#Tools for tap installation

[tapronlimited]

5 Steps to Installing a Tap

The "5 Steps to Installing a Tap" guide on Tapron.co.uk offers a clear, step-by-step approach to fitting a new basin tap, emphasizing preparation, correct assembly, and installation techniques. It outlines essential tools and accessories needed, including sealing tape and wrenches, and covers everything from dismantling the old tap to connecting pipes and verifying the installation's success. This practical guide is aimed at ensuring a smooth DIY tap installation process. For a detailed walkthrough, check the full guide here.

[reasonsforhope]

Humans are so cute. They think they can outsmart birds. They place nasty metal spikes on rooftops and ledges to prevent birds from nesting there.

It’s a classic human trick known in urban design as “evil architecture”: designing a place in a way that’s meant to deter others. Think of the city benches you see segmented by bars to stop homeless people sleeping there.

But birds are genius rebels. Not only are they undeterred by evil architecture, they actually use it to their advantage, according to a new Dutch study published in the journal Deinsea.

Crows and magpies, it turns out, are learning to rip strips of anti-bird spikes off of buildings and use them to build their nests. It’s an incredible addition to the growing body of evidence about the intelligence of birds, so wrongly maligned as stupid that “bird-brained” is still commonly used as an insult...

Magpies also use anti-bird spikes for their nests. In 2021, a hospital patient in Antwerp, Belgium, looked out the window and noticed a huge magpie’s nest in a tree in the courtyard. Biologist Auke-Florian Hiemstra of Leiden-based Naturalis Biodiversity Center, one of the study’s authors, went to collect the nest and found that it was made out of 50 meters of anti-bird strips, containing no fewer than 1,500 metal spikes.

Hiemstra describes the magpie nest as “an impregnable fortress.”

Pictured: A huge magpie nest made out of 1,500 metal spikes.

Magpies are known to build roofs over their nests to prevent other birds from stealing their eggs and young. Usually, they scrounge around in nature for thorny plants or spiky branches to form the roof. But city birds don’t need to search for the perfect branch — they can just use the anti-bird spikes that humans have so kindly put at their disposal.

“The magpies appear to be using the pins exactly the same way we do: to keep other birds away from their nest,” Hiemstra said.

Another urban magpie nest, this one from Scotland, really shows off the roof-building tactic:

Pictured: A nest from Scotland shows how urban magpies are using anti-bird spikes to construct a roof meant to protect their young and eggs from predators.

Birds had already been spotted using upward-pointing anti-bird spikes as foundations for nests. In 2016, the so-called Parkdale Pigeon became Twitter-famous for refusing to give up when humans removed her first nest and installed spikes on her chosen nesting site, the top of an LCD monitor on a subway platform in Melbourne. The avian architect rebelled and built an even better home there, using the spikes as a foundation to hold her nest more securely in place.

...Hiemstra’s study is the first to show that birds, adapting to city life, are learning to seek out and use our anti-bird spikes as their nesting material. Pretty badass, right?

The genius of birds — and other animals we underestimate

It’s a well-established fact that many bird species are highly intelligent. Members of the corvid family, which includes crows and magpies, are especially renowned for their smarts. Crows can solve complex puzzles, while magpies can pass the “mirror test” — the classic test that scientists use to determine if a species is self-aware.

Studies show that some birds have evolved cognitive skills similar to our own: They have amazing memories, remembering for months the thousands of different hiding places where they’ve stashed seeds, and they use their own experiences to predict the behavior of other birds, suggesting they’ve got some theory of mind.

And, as author Jennifer Ackerman details in The Genius of Birds, birds are brilliant at using tools. Black palm cockatoos use twigs as drumsticks, tapping out a beat on a tree trunk to get a female’s attention. Jays use sticks as spears to attack other birds...

Birds have also been known to use human tools to their advantage. When carrion crows want to crack a walnut, for example, they position the nut on a busy road, wait for a passing car to crush the shell, then swoop down to collect the nut and eat it. This behavior has been recorded several times in Japanese crows.

But what’s unique about Hiemstra’s study is that it shows birds using human tools, specifically designed to thwart birds’ plans, in order to thwart our plans instead. We humans try to keep birds away with spikes, and the birds — ingenious rebels that they are — retort: Thanks, humans!

-via Vox, July 26, 2023

[copperbadge]

[ID: Two images; on the left is my bathroom sink, recently scrubbed, with various tools for grooming humans and cats alike -- it's the cats' favorite place to be brushed. Right, a blue bucket slowly filling with soapy water, which is about to cover a big pile of Lego at the bottom of the bucket.]

NaClYoHo day two! Yesterday was mostly linens, today is mostly scrubbing.

Top of the list was actually to put on real trousers and go find a missing package; I bought a small USB-charged overhead lamp to install in the shower, since the lighting in my bathroom isn't great, and Target likes to hide packages from me when they deliver them. It's one of those things that are genuinely in the spirit of NaClYoHo in terms of improving my living space -- it won't improve the property value and it doesn't make the bathroom look better; arguably it looks like the garage kludge that it is. But it's purely for my comfort. I did manage to find the lamp, so it's charging now; the mounting plates have been installed and I'll post photos once it's up and running.

Next up, since having I couldn't immediately install it, I decided to scrub down the bathroom sink -- I took off everything sitting on the sink and dusted or washed it as needed, scrubbed down the counter and tap with CLR and then after a rinse with Scrubbing Bubbles, dried it, and put everything back. Again, there's only so much I can do to make the sink look good (it's probably as old as I am) and I would love to replace it, but that's expensive and will probably require outside help.

And, once I'd done the dishes, which I am counting as part of my cleaning today, I washed the last of the Lego I brought home from Texas. It's all drying now.

Very fortunate for me, I put on an episode of Kill James Bond ("Thunderball With No Notes") which is an hour and nine minutes long, and right as I finished rinsing out the Lego bucket it ended, so except for eventually sticking the lamp into its mounting brackets, I'm done cleaning for the day!

[emidescent]

Dental Checkup

The floret behind the reception desk seemed to be currently engaged with some sort of puzzle on her tablet. So much so that she had missed my failed attempts to get her attention for the last few minutes.

“Oh that’s it!” She exclaimed with excitement, tapping at the screen a few times, rewarded with a happy sounding chime. She put the tablet down and looked out across the room, finally noticing me. “Oh! Hello! How can we help you today at Palamatum’s Pet Procedures?”

I groaned internally, why did this have to be the only vet within walking distance.

“Uhm. I’m here to see Doctor Palamatum, I recently got some biomods put in and she wanted to see how they were coming along.”

The floret smirked as she looked me up and down, taking in my appearance. But, I realised with a start that she wasn’t looking at the new ears or tail I had gotten.

“H-hey! The breasts are natural, at least as natural as Class-G’s are.” I blushed, looking away from the girls prying eyes. “A-and my ears are up here!” I added, pointing at the feline additions poking through my hair. The floret’s smirk deepened. 

“Oh I've made my choice~” She licked her lips slowly.

I squeaked in a dignified manner, Not used to the sudden and focused attention from such a flirty floret.

“M-my appointment please?”

”Wellllll the only appointment Dr Palamatum has left today is a dental one, So unless you’re looking for me to leave some impressions on you somewhere, you might be a tad lost little kitty~” She grinned, baring her teeth before snapping them shut. Now looking directly at my ears. They flattened against my head as I stepped back, my blush only growing redder.

“I-i got new teeth too!” I stammered out, opening my mouth and pointing at the little fangs I had installed.

“Aww, adorable” The floret giggled. A gentle bell chimed through the foyer. “Doctor Palamatum will see you now-” She gestured to the door on her right, which opened on cue.

I nodded, grabbing my tail to my chest and scurrying through the door lest the floret decide she wasn’t done with me.

The Doctor's office was clean and orderly. A tall, deep blue affini stood off centre in the room dressed in some very form fitting bell bottom pants edged with a delicate floral pattern and a frilly blouse adorned with flowers matching those that made up her hair. She appeared to be preparing a small tray of metallic and floral tools. She looked over her shoulder as I approached and her eyes shifted from a pale blue to a warm and inviting yellow.

“Welcome darling, here for a dental checkup?”

I nodded, taking a few steps towards the operating table next to her.

She turned and watched as I mounted the table, laying down next to her.

