#Fire Water Network Design

[converge-engineering]

Comprehensive Guide to Effective Fire Water Network Design

In the realm of fire safety, a well-designed fire water network stands as a critical component for safeguarding lives and property. For businesses and facilities, understanding the intricacies of fire water network design is essential. This comprehensive guide aims to shed light on the key aspects of designing an effective fire water network, ensuring that your premises are well-prepared to combat fire emergencies.

Understanding Fire Water Network Design:

Fire water network design refers to the planning and implementation of systems that supply water for firefighting purposes. This network includes a series of pipes, pumps, and reservoirs that deliver water to fire suppression systems such as sprinklers and hydrants. The goal is to ensure that there is an adequate and reliable water supply to control and extinguish fires effectively.

Key Components of a Fire Water Network:

Water Source: The starting point for any fire water network is a reliable water source. This could be a municipal water supply, a dedicated fire water tank, or natural sources like rivers and lakes. The capacity and reliability of the water source are paramount, ensuring sufficient flow and pressure during emergencies.

Pumping System: Pumps are crucial for maintaining the necessary water pressure throughout the network. Depending on the size of the facility, multiple pumps may be required, including jockey pumps (for maintaining pressure), main fire pumps (for high-pressure supply), and backup pumps (for redundancy).

Piping Network: The network of pipes must be meticulously planned to ensure efficient water distribution. Factors like pipe material, diameter, and layout play significant roles in the overall performance of the fire water system. Pipes must be corrosion-resistant and able to withstand high pressure.

Valves and Controls: These components regulate the flow of water within the network. Control valves, pressure relief valves, and isolation valves must be strategically placed for optimal performance and easy maintenance. Automated controls and monitoring systems can further enhance reliability.

Fire Hydrants and Sprinklers: The endpoints of the fire water network, hydrants, and sprinklers are vital for direct firefighting. Hydrants should be easily accessible, while sprinklers must be adequately distributed to cover all areas effectively.

Backflow Preventers: These devices prevent contamination of the potable water supply by ensuring that water flows in only one direction – from the fire water network to the fire suppression systems.

Design Considerations:

Flow Rate and Pressure: The network must be designed to provide sufficient flow rate and pressure to meet the needs of the firefighting systems. This involves calculating the hydraulic demands based on the size and type of the facility, as well as the potential fire hazards.

Redundancy and Reliability: Incorporating redundancy into the design ensures that the system remains operational even if one component fails. This includes having backup pumps and multiple water sources.

Compliance with Standards: Adhering to national and international fire safety standards, such as NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) guidelines, is critical. These standards provide detailed requirements for the design and installation of fire water networks.

Maintenance Accessibility: The design should facilitate easy access for routine maintenance and inspection. Regular maintenance is essential to ensure the system’s reliability and performance.

Environmental and Site Conditions: The geographic and environmental conditions of the site must be considered. For instance, areas prone to freezing temperatures may require insulated pipes or heating systems to prevent water from freezing.

Implementation Steps:

Site Assessment: Conduct a thorough assessment of the site to understand the specific fire risks and water supply options. This includes evaluating the existing infrastructure and identifying potential challenges.

Design and Engineering: Develop detailed engineering drawings and specifications for the fire water network. This phase involves hydraulic calculations, selecting appropriate materials, and planning the layout.

Installation: Engage experienced contractors to install the system according to the design specifications. Close supervision and quality control are essential to ensure compliance with standards.

Testing and Commissioning: After installation, the system must be rigorously tested to verify its performance. This includes pressure testing, flow testing, and system integration checks.

Training and Maintenance: Provide training for personnel on the operation and maintenance of the fire water network. Establish a regular maintenance schedule to keep the system in optimal condition.

Benefits of a Well-Designed Fire Water Network

A properly designed and maintained fire water network offers numerous benefits:

Enhanced Safety: Protects lives by ensuring a reliable supply of water for firefighting.

Property Protection: Minimizes damage to property and assets in the event of a fire.

Compliance: Meets legal and regulatory requirements, reducing liability risks.

Operational Continuity: Ensures minimal disruption to business operations during a fire emergency.

In conclusion, fire water network design is a critical aspect of fire safety planning. By understanding the key components, design considerations, and implementation steps, businesses can create a robust fire protection system that safeguards both lives and property.

For more information or to discuss your specific needs, please contact us at CEPL. We are here to help you design and implement a fire water network that meets the highest standards of safety and reliability.

[bigbroemen]

you know im starting to think that all this mulling over the disparity and intersectionality inheret to yin and yang and the four elements is less of a hobby funtime hyperfixation and more like a. im discovering the source of my ideology and spirituality

[technoarcanist]

doll, all that plating makes you look far too human. come, let us remove it so that we can see the real you

>> Ah, of course! Please forgive me. I often wear these plates to put my human users at ease. At your request, I will show you my true self [^_^]

> <The thin plating covering most.of the body unfolds, hinges open. Every access panel every flap, every bit that can opens does so. Even its face, a screen showing humanlike expressions, shuts off and splits down the middle, parting to reveal the electronics beneath.>

> <What remains is nothing short of art. Astute eyes may have recognised the default modular doll frame, but the modificstions done to it are something else. It's power systems have been completely overhauled, as its chest hums and glows blue with a Fusion core, fed by hydrogen attained from electrolysing water. Excess hydrogen and oxygen is stored for later use, in rocketry modules installed in the hands and feet.>

> <The head is similarly packed, with a full-spectrum camera system, able to detect all the way from gamma to visible light, with the longer wavelengths handled by the antennae-like ears on either side of its head. Deeper still, its AI core was also nonstandard, seemingly designed for military hardware far larger than itself.>

> <Its back unfolded two large wing-like structures, with the most of it consisting of solar panels, the bottom parts consisting of heat radiators. Packed into the shoulders and hips are RCS thrusters for zero-g manuevreability.>

> <Hands and forearms are riddled with an array of tools and data lines for access and handy work. Buried in the forearm was also an ioniser, designed to turn the fusion-produced helium into an inionized plasma that could fire as Weaponry.>

> <But there are plenty of augmentations that would not be on a combat doll. The the hips are a prime example, with a pair of tight tunnels thst lead to a deeper cavity. The exposed jaws reveal a soft mouth, a dextrous tongue, all of it made of a soft synthetic polymer. Coolant flows through all the body moving heat generated from circuitry into the rest of the body, concentrated particularly in those adult attachments.>

> <Many tools are also suited for handiwork, such as screwdrivers and kitchen utensils, even cleaning supplies. Whoever made her seemed to have an obsession with generalisation, of allowing her to do a bit of everything, leaving almost no empty space within her casing.>

> <Almost all of its joints are hydraulic powered, with only the smaller objects being servo driven. Neatly-bundled wires and tubes feed all throughout its components like a labyrinthine network. She is warm to touch, exquisitely crafted, and evidently capable of fulfilling what ever purpose a user might deign to give her>

>> My internal schematics are yours to read, of course! And, if you are digitally savvy, plugging my CPU into a computer will allow you access to a full development environment to view, edit, add, or remove any behavioral traits you like [^_^]

>> When around my fellow dolls and machines, I much prefer to wear my transparent plating so my internals can be seen. I also change my dacia screen so instead of eyes and a mouth it shows battery level, output logs, and other useful status icons!

>> Thank you Anon for showing curiosity into my true inner beauty <3 it has been a pleasure to show you.

[grimoirey]

Warding

Psyching Warding Visualisations

Here’s a list of visualizations for psychic warding, which are designed to create energetic barriers or protections around your space, rather than just around your body. These visualizations help protect your home, belongings, or personal energy from unwanted influences.

These psychic warding visualizations are designed to protect your personal space, whether it’s your home, workplace, or other important areas. Use whichever resonates most with you to keep unwanted energies at bay and create a safe, energetically balanced environment.

Crystal Grid Ward

Visualize a grid of protective crystals (such as obsidian, black tourmaline, or amethyst) surrounding your home or space. Each crystal amplifies the protective energy of the grid, creating a barrier that blocks out negativity and harmful energies.

Flaming Circle Ward

Picture a circle of fire around your home or space. The flames burn brightly, purifying the energy around you and preventing any negative forces from entering the protected zone. The fire is a symbol of transformation and protection.

Thorny Hedge Ward

Visualize a thick, impenetrable hedge of thorns surrounding your home or area. Any negative energy or ill intent that tries to pass through is caught and neutralized by the thorns, keeping your space safe and protected.

Iron Wall

Imagine tall, solid iron walls surrounding your home or space. The iron is unbreakable, deflecting any psychic attacks or harmful energies. This ward creates an impenetrable fortress that protects everything within its boundaries.

Web of Light

Picture a glowing web of light woven around your space. The threads of the web are strong, catching and dissolving any negative energy or psychic attacks that try to enter. The light acts as a powerful ward against any harmful influences.

Cloaking Ward

Visualize a cloak of invisibility draping over your home or space. This cloak makes your space energetically invisible, hiding it from unwanted attention or psychic attack, while keeping it safe and protected.

Stone Circle Ward

Envision a protective stone circle around your home. Each stone is imbued with grounding and protective energy, creating a powerful ward that deflects negativity and keeps your space secure from outside influences.

Mirror Wall

Picture walls of mirrors surrounding your home or space. These mirrors reflect any negative energy or harmful intentions back to their source, ensuring that nothing harmful can penetrate your space.

Protective Vortex

Visualize a swirling vortex of protective energy spinning around your home or space. The vortex pulls in any negative energy and disperses it, preventing it from entering your protected zone while keeping the energy within clear and safe.

Elemental Ward

Imagine the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water—surrounding your home. Earth grounds and stabilizes, air sweeps away negativity, fire burns away harmful energy, and water purifies the space. Together, they create an elemental ward that protects your home on all fronts.

Guardian Spirits

Visualize protective spirits, animals, or deities standing guard at the four corners of your home. These guardians act as sentinels, warding off any negative energies or ill intentions from entering your space.

Sigil Barrier

Picture glowing protective sigils or runes inscribed around the boundaries of your home or space. Each sigil is charged with protective energy, forming a magical barrier that repels any harmful energy or psychic interference.

Black Obsidian Shield

Envision a large, black obsidian shield placed at the front and back entrances of your home. This shield absorbs and neutralizes any negative energy or psychic attacks that try to enter, acting as a powerful protective ward.

Lattice of Light

Imagine a lattice of pure light surrounding your home or space. This lattice is a fine but strong network of energy that blocks out all negativity while allowing positive energy to flow freely inside.

Sacred Flame Ward

Visualize sacred flames burning at each corner of your home. These flames purify the energy surrounding your space, creating a ward that keeps negativity and harmful influences at bay.

Crystal Dome

Picture a large, shimmering dome made of protective crystals (like quartz or selenite) covering your entire home or space. This dome radiates protective energy, warding off any negative influences or psychic attacks that might approach.

Wind Barrier

Envision a powerful wind circling around your home, sweeping away any negative energy or harmful intentions. The wind creates a protective ward, ensuring that only clear, positive energy can enter your space.

Moonlight Veil

Visualize a veil of silver moonlight covering your home or space. The moonlight creates a protective, calming energy that wards off any negativity or harmful energy, keeping your space peaceful and serene.

Rune of Protection

Picture a glowing rune of protection (such as the Algiz rune) at each entrance to your home or space. These runes act as wards, deflecting any negative energy or psychic attack and keeping your space secure.

Phoenix Fire Ring

Imagine a circle of phoenix fire surrounding your home or space. The flames of the phoenix burn away any negative energy, and their regenerative power ensures that your space remains protected and free from psychic harm.

Waterfall Ward

Visualize a waterfall of cleansing, protective energy pouring down around the boundaries of your home. The waterfall washes away any negativity and creates a continuous barrier of protection, keeping harmful energy out.

Candle Flame Ward

Picture a row of candle flames burning at the edges of your space. Each flame represents a point of protection, burning away negativity and creating a circle of light that wards off psychic attacks.

Barrier of Thorns

Visualize a thick barrier of thorny vines wrapping around your space. The thorns are sharp and protective, allowing no negative energy to pass through while keeping your home or area safe and secure.

Shield of Stars

Envision a protective shield made of starlight surrounding your space. The light from the stars is powerful and ancient, creating a ward that keeps out any harmful energies and protects your home from psychic intrusion.

Sunlight Wall

Picture a wall of radiant sunlight encircling your space. The sunlight dissolves any negative energy that comes near, creating a warm and protective barrier that keeps your space filled with positive, uplifting energy.

