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futuristicsaladparadise · 4 years ago

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The McConnell siblings

Heather Miyuki McConnell

Rustling Pines Elementary, Lakewood Michigan, 1999 (school picture)

Date of birth: June 17, 1990

Place of birth: Lakewood, Michigan

Parents: Michael and Kazuko (Ito) McConnell

Siblings: Jason Hideaki McConnell, Jess Akiko McConnell

Spouse: Andrei Alexandrovitch Nazarbayev

Children: Annika Jessalyn, Lilia Isabelle

Place of residence: Sun Valley, Texas

Occupation: bookkeeper, Ladd & Company (furloughed due to COVID)

Education: Lakeview Ridge High School, class of 2008; licensed bookkeeper, Fairfield Community College; attended University of Kansas for 2 years, majoring in journalism

Hobbies: writing, yoga

Q: What was your dream job when you were a kid, and how did you become interested in it?

“I wanted to be a journalist since I was about 10, I think? My parents watched a lot of news and documentaries, and I was fascinated by the reporters and narrators. I took my first journalism and yearbook courses in middle and high school. It sounded exciting – I wanted to be able to go to exotic locations and report on what I found. I suppose I wanted to be famous, too. What girl doesn’t want to be?”

Q: How did you and your significant other meet?

“I met Andrei in one of our required freshman courses at U of K, I can’t remember which. He was kind of nerdy-but-sweet looking, with crazy long eyelashes behind his glasses. I thought he would be shy, but he asked me out while we were working on our first group project. We’ve been inseparable ever since!”

Q: Why didn’t you finish college?

“I didn’t finish college because life got in the way. Pregnancy, marriage…suddenly we had 2 babies and just couldn’t keep up!”

Q: Do you regret your choice?

“My family is my life. I would rather have them over a degree any day, no matter how hard it is. Even though it’s been hard not to have the income, I have been glad to have more time to spend with my girls.”

Q: What is your most ardent wish?

“I wish my parents were closer. Andrei’s parents live next door and it’s wonderful, but I’d like to see my parents and brother and sister more often. I’m going to be an auntie and I’m not sure when I’ll get to meet my niece or nephew, and I’m afraid my sister’s graduation may have to be online. I really want to be there for those things.”

Jason Hideaki McConnell

Rustling Pines Elementary, Lakewood Michigan, 2002 (school picture)

Date of birth: October 3, 1993

Place of birth: Lakewood, Michigan

Parents: Mike and Kazuko (Ito) McConnell

Siblings: Heather Miyuki Nazarbayev, Jess Akiko McConnell

Spouse: Laura Katherine Barber

Children: unknown, due May 2021

Place of residence: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Occupation: architect, Goliath Construction (furloughed due to COVID)

Education: Lakeview Ridge High School, class of 2010; Bachelor’s degree in graphic design, University of Utah; Master’s degree in architecture, Washington State University

Hobbies: skiing, snowboarding, hockey, soccer, hiking

“I like art, and geometry, and useful things. Architecture pays better than being a PE coach or shop teacher somewhere, and most of the time we can go on vacation and do all the sports Laura and I love.”

“Winter break, 2011. I was in Utah, snowboarding at Snowbird, and this other snowboarder was showboating, so I started showing off and, like the idiots we were, kept trying to one-up each other. I ended up crashing, breaking my ankle AND dislocating my shoulder. I didn’t even know she was the guy I had been competing with until the next day, when we ran into each other on the bus back to campus and she offered to buy me drinks as a way of apologizing. She’s a knockout, quite literally, and 5’11” to boot. Best worst date ever.”

“I’ve got it pretty good. I don’t know what I’d wish for. Olympic gold in snowboarding. Yeah.”

Jess Akiko McConnell

Place of birth: Lakewood, Michigan

Parents: Mike and Kazuko (Ito) McConnell

Siblings: Heather Miyuki Nazarbayev, Jason Hideaki McConnell

Spouse: engaged, Henry David Campbell

Children: none

Place of residence: Lakewood, Michigan

Occupation: student, pursuing doctorate in marine ecology, University of California (on hiatus due to COVID)

Education: Lakeview Ridge High School, class of 2014; Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in marine biology, University of Texas at Galveston

Hobbies: soccer, snowboarding, wildlife rescue volunteer

“My parents took me to Belize with them when I was ten, and although we were there for an archaeological dig, I ended up taking care of this orphaned baby parrot. That got me interested in animals, and tropical wildlife, and then ocean life, and now here I am.”

“He was my TA while I was an undergrad. We didn’t start dating until the following year, when he wasn’t anymore, but I’m pretty sure everybody knew. We flirted kind of a lot.”

“I wish I could explain…or just have people understand and stop the damage we are doing to the world. Millions of tons of garbage, plastics, in the ocean, corporations spewing out carbon and chemicals… It doesn’t just affect others. It’s all of us. It’s you. It’s me. It’s the animals, the marine life, it’s everything. We’re driving ourselves to extinction.”

I tried to make Heather’s and Jason’s photos accurate to the late 90s. We had laser backgrounds for our school pictures back then, and Heather’s bangs are similar to what girls would have worn. Since they’re pictured as elementary schoolers, I dressed them how a parent might have, instead of in the grunge or baggy styles.

Some parts of the photos are edited, and the one of Jess is not mine.

Also, he’s not a McConnell, but Heather’s husband (and Annika and Lily’s dad), so I did one for Andrei, too.

Andrei Alexandrovitch Nazarbayev

Houston Texas, 1998

Date of birth: April 26, 1990

Place of birth: Moscow, Russia

Parents: Alexander Mikhailovitch Nazarbayev and Anna Sergeievna (Semyonova) Nazarbayeva

Siblings: none

Spouse: Heather Miyuki McConnell

Children: Annika Jessalyn, Lilia Isabelle

Place of residence: Sun Valley, Texas

Occupation: linesman, Satterfield Energy

Education: West Caddo High School, class of 2008; attended University of Kansas for 2 years, majoring in engineering and piano performance

Hobbies: drawing, piano, biking

“Ever since I can remember, I wanted to an engineer. And a famous pianist. I never could make up my mind. I was actually supposed to be majoring in piano because I had a piano scholarship, but I ended up being more interested in engineering. There’s this beauty in mathematics, and it’s hard to explain to most people, because they think math is hard. It’s beautiful, and orderly.”

“I met Heather in our mandatory US history class. She sat at the front, and I sat at the back. When she walked in, she had this glow, you know? I knew she was the one but couldn’t figure out how to approach her until we were put together for a group project. I knew it was then or never, so I asked her out and she said yes.”

“I never got my degree because I met the girl of my dreams, and when I had to choose between her and our family, or school, I chose her. How could I regret that?”

“It would have been nice to finish, and we’ve talked about my going back to school once this whole pandemic is past, now that our girls are able to take care of themselves a bit. My parents have even offered to pay, but I’m working so much overtime right now to cover for coworkers out due to COVID, I just don’t have the time.”

“I wish…hmm. I wish I was a millionaire and could travel the world with my family. Maybe we could buy a boat and sail around the world for a few years. I would definitely take my parents, wife, and daughters to Russia…Moscow, Omsk, St. Petersburg…and show them where I was born and where their grandparents grew up. Family is important.”

#Jess McConnell #all grown up

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geronimo-11 · 4 years ago

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OC Bio

I wanted to make another one for Katherine, because I love her <3

-Katherine Adler-

The Basics

Full Name: Katherine Marie Adler

Codename or Nickname: She hates most nicknames that come from Katherine, like “Katie” and “Kathy”, so she usually just goes by her full name. Her brother calls her “Kit-Kat” and that’s the only exception she’ll make.

Birth Date: January 1st, 1983

Birth Place: Nashville, Tennessee

Nationality: American

Organization/Group: The Kodiak Inn; North American Wolf Pack

Former Affiliates: A small inn in West Virginia called Sunrise Acres.

Family + Friends

Father: William Adler

Mother: Dorothy Adler

Siblings: one brother, Simon Adler

Other Relatives: She has a grandmother on her mother’s side, Winnie, that she was pretty close to. All of her other grandparents were dead before she was old enough to know them, her father was an only child, and her mother’s brother died when Katherine was a teenager.

Spouses: Jeremy Danvers

Children: she had Caleb from the brief time she spent with Declan, and then when she and Jeremy get married she has a daughter named Elizabeth and a son named Noah. (Noah’s middle name is Antony, in honor of Antonio, and when they tell Nick he cries – which results in basically the entire pack having a good long crying session.)

Description

Height: 5′7"

Weight: 124 lbs

Hair Colour: Dark brown

Eye Colour: Hazel

Skin Colour: Ivory

Any Scars: None

Any Tattoos: None. I’ve toyed with the idea of her having a Game of Thrones tattoo that says “the pack survives” just to be funny, but I honestly don’t see Katherine getting a tattoo.

Any Piercings: Just her ears. She got her nose pierced once when she was in high school just to piss off her parents, but she was immediately told to take it out and was grounded for about a month afterwards. It was worth it to see their faces, though.

Other Notable Features: Katherine loves sweaters. Most of her wardrobe is full of different kinds of sweaters and cardigans, which makes dressing in the summer pretty difficult. She really hates shorts, okay?

Random Facts: Katherine loves to play piano, and she actually used to have one when she and Caleb were living in her grandmother’s old house in West Virginia. They left it behind when they moved to Bear Valley, since it would be too difficult to move and it wasn’t really hers to take anyway. She doesn’t play again until Jeremy gifts her a piano for Christmas one year, after they’re engaged. He wanted to give her something to make her feel more at home when she moved into Stonehaven.

#i love her so much y'all #my baby #oc: katherine adler #my ocs

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thefreeblackwomanslibrary · 5 years ago

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“Math has always come easily to me. I love numbers and numbers loved me. They followed me everywhere. No matter what I did, I was always finding something to count, the floorboards, the cracks in the sidewalk, the trees as I walked by, the train cars stacked with timber and those piled with coal that lumbered along the edge of our town each day. The number of times the train engineers blew the whistle as they traveled through the trees, echoing off the granite bed rock that rose above us and from the valley within our town, White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia it was nestled. That was just the way that my mind worked. One two three four five six seven eight forks. One two three four five six seven eight plates. One two three serving spoons. Mama was very well organized, but my mind took her sense of order one step further. I always knew how many of everything there were. Things were there and could be counted and accounted for, so that’s what I did.” - REACHING FOR THE MOON: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson

Rest in power to math genius science strategist and overall trail blazer Katherine Johnson, who transitioned at the tender age of 101, on 2.24.2020

Children of all ages can experience her telling her life story in this middle school aged level memoir.

Katherine was such an icon that there are a bunch of great books about her career and abilities but this is the only one written and told by her. I especially appreciate how she weaves in aspects of how racism, slavery, colorism, classism and access to education affected her life, so you’re not only learning about her life but getting lessons in this nation’s history.

I will post the other books written about her life in my IG stories and although I’m seeing constant reference to the film Hidden Figures in pieces about her passing, please note that film is Hollywood’s interpretation of what took place. If you want to know the real read this book and/or the Hidden Figures book by Margot Lee Shetterly.

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truthisgoldenau · 5 years ago

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Happy Ending AU

So let's start the expanded lore alternate AU posts with admittedly the most mundane one but also the best guilty pleasure one.

I called it a branch AU on the short post and that's because I go by the theory that there are certain points within the AU where if a single thing went differently it would have entirely different outcomes. One such moment is in regards to the argument that caused the downfall of the 80s Freddy's.

In the Happy Ending AU, the conversation between Pierce and Fred in August of 1987 goes a bit differently than the argument that happens in the main timeline.

Everything's still the same. Pierce was out sick with the flu (let's be real, with his constant lack of sleep/overworking habits and a general disregard for his own health his immune system was just like 'okay you're about to have a real tough time with this'), Fred was still on leave because his twins were just born, and the health/safety inspector that came around was still a no-nonsense woman who had never been sent before. Foxy's still declared dangerous.

In the main AU, Fred comes in specifically to tell Pierce about Foxy with his own ideas of what the plan is and due to exhaustion from recently becoming a father and knowing Pierce is going to take the news badly, he's on guard the whole time and both of them end up saying things that escalate the situation.

