#access controls g suite

[g-witchsulettaneedsahug]

Been wanting to scream about this for a while now, figured now is a good as ever time to do so.

So Gundam: Witch From Mercury really leans heavily into the whole witches and witchcraft theme, which is interesting for a sci-fi show. Not to say that they don't do it gloriously tho and in this post I will be pointing towards some of the symbolism that I noticed in the show.

The series starts with the first witch we see inside a Gundam Mobile Suit, none other then our dearest Elnora Samaya, also now known as Prospera Mercury. During the prologue, before anything else, we see her and once she exists the dark of the cockpit its revealed that she has fiery, blood red hair.

(Source: prologue G-witch)

Historically, witchcraft has been associated with red heads because of the many prejeduces against them. Red heads are a minority who have been associated with a lot interesting figure, from Judas who betrayed Jesus to the depictions of Lilith. This has given redheads a negative connotations in the Western World.

Next we see that the head researcher leading this project on GUND-format is also a woman, an older woman at that. Dr Cardo Nabo is the visionary leading this project, dedicated to the cause of making the GUND-format work in conjunction with humanity, in order to improve their lives and perserve their future. She knows that humanity, if it wishes to expand further into space and continuenits next steps into exploration and living outside of Earth, will need technology in order to aid their bodies in order to survive and thrive.

Older women involved in a form of medicine is an other motif in witchcraft and witch stereotypes. Witches were often involved in medicine and care. Cardo is the italian way of refering to a thistle, a purple green prickly flower that was said tp have medicinal properties in the middle ages.

(Source: Prologue G-witch)

During this prologue and later in the show it is revealed that the reason why the Vanadis Institute, of which Dr. Nabo was the head of, was doing resesrch into the GUND-format in conjunction with Mobile Suits because that was the primary way to get access to money for further research. Military funding through Ochs-Earth, an Earthian military company, would allow the Institute to further their goals and to show the viability of the GUND-format.

However, they encountered difficulties during their research. Mobile Suits are far larger and more difficult to control then prostethic limbs. The higher the permet score used by an individual to control more of the suit, the more the chance of death grows. Anything higher then score 3 caused deaths to the user because of, presumably, a data overload caused by the Permet link.

This caused a lot of ethical debates and strife, presumably, where the GUND-format was cast into a dangerous and even inhuman light because of its potential to not just kill others but also the users themselves. This led to the eventual forceful suspension of the project by the council, during which Cathedra used the Dominicus Forces to attack and kill all those present on Fólkvangr, the asteroid where the Vanadis Institute was located. Those present on Fólkvangr were both staff of the institute as well as their family. Everyone who was involved or related to the development of the GUND-format were killed in what is essentially a witch hunt.

Fólkvangr is an other reference to witchcraft, as in Norse Mythology this is a heavenly field in the afterlife ruled over by Freyja, a goddess of many things including magic (to see and influence the future). An other name for Freyja is Vanadís. Once again, this is a reference to paganism and witchcraft within the G-Witch universe thats quite obvious. Ochs also may or may not be a reference to the Old English word for "Oak" (not too sure about that one), if this is indeed true then this may be a reference to Thor, god of Thunder and Lightening as well as a warrior. I considered connecting oaks to Yggdrasil, the world tree, but that is an Ash tree, not an oak.

During the discussion in which the Mobile Suit council werebdeciding the fate of further development of Gundam Mobile Suits, Delling came forth and said that they had to "Wield the hammer of witches" in order to put a stop to the development of Gundams. The "hammer of the witches" is a reference to the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th century guide on hunting and persecuting witches.

During his speech at the conference, he also calls the fact that gundams kill not only other soldiers but also their wielders a curse, once again a reference to witches. Prior to saying this he also says however that humans should kill humans, instead of humans being killed by just technology (really simplifying this) but essentially what he is saying is that the Gundams killing their wielders is unnatural and goes against the normal way of things.

(Source: Prologue G-witch)

The irony of this is also the name of these organisations. Cathedra is a literal reference to the throne upon which a bishop sits, Dominicus means "of the Lord/Lord's". Both are a reference towards christianity and its opposition to both withcraft and paganism.

Now we have established whom exactly this show calls "Witches", these are the people involved in the manufacturing, research, development and piloting of the GUND-format and Mobile Suits using said format, be it for medicinal or war uses. If you are associated or sympathize with the use of this technology, you are considered "a witch".

Putting this into context, we can now also look at the name "Witch From Mercury". Who does this refer to? I've seen people argue that this might be Aerial or Prospera, but I sincerely disagree. As of the knowledge we have come to learn of in both the short novel as well as everything from episode 16/season 2 episode 4 onwards, we can assume that Suletta was the only one actually raised on Mercury and who feels any connection to the planet at all. Suletta, as both a pilot of a Mobile Suit using the GUND-format as well as the daughter of a witch (Elnora/Prospera), is a witch.

(Source: G-witch teaser announcement)

Now onto my FAVOURITE part: the 2nd ED Red Birthmark. Oh boi this baby has some of the more blatant witch references, I absolutely love it ngl. Starting with the name itself, historically one of the methods to hunt for witches was to check for birthmarks/skin marks. Having strange birthmarkings or an insensitive patch of skin was basically proof enough of you being a witch, again a part of the witch hunt theme.

The song, which I am convinced is from Miorine's perspective (tho maybe/perhaps Aerial, tho thats a small maybe), makes references to seeing into the future, not liking whats in it and changing destiny yourself. Once again, these are themes of clairvoyance, the sort of magic Freyja is associated with (aka Vanadís). Witches were often said to be able to look into the future and change things as well.

Next we have the visual parts if the ED. I'm sure we all ate utterly in love with.

From 0:44 to 1:00 we have this beautiful sequence of Suletta dancing and conducting GUN-bits.

First Suletta creates a stylized version of the Triple Goddess Symbol, a well known pagan icon amongst both witchcraft practitioners as well as wiccans. The symbol contains 3 moons in different phases; waxing, full and waning. The symbol represents the 3 phases of the goddess; the maiden, the mother and the crone. This is both the life lifecycle of a girl as well as the eay that wisdom is often bestowed upon a person, from the elderly to the adults to the children. You could even argue that this could represent Dr. Nabo, Elnora/Prospera and Suletta.

(Source: G-witch 2nd ED)

Following this we have 5 Suletta's dancing together in which one can assume is a circle dance. Circle dances bave historically been associated with both witches, pagans and cultists. Something ritualistic.

Anyway I'm tired now but there are like way more witchcraft references in the whole show that I can't get into right now cause I'm tired lmao. Anyway have fun with the above, peace.

[sod4leaf]

STAR ARCHIVES: 2

Talun are semi bipedal scavengers, and one of the oldest sophont species. Talun society is ancient, having begun the long road of civilization 250.000 years ago. It's worth noting however that for a vast majority of this time they were in a stone age, their bronze age equivalent only beginning some 12.000 years ago, their first satellites being sent into space 6400 years ago.

They evolved to live in small isolated packs of scavengers eating anything they can find. It's a common misconception that they are bipedal, as they are actually more comfortable to walk on all fours. It's however seen as disrespectful to walk on all fours in the presence of people not from their close knit family units or trusted friends, so they are most commonly seen walking on two legs in public.