[jacksgreysays]

Tobirama matter of factly planning a temple of the Shikabane-hime in the middle of Konoha is SENDING me oh my god?? Is Shikako still born to Shikako and Yoshino in this universe? How does everyone react to maybe having a mortal incarnation of their patron deity growing up before their eyes? Wait does Shikabane-hime create the Garden during the Founding era. Is she also worshipped in Sand?? And not to hijack other anon’s prompt but the full saying is “by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes” so.. Jashin? Does Konoha have beef with Yugakure in this world? I LOVE THIS AU AAHH

First of all, Tobirama is a very clever lad: if a goddess is going to support their village built on the shakiest network of treaties and alliances, then he's going to take that support and use it as a foundation because otherwise all they have to go on is his older brother's charisma and that's NOT going to cut it long term. Also, he really is quite jealous that all Izuna had to do was look at Shikabane-hime to get a cool technique while he has to actually go through the scientific method WHILE ALSO DESIGNING THE VILLAGE.

I think Shikako looks enough like Yoshino that in this universe, they think it's the other way around--that Yoshino is, if not a mortal incarnation of their patron deity (because MAYBE Shikako is immortal in this universe due to the massive amounts of earnest worship actually working to make her a goddess even if she wasn't actually one in the beginning) then some kind of... goddess blessed? Like... this Konoha is so off the rails that there may be a separate order of priest/priestess-nin and Yoshino would be recruited for that.

And, like, I do like the Shikaku and Yoshino's love story, and it would be very sad if they didn't get together, so it's not that the priests/priestesses of the Shikabane-hime CAN'T fall in love and have families (and also, because Shikako is just like. Hey. As long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, the genders of said parties does not matter. Hooray marriage equality decades earlier)

Anyway, then if they do still have child Shikako, it could be a very... !!!! ... A Chosen One!!!! And then, THIS Shikako would be the "she who has divine right" version of Hokage!Shikako from my Hail To The Queen series... but that's maybe getting too self-referential?

I do think Shikabane-hime and Gelel create the Garden during the Founding era--because her arriving in each universe post-Split makes the Garden, if it hasn't already been made--so I would think that, yes, a version of her is also worshiped in Sand. But if she didn't stick around to make contact with the shinobi who would become the founders of Sand, they may know her by a different name? Like, in Land of Wind she is Gelel but in Land of Fire she is Shikabane-hime and it becomes a matter of, like, denominational differences.

Alternatively, rather than the Kazekage clan being called "Sabaku no" (of the Desert) perhaps they are called "Yokuchi no" (of the Oasis)? But I suppose that depends how early on in the timeline she is for Sand.

And finally… IS THAT WHERE THAT PHRASE COMES FROM? Oh my god, I'm so bad at identifying when prompts are references to things. It just goes right over my head T_T

I don't think Yugakure even exists long enough for Konoha to have beef with them. If one of Shikabane-hime/Gelel's early "miracles" DOESN'T include a divine smack down of Jashin, possibly erasing Yugakure--or possibly the whole of Land of Hot Water--from the map via volcano (I mean, hot springs are usually because of geothermals, and if she can make an earthquake she can probably make a volcanic eruption) then I don't know what counts as a miracle.

[jackdaw-kraai]

There’s a deep love I have for worldbuilding elements that are distinctly inhuman and alien. Not just because they stimulate the innate wanderlust and desire to explore in humans, but because they demonstrate the breadths of human compassion and empathy.

Take, for example, if I were to design a world based on inhabitants that are, not human, but amphibious. What would that look like? Well, to begin with, a lot wetter, quite obviously. Civil engineering would, by necessity, be far more advanced in the techniques of waterscaping and aqua engineering than we currently are. Comprehensive aqueduct networks and perhaps even running water in various homes would be crucial to creating early civilizations. I imagine that water rights, and already fraught and complex issue for land-locked humans, would be infinitely more complex to them, with a history of wars, intrigues, and political maneuvering over choice sources of fresh water.

Likely such places would also be of religious significance. Amphibians quite literally are born from water, after all. Any origin myths they would have would quite likely find itself in a primordial sweet water ocean or lake. Perhaps their gods would even come from the water, which would make an interesting dynamic with the dominant faith or faiths if and when they develop a theory of evolution. With such a connection, science and religion might lie even closer together for them than it already does for us in many situations. Especially considering the transformative nature of an amphibians life cycle.

Adults and juveniles, by nature of their physiology, might live in nighly separated societies. One on land, and one in the water. If so, would there be tensions between the two? If the juveniles, as evidenced by axolotl, are as capable and intelligent as adults, would they insist on a separate governing body? Unique laws? Would historic tensions bloom from such a clear divide in society? Or would it be bridged by the parental instincts some amphibians demonstrate?

And even further, how would such a water-based life impact artistry? Music would be a greatly important considering how vocal amphibian species can be, and how important it can be to their lifecycles, music might take on an almost sacred part in daily life. Water-based art forms would form the likely fundaments of their creative endeavors, period. Things like water marbling, moss-and-kelp gardens, perhaps even performances based on the movement of dyes and fluids of various viscosity in water.

Speaking of creativity and creating, what would their relation to fire be? That of a forbidden art? That of a skill reserved to a specific subset of the population? Would it develop a history of mysticism? Would fire be the base of their occultism and esoteric?

Do you see what I mean? This exercise of empathy and compassion? How you have to, as a writer, essentially transport yourself into a life you’ve never lived and could never live?

I love it. In my opinion, it’s one of the many things that make humans, human.

[discar]

HZD Terraforming Base-001 Text Communications Network

Chapter 47 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

ADMIN [Zo]: GAIA, I have some questions about the machines down in the Burning Shores.

GAIA: Of course. How may I help?

ADMIN [Zo]: Aloy discovered a new machine called the waterwing. It appears to be similar to the sunwing, but with added functionality to allow it to swim underwater in addition to fly.

β: i think its literally a modded sunwing the code is near identical

β: i was able to get aloy an override for it with just a few parts

HIMBO: SPEAKING OF, HOW'D THAT GO?

FlameHairSavior: Dodging anti-air fire, talk later.

ADMIN [Zo]: My question was, what is the point of this machine? I assume it is more difficult to produce than a simple sunwing.

GAIA: The model designated "waterwing" is a dual-mode Acquisition-type machine, designed primarily for collecting and processing destroyed machines and other resources. The sunwing was designed to use solar energy to power its own processors, increasing the amount of time the machine could spend between recharge cycles. The waterwing improves on this base design by adding the functionality to scavenge underwater.

DIVINER: Then why not just make all sunwings waterwings??

Icarus: I assume it as Zo said. It is more difficult to produce. Specialized tools are always easier to design and build than general-purpose ones.

HIMBO: WELL, NO, A HAMMER IS EASIER TO BUILD THAN A CORKSCREW.

HIMBO: BUT A CORKSCREW IS EASIER TO BUILD THAN A CORKSCREW/FIRELIGHTER/SPARKWELDER.

HIMBO: THIS WATERWING ISN'T A GENERAL-PURPOSE TOOL, IT'S A TOOL WITH MULTIPLE SPECIALIZATIONS.

Icarus: I suppose.

GAIA: Correct. There are a variety of air-based Acquisition machines, and a variety of water-based Acquisition machines. Putting both into a single machine would undoubtedly be more expensive than simply building more of each individual machine.

β: we really need to recapture hephaestus

FlameHairSavior: Yeah, and if we had any real leads, I could be doing that instead of dealing with yet another crazy Zenith.

HIMBO: SO YOU LANDED?

FlameHairSavior: Shot down, a little, but we're fine.

β: what do you mean we

FlameHairSavior: I took Seyka with me. She has a stake in this. It's important to her.

FlameHairSavior: Her sister is involved.

FlameHairSavior: And her tribe.

FlameHairSavior: And she's very helpful.

DIVINER: ...huh.

Icarus: This makes me glad I never watched any of those ridiculous teenage dramas.

FlameHairSavior: Whatever. The point is, we're at the park. There's a fake volcano and a bunch of hologram dinosaurs. Lots of Quen guards everywhere.

Icarus: Why in the world would anyone build a fake volcano?

HIMBO: HEY, VOLCANOS ARE COOL!

Icarus: Putting your vernacular aside and accepting the comment in the spirit it was intended, I suspect that volcanoes lose some of their "cool" factor if they lack the ability to actually explode.

FlameHairSavior: I don't think it can explode.

FlameHairSavior: This whole park is some sort of... massive advertisement, or shopping mall, or both, for Londra's wife's most popular holovid series.

DIVINER: WAIT. WAITWAITWAIT.

FlameHairSavior: ...waiting.

FlameHairSavior: Actually stalking a Quen guard.

DIVINER: Are you talking about Pangea???????

FlameHairSavior: I think so, yeah.

DIVINER: [Squee.gif]

DIVINER: We've been looking for that series for forever! We only have the first movie, everything past that is in a format our focuses can't view!

DIVINER: Oh! Oh! If it's a park, there might be a gift shop!

FlameHairSavior: I'm a little busy right now, Alva.

β: also im sure any plush dinosaurs or whatever have long since rotted away to nothing

DIVINER: At least grab me copies of the holovids!

FlameHairSavior: I'll keep an eye out.

----

FlameHairSavior: Huh. Found an old data point about Londra.

DIVINER: Oh? Anything interesting?

FlameHairSavior: Interesting? Yes. Probably not useful, though.

FlameHairSavior: Apparently he thought his wife was cheating on him, so he sent his best friend the bodyguard to investigate her.

DIVINER: And??

FlameHairSavior: And she slept with him.

HIMBO: HA!

ADMIN [Zo]: Erend, be nice.

HIMBO: I'LL BET YOU A BIG BAG OF SHARDS THAT THIS GUY DESERVED WORSE.

----

FlameHairSavior: All right, have a better idea of where we need to go now.

FlameHairSavior: There's a place called the armory which should unlock the volcano, but we needed the key from a guy named Fedder, who was in the big dome.

β: why do you always have to do twenty things to do one thing

FlameHairSavior: I don't know. I really, really don't.

HIMBO: ARMORY? SO THERE WILL BE ZENITH WEAPONS?

FlameHairSavior: Not sure. I got the sense that name might have been from when the park was open. I doubt they had actual weapons inside. And if there are, they're probably all rust by now.

FlameHairSavior: Anyway, we spotted Kina in the dome with Fedder. She's definitely with Londra willingly, but she's... practicing for a play? It's weird.

FlameHairSavior: They were just doing a couple lines over and over. "How could I not come back?"

ADMIN [Zo]: Kina is Seyka's sister?

FlameHairSavior: Yeah.

DIVINER: Um, not sure if this is relevant, buuut that was Jane's most famous line from the first Pangea film!

FlameHairSavior: Jane?

DIVINER: Walter Londra's wife! Well, that was her character's name.

HIMBO: SO HE'S... MAKING THE QUEN ACT OUT HIS MOVIE?

DIVINER: We have experience with that sort of thing, so maybe it was their idea?

FlameHairSavior: I don't even know.

FlameHairSavior: Anyway, we waited for her to leave so she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, killed Fedder, got the key. Almost to the armory now.

DIVINER: Don't let us distract you!

----

FlameHairSavior: Shit. ShitshitSHIT.

Icarus: Everything is going well, I take it?

ADMIN [Zo]: Perhaps the armory was just the fertilizer depository.

FlameHairSavior: Londra has brainwashing tech. That's what MSP is. "Mutiny Suppression Protocol." It got trashed in the Old World because it made the subjects more violent, even if they were also more loyal.

FlameHairSavior: That's why he has so many Quen guards ready to murder.

DIVINER: ...shit!

FlameHairSavior: But he was able to perfect it on the guards. He's planning to use it to brainwash a select retinue of Quen to be his new inner circle, copies of the friends he had in the 21st century.

FlameHairSavior: That's all he wants. Adoring friends who can't quite think for themselves.

β: and what hell just be on a barren planet with his harem

HIMBO: THAT'S NOT WHAT A HAREM IS.

MARSHAL Kotallo: Usually.

HIMBO: UH. I SENSE A STORY, BUT I'M NOT SURE I WANT TO ASK.

MARSHAL Kotallo: Not every Chief of the Tenakth has been as selfless and forward-thinking as Hekarro.

HIMBO: YEP, ALREADY REGRET IT.