“Such an obedient little kitty, Did what i asked without me even needing to ask~” She smirked. I blushed. Was nobody in this office safe?!

“So what are we in for today darling? Just a checkup on those darling little fangs you had installed recently?”

I nodded in confirmation.

“Wonderful, Now some sophonts choose to be drugged for these procedures, would you like me to drug you?” She peered down into my eyes, little flecks of gold dancing at the edges of her eyes. I don’t think this was a safe question.

“Umm” I replied. “Only the necessary amount of drugs.”

“Absolutely petal. “ She grinned a little too widely. “Only the necessary amount of drugs.” But before I could say anything else she slipped a metal tool into my mouth and began peering around.

“Say ahhh~”

She spent the next few minutes alternating between tools, inspecting my mouth. I tried my best not to get distracted. But that wasn’t an easy task with a beautiful woman inches from your face with her fingers in your mouth. It was honestly unfair how Affini could shapeshift so easily. Because it meant they were all unbearably hot, and the little accidental touches on my lips were sending little jolts of pleasure through me that I absolutely could not react to.

After a while I noticed she hadn’t changed tools in a few minutes and was giggling as she moved a vine around in my mouth. I made a little questioning noise in my throat to get her attention and raised my eyebrow.

She looked up at me and smiled.

“Did you know that during a dental inspection, a terrans tongue will unconsciously follow and poke at whatever you put in their mouths?” She giggled again. “I’ve just been playing with your tongue for the last few minutes~”

I squeaked my displeasure, not doing very well at masking the blush that was suddenly forming on my cheeks and tucked my tongue away.

Dr Palamatum moved faster however, pinning my tongue to the bottom of my mouth with her thumb and holding my jaw in place with one hand. My breath quickened and I failed to stifle the moan that escaped my mouth.

“Ah-ah-ah little one… I’m not finished~” She purred. Worming another vine into my mouth.

“I was just going to look at your fangs. But now i’m going to be inspecting each and every one of your little teeth to make sure they’re in perfect condition~”

She moved very slowly, very deliberately as she inspected each of my teeth, like I was some prize battle horse. I was doing my best to not react. But one of her vines bushed over my lips and I whimpered, feeling completely under her power. She grinned a little too hungrily, I tried to grab her arm, but a needle quickly slipped into my thigh and my body stopped responding to my commands.

And to make matters worse, now each step in the inspection was followed by a rewarding brush against my lips. Soon I was barely able to think. Eyes locked helplessly onto her own as she played with me.

Finally, Regrettably. She finished, withdrawing a saliva coated vine and thumb from my mouth. I whimpered in between shaky, panting breaths. The sudden loss of sensation far too sobering in comparison to the last half hour.

Dr Palamatum smirked down at me. “Did I forget something?” She teased, watching over me as she lazily produced another needle that I hoped contained the counteragent to the paralytics.

I whined up at her defiantly. And her expression changed to one of poorly faked shock. “Oh of course!” She leant over me. “You” She gently grasped my face. “Can’t” She licked her lips. “Move~”

She pressed her lips to my own, and my eyes closed, my mind swimming in bliss. She was gentle, yet firm. I felt the needle slip into my thigh and I shakily lifted my hands to cup either side of her face.

It was my own decision to part my lips when I felt her tongue probing at them, my moans and whimpers only getting louder as I let her retrace her steps around my mouth. But it was her decision to break the kiss. Leaving me panting, reaching for her desperately. She giggled and grabbed my hands, slowly pulling me into a sitting position. “You’ve been a good girl today” She held out a Lollipop, brushing over my lip with a vine. My mouth popped open obediently and she slipped the sweet between my lips.

“A very good girl~”

“I think it's best if we do a followup appointment…..let's say tomorrow. And let's make it a house call, shall we?” I touched my neck, feeling the bare skin for perhaps the last time.

[happysaddca]

This is. Incredibly self-indulgent and requires context.

You are a veteran FazCo employee who worked as a janitor (and eventually dates that location's DCA) when the Glitchtrap virus infects the plex. Unlike the game, this virus affects all the mega pizzaplexes, and it leads to you getting mauled by Moon. You nearly die, the DCA is deactivated and replaced after the virus mysteriously vanishes, and eventually you start working at a new plex, with a new DCA and staff.

After a long and bumpy road, you finally have your DCA's chips installed in a functional animatronic. It's time for a reunion.

Parts and Service still creeps you out, even with the changes the tech team here made. At the very least, you’re allowed to wait in the cylinder instead of outside with everyone else. 

You take a peek through the glass, catching Gemma and Anika watching you. Your body locks up, and you manage a stiff little wave before focusing on Sun behind them. Sun isn’t watching you (at least, you’re pretty sure he’s not). Sun’s watching the body on the table. Your turn back to it as well. 

It’s another Daycare Attendant unit, currently completely off. The color changing material of the animatronic’s pants and paint sits at a muted, muddy brown color, the light not bright enough to bring out Sun’s colors but too bright for Moon’s. When you touch its faceplate, it’s cold, unmoving. It’s an older model, a spare body for the DCA standing outside. And it currently holds the chip that is your 

That is your Sun and Moon. 

“Everything good in there?” Gemma’s voice is tinny over the speakers. You nod quickly, giving a thumb’s up. “Okay, I need you to back away for a second. Gotta plug in and give the OS one last check before we power them up.” 

“Okay.” You give a reluctant half step back, then another at Gemma’s prompting, retreating closer to the wall and the people outside. Overhead, electricity thrums as the diagnostics and repair tools come online, a cable snaking down to plug into the back of the animatronic’s head. “You’ll warn me when they’re about to be turned on, right?” No answer. “Guys?” 

The sounds overhead changes, with a chime sequence signaling that no, you were in fact not being warned ahead of time.. Some pseudo-soothing, corporate beeps that remind you of commercials advertising anti-depressants begin, but when you go to approach the body again, the speaker crackles on. 

“Stay right there.” 

“But I want—” You’re cut off before you can even turn to face the trio waiting outside. 

Anika’s frown is made more severe by scarring distorting her forehead. 

“We don’t know how they’re going to react to being woken up for the first time in three years. For them, it’s only been a moment since they shut down, and we don’t really know how that… hey. Don’t look like that. I thought you’d already worked past the guilt.” 

“No, I have. But. I.” Another chime sequence has you whipping back around, but there’s no change. You shift so you can keep half an eye on what’s happening while you’re talking to everyone on the outside. 

“Sunshine.” Sunny speaks over Anika, leaning forward to take the microphone. “Think about what might happen if they come online and hurt you.”

“It’d be—”

“It’d be an accident, but.” Sunny holds up one long finger, indicating that you should wait. You look back at the table again, but there’s still nothing to indicate what’s going on. “Friend, turn your screen around. They’re going to be fretful unless they know what’s going on.” 

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Gemma turns one of the monitors around, showing off a series of progress bars that you don’t know what they mean. She taps the monitor. “Once this hits a hundred percent, they’ll boot up.” 

“Thank you.” The lump in your throat eases, just a little. You stare at the little bars slowly working its way up. 

“Sunshine.” Sunny catches your attention with his talking-to-children-about-complex-topics voice. “We should stay here until the other attendant wakes up and has a moment to process that they aren’t affected by the virus—and that they’re safe.” 

“As safe as they can be in here,” you mumble, and Sunny’s smile widens as he gives a small nod, setting the microphone back on the table. The progress bar fills ever so slowly, and any noise behind you makes you twitch and look back at the animatronic with concern. Your palms itch, suddenly slick, and you wipe at them quickly before shoving them in the pockets of your overalls. 

Overalls. You are bringing back your oldest, dearest friend that you’ve not seen in years and you’re wearing the world’s most fucked up, stained overalls. And that does count farmers and mechanics around the world. You take a peek at the progress bar and—how has it jumped up 30% already? It had been dragging just a minute ago! There’s now no way you can slip away into something better, and of course you couldn’t have gone anyway. 

The noise from overhead changes, and there’s an error sound, sharp and blunt, followed by the mechanical squeak of the monitor getting jerked back around to Gemma. “Anika, can you grab the thingie?”

“The thingie?” 

Gemma gestures vaguely behind her and Sun, who is standing frozen, rays partially retracted as he stares at the table. Anika zips off to find whatever it is Gemma needs, but you’re turning away again, watching as the spare daycare attendant unit twitches. 

