#Dover Building

[uk4yy]

i'm not like a Hand Guy by any means but i'd like to think it would go a little something like this 👁️

arthur: long/slender, looks soft but is dry and ashy, well manicured but calloused because of his hobbies, has had carpal tunnel (francis reminds him to take breaks and stretch)

short nails to easily manoeuvre the strings on whatever instrument/long enough he can use them as pick

francis: bigger but stout, swarthy, weathered/thick skinned but somehow soft , slowly growing arthritic and he can tell when it's about to rain from the way his hands swell (arthur will massage his fingers when theyre lying down together)

nails cut to the nub since it's a bother to clean clay, paint, charcoal, etc out of them but arthur also prefers it this way whenever they*gunshot noise*

[syninplays]

Made some small process on Burgh Castle 🏰

[keyonsketches]

"unfinished due to my brother unreasonably asking why i was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk - Port Dover, Canada historic town hall clock tower" By Keyon aka Kirsten Dennis ; medium: Faber-castell Pitt Artist Pen soft brush marker set on Canson pen and ink paper 80lb ; size 9x12"

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"GALT, PORT DOVER ROAD WILL BE ELECTRIFIED," Berlin News Record (Kitchener, Ont.) July 12, 1913. Page 1. ---- (From Simcoe Reformer.) Engineer Kellatt, of the Lake Erie & Northern, was talking to The Reformer on Monday. He said that the story about the line being exclusively a steam one had no foundation in fact. The line from Galt to Port Dover would be electrified. Of that there was no possible doubt. The board of directors had never considered making it a steam road.

Of course, the roadbed would be of steam standard and the steel heavy. It would be quite possible to run an ordinary steam locomotive, hauling a full complement of loaded cars, over the line any time it was found desirable. But this fact did not clash with the statement that it would be an electrified line.

The T. H. &. B. brakes will not be used. The delay north of Waterford is caused by a difference of opinion as to the merits of two alternative routes. Two complete surveys have been made: one runs through Boston, the other takes a more westerly course and misses Boston by a major more. The final decision will be made in a few days, and it was good betting that construction will be under way in a month.

Mr. Kellatt expects to have the line open from Brantford to Galt by October 1st in time for this fall's business. He places the completion of the whole line and its opening for business, from Port Dover through to Galt, not later than June 1, 1914.

One of the difficulties now con fronting him in Simcoe is to accommodate his plans to the recent purchases of land by the Board of Education. Of this, probably more will be heard in the near future.

[bl00d-hail]

West Dover, VT

[buildperception]

Why Choose Build Perception Chartered Surveyors

When developing and constructing a property, choosing a Building Surveyor in Canterbury is crucial. This is especially true in Canterbury's ever-changing and architecturally diverse landscape. We at Build Perception Chartered Surveyors understand the importance of this decision and strive to be more than just a provider of services. Our goal is to be your reliable companion during the full process of your property evaluation and construction. Read the Complete blog: Why Choose Build Perception Chartered Surveyors 

[simmsartco]

Downtown 8x10

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

Again, not an exhaustive list but for anyone else in the UK, these are where riots are expected today:

Aldershot - Immigration Advisors at 40 Victoria Road GU11 1TH, starting at 19:30.

Bedford - Immigration INN (Inn?) on Ford End Road MK40 4JT, at 20:00.

Birmingham - Refugee and Migrant Centre on Frederick Street B1 3HN, beginning at 20:00.

Bishop Auckland - outside the Town Hall on Market Place DL14 7NP.

Blackburn - Rafiq Immigration Services on Whalley Road BB5 1AA, at 20:00.

Blackpool - Immigration Solicitors at the Enterprise Centre on Lytham Road FY1 1EW, starting at 20:00.

Bolton - Deane & Bolton Immigration Lawyers on Chorley New Road BL1 4QR, at 20:00.

Brentford - UK Immigration Help in The Mile on 1000 Great West Road TW8 9DW, starting around 19:00.

Brighton - Raj Rayan Immigration in Queensberry House at 106 Queens Road BN1 3XF, starting either at 19:30 or 20:00.

Bristol - Gya Williams Immigration on West Street BS2 OBL, at 20:00.

Burnley - at Thompson Park on 111 Ormerod Rioad BB11 3QWat, starting at 13:00.

Canterbury - UK Immigration Clinic in the Canterbury Innovation Centre CT2 7FG, at 20:00.

Chatham - Immigration Status UK on Maidstone Road ME5 9FD, at 20:00.

Cheadle - Intime Immigration Services on Brooks Drive SK8 3TD, at 20:00.

Chelmsford - UK Immigration Information Centre on Violet Close CM1 6XG, at 20:00.

Derby - Immigration Advisory Service, Normanton Road DE23 6US, at 20:00.