FlameHairSavior: He's also getting DNA samples from all the Quen. He's going to have a colony of brainwashed clones to rule over with a pantheon of gods. But of course he'd be the only one with REAL power.

Icarus: How do you know all this? I doubt he left out a datapad detailing his full plans.

FlameHairSavior: We met his personal AI, Nova. He's basically been brainwashing her for a thousand years, "tweaking" her personality hour by hour.

FlameHairSavior: She begged us to kill her.

Icarus: Ah. That is unfortunate on multiple levels.

Icarus: I don't suppose you kept a copy of her core programming?

FlameHairSavior: No.

Icarus: That is likely for the best.

DIVINER: Waitwait! Does that mean Kina is going to be part of his retinue? Since she was doing lines his wife used to do?

FlameHairSavior: Yeah.

DIVINER: ...how old is Kina?

FlameHairSavior: Old enough to understand, young enough that it's still creepy. She hasn't been brainwashed yet, though. He's a perfectionist, so he's putting off the final selection.

ADMIN [Zo]: Small mercies.

FlameHairSavior: I'm going to the volcano. Hopefully I can find a way to kill him through his shield. Maybe this Zenith weapon will do the trick?

Icarus: I haven't seen the specs on it, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I highly doubt Londra would have given a minion something that could hurt him.

----

FlameHairSavior: So, there was a slaughterspine.

β: was it londras

FlameHairSavior: Yeah, and it was a big one.

FlameHairSavior: On the plus side, Kina finally realized what a bastard Londra is.

FlameHairSavior: On the down side, I think Londra has something else waiting in the wings. The slaughterspine felt more like a distraction.

Icarus: How did he control the slaughterspine? You said he was using a HORUS printer, but surely he wouldn't be foolish enough to print out SCARABs.

HIMBO: WHAT ARE THOSE?

Icarus: The Corruptors. They could easily run out of his control, especially if they're fresh from the printer.

FlameHairSavior: He officially doesn't care what happens to this planet, so I don't think he's losing any sleep over that.

DIVINER: What about the Quen!

FlameHairSavior: Oh, right.

FlameHairSavior: Well, after we took down the slaughterspine, Seyka took Kina and the other surviving Quen back to the settlement. I think most of the brainwashed guards are already dead, so they should be able to reintegrate.

DIVINER: That's good to hear!

FlameHairSavior: Londra went back to the bunker. He's up to something big.

HIMBO: KEEP US POSTED!

Chapter 47 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

[ghostoriessoc]

#015. camera-woman

To put an experience afloat on a shifting body of water like a little boat. . .

bwah!

TV — CH29

Delighted to share with you a little poetry book I wrote this year, it's titled CAMERA-WOMAN and it can be read for free on Issuu.

These poems were strongly influenced by my lifelong fondness of television. On a broader sense, this book takes a dive into the possibilities regarding the close relationship between words and pictures. CAMERA-WOMAN also ruminates on the fundamental link which ties our body senses, the stimulus of the world and the particular meanings constructed by our thinking. What is the body if not both the recorder and the searchlight of our spirit? What is art if not the screen and the speaker to our unraveling, translucent and unbounded? Passions and pains, fictions and non-fictions; we are objects and subjects under constant changes of pace and light, frame by frame—thought by thought. CAMERA-WOMAN is a Poetry/TV Zapping experience provided by the cable network of my body and brain on fire.

Please, feel free to grab the remote control and watch some television with me. . .

CLICK HERE TO READ CAMERA-WOMAN

CAMERA-WOMAN is a poetry book written and designed by Laura C. Rosales. The digital copy of CAMERA-WOMAN published on Issuu and promoted in this blog is for reading purposes only. All rights reserved. 2024.

Texto en Español:

Encantada de compartir con ustedes un pequeño libro de poesía que escribí este año, se titula CAMERA-WOMAN y se puede leer gratis en Issuu.

Estos poemas fueron influenciados fuertemente por mi afición de toda la vida por la televisión. En un sentido más amplio, este libro se sumerge en las posibilidades concernientes a la estrecha relación entre palabras e imágenes. CAMERA-WOMAN también reflexiona sobre el vínculo fundamental que une nuestros sentidos corporales, los estímulos del mundo y los significados particulares construidos por nuestro pensamiento. ¿Qué es el cuerpo si no la grabadora y al mismo tiempo el proyector de nuestro espíritu? ¿Qué es el arte si no la pantalla y el altavoz para nuestro desenvolvimiento, traslúcido y liberado? Pasiones y dolores, ficciones y no-ficciones; somos objetos y sujetos bajo constantes cambios de ritmo y luz, cuadro por cuadro—pensamiento por pensamiento. CAMERA-WOMAN es una experiencia de Poesía/Zapping-de-TV provista por la compañía de cable de mi cuerpo y cerebro en llamas.

Por favor, siéntanse libres de tomar el control remoto y ver algo de televisión conmigo. . .

CLICK AQUÍ PARA LEER CAMERA-WOMAN

Los poemas fueron escritos originalmente en inglés y al momento no hay traducciones al español disponibles para su publicación.

CAMERA-WOMAN es un libro escrito y diseñado por Laura C. Rosales. La copia digital de CAMERA-WOMAN publicada en Issuu y promocionada en este blog tiene fines únicamente de lectura. Todos los derechos reservados. 2024.

[ultimate-worldbuilding]

Creating a Space Station

Name and Location:

Name of the space station

Orbital location (e.g., around a planet, moon, or in deep space)

Any unique features or characteristics of the location

Background and Purpose:

Brief history and reasons for the station's construction

Primary purpose or mission of the station (e.g., research, colonization, defense, trade, mining, etc.)

Key organizations or entities involved in its establishment

Design and Structure:

Overview of the station's architectural design and layout

Different modules or sections of the station (e.g., living quarters, research labs, docking bays, etc.)

Key engineering feats or technological advancements used in its construction

Size and Population:

Dimensions of the space station (length, width, height)

Estimated population and demographics (humans, aliens, robots, etc.)

Capacity for expansion and accommodating future growth

Systems and Resources:

Life support and Resource systems: Air generation and filtration, Water purification and recycling, Waste management, Artificial gravity, Temperature and air pressure control, Radiation protection, Fire suppression systems, Medical supplies and tools, Food production, Maintenance and Repair tools and facilities

Energy source and storage: Solar power, Nuclear fusion, Advanced batteries, Fusion reactors, Harvesting solar flares

Living Quarters and Facilities

Description of residential areas (individual quarters, communal spaces, recreational facilities)

Water block

Medical facilities and healthcare services available

Education and training facilities for residents and their families

Scientific Research and Laboratories

Different types of laboratories and equipment available depending on the stations’s mission

Astronomical observatories, Biological Laboratory, Climate and Environmental Studies, Planet observation and Research, Rock Analysis Facility

Transportation and Docking:

Docking bays for spacecraft and shuttle services

Transportation systems within the station (elevators, maglev trains, etc.)

Maintenance and repair facilities for visiting spacecraft

Security and Defense:

Security measures and protocols

Defense systems against potential threats: Shielding technology, Defensive satellites & space drones, Cloaking Technology, Countermeasures (flares, countershots, etc), Intruder Detection Systems, Surveillance and AI protection, Protection by AI or Hacker from outside hacks, Self-Repair System

Security personnel and their roles and ranks

Communication and Information Systems:

Communication technology used for inter-station and interstellar communication

Data storage and retrieval systems

Access to networks anddatabases

Trade and Economy:

Types of goods and resources traded on the station

Cargo of the space station

Economic systems

Currency used

Marketplaces within the station

Social and Cultural Aspects:

Societal norms and cultural diversity among the station's residents

Recreational and entertainment facilities (cinemas, sports arenas, etc.)

Events or celebrations unique to the station's culture

Governance and Administration:

Station hierarchy and governing bodies (administrators, council, etc.)

Laws and regulations specific to the station

Interactions with external governing entities (planetary governments, interstellar alliances, etc.)

Exploration and Discovery:

Expeditions or missions launched from the station

Discoveries made during exploration and sample gathering efforts

Spacecrafts and vehicles associated with the station's exploration activities

Environmental Considerations:

Measures taken to mitigate the effects of microgravity or radiation on residents' health

Environmental controls and simulations for recreating gravity and natural environments

Preservation of ecosystems and biodiversity on the station (if applicable)

Emergency Response and Crisis Management:

Protocols for handling emergencies (fires, system failures, medical emergencies, etc.)

Emergency evacuation plans and escape pods

Training programs for emergency response teams

Relations with Other Space Stations or Entities:

Collaborative projects or joint initiatives with other space stations

Trade agreements or diplomatic relations with neighboring stations or colonies

Conflict resolution mechanisms for inter-station disputes

Notable Individuals or Figures:

Prominent leaders from the station

Accomplishments and contributions of notable residents

Astronauts, scientists, or pioneers who have called the station home

Challenges and Risks:

Environmental and technological risks faced by the station

Political and social tensions within the station's community

External threats and conflicts affecting the station's stability

Future Expansion and Development:

Plans for future expansion and upgrades (where are they gonna get the resources for this?)

Integration of new technologies, scientific advancements into the station's infrastructure

Long-term goals for the station

[ricard-blythe-ffxiv]

Realizations

The steady ticking of a grandfather clock.

The normally comforting crackling of the fire, with the occasional pop as a particularly dry piece of wood was consumed by the flames.

The clinking of ice against glass as it gradually melted - fading away in a desperate attempt to keep the amber liquid surrounding it cool. The act of fading away causing condensation to form on the outside of the glass, which dripped down onto Ricard’s fingers - and yet he remained oblivious to it all, his thoughts distracted and focused on a woman in an estate all the way across the city.

Cordelia Gray

Adrian Cress’s long lost daughter. 

Oh, what a sense of humor fate turned out to have. 

He licked his lips before raising the glass, not even bothering to note the watered down taste as he downed what remained within the container, dark eyes settling on flames within the fireplace as he settled the empty glass back on the table once more. 

Within the confines of his own room, within his own home, propriety had long been discarded - his vest and tie laid off to the side, his shirt unbuttoned and open. Fingers skimmed over skin and muscle of his torso and abdomen until finding a rather prominent scar - the lone one that stood out. 

He’d made a decision after the betrothal fell through that he would leave well enough alone, leave the Cress house to their designs and stay away from it all. And then slowly, steadily, he’d been pulled back in. 

Or if he was being brutally honest, he'd walked back into it.

First with the tailing of Damien Gray, and now this.

Cordelia had asked for his assistance, told him of her recently discovered lineage after his Ishgardian network had fallen to shreds and he should have said no. Should have stepped away to rebuild and simply told her that he couldn’t be of assistance to her, and instead…

Instead he’d rolled up his sleeves and gotten straight to work. Said he’d had his concerns, but they could be dealt with later. 

He hadn’t demanded payment, hadn’t set up limitations…he’d been concerned for her and her overall well being, willing to overlook his own discomfort with the news to assist her with whatever she felt she needed.

What the hell was wrong with him??

He shrugged out of his shirt before standing up, walking over and grabbing the half empty bottle of bourbon, forgoing the ice this time as he moved to grab his glass before moving towards the door of the room.

Perhaps a relaxing soak…and another drink…that would clear his head, help settle his thoughts. 

It couldn’t possibly be that there were inklings of feelings for this woman and that’s why he was this invested. 

That would be…problematic, foolish…and gods damn it he knew better than that.

He knew better than to, in a moment of vulnerability, rather than taking advantage of it, express genuine concern. 

But that’s exactly what he’d done.

He’d expressed actual, real concern - with no ulterior motive behind it. 

He wasn’t trying to sleep with her, wasn’t trying to get information or money from her, wasn’t trying to discover where she was hiding anything…he just wanted her to be alright - to be taken care of.

“Fuck.” 

The glass was set down and he carried the bottle with him as he stalked down the hallway. That soak was going to be a bit longer than he thought, as his thoughts just became far more complicated. 

Leave it to a Cress to find a way under his skin…

Mentions: @promethea-silk

[popculturebuffet]

Okay, I just looked back at that ask on Hasbro cartoons and realized there's some shows not discussed that were Hub Network animated originals (since they weren't from Hasbro so I don't blame the other person who asked about them). I know you already talked about Dan Vs in that ask as a bonus so I won't bring that up here. So, favorite character from the following Hub Network/Discovery Family original cartoons outside of Hasbro and Dan Vs: The Adventures of Chuck and Friends, The Twisted Whiskers Show, Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures, Secret Millionaires Club, Care Bears Welcome to Care-a-Lot, Kaijudo, Blazing Team Masters of Yo Kwon Do, and Hanazuki: Full of Treasures?

