have always been openhanded and tried never to take unfair advantage, unless we were first victimized by someone that we have helped.  

“In at least one case,” he looked pointedly at Captain Hored, to the right of the Council Chief, “the very existence of your ship is our doing.  Three Gatherings have come and gone with no payment forthcoming.  Shall I then demand it in full?  By Law, I can do so. If I were Barad, it would have been done.  Your ship and all its goods could be forfeit to the Longin, your crew scattered, and you caution us about honor?  When you exist as a ship only because of ours?”

Hored raised his hands, as if to ward off a blow.  “This is not entirely our doing.  The Grandalor came early yesterday.  Barad told us that you had secretly gone north to the Dragon Sea and also that you were going to try to arrange a match for the Lady of Your Luck.  

“He said that you had kept secret that she is helpless, blind, and named for a Dragon.  No ship will take on such a person.  If her name is changed, and you pay a large sum for her upkeep, another ship might be found to take the risk of her.”  He crossed his arms over his chest as if he had pronounced a sentence.

Mord’s retort shot to the heart of whose honor was truly being tested.  “Ask Barad then, and publicly, how he happened to come across us in the Dragon Sea!  Ask him too, if he says coincidence, whose bare topmasts our lookouts watched for over a week, shadowing us to the south, before he came up to us … from the SOUTH?”

Cat touched Captain Mord’s sleeve.  “May I speak, as this also concerns me?”

Suddenly smiling at the thought of these strong Captains running onto the reef of his foster sister’s logic and uncanny knowledge, Captain Mord said, “In all fairness, perhaps you should hear out the person that you malign.  Cat, this is …”

“Sarfin, Captain of the Dorton. Leader of this Spring Council.  A careful seaman who rarely takes chances and only once has broken the Great Laws.  All that I know of him is good.  

“To his right is Captain Hored, of the Grython.  He should remember me.  He too has broken the Great Law once.  Sometime, ask my Captain how we knew to look for you, and where.

“To his left is Captain Merced, of the Dolthin.  He also has once broken the Great Law and fishes by deep bottom dragging.  I think it an unwise practice.  They have near come to grief twice this month alone, when nets fouled.”

“I know them.  They should know me.  They call me the Lady of the Longin’s Luck, and other sidesteps to avoid the possible bad luck that might come from my full name.  My name, Gentlemen, dictated by both Custom and Fleet Law, is Mecat.  Ask the Longin, now the most prosperous ship of your fleet, how much ill luck I have brought them.”

“By what right do you, a crew-woman, accuse us of violating the Great Law?”

“Captain Sarfin, you have made a grave error.  I am not a member of the crew of the Longin or any other ship.  To ward off the ill luck that might come with my name, I have never been enrolled in the Longin’s crew.

“The Great Law that you all have broken is the Law of Slavery.  The law reads ‘no price may go with any exchange of persons between ships, or the person over whom the price is demanded is considered to be a slave.  All slavery is outlawed as also the slaver and the purchaser.’  By demanding that payment go with me you outlaw yourselves and both of the ships in the exchange.”

The Council representatives looked at each other uneasily.  They had not thought of this.  The notion of payment had been Barad’s, and seemed reasonable at the time.  Now they had a dilemma.  Looking at her curiously they asked, “If we lift the payment, then no ship will take you.  Where will you go?”

Cat looked to Captain Mord.  He spoke, “She has told me that the matter is arranged for already.  I believe her.”

“There is still the fact of your helplessness due to blindness.  What could you do … besides ‘bring the ship luck?’”

“Ask Captain Hored.  He as reason to know my skills.”

Sarfin turned to Hored, “What does she mean by that?”

Hored looked at the deck and seemed to shrink.  “Between three and four Gatherings back, the Grython grounded on a tropic reef.  We took a six foot gash to the hull, which made it impossible to leave the reef without sinking entire.  The stone of it was all that held us up.  We were preparing to abandon ship when the Longin arrived unlooked for.  

“I did not know her from Captain Barad’s description, but I would know that voice anywhere. She is the only reason that the Grython is still afloat.  Her skilled diving and the divers that she directed repaired the Grython.  That is why we owe the Longin so much …”

He scowled, “We have been lied to!  Blind she may be but helpless she’s not!  Lift the price! Grython will take her and glad of it, if we get the chance.”