“Sun?” you ask, stepping closer. The animatronic twitches again, one hand, then a whole leg, spastic and out of control like it’s being electrocuted in bits and pieces. Their rays start to poke out, then snap back into place with an audible click. One gets stuck, tangled up in white and blue fabric. “Moon, Sun, it’s okay,” you say, voice barely audible over their fans starting and immediately going into overdrive. “You’re safe. It’s me.” 

“Sunshine!” Sunny’s voice breaks when you are close enough to touch the twitching attendant’s foot. 

Your ears pop as the doors open, and you twitch, turning just enough to hold out a hand. “Sunny, it’s okay. I know but… they’re glitching out. I think they’re going to Eclipse.” 

“All the more reason to stay away!”

“You stay there if it makes you comfortable, but if they’re Eclipsing…” You turn back in time to catch the rays spring out, a handful caught in the hat, shredding into it. “I’m staying. Sun? Moon?”

There’s no reply from the animatronic, just more twitching and spasming. You want to free the rays from their hat, but this early model has no silicone softening the metal edges. They’re just a bunch of very dull knives and with no consciousness controlling their movements. You settle for touching their shoe instead, feeling the twitching of their actuators. Are they in pain? Can they feel anything at all?

“Hey, be careful in there! I’m unplugging the cords now and sometimes they can be a little whippy.” You grimace, pulling away as far as you could without relinquishing your touch over the moon patch. You give a thumbs up without looking away. 

The cords are a little whippy, jerking away from the table and snapping back into the ceiling with such force that it makes them look alive. You hate Parts and Services. 

“We’re at ninety percent now. Sunny, if you can step back? We don’t know how they’ll react to another Attendant hovering.”

“Right… right.” Sunny’s voice is closer, and you’re surprised to find he’d crept well inside the cylinder, the distance between the two of you halved. He holds his hands up, retreating back to the door. You stare and he gives a timid little shrug, his faceplate tilted towards the now waking animatronic. 

You’ve been around FazCo branded animatronics for ten years now, been in love with one, this one, for almost as long. Even in a new body, even Eclipsed, you know they’re waking from the change in their fans, slowing briefly with a little click clatter click before returning to overdrive. The foot under your hand twitches one last time before stilling and pulling away.

There’s static, climbing up your arm and into your mind as you look up. There’s static there too, a thin, trembling stream from Eclipse’s hidden speakers. They’re staring at you, eyes locked on. You shift, and they shift, ever so slightly, eyes tracking the scars visible on your face. 

“Eclipse?” you ask, holding a hand up as they start to answer. “No, it’s okay. I-I am happy to see you. You’re here. You’re safe. You’re both safe, right?” 

You have to walk around the table. They still watch you, hands limp at their side until you reach for the nearest one. They flinch away, dragging their hand into their lap, claws catching on the coarse material of their waist ruffle. Once, a long time ago, you’d asked about those claws and Moon had explained they used to play stringed instruments, just like the glamrocks did now. 

“You won’t hurt me,” you tell them, taking their hand anyway and squeezing it so hard you can feel a joint in your wrist pop. You toy with one of the claws with your thumb, worrying the little gear that makes it flip back into their fingers, sighing softly. “You didn’t hurt me.” 

You look up to see them staring at you, and despite things, you give a little laugh. A wet laugh, something sticking in your throat uncomfortably. “It wasn’t you Moon.” 

You don’t know how or when, but a cold hand brushes over the ruined half of your face, stroking the skin just under your eye. It pulls back, metal shiny with tears. You laugh again, hiccuping and holding your free hand up to your face as you force yourself to calm down. “I’m okay. I’m here. You’re here. I missed you so much you big stupid dummy.” 

You can’t wait any longer, so you throw yourself at Eclipse, worming your hands under their arms, tucking your face carefully under their faceplate, away from the metal rays. They can’t see you crying like this, but it’s an ugly messy, human thing and their neck ruffle is horrifically itchy. The slow weight of hands on your back make you sob, voice breaking. 

There’s a few minutes that are likely very awkward for everyone not currently on or half on the cylinder’s table, but you don’t notice any change until there are claws digging in your back. “Eclipse,” you mumble, lifting your head, but the hands pin you to their torso. “Eclipse, what’s wrong?”

“I-it might be me!” Sunny’s voice trips over itself. “I, we, all of us wanted to make sure you were okay?”

“I’m okay,” you say, a little too softly at first. You feel up for Eclipse’s cheek, stroking it gently. “‘Clips, let me up. Sunny isn’t going to hurt us.” 

The hands dig, and you can feel those claws in your skin, but they loosen as you continue to push up. You settle on the table a little awkwardly, perched to avoid hurting Eclipse with your weight. You wipe at your eye, trying to clear your vision, before taking Eclipse’s hand again. “Sorry Sunny. I know things aren’t going as planned but…” You clear your throat, smiling weakly. “Sunny, this is Clips. They Daycare Attendant from my old plex. Eclipse, this is Sunny. He’s the Daycare Attendant here in Sandusky. He uh, he helped convince me it was worth trying to save you.” You hesitate. “He and his Moon went through it too,” you say more softly. Eclipse’s grip tightens on you and Sunny grimaces. “We’ll talk about it later, when everyone’s recovered. Sunny, move.” You gesture and he gives you a confused look before stepping out of the way.

Anika and Gemma are staring through the thick plexi of the cylinder. Gemma’s mouth is hanging open, but Anika looks vaguely smug. You hold up your entwined hands in a wave. “That’s Gemma and Anika. Gemma helped get this body back online and you in it, and Anika helped me save you. We saved you.” Oh, you’re starting to cry again. 

“Welcome back to the world of the living.” Gemma’s voice is clipped, and she turns her monitor back to you. You can just barely see some graphs and charts, but the orangey-red lines, and the continued strain of Eclipse’s fans clue you in before Gemma can. 

“Oh, oh, Eclipse, you need to restart with just one of you fronting.” You turn back to them, catching them staring at you once again. You twist around to hold their face, stroking over the edge and the craters, finding the large swirl of an eyebrow before you reach their hat. They flinch as you pull at it. “I know. But I’ll stay right here the entire time. I won’t even let go of your hand.” 

“Sunshine, that’s—”

“I’m staying right here Sunny,” you say, a little more sharply than you meant to sound, but the intent remains. You don’t look away from Eclipse, leaning forward to press a kiss over the moon’s eye. “I am staying right here. You can restart. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.” 

Eclipse stares, and there’s a long, long minute where you worry they’re going to refuse until they burn out but finally there’s a soft stream of static and a nod. Eclipse leans forward as you pull on their hat, freeing it incrementally from their rays. The light from their eyes dims and goes out, their fans slowing a couple minutes later. You pull the hat free successfully, their hand slipping from yours as you check over the fabric. It’s torn and greasy where it’d gotten caught in the gears, but you can probably fix it, if they want. Or perhaps you’ll be able to get help remaking their old hat, if that’s what they preferred.  

“Is everything all right?” Sunny’s voice is quiet, and his hand is soft as it rests on your shoulder. You twitch but don’t pull away, watching your attendant’s faceplate intently for any flicker of light. “They’ll turn on again.” 

“I know they will. But will they be able to let go? It’s got to be Moon, I think. It’s always been more willing to take control.” Sunny’s gentle verbal prodding compels you to continue. “Sun’s a softie, even if she does have a spine about the rules, her rules. The ones that are important to her. She tried so hard…” You trail off into a cough, swallowing back the lump wrong and making it worse on yourself. You have to wipe at your eyes again, sniffing hard. “But if Moon is scared or upset, they might Eclipse again.”

The startup is quieter, so you miss it in your talking to Sunny, until you feel more than hear the thrum of the animatronic’s inner workings. Sunny steps back, out of reach, when the rays retract, one at a time, jerkily, like the mechanism controlling them is unfamiliar to the Moon currently in control. Because it’s Moon who is waking up now, and it’s Moon’s gravelly voice that lets out a surprised noise when you immediately push into a hug. 

“Starlight?” 

The nickname is enough to make you cry again, and you squeeze him so tightly your arms hurt. “I’m here Moony. I’m here. And I’m never leaving you again.” 