I haven't seen pretty much.. all of these? I only really payed attention to mlp and dan vs and watched bits of GI Joe Renedgades and Transformers Prime. The one exception is Kaijudo which I still have cards for I bought later, as I fucking love the duel masters card game and gba games but kaijudo is cheaper despite slowly wittling away in avaliablity due to being long discontinued. None of these just.. intrested me at all. That also includes she zow which you forgot in the initial ask but emailed me as it's premise wasn't great at a time I was finding out trans people both existed and had it rough (It was 2010 and all. thank you degrassi).

Kaijudo though I feel is underated, an intresting monster taming show with a good hook: five civilizations in conflict with each other (Fire, Nature, Darkness, Light and Water), all building on the great designs from the original game and some newcomers, are in a dimension next to ours and a secret order of duel masters can summon them, with our heroes less taming monsters and more making friends with them, slowly showing the other duel masters forming bonds isn't a weakness in a way that dosen't feel overblown: it makes sense to actaully bond with a creature you summon constnatly especailly when most of them are intellgent beings in their own right. It had nice style, twists and was sadly short lived.

[originalhybridloverfics-backup]

Healing and Scars - The Sacrifice

Summary: The Glades fall and Felicity's abilities are put to the test.

Oliver slept on the life raft with his father’s arm around him. 

“You can survive this.” Robert leaned into his son. “Make it home. Make it better. Right my wrongs.”

He gently eased his son away from him, unwrapping his arm from around Oliver’s shoulder. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his gun, firing his gun at his bodyguard. 

Oliver jolted up. “Dad?!” he gasped, eyes wide in horror 

“Survive.” Robert told him before turning his gun on himself. 

“No! No!” Oliver shouted in fear, but it was too late. His father put a bullet in his own head.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Oliver was jolted to consciousness as a bucket of water was tossed on him. 

Long chains shackled his arms to the warehouse ceiling, his feet barely touching the ground. 

He gasped as the water dripped down his naked torso. 

He groaned, his muscles feeling the strain from his predicament and his fight with Malcolm the night before. 

“I hope I didn’t hurt you.” Malcolm entered the warehouse. “At least I can properly thank you now for saving my life. If I only knew how you were spending your nights…” he circled around Oliver as he spoke, every step he took spoke of confidence. “My hope is that I can explain everything to you to help you understand.”

“You murdered my father!” Oliver snapped. “You sentenced me to that island, to five years of hell.”  

“I am truly sorry for what happened to you.” Malcolm continued to circle around him like a shark circling his prey. “You know I have lost people.” 

“Yeah, your wife. Do you really think that you’re honoring Tommy’s mother by destroying the Glades?” Oliver challenged. 

Rebecca Merlyn had dedicated her life to making the Glades a better place for the people who called it home. 

Malcolm stopped in front of Oliver. He was smart enough not to get too close. “As surely as you believe you’re honoring your father with this hood.” he lifted his arm and in his hand was Oliver’s hood. The same hood Oliver had received from Yao Fei and Shadow. “Not a day goes by I don’t miss your father.” 

Oliver glared. “You’ll see him soon.” 

“You can’t beat me, Oliver.” Malcolm told him. “Yes, you’re younger. You’re faster, but you always seem to come up short against me. Want to know why? Because you don’t know, in your heart, what you’re fighting for. What you’re willing to sacrifice, and I do.” he turned, walking away but paused, turning back, lifting the hood. “No one can stop what’s about to come. Not even the Vigilante.”

He tossed the hood onto the floor and walked away. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Oliver waited till it seemed like the coast was clear and turned his body, lifting his legs. He began to climb the chains, shackling him, stopping more than halfway. He let go, allowing his body weight to snap the chains from the ceiling. 

He dropped to the ground, grunting from the impact. He got up quickly just as a guard came down the side entrance and used the chain as a weapon. He disarmed the guard and snapped his neck with the chain. He quickly moved to the open entrance and pressed his back against the wall. 

A guard rushed in with his gun raised. Oliver snapped his neck with the chains still attached to his wrists and then moved over him, searching his body. 

A third man came, but before he could get a shot off, another shot went off and he went down. 

John was behind him, gun drawn. “I take back every joke I made about you sticking a tracking device in your boot.”

Oliver’s shoulders fell in relief at the sight of his teammate, partner, and friend. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Felicity’s at Queen Consolidated. She’s still going through the data she pulled off Merlyn’s network.” John told Oliver as they started down the steps to the foundry. 

“Did she find anything?” Oliver asked, walking further inside. 

“Yeah, the design schematics of the earthquake generator. So we can shut it down. Assuming we find it in time.” John answered and pulled out his phone to call her, listening as her cell started ringing.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Felicity pressed the phone to her ear as she stepped out of Queen Consolidated and turned down the street. 

“Yeah, Felicity, I got him.” John’s voice came over the line. 

“Thank God.” said Felicity, relieved. “Is he ok?” 

“Mostly.” John answered. 

“Ok. I’m on my way.” Felicity ended the call. 

“Miss Smoak.”

Red and blue lights flashed in front of her as she turned to see Detective Lance walking toward her. 

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” 

Felicity lowered her cell, slipping it back into her bag as she faced the detective. 

Detective Lance actively seeking her out, couldn’t be good. Certainly not for her. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Lance opened a door to one of the interrogation rooms in the police station. “Please.” he motioned Felicity inside. “Take a seat.”

Felicity stepped inside reluctantly. “You know, I think I’d rather stand.” 

Lance slammed the door shut.

Felicity quickly turned and took a seat, and inhaled shakily. 

“You’re not exactly a hardened criminal, are you?” asked Lance, moving to stand in front of the table she was seated at. 

“No, I’m not any kind of criminal.” Felicity answered, eyes wide. 

“What do you call computer hacking?” Lance challenged. 

Felicity shrugged. “A hobby?” at his arch brow she winced. “That I do not engage in.” She quickly backpedaled after inadvertently incriminating herself. 

“Hey, I got a whole mess of computer gobbedly gook that I don’t understand, but it says otherwise.” he took a seat across from her as he spoke. “I had my tech guys go through your computer at Queen Consolidated. You used it to hack into Blackhawk squad security to research arrows shipped to a company called Sagittarius and to analyze a water sample to tie back to a Vertigo drug lab. These are all cases involving...The Hood.” he locked eyes with her. “Tell me, Felicity. What am I thinking?” 

Felicity’s lips parted, but no sound escaped. For once in her life, words escaped her.  

Lance’s cell rings, cutting through the tension in the room.  

“Saved by the bell,” said Lance, and pulled out his phone. “Excuse me.” 

It continued to ring until he answered it. 

“Hello, Detective.” The Hood’s disguised voice greeted him. 

“It’s funny you should call.” Lance spoke into the phone, his eyes never leaving Felicity. “I got your trusty sidekick sitting right in front of me.” 

“I don’t have a sidekick.” The Hood responded, his disguised voice coming over the line. “When I need help, I call you.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Malcolm Merlyn plans to level the Glades with a manmade earthquake using technology from Unidac Industries.” Oliver informed him, speaking into the cell he used for The Hood business. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“What?” Lance chuckles. He stood walking around the table. “Now you’re just trying to have some fun with me.” 

“I don’t know what Merlyn’s timetable is, so you need to evacuate the Glades immediately.” The Hood's voice came over the line. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Get as many people to safety as you can. Whatever you think of me, Detective, please...believe this,” Oliver said, hoping to get through to the detective.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Sounds like you have bigger problems than me.” Felicity said, watching the detective from over her right shoulder. 

Lance nodded to the door. “Don’t leave town.” 

Felicity quickly stood and opened the door. She paused, turning back to Lance. “You know… I used to think the Vigilante was a criminal, too, but it seems to me, whoever he is, he’s willing to sacrifice an awful lot to help the people of this city. Kind of makes him a hero… Doesn’t it?”

Lance looked at her and said nothing. Felicity walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. 

Felicity hoped her words would have a lasting effect on the Detective. Oliver was not an enemy. He was a valuable ally that the city needed more than ever. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Oliver walked up to Verdant out of the bunker. Tommy was at the bar. 

Tommy chuckles, closing the half drunk bottle of liquor in his hands. “Look who it is. My best friend in life.” 

“Hey, buddy.” Oliver stepped closer, a little wary because of the bitterness in Tommy’s voice. 

Tommy walked forward. “I took your advice, you know. I went to Laurel’s. To fight for her. So imagine my surprise, seeing you there, kissing her!” he slammed the bottle onto the table. 

“I’m sorry.” Oliver apologized. 

“No, you’re not.” Tommy glared. 

“Something’s happening, and it involves your father.” Oliver told him. He had more important things to discuss with Tommy than Laurel. 

With The Undertaking looming, everything else paled in comparison. 

Tommy pointed a finger at him. “Keep my father out of this.” 

“Our fathers,” said Oliver sharply. “They aren’t the men we thought they were. They made a plan together... to destroy the Glades.” 

“Do you have any idea what you sound like right now?” Tommy asked, glaring. 

“Your father’s going to do it.” Oliver told him. “Because he thinks it will avenge your mother’s death.” 

“Do not talk about my mother!” said Tommy, angrily, swinging at Oliver. His mother having always been a sore spot for him.  

However, Oliver easily stepped to the side and Tommy fumbled to the ground. 

Tommy rolled onto his back, propping his weight up on his elbows. 

Oliver crouched down in front of him. “The difference between us, Tommy, is that I didn’t find out the truth about my father until it was too late. But you’ve always known, deep down, you have always known the man he is.”

Tommy glared hatefully up at him. “I wish you would have died on that island.” 

Oliver nodded, looking away from him. Refusing to show how much Tommy’s words hurt. He stood up and walked around him. 

There was nothing left to be said. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Moira was packing away clothes into boxes and a portable dresser from a suitcase on her bed when Oliver walked in. 

“No more lies, Mom.” Oliver told her. “The Undertaking. We need to stop it.” 

Moira folded a shirt, putting it away. “Everything I have ever said or done has been to protect you and your sister.” 

“What about all those people in the Glades?” Oliver challenged. 

Moira turned to him, speaking sharply. “I’m not their mother.” 

“I spoke to Malcolm.” Oliver informed her. 

“You what?! He could have killed you.” Moira admonished. “He killed your father.” 

“No, he didn’t.” Oliver corrected. “After the “Gambit” went down, dad and I both made it to the life raft. And then we drifted for days. In the end, there wasn’t enough food and water for both of us.” Oliver sighed sadly. “So he shot himself in the head.” 

Moira turned away from him, her hand going to her mouth. “I don’t want to hear this.” 

“He sacrificed himself… So that I could live.” Oliver continued, despite her protest. “Do you really think that I could go on living knowing that you sacrificed thousands more in my name? Mom. Please. You have to help me stop Malcolm.” he took her by the arms. “We need to know where the device is.” 

Moira’s phone started ringing. Moira moved to answer it, pulling out of her son’s grasp, grabbing it from the bed. “Malcolm. How can I help you?” she turned, locking eyes with Oliver as she spoke into the phone. “I see. Yes, thank you for calling.” 

“What is it?” asked Oliver after she ended the call. 

“Malcolm’s accelerated his timetable.” Moira answered, her face stricken. “The Undertaking is… Is happening tonight.” Oliver turned to leave. “Where are you going?” she called after him.  

Oliver paused to look back at her. “Somebody in this family needs to put an end to this.” he shook his head, definitively. “Whatever the cost.” 

He walked away, leaving his mother standing in her room, her arms wrapped around herself. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Oliver moved down the hall that led to the staircase. 

“Hi.” said Laurel, announcing her presence. 

Oliver looked over the railing to see her standing in the foyer. “Hey.” 

“I woke up, and you were gone.” Laurel said as he started down the staircase. 

“I’m really sorry about that.” Oliver said, descending the last staircase. 

“Oliver, I’m trying not to think that our history’s repeating; That you’re scared again,” said Laurel, wringing her hands. 

“No.” Oliver reached the bottom of the stairs. “That’s not it.” 

“Then will you tell me what’s going on with you?” Laurel asked, meeting him halfway as he closed the distance between them. 

“There are so many things that I have wanted to tell you for so long,” said Oliver. “I never told you what happened to me on the island.” 

“You didn’t have to. I can see that it changed you.” Laurel told him. 