Their two small arms above their mouth evolved to pick apart food more easily and are now used for more finer tasks like art or writing (art made with their hands is called "Lukuk" while art made with their jaw appendages is called "alak")

The arms, called "talak" in their language, formed from a split upper jaw commonly found on their homeworld due to an primordial common ancestor.

Taluns and their cousins the Todoa are the two founding species of the solar union, creating the alliance roughly 900 years ago. They eventually allowed other species to join, eventually creating the modern day union.

Some 6400 years ago, before the discovery of wyrmgates, the talun began space colonisation through generation ships, sending several arc ships with thousands of individuals into the depths of space on routes to distant worlds. One of these ships was the origin point of the Todoa, Taluns who after their ship's gravity failed modified themselves for life in zero-g. Over generations they lost the ability to inhabit planets, having to use specialised suits to do so.

Their society, by necessity, is extremely collectivist and values the collective over the individual. Talons usually wear suits that are connected directly to their nervous system and act as a second skin. These are used to directly interface with the gravity suits, aswell as access the solar web. A collective web of information similar to the internet, however isolated to the todoa wich they can directly link their brains to using the two cables at the back of the suits which is grafted to their spinal cord.

Todoa don't colonise planets, instead simply building habitable stations in the orbit of suitably resource rich worlds, and send robotic drones to the surface that are directly controlled by an operator linked to the solar web. One operator can control several dozen drones (depending on experience sometimes more) The drones are used to scout for resources, and establish mining or research outposts.

Todoan´s and talun´s re-established contact some 1100 years ago, and after some first small hostilities soon learned to cooperate and even thrive together.

[pencil-peach]

G Witch Onscreen Text: Episode 2

This is part 3 in an ongoing series where I try and document and discuss all of the text that appears on screens and monitors throughout the show! Just because I can!

<<Click here to go back to Episode 1!

(Once I have a masterpost set up I will link it here!) Let us Begin! Below the Cut!

TEXT: (Lefthand side) Registered Name: AERIAL PMET CODE: 5011-0083 MANUFACTUR(ER): SHIN-SEI DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION STATUS: IN SERVICE REGISTERED PILOT: SULETTA MERCURY

At the beginning of the episode, Rouji has Haro run a program that compares Aerial's permet code and registered statistics against other registered Mobile Suits to try and find a match, and measures the probability of the two being the same type of MS. There is no direct match to any other MS by Permet Code, but the system states there's an 85% probability that it's a match for a Mobile Suit with permet code 0025-0082.

We never see the specific name of this MS, but considering that Shaddiq names "Ochs Earth" as the company that made it and proceeds to call Aerial, "...the Witch's Mobile Suit," I think it's reasonable to assume that 0025-0082 was the Permet Code for Lfrith-03.

TEXT: ALERT ACCESS CONTROL [???] [----OF ENTRY A---]

Unfortunately due to the small text of the Alert message, the fact that it scrolls, and it's brief time onscreen, its hard to make out specifically what it says. My best assumption from what we have is that it's a warning currently barring anyone from entry into the 13th Tactical Testing Sector.

TEXT: (Suletta's Asticassia ID) PILOTING DEPARTMENT ID No: LP-041 SULETTA MERCURY BIRTHPLACE: MERCURY HOUSE: NO DATA PC-CRIMINAL RECORD: NO DATA PC-BIOMETRIC SYSTEM: REGISTERED

(Below) WE ARE RESPONSIBLE UNDER COMPANY REGULATIONS FOR THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

UNDER THESE REGULATIONS, WE ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR DATA HANDLING SUCH AS TRANSMISSION TO RECIPIENTS AND THIRD PARTIES.

PLEASE REFER TO THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS FOR DETAILS.

As Suletta is being questioned, we get a brief glimpse at the investigation report the interrogator was looking at before the screen cuts to black when it hits the table. Nothing super interesting here, but Suletta doesn't have a registered criminal record! Yippeeee!

TEXT: CAM: 05 MONITORING CAMERA FACILITY MANAGEMENT COMPANY

Not much to say here, this camera lets us know where Suletta is currently being held. (The Facility Management Company)

TEXT: (Lefthand Side) AERIAL XVX - 016 SIZE: 18.0m 48.9t

No point discussing the info on the right, we've already seen it, but this gives us a look at Aerial's height and weight.

TEXT: (Top Right) COM DELLING REMBRAN BENERIT GROUP

I only included this to point out that wow the display system devs made some poor choices with the UI here. Dark Blue text on Dark Backgrounds? You'd think the text would automatically lighten but I guess we'll have to wait for Ver 6.0 for that update.

TEXT (Top half) MOBILE CRAFT FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

ADVANCED MOBILE CRAFT TECHNOLOGY WITH PERMET MEASUREMENT EXPERTISE NEW POWER SYSTEM FOR MOBILE CRAFT AND HYBRID CONSTRUCTION MACHINE INSTALLATION HIGH ACCURACY DRIVE SYSTEM AND CONTROL SYSTEM IN MICROGRAVITY LOW ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND EASE OF MAINTENNANCE

No need to discuss the bottom half, its just the height and weight of the MC which we already know. I think it's funny how many classes this school seems to have on the new and improved Mobile Craft from Future Technology. I should probably buy one too. I love you Mobile Craft.

TEXT: (Left Image) The Shin Sei Development Corporation was established in A.S. 89. Our business began with the development of integrated operating systems for mobile suits and medical devices. We have been involved in MS development and have supported welfare engineering throughout our company history.

(Right Image) Ranking: D Sales Ranking (within group companies): 151th (out of) Total 157 companies [Mobile Suit Development] Number of clients: Over 300 companies Yearly patents: Over 200

We get a lot of information about Shin Sei in this scene where Martin looks at the Company History tab on their official website. The most interesting thing being that they were founded in A.S. 89. The Vanadis Incident occured in A.S. 101, and the show proper takes place in A.S. 122, so at some point between 101 and 122, Prospera worked her way up through Shin Sei, eventually becoming its CEO.

Given that Suletta had to have been born around A.S. 105, and that in Cradle Planet, we learn that Prospera had been working within Shin Sei when Suletta was around 6, that places A.S. 111 as the earliest she was involved.

We also learn in Cradle Planet, that when Suletta is around 11, Prospera has recently been promoted within the company, and now has many people working under her. That would be around A.S. 116. When Suletta is 16, that's when Prospera tells her that she's going to school, which would be around A.S. 121, and I think it's safe to assume that she had already become president by then.

SO!! TL;DR!! It's most likely that Prospera became the president of Shin Sei at SOME point between A.S 116 and A.S 121. I'd put it somewhere in the middle, around A.S 119. (Can't wait to find out that they probably just outright state this somewhere and I did all this for nothing....)

ADDENDUM

GOD DAMNIT. I WATCHED ALL OF CRADLE PLANET TO MATH THAT SHIT OUT. WHATEVER. I CAME TO THE SAME CONCLUSION SO I WIN.

The text is too small to make out, but we DO get a small glimpse at the letter Delling sent to Miorine about unenrolling her from the school. It probably just literally says what the body guard reads out.

I think it says something that Delling doesn't even like, text his daughter. He sends an email through the official Benerit Group email account to her bodyguard who reads it for her. What a cowardly man.