[tokillamockingbird427]

You know what would be cute‽ baby David and baby Logan "working" on their motorized toy car(s) next to Elias when he's working on his hobby car

🐺

They're all just hanging out in the garage, rock music playing (at a reasonable and not ear-shattering level for once, because Elias doesn't want to give the boys tinnitus.), while they both work on their cars.

David is poking/tapping various parts with random tools while Logan sits there looking very serious and pointing at random spots for his brother to "fix", while also occasionally getting up at Davids request to bother Elias for another tool. Elias plays along by giving their car a very serious look over before going "Looks like a problem for a 10mm, buddy." and handing over said tool. Other 70% of the time he's elbow deep in his hobby car, some older model muscle car, covered in grease/oil, having the time of his life.

Elias will also occasionally involve the boys in what he's tinkering with, showing them whatever problem there is or whatever he's trying to install, and telling them what he's doing about it. When they're littler, he doesn't let them do a lot, just quizzes them on anything familiar and leads them through what he's doing, but as they get older (Like into their teens) he lets them do more hands-on stuff. (Reason being he doesn't want them to hurt themselves somehow.)

[gortash-did-nothing-wrong]

Enver Gortash Musings 11

Warnings: Mentions of virginity, mentions of wedding night sex, sexist ideas about virginity (not from Enver though he couldn't care less)

Minors do not read!!!

The second outing Enver took you to was at his own estate. Smaller than your parent's, but big enough to suit a minor Lord. Then again, if rumors were to be believed Enver would be much more than a lord soon. Typically, having an outing at the man's estate was improper, but the rules were changed due to it being arranged. Enver had already paid a bride price for your hand. The property outside of Baldur's Gate that was your dowry was already being sighed over to him soon. The farm, the mill, and the country estate your family used for vacations during the summer. All of them would soon belong to Enver, to one day pass down to your children. Ugh. You could barely wrap your head around it.

Enver gave you a tour around his estate as your parents stayed in the parlour. "I'm surprised you got the to agree to let us be so... Alone." You admit.

Enver chuckled, repositioning his cane a bit as you walked through the back door of his home out into his outdoor entertaining space. Or, at least it was intended to be an entertaining space. Stone flooring that was once solid and polished, intended to be a dining area beneath the woven overhang, had been ripped into with pickaxes so a forge could be installed. Three different anvils littered the area around it, along with racks upon racks of blacksmithing equipment.

"Noble parents safeguard their daughters chastity like hawks so that they can marry her off. Noblemen are quite odd about insisting their wife be a virgin. I never saw the appeal." Enver dismissed. "I've already agreed to marry you, the paperwork is complete, and I don't care if you've ever laid with another man or woman. It doesn't matter to me."

You felt your face grow hot, both due to his blunt words and the heat from the forge. "Regardless of your preference, I have my maidenhead, and I plan on having it at my wedding."

Enver chuckles, leading you to the forge and putting on a pair of thick leather gloves. "Whatever you prefer."

He grabs a pair of metal tongs, thrusting them into the fires of the forge and pulling out a cup of molten metal. "Grab that mold, and put it on top of the flat part of the largest anvil."

You panic, having never done any blacksmithing work in your life. You don't know what the mold is, but you grab what he was pointing to and put it on the biggest anvil you see.

You step back, watching him pour the molten metal into the opening of the mold, his hands steady as the metal comes out in a bright red and white stream. Soon the mold is filled, and he drops the stone cup into a bucket of sand, tossing the tongs back onto the rack. He grabs the mold, tearing it in half and brushing the sand inside of it away to reveal a smoking ingot of gold.

"What are you making?" You ask, curious. You knew Enver was an artificer, but hadn't seen any of his creations yet.

"Your wedding ring." He answers, taking the ingot and setting it on the anvil. He grabs a hammer, taking it and tapping the ingot a few times. The metal is still soft with heat, easy to vend to his will.

Of all the things you had expected, that wasn't one. "You- oh. I-I didn't know you made jewelry."

"I make plenty of things." He said dismissively, cutting into the ingot to get a piece of appropriate size. "Every artificer in the world has made rings before, so as to enchant them."

You smiled sheepishly, watching as he put the piece of gold onto a cone like tool and began shaping it into a ring. "I thought they just bought rings and carved runes on them."

Enver laughs, "If they want a broken ring, sure. You can never be sure of quality unless you make it yourself."

"You smelt all the metal for your creations?" He's got a complete ring now. It's rough, needing to be shaped and smooth, but it's a ring. He takes it away from the anvil, setting it on the table and grabbing a few smaller tools.

"No, not all the time. I have employees who do the bulk of such things. But I've always got something I'm working on around my personal forge. I make all my own prototypes, then pass the blueprints and instructions along to them."

You watch over the next hour as Enver turns the chunk of gold into a beautiful golden ring. He asks basic questions, the type of ring you'd prefer, the size of your finger, embellishments you enjoy. And you talk about many other things as well. His other hobbies, yours too.

"Do you want children?" You ask when you feel brave enough.

"Yes." He says, "At least two."

"An heir and a spare?" You guessed, a sullen tone to your voice. You had hoped he would care about the concept of children just for the sake of children. Apparently not.

"Partly." He admits, no shame in his voice. "Also because I think a child needs friends. A sibling would help."

You chuckled, "You were an only child, weren't you?"

Enver looks up at you, a lopsided grin on his face. "Is it that obvious?"

"I have a lot of siblings." You said.

"I'm aware, your mother went through my list of options." He joked.

You bristled, "Your list?"

He smiles at you in a way you think is meant to calm you. It doesn't. "I knew I wanted to marry one of your mother's brood. Her terms were too good to pass up. A fellow Banite, a strong family name, deep coffers, everything I could have hoped for. She showed me each of her children's portraits, and said I was of course allowed to choose whoever I preferred, but she was quite insistent that you were the best pick."

You hesitated, "And... How soon did you make your choice?"

"About five minutes later." He says, reaching a hand over to take your chin in his hand, lifting your gaze up to meet his. "She was quite convincing."

He lingers on your face for a few moments, letting you blush under his gaze before releasing your chin. He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small leather bag, and opening it to dump its contents on the table. "Pick your favorite."

It's gemstones, over a dozen of them, and scattered over the table. Different colors of each precious stone you can name. Your eyes sweep over all of them, but you ultimately land on one of the largest stones, a deep green emerald.

You pluck it up with your fingers, offering it to Enver shyly. "... This one reminds me of you."

Enver's mouth twitches slightly, a grin slipping onto his lips. "Green, hm?"

You shrug. "It just does."

He takes the emerald, adjusts the setting on the ring, and drops it into its place. A pair of pliers tightens the setting, securing the beautiful stone into the ring forever.

He polishes it with a few brushes, cleans it with a bit of cheesecloth, and then turns to you. "It will suit you, I think."

"I can't try it on?" You tease.

He smirks, "For someone so traditional about her virginity, I'd think you'd want to wait until the ceremony to put on your ring."

You huff, "Fine. I can be patient."

His hands are suddenly on your waist, his body pressed against yours as he leans down and whispers into your ear. "Mind your tone, sweet thing."

You can't help but shudder at his voice. "I- sorry!"

He chuckles, his grip on your waist squeezing slightly. "I'm only teasing. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

Enver sighed, "There are... Traditions with Banite marriage."

You go serious quickly. "... That's what this is going to be, isn't it? It's not going to be normal."

Enver shakes his head. "I had hoped your mother would warn you."

"She doesn't talk about that with me." You admitted. "She never even told me what being a Banite is like."

Enver sighs. "Lovely. It's getting late. We can discuss it another time."

You frown, "Why not now?"

"It will be a long conversation." He explains, his voice taking that gentle and persuasive tone again. Was this how he sweet talked politicians? It was no wonder all the women at court were backing him. "It's best saved for a day with many more hours left in it. Come back this weekend, I'll have afternoon tea served, and we'll speak on it more."

You smiled softly up at him. "I prefer Earl Grey."