In the Happy Ending AU, Fred's still exhausted and on guard but instead of getting frustrated when Pierce suggests he can have revamped Foxy plans prepared in advance so that the time Foxy is decommissioned is shorter, Fred doesn't immediately tell him to basically shut up and do as he says and only worry about Spring Bonnie.

Instead he asks how long it'd take to come up with some workable replacements for the too sharp teeth and hook on Foxy and Pierce tells him he could have a rough idea in a month or two because he's gotta test out what could still be construed as too dangerous himself. Remember these are moving machines Fred, all the motion sensors and gadgets in the world won't do shit if they fall or something.

Fred tells him to work on the plans but to not let it take up all his time since he's still got Spring Bonnie to work on. Then he asks how long it'll take to get Spring Bonnie up and running because it's been a long while and Pierce has been working on it like crazy.

"Maybe by the end of the year, but that's if I keep up with all the rest of the animatronics enough to give me time to work on Spring. If they break in a complicated way or if we have issues with programming it'll cut into that time the way it's been doing. How's the search for another mechanic coming?"

"I can't find anyone. I'm doing my best."

"Yeah. Figured. This might be a longshot but the guy who runs the repair shop I take my bike to has a nephew who's apparently got an eye for electronics. Name's Fritz Smith I think. He was telling me about him last time I was there, I think trying to see if he could get the name out there."

"... I'll look into that."

So yeah, the talk ends amicably and with an actual plan, not just spiteful resentment and stress the way it does in the main story. Fritz Smith, at the time barely out of high school, gets an interview at Freddy's based on the offhand mention of his uncle and gets hired in a trial basis and ends up working part time while still in college. It works out well because remember, the reason Fritz was stressed in the main AU is because Fred was constantly on his case about the failing animatronics and having no assistance to figure out the upgrades left by a mechanic he couldn't contact.

Pierce still is the only one working on Spring Bonnie but once Fritz gets the hang of the different daily maintenance checks and small fixes here and there, Pierce has more time to figure out the last remaining issues with Spring Bonnie and by the middle of January 1988, the diner duo is back in action at Freddy's. The only difference being that they never got the actual gold suit bit fixed because Pierce got the idea that it could be implemented as a story element (he's back, he was hurt for a long time, but he's here now and both old and new characters love him). Fred loved the idea and let him go with it, and with Fritz's help the programming of the diner duo return show was executed flawlessly.

Foxy, who was taken offstage after Finn's sixth birthday party (which went perfectly and no one got hurt), returns in early February of '88 after Fred and Pierce are able to show off Foxy with non-dangerous teeth and hook and prove that unless there were an act of God Foxy couldn't hurt a fly.

In late 1989 for the five year anniversary of this location, the First Mate Finn animatronic used as Foxy's sidekick for the special April Fools' Day show beginning in '87 is made an official part of the lineup.

In '91 an extra security guard (Mike Schmidt) is hired on due to the popularity of Freddy's increasing; talks about finding a larger location are serious.

By the twins 6th birthday in '93, Freddy's has moved to a larger building with more variance in shows. Despite now being 11/12, Finn and Marian are still some of the most well known regulars at Freddy's. Finn has also developed an interest in the animatronics and how they work and both Freddy's mechanics know this well.

There's still tragedy. Maddie Fazbear still is diagnosed with cancer in 1996.

In 1997, Pierce's dad Henry still passes suddenly from a previously unknown heart condition, and with Pierce still around to convince, his mom Jamie tells him he needs to keep up with that kind of check since he lost his dad and grandpa that way. Pierce gets lucky and manages to avoid a problem with this advice. (so how'd he survive in the main au if he wasn't keeping up with this stuff well that's something to be explained later 😎)

Maddie Fazbear still passes away in 1998, even with everything that medicine at the time can do. The family is heartbroken of course- not just immediate family but so many of the people who even just knew of her.

Every year following on her birthday the diner duo play her favorite show song from the original Fredbear's, and every year Fred's still surprised it can hurt that much.

Finn's mom still shows the signs of early onset Alzheimer's beginning in the mid 90s. However, since Finn was never bitten by Foxy, his dad isn't stressed to a point of unawareness due to having both a son who can't remember and a wife beginning to lose her memory and avoids the car crash that would have killed both Patrick and Katherine O'Malley. Finn gets to stay with both his parents which is good, because by 1998 him and Marian (at the time 17/going on 17) have started dating.

By the early 2000s, Finn has started apprenticing at Freddy's to learn how to fix the animatronics because that's his dream. Finn picks it up surprisingly fast, and Fritz, who's been looking for a way to duck out without causing issues, takes this time to respectfully leave Freddy's. He wants to go do his own thing, really, and well, him and longtime boyfriend Mike Schmidt really want to know what the world outside of Spring Valley can bring.

In the mid 2000s, Freddy Jr, now in high school, keeps trying to get a band together. The only kid who shows interest is this kid who Frankie knows from his math class that's called Bonnie. Freddy's skeptical, but Bonnie absolutely kills a guitar solo, and frankly, Freddy's heart is stolen from that moment on, even if he won't say it.

On July 23rd 2005, Fred Fazbear Sr is safe at home with his boys for a monster movie night and doesn't wind up in the accident that takes his life in the main storyline.

Marian and Finn get married in 2007 after dating for over a decade. Everyone's mood is "it's about goddamn time". It's one of the happiest fucking weddings that Spring Valley has ever seen though, that's for sure.

And after that, it's just the rest of the happily ever afters.

Somehow, over all those years, the employees at Freddy's wonder how Pierce was ever the intolerable jackass he's known for being when by the 2010s he's just known as the company grouch.

And Fred never misses a beat with being the best he can be. If anything, he throws more into making Freddy's perfect for families after he loses Maddie since all she ever did was encourage it. She may not have been a constant in the building, but without her love and support, well, what would Freddy's be but a hollow attempt and plea for attention?

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hrtshkr · 5 years ago

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`「✘」PARK JIHYO. CISFEMALE. SHE/HER. || that new tenant, KATHERINE “KATIE” KING (adopted) that moved into APT 32, is TWENTY-TWO years old and is a SOCIALITE. their tenancy to be CONCEDED totally counteracts their CHARISMATIC personality. usually, you can hear DON’T CALL ME ANGEL by ARIANA GRANDE, MILEY CYRUS, AND LANA DEL REY playing throughout their apartment. when i think of them, i think of INNOCENT GIGGLES LACED WITH VENOMOUS WORDS, BABY PINK BRALETTES UNDER SEE THROUGH SHIRTS, MIDDLE FINGERS UP AT THE WEIRD GUY CATCALLING HER AT THE LOCAL DELI.

hi i’m choerry and this is my first babie katie ! read more about her under the cut.

She’s spoiled rich, was adopted by two gay software developers in Silicon Valley and went to school and grew up in a private school in Palo Alto before moving to New York closer to graduation.

Her money got her farther than her grades did, leading her teachers to bump her into the honour roll. Classmates voted her most likely to sleep with her teacher for a good grade, obviously, that didn’t make it into the official yearbook but you get the point.

She is smarter than she lets on but would rather look dumb for some unknown reason, she never actually wants to do her schoolwork so lord knows how she made it this far.

Sometimes she needs an attitude adjustment and a reality check. It’s the Leo in her– are we really surprised? Will not hesitate to judge you on your clothing and looks, she’s very conceded.

She has ended up becoming a socialite due to her dads not believing that she is able to handle the company they’ve created and grown since she was a baby. Katie is probably never going to get the company lol.

#TRIBECAINTRO #( muse | katie. )

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tanadrin · 5 years ago

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Reordberend

(part 29 of 30; first; previous; next)

Leofe woke perhaps an hour later; Katherine heard her roll over, then a groggy question emerged from the bed behind her.

“What are you doing?”

Katherine finished tying her hair back; it was shorter now, but still too long for this. But she didn’t have time to cut it. She felt with her fingers down the back of her neck, trying to figure out where to press the awl. It was a shitty substitute for a proper neural probe, but it was all she could find at short notice in the hall.

“I’m just--shit!” She pushed it home, and there was a dull thud inside her skull as the emergency reboot protocol started. She pulled her hand back; her fingertips were covered in blood. Nothing for that now, unfortunately. “Just rebooting my cybernetics.”

“Isn’t that a bad idea?”

“Yes. It’s a very bad idea. It’s the sort of thing you only do in life or death situations.” Katherine stood up, and went over to the door, where Hraefn’s shield was leaning against the wall, next to one of her hunting spears. Leofe’s eyes went wide.

“Katherine, what are you doing?”

“I’m going--I’m going after the dragon. I talked to Eadwig. The bird I gave him, do you remember? I took it from the corpse of the second dragon. It’s likely… it’s likely it was a lot less damaged than its brother. And I think, whatever it is, the dragon has some way of tracking it, and wants it back. I think whatever tracking device it has built into it was meant to help recover the memory core, and I think I fucked up by removing it. And I got people killed. And I’m so, so sorry Leofe. I want you to know that. And I want you to tell the others. I’m going to go down to the Lower Settlement, and take the bird back. Then I’m going to go find the dragon. If I can’t find a way to reattach it, I’ll just have to find a way to kill it.”

“Now wait, you can’t--” Leofe tried to sit up, and that’s when she realized Katherine had tied both her hands to the bedpost.

“I’m sorry. You can’t stop me. Stubborn, remember? You can yell, but I don’t think anyone will hear you from outside the hall. And by the time someone comes looking for you, I’ll be in the hills.”

Katherine hefted Hraefn’s shield, then picked up the spear. Leofe’s eyes were wide; funny, Katherine thought she’d be more pissed than surprised at this point.

“Listen, you can’t--”

“Shh. Leofe. I caused this mess. I came here, I disrupted your people’s existence, I got some of them killed. Before anybody else dies, I have to do everything in my power to make that right.”

“You’ll be killed!”

Katherine looked down at the ground.

“Then I’ll be killed. But at least I tried. Please tell the others I’m sorry. If you can get a message to the outside world--have somebody tell my parents I’m sorry, too.”

“Katherine! Don’t you dare leave without untying me!”

Katherine pulled her hood close about her face, and strode out of the room.

“Katherine!”

* * *

She slipped out of High Settlement and made the two-hour walk to the Lower Settlement in the dark. Eadwig’s house was easy enough to find; the bird was still sitting on a workbench, next to his stoneworking tools. She slipped it into her pocket, and was gone before anyone noticed her. From there, it was another two hour walk back up the valley, and when she was almost at the place where the path turned off toward High Settlement, she turned left instead of right, and headed up into the hills.

It was only then, stepping off the road, that something turned over in her brain, the adrenaline began to fade or whatever, and she started to feel her hands shake. She really should have eaten breakfast. Her mother always said it was important. Don’t go to school without breakfast, dear. Don’t go slaying dragons on an empty stomach.

The little observer inside her head, the little voice that was always watching her actions and critiquing what she did and telling her what she could do better, was screaming at her now, asking her if she was crazy, if she was suicidal, if she was stupid. She ignored it. She might be crazy. She certainly didn’t want to die. There were, in fact, few things in this existence that scared her more than the possibility of it ending, of plunging headlong into the great void of nonexistence, of contemplating what it would be like to be one with Unbeing, to be not, to become nothing. There were times when the certain knowledge of her one day death filled her with an icy cold terror. Today wasn’t one of those days, which was funny. Because she was pretty sure she was going to die.

She should turn back. It was the only reasonable course of action. But the one thing that scared her more than dying at this point was what would happen to the others if she failed. If she couldn’t reattach the bird to the thing, or at least get her to recognize she had given it back, it might keep looking. It might stomp all up and down the Valleys, until it had ground every village to dust, and it might keep going until it broke down. And she couldn’t have that on her conscience. She couldn’t be the one that destroyed them.

So she kept climbing into the hills. As she climbed, she did her best to hack together a self-diagnostic. Already, her head was starting to hurt in an ominous way. But if she had any chance of surviving this, she needed every edge she could get, and barely-functioning cybernetics was better than nothing.

She needed three things, she decided. She needed a way to mute pain signals. A headache was fine. Even a bad one she could live with. But burns, broken bones, anything truly incapacitating, needed to be reduced or eliminated. She also needed to get every last ounce of strength out of her muscles, even if she risked damaging them. She knew if you pushed your muscles too hard you could damage them, and that could cause kidney failure, but it would take a lot longer for kidney failure to kill her than a laser borer, or getting crushed to death. And the other thing she needed was better reflexes. That was probably gonna be the least likely to get working, because it involved core neurological function, which seemed to be exactly the part of her neural lace that was most damaged. But she had to do her best.