Dover - Kent Immigration and Visa Advice at 5A Castle Hill Road CT16 1QG, reportedly around 20:00.

Durham - in Crook at Market Place, at 18:00. (Unsure as to whether this is the same one as in Bishop Auckland as I know Crook is near there?)

Finchley - Immigration and Nationality Services within Foundation House at 4 Percy Road N128BU, around 19:00.

Harrow - Yes UK Immigration and North Harrow Community Library within the Business Centre at 429-433 Pinner Road HA1 4HN, in North Harrow, at 19:00.

Hastings - Black Rock Immigration at 37 Cambridge Gardens TN34 1EN, at 20:00.

Hull - Conroy Baker Immigration Lawyer in Norwich House, 1 Savile Street HU1 3ES, at 20:00.

Lewisham - the Clock Tower, SE13 5JH, 19:00.

Lincoln - Immigration Lawyer Services on Carlton Mews LN2 4FJ, at 20:00.

Liverpool - Merseyside Refugee Centre in St Anne's Centre on 7 Overbury Street L7 3HJ, at 20:00.

Liverpool - Sandpiper Hotel (might be on Ormskirk Old Road? if any scousers can clarify where that is, that'd be great) at 13:00.

Middlesbrough - Immigration Advice Centre which is the Co-Operative Buildings at 251 Linthorpe Road TS1 4AT, at 20:00.

Newcastle - United Immigration Services in Artisan Unit 3, The Beacon on Westgate Road NE4 9PQ, at 20:00.

Northampton - Zenith Immigration Lawyers at 2 Talbot Road NN1 4JB, starting at 20:00.

Nottingham - East Midlands Immigration Services at 15 Stonesbury Vale NG2 7UR, at 20:00.

Oldham - somewhere on Ellen Street 0L9 6QR, at 20:00

Oxford - Asylum Welcome in Unit 7 in Newtec Place on Magdelen Road OX4 1RE, around 19:00. [Updated as of 15:53]

Peterborough - Smart Immigration Services in Laxton House at 191 Lincoln Road PE1 2PN, at 20:00.

Plymouth - in a Morrisons car park, I don't know which but I saw Victory Parade associated with it? If anyone from Plymouth can clarify, please do. Not sure on time.

Portsmouth - UK Border Agency at Kettering Terrace PO2 8QN, at 20:00

Preston - Adriana Immigration Services at 109 Church Street PR1 3BS, at 19:00 or 20:00.

Rotherham - Parker Rhodes Hickmotts, The Point S60 1BP, at 20:00.

Sheffield - City Hall on Barker's Pool S1 2JA, at 13:00.

Sheffield - White Rose Visas at 101 Wilkinson Street S10 2GJ, at 20:00.

Southampton - Y-Axis Immigration Consultants, Cumberland Place on Grosvenor Square SO15 2BG, at 20:00.

Southend - MNS Immigration Solicitors on Ditton Court Road SS0 7HG, at 20:00.

Stoke-On-Trent - ZR Visas on Metcalfe Road ST6 7AZ, in Tunstall, at 20:00.

Sunderland - North of England Refugee Service which is in Suite 12 in the Eagle Building at 201 High Street East SR1 2AX, at 20:00.

Swindon - I have no details for this, just seen that something might be kicking off there.

Tamworth - Lawrencia & Co Immigration Solicitors within the Amber Business Village on Amber Close B77 4RP, no details on time unfortunately.

Walthamstow - Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau at 187 Hoe Street E17 3AP, at 20:00.

Wigan - Support for Wigan Arrivals Project, Penson Street WN1 2LP, at 20:00.

York - only detail I've got it is York Stay City Hotel.

[sforzesco]

Do you have any good resources/references/advice for drawing (late republican) Roman clothing? I want to draw a couple of historical figures but thinking about drawing a toga makes me feel like 😖😖😖...

-Costumes of the Greeks and Romans, Thomas Hope

-Greek and Roman Fashions, Tom Tierney

-The World of Roman Costume, ed. Judith Lynn Sebesta and Larissa Bonfante.

-Decorative Symbols and motifs for Artists and Craftsmen/Decorative Patterns of the Ancient World, Dover Publications

-photos & videos from reenactors and reenactment events

-build a screenshot reference library from movies and shows that have costume designs you like, that kind of thing. grab a blanket and wrap yourself up in it toga style and take a photo if you need a specific angle. etc. museums usually have a lot of their galleries online, and places like the met often shoot statues from multiple sides.

[ltwilliammowett]

The anti seasick ship SS Bessemer Saloon Steamship

The SS Bessemer Saloon Steamship- SS Bessemer for short - was an experimental Victorian passenger side wheel steamer designed to counteract seasickness and operated between Dover and Calais. Her inventor was Sir Henry Bessemer.