[solar-sunnyside-up]

Sometimes ppl will try and Get me by pointing out I'm an anarchist acting within the system I want to dismantle. Ex- My local politics, my community association. But this isn't the gotcha they think it is tbh.  yes - I believe class devision is what has caused all the harm and misery across our history of society yes - I believe we must dismantle these systems in favor of new ones. Tearing these systems down means convincing people there's another way and without showing them what that looks like it's unfathomable to most. hNow, what does it look like in action? It's having a potluck as a community voting on the new playground being installed over the summer. People being so excited about it they offer to help install it themselves, and other offer to watch children while work is done. It's inviting your neighbor to the Regentive farms Soup festival with you and they learn about decentralized food structures since these guys also happen to deliver food boxes to houses during harvest seasons. It's chatting with your neighbors in your apartment unit to build a common space to hang out and watch movies. About sharing tools and clothing swaps and being friends or friendly with the people next to you because you'd fight for one another. It's having a local bar fund the community infrastructure projects with a locally brewed beer in tap, and all you gotta do is get drunk and have a vote then try and win a triva contest or play some pool to get those new street lights installed. Once you realize these things aren't just fun little perks, they're how we're meant to be organizing in the first place. But if a organized community association or small local running provide the structure to get people to interact this way I am okay with it for now. I'll happily warp the system itself until it's no longer recognizable. I'd rather do that then burn it down without any proof of concept.

[evilfloralfoolery]

Please enjoy this little bit of snzfuckery between Indigo's incredibly attractive parents, Astralis and Aurora. It's some gross courtly bullshit and I love it.

___________________________

“My lord, I can assure you that this lapse in judgment shall not happen again.” 

Even from her vantage point behind the hedges, the guard’s fear is palpable.  As it should be.  Her beloved is as stern as he is imposing, seeming to tower over all who cross his path, regardless of their true height.  Clad in crimson silk and fine etched leather, Astralis is both elegant and terrifying.

Precisely why she had chosen him.  Or rather, why they had chosen each other.

“See to it that you do not disappoint me again.”  The dark propriety of his voice is a resonant purr of sound that does not rely on volume to convey the threat. 

“Y-yes, my lord.”

Astralis waves a hand.  “Away with you, then.” 

The guard bows, retreating with a backward step until he feels it is proper to turn his back and hurry along on his way. 

A wise decision, clearly.

Astralis executes a sharp turn on his heel, his impressive length of ebony hair sliding over one shoulder and spilling down the length of his back like a living thing, obedient to the whims of its master. Although she cannot hear just what her husband is muttering to himself, it is certainly not pleasant.  

Fire flashes in his palm, brilliant and stark against the green of the hedges, and he incinerates a hapless, wayward branch into nothingness, his booted foot dispersing the ashen embers with a fluid step. It is, however, the rosebush that receives the withering, contemptuous sneer.

“Wretched and treacherous beauty,” he grumbles. “I would destroy you all, if I were able.” 

He stiffens to a halt beside the gate, his posture rigid but for a moment.

Surely he cannot see her, not with the hedges in unpruned proliferation around her. It matters not, for all she cares to witness is his most certain downfall.

And he does not disappoint.

His austere demeanor falters, the immovable facade cracking into a flash of annoyance and a sharp, singular hitch of breath. 

“--AHESSSCHuh! EHSHHHuh! ESSHH! ESSCH! EKSSSH!!”

He doesn't not bother with the handkerchief, perhaps because the urgency of the matter is greater than he anticipated. Instead, he barely manages to steeple his hands over his mouth and nose, each sneeze a greater shoulder-shuddering, body-curling event, as if his capacity to release it is somehow inadequate.

Astralis straightens with a pointed, indecent sniffle and brushes a length of displaced hair aside.  “If you do not believe yourself to be visible to me, Aurora, you are mistaken.” 

She huffs a short sigh and resists the urge to roll her eyes. 

Infuriating man.

“Perhaps,” she says as she emerges from the hedge canopy, “I was allowing you privacy for your struggles.”

A smirk curves one side of his mouth. “Is that so?”

His smug expression wavers and this time, he conjures the aforementioned handkerchief with a snap of his fingers.

“AESSSHuh! EHSSH! EKSSH!! Gods.”

Her hand lights upon his arm, smile gentling. “Bless you, love.” 

“Thank you,” he says with a sharp sniffle. “Blasted topiary maintenance. I should install an iron fence instea-hhh…!” His breath heaves and he leans away from her.”--hhuhEKSSSCHU!!” 

“Bless you!” She repeats a bit more emphatically than necessary. Her hands slide to cup his face, threads of his silken hair cool and smooth against her fingers. “Nature is so cruel to you.” 

He chuckles. “I believe it was my wife who ordered the planting of this entire fiasco.” 

“Well,” she says. “She must be quite insensitive to your suffering.” 

“Hmm, indeed.” His hands close up on her upper arms and he jerks her against his chest, “Were she not so stunning amongst the greenery, I would burn it to ash.” 

Aurora runs her finger along the straight slope of his nose, pausing to tap the tip. “Flattery is a wise man’s tool.” 

He summons an obligatory flinch at the intrusion of her touch, gathering her into his embrace.  “Sincerity is a tool far greater.”

It is only with Aurora that the sharpness of his gaze softens to warm, copper honey, his fortress of impenetrable emotional detachment conquered.

“Depart with me now before I am defeated by the whims of my own traitorous body.”  A smirk curves one side of his mouth. “Unless that is your plan, my love.” 

Aurora feigns aghast indignation. “I would never dream of such a thing.”

[sofia-in-nc]

WIP WHENEVER

Tagged by @olath124 and @ouroboros-hideout

Modding:

Making my own mods is a very new thing for me. I usually just download from Nexus and install various mods to the game, but to actually tweak the game through my own effort is a different experience. Sure, I can design, animate and strategize a plan that could potentially annex a whole country, but to be honest, my brain just goes brrr when it comes down to technical stuff. It’s a weakness, I must say.

Here is my progress at modding for which I am happy with how it is turning out. A friend of mine from college asked if I could come up with a different take on the CP2077 campaign, but instead of doing that, I decided to start a Myers election campaign.

Despite having no clue with where to start, I posed a challenge to myself by digging through the game file on Wolvenkit to obtain the materials I wanted to change. The Palladia Center billboard was the most amusing thing to edit so far, while the ads that are scattered around the city were quite a surprise, so to speak. Especially the ones that look static from afar but animate in close proximity as the workaround for these is different from the other texture files I’ve edited. The Milfgaard atlas file came in handy for this project! 😂

I just love how modding this game taps on both sides of my brain, although admittedly, I lack on the technical side.

Virtual Photography

Yesterday, I decided to try Frans Bouma’s Reshade. I am strict with the medium I use for editing– avoiding to subject myself to numerous tools simultaneously since I want to master things one at a time. For virtual photography, I approach this department the most basic way: vanilla shots > Adobe Lightroom > ✨cinematics✨ However, I realized that this is not enough, so now I am trying to learn Reshade to amp my shots. Also, I am considering upgrading my pc as it is a potato for the time being.

Writing/VP Storytelling

If you’ve been following my posts, by now, you’d sense my evident obsession with Kusie and visualizing them in the most romantically tragic way possible.

I don’t write– well not anymore, but one of my plans is to connect all of my shots and weave a tragic plot for this troglocouple. The goal: to punch viewers in the gut (jk… or not) No, really, my goal with this is to approach virtual photography with an all too familiar method, which is film making, but technically different because the final outputs are just static images. I want viewers to feel as if they’re watching a movie, being present at the scene, to be at the center of tension between Rosalind and Kurt.

Welp, that’s it for now!

Tagging without pressure @cybervesna @cyberholic77 @awwwokay @dustymagpie @reilleclan-blog @barghestapologist @streetkid-named-desire @wanderingaldecaldo

[bagog]

N7 Month, 2023 - Day 3: Flight

“Happy birthday.” Kaidan pressed the box to Shepard’s chest and leaned in for a kiss. Their lips brushed momentarily and Shepard came away looking suspicious.

“I thought you said you weren’t getting me anything?” Shepard limped to a little table by the window. More than a year of recovery following the destruction of the Crucible and Shepard still walked with a limp. The whole planet seemed to be limping along, though. The salarian atmosphere scrubbers working day and night, convoys from some of the untouched outer Earth colonies showing up to help rebuild infrastructure. Alliance brass had sent Shepard to Corsica to recover, and he’d brought Kaidan with him. They’d only been in the Mediterranean for about a week, and Shepard had told Kaidan that Kaidan’s presence was more than enough of a birthday present for Shepard.