TEXT: (Left) FLUSH (Right) EMERGENCY CALL UNLOCK LOCK

YES the toilet text is important to document stop fucking looking at me like that.

TEXT: NEXT STAGE TOUCH SCREEN TO CONTINUE

I'll leave the explanation of the symbolism of this scene as an exercise for the reader. [Sultry Wink]

TEXT (Above) THIS ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE IS PROOF THAT IT WAS SIGNED BY A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BENERIT GROUP.

No way to tell what Delling is signing here, but we do get a brief look at his handwriting. It turns out his cursive is really bad, actually!

At the Shin Sei inquiry, Shaddiq shares this graph titled "PMET RETENTION THRESHOLD VALUE", stating that during the duel, Aerial's Permet Influx Values exceeded the standards set by Cathedra.

This graph can be tough to parse, so let me explain it as best I can. The blue line represents Aerial's Permet Retention during the duel. The solid dark line represents the permet retention limit imposed by cathedra on mobile suits. (At around 500) As we can see, while Aerial began the duel underneath that limit, it exceeded it for a moment (presumably when Suletta took over for Miorine and the GUND bits were activated.)

The red line above that is labelled DATA STORM INCIDENT, which is representative of the minimum Permet Retention a Gundam expresses when it is interfacing with a Data Storm. The text on the bottom reads, THIS DATA IS VERY SIMILAR TO GUND FORMAT INCIDENT DATA.

But the key thing to take note of here is that Aerial's chart just BARELY doesn't exceed the DATA STORM INCIDENT graph, meaning that, despite it exceeding Cathedra's standards, it CANNOT be directly proven that Aerial was interfacing with a Data Storm. This is actually what Prospera brings up as her main counterpoint to the accusation.

So the graph is entirely consistent with Prospera's main argument. While she can't prove that Aerial isn't a gundam, nobody else can prove that it is.

Huaaaahh!! Alright!! This one was very DENSE. If you made it all the way through, thank you very much!! As a reward, have some little gay people

[I sprinkle these stills on the ground like bird seed.]

There was definitely a lot of really interesting info in this episode, and while not a lot of it was particularly new, I think it's really a testament to the dedication of keeping things wholly consistent in this world, even for the smallest of things that no normal person watching would even bother noticing.

Also, on the Shin Sei Website, did you notice that they accidentally put 151th instead of 151st?

You can't win em all!

Click here to go to Episode 3! >>

Click here to go to the Masterpost!

[firecoloredwater]

OKAY NEW AU IDEA

What if: it was standard for shinobi children to have an animal (a regular animal) sealed to them while very young, in order to give that child the animals’ abilities later, in a werecreature-ish way.  (Specifically, the type that has a distinct “inner wolf” with its own instincts, desires, and reactions.)

If everything goes perfectly, the result is a shinobi who can shift between human and animal size and shape, and also any combination in between, as well as having the option to give themself senses equivalent to their animal while in human form.  In exchange they have a few, controllable animalistic instincts/tendencies, like liking catnip, wanting to sunbathe, wanting to build/sleep in something nest-shaped, etc.

Of course things usually don’t go perfectly.  It’s pretty normal for shinobi to not have perfect control of shifting: that might mean they simply can’t access certain forms, or can be startled into/out of forms, or more specific things like “can use eagle eyesight, but only if shifted at least halfway to eagle size/mass.” It can also result in things that make being a shinobi completely impossible, such as someone with a rabbit sealed to them who exclusively reacts to battle by running or freezing, and can’t overcome the rabbit instinct in order to fight.  Or, in the worst cases, with the person being overwhelmed completely, turning into an animal, running off, and never being seen again.

I find this especially interesting because while you get all the usual werecreature opportunities (“hahaha no I don’t like him at all.  Can’t imagine why my inner animal is so mad at that other person for flirting with him!  No idea at all”) a character can have basically any animal that exists, BUT which animal they have is usually dependent on what their parents would choose/want for them, and not what necessarily suits them.  So some characters will end up at odds with their own paired animal’s instincts/traits.

Anyway!  I have lots more thoughts but I have rambled through the basics already, and I’m really curious what anyone else makes of this!

More tangential thoughts under the cut.

A sealing is believed to work better if A: it’s done while the kid is as young as possible, and B: if the kid and the animal are as close to the same (relative) age as possible.  If the animal is much older than the kid, it’s more difficult to use/control; if it’s much younger, it’s weaker.

Different clans have different traditions regarding which animals they use.

Some clans use one or a few animals exclusively.  (The Uchiha use domestic cats and hawks or falcons, with very few exceptions.  This is probably the most common approach.)

Some take that extra far, and have a specific breed of an animal that they created and maintain specifically for the purpose, which exists nowhere else.  (The Hyuuga probably do this, though I don’t know which animal they use yet.  Probably one for the branch house and a different breed/animal for the main house.  Nara, of course, use their deer, so they’re also in this category.  The Yamanaka might as well, but I’m undecided.)

Some use whatever is available/useful.  (The Senju did this.)

The Inuzuka are considered weird as fuck because they don’t seal their kids to any animal at all (because their dogs are independent people, and they aren’t going to seal their kids to anything ELSE).

I don’t know what the Aburame are doing.  They could probably seal bugs to themself?  But they also might just not seal anything to themself, like the Inuzuka don’t.

Culturally, sealing a bird to a kid is complicated.  It still happens a lot, because flight is so useful for a shinobi that needs to escape or spy.  But bird forms and traits are difficult to use in a fight (can you give yourself talons?  Sure!  But they’ll be on your feet, which is not nearly as convenient as being able to sprout claws on your hands) and are considered particularly Awkward for girls/women, because of the whole shirt vs wings thing.  Girls do still get birds sealed to them sometimes, though, just not as often as boys do.

It’s fashionable among shinobi to go around with a few of your animal’s traits visible, but you’re not supposed to keep the same traits visible for long.  So the fashionable thing to do would be to have cat ears during lunch and claws at dinner, and a tail the next day.  It’s a way of showing off control of your animal/its abilities.

But that’s like the supermodel version of the fashion.  Most people don’t have perfect control and being a shinobi at all is still impressive, so going around with the same animal trait visible all the time is still Very Cool.  (This interacted weirdly with Naruto’s whisker marks.  He tried REALLY HARD to convince people they meant he was cool, but didn’t succeed very well.  Some people thought he’d drawn them on.)

Most of my headcanons for specific characters are for the Founders because that’s the corner of fandom I’m mostly in, but:

Sasuke got a typical Uchiha animal sealed to him within a few weeks of being born (as would be normal for the kids of shinobi clans).  Probably a domestic cat but maybe a hawk of some sort.  He’s good at using/working with it in the way that he’s a genius generally and good at everything, but hates all instincts he gets from it.  He may have grown up hearing cute stories about how Itachi insisted that Sasuke HAD to get this particular animal, in which case he hates everything about it.

Naruto has the kyuubi, and no regular animal at all.  No one is sure if adding a regular animal after the fact will do something weird and dangerous to the kyuubi seal, and definitely no one wants to risk it.  This contributes to him being considered a loser in the academy, because he can’t draw on animal senses or other traits (like claws) to use.