Finally she cape to the top of a ridgeline, and leaned against an outcropping to catch her breath. Damn, she thought. I wonder what my friends would say if they could see me now. She’d like to think they’d think she was a badass. They’d probably side with Leofe, though. If anything, she probably looked a bit ridiculous in the heavy coat, with the hunting spear and the shield. Like a squat black shrub with delusions of martial grandeur. She made a mental note, for if she survived this. Tell Hraefn to make her a bitchin’ suit of armor. Something with pauldrons and spikes. Something you could airbrush onto the side of a van.

She thought of a large green pyramid on the ground. The emergency startup sequence for her prosthetics engaged, and her headache got a lot worse. She gritted her teeth. “Neural lace console mode,” she said. A flashing indicator appeared to the left of her vision, and a shimmering, ghostly outline of a keyboard in the air in front of her. She raised her hand and made typing motions.

God, she felt like a dumbass. At least none of the others could see her right now.

Katherine was no programmer, and she was no neurologist. She did remember a few commands from the user manual of the salvaged dragon. Dampening pain signals only took about a dozen keystrokes. A loud warning tone sounded in her ears--well, probably her auditory cortex--warning that what she was about to do overrode almost every safety built into the lace, and its warranty. She hit confirm. Then she did the same thing with the musculoskeletal support system. More loud, horrible warning tones, this time with messages that featured the word “DEATH” in flashing letters. Literally, neon-green flashing letters. Yes, yes. Get on with it. She tried get into the actual neurological support system, but this time a big yellow ACCESS DENIED message stopped her cold.

“What the fuck?”

User access to the neurological support system is denied. Please consult a medical professional if you desire to… god dammit. Okay, so that option was out. She had her wits. She had a weapon. She had a shield. And she had every last ounce of physical strength she’d be able to muster. God, she hoped it was enough.

* * *

An hour later, she crested another ridgeline, and she saw it, hunkered down in a hollow below her. The dragon.

She exhaled slowly. She wasn’t sure what she had imagined. Lying on the valley floor, half buried by the landslide, they had looked so mechanical. Inert. Obviously the work of human hands; and, if she was honest with herself, she had thought that the People’s insistence on calling them “dragons” was kind of stupid. But now she could see why they did. This thing--hunched on four enormous legs, curled around an enormous stone outcropping like a beast of mythology--did not look like a machine any longer. The hundreds of metal plates that formed its skin slid neatly over one another as its head swung one way and the other; the instruments and receivers along its back bristles, like spines or the outlines of skeletal wings, and, yes, there was a furious red glow from deep within its belly. It was enormous--easily two hundred meters long. It moved forward slowly, almost glacially, testing the ground with each foot.

Well then. Maybe she could sneak up on it. Niiiice and easy. After all, somebody had to do maintenance on this thing, right? It was designed with that in mind? Maybe it would let her climb right up on top of it, find a nice hatch she could pop open, and she could drop down inside, plug her brain into a control panel, and press the “off” button. Yeah. That sounded like a great plan.

Katherine took a step forward. She looked down. Something was glowing inside her coat. She pulled it out; it was the bird. The flaw in the middle, that seemed to be where the homing device was. It glowed with a sharp, almost radioactive blue light. Katherine looked down at the dragon.

Well, shit. Its head, if that was what you wanted to call it, was looking right at her. She slipped the bird back into her coat and picked up her spear. She waited to see what it would do next. Metal plates began to slide past each other, and something not unlike a maw began to gape. And there was a grim red light shining from within it.

“Ohhhh fuck fuck fuckfuckfuckfff-” Katherine took of sprinting down the ridgeline, as an enormous blast of something hit the spot where she had been standing a moment ago. There was a spray of rocks and dirt, and the force of the blast knocked her forward, but she did not fall. She glanced back over her shoulder, and caught a glimpse of glowing red rocks.

“Whyyy,” she screamed down at the beast. “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT. I’m trying to give this BACK to you!” She fished around inside her coat, and then held up the bird, so it could see it.

“Here it is! Take it! Take it and go! Leave these nice people alone!”

The dragon looked at her dully. She had a thought, an insane one perhaps, but she was having an insane kind of morning. She stood up, reared back, and pitched the bird as hard as she could down toward the dragon. It arced through the air, and fell hilariously short, skipping down the slope until it came to rest about half way between her and it.

“There! All yours!” she yelled. The dragon did not look at it, though it glowed as brightly as before. It just started opening its maw again.

“God DAMMIT,” Katherine screamed. She jumped down the slope, just as the boring laser blasted another Katherine-sized hole in the landscape, and slid down the scree toward the bird. She stumbled, fell, rolled, and tried to stand before falling again. The dragon’s head was tracking her, but it was slow. She could hear the machinery inside it whirring from where she was. She finally got close enough to the bird to pick it up, and took of running parallel to the dragon again, hoping she could move faster than its head could turn. Another hideous glare lit up the landscape around her; another blast hurled fragments of rock into the air.

Katherine needed to think, and she couldn’t do that very well while running. And her headache was getting worse and worse and worse and the last thing she needed was a critical failure of her cybernetics while eighteen hundred tons of pain had her classified as Threat Numero Uno. There was a larger stone outcropping ahead; she skidded to a halt behind that, and considered her options.

One, try to get closer. Running directly at it was suicide, but if she could get on its back, she was pretty sure it could not reach her. Maybe then she could get inside. Maybe. Two, try to get away. Ha ha, fat chance, and that didn’t solve her original problem. Three, try to… she looked down at the spear in her hand. Poke it? She considered throwing it away, but she couldn’t bring herself to. God you’re an idiot, Katherine, she thought to herself.

She had to get closer. She glanced around the side of the outcropping. The dragon was opening its jaw again. She took off running. It was a good thing, too; the outcropping exploded into fragments and the borer tore into the side of the mountain like it wasn’t even there. Some big chunks of rock hit Katherine on the back and head while she ran, but they weren’t big enough to knock her down, and the pain suppression was doing its job.

Now she ran down the slope, at a forty-five degree angle toward the base of the monster. Its feet were massive, nearly the size of one of the houses in the village, and the nearest one began rising in the air as she approached, as the creature took another slow step toward her. Crunch. It smashed the earth flat below it as it came down, but Katherine saw what she needed in the glow of another laser blast: an access ladder, reaching down to ground level.

It took a good seven or eight seconds at least between laser blasts. If she could escape one more, she could probably run straight at it and close the distance in that time. She began running parallel to the thing again, this time in the opposite direction; it fired, she pivoted ninety degrees, and fell flat on her face.

She scrambled to her feet; its mouth was already open again. A wild, elemental terror filled her body, and she sprinted blindly; there was another explosion, and she felt something go into her right leg. She stumbled again, but did not fall; but now her right leg was only halfheartedly obeying her commands.

Nothing for it, she thought. Just fucking run.

She made it to the leg just as it was rising into the air again, and leapt up to grab the handhold; the dragon froze, its leg in the air, as if confused, and Katherine scrambled up onto the ladder, and started climbing as quickly as she could with her shield and spear. She remembered where the access hatch had been on the other one: middle of the back, high up, near where the neck met the shoulder-ish part. The dragon’s head swung right, then left; haha fucker, she thought. Can’t laser me now. What she had not counted on was that the motion of the thing’s body made it extremely difficult to keep her grip; even as she came to the almost-flat part of the back, she had to cling to the ladder to keep from being flung off.

Finally, she found the hatch and the access panel. She used the end of the spear to pop it open, and found the neural interface on the first try. Then she saw the readout on the panel.

THREAT ELIMINATION MODE ACTIVE - DO NOT ATTEMPT ACCESS

Katherine froze. She’d heard stories--back before these things were more strictly regulated--of security protocols that could fry neural laces, even induce crippling brain damage. It wasn’t hard, if you had complete, unfettered access to someone’s brain and you were an epic asshole, to do them real harm, or just straight up kill them. That kind of thing was usually banned now. But it hadn’t always been. Katherine frowned. She tapped the physical interface of the control panel.

“DO NOT ATTEMPT ACCESS!” flashed more brightly.

“Fuck you,” she whispered to herself. She tapped it again, to see if she could get some sort of override input to come up.

PROXIMITY DEFENSE SYSTEM ENGAGED

A smaller hatch opened nearby, and something popped up out of it. Something that looked suspiciously like a miniature version of a laser borer. It swiveled to face Katherine.

“Oh come on!”

She let go of her handhold, sliding back down the side of the dragon as a second laser sliced the air above her. The dragon bucked, and she went flying off the side. There was a crunch, and a sharp pain signal, quickly muted, in her left arm. She groaned, and rolled over; the shield was still strapped to it, but her left forearm was definitely broken. She looked down at her leg. Her calf was sliced open, a deep, jagged cut. Her spear had fallen to the ground perhaps twenty feet away, and the dragon was turning, slowly, to face her.

I tried, she thought to herself. I really tried. At least it will be a quick death. The bird will probably be destroyed. I don’t know what the dragon will do after that. And I don’t know what idiot designed this thing, and what stupid fucking regulatory agency got bribed to approve it, but perhaps maybe then it will back off. And I can’t say I didn’t try.

She swallowed a lump in her throat. Fuck, was this really how it was going to end? She had survived the water and the ice and the darkness and all the rest, just to die in a flash of fire? The jaws of the dragon opened; a red glow filled the air.

It wasn’t even really a conscious decision at this point. Pure instinct. She curled herself up behind her shield, and did her best to make herself as small as possible. There was a terrific noise, a sensation of terrible heat and then--nothing. She looked up. She was alive. She looked down at her shield. It was glowing red-hot in the middle, and there was an awful stench of burned meat where the back of her hand was touching it; she flung it away, and looked up at the dragon.

The mirror finish had reflected enough of the laser to score a deep gash in it, running from the side of its head, back through its shoulder, deep into the machinery of its belly. Its jaw was shattered, hanging limply, even as its head swung left and right, like it was trying to make sense of what had happened.

“FUCK YOU YOU OVERGROWN POSTHOLE DIGGER!” Katherine screamed. She ran over to her spear and snatched it up. She could see, as the beast moved now, the way the machinery in its belly held it up, pistons moving back and forth to balance it, what looked like a supply of hydraulic fluid to move its legs. Most of it was solid metal, nothing she could do anything about, but there was one spot, exposed by the blast of the laser, still glowing from its heat, where she could see what looked like an important tank of something made out of plastic. And maybe, just maybe, she could immobilize it if she could cut it open.

“Okay, asshole,” she said to herself. “One last go.” She broke into a run straight toward the dragon. Its head swung in an arc directly down toward her, as if trying to flatten her into the stones; she turned, avoided it, but her foot caught a rock and she stumbled--but did not fall. As she came up underneath it, it began to move its legs apart, bringing its body down as if to flatten her; but this worked to Katherine’s favor, dropping her target until it was almost directly above her head. She leapt directly up, using every ounce of her cybernetically enhanced strength, and drove the spear home as hard as it could. For a brief moment, she thought it would bounce harmlessly off; but it caught some imperfection in the molded surface, and sank deep inside. The pressurized tank exploded, and a reeking, slick, chemical solution gushed out, drenching her from head to toe.

She fell to the ground, as the dragon loomed over her, and staggered. Something was terribly wrong now; her eyes were burning, and her nose, and the headache from her neural lace felt like it was going split her skull open. She watched the dragon flail for a moment, then slow--then still.

Oh God, she thought. Was it enough? Is it over? Are they safe?

#tanadrin's fiction

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ask-shakespearehigh · 5 years ago

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in true highschooler fashion i must know.... who are the weebs and the gamers of the cast

Aster’s Kids

(( [name]*= has responded/been mentioned/is set, but has not appeared in design))

Macbeth

Macbeth— no, he did homestuck but he doesn’t really do games and has seen one (1) anime, bc of Banquo (it was FMA:B)

Lady— she’s “too pretty to know what that (anime) is”

Banquo— he’s like. Casually anime. FMA and FMA:B, Yu Yu Hakusho, he had an Inuyasha phase briefly, and he’s big into Pokemon. He doesn’t do much console or PC gaming, but he has a DS and he plays Pokemon games, Stardew Valley (if that’s on DS???), and Animal Crossing (he likes. Chill task based games)

Macduff— will play smash and Mario Kart at parties and is decent

Duncan— nah

Malcolm— dumb shoujo anime/manga is his secret guilty pleasure

Donalbain— he plays indie games. He got Very into Undertale. He likes Bastion, One Hand Clapping, and Cave Story.