“I wasn’t going to get you anything, but it’s not every day you find one of these, so it felt special. Felt right.” Kaidan sat across from Shepard, the breathing in the warm air that wafted through the open window.

The box was small, and precisely wrapped in brown paper—probably the best Kaidan could find. Shepard removed the paper without tearing it, and then opened the box…

“It’s… a…”

“A T-970 mass effect field generator and flight control module!” Kaidan declared, leaning over the table to tap the label on the inside of the box. It was a mini mass effect module, made to go inside the brand of model Shepard was so fond of collecting. It made them fly. “These were always on back-order before the war. I couldn’t believe I fond one the other day that a guy was pawning.”

Shepard held the drive in his hand, maybe the size of an old silver dollar. It felt unusually heavy for its size, but none of that would matter once it was synced with him omni-tool and switched on.

“Wow, I’ve never installed one of these before.” He stared at the little black disc. His eyes burned ever so slightly to look at it, to think of Kaidan’s excitement, finding this for him on the street. “Th-thank you…”

“I know it’s not much,” Kaidan scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “I know how much you like those models, and I know you really haven’t had any to build lately. Figured you might try flying one around. It’ll work on any of them: standardized to work with all their sets.” He kept talking about the specifications, but Shepard barely heard them for the sound of Kaidan’s voice. Truthfully, Shepard had never thought of getting one of these little model flight modules for his models: the fun was in putting them together, not in flying them around. But it was just like Kaidan to see an old model like that sitting on Shepard’s shelf and imagine it should be flying. Shepard grinned.

Twenty minutes later, and they were sitting outside their little house with the Normandy SR-1 model hovering silently in front of them. Shepard made it rise up high above their heads, then swoop down in mimicry of the old ship dropping off the Mako on a planet’s surface.

“Flies beautifully!” Kaidan exclaimed, chuckling when the Normandy brushed over his shoulder as it whisked up above the trees and back down in a lazy arc. “Did you ever think you’d see the ol’ thing flying again?”

Shepard smiled, took his eyes off his model to study the grin spread over Kaidan’s face as he tracked the ship up into the sky. He really hadn’t ever think he’d see the old Normandy flying again. He hadn’t expected anything like this, wouldn’t have believed it, but here he was: Kaidan holding his hand as he learned to fly again.

[bitterbetabunny]

Hypnovember 2: Reset

Stealing the prompt list @jammed-out is putting together for the month

CW: robot play, talk of memory and personality wipe

When K1T had agreed to let Oakley do some maintenance on it, it had hesitated.

K1T was not made for at-home updates and repair, it was one of many mass-produced bots made to break down just as the new model came down. It had been lucky enough, originally, to be bought by a family that prided themselves on not being wasteful; they had been more interested in maintaining what they had and they were willing to take K1T back to the manufacturer whenever a part broke or they wanted a new update installed.

But that had been a long time ago.

It had been a long time since even the manufacturer stopped working on the K1T model.

It had been a long time since K1T was left to be recycled.

K1T had been lucky to meet Oakley; they met recently, though K1T had trouble remembering the details. Clearly its memory storage needed some updates, or maybe it was some other part acting up.

Oakley had reassured it that they would keep things simple for the first tune up.

Sitting in the service chair, locked into place with most of its motor functions disabled, K1T could feel Oakley’s unscrewing the plate from the back of its neck. It felt the piece lifted and heard metal on metal as it was set aside. The air of the garage immediately cooled its exposed wires; K1T didn’t have any programming to mimic the shivers that human’s felt, but even one plate being removed always made it feel a cold wave run through its body. Before the cold got too far, it felt Oakley’s tools tap at one of its internal consoles.

“I forgot what you were going to fix,” K1T admitted, feeling a bit nervous.

“I mostly wanted to look around and clean things off,” Oakley said, obviously concentrating.. K1T could feel them still poking around. “You’ve still been operating well, so I doubt I’ll need to replace anything, but there’s sure to be a few things that could use some TLC.”

“Are you… going to take off any other plates today?” K1T asked, hoping to get an idea of what all Oakley planned to check. Surely Oakley would get to everything eventually, but that would take more than a day.

“Depends. I definitely want to check some of your processing, sensory, and memory modules. I should be able to do all that from here, though.”

“Oh, but you’re not going to remove anything to actually inspect yet, right?”

K1T felt the tinkering stop. “I wasn’t planning on it today, no. Is that something you’re worried about?” Oakley asked.

K1T saw and felt its lights turn a bright pink. “Oh, I, uh… I wasn’t sure if…”

“You can relax,” Oakley said with a chuckle. Their hands started moving again and they scooted their chair closer so that their leg rested against K1T’s side. The contact did calm it down. “I won’t reset you or anything weird.”

K1T felt a heat in their core and hoped it wouldn’t grow enough to trigger their fans; that might be hard to explain. It forced a little laugh. “Oh, I… Is that even something you know how to do?”

“A factory reset? Of course, there’s nothing simpler. And I would be lying if I said there wasn’t something cute about a blank bot with all their preset bubbliness and need to please.”

K1T let out three beeps in a pleasant chime and saw its lights shift to a darker pink. It couldn’t help but imagine itself standing in the default position the manufacturer had set for it, relying only on the orders given with no mods or set preferences to operate on. The ping of pleasure that came from even the simplest task when its head was so empty.

“There’s nothing simpler,” Oakley said again. “But I don’t do that often. I’m selective on the bots I work on and I only make changes or alterations upon request, I’m a mechanic, not a monster.”

“That’s… That’s good,” K1T said, glad that Oakley seemed to be ignoring their obvious… excitement. They were almost too embarrassed to say anything more, but their curiosity won. “Do you still have the bots you reset? Do you consider yourself a collector?”

“Sometimes, but I don’t have any bots under my full time care right now, but I have three that I do maintenance on at least once a month. I backup my bots before I reset them, so after we have a little fun I merge all the memory files so they can remember what we did while still retaining who they were. I have one bot that I reset fairly often, but that’s just because its girlfriend isn’t confident enough to do it herself and that’s what they like.”

The noise behind K1T indicated that Oakley was switching out their tools.

“Just a heads up, I’m going to use some compressed air,” Oakley warned.

K1T felt the chill of the compressed air, but the gentle tickle of it elicited a hum from its chest. Oakley focused on the nearest components first before angling the can to get at pieces farther up into K1T’s head. Although the module wasn’t programmed for touch sensitivity, K1T felt a bolt of static ran through its body as the air ran over its memory module.

Oakley set the compressed air aside and resumed using their more delicate tools, though now they were cleaning components much closer to K1T’s memory module. There were plenty of delicate parts up there, everything that made it who it was today.

“I would certainly love to do a full reset on you someday, if you’d like,” Oakley whispered.

K1T’s fans kicked on.

Oakley laughed. “I get the feeling that’s something you’d really like,” they teased.

K1T’s lights alternated between a purple and that deep pink and another trilling set of beeps came from them. “I– I would maybe–”

“Sweet bots like you are always so needy to be reminded of your intended purpose.” K1T felt a tool slot into the edge of a panel on its sensory module, causing another bolt of static to course through it. “And I love nothing more than to show a silly, reset bot what it means to be a pleasure bot. Maybe even replace some of that default programming with something more important; no need for some of that critical thinking they give you when I can pre-program you to respond to specific commands and know how I want you to suck my cock, hmm?”

A whining trill came from K1T’s chest. The tools and Oakley’s hand pulled away, but before K1T could complain it felt Oakley’s tongue slip into the open panel and lick the wires. K1T short circuited and when its visuals came back on it could feel its neck panel being screwed back into place.

“Oh, I’m going to have fun with you,” Oakley teased, drawing a whine from K1T.

When the panel was back on, they leaned in and gave K1T one final kiss to the metal.

“That might be enough fun for now, hm? Let’s get you fully back together.”

Oakley thumbed open a port covering and plugged something in. K1T’s lights went blue as the information was downloaded.

Suddenly, they could remember months, years that they had lived with K1T, countless tune-ups and mods and maintenance work. They had toyed with downloading alternate personalities and programs before, but they’d always been interested in trying out different resets. They wanted to save anything more intense for later scenes, so starting with a reset to soon after meeting had been a great place to start. To K1T, the idea of getting to experience its first maintenance again had been too good to pass up.

As soon as Oakley initiated its motor functions again, K1T shot up and spun to wrap its arms around them.