Sakura, as the child or civilians, didn’t get an animal sealed to her at all until around when she became a genin.  Being a tween instead of an infant she had a lot more say in what she got, but she used that mostly for “what would Sasuke like?”  On the other hand she IS smart, so she probably picked something that’s known first for being pretty, but is also very useful.  A swan would work very well but is kind of the obvious answer.  A cat is also likely, especially if Sasuke has a cat too.  Regardless she struggles for a while with how to keep the animal happy/cooperative, since she’s not used to having non-human instincts or desires and finds some of them a bit embarrassing.

Kakashi has a wolf.  He REALLY wishes he had a dog, or at least a wolf that looked more like a dog, but.  That’s a wolf.

Hashirama has an Ussuri brown bear.  Powerful, impressive, but not overly aggressive; a very good standard (Future) Leader/Clan Heir animal.  Butsuma might very well have the same, and if not, he probably has a Japanese black bear.  (The Senju don’t limit themselves to one animal as a clan, but they do have sometimes very specific thoughts about what’s appropriate for/conducive to someone’s position in life.)

Tobirama has a dog, either Kai Ken or Kishu.  Useful, obedient, loyal, but not particularly friendly to anyone outside his immediate family.  Great for the second in command/backup heir.

Itama has either a Blakiston’s fish owl or a Long-eared owl: great for sneaking and spying in places/ways that bears and dogs can’t.  Mostly this was to cover the bases that Hashirama and Tobirama didn’t.

Kawarama has a boar: powerful, dangerous, and aggressive to the point of recklessness.  It was meant to make him a better weapon.

Madara skipped the “domestic” part of the Uchiha standard domestic cat and has a tiger.  He likes to give his hair stripes.  Unusually (for a shinobi that has the ability) he almost never gives himself claws because that would ruin his gloves.

Izuna has a... well, a bird.  I’m eyeing the black kite (known to spread fires in order to hunt) and Lidth’s jay (aesthetic corvid), but really any hawk/falcon/similar would work equally well.  Could get into eagles too.  (Or hummingbirds, for humor.)

Mito probably had an ordinary fox, and had some thoughts about binding the kyuubi to the ordinary fox in order to eventually merge them and make the kyuubi a bit more mortal/manageable.  It didn’t work though, for her or for Kushina (who might well have had an entirely different animal to begin with) and Naruto doesn’t have a regular animal at all.

I think that edo tensei summons just... don’t have their animal anymore.  It’s a flaw that frustrated Tobirama immensely.  All of those abilities are gone, so in this verse edo tensei versions of people are significantly limited relative to how they were while alive.  Not enough to make them weak, but it’s a pretty dramatic omission.

[prouvaireafterdark]

Practical Ethics || Chapter Four

In which Armand breaks into Louis’ office and gets a little more than he bargained for.

| One | Two | Three |

Also on AO3! (and for the love of god please check the AO3 tags before reading this lmao)

***

It’s late the following Saturday night when Armand drives his Vespa back to campus.

The doors to Trinity Hall are locked at this hour, but luckily Armand has keycard access since the graduate student offices are located in the dark, almost catacomb-like underbelly of the building. He waves his student ID in front of the sensor and gets into the building without any trouble at all. 

It’s dark inside, only a few, sparing lights left on throughout the building. Armand is quiet as a mouse as he navigates the halls that lead toward the Religion and Philosophy department’s suite of offices, listening closely for any sign that he is not alone. He should be, given that even the most studious of students is likely home at this time now that midterms are over, but one can never be too careful.

It isn’t long before Armand is standing in front of a familiar office, the words Louis de Pointe du Lac, Associate Professor printed on the placard fixed to the wall by the door. He notices something new taped to the door as well, and so he uses the light on his iPhone to illuminate it.

It’s a shiny poster advertising a local theater company’s production of Molière’s tragic comedy Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre, featuring art drawn in a charming rococo style. 

Did a student ask him to put this up? he wonders. Or does Louis secretly have a passion for French theater? 

He turns his attention next to the doorknob. He gently jiggles it and confirms that this door too is locked.

It’s no matter. Armand came prepared.

He pulls a set of lockpicks out of his pocket and kneels in front of the door. It takes a few moments for him to get the door unlocked, but he does manage it without breaking any of his picks and royally fucking himself in the process, so he’ll take it as a win. He enters Louis’ office and quietly shuts and locks the door behind him. 

Louis’ office looks different in the dark, shadows throwing strange shapes along the walls as he holds up his flashlight, and it takes him a moment to orient himself. He approaches the bookcases first, carefully scanning the shelves for anything of interest. Many of them are in French, he notes, and all of them seem to either have some relevance to his research interests or are foundational philosophical texts one would expect someone of Louis’ profession to possess. 

Hmm, Armand thinks to himself. Perhaps I’ll find something more interesting out of plain sight.

He moves around to his desk next, wondering what secrets his drawers might be hiding.

He starts with the top drawer closest to him and finds, among the paperclips and sticky notes and other ephemera, a white handkerchief monogrammed with the initials LDL in gold thread and a short stack of books intriguingly shoved toward the back. Armand notes the titles with interest. 

I Hate You—Don’t Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline Personality

Loving Someone With Borderline Personality Disorder: How to Keep Out-of-Control Emotions from Destroying Your Relationship

Rebuilding Trust: Guided Therapy Techniques and Activities to Restore Love, Trust, and Intimacy in Your Relationship

Armand doesn’t have long to ponder his discovery, however. As soon as he places them back in the drawer, he hears footsteps and two voices down the hall headed this way. 

“Thank you for making the time to meet with me so late, professor,” he hears Lestat of all people say, his French accent unmistakable. “I'm sure you have a very busy schedule.” 

What the hell are they doing here on a Saturday night? Armand wonders, panic gripping his chest at this unexpected complication.

Louis’ reply is drowned out by the rushing of blood in Armand’s ears as he shuts Louis’ desk drawer as quickly and quietly as he can. He has a moment of fraught indecision as he glances around the room, looking for somewhere to hide, until he decides the closet on the other end of the room is his only real option.

He nearly trips over the carpet in his haste to get there, but the door is blessedly unlocked and there’s space enough for him to hide. He crouches down low under the shelf and peers through the slats in the door, just managing to turn off the flashlight on his phone as he hears a key turn in the lock.

The door to the office swings open a moment later and Louis pulls the cord on the floor lamp on his way to his desk, bathing the room in soft light. Lestat follows him inside and takes a seat in the same chair Armand had been sitting in not so long ago.

Louis sits down in his own chair and leans back casually. Armand can see that he’s no longer wearing the soft-looking cable knit cardigans he’s seen him in lately, but an officious tweed suit, leather patches at the elbows and all.

“So,” Louis starts, folding his hands together across his abdomen, “what can I do for you, Lestat?”

Armand cannot see Lestat’s face from this vantage point, but he does see him shift slightly in his seat.

“I am concerned about my progress in your course, professor,” Lestat tells him with a voice like honey.

“You should be,” Louis replies, utterly deadpan. 

It takes effort for Armand to suppress the laughter he feels in his chest at Louis’ words. Louis isn’t done, though, not by a long shot, and Armand eagerly settles in to listen. 