Cat smiled at Hored, “I thank you for a generous offer from a good heart but the matter is already arranged.  I will make my groom known on the night of the Full Moons.

“What else can I do?  Ask any of the Craft Masters of the Longin.  They will tell you the truth of my skills.  I also read, write, keep accounts and navigate.”

“Eyes are needed for those boasts.  You have none,” stated Captain Barad, walking in through the flaps behind them, and stumbling on a stool in the shade of the pavilion.  Captain Mord looked back pointedly at the stool and said nothing.

“I have come,” said Captain Barad, “reiterate my claim to certain waters in the Dragon Sea.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked smug.

Cat turned angrily, “You followed us!  The find is ours!  We … ” she trailed off as Captain Mord’s hand was laid in caution on her shoulder.

“Cat, the full Council will meet in only two hours.  That is the proper forum for this dispute. Now is the time for food.  Sarfin, Hored, Merced, will you join us?”

Cat was laying out the contents of her packages.  The plates were large, flatish pearl shells with small shells glued under to level them.  Cups were nautilus shell, and there was a platter of tinted, glue hardened Strong Skin, inlaid with a scene of fish and seaweed done in shell nacre of many hues. It was piled with large lobsters, steamed clams, and shrimp, garnished with tasty seaweeds.  There was a flagon of pure water to drink.

“This feast is worth a fortune! Where did you find all those shellfish?” asked Merced as he pulled his stool up to the feast.

Barad could only stand and stare goggle-eyed as the others dug into the food, cracking shells and scooping out clams.

Mord winked at Cat.  “Oh, up north of here.  These are just some we grabbed out of the cargo vat to steam for lunch.  This is what we have for trade, this voyage.  We would have had much more, but the Grandalor was following us by stealth.  We had to hide our operation from them.”

“Did you let them know that you were aware of their presence?” asked Sarfin.

“We allowed them to come to us, when they were running out of time.  Captain Barad asked our ship’s business and was rebuffed.  He was rude.  He insulted Cat and called her helpless.  She proved to him that she was not, and now we find that he has spread lies about her and our ‘profitless’ voyage,” Mord said thoughtfully, sucking the meat out of a lobster claw.  “I think that we will do well.  What do you think?”

“I think that you will do well, this Gathering.  You have already found that Barad has laid nets to snare your claim to fishing waters in the Dragon Sea,” said Hored.  “I suspect that his claim is the place where you fished for these.”  He gestured at the shrimps and lobsters.

“That is against all custom,” said Cat angrily.  “None may claim rights in the Dragon Sea.  The Great Dragons forbade us that water in the Time of the First Ships.”

Sarfin looked uncomfortable and unhappy.  “That is Custom, not Law.  Custom has been overset before.  We have warned him that such a claim must go to the full Council, and he has agreed to put his claim there.”

“I must warn you,” put in Merced, “that Barad has laid his nets widely and with care to secure those waters.  I notice that he has already gone to spread the word. Many Captains are hearing of your cargo as we speak.  Greed has overset more Customs than reason ever has.”

Shortly, Captains began to come into the Pavilion for the Council.  Many pointed or stared at the remains of lobster, shrimp and clam and to the plates of pearl shell, carelessly left lying near the entrance, in plain view.

Sarfin brought the Council to order, and led them all through the reading of the Great Laws and the Customs of the Sea.  At last, the opening ceremonies required by Custom were done and business could begin.

A new ship had been built and was welcomed to the fleet.  The Fauline was showered with gifts and offers of crew-folk to fill out her needs.  Her first Captain was approved by the Council.  At long last, the Council was ready for new business.

There were debits to settle, disputes to adjudicate and finally, fishing rights to deal with.  Barad Maks stood up.  “The Grandalor would like to apply for new fishing waters.  The waters in question to be from the Gula’s Northern boundary, 5o North by 6o wide from Gula’s eastern boundary.”

Sarfin stood and spoke loudly and clearly, “The waters applied for are in violation of Custom.  They lie in the Dragon Sea.  The Custom, from the time of the First Ships has been that we fish the Deep Waters, except for those of the Dragon Sea.  It has been reserved as the abode of the Great Dragons from the Beginning.”