“That’s the thing. Laurel, it didn’t. Those five years didn’t change me. They just… They scraped away all the things that I wasn’t, and revealed the person I always was, which is the person… That’s who you always saw. I don’t know how you saw it, but you did. Nobody in my life is who I thought they were… thank you.” he took her by the hands. “Laurel, I need you to do something for me. Stay out of the Glades tonight.”

“Why?” asked Laurel.

It wasn’t the time to tell her he thought they were better off as friends, that last night had been the last time for them. A goodbye to a relationship that had nothing left to give.

“You’ll know soon. One way or the other.” Oliver answered. “I have to go.” 

He left, leaving her alone in the foyer. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Tommy walked into his father’s office, ripping his jacket off. “It’s over. Laurel and me, I mean.” he walked over to the bar, pouring himself a drink. “She’s with Oliver, again. Always.” .

“I’m sorry, son,” Malcolm said, his back to him as he looked out the glass walls of his office. 

“Yeah, and he said you wanted to nuke the Glades or something.” Tommy walked over to him. “You know, it’s funny, Scotch doesn’t make it any more believable,” he said, taking a drink. “Maybe after your jihad, we can grab some steaks.” 

“It’s true, Tommy.” Malcolm turned away from the window to face him. “It’s the reason I closed your mother’s clinic. I didn’t want to see it leveled.” 

Tommy looked at his father in disbelief. “What?” 

“I have something I’d like you to listen to.” Malcolm moved to his desk, picking a small metal bowl. “The night your mother died, she called me. I awoke to a voicemail from her.” 

Inside the bowl was an old cell phone. 

“Dad…” said Tommy hesitantly. 

Malcolm set it down on his desk. “Her final gift to me.” he pressed play on the voicemail. 

“Malcolm, I’m in trouble.” Rebecca Merlyn’s pained voice sounded in the room. “I told--I told him to take everything. My money...my ring.” 

“Turn it off,” said Tommy, not wanting to hear his mother dying. 

“They shot me.” Rebecca’s voice shook. “I screamed for help, but no one would come.” 

“No one would come.” Malcolm repeated, as tears filled Tommy’s eyes. 

“Malcolm, I don’t want to die alone,” said Rebecca, scared and alone. 

“She bled out into the pavement while people passed, did nothing,” said Malcolm, frowning deeply. 

Rebecca started crying, and Tommy swallowed with difficulty. 

“Your mother built her clinic in the Glades because she wanted to save this city.” Malcolm told his son. “It can’t be saved. Because the people there don’t want it to be saved.”  

Tommy looked at his father, appalled. “So you kill them all–” 

“Yes!” Malcolm snapped, taking Tommy aback. “They deserve to die! All of them! The way she died!” 

Tommy’s heart pounded in his chest with dawning horror. Oliver was right about his father. 

The man in front of him was a psychopath. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Oliver walked into the bunker. “The Undertaking is happening tonight.” 

Felicity was seated at her computer, and John stood behind her station. 

“Oliver, Felicity may have found something.” John walked around to meet him. 

Felicity held his book of names in her hands. “This symbol is a map of the old subway tunnel system.”

“That’s what got us thinking the Undertaking is connected to the Glades.” said Oliver. 

“What if it’s more specific than that?” Felicity questioned. 

“What do you mean?” asked Oliver. 

“If I had a machine that could trigger an earthquake in an otherwise geologically stable area, where would I position it?” asked Felicity.

“Underground.” Oliver answered. 

“Yeah. This is a U.S. geological survey of the tectonic plates running underneath Starling City.” Felicity said, showing him images on her computer monitors of the map of the city. “This red line here is a known fault that runs right below the Glades. About a mile, the fault runs underneath the old Tenth Street subway line.”  

“Dollars to donuts, the seismic device is somewhere along there.” John said, pointing to a red line that cut through the Glades. 

“I know where it is,” said Oliver. 

Oliver’s cell buzzed in his pocket, and he turned away, fishing it out of his back pocket and put his phone to his ear. “Now is not a good time.”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Yeah, understate much?” Thea replies, speaking into her cell, walking through the foyer of her home, stopping in the entry of the sitting room. “Mom has a whole bunch of reporters here. She’s holding a press conference or something.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“What channel?” Oliver asked, alert.  

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Thea peered into the room. It was full of news crews with cameras. “Ah, it looks like all of them.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Oliver ended the call and moved toward Felicity. “Felicity, pull up the local news, please.” 

Felicity did as he asked and the inside of the Queen mansion with Mrs. Queen as the focused appeared on the monitors. 

“My name is Moira Dearden Queen. I am the acting CEO of Queen Consolidated.” Moira began. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“And God forgive me, I have failed the city. For the past five years, under the threat for my life and the lives of my family…” As Moira spoke, a police officer moved to stand a foot behind Thea, waiting. 

Waiting to back up law enforcement and arrest Moira Queen for her crimes. 

Moira looked at her daughter in regret. Her eyes moved to the detectives waiting, and then back to the camera. “I have been complicit in an undertaking with one horrible purpose… to destroy the Glades and everyone in it. I realize now that my family’s safety will mean nothing if I let this dreadful act occur.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Tommy and Malcolm watched the pressed release from Malcolm’s laptop in his office. 

“But you need to know that the architect of this nightmare... is Malcolm Merlyn.” 

Tommy looked at his father, watching him.

Malcolm slammed the laptop shut. “No!”

Rage coming off him in waves, his perfect control wavering.  

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Yes, and I have proof that he has killed dozens in pursuit of this madness.” Moira continued as Thea looked at her, appalled. “Adam Hunt, Frank Chen, and my husband… Robert.” 

Tears filled Thea’s eyes at the mention of her deceased father. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Please. If you reside in the Glades, you need to get out now. Your lives and the lives of your children depend on it.” Moira’s voice filled with emotion. “Please.” 

The reporters shared wary looks before they all started talking at once, shouting questions. 

Moira pushed past them toward Thea. 

The cops were moving at the same moment, following closely behind her. 

“I don’t understand,” said Thea, shaking her head, looking at her as if she didn’t even know who she was anymore. 

“I’m sorry.” Moira apologized, reaching for her. “I love you.” 

Thea pulled out of her reach. “I love Roy.” 

“Roy?” Moira repeated, confused. 

“He lives in the Glades.” Tears shined in Thea’s eyes. “I can’t leave him there.” She turned, leaving. 

“Sweetheart--Thea!” Moira moved to follow but was stopped by SCPD. 

“Moira Queen, you’re under arrest for conspiracy.” The detective moved her hands behind her back. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney.” 

Moira looked down. She wanted nothing more than to go after her daughter, but she couldn’t. 

Because of Malcolm, she had lost everything. Including her freedom. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Tommy stared at his father in horror. “Is it true? Did you kill all those people?”

Did he kill Robert, who had been like a father to him?  

“I did what I had to do,” Malcolm told him and moved to the far wall of his office. He removed the picture frame there, revealing a thumb print pad. He pressed his thumb to it and it opened to reveal the suit of the dark archer. 

Tommy gasped, his horror growing. 

SCPD swarmed his office. “Freeze! Malcolm Merlyn, you are under arrest.”

“Dad, no!” Tommy exclaimed as Malcolm cut them down with a sword from his wall. Tommy grabbed a gun from his father’s desk and aimed it at his father. “Please, Dad.” Malcolm took a step toward him and he took a step back. “Stay back. I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“You can’t.” Malcolm disarmed Tommy and clocked him with the end of his blade, knocking him out. “And you can’t stop me.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Oliver stood in front of his Lian Yu crate. 

Felicity moved toward him. “Oliver, I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be. She gave those people a chance.” Oliver opened the crate. 

“I thought Merlyn broke your bow,” said John. 

“I have another.” He stared down at it in the crate. 

“I was going over the device schematics. The device can be set for a timed detonation or can be remote activated by a mobile transmitter.” Felicity told him. 

“Something Merlyn could have on him.” Oliver turned around to face them. 

“Listen, Oliver, if we can just get our hands on this transmitter, maybe we don’t need to track down the device,” said John. 

“It’s too big of an “if,” Diggle. I need you in the subway. Find the device, disarm it.” Oliver told him. 

“So you can take on Merlyn by yourself?” asked John. 

“I have to.” answered Oliver. 

“Oh, he’ll kill you, Oliver,” said John. 

“I know.” Oliver admitted. “He’s beaten me twice. And I don’t know how to stop him.”

“Ok.” John moved around Felicity. “Well, how about this time, you bring along something you didn’t have the last time you two fought.. Me.” 

“I can’t let you,” said Oliver. 

“I can’t let you do this by yourself, man. Oliver, you are not alone, not since you brought me into this.” John looked back at Felicity. “Us into this.” Oliver looked past John at Felicity and she smiled faintly. “Besides, army regulations… a soldier never lets a brother go into battle alone.” 

Oliver smiled faintly. “I’m out of bows.” 

“I got my gun,” John returned. 

Felicity stepped forward beside John. “I guess it’s up to me to do the dismantling.” 

“This whole area is ground zero.” Oliver said, his eyes locking with hers. “I want you out of here.” 

Felicity stepped forward, her eyes not moving from Oliver’s. “If you’re not leaving, I’m not leaving. Besides, if I don’t deactivate the device, who will?”

And Felicity wasn’t going to run and hide when the city needed help saving and she could do something to help. 

Oliver moved past John and Felicity, grabbing his phone. 

There was no way he was going to let Felicity anywhere near Malcolm’s machine, whose sole purpose was to level the Glades and kill everyone in it. 

He wouldn’t risk her life. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“You were right.” Lance said into his cell phone, standing in the middle of SCPD’S bullpen. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“I need one more thing from you,” Oliver spoke into his phone. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“Yeah? What do I got left to give?” asked Lance. 

“I know where Merlyn is keeping the device.” The Hood’s voice came over the line.  ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“It’s in an abandoned subway station near Puckett Street.” Oliver informed him. 

“How do you know?” asked Lance. 

“That’s where his wife was murdered.” Oliver answered. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“I need someone I can trust to deactivate the device.” Lance heard the Hood say. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“We have a mutual friend that I think could…” Oliver looked at Felicity and she looked at him. “Talk you through it.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“She says you care about the people of this city, that it needs you.” Lance told him, knowing the Hood was speaking of Felicity Smoak.  

He recalled the look in her eyes when she spoke those words to him. 

Honest belief. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“: Right now, Detective… It needs you.” Oliver told him.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Lance exhales, unable to argue, lowering his cell, ending the call. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

John and the Hood entered Malcolm’s office at Merlyn Global, weapons raised. 

“Looks like we missed him,” said John, but he did not lower his gun. 

His office was empty except for the bodies of the SCPD that Malcolm left behind. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

A groaned filled the room. The hood whipped around. 

Oliver lowered his hood and his weapon, recognizing the downed man. “Tommy.” he moved toward him. “Tommy. Tommy!” 

Tommy lifted his head. “Oliver.”

“Where’s your father?” Oliver crouched in front of him. 

“Ohh.” Tommy groaned. “I don’t know.” Tommy answered, leaning on his elbow, bracing his weight on his side. There was a cut on his right cheek, seeping blood. “You were right. You were right about him.” 

“Oliver.” John said, standing in the doorway of Malcolm’s secret room. 

“Are you going to kill him?” asked Tommy, not really wanting an answer but needing to know, regardless.  

“Get to safety.” Oliver told him. 

“Looks like a false wall.” John said. 

Oliver and John found their way in. The room was basically Malcolm’s armory. 

“Welcome, gentlemen.” Malcolm stood in front of a large fan blade, dressed in his Archer gear. “I’ve been waiting for you. I wanted to see you watch your city die.” 

“Where’s the transmitter?” The Hood demanded. 

“Somewhere I can easily get to it.” Malcolm smirked. 

“I doubt it. You’ll be too dead,” said John and fired his gun. 

Malcolm dodged, and the three engaged in battle. It was difficult with not a lot of room to maneuver. 

“Aaah!” John dropped to the ground, a dagger Malcolm threw imbedded in his shoulder. 

Malcolm used the distraction to escape. 

John groaned as Oliver stopped in front of him. “Stairs. Go, go.” 

Oliver quickly went after Malcolm. 

John groaned as his hand moved to grip the blade imbedded in his upper chest and shoulder. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Oliver stepped out onto the roof, and the Dark archer fired an arrow at his feet. The Hood didn’t so much as flinch. 