Bessemer Saloon Steamer, 1874

In 1868, Bessemer, who suffered from severe seasickness, developed the idea of a ship whose passenger cabin - the saloon - was to be suspended on a gimbal and mechanically held horizontally, thus levelling out the swell and sparing the occupants from the ship's movements. Sounded too good to be true, but more on that later. He patented this ingenious idea in December 1869 and after successful trials with a model in which the levelling was carried out by hydraulics controlled by a helmsman observing a spirit level, Bessemer founded a limited company, the Bessemer Saloon Steamboat Company Limited, which was to operate steamships between England and France. Capital of 250,000 pounds was used to finance the construction of a ship, the SS Bessemer, whose chief designer was the naval architect Edward James Reed.

SS Bessemer, by Henry Spernon Tozer 1874

And so she was built by Earle's Shipbuilding in Hull. She bore the shipyard number 197 and was launched on 24 September 1874. As already mentioned, she was a paddle steamer with four buckets (two buckets each on port and starboard, one forward and one aft). She had a length of 106.68 m (350 feet), a width on deck of 12.19 m (40 feet), an outside width over the bucket boxes of 19.81 m (65 feet), a draught of 2.26 m (7 feet 5 inches) and a gross register tonnage of 1974 tonnes. What also characterised her was that she was completely identical fore and aft, she had two bridges and two wheels, which simply made her faster and more manoeuvrable in both directions. Her maximum speed was about 17.4 knots.

The inner saloon was a room 70 feet long (21 metres) and 30 feet wide (9.1 metres), with a ceiling 6.1 metres above the floor, Moroccan-covered seats, partitions and spiral columns of carved oak and gilded panels with hand-painted murals. The press liked to call it the floating clubhouse. However, the swinging saloon was only intended for first class passengers. The second class, on the other hand, did not enjoy this and had to make do with cabins on the sides of the hull.

Harper's Weekly Interior Pages showing the newly building ultra Luxury Bessemer Channel Steam-Ship, 1874

The disaster begins

On 21 October 1874, the Bessemer had her first misfortune. She had just arrived in Hull to be fitted out when she was driven ashore in a storm. She was refloated and found to be undamaged, which was not entirely true, as would later become apparent.

In March 1875, the ship sailed on a private trial voyage from Dover to Calais. During this voyage she is said to have steered well and even had a top speed of 18 knots. Her swinging saloon is also said to have worked excellently. However, things didn't go so smoothly because on arrival in Calais, a paddle wheel was damaged when she crashed into the pier because it didn't react to the rudder at slow speed.

The first and only public voyage took place on 8 May 1875, with the ship sailing with her revolving cabin locked (some observers suggested this was due to the ship's severe instability, but Bessemer attributed this to lack of time to repair the previous damage). The ship was operated by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. After two attempts to enter the harbour, it again crashed into the Calais pier, this time destroying part of it. Calais billed the company £2800 for the damage.

The Bessemer Saloon-Ship running foul of Calais Pier. Illustrated London News, 1875

Due to the poor performance, investors lost confidence and the company was dissolved in 1876. On 29 December 1876, the Bessemer ran aground on Burcom Sand in the Humber upstream of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, after the removal of the swivelling saloon and other extensive alterations. She was refloated and taken to Hull. The Board of Trade's investigation into the grounding found that the captain was at fault. His certificate was suspended for three months.After removal, the designer Reed had the saloon cabin taken to his home, Hextable House, Swanley, where it was used as a billiard room. When the house was later converted into a women's college, Swanley Horticultural College, the saloon was used as a lecture theatre, but was destroyed by a direct hit when the college was bombed during the Second World War.

The Saloon as a lecutre theatre

The ship was then docked in Dover until it was sold for scrapping in 1879.

The Theory of the Top. Volume IV, by Felix Klein, Arnold Sommerfeld, London, 2010

The Nautical Magazine for 1874

Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S.: An Autobiography, 1905

The Gale, The Times. No. 28140. London. 23 October 1874. col E, p. 8.

London, Chatham & Dover Railway Company

[pad-wubbo]

All AAI2 official English character and case names rated based on whether I think they're better or worse than the fan translation equivalents:

Di-Jun Huang > Di-Jun Wang - It's the same.

Horace Knightley > Bronco Knight - Worse.

Ethan Rooke > Bastian Rook - Worse.

Nicole Swift > Tabby Lloyd - Much better.

Raymond Shields > Eddie Fender - Slightly worse.

Jay Elbird > Rocco Carcerato - Much better.

Simon Keyes > Simeon Saint - Slightly worse.

Sebastian Debeste > Eustace Winner - Sounds worse, fits better.

Justine Courtney > Verity Gavèlle - Much better.

Sirhan Dogen > Bodhidharma Kanis - Much better.

Patricia Roland > Fifi Laguarde - Much better, they've already done "patrol" twice.