“Custom only!” cried Barad.  “This Council has the authority to overturn Custom!  We have all seen what Mord brought here from the Dragon Sea! There is wealth there!”

The assembled Captains rumbled agreement.

“We have two issues that we need to deal with, here!” Mord called out.  “One is the matter of Custom.  The other is Piracy!  Barad followed us by stealth when we went north.  He does not even deny it.  Now he is trying to use this Council to steal our find!  Will you let yourselves be so used?”

Merced plunged into the melee, “These are waters found by Captain Mord! Only by turning tail and coming south with all sail spread before they even knew what the Longin had found, was the Grandalor able to get here first.  Barad wants to set aside Custom to claim these waters out from under the Longin, but he hides behind Custom when it comes to presenting the claim.  He got here first!  That is the sole basis of his claim.  He did no work for it.  He presented his claim without even knowing what was there.”

It was no use.  Greed had the Captains in its claws.  The vote to overturn Custom and grant fishing waters went to Barad.

“I am Hored.  Many of you know me.  I say, let Barad have his waters.  He wishes to break Custom. Let him.  At the next gathering, if he has done well, then is the time for the rest of us to claim Dragon Sea waters for ourselves.”

Barad sneered, “The Great Dragons are legends only.  Stories to frighten children.”

“I’m just cautious with my ship,” was the calm reply.  “If you do find Dragons, kindly send a bit of identifiable wreckage south to let us know.”

Hored’s proposal was received with laughter, and passed.

Mord spoke at the last of the debate, “Barad, by foul means you have won those waters that we found.  You cannot have them until you yield up waters of equal size. The Grandalor already has the maximum a ship may have.  You must yield to the council one of your home waters to take up your claim.

“The Longin does not have our full allotment of home waters.”  He turned to the Council as a whole.  “You must give us what the Grandalor yields in recompense for our loss.”

With the smile of one springing a trap, Barad offered, “Before the Council, I yield 25o West to 31o West by 12o North to 17 o North.”

Mord said angrily, “Have you left your wits on dry land?  Those waters are a maze of reefs!  There is little deep water for our nets.  ‘For safety’s sake alone / Fish deep water / Steer clear the reef of stone.’ That is the Custom and a wise one as you have cause to know having grounded in that labyrinth yourself!  This is worthless water. Give us better.”

There was a rumble of agreement from the assembled Captains, but Barad stood against it, grinning. “You demanded water of equal size and I have been generous.  Waters in the tropics are larger than Northern waters, longitude is greatest in physical extent nearer the equator.  Take it or not, it is all one to me.  If you refuse, these are the only waters that will be in the hands of the Council.”

“We will take it then, and curse your name and ship.”  Mord sat, apparently still fuming.

When the Council broke up, the departing Captains were treated to the sights, sounds and scents of the trade bazaar that crew-folk from most of the ships had set up while they were inside debating.  This was the one time and place where rank had no privilege.  The ones behind the board or in the booth dealt with all comers the same.  There was a babble of voices as the different ships cried their merchandise.

“Cloth for sails, cloth for clothes!  The Gula’s weaving is second to none!”

“Rope!  The strongest rope! It’s the Mordan Twist!”

“Perfumes! Many a scent to please your love!”

“Shellfish!  Live lobster! Live Crab!  Clams!  Oysters!  Live Shrimp!  Longin lace!”

There was a dense crowd gathered around the Longin booth.

“Look at that, will you!  They have a whole big tub of crabs!”

“I’m trying to!  Move a bit, will you!  Thanks … I don’t believe it!  Those are lobsters in that tub over there!  And there’s clams in the bottom of that shrimp tub!  Get your elbow out of my side!”

“Mister!  Ma��am!  How much for just one of those bigger shrimps?”

“Thank you, Ma’am!  Boil the crab soon for best flavor, and watch out, the legs can scratch, even if the claws are tied!”