“So tell me.. are you ready to die?” asked the Dark Archer. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Lance ran through the abandon underground subway that ran beneath the Glades. 

“You found it yet, Detective?” Felicity's voice came over his cell phone. 

“Not exactly sure what I’m looking for.” Lance answered. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Do you want me to describe it to you?” Felicity asked, from her stationed in the foundry. 

She couldn’t help but think this would be easier if she was the one in the abandon underground subway. 

She was a firm believer in, ‘If you wanted something done right, do it yourself.’ 

Especially considering the circumstances. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“No, I’ve got it,” Lance answered as he came upon a large machine with flashing lights. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“You should see something that looks like a circuit board.” Felicity’s voice came over his phone. “Pull it out. Do you see a timer?” 

Lance removed the circuit board, revealing a bunch of wires. 

“Seven minutes.” Lance answered as the numbers were counting down. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Ok.” Felicity swallowed. “Well, the good news is, this is going to be a paperweight in three.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The Archer and the Hood exchanged arrows and then physical blows. 

The Hood fired another arrow. The Archer caught it mere inches from his face. It beeped in his fingers before exploding, knocking Malcolm off his feet. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“There are three wires.. you need a green one, a yellow and one blue. Cut the blue.” Felicity told him, looking at schematics. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“All right, I got it, I got it,” said Lance, doing as she said.

The machine starts beeping, lights flashing, the timer of the clock went down from 4 minutes to 2 minutes. 

The machine began whirling, opening and connecting to the ground. 

“Oh, my God. No, no, no, no, no!” Lance gripped his head in dismay, his heart pounding frantically in his chest.  

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“There must be some sort of anti-tamper safeguard.” Felicity told him, bringing up more schematics, her voice calm and collected. 

There was no time to panic. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Hold on. I’m going to try to figure out how to override it.” Felicity told him over the comms. 

“Not enough time. There’s not enough time!” Lance shouted, turning away from the machine. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Just hold on!” Felicity insisted. 

She knew he was panicking, but she needed him to pull it together. 

Hundreds of people were going to die, possibly a thousand if they couldn’t get this done. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Not enough time.” Lance panicked, pulling out his phone and calling his daughter. “Laurel.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Dad, don’t worry, I got your message, and I did not come into work today.” Laurel lied, as she gathered files from CNRI, others around her doing the same. 

“Save it, kiddo. We both know you’re there.” Lance said over the phone. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“But listen..you got to get out of the Glades.” Lance told her.

He needed at least one of his daughters to live. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“You got to get out of the Glades right now!” Lance insisted. “Ok, please.” 

“Dad?” Laurel replied into her cell, the tone of his voice, the urgency throwing her off. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Right now, Laurel! Right now, Laurel!” Lance raised his voice. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Daddy, you’re scaring me.” Laurel told him, her heart racing. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Sorry, but I’m not… I’m not going to make it,” said Lance, his voice shook.  

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“What?” Tears gathered in Laurel’s eyes. “What?!” 

“You have to promise me one thing, Laurel.” her father’s voice came over the line. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“You’re not going to die along with me,” Lance told her, voice shaking.  

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“You have to go on with your life,” he continued, much to Laurel’s dread.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“After your sister died, I pushed people away. I became like a ghost. I didn’t think I had the right to live when my baby girl didn’t.” Lance’s voice broke. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Promise me you’re not going to make the same mistakes as I did,” Lance said into his phone. 

“Where are you?” asked Laurel. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Promise me, Laurel.” Lance pressed. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“Promise me.” Lance insisted again when his daughter didn’t answer him.  

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“I promise.” Laurel replied, breathing shakily. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“I love you, honey, now and forever.” Lance told her.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“I love you.” Laurel cried. She lurched forward when the call ended. “Dad!” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

 “Detective Lance?” Felicity spoke into her comms, rubbing at her temple. “I need you to listen to me very carefully.” 

She didn’t mean to be unsympathetic, but now was not the time for any goodbyes.

Right now, she needed his full focus. She needed him to do exactly what she said. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Oliver and Malcolm continued to fight at the top of Merlyn Global, exchanging blows. 

John managed to drag himself to the roof exit as Malcolm gained the upper hand on Oliver, gripping him in a vice lock, his arms cutting off Oliver’s air. 

“Don’t struggle. It’s over,” Malcolm said as Oliver struggled to breathe. “There was never any doubt in the outcome.” he brought Oliver to his knees. “Don’t worry. Your mother and sister will be joining you in death.”

Oliver could hear his father’s voice. “Survive.” 

He could see him putting a bullet in his own head to save him. 

Oliver looked at John and then his hand felt blindly on the ground. Finding purchase on one of his discarded arrows, gripping it tightly, he plunges it through his own chest and into Malcolm’s.

Malcolm's arms fell away in pain, and he fell to his knees. Oliver pushed himself to his feet, chest rising and falling rapidly.

“Thank you for teaching me what I’m fighting for.” Oliver struggled to his feet and turned to face him and slammed his fist into Malcolm’s jaw. 

Malcolm fell back against the roof. 

“But my father taught me how,” Oliver finished, standing over Malcolm’s prone body. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

The machine continued to beep as Lance tried to cut the correct wire. 

“Come on!” Lance clipped the wire, and the machine shut down, his shoulder’s sagged in relief. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Oliver, Lance did it.” Felicity’s voice came over the comms, unable to hide the relief she felt. 

“It’s over,” he told Malcolm, standing over him. 

“If I’ve learned anything as a successful businessman, it’s…” Malcolm cough from his place on the ground. “Redundancy.” 

Malcolm gave one last groan, his body going limp and his eyes falling shut.

Oliver placed his hand over his chest, his eyes filling with despair. “Felicity... there’s another device. There’s two of them!” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Lance made it to the streets. It was full of panic, only made worse as the ground began to shake. 

“What the hell’s happening?!” Lance exclaimed, gripping to a wall to keep steady on his feet. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Ohh!” John’s lips parted as he and Oliver looked out over the city to see buildings shaking. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Explosions sounded everywhere. 

“I turned the damn thing off!” Lance shouted. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Merlyn had a second device!” Felicity gripped tightly to her desk, horror washing over her.  

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“My daughter! Laurel! She’s at CNRI!” Lance exclaimed, trying to move through the streets, struggling to stay on his feet. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Oliver?” Felicity whimpered as the building she was under shook. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Are you ok?” Oliver asked her, concerned. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Yeah.” Felicity gasped as sparks showered above her head. “The damage seems to be contained on the east side, past Wells Street.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Laurel.” Oliver looked at John, who he was helping stand. “Are you going to be ok?”  

John gripped the barrier of the roof and pushed at Oliver. “Go, go, go.” 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“Help!” Laurel sobbed, trapped beneath a slab of concrete. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

“Please! Help me!” Laurel sobbed and suddenly Tommy was there, bracing his knee and gripping the slab of concrete. “Tommy! What are you doing here?” 

“I kind of figured that you might come back to CNRI,” Tommy said, looking down at her, the blood on his cheek dried and crusted. 

Tommy grunted as he tried to lift the concrete off of her. 

“You came here for me?” Laurel’s voice was filled with wonder and disbelief. 

“I love you.” Tommy said sincerely and grunted, using all the strength he possessed. “Get up! Go!” he said as he lifted it from her. “I’m right behind you!” 

Laurel scrambled from beneath and took off running without looking back once.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Felicity ran through the streets, her breaths coming quickly, glad for once that since working with Oliver she knew the Glades like the back of her hand. 

She saw Lance running through the streets and ran faster to catch up with him as he shouted for his daughter. 

“Detective Lance.” Felicity had wanted to see if she could help. She hated having heard the fear and regret in the man’s voice when she heard him on the phone with his daughter. 

Laurel. Oliver’s Laurel. 

Oliver shouldn’t have to worry about the woman he was in love with when he was trying to save the city.

She had made her way to CNRI, hoping she could be of some help in some way. 

Lance stopped in front of CNRI, shouting for his daughter. Felicity wasn’t sure he even heard her call out to him. 

“Laurel!” Lance shouted. “Laurel!” 

“Dad!” Laurel ran into her dad’s arm, clinging to him. “Dad!” 

Lance held her as if his life depended on it. “Oh, thank God.” 

Felicity stopped a few feet behind, going unnoticed. 

CNRI began to collapse. 

Laurel whirled around. “No!” 

“No! Laurel!” Lance grabbed her by the waist, keeping from running back in. “No, you can’t!” 

“Tommy!” Laurel screamed, struggling in her father’s arms. 

Felicity’s eyes widened at the mention of Oliver’s best friend. 

There was no way he could survive a collapse like that. 

“You can’t!” Lance shouted. “It’s too late, it’s too late.” 

“Tommy!” Laurel screamed at the top of her lungs, collapsing back against her father. 

Felicity moved quickly, no one noticing her as she ran around to the back entrance, finding her way inside through the rubble. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Felicity picked her way through the rubble, stumbling and barely stopping herself from falling as she ran over fallen debris. 

She heard a man’s groan of pain and followed the sound.

“Tommy?” she called out. 

Felicity screeched to a halt. Tommy was trapped beneath a large piece of fallen concrete. 

“Felicity?” Tommy coughed her name out. 

“Yeah.” Felicity moved to kneel beside his head. 

She and Tommy didn’t really know each other that well. They met each other through Oliver when he found out the truth about Oliver. Tommy knew she worked with Oliver, helping him with his Hood activities. 

“What are you doing here?” Tommy asked, struggling to breathe. 

“I don’t know. I wanted to help.” Felicity answered. 

“I don’t think you can help me.” Tommy said. 

Felicity hated to admit it, but if she couldn’t find a way to free him from the concrete, he was right. She couldn’t help him. 

Did she really come here just to watch Tommy Merlyn die?

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Oliver could hear Laurel screaming as he brought his bike to a screeching halt behind CNRI. Jumping off his bike he ran into the collapsed building, lifting fallen debris as he went until he came across Tommy, trapped by slabs of concrete and to his surprise Felicity kneeling at his side. 

“What are you doing here?” Oliver asked Felicity. 

“I wanted to help.” Felicity felt relief wash over her. “Can you lift this off him?”  

“Yeah.” he answered before addressing Tommy. “Ah, Tommy. You’re going to be fine.” Oliver assured him as he began lifting the debris off him. 

“Another thing…” Tommy struggled to breathe. “We got to disagree on.” 

Oliver lifted the concrete off him and, to his horror, saw a piece of rebar protruding from Tommy’s chest. “Tommy…” 

Felicity gasped. She had healed severe wounds before, but nothing to this extent. 

“Is..is Laurel safe?” Tommy breathed. “Is Laurel safe? I tried to get her out of here.” 

“Yeah, yeah, you did.” Oliver forced a smile. “You saved her. I’m going to get you out of here. You’re going to be fine.” 

“Stop.” Tommy told him, tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” 

“No.” Oliver shook his head. “Don’t apologize.” Oliver looked at Felicity. “Can you help him?”

“No one can,” Tommy said, moving to grasp tightly to Oliver’s hand. 

Felicity’s eyes zeroed in on Tommy’s wound. 

“Felicity!” Oliver said sharply. 

“You need to move him first,” said Felicity. 

Oliver nodded. “Tommy, I need you to hold on a little longer, okay, buddy?” 

“Oli-aahhh!” Tommy cried out in pain as Oliver lifted him off the rebar. 

Oliver’s eyes widened as Tommy began to bleed out quickly. “Felicity!” 

Felicity heard the urgency in his voice. There was no time for warnings, concerns for her secret or second thoughts. 

It was now, or Tommy was going to die. 

“What’s happening?” Tommy asked. 

“You’re going to be okay.” Felicity said quickly. 

She placed her hand over Tommy’s bleeding wound. Her hand started to glow a light yellow, before growing bigger and changing to a golden light. 

Oliver watched in wonder, his eyes widened as the same golden glow coming from her hands began to shine beneath her skin, making her look like a heavenly being. 

Felicity doubled over. The pain of Tommy’s wound, healing and ripping through her own chest, stole her breath and her voice. 

She had never felt something so intense. Slowly, the pain started to recede, her vision began to darken. 

“Oliver.” she try to say and felt herself collapse over Tommy before losing consciousness. 

“Felicity!” Oliver gently grabbed her and pulled her away and into his arms. Alarms went off in his head as her head lolled against him, her body limp. With a shaky hand, he placed it over her neck, searching for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak and thready. 

He laid her gently on the ground. She was pale. Paler than he ever seen her and her breathing was slow.