Twelfth Night

Viola— their family owns a Wii and she fucking kills it at Wii Sports. Also Mario Kart. She’d be better at Smash if she didn’t insist on always playing as Kirby.

Sebastian— same as Viola.

Antonio— he’s played overwatch. That’s about it though

Duke— he’s seen a few anime, mostly via Netflix surfing. He actually really likes Ouran.

Olivia— nah

Malvolio— nah

Taming of the Shrew

Kate— nah

Bianca— nah

Petruchio— he feels like he plays some sorta FPS

Julius Caesar

Julius— nah

Calpurnia— animal crossing sometimes

Cassius— yes he’s anime but it’s a secret and he will Never admit it

Brutus— he’s anime and Will admit it but no one has ever asked

Octavius — he plays fortnite but he hates that he does so

The Tempest

Miranda— fire emblem baybee

Caliban*

Prospero*

Much Ado About Nothing

Beatrice— probably but idk what

Benedick— same

Borachio

Others

Antony— Smash and Mario Kart at parties and stuff. Got very hyped about Dream Daddy, it was ironic at first but then.

Cleopatra— same as Lady.

Star’s Kids

Hamlet

Hamlet (Tristson) - no. Watches horatio and ophelia instead of playing bc he has “better things to do”

Ophelia (Elskerson) - beats her brothers ass in smash. Mains peach and isabelle. Has played stardew valley. Also mario kart

Horatio (Venson) - plays smash w ophelia and sometimes w yorick. Mains fox and ness. Surprisingly good at mario kart.

Laertes (Elskerson) - has gotten his ass beat in smash. Mains ganondorf and bowser but he sucks at it lol. Aggressively hype abt wii games for no reason

Yorick - hes baby but he has played smash.

Fortinbras - hes too busy studying

Rosencrantz* - yeah both but i dont rlly care abt them sorry :(

Guildenstern* - “”

Gertrude* - no

Claudius* - no

Hamlet’s Dad* - no

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo (Montague) - YES the montacrew has game nights (smash, mario kart, just dance) Benny made him watch ouran and his favorite is tamaki

Juliet (Capulet) - has played mario kart w tybalt but isnt rlly a gamer girl. She likes shoujo anime a Lot and loves cardcaptor sakura

Mercutio (Prince) - KING OF JUST DANCE!!!!!!! KING. Owned a sasuke body pillow on a dare from romeo in middle school. Benny got rid of it. Has seen princess jellyfish

Benvolio (Montague) - shounen stan for the most part. Fairy tail, naruto, dragonball etc. watches slice of life to make fun of it for being cliche. Cried really hard at the nina tucker episode of fma:b

Tybalt (Capulet) - i feel like….he plays overwatch….and mains hanzo

Paris (Bellarico) - has seen episodes of bnha and sailor moon but isnt an avid anime fan. Thinks the 90’s anime aesthetic is sweet

Escalus (Prince) - owned a gamecube growing up and loves pokemon. Slides references to them in his homework like a NERD.

Rosaline*

Othello

Othello (Cuore) - mario kart and smash (doesnt main anyone he likes trying out every character but thinks big mac is fun even tho hes not rlly good at the game) he likes pokemon but doesnt play the games. Watched the anime growing up.

Desdemona (Di’Bianca) - “”””fake”””” gamer girl energy but she’s already tracer AND widowmaker. Good luck stopping her. Sipped a grande low-fat whip caramel macchiato while watching the E3 stream.

Iago (Ilmale) - HE LIKES SONIC UNIRONICALLY BC HE GREW UP W IT. He’s seen some classic shounen anime like bleach and tried bnha. Liked bakugou.

(Michael) Cassio - played persona. Catches himself singing Last Surprise under his breath. Thinks akira kurusu is really hot. Hes right. Has yet to try anime but hes interested

Roderigo (Ingenuo) - i wanna say hes played like dating sims? But not gross creepy ones i mean like from indie artists. Undertale fucked him up real bad.

Emilia (Ilmale) - she likes women she hopped on revolutionary girl utena and keeps searching for wlw anime. Bloom into you got her messed up rn

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Puck (Robin Goodfellow) - runs a gaming channel on youtube and watches a Lot of anime. Definitely has a lot of merch

Oberon (Kingsman) - anime and game nights at his house! Owns dream daddy for the gay rights.

Titania (Queensland) - realized she was gay after watching sailor moon and the “””cousins”””. Pretty good at video games. Has the persona dancing star night game for seemingly no reason (its for ann)

Peaseblossom - LOVED princess tutu and never shuts up about it. Plays the hall om mig amv all the time

Moth - sings anime ops randomly for no reason. Mains the cute characters on smash

Cobweb - married tharja in fates for the goth rights. Mains bayonetta.

Mustardseed - MINECRAFT.

Hermia - puella magica madoka girl. LOVES the magical girl aesthetic. Started sewing bows onto her dresses

Lysander - the designated gamer of the 4. Immediately attaches to pretty boys in animes. Claimed he was a “bishounen” himself when he was like 14 and the rest havent let him live it down.

Helena - likes mystery/horror anime like baccano and tokyo ghoul

Demetrius - action shounen stan. Owns an akatsuki cloak

Nick Bottom* - watches hentai

Puck’s Dad 1 (Puck based) - pokemon champion fire red

Puck’s Dad 2 (Oberon based) - pokemon champion leaf green

Love’s Labor’s Lost

Ferdinand - started playing volleyball bc he likes haikyuu. didnt think hed get this far

Birone - thinks fma:b is the peak of anime and hes right.

Longaville - likes the boxing anime (cant remember what its called) and smash (mains ryu)

Dumaine - hes the video of the drunk guy making all of the noises in the crash bandicoot game

Princess - she Is revolutionary girl utena

Rosalina - won’t ever admit it but does watch some anime from time to time.

Katherine - hibiki girls euphonium stan even tho she doesnt play an instrument

Maria - got tricked into playing fortnite once. Plays minecraft on peaceful and is rlly excited about bees being in the game

Others

William Shakespeare - “anne whats a waifu”

Anne Shakespeare - has a pkmn card collection. Loves sylveon

#shakespeare #mod star #mod aster #UGHHHHHH #all

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campfiire · 6 years ago

Photo

º ✧ 。––– 𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖊𝖒𝖎𝖑𝖎𝖆 !

stats / pinterest

* / quick stats

full name: emilia katherine musgraves nickname(s): mila , em age / dob: nineteen / march 25th , 2000 gender / pronouns: cisfemale / she/her sexuality: bisexual biromantic occupation: student positive traits: diligent , passionate negative traits: reserved , envious

* / biography

right out the womb, emilia had two families. her father , spencer, left her mother , cordelia , for a much younger woman before he was even aware of cordelia’s pregnancy. as for cordelia , she had a boyfriend who left a few months after emilia’s birth. dealing with severe postpartum depression , cordelia gave full custody of emilia to spencer. being the more financial secure of the two , he was able to offer the child a richer lifestyle. emilia never had to worry about things , always with a silver spoon in her mouth.

life was okay and calm up until the child turned nine when her step-mother gave birth to a little girl , melody. emilia absolutely hated the baby and made it known. it was jealously that fueled her spite , being put in the backseat as the baby grabbed all the attention. she begged to move in with her mother , who she only saw during the summers. her father was quick to oblige , not knowing how to deal with her tiny tyrannical outbursts over melody.

( abuse tw ). it was hell the first day she stepped foot in her mother’s household. cordelia had a new boyfriend who had a drinking problem. his drinking wasn’t much of a problem , it was the way he acted when he was drunk. if he wasn’t emotionally abusing cordelia , he was physically abusing her. there was no hiding it from the child , who was quick to become a target as well.

this went on for years , up until mila reached high school. why ? well , he died. alcohol poisoning. everyone saw it coming , mila just wished it had happened sooner. she never told her father about it because , well , she just assumed he didn’t care. he had a family to attend to and barely checked up on mila and her mother , so why bother ? the most he’s done is send christmas/birthday presents and pay for her college tuition. he loved her , he just had a very materialistic way of showing it which didn’t fly with her.

she decided to go to buford university to stay near her mother. cordelia didn’t take her boyfriend’s death well , growing sicker and sicker with time passing so mila juggles taking care of her and her schoolwork. there , she majors in advertising.

* / tidbits

even after everything she’s been through , you’d never be able to tell she grew up with any sort of hardships. she keeps her composure really well , radiating positivity with her aura. she’s always been like that.

she comes off very inexperienced because she is. she was never one to “””experiment””” , always staying on the safe side of things. the most she’s ever done is get drunk jfejfjjn she is a baby.

uses her innocent charm to get what she wants. and by innocent charm , i mean she has no idea that she’s doing it. things just sort of fall in her lap and she’s cool with it omg.

spent most of her childhood in california , so her valley girl accent does tend to stick out in the middle of nowhere.

painfully reserved. i have no idea how she’s made friends in the first place but she has a hard time keeping up a conversation with people she doesn’t know. kinda leans on the other person a little too much which may or may not scare them away. doesn’t think before she speaks a lot of the time. “ i don’t know why i just said that “ is her signature.

has a mean green streak. becomes a total toddler when people have things she wants , whether it’s a material thing or a relationship; she’s gotta have it !

pretty impulsive when in the right spot. doesn’t really think about the aftermath on some situations which has gotten her into some rough spots.

* / songs

chinese new year — sales

sana ana — matt champion

in my dreams — kali uchis

good — allie x.

#emilia m. about.

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is6621 · 6 years ago

Text

Technology & The Classroom: A blog for our class about technology By Katherine Vitale

I recently read a case about Amazon in one of my other marketing classes, and found myself amazed by how many products Amazon has that I have never even heard of. In keeping with my last blog post about Alexa, I decided to look into Amazon’s services a little bit more and found what seems like one of Amazon’s passion projects— Amazon Inspire.

Amazon Inspire is the self-proclaimed “destination for K-12 educational resources.” It operates like an ideas marketplace, although all of the content is free to download. Essentially, teachers, administrators, or anyone with high-quality, relevant K-12 resources can upload and publish to Amazon Inspire. Teachers are then able to easily discover and gather quality educational content, and engage in a community of educators and people who are passionate about K-12 education. The site functions similarly to Amazon’s site that we are all familiar with. Users can search by features (ex: grade level, resource type, subject), and pick which resource is best suited for their needs by relying on the reviews of their peers. Amazon Inspire uses a rating system, so users can easily find the best content.

Furthermore, Amazon has engaged large corporations to share content as well. For example, BioBuilder has the goal of “bringing tomorrow’s science into today’s classrooms.” Therefore, they published content focused on current questions and experiments in the field of synthetic biology. This initiative aims to support teachers as they try to encourage STEM careers in the classroom, largely by providing resources that are more up-to-date and applicable than a biology textbook. The Newseum, located in Washington DC, also decided to publish content, specifically focused on explaining and defending the First Amendment. In a time where the trustworthiness of “the media” is often questioned, the Newseum aims to teach students about the First Amendment and increase their media literacy. By using history and providing teachers with access to the Newseum’s primary sources, the Newseum aims to create educated students who are able to analyze and synthesize information and media by themselves. Both of these companies have nothing to gain from publishing content on Amazon Inspire, but use this platform as a way to give teachers access to exclusive content that will enhance their lesson plans. Amazon Inspire will help educators discover digital resources published by their peers and invested companies, and will hopefully improve the quality of education across the country.

After exploring this service specifically, I was inclined to learn about other ways that the “digital classroom” is becoming a reality. While I wasn’t expecting this to be a literal digital classroom, I discovered one school in Central California where kids are attending virtual school. Connections Academy is a high-quality, tuition-free online public school for grades K-12. Although this concept seems foreign, 93% of parents agree that the school’s technology tools improve their child’s learning experience. A study shows that online schools can provide students with the same level of achievement as traditional brick-and-mortar schools serving similar students. Although these schools are likely largely beneficial for people that struggle to go to a physical school (ex: for social or physical reasons), it is not difficult to imagine these schools becoming increasingly commonplace. Especially as many public schools do not receive adequate funding, digital schools could be explored as a way to “level the playing field” and allow students in low-income areas to access better education.