“Was that the last crab?  Oh, Dragons!  They’re out of crabs!”  There was a ragged chorus of “Oh, no!” and “I didn’t even get a chance!”  The tumult began anew as two of the Longin’s sailors dragged out a fresh tub of crabs.  The barely controlled riot of buyers for the unheard of cargo of live delicacies previously thought to be rare lucky finds continued until late …  

Kurin surprised everyone by setting up a small booth, under Master Juris’ proud and watchful eye.  On its board she set out many toys.

To be Continued

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[gildcdwings]

❀ *◦ kim jisoo. cis woman. she/her. heterosexual. ⇝ hey, isn’t that bernadette lim? i think that the twenty-nine year old from anchorage, alaska works as a marketing consultant for blood for beauty cosmetics and an illustrator for the anchorage daily diem, but outside of that people describe them as stucco roofs, well-used ceramic kitchenware, the smell of fresh laundry, wandering aimlessly through an orange grove, and sunlight hitting your face after a long and dark winter. i hear they are passive & directionless, but they are also known to be courteous & humble. consider giving them a visit at their home in the marionette and get to know why they’re called the shadow.

-always apologizing and anticipating other people's reactions -a bit of a pushover -queen of masking -approach with caution, she spooks easy -good at a lot of things, not exceptional at any one thing -a little aimless, still looking for her purpose -recently divorced, doesn't want to talk about it -not thrilled to be back in alaska, but is looking forward to being with family and friends again

pinterest / playlist

tw: neglect, masking, abuse mention, miscarriage

through the give and take you had to learn, how to cross the coals and not get burned: lore.

Childhood/Adolescence:

Unconventional to say the least, Bernadette's childhood was made up of nothing but gray areas, something that she'd never been particularly good at making sense of, especially not as a child. One moment, her parents were doting and loving, showering their two girls in all of the affection that they could give. The next, the sisters were left to their own devices for hours, and occasionally even days at a time, with Rosalind left to a young Bernadette's care. There was no stability during those years, no consistency, and barely a moment for the elder Lim daughter to catch her breath or think about her own needs. The only thing that mattered back then was survival.

All of her childhood memories before she was eventually placed in foster care remain a hazy blur that Bernadette can't recall with much clarity, a mix of the happy moments shared with her family sprinkled in with times that the two girls were left to fend for themselves, the uncertainty of not knowing with complete confidence whether their parents would return for them at all.

The only thing that kept her feet on the ground during those years was taking responsibility for her little sister. Bernadette did everything she could to shield Rosalind from it all, telling them stories and encouraging their overactive imagination to whisk them both away from the eerily empty house. That was how the girls lived their lives, how they made it through the tough times. That is, until the night of the fire.

Luckily, their salvation to a more stable home life came in the form of being placed under Eliana Okin's care. It was a tragedy, no doubt, to lose the only life they'd ever known in such an operatically tragic way, but a young Bernadette was hopeful for better times ahead, for the chance to start over somewhere new, a picturesque place dusted with snow.

Sure enough, in the Okin household, the sisters' every creative whim was encouraged and nurtured with gusto as they grew up. They found the structure and stability that Bernadette had always craved, and it was no longer just the two girls against the world. Their new foster family came with additional foster siblings, and although she still felt different than the rest, content to get lost in her own inner world for hours at a time, she finally had a place where she could belong as she grew into herself. That is, until confronted with the reality of life outside of her home, overwhelmed by the idea of finding something to do for the rest of her life once she had finished high school.

Early Adulthood:

A little aimless and uncertain about what path to take in life, Bernadette decided to enroll at the local university at the age of 20 and took a job as a hostess at the Ivy. She had two years of general education courses to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Surely, this experience could anchor her and provide some direction, right? But it seemed that life had different plans when she met Richard, a charming man in his mid-thirties that came out of nowhere, appearing at the restaurant on a near daily basis attempting to sweep Bernadette off her feet.

Richard knew all the right things to say to make Bernadette's walls come down. He promised an escape from her increasingly mundane life in Anchorage, more money than she'd ever know what to do with, a life full of travel and adventure. Most exciting of all, he would frequently wax poetic about the two of them getting to start a loving family of their own, something Bernadette had always yearned for. She would no longer be defined by the tragedy of her childhood or the circumstance of her early upbringing. With Richard by her side, she'd finally be free of those painful memories and could start to make new ones.