Jeff Master > Samson Tangaroa - More unique, less punny. Not sure.

Katherine Hall > Judy Bound - Slightly worse because no food pun.

Isaac Dover > Artie Frost - References his nature as an artist, better.

Pierre Hoquet > Paul Halique - Same as Japanese name, no longer parrot.

Dane Gustavia > Carmelo Gusto - Worse, doesn't sound as awesome.

Delicia Scones > Delicia Scone - It's the same.

Karin Jenson > Florence Niedler - Much better. Florence Nightingale and needles.

Bonnie Young > Hilda Hertz - Better, because alliterative.

Jill Crane > Rosie Ringer - Better, alliterative. Different nursery rhyme.

Blaise Debeste > Excelsius Winner - The absolute Winner among these names. It's so pompous, contains "celsius" and "excel" and just sounds like he went to Oxford.

John Marsh > Shaun Fenn - It's the same. Shaun means John and fen means marsh.

Amy Marsh > Amelie Fenn - It's the same.

Dai-Long Lang > Da-Long Lang - It's the same.

Jack Cameron > Alf Aldown - Better, only because it's a Deid Mann tier awful name rather than a boring realistic name.

Turnabout Target > Turnabout Trigger - Better, sounds more like a presidential assassination attempt.

The Imprisoned Turnabout > The Captive Turnabout - Better, less long-winded.

The Inherited Turnabout > Turnabout Legacy - Better for same reason as above.

The Forgotten Turnabout > A Turnabout Forsaken - Sounds more pretentious, but probably better because less confusion with The Lost Turnabout, where Phoenix forgets.

The Grand Turnabout > Turnabout for the Ages - Worse, I think. It sounds cooler, but doesn't have any chess connotations. They should have called it "The Grandmaster's Turnabout" or "Turnabout Checkmate", I think.

Also, have updated case cards to help you get used to the new names.

EDIT;

Some extra things:

* iFly Airlines in AAI1 has been reverted to its Japanese name of "GoYou". This was probably done because iFly is the name of a real Russian airline with global sanctions against it since 2022.

* As a result, Hugo Ifly is now Ugo Hughes and the tanuki called Mr. Ifly is now Captain Ugo.

* Moozilla is now Taurusaurus, which I think is a better name.

* The Grand Tower is now the Bigg Building, suggesting that Big is not merely its size, but a Mr. Bigg is its proprietor.

* The Zodiac Hall galleries are now referred to as seasonal "Wings" rather than "Palaces". Makes more sense.

* Edgeworth Law Offices is now referred to as Edgeworth and Co. Law Offices, the Co. being Eddie Fender (aka Ray Shields). Again, makes more sense.

* Rocky the bear is now Teddy, since his owner is now already Rocco as a Rocky reference.

* Anubis the hunting dog is now Helmut, a lame pun on "hell mutt".

* Astique the elephant is now Azea, like an "Asian" elephant.

* Ally the alligator is still the same. Regina Berry is not very good at naming animals.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Mint Plays Games: Rotted Capes (And the Lesson I Keep Learning This Year)

Last month I finally played a long-awaited one-shot of Rotted Capes, and I (once again) learned a lesson that’s been leaking into my brain over the course of the past year.

(tldr: you should play games you think you don't like)

The Context

Over the past 4 years, one of the settings my home group has returned to time and time again is our own personal superhero universe. We call it the Dover City Universe (The DCU for short), and we started building it in Spectaculars, by Scratchpad Publishing. Spectaculars is great for folks who like playing in person, and like building their own comics universe, and it comes with a lot of fantastic aids for new GMs who like a structured adventure that they can customize to fit the themes of their table.

Since then we’ve also run games in MASKS by Magpie Games, Henshin by Cave of Monsters, and i’m sorry did you say street magic, by Caro Ascersion. Each game has been an expansion from the original setting, placing a focus on a different location or time period.

Now, one of the players in my group has a really big love for media that turns a bit darker, including post-apocalyptic media, so when we were talking about possible future games, I suggested Rotted Capes, by Paradigm Concepts. He got very excited, and even offered to help me buy it. It then took me nearly 2 years to get it to the table.

The Rules

Rotted Capes is what I consider a crunchy game, far crunchier than what I’m usually willing to tackle. Character creation involves a point-buy system that makes stats and abilities more expensive the higher you push them, and there are many advantages or powers that require you to build your character in a specific way before you have access to them. The rank of your ability, skill or power determines how many dice (and what kind of dice) you roll for any given action, and the ranks also scale the passive modifiers you add to certain things in a very gradual way.