Lastly, I discovered that many school districts are experimenting with virtual reality in the classroom, specifically in middle and high schools. Schools are actually a good place to experiment with VR, even though the tech background is often not there. Since teachers are so open to learning and willing to take risks and experiment for their students, adaptation is often successful. Kris Hupp, the director of technology and instructional innovation at a small school district in PA, says that VR in the classroom is powerful because of how closely it can be linked with what students are learning on a day-to-day basis. For example, in an Environmental Science class, students are able to use VR to actually explore different biomes, or in a Social Studies class, students can attend presidential inaugurations as if they were actually there. Furthermore, the interest in pursuing STEM careers peaks in middle school and then sharply declines, especially among girls. In middle school, 74% of girls express an interest in engineering, science, and math, but only 0.3% choose computer science as their college major. By incorporating innovative technology into the classroom from a young age, students may discover a deeper passion for technology and continue to pursue this interest in higher education.

Technology is becoming a larger and larger part of classrooms, if not becoming the classroom itself. As computers become a larger part of society, the integration of this technology into the classroom will hopefully develop an educational passion for these disciplines. At the very least, technology provides the opportunity for teachers to connect and figure out how to better their teaching, whether incorporating new tech or not.

Sources:

https://www.amazoninspire.com/

https://www.amazoninspire.com/faqs#GettingStarted

http://www.thesungazette.com/article/news/2018/09/12/central-valley-students-take-seats-in-virtual-k-12-school/

https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2018/09/qa-vr-innovator-kris-hupp-best-ways-bring-tech-schools

https://www.idtech.com/blog/stem-education-statistics

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livinginlandmarketing · 4 years ago

Link

A year ago, teacher and instructional coach Susan Ferguson left her classroom as the coronavirus pandemic gained momentum in Southern California, not knowing when she or her students would return.

In recent weeks, families across the region have rejoiced with the news some campuses will reopen as the state’s infection rates trend downward, celebrating what they hope is the beginning of the end to home-based distance learning, the challenges it posed and the problems it exposed.

Ferguson, too, looks forward to returning to Thomas Jefferson High School in South Central Los Angeles. But she’s annoyed by comments from distance-learning critics who say the past 12 months have been a waste of time.

“It’s definitely been a challenge,” Ferguson said. “The idea that some people put forth that it’s been a complete failure, I would vehemently disagree with, as someone who has seen my own students learn.”

Now, with schools poised to reopen this spring and into the fall, Ferguson and other educators are looking to the lessons learned during this most unusual academic year and how to improve education for all students moving forward.

Susan Ferguson, a teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School in South Central LA., teaches from her dining room table Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Although distance learning has had its share of challenges, Ferguson believes some good came out of it. For example, it forced students and staff who hadn’t used technology much before to learn new skills and grow more comfortable with digital learning tools. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

Nicole Klink high-fives son, Ben, 7, as he completes his school work during distance learning at their home in Hemet on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Klink runs a Facebook group to help Hemet/San Jacinto parents cope with distance learning. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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Katherine Gaudet, an eighth-grader at Robert Frost Middle School, attends her geometry class from her Granada Hills bedroom March 2, 2021. (Photo by Andy Holzman)

Amy Aydin, a sixth-grade teacher at Almeria Middle School in Fontana, sits at her work desk in the bedroom of her Redlands home, Thursday, March 4, 2021. Aydin has been holding her virtual classes for a year from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Nicole Klink checks her Facebook while working and supervising her two children as they participate in their distance learning classes at home in Hemet on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Klink runs a Facebook group to help Hemet/San Jacinto parents cope with distance learning. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Susan Ferguson, a teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School in South Central L.A., teaches from her dining room table Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Although distance learning has had its share of challenges, Ferguson said some good came out of it. For example, it forced students and staff who hadn’t used technology much before to learn new skills and grow more comfortable with digital learning tools. (Photo by Chuck Bennett, Contributing Photographer)

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‘Made it happen’

One of the most significant bright spots in the past year, many educators and families say, is the intense focus school districts put on technology to try to make virtual learning accessible to all students.

Across the state, districts purchased computing devices and mobile hotspots for students. While the devices haven’t always worked perfectly, and spotty wifi remains an issue for some, distance learning has provided students and teachers more opportunities to pick up 21st century skills.

Corona-Norco Unified School District, for example, had long planned to get a Chromebook for each of its more than 53,000 students.

“Five years ago, what seemed so far-reaching, that it would take years to get devices in the hands of kids, we made it happen in less than a year,” said Lisa Simon, Corona-Norco deputy superintendent of educational services.

For educators who may have been slow to embrace technology in their classroom, many now see the benefits, such as being able to give and get feedback from students more easily.

Access to technology is one thing, however, and managing a child’s education from home is another.

Patrick Sean, 14, works on an English assignment as his mom, Nicole Klink, assesses during his distance learning class at their home in Hemet on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Nicole runs a Facebook group to help Hemet/San Jacinto parents cope with distance learning. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

When it became clear the 2020-21 school year would begin with students learning remotely, Nicole Klink created the Hemet San Jacinto Distance Learning Support Facebook group. Now more than 1,300 members strong, the group shares tips on how to make virtual learning work for families, shares information about local school districts’ plans and serves as a place to vent a little.

“Everyone’s trying to do the best that they can, but they don’t feel like they have enough support,” said Klink, a Hemet mother of first- and ninth-graders and an instructional aide for San Jacinto Unified.

The pandemic and abrupt shift to virtual learning laid bare plenty of inefficiencies and inadequacies in current educational models, said Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, a professor of education, psychology and neuroscience at the USC Rossier School of Education. But that means educators can now build something better for students.

“This is an opportunity, if we take it, to courageously rethink what school means,” she said. “Rather than regress into those patterns that feel restrictive, but also comfortable because they’re familiar, we need to take this opportunity to examine those structures and reinvent those systems.”

Keeping options open

Though more and more school districts are ramping up to welcome students back, administrators know some families will choose to keep their children home for now — and perhaps well into the future. For all those who say home-based school has been pure misery, there are some for whom it has worked quite well.

Before the pandemic, Taylor Jackson, an 11th grader at a private school in San Fernando Valley, would go to soccer practice right after school and not return home until 10 p.m. Since switching to online schooling, her new schedule allows her to finish her homework by 3 p.m., freeing up more time for extracurricular activities and bonding with family.

“Online school has just helped me so much with my stress,” Jackson said. “Going back at the end of my junior year would increase my stress.”

Katherine Gaudet, an eighth-grader at Robert Frost Middle School, attends her geometry class from her Granada Hills bedroom March 2, 2021. (Photo by Andy Holzman)

Katherine Gaudet, 13, an eighth grader at Robert Frost Middle School in Granada Hills, is a straight-A student. She finds there are fewer distractions learning from home and less busywork.

“It’s just enough to help us retain the information without pushing our brain to the limit,” she said of her homework assignments.

But some classes are best taught in person, like her music class. A hybrid schedule where she could be on campus some days and sing in the same room with her classmates would be ideal, she said.

Because of the positive response from some students and families to distance learning, San Bernardino City Unified School District plans to continue offering it as an option after the pandemic, said Rachel Monárrez, assistant superintendent of Continuous Improvement.

“For some kids, the digital learning environment has been really good,” Monárrez said. “So that’s something we’re going to carry forward — we’re going to have a virtual option for our students.”

In fact, some students have thrived the past year, said Immordino-Yang.

“Kids with anxiety disorders, kids with social anxieties, in particular, kids who don’t feel at home in the spaces at school have really relished this opportunity to be less impacted by crowding,” she said. “But a huge portion of kids have really suffered and have even fallen off the radar.”

Addressing ‘learning loss’

Connecting with students who have disengaged from school will be a struggle as districts try to reestablish relationships and help those who have fallen behind academically, educators say.

In February, new state data showed that 155,000 California students had dropped off the rolls in public schools in the past year. That’s five to seven times larger than the typical drop in recent years in the state, where declining birth rates have chipped away at enrollment.

“I’m seeing, by far, the lowest level of participation in my memory,” said Amy Aydin, who has taught sixth-grade math and science at Almeria Middle School in the Fontana Unified School District for more than a decade.

“I’ve never struggled to get along with kids or to have a rapport with kids,” she said, “but the online environment makes it really, really hard.”

Related links

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Some Inland school districts creating virtual schools for 2021-22

Maps show reopening status of all schools in California

Newsom, lawmakers forge deal – with $6.6 billion in financial incentives – to get schools open

Experts agree that, even with everyone’s best efforts, many students have been set back educationally by the pandemic.

“There is likely to be ‘learning loss’ for kids who have not been able to access their classrooms,” said Julie Slayton, a professor of clinical education at the USC Rossier School of Education. “But many of those were already being profoundly disadvantaged in their regular classrooms.”

Distance learning environment is hardest on special education students, English learners and the poor, all of whom already weren’t getting an equal education before the pandemic, according to Slayton.

Corona-Norco Unified students, as a whole, aren’t doing worse, Simon said. But students who were struggling are struggling even more now.

“We did find that we had students that had more Ds and Fs,” she said. “Not necessarily more students, but the students who had Ds and Fs had more than in the past.”

What districts do about a year of learning loss remains to be seen.

“The system is going to have to adjust,” said Sam Buenrostro, superintendent of Corona-Norco Unified. “We are planning summer school earlier than ever before.”

For the first time in a decade, the district will offer summer school for middle school students, along with a four-week session for elementary students. In the meantime, the district offers before- and after-school programs and Saturday school programs, all meant to help students who are falling behind.

As for next school year, “we’re looking at how we accelerate learning,” Simon said. “We take students from where they are currently and provide the best opportunities and support so they can move forward.”

Changing practices

Meanwhile, educators are looking at what the past year has taught them about their profession.

Getting teachers out of their classrooms meant an end to the silos many worked in. Monárrez believes that, even after the pandemic is over, increased collaboration between teachers will continue.

“Once you get a taste of it and you realize ‘this is a really good use of my time, and it helps me to be a better educator,’ and you like doing it, you no longer have to mandate collaboration,” she said. “That’s just human nature, right?”

Online meetings gave Corona-Norco teachers more instructional time since they didn’t have to travel as much. And it’s benefited parent-teacher conferences as well.

“In the past, we’ve required parents to attend certain meetings and it’s been really hard because they work in L.A. and commute a long way,” Simon said. “We couldn’t do that this year, obviously, and did it online and discovered that attendance increased.”

Ferguson, the teacher from South Central LA, has noticed increased conversations at her school about how the staff can address the social-emotional needs of students and is hopeful the focus on the whole child won’t go away once schools fully reopen.

“Some teachers are getting a better understanding of our children’s struggles,” she said, noting that the increased awareness and empathy can alter how educators decide to deal with students who are absent from class. “We really try, as a school, to veer from (asking) ‘Why aren’t you here?’ to ‘How are you? What’s going on?’ and really be supportive of our kids and find out what their needs are.”

Meanwhile, administrators are evaluating how to create an educational system that offers families and students more options.

“The instruction day for some of our students and teachers doesn’t have to remain in the 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. model,” Jerry Almendarez, superintendent of Santa Ana Unified, wrote in an email. “We need to provide more flexibility not just in our daily schedule, but also how we deliver instruction. Online learning can help us meet both of those needs.”

San Bernardino Valley, Crafton Hills colleges delay return to in-person instruction

I’m high-risk for COVID-19 and eligible for a vaccine starting Monday. What do I need to know?

Jurupa schools set to reopen April 1 after coronavirus closure

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Riverside elementary schools welcome back thousands of children

And there may be changes in how student achievement is assessed.

Almendarez said the Santa Ana district temporarily adjusted its grading scale to make it easier for students with a failing grade to receive a D.

Looking forward, the Los Angeles Unified School District is exploring a “mastery-based learning and grading policy.” If adopted, the new policy would offer students multiple ways to demonstrate mastery of the content and standards they’re expected to learn and move away from basing grades on the number of completed assignments.

“While the pandemic has exerted unimaginable pressure and challenges for our students, families and educators, it also provides a unique opportunity to focus on what matters most in teaching and learning,” said Tanya Ortiz Franklin, LAUSD school board member.

Some, however, are skeptical the education establishment will embrace change.