After only a few months of dating (and ignoring any protests from her siblings and foster parents), the couple rushed down the aisle, with Bernadette abandoning her collegiate studies altogether to start her new life as a kept woman—the perfect, charming housewife for her seemingly perfect husband. Until a few months after their wedding, when things started to change for the worse, the veneer peeling off of his picturesque façade.

Long gone were the days of Richard going out of his way to say exactly the right things. He became more demanding and critical of her every action, growing irate every time Bernadette made a social misstep, no matter how accidental, scolding his young wife as if she were a child for allowing her neurosis to rule her every move. And despite her best efforts to meet his exceedingly high expectations over their years together, to conceal the way she really felt in favor of being his image of perfection, it seemed that she always came up short, was never quite right. You don't belong here, and I was foolish to think that you could, Richard seemed to say with his every needling comment, leaving Bernadette to wonder what exactly she did that was worth such revulsion.

Present Day:

The final straw came with an unexpected pregnancy around her 27th birthday, the loss of the unborn baby just a few weeks after finding out that she was expecting. Richard had very little sympathy for Bernadette's heartbreak over the loss, remarking instead that it was "just as well." She was far too cold to be a good mother anyways, his promises of starting a loving family with her, something to make up for all the darkness in her childhood, seemed to crumple into dust.

Encouraged by her siblings to come home after the litigious divorce, Bernadette once again finds herself in her Alaskan hometown, a place that was once her salvation from an uncertain upbringing. Sure, she made it out of her marriage with some money, likely to afford her comforts that she never could've dreamt of before. But coming back to Anchorage was certainly not a victorious homecoming, no triumphant fanfare to welcome her home.

But at least Anchorage feels familiar and safe, even in all its oddities. Grateful to be tethered back to her roots by old friends and family, it was somewhere to pick up the pieces and restart, a silver lining through the shit storm of the last eight years. One can only hope that in the rubble, she can manage to rebuild, one brick at a time.

but you're really just a little girl, playing in the park 'til the sun goes down: stats.

General Info: Full Name: Bernadette Vivienne Lim. Nicknames: Bernie, Betty, Bea. Age: 29. Date of Birth: September 5th, 1995. Zodiac Sign: Virgo. Gender: Cis woman. Pronouns: she/her. Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual. Romantic Orientation: Heteroromantic. Relationship Status: Available, single. Alignment: Lawful Neutral. MBTI: ISTJ, the Logistician.

Appearance: Faceclaim: Kim Jisoo. Height: 5′4. Eye Color: Brown. Hair Color: Jet black. Tattoos: None. Piercings: A single earlobe piercing on each ear.

Background: Education: High school diploma, dropped out of community college after a semester. Occupation: Marketing consultant for Blood for Beauty Cosmetics and an illustrator for the Anchorage Daily Diem. Residence: The Marionette. Class: Upper. Ethnicity: Korean. Language(s) Spoken (in order of fluency): English / Korean / Spanish / French / Italian.

Identity: Label: the shadow. Positive Traits: observant, resilient, charitable, level-headed, thoughtful. Negative Traits: uncompromising, rigid, judgmental, insecure, obsessive. Quirks/Habits: voice cracks easily, skin picking. Love Language: Words of affirmation and acts of service. Hobbies: Cooking, record collecting, studying languages, photography, painting with watercolors. Likes: designer perfumes, gold jewelry, vintage couches, fresh fruit, antique maps and globes. Dislikes: pretty but empty words, being misinterpreted. Fears: remaining aimless, feeling trapped again.

[slocum-dodson]

Doughnut Money

I could have been an actor back in the day. Back before the army. Before anchorage. I would have been hot shit and everybody knew it. Even that little sociopath, Donnie knew it. He knew I had the gift of gab and everybody knew I had the perfect cock to be an actor in the pictures. I could have been making on Vera Keyes, but instead I had to get a real job because acting doesn't pay the bills, Shaun!

DOUGHNUTS PAY THE GODDAMN BILLS!

We would have been living like royalty if those goddamn Buzzbites made it to the open market. We would have had doughnut money if those goddamn nukes didn't blast the world into a coma!

Anyways, I'm rambling. Here's a fun pick of Shauns' new stepdad.

Smiling Preston~