When it comes to the powers, your characters are b-list super-humans - all the A-listers died, disappeared, or turned undead when Z-Day hit, so you’re all that’s left to defend humanity. Not all of you were heroes either. Combat against regular zombies is meant to be reasonably easy (with the bigger threat being bit) while combat against super-Z’s is meant to be terrifying. Rotted Capes provides you with loose categories of superhero types to guide you towards a character build that is going to be useful/effective in combat, but the superhero abilities themselves are general, allowing you to interpret exactly what it means to “generate energy” for your character, or how you have the ability to “entangle” your foe.

When you play the game, your character will roll 2d10 for any given action, and try to beat a difficulty number set by the GM. You add extra dice based on your Attributes, Skills, Powers, and equipment, the dice ranging between d4’s and d12’s, depending on the rank of your skills. As you might see in the above chart, once you get high enough, you might even be adding 2 dice for a rank of something once you get it high enough. Beating a 5 is so trivial, it might not even require a roll. Beating a 40 is an astounding feat, and extremely unlikely.

In combat, players roll Xd10 (X=initiative) and look for the lowest result. This result determines their place on a 12-slice clock. Each player has their own personal clock, while the GM uses a GM clock, which they use to track what slice of initiative is currently happening, as well as where all the NPCs are. Every time the GM moves to a new slice of the clock, whoever is on that slice has a chance to do something, and depending on what kind of move they make, moves a number of slices forward on the clock. They will not be able to act again until the GM hits that slice of the clock. If you do something big and complicated, you can do it, but you’ll have to wait more than a few turns before you can do something else.

There’s also a player resource called Plot Dice, which are dice that you can spend or add to rolls to give yourself a chance of success, help out a friend, resist harm, and re-roll failures. Plot Dice is determined by your lowest Attribute, but they can be refreshed by playing to your character’s personality flaws (the zombie apocalypse changed everyone).

The character sheet for Nautica, the big bad of our session.

The Game

To make this only difficult once, I decided to put the entire table into a Google Sheet, so that I only had to worry about how many points I was spending, rather than continually referring back to the table to change things like passive modifiers or dice sizes.

I also took on the bulk of character creation, asking my friends to build half of a character (choosing archetype, highlighting favourite powers, and describing to me their background) and then doing the number crunching on my own, to make sure I knew how their character abilities worked. I did this because I was the only one who had reliable access to the rulebook, and I knew that asking a group of people to study how to play a game just for a single one-shot was not likely to work out.

The players all made very different characters. We had an ex-military martial artist who showed no mercy, a former sidekick who was still learning how to use his fire-powers, and an ex-villain trash man who could talk to rats and mainly fought using sticky bombs and magnets. When we rolled up to game day, we passed around printed versions of the character spreadsheets, the initiative clocks, and a number of polyhedral dice. I set the scene for the culinary school the characters were looting, and ran the group through 2 easy combats and 1 terrifying confrontation with a villain (who was one of my old DCU characters, but in an older, grislier form). After the combat, we spent about half an hour talking about the hideout where our enclave was camping out in, and playing through ending scenes between the heroes and various NPCs.

The Takeaway

I bought Rotted Capes for two reasons, and neither of those reasons were because I was genuinely excited about the game. I suggested it because I knew my friend loved the genre and I knew about it in the first place because I had heard about it because I listened to Fandible’s actual play series and the group sounded like they were having a lot of fun. But zombie media isn’t usually my thing, and crunch makes me hesitate because as a GM, I know the bulk of the work is going to be on me.

However, once the initial hurdle of reading and prepping the game was cleared, we had so much fun. The actual rules for rolling were very easy compared to the amount of math that goes into building your character, and the biggest obstacle for the players was trying to navigate all the cells of our Google Sheets.

The two most exciting pieces of game-play for me were the moments where someone got to roll a whole fistful of dice, and when combat clicked. Moving on the initiative clock was so wonderfully intuitive, and having a visual aid made it so easy to keep track of who was going next, and how long you had until you could do something again. Tying your actions to moves on the clock ensures that no one person is doing a bunch of interesting and complex moves one after another - if you do something really complicated or impressive, you have a kind of cooldown before you can try something again. Meanwhile characters who do something small and simple will be able to act again before you know it, and might get to do something right before a villain gets a chance to respond.

This brings me to the big lesson I’ve been learning this year:

Play Games You Might Not Like.

Three of my most positive experiences over the past year were games that I played for reasons other than because I thought they were really cool. I picked up Last Fleet because I needed another space game to run (that I already owned) for our Galaxy Squad run, and it turned into a big dramatic story that was cathartic, satisfying, and truly jaw-dropping in its narrative twists and turns.

I played A Complicated Profession because my co-GM was really excited about it and wanted to use it to lead out from our Scum & Villainy arc. We ended up having the most hilarious time coming up with various customers (including a goat-man played by Danny Devito and his himbo boyfriend).

I played Rotted Capes because I like my friends, and I really love building a superhero universe with them. I ended up discovering an initiative clock that rocked my world, and had a blast throwing mitt-fulls of dice around with my friends.