“There will be some minor at-the-edges changes to education, but by and large, the educational system will resist the important kinds of changes that will be necessary to educate our kids,” Slayton predicted.

In the end, Monárrez said she believes today’s students will thrive.

“Long-term, our children are resilient. I think they will look back on this and say ‘wow, that was something,’” she said. “I think our seniors are going to look back and say ‘I was part of a history that no one else can talk about.’”

-on March 12, 2021 at 08:16AM by Linh Tat, Beau Yarbrough

#riversidenews

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90secondnewbery · 4 years ago

Video

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The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

1979 Newbery Honor Book

Adapted by Lyncoln Wright of Summit Trail Middle School (2020)

From Maple Valley, WA

Judges' Remarks: I was intrigued by the original format of this movie, telling the story with a succession of still images supplemented by cartoon dialogue bubbles, background music, and the occasional voiceover. The shots were well-framed and always seemed to catch the actors in suitably iconic expressions. The script was tight and zipped through the story efficiently but with wit too, with deadpan lines like “I need help stealing money from old people” and delightfully hammy line readings like “Gilly, I’m your grandmother!” The novelty of the format, the tight focus of the script, the adroit cinematography, and the engaging voiceover performances all combined splendidly to make an entertaining, enjoyable movie!

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pandajames59-blog · 6 years ago

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LA Rams star Aaron Donald goes glitzy in the Oaks Calabasas

For whatever reason, Yolanda always gets clicks up the wazoo whenever we write about Calabasas. So here’s a fun little ditty for all you ravenous, real estate-obsessed valley girls (and boys).

Calabasas — as most of y’all should already know — is one of LA County’s newest and most affluent cities. Many of the homes here are Tuscan or French-influenced McMansions and sit within gated communities. Indeed, there are so many gated communities in Calabasas that Yolanda cannot count them on all our fingers and toes. Thus, while the area is somewhat far-flung — at least an hour to Hollywood or Downtown LA with traffic — it’s become coveted by privacy-seeking celebrities, particularly celebrities of the professional athlete variety. Which brings us to this house.

The house

Built in 1996, the boring original structure was thoroughly renovated and expanded in 2014, resulting in the architecturally ambiguous (but very fancy) mansion y’all see above. Let’s call it a contemporary-minded Mediterranean villa.

In May 2017, The Honest Company CEO Nick Vlahos paid $4,550,000 for the property, but only stayed one short year before unexpectedly flipping out. He eventually received $4.7 million, a $150,000 profit before realtor fees, taxes and closing costs.

The happy new homeowner, it turns out, is NFL superstar Aaron Donald.

Mr. Donald has been a professional defensive tackle since 2014. Over the past five years, the Pittsburgh native has been selected to five Pro Bowls, won the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and was twice named as the AP Defensive Player of the Year. Unsurprisingly, he is consistently ranked as one of the NFL’s top defensive players (per our pal Mr. Wiki Pedia).

All five seasons of Mr. Donald’s NFL career have been spent playing for the Rams, first on a $10 million initial contract followed by an unprecedented $135 million contract extension (signed in 2018) that was the richest defensive deal in NFL up to that point. Ka-ching!

On the personal front, Mr. Donald is still a very young man (age 27). He is unmarried but has two young children — one boy, one girl — with Jaelynn Blakey, his girlfriend since high school. We’re sure they will enjoy the big, family-sized Calabasas funhouse.

The Oaks Calabasas

But before we get to dissectin’ the house itself, let’s check out the immediate neighborhood. Our Mr. Donald’s digs are located within the Oaks, basically the gated community to rule all other Calabasas gated communities. Divided into two sections, the hilltop enclave is the most expensive, most exclusive, most braggadocious address in town. And it’s got the community center, security team and fitness studios to prove it. The Oaks ain’t just another fancy-pants gated neighborhood — it’s a whole lifestyle.

Heck, the community even sports its own glossy “social publication” — called Inside the Oaks — a monthly lifestyle magazine compiled by Oaks residents exclusively for Oaks residents.

Anywho, prices in the regular Oaks section — where all the “ordinary” rich people live — start at $2 million for the smallest homes and top out in the $5-6 million range. Residents there include actress Katie Holmes, radio host Big Boy and ex-cop turned FBI informant Kevin Hackie.

But all the mega-rich folks reside in The Estates at the Oaks, which is a gated community within the Oaks – yes, visitors must pass through two gates to reach the homes there. Homes in the Estates are bigger and fancier than those in the Oaks. Prices have topped $10 million and residents include drummer Travis Barker, NBA star Paul Pierce, rap music mega-producer Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, Morphe cosmetics mogul Linda Tawil, two of the Kardashian sisters and Michael Jackson’s mama Katherine.

Mr. Donald’s $4.7 million casa, as y’all might have guessed, is located in the regular Oaks. We imagine he could easily afford an Estates place, but it seems our boy doesn’t want or need to spend that much moolah. Yolanda respects that. But we digress.

The 7,036-square-foot manse is privately situated up a long driveway shared with two other homes (both owned by non-famous folks). In addition to ample driveway parking, there’s a four-car garage — perfect for Mr. Donald’s $130,000 Revero Karma electric vehicle.

A sprawling foyer is intended to impress guests and the pizza delivery boy (or girl). Immediately to the right is the formal dining room; to the left is the fireplace-equipped living room.

Those allowed upstairs will find four bedrooms. The master suite sports somewhat unfashionable wall-to-wall carpeting, and there’s also a double-sided fireplace smack-dab in the middle of the room. Looks kinda hokey to Yolanda, but we’re sure it provides some nice heat. Just try to avoid trippin’ over it in the dark! We hope Mr. Donald isn’t a sleepwalker.

Back downstairs is plenty more razzle-dazzle, like a great room that combines the kitchen — check out its commercial-grade appliances and dual islands — with the family room and gaming/lounge area. Just beyond is an enormous patio with bar, BBQ and outdoor fireplace.

The ample backyard includes a broad swath of lawn and sports court, while the oversized pool has a trendy Baja shelf for sunbathing and a concrete surround. Although the .9-acre lot isn’t exceptionally huge, the property abuts open land — so this place feels fairly epic in scale.

Tech-savvy readers will also appreciate the “smarthome” automated features — all the HVAC, plumbing and lighting controls can be operated from an iPhone. Even if you’re halfway around the globe.

Mr. Donald’s Thousand Oaks rental

Before selecting his new Calabasas casa, Mr. Donald bunked up in a Thousand Oaks (CA) gated community. Just in case anyone was curious, that large tract house is owned by pharmaceutical bigwig Martin Van Trieste, CEO of Civica RX.

Listing agents: Doug Puetz & Jeffrey Vanneman, Keller Williams Aaron Donald’s agent: Jordan Cohen, Re/Max Olson & Associates

Source: https://www.yolandaslittleblackbook.com/blog/2019/03/06/aaron-donald-house-calabasas-oaks/

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truthisgoldenau · 5 years ago

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Character Bio: Frederick Fazbear Sr.

Born: July 24, 1957

Race: Mixed (Mom was white, dad was black)

Sexual Orientation: Bi

Tattoos: 2 dates, wedding anniversary and kid's birthday, on his right arm.

Personality: Early on, extremely outgoing and excitable, easy to get along with. Later, closed off and distracted.

Married: February 14, 1980 to Madeline Hartford.

Franklin Isaiah Fazbear was considered one of the luckiest people in Spring Valley. He struck oil. He successfully found gold (by accident, at that!). And he scored one of the prettiest young women to ever make her way to the small Colorado city, a socialite from back east named Eliza Ann Farnsworth.

They got married early, and money was never a problem. They were rich and practically famous. Franklin's oil business was booming.

Then they had a child. He would be their only one. Frederick Fazbear was a careful decision; both of them felt it was the natural next step in their relationship. They assumed it would be easy to raise a child.

They both realized rather quickly that it wasn't so easy as they imagined; being parents didn't come naturally to them and their relationship with this new piece of their family was politely... Detached.

It wasn't so much that they didn't love him; they very much did. They just had no idea how to go about showing it without feeling like they were bribing their child to love them.

Fred grew up aware of his parents lack of knowledge on how to parent; he often felt far more attached to the family cook than his parents and often found himself envious of the families where the parents put effort into their kids lives. Not that he didn't love his, but they sure didn't feel like parents.

He started getting the idea for what would later become Fredbear's and Freddy's while in high school. He had a friend (really, only the one) who convinced him to sneak out to this small family place out of town. Despite it being just the two of them, Fred found he loved the atmosphere the place had and wished he could come up with something like that.

He went to college aiming for a business degree. At the time he still hadn't mentioned to his parents that he might use the degree for something other than continuing the Fazbear Oil Company. He still didn't know if he was serious; but the more he thought about it the more he liked the idea.

It was during the first year of college that he met Madeline Hartford. She was a barista at this gimicky little cafe on campus that also advertised open mic nights for singers, comedians, and poets. He tried to ask her on a date immediately; she turned him down, but in amusement said she'd gladly be friends with him first.

After 3 months she finally let him ask her out on a date and he took her up on the offer.

Maddie did have to constantly remind him that he didn't need to buy her love. Fred had no end of access to his family's money, and he just kind of expected that the best thing to do was buy her nice things. Once Maddie talked him out of it, he was just... An incredibly hopeless romantic. And Maddie loved it.

He shared his idea with her about a family centered place and she loved it. She encouraged it and helped him start forming ideas for it. They'd stay up late talking about the kind of place it ought to be and what kind of things it should have.

He asked her to marry him in early 1979. She said yes. They both graduated from college in May, and spent a lot of time planning both their wedding and the future restaurant. Fred's parents were offering to pay for the wedding; and they had after a lot of long talks decided to fund the opening of Fred's dream restaurant. They were a little worried that the idea might fail; Fred promised if it did that he'd take over the family business instead as he'd always been somewhat destined to.

By the end of 1979, the animatronics for Fredbear's Family Diner, as Fred and Maddie had taken to calling it had been commissioned. It was a steep price that Fred's parents gladly paid off. Anything to help him get started.

Fred and Maddie's Valentine's Day wedding in 1980 was gorgeous and perfect. Fred had tried to convince Maddie to go big or go home (saying she deserved it) but it ended up being a rather small event. Maddie had a more notable guest list than Fred; he never seemed to mind.

They honeymooned in Paris, Maddie letting Fred spoil her on that end.

Once back in Spring Valley, the rest of the planning for Fredbear's got going full force.

Fredbear's Family Diner opened in January of 1981 with Fredbear and Spring Bonnie front and center. They were also able to be worn as suits, and Fred and the Fredbear's mechanic Henry Emily were usually the two to suit up. At least for the first six months- an accident with the springlocks meant the suits stopped being worn. Henry was able to keep them in good condition so that they could continue performing, and despite them being somewhat quarantined to the stage, everyone loved them.

Near the beginning of 1983, Fred's parents died in a freak plane accident.

The company was left to the Vice President; but a majority of the fortune was left to Fred with a note from his parents in his dad's will that if something were to happen to them, that the money was to be used to continue his dream. That his dad was proud of him and what he'd accomplished so far and that he hoped the Fazbear family luck would live on for him.

As sad as it was to lose both his parents at once, he knew it wouldn't do to be sad forever. And that if his dad had been proud of him despite never setting foot in his place, it was no time to mope around.

By the end of 1983, Fred had begun planning for a bigger, better place. With more animatronics, for more people to spend time in. Fredbear's Family Diner closed its doors just before New Year 1984 with the tease that soon something bigger was coming.

The planning for his new place, which he started calling Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, felt like it took forever. Ben Anderson, one of the employees from the diner who had worked the whole time in the kitchen, stuck with him and actually helped him plan a lot alongside Maddie.

Henry Emily decided to move back to Hurricane, Utah with his family. He'd enjoyed working at Fredbear's, but his and his wife's extended families were both still in Utah and he wanted his toddler twins to be able to get to know the family. Fred made him promise to stay in touch (it was a promise Henry never broke).

Planning for the new place was chaotic- Fred was often so excited about ideas he'd cut himself off mid sentence with new plans. They hit a small roadblock when the Spring Bonnie animatronic was heavily damaged during its move to storage- but Maddie convinced Fred that whoever they'd find as a new mechanic could fix it. With that and the designs he had for new animatronics, they plowed ahead.