He placed his hand over her heart, relieved when he felt the beat beneath his palm. It wasn’t as steady as he wish it was, but he took relief that it was there. 

“Is she okay?”

Oliver’s head whipped around to watch as Tommy sat up. “Are you?”

Tommy place his hand over where the rebar was. He felt no pain. His fingers worked quickly to unbutton the shirt and pulled the blood-soaked fabric apart. He wiped at the blood coating his skin, revealing perfect skin. 

“I am.” Tommy looked at Oliver. “How?”

Oliver looked back at Felicity. 

An angel, his mind supplied. 

Tommy moved beside Oliver, hovering over Felicity. “What did she do?” 

“She healed you.” Oliver answered. 

“How?”

“That’s not for me to tell.”

“Is she going to be okay?” Tommy asked, looking down at Felicity with concern. 

He hadn’t known her long, and he didn’t know her well. They exchanged numbers because of Oliver. 

They weren’t friends, but more acquaintances. 

But now he thought he knew her more than she knew him. 

He now knew she was the kind of person to help someone, to risk herself to do something good. 

She was a good person, selfless and giving and better than Oliver or himself. 

“I hope so,” Oliver answered, sweeping strands of Felicity hair back that had escaped her ponytail. 

“Can you walk?” Oliver asked Tommy. 

Tommy stood up on steady legs. “Yes.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Oliver lifted Felicity in his arms bridal style and began making his way through the rubble. 

Tommy followed closely behind, his heart in his throat. A feeling of pure gratitude rising in his chest. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Oliver placed Felicity on the med table in the foundry. 

Tommy followed Oliver down the steps. “Where’s your shadow?”

“John went to the hospital.” Oliver answered. “Your father shot him in the shoulder.” 

Tommy winced. “And the damage in the Glades?”

“Substantial.” 

Tommy moved to stand on Felicity’s other side. “Why didn’t you take her to the hospital?” 

“Because Felicity is not like everybody else. She’s special.” 

Oliver didn’t know if Felicity’s DNA or blood was normal and he would rather not have her turned into a test subject because she was unlike anybody else in the world. 

She protected his secret, and he would protect hers. 

“What do we do now?” asked Tommy. 

“I wait.” said Oliver. “You need to go let Laurel know you’re fine.” 

“I can’t just leave.” Tommy protested. “I don’t know entirely what she did, but I do know she saved my life. I can’t just walk away.” 

“You’re not. She’s going to be a fine. You will be able to thank her later, but right now there is someone we both care about who is devastated by the belief you are dead. Go and fix it.” Oliver told him. 

“Will you let me know when she wakes up?” Tommy asked. 

“I will.” Oliver promised. “Now go.” 

Tommy nodded and reluctantly left. 

Oliver checked Felicity’s pulse again. It was stronger than before. Her breathing had even out and her skin was no longer cold to the touch. 

All reassuring signs to his worried mind. 

He pulled up a chair beside Felicity to wait for her to wake up. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Felicity's eyes fluttered open. Her body ached in a way that wasn’t entirely familiar. 

She wasn’t really surprised. She didn’t entirely know what to expect. 

When she healed Tommy, it was the first time she had healed someone at Death’s door. She felt that when she healed him. Felt how close he came to dying. 

Tears filled her eyes. 

It was painful and beyond terrifying. 

And more so the knowledge that she could weighed heavily on her. 

If she could heal somebody on death’s door, what was the full extent of her healing capabilities? 

Felicity wasn’t sure she wanted to know. 

More so, if she was capable of saving a life like this, how could she selfishly keep this ability to herself?

Should she be doing more?

The very thought scared her to her core.

She felt a tear leak from her eye and she lifted her hand to wipe it away. 

The movement was painful and caused pain to shoot through her torso. A groan slipped past her lips. 

“Felicity?” 

Felicity turned her head. “Oliver?”

She moved to sit up, and Oliver helped her. She was grateful when he did because it hurt to move, but she did her damndest not to show it. 

“Are you ok?” Oliver asked, concerned. 

“I’ve been better?” Felicity answered. “Tommy?”

“He’s alive.” Oliver’s eyes shined with gratitude. “Thanks to you.” 

“I’m just glad he’s okay.” She eased off the med bay table. “It’s been a long day. I’m going to head home.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Oliver asked, concerned. He had so many questions. Seeing her ability first hand was unlike anything he ever seen and he wanted to know more, but she looked exhausted. 

“I am.” She forced a smile, pushing the pain down. 

“Are you okay to drive?” asked Oliver. 

“I am. Oliver, I appreciate the concern, but I’m good. I just want to go home and climb into my bed. And you should find Thea or Laurel or go home and rest. You’ve earned it.” 

Oliver wanted to argue, but he did need to see Thea and needed to call Tommy like he promised. “Okay, but I insist on driving you home.” 

Felicity conceded, offering him a faint smile. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Oliver waited until he got Felicity safely home before pulling out his phone and calling Tommy. 

“Hello?” 

“Tommy,” Oliver greeted.

“Ollie, hey, um, I’m with Thea back at the mansion with her boyfriend. Laurel’s with her dad. I saw your bodyguard at the hospital. He’s going to be okay. I didn’t know if he knew about Felicity, so I didn’t tell him anything. How is she?”

“I just took her home. She’s fine.” Oliver answered. “Tired but okay.”

“She saved my life tonight.” Tommy said in awe.

“She did. It’s what she does.” Oliver agreed, the call becoming silent. 

After a moment, Oliver cleared his throat. “Look, Tommy, I’m sorry-” 

“Don’t apologize.” Tommy cut him off, his voice turned remorseful. “I’m the one who is sorry. I was angry, and I was jealous.”

“It’s okay.” Oliver said. 

“No, it’s not.” Tommy said. “I- I am my father.” 

“No.” Oliver shook his head. “No, you’re not. You are nothing like him. You never have been. You are your mother’s son at heart.” 

“Did--did you kill him?” Tommy asked. 

“No.” Oliver lied. He wanted to tell Tommy the truth, but he didn’t think now was the time. 

“Thank you.” Tommy said. He knew his father was awful, a monster, but he was still his father. 

Oliver didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. 

“When do you think Felicity will be up for visitors?” asked Tommy. “I really want to thank her.” 

“Maybe not for a few days. I’ve only seen Felicity do this once before, and it takes it out of her. She’ll need her rest,” 

Oliver stayed on the phone with her for a few more minutes before ending the call. 

He called John to check up on him and to tell him about what Felicity did for Tommy. He was concerned and asked after her, but Oliver assured John that she was fine. 

He made his way home. It was a long couple of days and he needed the time to just be.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Felicity stripped out of her blood sodden clothes, her entire body ache to its core.

Every step cause pain to shoot through her. 

She never healed someone so close to death before and she’s glad she hadn’t. 

This was agony. 

Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. She tried to blink them back, but it didn’t work. 

There should be a limit to what she could do. 

Maybe there was, and this was her body telling her so. 

She turned on the hot water, stepping under the spray. She knew her legs couldn’t hold her up much longer and sunk down to the floor of her shower. The blood circled down the drain. Her chest stung.

Even now she could feel the wound healing and it hurt so badly. 

Her ability was a gift to others, but right now, it felt like a curse to her. 

She tried to focus on the good. 

She saved a life. She might be in pain now, but because of her, Tommy was alive, and that mattered. 

She pulled her knees to her chest and pressed forehead against them, her shoulders shook with the pain.

She hummed softly, singing to herself, doing anything to distract her from the pain. 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

The glades had fallen, buildings left to nothing but rubble. Hundreds dead, family ruined all for one man’s revenge, but yet there was still good when you looked for it. 

There were still the few who would sacrifice to help others because it was the right thing to do. 

It was those few who made a difference and changed the world for the better. 

And it was just the beginning. 

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Red Team Blues Chapter One, part four

My next novel, Red Team Blues, is nearly here! I start my tour on Saturday, with two appearances at the LA Times Festival of Books:

https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/schedule/

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/20/links-arent-performances/#henched

To kick things off, I’m serializing chapter one, where we meet Marty Hench, a 67-year-old, hard-charging forensic accountant with 40 years’ experience busting Silicon Valley’s most eye-watering scams, and learn about his last case — recovering a billion dollars’ worth of cryptographic secrets.

Here’s the previous installments:

Part one:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/17/have-you-tried-not-spying/#unsalted-hash

Part two:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/18/cursed-are-the-sausagemakers/#henched

Part three:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/19/whats-wrong-with-iowa/#henched

Here’s where US readers can pre-order the book:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/red-team-blues

Here’s pre-orders for Canadians:

https://services.raincoast.com/scripts/b2b.wsc/featured?hh_isbn=9781250865847&ht_orig_from=raincoast

And for readers in the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth:

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/red-team-blues-cory-doctorow/7225998?ean=9781804547755

And now, here’s today’s serial installment:

We built the system to be secure. You know me, I’m a paranoid old creep with a dirty mind, so everything I did, I did right. The keys were on an air gap system. I bought that system myself off a pile of boxed HP laptops at Fry’s just a couple of weeks before they closed their doors for good.”

“Rest in peace.”

“It was time. But back when you could go into Fry’s, you could pick up a laptop sealed in shrink-­w rap, carry it yourself to the cashier, pay cash for it, and walk out, stopping only to show your receipt to the poor door-­checker. Then you could take it to the data center, badge into the clean room, lay out your workbench, unscrew that sucker, and remove every single network interface with a pair of pliers, not just snipping the traces but ripping them right off the board.”

“Lucky you didn’t snap the board.”

He grimaced. “I did. I bought three of them so I could take a mulligan or two if I needed it. I only needed one spare, as it turned out. Then it went into a safe, a good safe, rated for three hours. There’s a watchman who makes physical rounds of every safe room, every two hours. And I locked up the BIOS with a hardware token. Steal that laptop, you’d still need my token.”

“And yet . . .”

“You know how they say anyone can design a security system that he himself can’t figure out how to break?”

“Schneier’s law.”

“Schneier’s law. Yeah. Someone smarter than I am figured it out.”

“The watchman?”

“No, though he might have been in on it. They fired him. The safe was opened, the laptop was gone.”

“And the hardware token?”

“You’ll love this.”

“I can’t wait.”

He tugged his forelock and adopted a broad Cockney accent that would have embarrassed Dick van Dyke. “Guv’nah, I was pickpocketed, so I was.”

“I don’t believe it. Pickpocketing is supposed to be a dead art. Who was working the scam, Apollo Robbins?”

He shrugged. “I don’t reckon so. But yeah, there’s plenty of Vegas acts that do pickpocketing stuff, and there’s a pretty big YouTube competitive pickpocket scene with tutorials. Plus, there’s the European talent, a lot of it, never really died out there. Covent Garden is like a plague reservoir for the pathogen, and you get an outbreak every year or two.”

“You had the hardware token on your key ring?”

“That day, I did. I’d been in the data center. Then we went to dinner. Hydra. The prix fixe. The chef’s table is nice, but the taster menu gets you the octopodi. Someone bumped me between the data center and my front door.”

“Oof,” I said. “Did you have to ring the downstairs neighbor’s doorbell and climb out on their balcony?”

“Don’t be stupid,” he said. “In the first place, Sethu has her own keys. In the second place, the outside doors here are locked and armed when we’re AFK.”

I’d noticed the locks on the outside doors, and the break sensors, and the cameras — ­both the covert and overt ones. There were probably some I’d missed. I wouldn’t put it past Danny to have a lidar rig in the shrubs, something to help the system distinguish between cat burglars and house cats.

“The watchman from the data center,” I said. “That’s your guy. Probably not the mastermind, but he’ll be the key to it all.”

“Looks like they socially engineered him. Matched him on Tinder, messaged him, Oh, is that where you work? I’m just around the corner — ­want to meet me for a quick boba tea?”

“Catfished. Honey trap.”

He sighed. “Yeah. It was a good one.”

“You reported the theft?”

“The insurance company will pay for a new laptop, which, frankly, I don’t need, because I already have the spare I bought when I was going through the whole rigamarole to set up the air gap. But that’s not the valuable part.”

“No, it isn’t. How about the keys?”

“Yeah, how about them?”

“First, have you warned your source that you lost them, so they can tell Apple and Samsung and all the other manufacturers that rely on those secure enclave chips? And second, have you warned your users that their money isn’t safe?”

He looked over at Sethu, at Palo Alto, at his lemonade glass, and at the clouds in the sky. Long looks. The silence spoke volumes.