There were also games that I was super hyped about to play that ended up not being as much of a fun experience as I was expecting. I think that since I had built up such a big idea in my head of what those games would feel like to play, that when the dice hit the table (or in our case, the Discord chat), the result couldn’t possibly live up to what I’d imagined.

So do it. Pick up the game your friend is asking you to play. Take a chance on that game that sounds like it might fit the genre you’re looking for. Read the rulebook for a system you’ve never tried. Not every game is going to be a hit, but in all of that mess you’re going to find real gems that you carry forward into future projects, and come away with moments beyond what you can dream up.

[chadillacboseman]

Pairing: David Loki x GN!Reader

Warnings: Mentions of injury, blood, trauma, kidnapping (if you've seen the movie, you know what it's about), mentions of previous arguments/a breakup, a little angst, pivoting entirely into something much sweeter.

Summary: In the wake of the recovery of the Birch and Dover girls and the rescue of Keller, David is put on mandatory leave by CPD. There's only one place he wants to be.

A/N: MY DRAMATIC RETURN TO xREADER!!! Re-watching Prisoners after like 5 years was enough to make me come back after a lengthy hiatus. Everybody say "THANK YOU, JAKE GYLLENHAAL!"

--

"Take time to recover, Loki," Captain O'Malley looked over the top of a battered file folder, stern gray eyes never wavering as he stared down the detective across the desk from him.

"I can do more here-" David began, indignant; his usually slicked hair had become tousled in his frustration, long black strands hanging haphazardly into his face as he protested.

"I'm not asking, detective."

That was that.

David exited the precinct in a huff, slinging his heavy jacket over his shoulders as his breath came in billowing white clouds against the frigid air. He paused on the front steps, irritation still bubbling just below the surface as he chewed his tongue in contemplation.

His right temple ached where Holly's bullet had struck him, throbbing down into his eye, where a bloodshot ring of ruptured vessels haloed his iris. He brought a hand up to the bandage absentmindedly, tracing the gauze and taking a moment to marvel at the fact that he'd come out from the shootout with his life.

Maybe O'Malley was right. David was in no shape to be on the streets, and the thought of being forced into desk duty made his eye twitch. He sighed heavily as he made his way down the steps and to his car, flinging the door open and dropping into the worn seat before bringing the engine to a whining start.

Muscle memory didn't take him home. Not to his empty house where he'd be left alone with every heavy memory that the Dover and Birch case had put on his shoulders. No, instead it took him to the opposite side of town, to your apartment building, where his car almost seemed to guide itself into a familiar parking space. The headlights cut off with the engine, and he exited into the darkening evening, making his way to the entrance.

David's hand hovered over the call button on the entry system, hesitant, shaking. He swallowed, thickly, then hammered the one next to your unit number, waiting with his breath trapped in his chest. Nervously, he ran his hand through his hair, tucking the unruly strands back to join the others as he stood there.

Inside your apartment, the loud buzzer near your door startled you into nearly dropping the dish you'd been about to place in the dishwasher. You furrowed your brows and glanced at the time on your phone- 6:00PM.

You dried off your hands and made your way to the entry; next to your door, a small red light blinked on top of a plastic speaker. You watched it for a moment, wondering if perhaps someone had hit the wrong number.

BUZZ.

"Hello?" you thumbed the button and waited tentatively.

"It's me."

"David?"

You hadn't seen him in weeks. He'd become so engrossed in the case with the missing girls that it had driven a wedge between the two of you, and you'd half expected to never see him again. When David got invested in a case, you quickly learned that you would always play second fiddle. Things had come to a head when Bob Taylor killed himself while in custody and David had become a man obsessed- angry, out of control, so singularly focused that you'd told him to get out.

He hadn't even argued.

"Can I come up?" his voice was quiet.

You hesitated, tongue trapped between your teeth as you considered your options. You'd seen on the news that the case had had a happy ending- both girls recovered safely, and Keller Dover had been found as well.

"Please?"

You sighed and hit the entry button, already feeling your body tense at the idea of him being back in your apartment after such a volatile ending. His quiet knock jolted you into focus and you slid the chain lock off the rail and turned the deadbolt with a loud click before swinging the door open.

David looked like hell.

The right side of his head was bandaged near the temple, and angry red bruising peppered his forehead and circled his eye, which was so bloodshot that it looked alien. You opened your mouth to comment, but decided against it, instead stepping aside so he could enter.

David winced when his eyes passed over the apartment, remembering the last time he'd set foot inside. The way your eyes had swam with tears as you'd begged him to just take a step back, to listen to you for even a second.

The way you'd begged him to show that he cared.