In the middle of 1984 Fred started hiring for his second place. People who'd worked at Fredbear's rarely made the return (a few stopped by just to see the building). But it was well known throughout town that Fred had paid his employees ridiculously well and was a great boss.

Ben of course came back, Fred once again having him run the kitchen. Ben liked that job enough, at least.

Sometimes Maddie was convinced Fred hired certain people because they had sad stories. Fred had always been a talker, and half his interviews were somewhat sidetracked casual chats.

Like Damian, the kid who applied to work the prize counter, who Fred had told Maddie about as "this punk kid who lives in a trailer with his mom and aunt and three sisters. Poor kid sleeps on the couch, can you believe that?!"

Or Hailey, the high school student who'd told him she really wanted to run her own restaurant someday.

Maddie was always amused by how astounded he was at things like that but sometimes the rich kid Fred had been still came through. Unsurprisingly, they were still stupidly rich, even with all the money poured into this new place.

There were only two applications for mechanic- one from some guy who'd worked at a car dealership for 10 years named Scott something that Fred interviewed and complained about having the personality of a brick.

The other was Pierce Graves, and Fred wasn't sure about him at first because his application was very vague on whether or not he even knew how to fix things. Maddie remembered the name, having looked over a lot of applications from Fredbear's with him. Fred remembered they had only not interviewed him back then just out of curiosity because they'd already had Henry and two mechanics for two animatronics was a little much.

Anyone else would have taken one look at the 21 year old kid with a full sleeve of tattoos that he'd forgotten to hide, in a rival company's uniform, showing up late to an interview as a complete 3 strikes. Fred was not "anyone else". Fred was fascinated. And Pierce aced the easy routine maintenance stuff Fred had left on his new animatronics. So he hired him as soon as he got back around to it (he had a lot else going on can you blame him?).

With help from Pierce designing Foxy the Pirate, and the rest of the pieces falling into place, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza opened in December 1984. The crowd opening day was huge- Spring Valley had loved Fredbear's, and word of a bigger better place had gotten out.

Henry and his family even showed up to see the full extent of Freddy's.

It was a hit from day one- the different sets of animatronics performed on different days, they had a full arcade of as many games Fred could get, the food was great, and people kept coming back. Fred knew a lot of the regulars by name, and Maddie even often spent time at Freddy's.

Business got even better after Foxy the Pirate was introduced; it was a hit. Particularly with this little red headed kid who Fred wasn't so sure spoke English, and pretty soon Fred had become friends with the very shy Katherine O'Malley and her son Finn who had moved to Colorado from Ireland. They were almost constant fixtures at Freddy's, and Fred would always make sure to mention when new Foxy merch was going to show up at the prize counter. When the plushies started coming out, he offered to give Finn one since they were going to be a high ticket item, but Finn excitedly turned it down so he could win it himself.

(Later, Katherine would ask him to please thank the mechanic for helping her and Finn get the remainder of the tickets for the Foxy plush, as apparently they'd been close to getting enough when the mechanic had given them all the ones he hadn't needed to use. Fred did and Pierce just shrugged it off)

Discovering Pierce had powers similar to his own that he'd never tried to learn was an accident- but a good one. He'd been terrified of them, and Pierce was a little concerned he'd never learned how to use them. Pierce offered to help him learn so it'd be less of a startle reflex that could potentially backfire- Fred accepted on the condition that Pierce not mention it to anyone.

On his and Maddie's 7th wedding anniversary, she told him they were going to be parents. Fred was ecstatic- him and Maddie had both wanted kids, but he'd wanted to make sure Freddy's was running smoothly first, and they'd made a decision in mid '86 that it could be time to start seriously trying for kids, and finally here they were.

1987 was a good year for Freddy's at first. Business was still booming, the Spring Bonnie animatronic was getting closer to being show ready again, and Fred finally got the cheesy TV ads he wanted airing. The local news station even ran a whole half hour special about Freddy's that featured Fred and Pierce (by this point Pierce and Fred hardly needed to have full coherent conversations about what kind of show changes they needed, both kind of picking up what the other meant when it came to certain things. Pierce wasn't well liked by the other Freddy's employees, but Fred and him were close as hell and for the most part Fred kept Pierce from pissing people off at work more).

And the Fazbear baby turned out to be Fazbear babies- Fred and Maddie found out they were expecting twins. Fred didn't think he could be happier. A hell of a lot of planning went into the nursery for the boys, as they learned they'd be, as well as Fred getting Freddy's themed stuff made for both of them. They decided on names long before the twins were born- Frederick Jr and Franklin. Maddie didn't mind that both her husband kind of took over naming.

And then August 1987 happened, and just when Fred didn't think life could get any better, he had to tell his mechanic that Foxy was being decommissioned. The conversation didn't go well, and Fred would later agonize over how he should have handled it. And how he should have waited until he was less stressed and sleep deprived. He knew that his decisions and how he'd worded things basically ended the close friendship he had with Pierce, but he didn't know how badly he'd ruined it until...

November 13th, 1987.

The bite of '87.

That horrifying, wordless scream from Finnegan O'Malley.

The screams from the other kids, ones he saw on the ground clutching their heads in a pain that looked... Familiar.

He had no idea if Pierce orchestrated the bite, but he damn well knew that the other kids in pain- that was Pierce. That was that power. And he lashed out with everything he had to the point he scared himself. And in a moment of clarity he knew that he had to do something to save Finn, and used his power for that.

Pierce and Spring Bonnie disappeared.

6 kids in Spring Valley suddenly had new features that no one could explain. Doctors were uncertain if Finn would even survive, but he pulled through. The accident cost him his memory, they said.

Fred paid all of their hospital bills off. Told the O'Malleys if they ever needed anything, they could call him. Got questioned six ways to Sunday by cops just trying to figure out what had happened, if this was an accident or foul play. Tried not to think about the blood stains on the stage, found the ones in Parts and Services though. Stopped by the main stage on his way out again and noticed, for the first time, the loose board. Right where Foxy's foot path was. Saw the animatronic in his head fail to correct as it hit the uneven surface and fall.

The bite had been an accident, but the other 5 kids had not.

Freddy's officially closed by the end of the year. He kept his night guard on until he could move everything into storage, and kept getting told that the Toy animatronics and Foxy acted "weird". Too human. Confused. Had to play off that he didn't know why.

The Fazbear family moved across town, and for the first few years of the twins lives, Freddy's was only a fun fairy tale their father told them about to get them to go to sleep. Fred hated that he'd had to close, and he wanted so much to open it again.

So in 1990, he started planning the 3rd place.

Maddie said it was a bad idea, but that she would continue to support him.

Ben also had his doubts, but promised to still come back.

Everyone else he tried to bring back hung up on him. Jeremy was silent for a good minute on his phone call from Fred, and finally said he'd recommend another guard he knew. Jeremy had been in therapy since then, convinced the bite was his fault since he was supposed to make sure no one got hurt.

Fred reused the unconnected animatronics for the new place, but all of the existing ones were kept in the building anyways. For parts, he told the new mechanic (Fritz Smith, who was a somewhat nervous fellow). Not that Fred would let anyone touch the Toy animatronics to be used as parts.

Opening day for this third iteration of Freddy's was sad compared to the grandeur of the previous place. People knew about the bite and felt it in poor taste that another place was opening so soon.

It never quite hit the same level of popularity, and as business dwindled, Fred got more and more ... Not himself. Fritz oftentimes didn't have the expertise to work with the dozens of fixes that Pierce had made to the animatronics, either because there were no instructions on what exactly they did or just because they made no sense to anyone but Pierce. When Fritz would ask if Fred could please just call the guy up for clarity (Fritz was not from Spring Valley and had only just moved there so he didn't know about Pierce), Fred would just give him a look.

The turnover rate for employees was often high, the place understaffed, although it was still magical for his twin sons. Maddie is would often tell him, gently, that it might be better to close. Out of a stubborn sense of pride, Fred never did.

Then on August 8th of 1993, his kids were affected by another event. It was like '87 all over again, minus the bite, and Fred only caught a glimpse of his former mechanic in the back of the building before he made the better decision to check on his kids. It was a threat, he knew. Pierce could still find him and would do anything to get back at him.

At the hospital, Maddie pulled him aside and told him that she was furious. That this was the last straw, and if he ever reopened Freddy's again, she'd leave with the boys. He didn't doubt she would.

He paid off the bills for the other two kids affected, and Freddy's closed down, this time permanently.

Fred quietly paid off the entire property so that it wouldn't be demolished without his permission. He couldn't put the animatronics back in storage. He did put heavy locks on the doors and boarded up the place to try and discourage people from getting inside.

They moved again, this time to a somewhat cramped house where the twins would have to share a room. They didn't complain, excited to have a bunk bed at last.

Despite the setbacks, the Fazbear family still had enough money that Fred didn't need to go back to work immediately, and he tried to make things work smoothly as a family. For almost two years after the incident, the family was happy. Just after Fred finally found a job elsewhere (Ben managed to get him a job as a manager at some local place), some new tragedy happened.

Maddie called his work desperate, telling him that Frankie had quite suddenly and painfully lost his voice and they were at the ER, and could he please meet them there. He promised he would and left work in a hurry. Except he ended up driving home instead. Leaving Maddie a note.

'I'm sorry. Give me some time.'

And with some kind of determination, he headed to his former 3rd business.

The place was beginning to show signs of disrepair, plants growing through cracked cement. As he thought, the chain across the main door had been cut with bolt cutters and he knew without a doubt who had been there.

So he was going to leave a message.

He found the spare Freddy he'd had made for this place as a just in case. Set it up, made sure it could run properly. Considering he'd last even done small maintenance back in the early '80s, he didn't know for sure that what he was even doing was working. But it seemed to work enough.

Pierce had told him that things that affected an animatronic connected to someone affected the human in a similar way. It's how Pierce had found issues with the machines. Connect yourself to them, the problem spot on the machine will be a little bit of a painful spot. Then just work in that area and you could find the issue. Worked great with animatronics because they were very much oriented like humans.

Pierce had also taught him a trick. If you bound yourself to an animatronic and didn't let the bind affect you physically, you could essentially program it to do something that it normally might not be able to. It was less useful for repairs and more useful as a fun joke (Pierce had many times made it so some animatronic would not physically stop trying to find Fred for a hug, and in return as Fred had gotten better at it himself he'd sent animatronics to Pierce with notes like 'hello jackass' or 'you're shoe is untied').

This would not be a fun joke. If Pierce was going to send a message that his kids weren't safe, then he was going to make sure Pierce knew he wasn't going to just sit back and let the man intimidate him.

So he bound himself to the spare Freddy with one goal in mind. Keep Pierce away, by any means necessary. It was a strong order for this type of connection, one that kind of pushed the boundary of what it could do, and while Fred didn't gain any features from the bind, he watched with a morbid curiosity as the suit pieces shifted to a dark purple.

Shadow Freddy was now protecting all the animatronics from Pierce.

#the lore

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tanadrin · 5 years ago

Text

Reordberend

(part 20 of ?; first; previous; next)

The entire process of breaking down the shattered machine took three days. Katherine was impressed with the methodical approach the salvagers took. Under Andrac’s direction, everything was sorted: useful metal here, pieces too big to transport for now over there, tools in another pile, parts of tools in another. Using rope they had brought, and cables from the salvage, they began lashing together sleds from some of the spars, which they would have to drag over the rough slopes of the mountain pass, until they came to flat ground--it meant a lot of labor in the short term, but once they were back on the ice, it would mean they could bring back far more salvage than merely what could be carried on their backs. Though they would load up their packs and bags, too. The return journey would be considerably slower, but the reward for all this work, Eadwig said, was a bounty that would last them for many years. The most precious thing they found were the solar panels and some self-contained energy cells that still had considerable charge. The nuclear power plant was too heavy and too dangerous to remove--apparently some salvagers had tried that once, on a different beast, and poisoned their whole village. But the energy cells could be safely distributed among the different valleys, to power essential things like forges and the underground moss farms. At least for a little while, life in the Valleys would be somewhat easier, the threat of some sudden disaster a little more distant.