“You’ve barely handed in a thing since the semester began,” he continues. “I know you do your best to keep up with the readings, but you rarely engage in class discussions, and when you have engaged in them, you’ve been insolent and disruptive. If I’m being honest, I don’t see how you can be getting very much out of this experience.”

What Armand wouldn’t give to see the look on Lestat’s face as he absorbs those words.

“Yes,” Lestat says, voice short. He flicks his head as if to clear his hair from his eyes, but he’s wearing it up today—tied back in an artfully messy bun. “In light of my… behavior, I was wondering how much my oral participation grade has suffered.”

Louis stares at Lestat for a long moment.

“Lestat…” Louis begins. “We both know that you are auditing this class. As a non-matriculating student, you won’t be receiving a grade at the end of this semester.”

“Pity,” Lestat says, standing up from his seat and stalking around to the other side of the desk, his movements catlike in their grace. He cocks his hip, leaning against the side of the desk as Louis’ chair rotates to face him. “I was hoping I might be able to participate orally right now to make it up to you.”

Instead of the appalled revulsion Armand is expecting from him, he can see the corner of Louis’ mouth lift in subtle amusement for a moment, even as his eyes darken and the pitch of his voice dips with interest when he asks, “Were you now?”

“Very much so,” Lestat responds, boldly reaching out to caress Louis’ face with one hand, the other braced on the armrest of Louis’ chair to keep his balance as he looms over him. He cups Louis’ cheek gently, his thumb sliding down to sit in the divot on his chin as he raises Louis’ gaze to meet his own more directly.

Any second now, Louis is going to smack that hand away and tell Lestat to get the fuck out. 

Armand is sure of it. 

He’s sure of it.

But Louis doesn’t smack Lestat’s hand away. He doesn’t even lean away from his touch. 

All Louis does do is stare up at Lestat for a charged moment, those big doe eyes full of heat, and then shatter Armand’s mind by telling him, “Then why don’t you show me what that big mouth of yours can do?” 

Armand sits in shocked silence as he watches a smug grin curl around Lestat’s lips as he falls gracefully to his knees in front of where Louis sits. His view is obstructed by Louis’ glossy black desk, but Armand can hear everything, each sound distinct as it reaches his ears.

A belt coming undone.

A zipper sliding down tiny metal teeth. 

The rustling of fabric. 

The hitch in Louis’ breath as Lestat bows his head and finally takes him into his mouth.

This is insane. Armand thinks. This cannot be happening. 

Armand’s Ethics professor—the very same one who was deeply concerned about Marius manipulating and abusing him, to the point of derailing an entire class just to remind his students of the ethical problems of student/teacher relationships—is absolutely not getting his dick sucked by a student in his office!

But even as his mind rebels against the very idea, Armand cannot ignore the evidence of his own eyes and ears, nor can he bring himself to look away, his attention caught on the rapturous look on Louis’ face and the slick sounds of Lestat’s mouth on his cock as the top of his head bobs in and out of view over the edge of the desk.

Louis looks so beautiful like this, Armand can’t help but notice, his brown eyes even darker, brow furrowed in pleasure the deeper Lestat takes him down his throat. Lestat’s golden curls have been pulled loose from their tie, Louis combing through the strands as he cradles his head in his palms, and Armand is struck with the sudden, visceral desire to know what they would feel like slipping through his own fingers.

“You got no idea how insane you make me,” Louis practically growls, his voice rough as he no doubt watches his cock disappear into Lestat’s mouth again and again. “What it’s like watching you sit in the front fucking row of my class, sucking on your pen ‘cause you can’t get through a single goddamn lecture without something in your mouth. You need my dick that bad, huh?”

Lestat pulls off of Louis, a gossamer thread of saliva connecting his mouth to the head of Louis’ cock. Louis reaches out and breaks it with a swipe of his thumb over Lestat’s swollen bottom lip.

“Yes,” Lestat rasps, his hand still diligently working Louis’ shaft in firm pulls. “Always.”

He bows his head again and takes Louis back into his mouth. It’s hard to see what he’s doing with the desk blocking his view, but he must do something because suddenly Louis—who has been fairly silent thus far—lets out a loud curse, his spine bowing off the back of the chair for a moment before he recovers.

“Should just keep you under my desk like this, use you whenever I want,” Louis muses, eyes once more fixed on Lestat’s mouth. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Lestat moans hungrily around his cock and appears to nod.

“Such a goddamn slut, Lestat,” Louis tells him, something like affection or amusement in his voice. 

Lestat makes some sound like a whimper before he pulls off and pants up at Louis with a dazed look on his face.

“Say it again,” Lestat begs him. “Please, I love to hear you say it.”

Louis sits up from where he’s sunk deeper into his chair, leaning over Lestat to get right in his face. Lestat’s chest heaves with every breath, his gaze flickering back and forth between Louis’ eyes and his mouth.

“You’re a slut,” Louis says again, and a small moan pushes past Lestat’s lips before he surges forward to kiss him.

The kiss is short, but deep and passionate, Louis’ tongue pushing past Lestat’s teeth as he cups his face between his palms. 

“Fuck me,” Lestat begs when he pulls away, his voice high and needy as he wrinkles the front of Louis’ suit with desperate fingers. “Over your desk, come on.”

Louis nods and Lestat jumps to his feet immediately, revealing for the first time how hard he is pressed against the tight fabric of his jeans. 

That must be painful, Armand thinks, feeling the throbbing of his own cock like a distant ache—easy to ignore with his attention so firmly placed on the scene in front of him.

Lestat is about to shove everything on Louis’ desk to the floor with a blind sweep of his arm, but Louis’ hand suddenly shoots out to stop him.

“Watch the pictures,” Louis reprimands him, softer than Armand would have thought he’d be. 

Armand almost expects Lestat to laugh, but instead he pauses to look at the small cluster of frames for a moment, a sentimental smile on his face. He reaches out to collect them from the desk with care before turning back around and reaching up to caress Louis’ cheek.

“Apologies, mon ange,” he whispers, barely audible to Armand’s ears. “They are precious memories indeed.”

Louis leans in to kiss him again, the pictures in Lestat’s hand caught between their bodies. When he pulls away, Louis takes them from Lestat and sets them down on top of a row of books on the bookshelf behind him.

With the pictures safe and out of the way, the heat begins to build between them once more, fueled by hungry kisses and lingering touches. Papers and other office accoutrement flutter to the floor as Louis presses Lestat back against its shiny wooden surface. 

Lestat is the one to break the kiss, spinning slowly around to press his ass against Louis’ groin. He looks over his shoulder as he reaches for his own belt, holding Louis’ gaze as he frees the leather from its buckle with practiced fingers and slides his jeans off his hips.

Armand catches a glimpse of his flushed, pink cock, nestled between golden curls and glistening at the tip, before Lestat bends over the desk until his chest hits the wood. He pillows his head on his own folded arms, making himself comfortable.

Louis is breathing hard as he pushes Lestat’s t-shirt up his back, tracing the knots of his spine with a tease of his fingers before he turns his attention elsewhere. He kicks Lestat’s feet a little further apart and spreads his cheeks with both hands.

“This is new,” Louis says, one hand dropping down to toy with something between Lestat’s legs. 