He turned to look at you, standing just a few feet away, but it felt like miles. Your arms were folded across your chest, fingers flexing on your biceps uncomfortably as you avoided his gaze and stared pointedly at the floor.

David opened his mouth, but the words wouldn't come.

For once, it wasn't Detective Loki who stood before you. It was just David- a mortal man, not some larger than life police officer chasing down the bad guys in dark alleyways.

"I'm sorry," he finally spoke, his quiet words falling flat in the tense air of the apartment, "for all of it."

All of it. The late shifts, the yelling, the nights spent sleeping on the couch. The alcohol he'd used to dull the ache of failure any time he chased a dead end lead.

"David-" you sighed and closed your eyes, bringing two fingers to pinch the space between your brows in frustration. It was so incredibly like him to think that he could finish a case and ride that high into coming back to you, waltzing back into your life as if he hadn't left you devastated just weeks before.

"I mean it," he took a hesitant step toward you, his hands flexing at his sides as he tried to stop himself from reaching for you, "please."

His plea felt genuine, warbling around the edges as if he was barely holding it together. You looked up and felt the slightest pang of emotion sear through your chest at the look in his eyes. Whatever had transpired as the case had come to a close had clearly rattled him- his air of confidence and righteous anger was gone, leaving a bruised and bloodied little boy standing in your entryway.

The same little boy who had joined the police force to stop the same people who had hurt him. The little boy who had felt so alone for so long until he met you.

"Please let me fix this."

Your heart wrenched control from your brain at his words, and before you could stop yourself, you crossed the room, closing the distance until you were just inches from him. Slowly, you brought your hand up to cup the uninjured side of his face, running your thumb gently across the stubble that had cropped up on his jaw.

David closed his eyes and a shaky breath passed through his lips as he leaned his head into your touch. Only then did he remember how much he had missed you- the softness of your touch, the way you kept him grounded when everything seemed lost.

The way you loved him, even when he couldn't bear to love himself.

"Forgive me?" David's lips twitched as he opened his eyes to look into yours.

You weren't sure if 'forgive' was the right word for what you were doing, but it was a start. You nodded and wrapped your arms around his neck, bringing your head to rest against his chest as he pulled you into a tight embrace.

David exhaled, as if it was the first time he'd done it fully since he'd left your apartment all those nights ago. You pulled back enough to look at him and he smiled, his face framed by the dark strands of hair that had fallen from the slicked back style atop his head.

"Captain made me take the rest of the month off," David murmured as he looked down at you, the soft smile still playing at his lips as he spoke.

You raised an eyebrow, shocked that he'd even agreed to take the leave of absence. Maybe he was ready to change for the better.

"And what do you plan to do with all that free time?" you asked playfully, your own smile now widening as his eyes crinkled at the corners, soft gaze still never breaking from yours.

"Make it up to you," David grinned and brought his mouth to yours before you could come up with a clever rebuttal.

In an instant, it was like he'd never stormed out of your apartment that night. All the days of watching the news, waiting for some reporter to announce that Detective David Loki had been killed in a shootout were wiped from the slate as his lips met yours.

David broke the kiss and rested his forehead against yours, the tip of his nose just barely brushing against your own as his hands fell so naturally to your waist to keep you close.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too."

[solaris-t]

Rainworld spear master ✨theory✨

Ok so I’m on a spear master play-through right now and I got to thinking, how IS this little slug cat growing large bone spears seemingly infinitely? Which led to me coming up with a few theory’s ranging from rapid bone cancer fed by blood, to a void fluid powered fusion reactor converting pure energy into matter. Eventually I landed on one theory that I think has some pretty solid evidence.

First we need to take a look at the structures of rain world. Almost every artificial building we see in Rainworld is not composed of simple brick and Mattel but saturated with a dense biome of microbes. This was done by the ancients to help those structures survive the heavy rains for long periods. But how would microbes help structures survive you ask? By eating biological material and excreting waste of course.

There’s actually a real world president for this called the white cliffs of dover which are 1 large ocien side cliffs made almost entirely from microbe poo, and 2 bright white (which just so happens to be the same color as the spears).

I think that the spear master absorbing microbes in the environment, storing them in a stomach like organ, and feeding those microbes blood sucked through the spear tubes. The microbes then digest that blood producing energy for the body and waste. That waste is then moved from the stomach to a holding organ in or near the tail. Where it stays until it is excreted and hardens on contact with the air. Additionally the tubes which connect the spears are probably a thin hollow lining of the tube that transferred waste from the holding organ to the tail holes that gets pulled along with the spear when removed.

This is even more probable when you consider that the microbes in the stomach would clearly need to be altered in order to produce so much waste. If not then all of Rainworld would be a big white blob by now. And what iterator was it that first suggested the idea of creating microbes which alter other microbes? That’s right it’s seven red suns who also happens to be the iterator who presumably creates, and sends the spear master on their mission.