“That was so hot!” they yelled, their lights a bright yellow. “Oh my gods, that was so, so hot!”

Oakley winced slightly at their strong hold. “I’m glad you liked it too, we’ll definitely have to do something like that again.

[fipindustries]

wow from the bottom of my heart, fuck python, i can only go down so many levels of weird "in order to use this first you have to install all these other weird libraries/tools/dependencies/enviroment" once im trying to google how to install a tool that i need to install another tool which i need to compile a third tool that will allow me to open a fourth tool to download a fifth tool i think i tap out, im good, thank you

[nilesdaughter]

Wrapped in Love

Fandom: Critical Role Characters: Percy De Rolo, Vex'ahlia Pairing: Perc'ahlia Word Count: 1,065 Note: Yes, I know Perc'ahlia Week 2024 is coming up in a month--and I should be focusing on those prompts--but I've been trying to finish up what I didn't for the 2023 prompts. This one in particular was fighting me, but I finally got it to a point where I don't hate it.

[Also found on AO3.]

X-X-X-X-X

Aside from her obvious love for her archery lessons, Vex’ahlia looked back on her woodworking lessons with some level of fondness. They were not something she’d had the opportunity to do often, as Syldor focused more on the twins’ academic and martial studies rather than their artistic pursuits, but they put her at ease in much the same way that archery did, surrounding her with the comforting scent of wood even when she was indoors.

She naturally fell out of practice when she and Vax’ildan abandoned Syngorn, since she lacked access to the full range of necessary tools while they traveled. She picked up small projects where she could just to fill the idle moments, but her woodworking—limited as it was—became delegated to creating more arrows when she couldn’t buy them and carving small personalizing details into her bow. Even when Vox Machina earned Greyskull Keep, she still didn’t get a proper chance to return to it, since it took several months for the keep to be constructed and then their ordeals with the Briarwoods and the Chroma Conclave kept them away from their new home.

It wasn’t until Vox Machina spent some time away from each other that she could actually pick the craft up once more. As she and Percy settled more into Grey Hunt manor—her manor—they curated a workshop space for him, giving him an excuse to spend more time in her vicinity. (Not that he really needed an excuse, of course, but it was one of the reasons he gave Cassandra when she refused to stop needling him about it.) Over time, though, Vex eventually intruded on what she considered his space by installing a small workbench for her own tools, obtained gradually over the first few months of their break. She still didn’t turn to woodworking often, as she did have to focus on her Grey Hunt duties, but in the quiet moments where Percy was holed up in the workshop and she wanted the benefit of his quiet company, she would sit near him and cut and carve and shape the wood into more “frivolous” items.

She started small, carving small details and curling shapes along the curve of Fenthras, sprawling out from where she had made careful, tiny letters out of ‘sinaeth’ as she made the Vestige hers and hers alone. Eventually, she allowed herself to graduate to larger projects: a small bear the size of her palm, a simple trinket box where she began to keep her Earring of Whisper when she wasn’t actively wearing it, a panel of the De Rolo family crest that she hung above the mantle in the main sitting room of the manor. When she regained some confidence in her hands and her skills, she turned her attention to a more complex trinket box, using different woods from across Exandria to represent all the places she and Percy had seen together, determined to create something for the man that spoiled her with his own creations.

x-x-x-x-x

“Darling?” Vex called with a light trio of taps on the doorframe of the workshop.

“Hmmm?” Percy pushed his work goggles up onto his forehead and glanced her way. “Yes, dear?”

“I have something for you.”

“Oh?” His brow furrowed a little in confusion, like he was trying to figure out what the occasion might be.

She nodded, almost hesitant and shy in the gesture. “May I?”

“Of course, dear,” he replied readily.

Vex smiled faintly and crossed the room, holding the completed box—wrapped in dark blue paper—behind her back. Once she stood next to Percy, she set the package down in the spot he had cleared for her on the workbench surface; he seemed even more confused and glanced at her in curiosity.

“Well, go on and open it, darling.”

He nodded slowly and returned his attention to the package, careful and meticulous as he unwrapped the paper. He revealed the most complex section of it—the various wood types carefully cut and arranged to portray a landscape view of Whitestone as she often saw it from one of her favorite hidden spots within the Parchwood—and ran his shaking fingers along the edge of the lid.

“Is this what you’ve been working on when you’ve been spending time in the workshop?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied with a small nod. “You always make such wonderful trinkets for me, darling, and I felt it would only be appropriate to return the favor.”

Percy seemed to be at a genuine loss for words, silent as he looked the box over. The longer the silence stretched on, the more anxious that Vex began to feel, a small and distant part of her remembering the time Syldor had discarded a pipe that she had put hours of work into as a gift to him. Before her thoughts could truly spiral, Percy let out something of a soft laugh as he glanced up at her again.

“You didn’t have to do this, you know.”

Vex smiled, trying not to let her relief show in her posture nor expression. “I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. And I thought that you might enjoy something practical rather than purely decorative.”

Percy’s expression softened (oh, how she loved that he only looked at her so) as he said, “I believe it actually serves both purposes, dear. It’s lovely work.”

Vex blinked, startled by the praise. “Oh…! Well… thank you for saying that, darling.”

He tilted his head before he frowned slightly. “You are aware that I’m being genuine, dear? I’m not merely spouting niceties?”

Vex didn’t answer, unsure of how she felt about him knowing exactly what he had inadvertently hit upon, even if that perceptiveness was one of the reasons she cherished him so deeply.

Percy sighed a little and set the box back down on the workbench before reaching out to take both of her hands in his, his tremor seeming to calm as he held onto her. “I do love the box, dear. It’s beautiful and speaks to a skill I did not realize you had. And I’m flattered that you spent so much time and effort on something for me.”

She offered him a shaky smile and, in return, he leaned down to press a kiss to her brow.

“Thank you, Vex’ahlia,” he reiterated when he pulled away. “Truly.”

“You’re welcome, darling.”

[melishade]

dialogue prompts. “The sword is truly otherworldly” the world of AoT investigate the starsaber

Okay so this was something that I wanted to include in the actual chapter but didn't have the time nor the room for it. It didn't flow with it, but it was still really fun to think about so:

"WHAT IN THE ALLSPARK WERE YOU ALL DOING?!" Ratchet yelled at the world leaders, causing them to cower a little.

"Ratchet, we talked about this-!"

"There is ignorance and there is stupidity!" Ratchet pointed at Ultra Magnus, "What they are doing is stupidity!"

"I am sorry," Willy spoke up while raising his hand, "What is this all about?"

"Well, Tybur," Ratchet sneered, "We went back to the sight of the final battle to do some research and find out if there were any remains of the powers of the titans we could use for study! But then we noticed a few things out of place!"

Ratchet pulled out a datapad and started tapping on it. "So imagine my surprise when after installed a camera on the Star Saber I find out that you humans are trying to take the Star Saber!"

Willy's eyes were full of panic as he saw masked figures with gardening tools, trying to dig the sword out of the ground to no avail. He snapped his head to the world leaders. Some of them looked just as shocked as he was, but there were a few others darting their eyes away in shame.

"We spend our time and resources trying to help rebuild your world, but you all decide to try and steal the oldest and the most important relic in Cybertronian history!" Ratchet yelled.

"Well there's the Matrix-!"

"Smokescreen!" Ratchet snapped at the rookie causing him to raise his servos in surrender.

"Listen, Ratchet, I can assure you that we did not attempt to try and take this weapon," Willy proclaimed, "Why would we even try to take the weapon that is responsible for ending the power of the titans?"

"Well have some strong intel that would suggest foul play on all of you!" Ratchet pointed his digit at all the humans.

"Ratchet, enough," Ultra Magnus ordered before turning to the humans, "But Ratchet is correct. The Star Saber is the oldest weapon in Cybertronian history. It has a significance in our culture and history and has been used for battles long before your world even existed. Trying to steal it, is a high violation. You could be charged with treason, among other things."

"You all should be grateful that only Optimus can access the sword!" Ratchet yelled at them.

Willy tilted his head in confusion while the world leaders were still a little bit panic. "You say that Optimus is the only one who can access it, but none of the people in the video were able to even dig it out. Why is that?"

Ratchet groaned in defeat. "Come with me!"