With his head resting on his folded arms, Armand can see Lestat smirk wickedly. 

“Do you like it?” he asks, his voice breathy as he cants his hips back toward Louis’ hand.

“What do you think?” Louis replies.

“I think—” Lestat cuts off with a moan as Louis does something to him Armand can’t see. “I think you should take it out of me already and replace it with something better.”

Louis takes the green pocket square still sitting in his breast pocket and lays it on the desk mat Lestat is sprawled out on before he reaches between his legs again. Armand watches Lestat bite his lip as Louis works behind him and a moment later Louis places a fairly large stainless steel butt plug down on top of his pocket square. It rolls slightly once it’s set down, enough that Armand can see the faint glint of an emerald-colored jewel in its base.

His fingers return to Lestat’s hole after that, and Armand can just imagine what he must look like with Louis’ fingers sinking into him, his rim stretched tight as Louis tests how wet and open he is.

“Do you have lube?” Louis asks him, his arm moving as he fucks him gently with his fingers.

“Back pocket,” Lestat answers.

Louis dips out of view as he searches Lestat’s clothes and returns shortly with a small packet of lube. He tears it open between his teeth and slicks himself up with practiced ease before lining up his bare cock with Lestat’s hole. 

Armand can spot the exact moment Louis breaches him because he can see it on Lestat’s face, in the way his mouth drops open on a moan as Louis works his way inside until his hips meet Lestat’s ass and his cock is sheathed entirely inside him. Louis barely gives Lestat a second to adjust before he starts to fuck him, one hand curled around Lestat’s hip and the other splayed against his back, pressing his chest flat against the desk.

Armand watches the movements of their bodies with fascination as the room fills with their moans and the obscene sound of skin against skin. In spite of everything, it is difficult to ignore how beautiful the two of them look together—Lestat’s wild blonde curls bouncing with every thrust of Louis’ hips, his knuckles white where they grip the far edge of the desk, and Louis’ beautiful face drawn in quiet pleasure as he chases his orgasm in the tight, clutching heat of Lestat’s body.

After a while, Louis’ hand drops from Lestat’s hips to reach lower, presumably to wrap around his cock if the way Lestat moans sharply a moment later is any indication.

“Louis,” Lestat whines, an edge of urgency in his voice. 

“What is it, cher?” Louis asks with a tenderness Armand isn’t expecting. 

“‘M gonna come,” Lestat announces, Louis’ hips shoving him harder against the desk with every word, no doubt dragging his cock in and out of Louis’ tight grip.

“‘Course you are,” Louis says, before leaning down close, his lips to Lestat’s ear. He whispers something to him then, his hips slowing to a dirty grind, and Armand can’t hear what he’s saying, but the combination of his words and how deep he is inside him has Lestat’s face contorting with scandalized delight.

Lestat’s entire body tenses a moment later with the force of his orgasm, his flushed expression one of total ecstasy. Louis seems to follow him over the edge, shoving himself as deep as he can get as he releases quietly inside him, his face buried in the crook of Lestat’s neck.

They stay locked together for a minute or so, Louis draped across Lestat’s back as they regain their breath. Once he’s come down a bit, Louis straightens up and reaches for the plug he’d taken out of him, which had miraculously not rolled off the desk. With it in hand, he at last pulls slowly out of Lestat, and in almost the same instant replaces his cock with cold, hard metal, plugging Lestat full of his come.

“Fuck,” Lestat whines, no doubt squirming from the sudden change in temperature.

They each pull their pants back up—Louis first and then Lestat as he begins to regain the use of his limbs—and once Louis has tucked himself away he collapses backward into his chair with an exhausted sigh.

“How was that, professor?” Lestat asks, his voice rough as he turns around and boldly climbs into Louis’ lap, his thighs spread across his hips. 

“A for effort,” Louis replies, his arms coming around him without hesitation and reciprocating the kiss Lestat presses to his mouth.

“From the look on your face, I’d say I’ve earned an A for more than just effort,” Lestat says in a low, sultry voice when he pulls away. He strokes manicured fingers down the front of Louis’ shirt, smoothing down the rumpled fabric. “In fact, my husband tells me I’m the best he’s ever had.”

HUSBAND? Armand’s eyes widen in disbelief.

“Does he now?” Louis asks, unperturbed by this revelation, but Armand barely hears it, his mind still stuck on the fact that Louis is sleeping with his student who is also a married man. 

Do the ethical problems with this situation never cease?

“Mhmm,” Lestat hums, pulling Louis into another kiss and then another. 

“Wasn’t too mean, was I?” Louis asks him when they part.

Lestat laughs against Louis’ cheek. “No, mon cher, you were perfect.”

They kiss a while longer, utterly absorbed in one another until Louis catches sight of the clock on the wall.

“Shit, it’s late,” Louis says, pushing Lestat’s chest gently to urge him off his lap. “We gotta go.”

Lestat pouts, but doesn’t argue, slipping off of Louis’ lap with preternatural grace and offering him a hand. As Louis takes it and stands, his eyes catch on something in Armand’s general direction. His brow furrows as he rounds the desk and walks to the other side of the room, his eyes cast down at the floor.

Specifically, at the rug Armand had nearly tripped over in his haste to get to the closet. 

The rug, which Armand can now see in the dim light, has one of its corners flipped up.

The pit of Armand’s stomach drops out from under him.

“What is it?” Lestat asks impatiently, waiting for him at the door now.

Louis gives the room a cursory glance before he walks over and uses the toe of his shoe to flip the rug’s corner back into place.

“Nothing,” he says. “Come on, let’s go.”

They both head out the open door, turning out the light before they close it behind them, leaving Armand trembling in the dark.

[carreview29]

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[jinxquickfoot]

@badthingshappenbingo prompt: Mind Control

Find the fic on Ao3

“Well. This is ominous.”

Tony stares around the deserted Times Square, his suit not picking up a single heat signature in a five-mile radius. Abandoned cars surround him, their doors gaping open. Some even have their engines and radios running. As though everyone in the city center has vanished into thin air.

“Yeah, you don’t say.” Rhodey lands beside him, keeping the War Machine faceplate down, making sure he and Tony can’t hear anything but each other. “I knew Kilgrave was making himself more powerful, but he can control a whole city now?”

“Not a whole city,” Tony reminds him. “Just… the parts we can currently see.”

“Uh-huh. Very accurate, Sherlock.” Rhodey exhales, the sound crackly over the comms. “He said we had until sundown. Drama queen.”

“Yeah, yeah, revenge, power, discredit my name, I’ve heard it all.” Tony makes another slow circle, taking in the eerie landscape. His heart leaps when he sees just how close the sun is to touching the horizon. “Any luck on finding the missing civilians, J?”

“If I had, I would have updated you, Sir.”

“Cranky,” Tony comments. He turns to Rhodey instead. “Okay, hot shot. Give me ideas.”

“You’re the genius, make your own.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“No? Really, that’s not how it works?”

“No, how it works is that you voice the stupid ideas, we get those out of the way, and then I take what’s left and make magic happen.”

“You getting enough oxygen in that helmet? You’re sounding a little—”

“Delirious? That’s just how genius sounds, honey bear, you’ve been around me long enough to know that.”

“If we could please focus, we have hundreds of missing hostages to locate.”