Here’s the not so fun part. We’ve established that the white stuff is waste from digestion, and that waste is then transported to a storage organ until it is excreted out of holes on the slug cats tail. You know what that sounds like to me? Sounds like pooping, which makes the spear masters spears hardened poo, and the holes on its tail buttholes.

Gross.

Also here’s a photo of those cliffs for you

[bigball-thefrog]

What's More Goth Than Dating The Dead?: Brook X Goth!Reader

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Just something short and sweet this week, enjoy.

Warnings/Tags:

Fluff

Fem reader

It's Brook so he obviously asks to see panties

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Brook POV

It was a peaceful day on the Sunny, Zoro was napping, the girls were reading, Sanji was cooking, Usopp was playing some sort of game with Chopper, Franky was building something new for the ship, and I played a calm melody on my violin to go with today's mood. We had docked on an island about three days ago to restock, we were now packed and ready to leave but we're waiting for the orders from our captain Luffy who was still on the island exploring, so the crew got a peaceful moment before Luffy came back and we were to set sail again.

Suddenly the captain burst into he ship with excitement, "Guys guys!!!! I found a new member to join us while exploring the island!!!" Luffy exclaimedas a new person walked onto the ship. I put down my violin to look at this new person and it was like time had stopped. Her dark and mysterious makeup, her elegant clothing, her plump curves... My god she was magnificent. At this point I had blocked out anything Luffy was saying and only focused on the beauty of this new member. I was snapped out of my thoughts by Luffy calling out my name, "Brook! Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" "Ah yes, I will do so now." I wallke dover to the new recruit and bowed while tipping my hat, "It is lovely to meat you dear, I am Brook the ships musician." She bowed back, "Delighted to meet you, I would've joined faster if I knew a musical skeleton was on this ship~" I chuckled and stood back up, "You know, I have this certain tradition whenever I meet a beautiful woman such as yourself." Once I said that, the crew was already telling me to stop, "Oh a tradition? What is this tradition you have with women?" the crew was begging me to stop at this point but I persisted, "Yes, I must always ask women this question whenever I meet them. It is of the upmost importance!" "Oh? What is this very important question?" I bent down to their eye level and asked, "May I see your panties?" the crew let out a audible groan and see were getting ready to hit me. I braced myself for the newcomer to hit me or yell at me with harsh words but instead I was met with the angelic sound of her laugh. We were all shocked and looked at her confused and she gently patted my cheek bone, "You've got some real guts for a skeleton, it's actually kinda cute~" I froze and the crew gasped. No shouting? No kick across the skull? She actually... Complimented me. If I had skin right now, I'd be redder than a tomato! She spoke again which snapped me out of my thoughts, "But you're gonna have to try harder than that to see anything~"

I cleared my throat and got up, "Why yes of course, I understand. In fact I think a proper courting ritual is is required!" I suggested thinking I would be rejected, but instead she smiled and held out her hand, "If it's a courting ritual you thinks is best, then a courting ritual it will be." Shocked again, I took her hand in mine and brought it up to my face, pressing my teeth against her knuckles and making a kissing sound since I have no lips. We looked at each other again, a certain spark between us now. I swear I will not mess up this courting ritual, I will impress this beautiful woman and she'll be mine!

Crew POV

Nami: Did this... Actually just happen?

Usopp: This feels like a weird fever dream

Robin: I feel like I've just seen history been made.

Sanji: DID THE SKELETON SERIOUSLY GET A GIRLFRIEND BEFORE ME?!?!!!

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Like I said, just something short and sweet this week, next week I'll definitely post something longer.

Kelly🐸

[mydaddywiki]

Chip Kelly

Physique: Husky/Average Build Height: 6' (1.83 m)

Charles Edward Kelly (born November 25, 1963) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the UCLA Bruins. He came to prominence as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks from 2009 to 2012, whom he led to four consecutive BCS bowl game appearances, including the 2011 BCS National Championship Game. This success led to him serving as a head coach in the NFL for four seasons, three with the Philadelphia Eagles (2013–2015) and one with the San Francisco 49ers (2016). Kelly only made the playoffs in his first season with Philadelphia, and he was fired from both teams. After leaving the NFL, Kelly returned to college football in 2018 to coach UCLA.

Chip Kelly, a name synonymous with offensive brilliance even though his UCLA record is around .500. Obviously he has a cute, sexy body but the main attraction was his face. I don’t think there’s been a time where I’ve seen Chip and immediately had thoughts of boning him and milking him dry.

Once married, Kelly is reluctant to discuss his life outside of football. The Dover, NH native lives in Los Angeles, California but has a small, tight-knit group of friends in Manchester, NH, who never speak about him to reporters. That kinda adds to the rumor that Chip use to swing when he was married and coaches for both teams if you get my meaning.