===

Later

"As we have stated before, the Star Saber is a weapon that can only be accessed by the power of a Prime," Ratchet explained as he walked side to side in front of the weapon, still pierced within the ground. The world leaders were still unnerved that they were at the site where the power of the titans ended.

Ratchet stopped in his step, turning to face the humans. "Meaning anyone trying to access the device or remove it from its resting place will be met with great resistance. Exhibit A!"

Willy and the world leaders scrambled back when Miko bolted towards the Saber adorned in the Apex Amor. She slammed her shoulder into the blade, but the blade didn't take any damage. Instead, Miko screamed and fell to the ground. She held onto her shoulder and kicked her legs, screaming profanities.

"Miko, are you okay?!" Willy exclaimed.

"God damn it! NO!" Miko shouted at him.

"Thank you for the demonstration, Miko." Ratchet didn't even bother to look back.

Moments later, Wheeljack placed three grenades directly at the foot of the blade.

"Alright, everyone step back!" Wheeljack pushed his servos to single everyone to take steps back. They did so as Wheeljack pulled out the denotator on his person.

"Exhibit B!" Ratchet yelled as Wheeljack pressed the button. The world leaders ducked as all three grenades went off, creating a massive explosion. When the dust cleared, the world leaders were stunned to see that the sword and even the ground was unaffected by the grenades.

"What-!"

"The Star Saber will also protect the environment that it is placed in when protecting itself," Ratchet explained, "Exhibit C!"

The world leaders yelled when a ball of fire suddenly came down from the sky and engulfed the Star Saber in flames. Willy looked up to see the metal dragon flapping its wings and breathing fire, trying to metal the Saber. When the dragon ceased, the world leaders gawked at the fact that the blade was still in perfect condition, and the ground was not affected!

"What the hell?" Ray finally mustered.

"Thank you, Predaking," Ultra Magnus addressed the dragon. He huffed in response before flying off.

"No one can access the Saber besides Optimus! Nothing can damage the Saber at all! You will all be hurting yourselves trying! So tell your pesky human friends to stop trying to take the sword or I am-!"

"Ratchet, you got your message across. Let us go check on Optimus," Ultra Magnus cut him off.

Ratchet scoffed. "Fine."

As they we're all transported back to Aveneg, Willy couldn't help but look back at the sword. It was truly godlike.

(Unfortunately, I didn't find the room to put it in the actual story, so we can just consider this a deleted scene.)

[medys-space]

✨Stardew Valley Mods List✨

I decide to make a list just in case i lost everything for some reason <<

Bigs mods

Stardew Valley Expanded

Ridgeside Village

East Scarp

Downtown Zuzu

Walk to the Desert - Redux

DeepWoods

Sundrop City (i didnt install it, i'm just keeping and eye on this one for now)

NPCs Mods

Lucikiel - Stardew Valley Expanded (SVE) Compatibility

Lavril - East Scarp NPC

Lunna - Astray in Stardew Valley

Always Raining in the Valley - Custom NPCs for East Scarp

Alecto the Witch

Defense Division + Defense Division - English

Juliet and Jessie the Joja Clerks

Mateo for NPC Adventures (STABLE)

Ornithologist's Guild + Ornithologist's Guild SVE and RSV Biomes Fix

Creative Differences - Rodney a new NPC for East Scarp

Yri the Architect - New Custom NPC's for East Scarp

Adventurer's Guild Expanded

Soli - New Skeleton NPC

Crops Mods

PPJA (most of them, or all of them)

Wild Food - A Forage Expansion Mod

Wildflour's Specialty Ales and Meads

Wildflour's Pixie Forage

Wild Food - Forage for Crops Add On

Wildflour's Specialty Jams and Jellies

Slime Produce (not crops but eh, saving this here)

Atelier Wildflour Floral Goods Pack

Tap Giant Crops

Quaint Living - Flower Garden

Floral Essences by Wickedy

The Corrupted Garden

Witch Garden Roses

Balanced Valley

Better Mixed Seeds

Mixed Seeds from Forage

(AT) Asters Walls and Floors Megapack

Golden Crops

Magic Tree Roots (Json Assets)

(SOJA) Ancient Crops

Bonster's Rare Crops and Oddi-trees

Mushroom Propagator - Grow More Mushrooms

Spoopy Valley

Farm maps

Alvadea's Farm Maps - Goldrush

Waterfall Forest Farms (WaFF and WaFFLE)

Texture mods

Random Lost Library Book Covers

StarAmy's Ginger Island Farmhouse

(BAGI) Honey and Mead Icons for Trees - Cometkins' Style (Placeholder)

DaisyNiko's Earthy Recolour

Simple Foliage

Ridgeside's Foliage - Fruit Trees

Pretty Wallpaper

(AT) Asters Walls and Floors Megapack

IdaIda's Wallpapers and Floors (CP and AT)

Skell's Flowery Weapons

Skell's Flowery Tools

Vanilla Tweaks

PC's Kawaii Truffle Foxes

Horse to Broomstick

Mara's Vintage Candle and Magical Vials

Wallet Items Retexture

MSaturn Floaties - Alternative Textures for Crab Pots

Medieval buildings

Messy Crops

Antique TV Sets for Alternative Textures

Better Artisan Good Icons for Magical Crops

Cuter Chests

Better Artisan Good Icons

Furniture

Magical Witchy Kitchen and Furniture Pack

Animated Orbs

StarAmy's Wild Greenhouse Furniture for DGA

Lune's Offerings

Adorable Cottage Bathroom and furniture

(DGA) Blacksmith Furniture

(DGA) RoseDryad's Fairydew Decorations

Cuality of life mods

Horse Flute Anywhere

Immersive Sprinklers

Weapons Ignore Grass

Better Ranching

Wear More Rings ....?

Garden Pot - Automate

Almanac

Skull Cavern Elevator

Fishing Made Easy Suite (Content Patcher)

Fishing Made Easy Suite - SVE Edition

Fishing Made Easy Suite - RSV Expansion

Catalogues are Cheap

Harvest Seeds ???

Perfection Tweaker (This is a MUST)

Pet Bowl Filler

Farm Animal Choices

Horse Squeeze

Automatic Gates

PFMAutomate

Produce to Sapling (all of them)

Better Quality Increased Seeds (all of them too)

Friends Forever (for sanity at this point)

extras for NPCs

Ysabelle's Closet - Seasonal Outfits

Unofficial Ridgeside Village Seasonal Outfits - Alissa

Canon-Friendly Dialogue Expansion

Hugs and Kisses

Ridgeside Rival Hearts - Sam and Alissa

Ridgeside Rival Hearts - Jeric and Alex

Events Expansion

Krobus Festival Events Plus

Romanced NPCs in CC Ceremony RSV

Snack Time

Life Cycle - Rival Heart Events

Lavril - NPC Adventures

Ridgeside Village - NPC Adventures Addon

Robin Work Hours

More Krobus

Lucikiel for Mobile Phone

Spouses React to Player 'Death'

Fashion Sense

YES

ALL OF THEM

ALL THE FASHION

FS - Fairy Wings

Swimsuit Selections

Spill The Tea (Farmer Drinking Sprites) (not fashion but still)

Expressive Elf Ears

Cosmetic Rings

....Others???

MARGO -- Modular Gameplay Overhaul

Skill Rings

Spouses in Ginger Island

Crop Transplant Mod

Trinkets to Treasures

Ridgeside Village Achievements

Gender Neutrality Mod

Noclip Mode

Lookup Anything

TimeSpeed (i have this exclusively for jio, why do you leave the farmhouse so early ;-;)

Better Winter Star Gifts

Lnh's New Greenhouse

Lnh's New Slime Hutch

CP No drunk char during events

Skill Rings REMIX Feat. Paint.net (Radio ver.)

Mobile Phone

Stardrop Flower

Platonic Partners and Friendships

Ridgeside Village for Mobile Phone

Pet Snail

Happy Birthday

SF - Cave of Memories

SF - Mystical Buildings

Stardew and Chill

Challenging Community Center Bundles

MinecartPatcher

Boss Creatures

Increased Fish Tank Capacity

Void Ghost Pendant without Void Essence

Expanded Shop Inventories

Arcane Table Mod

Infinite Zoom

Tell Everyone (Town Gossip)

Ostrich Mayo and Golden Mayo

No Fence Decay