Tony clears his throat. “I know, I know, we’ll find them. Kilgrave’s a pain in the ass but he’s just one guy.”

“With mind control powers,” Rhodey reminds him dryly. “Very powerful mind control powers that he then made even more powerful.”

“I’m sorry, I believe JARVIS just scolded us into focusing?”

“I am so glad you are listening to me, Sir. It’s refreshing.”

“Yeah, maybe let’s reduce sassiness by a good twelve per cent there. So. We've got a supervillain with mind control and an affinity for purple that makes Barton’s look tame. We've got missing civilians. We know that said purple supervillain got to all the hostages at once. We know that all the CTV footage shorted out. We know—”

“It’s the radios.”

“I wasn’t finished.”

“Tony, it’s the radios.” Rhodey stomps the War Machine suit over to the nearest abandoned taxi, pointing at the dashboard. “Is that still playing, JARVIS?”

“I believe so.”

“What’s this believe business?” Tony interjects. “You’re an AI with access to the entire internet and several data banks that don’t want yours truly in there.”

“Whatever affected the cameras appears also to be affecting me. I am aware that the radio is playing, but the words are distorted.”

“But they can’t be distorted if people heard Kilgrave’s orders…” Tony trails off, “Ah, shit. So we can't listen to where Kilgrave told the hostages to go without falling under his control too. So we find a workaround. We’ve got, what, twenty minutes before whatever grand spectacle Kilgrave is trying to pull off? That’s time, we’ve got time.”

“Tony.”

Tony can’t see Rhodey’s face, but he can tell by the set of his shoulders that his friend is about to pull something Tony is not going to like. “Rhodes. We have time.”

“No, we don’t. We need to know where Kilgrave has the hostages, and we need to know right now. It’s hundreds of lives at risk.” Rhodey turns to face him. “Once I know where I’m going, all you have to do is follow me, and I’ll lead you right to them.”

“Yes, and you’ll be a magenta zombie. We’ll find another way.”

“No, we won’t. Not quickly enough.”

“Rhodey, once you’re under his control, I have no idea how to break you out of it.” Panic is rising, his mind racing as he tries to find any other path but this one. “He could make you do anything.”

“Well, you’ll just have to stop him and get me back then.”

“So, your plan is to be the damsel in distress until I can save you?”

“Well, generally as I’m the one doing the saving, I think that’s fair.”

“You’re the one doing the— what about Hammer? The Expo?”

“What about Afghanistan?”

“Um, I think you’ll find I saved myself.”

“And then you would have dehydrated to death unless I saved you.”

“The Expo was more recent so if we’re taking turns—”

“We save each other, how about that, does that sound okay to you? Tony,” Rhodey cuts him off when he goes to protest again. “I trust you to save me. And I’ll save you next time. We save each other.”

And he flips up his faceplate, letting Kilgrave’s voice in.

Tony’s protest dies on his lips as he sees Rhodey’s face go horribly blank. “Tell me what the radio is saying,” Tony demands. “Come on, just tell me where he’s telling you to go, then I can lock off the suit and you won’t be able to go anywhere, Rhodes—Rhodey!”

Rhodey doesn’t say a word. He just starts flying.

Tony swears, taking off after him. “The bad guys could make it easy just one time, is that so much to ask for?”

The flight is short, but Tony is still all too aware of the sinking sun. It glints off the War Machine suit as it begins to descend, touching down in what appears to be an abandoned quarry. Abandoned buildings surround the disrupted rock, towering above Tony as he lands behind Rhodey. “Heat signatures, J? J. JARVIS, come in?”

“I’m sorry…interference…War Machine…”

That’s as much warning Tony gets before Rhodey turns around and fires right into Tony’s chest.

The Iron Man suit is built for a lot, but an unexpected hit from his own team isn’t on the list. Tony finds himself catapulted backward, doing a not-so-elegant somersault along the dusty ground. “Ow. Uncalled for, Rhodes, even if you are—” He breaks off when he straightens up and sees the War Machine suit is empty. “Oh, shit.”

“Sir, I am receiving an incoming message.”

“Kilgrave sent a voice message? That can cause interference in you? Yeah, I’m not listening to that.”

“It is text-based. It should be safe for me to read it to you. It begins with: Look up.”

Dread pooling in his gut, Tony cranes his neck upwards just as the sun slips below the horizon. Floodlights burst to life around the quarry, and only the Iron Man helmet keeps Tony from being blinded. “Well. Guess we found the hostages.”

Hundreds of people line the roofs above him. They teeter on the edge, all staring eerily ahead, young, old, even some kids. And then, atop the building right in front him, now very much without a flying suit, is Rhodey.

I trust you to save me. And I’ll save you next time.

“Keep reading, J.”

“Know that the city is watching this live, Iron Man. Even your technology cannot save them all. Every day, you choose who lives and who dies, and they call you a hero regardless. Not today. Today, they will see how useless you really are.”

Tony bites his lip, feeling his heart pound. No one is dying today, that’s not an option. When people step forward, he’s not going to choose whether he catches Rhodey or the girl three hostages down from him who can’t be older than nine.

“But there’s a twist, Iron Man. My final order to them? To follow the next words out of your mouth.”

Tony stills, confused. “Keep reading, J.”

“Of course, I’ve laid some groundwork for how they might interpret your words. Tell them to leave the roof? They will jump. Tell them to delay? They will jump. Tell them in any way to save themselves, and they all jump. Say nothing—they jump. Good luck, Iron Man. You have ten seconds to decide what you would like to say.”

And then, as one, all the hostages swing one leg forward, balancing on one foot. Tony starts, ready to start flying and catching regardless, he at least has to save some of them, but they freeze in place. So the ten-second countdown is real, then.

“J, what do we do?”

“I’m calculating a flight path. You should at least be able to catch Colonel Rhodes and some of the children if I remotely pilot the War Machine suit.”

“And let hundreds of others die?” Not to mention that Rhodey would kill him if Tony chose to save him over innocent civilians. “So, my choices are to let people die, or…”

“Give a final order that makes them look like you made them jump yourself, which appears to be Kilgrave’s plan to turn the city against you. If you’re blamed for this—”

“They lock me up and Kilgrave gets free reign of the city, I get it.” Tony grits his teeth, forcing his brain into overdrive. There has to be a way out, there’s always a way out. “Put me on speaker, J. Make sure everyone can hear me.”

“Done.”

“Listen to me, you’re going to be okay,” Tony calls out, his voice echoing around the quarry. He’s speaking to everyone, but he fixates on Rhodey. No falls for his best friend today. He can do this. “You know the next order you have to follow is mine. But I can’t order you to save yourselves. And I can’t save all of you, either.”

That’s what we do—we save each other.

Tony squeezes his eyes shut, praying for this to work. “So if I can’t save you, and you can’t save yourselves, my order to you is this: save each other.”

As soon as he says the final word, every hostage is stepping forward. His time is up. They’re going to fall.

And then… movement. Not forward. Sideways. As the hostages reach out and grab each other, tugging their neighbors back onto the safety of the rooftops.

“Hey, J?” Tony is breathless, sinking to one knee with relief. “Any sign of Kilgrave in the area?”

“None, Sir, but we have citywide surveillance looking for him.”