Katherine supposed that this was, in a way, what all human life had been like until not too long ago--you were one bad growing season, one bad drought or some other natural disaster away from ruin. To say nothing of more human disasters: war or tyrants or some plague brought by traders from a distant land. It was hard for her to believe that the ancestors of the People had really understood what they were signing up for. Who would intentionally condemn their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to a life of difficult labor and privation, even in the name of lofty ideals? But if any of the Dry Valleys People resented their ancestors’ choice, or thought it had been unwise, they didn’t show it. This was simply, for them, the Way Things Were, and there was a safety in that. The eternal, conservative urge of the human heart--and of societies schooled by scarcity--that says, we’ve got a tolerable thing going here. Let’s not upset the apple cart. It was a sentiment Katherine hardly shared, though she could appreciate the place it came from.

When they had finished with the first dragon, Andrac, Katherine, and a few others went to inspect the second. It was deeply buried; only part of its flank stuck out from beneath the ice and rubble that covered it, though the part that they could see didn’t look to be too badly damaged. A furious debate between Andrac and the others ensued, about whether they should attempt to salvage anything from this one, too. The party seemed to be of two minds: it would be dangerous, if the ground proved unstable or the repair and defense systems were still active. On the other hand, the reward was potentially greater. Even in the dry Antarctic air, which preserved much, wind and weather had rendered some of the most sensitive tools on the other platform useless. If this one had been buried not too long after it had ceased to function, it was possible it would yield even more valuable salvage.

“What do you think, Outlander?” Beonna asked.

Katherine was startled by the question. “Does it matter what I think?” she said.

“Sure it does. You’re in this same as us.”

Katherine shrugged. “I don’t know if it would be worth it or not, but even if it is, I don’t think we’re getting in to this one anytime soon. None of the hatches are exposed. There’s no interface for me to try like there was on the other one. You might be able to cut through the side there--but I don’t know how far you’d get.”

“It’s true,” Andrac said. “We can always mark the spot--come back later, with more men and tools.”

Beonna seemed to agree, and the decision was made. The haul they had was enough for the time being. The others went back to help load the sleds, but Katherine lingered for a little while, exploring the back of the great beast.

Dragon, dragon, she thought. From the Latin word, if she remembered correctly. When she was a kid she had been fascinated by old words, the way they reached out of the past and seemed to carry immense secrets within them. She had thought, when she was a teenager, that maybe languages or history would have been the thing to study--but there was nothing in that anymore, her teachers had told her. You had cybernetics and modules now. You didn’t have to spend years of your life in school, and years more of immersion in a foreign country to learn to communicate with people. The old grief of Babel had been reversed, and whether that was a good thing or a bad thing depended on who you asked, but it meant that the study of languages was as dead as the Romans. With it, too, had gone the study of ancient languages. Oh, sure, there might be modules out there for Latin or Greek, the really popular ones. But the world was no longer very much interested in the minutiae of its own history. It contended itself with the outlines. And it surely had no space for scholars to sit in dim offices in the corner of some university humanities department, poring over the work of long-dead philologists. Go into the sciences. Learn something useful! her teachers had told her. Well, maybe she hadn’t done exactly that. But she was still a scientist of a kind.

Something caught Katherine’s eye--a hatch or a compartment, a small one, just by her feet. She squatted down, and carefully pried the outer cover off, then popped off the access panel. Inside was a mess of electronic components. She poked around for a little bit, but she couldn’t make heads or tails, and there was no terminal or anything here. Something was still functioning inside this thing--there were a couple of indicator lights slowly blinking--but none of these seemed to be critical components. She poked around a bit more, then found something of interest.

It was a little black cylinder, about the size of her palm, with big block letters on it that said BACKUP DATA RECORDER - DO NOT REMOVE. Naturally, she removed it. She held it up; on the other side, it said PROPERTY OF ANTECO MINING INC - IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN - REWARD OFFERED. Some kind of retrievable storage? The equivalent of an airplane’s black box, maybe. It was a curious object, anyway, and Katherine liked curious. She slipped it into a pocket.

Underneath, in the spot where it had been seated, there was something that shined beautifully. Katherine reached in and pulled, and it came free--what looked to all the world like a dazzling, clear gemstone, set in silver. It was clearly some kind of electronic component, but despite its mundane nature, it looked like something out of a fairy tale. Perhaps she would find someone back in the Valleys who would enjoy something like this. That, too, she stuck in her pocket.

“Hey, Outlander!” someone called out. She stood and turned around; it was Andrac. “We’re almost ready to go.”

“Coming!” Katherine shouted back. She stumbled her way back down the side of the platform, and jogged over to help the others finish packing.

* * *

The first day of the return journey was brutal--a lot of pulling sleds up steep slopes, a lot of almost losing her footing and sprawling onto the stony ground, and a lot of cussing (on her part) and shouting (on others’). Mostly words of encouragement, but also some words Leofe definitely had not taught her. It took the whole expedition to get the heaviest sleds up the top of the ridge, and they could only be brought down the mountainside a couple at a time. If they lost control of one, it was likely to go careening down a slope or over a boulder--crash, bang, a god-awful mess, and, in the darkness, probably no way to recover the lost cargo. So they went slowly and carefully. But once they were on the ice again, they moved much more quickly. They all took turns helping to pull the sleds, even Katherine, though she didn’t feel like she was contributing much. Her time in Antarctica had definitely toughened her up a bit--she had muscles now in places she didn’t know you could have them before--but she still felt a little like the expedition mascot.

They didn’t head back to Leofe’s village--High Settlement, the one Katherine thought of as her home base--since that was pretty far up the Middle Valley. Instead, they made for one of the smaller outlying villages, which was barely more than a few cottages, less than half a kilometer from the edge of the glacier. They left the sleds below and staggered up the hill to the nearest house; despite the fact that nearly twenty exhausted, hungry people had just showed up, the villagers seemed happy enough to see them. They were even happier when they learned they had just come back from a salvage expedition. They began talking with the salvagers excitedly, then a few of them rushed off to their own houses.

“What’s that all about?” Katherine asked Andrac.

“They’re going to get ready.”

“Get ready for what?”

“To send word to the other villages. To bring more here. To help distribute the salvage. What, you didn’t think we were going to go around to every village ourselves, did you?”

“Well, I certainly wasn’t going to.”

Andrac laughed. “No, people will come here to get the things they need.”

“Who decides how everything is distributed?”

Andrac looked confused. “People will take what they need.”

“What if more than one person needs the same thing?”

“They’ll figure something out. Or they’ll share. Do they not having sharing where you come from?”

“Is there some kind of system of barter? Or trade? Money?”

“Money? Why would we need money?”

“Uhh--” Katherine didn’t know the word for ‘economics’ in the Dry Valleys tongue. “Your system, your system of, ah, distributing scarce resources. Some societies use money. Some exchange favors and gifts. Some rely on, er, relationships of kindred and friendship. I am curious about your people. What they use.”

Andrac raised an eyebrow. “We talk to each other. We make sure everybody has the things they need.”

Katherine suspected he was being deliberately unhelpful, but she didn’t press the question. Instead she thanked the villager who handed her a bowl of something hot and meaty, and settled herself down by the fire to rest. Every muscle in her body ached; she hoped they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Within six hours, the first people from other villages began to arrive. Katherine watched as they did; everyone went up to Andrac and Eadwig first, greeting them by name, complimenting them on the success of their expedition. There was a little ritual to it, even if it wasn’t a formal one. Only then did they go down to inspect the haul, looking over it all very carefully, talking to the salvagers about what they’d found. When they came back, they made pleasant small talk about the journey, the weather, how each other’s relatives were doing--but they did not discuss the salvage itself, and this surprised Katherine a little. When one of the men sat down near her, she spoke to him.

“I have a question,” she said.

“You’re the outlander, aren’t you?”

“My name is Katherine.”

“Mine is Gar.”

“So what do you want from the salvage, Gar?”

Gar shifted in his seat uneasily.

“This and that,” he said. “Some of it could be very useful.”

“Like what?”

Gar looked uncomfortable, and Katherine wondered why. Andrac, noticing from across the room, came over and cut in.

“Now’s not the time to discuss that sort of thing,” he said. “We’ll all talk about it once everyone is here.”

Ah, thought Katherine. Maybe they want to give everybody a look first. No dibs, no deals worked out beforehand.

Over the next two days, as more people arrived, her suspicions were confirmed. The same pattern held; and only when there were men and women from just about every village in the Dry Valleys present, did they all gather in the largest house in the village; and then a great discussion began. It was like the longest, most agonizing committee meeting of any bureaucracy anywhere. First, every single item salvaged, from the smallest piece of metal to the most sophisticated laser cutter, was enumerated. Then, starting all over again, they went through every piece in order, and talked about who had a use for what. Then the competing claims had to be worked out.

There seemed to be a rough logic to this part. First, anybody who had claimed too much was pressured to pick only the things he or she really needed. Oh, Eadgifu, you don’t need the wrench, and the three loops of cable, and the plastic sheeting, do you? That’s quite a lot, don’t you think? All Thorgar here needs is a little of the plastic, surely you can give that up? And where there was really steep competition, for things like the laser drills, the expedition leaders got called in to mediate. Here, Andrac, what do you think? Eadwig, weren’t you saying the other day that our village really needs one of those? And whenever the bargaining got a little too heated--what do you mean, you need all that metal? Hasn’t your village taken more than enough already?--someone would step in, always a scrupulously neutral party, and say, wait, I’ve got something I need, shut up for a second and we’ll come back to you.

It was tedious in the extreme, but there was a ballet to it: nobody’s feelings were hurt, everybody’s opinion was taken into consideration, and everybody was set to go home with something. A few of the really big ticket items--the power cells were one--were divided up according to preexisting rules. Nobody got to claim those. But anything else, anyone in the room was entitled to make a claim on. And a particular phrase was repeated more than once--everything’s up for grabs. Nothing is to be held back.

Only as this process was winding up did Katherine think of the two little objects she held in her pocket; she had been fingering them absentmindedly, turning them over out of sight, when she realized one might very well consider them part of the salvage, too. And might consider that at least one of them might have non-trivial value. She began to worry more, as she saw the intense discussion over the last few items, which very nearly broke out into an actual argument more than once.

“Hey, hey. Enough!” Andrac finally said. “We’ll all sleep on it, okay? No use in getting mad, there’s enough to go around. Here, shake his hand, Alfstan.” He pushed one surly-looking man toward another. They shook, and the room relaxed a little; after that people began filing out, heading over to the other houses or to tents they’d brought along. “Back here in the morning!” Andrac called out. “Eadwig and I are heading home after breakfast. So let’s get the last of the business done early!”

Katherine had been watching this from the back of the room; she slipped through the thick knot of people over to Andrac, and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Can I talk to you? Outside?”

“Sure, outlander.”

She took him around the side of the house to a quiet spot.

“I have a question about the salvage.”

“Go ahead.”

“If someone held something back from the salvage, what would happen? How would people react?”

“I don’t know. Nobody would do that.”

“Nobody?”

“It would be… strange. Selfish. Really wrong. I’ve never heard of it happening.”

“Is there a law against it?”

“There doesn’t need to be. It just wouldn’t happen. Why? You’re not accusing somebody of something, are you?”

“No, not at all. I was just curious. You know me. Nosy outlander.”

“Hm.” Andrac didn’t seem convinced by this. “You sure everything is all right?”

Katherine winced. “I’m sorry. It was me.”

“What?”

“I took something. Just before we left. I didn’t think about it until just now. It didn’t seem important. But I think I violated one of your customs by accident. I didn’t mean to cause offense.”

She took the data module and the jewel out of her pocket, and held them out to Andrac.

“You should take them. Tell the others--I don’t know, tell them you found them in one of the sleds or something. Or tell them I didn’t know your rules, and I didn’t mean to steal.”

Andrac took the objects from her, and turned them over in his hand.

“They say a thief brings a great curse down on themselves when they steal,” he said. He tapped the data module with one finger. Then he handed both objects back to Katherine. “But you’re right. You didn’t know. You’re not a thief, just a stranger to our ways.”

“You should still take them.”

“We don’t buy and sell among ourselves--but we’re familiar with the concept. Consider these your payment for your help. Honestly, I don’t think anybody here has a use for these trinkets. If for some reason someone does give you trouble about them, just tell them to speak to me.”

“You think it’s really okay?”

Andrac nodded seriously. “Yes. It would be different if you had not spoken to me--but you have shown understanding and sympathy to our customs. I respect that.”

“Thanks.”

“Now go get some rest, Katherine. We’re heading home early tomorrow.”

#tanadrin's fiction

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