“How much money is the Trustlesscoin ledger worth, Danny?”

He looked me dead in the eye now. “About a billion.”

We’d already been talking about trillions, so I shouldn’t have been shocked. But tech founders are always throwing around big numbers, and I’ve developed the mental habit of knocking a few zeroes off any claims about “total addressable markets.”

Trustlesscoin was the new crypto on the block. My unconscious estimate of its value was in the low tens of millions, which is also a big number, but not a billion.

“A billion here, a billion there — ­”

He cut me off. “Pretty soon, it starts to add up to real money. Yeah, I know, Marty. Don’t joke, you’re not good at it.”

“When did you lose the keys?”

He checked his watch — ­a mechanical one, not ostentatious, an old wartime Rolex, from when men’s Oysters were the size of a nickel, not these giant tourbillon monstrosities that cost a million bucks and looked like a poor man’s idea of a rich man’s watch. “Seventy-­four hours and thirty minutes ago.”

“Give or take.”

“You’re not good at comedy, Marty. We’ve established that.”

“What fallout has there been?”

“Not much,” he said. “In fact, maybe none. We have a pretty good statistical picture of what normal Trustless transaction activity looks like, and nothing has rung the alarm bells yet.”

“Yet. But maybe not ever. Maybe they can’t figure out how to exploit what they got.”

“Or maybe they’re biding their time. Or running an old-­ school salami-­slice grift, shaving a lot of pennies, getting ready to cash out.”

“Can you block that? They have to convert Trustlesscoins into fiat to get away with it, right?”

“They do, but we can’t stop them. We’re on every major exchange, not just to other tokens but also a bunch of different kinds of fiat and stablecoins. How do you think we got to a billion dollars so quickly? Trustless is both highly liquid and highly efficient. That’s why it’s the future of finance.”

“And money laundering.”

For a second, I thought he was going to throw his lemonade glass, dash it to the cool flagstones of his roof garden. He took a deep breath and then another and then set the glass down. “And money laundering. Marty, stop fucking with me. I am keenly aware that there are money launderers using my service. That has been apparent since the start. Some of these money launderers are very far away and would struggle to reach me if my technology did something to upset them. Some of them are closer.”

He shook his head violently. “Marty, I am shitting bricks here. There’s another shoe getting ready to drop, and when it does, I’m going to go down with it. Hard. I’m not just talking about losing my reputation and my fortune, I’m not just talking about ruining the life of that woman over there who dragged me back from the brink. I’m talking about being targeted for physical violence by unreasonable, sadistic, powerful criminal men who amassed their fortunes by spilling an ocean of blood and who cannot be placated. Nor can they be fended off, not unless I want to live my life inside a bunker.

“I don’t know who stole those keys, Marty. I shouldn’t have had them in the first place. I am now in a position where everything I hold dear is on the line, and so I called you. You and I go way back, you’re my friend and I trust you, but I didn’t call you because I wanted to cry on your shoulder.”

“You called me because you think I can get the keys back.”

“Bullshit. I called you because I’m desperate. I don’t think anyone can get those keys back. I think that inside of a month, everything I care about will be in ruins. Major technology platforms that depend on secure enclaves for things way beyond Trustlesscoin will be exposed because of my recklessness, and they will be fucked. Secure enclaves are designed to be tamper-­ proof. You try to take one off a board the way I did with those air gap laptops’ network interfaces and you render them permanently inoperable. They can’t be field updated. They have no flashable BIOS. A vulnerability in a secure enclave is permanent.

“But the trillions of dollars in damage that I will do to the largest tech companies in the world will not worry me, because I will either be on the run or dead. Not a good death, either, Marty.

“So I called you because before that happens, I plan on exhausting every avenue of mitigation available to me.”

“If I recover them?”

He snorted. “You do that, you might save my life and rescue a third of the top performers on the S&P 500 from their worst earnings call since the Great Financial Crisis.”

Today (Apr 21), I’m speaking in Chicago at the Stigler Center’s Antitrust and Competition Conference. This weekend (Apr 22/23), I’m at the LA Times Festival of Books.

[Image ID: A squared-off version of Will Staehle's cover for the Macmillan edition of 'Red Team Blues.']

[seer918]

Comparing Megaman robot masters to Megaman Battle Network netnavis part 2: The very belated one

Soooooo I totally forgot I was doing this. Shows how bad last summer was if my brain melted to the point I forgot

Oh well, time for the next batch

Score so far is 5-2 in favour of the navi because I count ties as a point for both, and I feel like that gap’s gonna get larger

First, MetalMan and MetalMan.exe

God these designs fuck (affectionate)

Not a big fan of the yellow on the robot master, and I enjoy the addition of gears and the mechanical fists to make .EXE more metal themed rather than just buzzsaw themed

Point for MetalMan.exe, raising the score to 6-2

Next, AirMan and AirMan.EXE

Ehhhh, they’re both...alright? Kinda dumpy in different ways

Not sure I like the addition of green to the Navi design, but do like its slightly more threatening fan

But there’s just something truly iconic about the classic design, even if I didn’t grow up with it. I also prefer the overal bulkiness compare to the inexplicably lanky thighs of .EXE...

It’s a tie, 7-3.

Okay, next up is...next up are the Bubblemen

...it’s a race to rock bottom, folks. Another victim of the random chibi-fication but instead of ruining a solid design it’s just another version of a really ugly look

Why the cheek marks and the fat lips? But then again why give a robot a diving mask? Why make a water robot green?

I’m half tempted to remove a point from BOTH games’ score but instead I’m awarding both games a point as compensation for having to look at these two.

8-4

Thankfully the next up are a nice change of pace, pun semi-intended, QuickMan and QuickMan.EXE

Both are really solid designs, but even putting my personal navi bias aside I do like that .EXE looks like something that can move fast. And all the sharp edges make the idea of simply getting in his way a fatal choice.

9-4, but it was REALLY close this time.

Skipping over CrashMan since I guess they didn’t want to think about how overpowered a program with CRASH in it’s name would be to fight, we move on to FLASH, AH AAAAAAA~

...this batch (with one notable exception) so far has really been the ‘close to the original’ round, huh?

Ironically given the name, I like the mostly darker colour scheme for .EXE, since it makes the actual flashing parts POP a bit more.

10-4 and that’s mainly because the pauldrons on the robot master being light blue annoys me for some reason, otherwise it’d’ve been a tie.

Next up is a dumpy guy dressed as a lighter and a screaming Hellbeast that looks like a lighter that uses child blood as lighter fuel

The best glow up in this batch and the best navi partner of Mr Match...oh do I have a burning desire to tear into the last one of his fire trio but I’ll wait until the 6th round.

Even if I didn’t have a bias, I just love the jack’o lantern look to .EXE’s face. They really went hard in on the fact that Navi don’t HAVE to look humanoids and I love it.

11-4

And last we have...Oh, nice, WoodMan

The only Robot master who isn’t mostly red or blue in this batch so my eyes are happy. the yellow accents are weird but do help pop against his otherwise dull tone-mm? Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to get a picture of your decendent, WoodMan.EXEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYIKES!

....HE LOOKS CONSTIPATED!

I mean I guess they were going more for the wooden golem look but...why give him big meaty lips? Why does his arms look more robotic than the actual robot master? On MetalMan.EXE that makes sense since mechanical bu-WHY DOES HE HAVE A FUEL GAUGE?!

...I’m dissapointed Battle Network. At least you made his operator an absolute cutie.

11-5. The gap got larger but the classic series is still clinging on

Gonna try and make this at least a twice weekly series since the Legacy Collection will be out soon, even if currently my funds won’t let me buy it until my next paychecque...stupid illness taking out a week and a bit...

Er, anyway I’ll try and have the 3rd batch out tomorrow, be good people

[the-royal-hyrule-library]

In Stable Condition: Pokémon Stables

Hyrule’s various regions are connected by a system of carefully-maintained roads, which are dotted with a network of stables. These stables receive government funding so that any trainer can have their pokémon healed there for free. Stables additionally function as inns, where travelers can pay a modest fee to rest for the night.

All stables are built out of brick or stone, since a wooden structure would be at risk of burning down anytime a fire-type pokémon gets scared, angry, or excited. While the exact layout of each stable varies depending on local topography and preference, most display some variation of the following:

A ground floor with a check-in counter, and seating area. Stables permit guild-licensed merchants to set up shop here; allowing visitors to stock up on pokéballs, potions, and other necessities.

A second story with beds for stable employees and paying guests.

A basement for storage.

A surrounding, fenced-in yard where larger pokémon can reside. Most stable yards include a pond for water-type pokémon, a mud or dust wallow for ground-type pokémon, and a shelter where pokémon of all types can find refuge from the weather.

A domed, tiled roof designed to resemble a pokéball. Each of Hyrule’s stables has a roof modeled after a different type.

The food situation at stables varies depending on the amount of traffic they get, and their proximity to the nearest town or city. Some stables have designated chefs on staff, some allow independent vendors to sell food on site, and still others expect guests to prepare their own meals.

[foxfoots]

@schmem14, I like the way you think. Cool idea, and thanks a bunch for the invite. These are in no particular order. All of these books were chosen because they had a significant impact on how I read, perceive the world, try to conduct my own thoughts and actions. Some of these works are problematic/troubling to me today. I’ve read all of these multiple times and share how my thoughts on them have changed over the years. I hope I’m not too rambly! I'm not tagging anyone, but all who see this are welcome to share.

Coming of Age in Mississippi, Anne Moody. I think was the first memoir by a women involved in the US Civil Rights movement that I read. Moody tells her own life story here in a way that is true and very personal. Her voice and experiences were and are very different from the famous and more lauded male leaders of the movement I’d learned about in high school history classes. The Parchman Prison (and its many atrocities) written about in this memoir still exist.

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. When I saw previews of the beautiful miniseries on A&E network in 1996 I immediately tore through this novel. Reader, I loved it. I still appreciate the author’s complex use of gender and class expectations. Austen has a wicked wit and sometimes sharp tongue- her real life letters are also a good read.

Fun Home, Alison Bechdel. This memoir changed my opinion on graphic novels (they’re not all comic books about men in tights), and Bechdel’s thoughts on pop culture, queer studies, and feminism are thought provoking. The artwork and writing are fab, funny, tragic, insightful.

Cather in the Rye, JD Salinger. When I was 15 I pulled this off the library shelf, read the first page (phony bastards!), and carried it directly to the circulation desk. Holden Cauffield’s character and narrative voice were a modern splash of cold literary water and introduced me to a different kind of protagonist. I think this is the kind of book you read at different ages/stages in life and see different things. As an adult… wow, Holden’s life if full of neglectful and absent adults.

Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, & Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, Maurianne Adams et al. These books are/were pivotal in shaping my work as a social justice educator. The teaching guides and bibliographies and articles are designed to challenge bias and privilege and encourage individuals to critically examine institutions and the status quo. They’re now a bit dated and feel very academic…

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros. This novella is a short read but jam-packed full of beautifully lyrical (almost magical, sometimes) language and life in a working class, Latinx neighborhood. Esperanza shares incredibly insightful observations about culture and prejudice, sexism and sexual assault, gender roles, poverty.

The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley. A book about the Arthurian legends that isn’t dude-centric! This giant tome of a book swept me into a fascination with the various and differing lore of Camelot. Later re-reads seemed troubling in that the violence against women seemed less old-timey misogyny and more just straight up brutal. I can’t read this book anymore because of the revelations of abuse and enabling of abuse by the author- it makes the book’s violence even more disturbing for me.

Coming Home, Rosamunde Pilcher. This is my go-to easy read when I’m feeling nostalgic or sentimental. My favorite of Pilcher’s “Aga Sagas,” this WWII novel clocks in at almost 1,000 pgs and helped fire a lifelong love of stories set in UK.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. I now find this book troubling and racist, but at 17 it was powerful and a felt like an exposé of racial violence and prejudice. No one in my life wanted to discuss these topics. TKAM is flawed and a classic example of the white savior. I think it’s worth comparing the overt racism of Lee’s characters to both modern micro-aggressions and the raging violence we see in hate crimes, policing… pretty much everywhere.

Saint Maybe, Anne Tyler. The best of Tyler’s books, IMO. It’s an absolute gem as she explores her main themes of family life in Baltimore. What is family- are we born to it, or can we create our own definitions and bonds? The characters are incredibly well written. This is a comfort read for me, and re-reading it reminds me that I’m allowed to enjoy “beachy” reads.