“Turn on the speakers, then.” Sound floods back to him all at once. It’s loud and terrified and relieved all at once. Tony risks a look upwards, a smile curving his lips as he sees hundreds of strangers all hugging and celebrating the joys of being alive.

Rhodey disentangles himself from the crowd, yelling down something Tony can’t hear.

“Did you get that, JARVIS?”

“Colonel Rhodes is requesting that you, quote, hurry up and come and get him.”

A laugh bursts out of Tony, pure relief flooding him. “I just saved his ass, he can wait a damn minute.”

“I’m sure he will remember that the next time he saves you, Sir.”

“Yeah,” Tony agrees. He doesn’t get a lot of good days. But today is one of them. “When he comes to save me next, I’m sure he will.”

[000tragicsolitude000]

Neo Zeon’s Pyscho-Frame

Char’s Neo Zeon 

Universal Century 0090 - Johnny B. Gundam 

MSK-008 Djeh (Char Aznable Custom)

In the MSV-R: The Return of Johnny Ridden manga, three years before Char’s Rebellion in UC 0090, Char is already in charge of a revived Neo Zeon. He has the Sweetwater colony, his new suave douchebag haircut, the personnel and the Newtype labs run by Nanai Miguel. With that, they produce the first test-bed for the psycho-frame in the form of Char’s modified Dijeh. From the Return of Johnny Ridden Archives : 

It was assembled as a test model for the psycho-frame and as a personal machine for the new Neo Zeon commander-in-chief Char Aznable. It uses the same type of Gyre Binder as the Schuzrum Dias and the shield and arm parts planned for the Geara Doga, the main MS currently under development. Under the cockpit is a successfully refined psycho-frame, which is connected to a backup Bio-Sensor. Switching modes activates the psycommu system.

This links to what has already been established about the Geara Doga - Char’s Dijeh also uses its beam rifle. The Dijeh was originally a ground-use Karaba MS, and we saw Amuro pilot it in Zeta (and by Luio & Co in NT). And curiously, the engineer Arlette Almage says : ”That person donated this MS after she had pity on how poor Neo Zeon is …” 

It isn’t named the psycho-frame yet, but the main trait of psycommu incorporated within the frame of the MS itself for maximum responsiveness and control is included. He sortied with it into a battle involving multiple parties near Confeito (Solomon) and activated the new system in a fight against Yazan Gable and an amnesiac Johnny Ridden, to which he damaged them both before escaping because the system was too much for the Dijeh too. 

MSK-008S Dijeh Traversia 

As at the moment I only have access to volumes 1-22 of MSV-R (of which 1 through 15 are translated) in which the Traversia hasn’t appeared in, we’ll have to rely exclusively on Japanese Wikipedia (and it will be used again). 

An attack-type mobile suit built in a short period of time by Char 's dedicated team of engineers, including Arlette Armage, in order to acquire the basic data for the next generation of Char's personal machine. In order to shorten the time to install the new psycommu frame on a new machine and readjust it, it is based on Char's Dijeh which was partially destroyed in the previous battle. The most important operational purpose of this machine is the testing of the new funnels. Since it was completed as a minimum armament system, it was given a model number and a unique name unlike the base machine. 

It’s described that the output of its nuclear reactor is the highest Neo Zeon had at the time and will later be used by the Jagd Doga. Its head is similar to that of the Dijeh SE-R (now with horns like the Sazabi), which was donated by Anaheim. Aside from that, the obvious is that the legs, arms and the funnel-equipped shoulders are pretty much the same as the eventual Jagd Doga. This implies the Jagd Doga is already far in development by Anaheim at this time.

Universal Century 0092 - Moon Moon River 

MRX-013-3 Psycho Gundam Mk-IV G-Doors

In a beginning flashback to UC 0091 in the Mobile Suit Moon Gundam manga, we see the psycommu machine Gundam G-Doors used by Titans remnants before it’s destroyed (aside from the head and its funnel Psycho Plates) by Amuro working under Londo Bell.

The Psycho Plates were developed thanks to assistance from Char (acting under a pseudonym) in order to, if I’m actually understanding the plot right, use the Titans (because of their access to their Newtype labs, as well as experience with psycommu machines and with enhanced pilots) as a field test for the psycho-frame (in the case of the G-Doors, the psycho-frame is incorporated into the funnels) from which he’ll get the results to of to benefit himself while the Titans remnants get wiped out by Londo Bell thanks to his misdirection. 

Moreover, this was done for pragmatic reasons considering Neo Zeon’s position: 

At the time, Neo Zeon did not have the ability to develop its own psycho-frames, so it had the remnants of the Titans, who had the know-how to operate enhanced humans, develop and demonstrate them on the premise that they would be betrayed and disposed of afterwards.

AMS-123X Varguil

In the story’s present of 0092, the Varguil looks like a Sazabi that lost weight and is a pyscommu prototype unit onboard a Zeon ship transporting Mineva and piloted by a Cyber-Newtype from the NT labs. Its body later was combined with the head/Psycho Plates of the Gundam G-Doors that crashed into the Moon Moon colony (as well as repainted in traditional Gundam colors for a mission to take back Mineva from a Londo Bell ship) to transform it into the eponymous Moon Gundam. 

A translated description of the Moon Gundam Mechanical Works by Zeonic Scanlations describes the Varguil as one among perhaps several prototypes, a stepping stone in the lineage leading to the creation of the Sazabi. It also proved inferior in terms of psycommu capabilities to the Jagd Doga, which itself also contributed to the development of Sazabi despite having been rejected as Char’s personal unit because he wasn’t satisfied with its performance. It’s clear that the Varguil must’ve been a key part of that road to the Sazabi despite its failures because of its general aesthetic and the placement of its funnels. Outside of the Mechanical Works, it’s said that the Varguil and Jagd Doga were developed at the same time. It’s probably safe to assume that the X in the model number likely stands for experimental. 

MSN-04X2 Sazabi Prototype (Terrain Mode)

Teased in Volume 7 of Moon and fully realized in Volumes 10/11, this Sazabi was built at a Neo Zeon secret base in Antarctica. The Geara Doga is also complete at this time. 

A translation description by Zeonic Scanlations - perhaps the most interesting parts are the design of this suit was reached by exploring the possibilities of the psycho-frame, starting with the psycho-plates, and by accumulating data from various prototypes and experimental suits. 

And all this was done to illustrate that while the appearance is almost the same, everything about it is totally different from a setting perspective. As the Sazabi is likely the most “powerful” suit, there are probably several prototypes, including some that have been abandoned, so this current model is just one of those.

One might assume this prototype would be tweaked into the final Sazabi we know, but that second quote and the Sazabi Early Test Type (under gravity version)* was one of the models used in constructing the Sazabi under the assumption of an operation to freeze Earth seems to say no. Other things, like the double-seater (and likely the model number MSN-04X2) call back to the MSN-04X Sazabi Test Prototype drawn by Yutaka Izubuchi for the novel Hi-Streamer, which can be described as Tomino’s original version of CCA before it was reworked into Beltorchika’s Children and the movie we know. 

AMX-107P Psycho Bawoo 

Along with the Sazabi and the Doga, there’s also a handful of Psycho Bawoos, one of which is piloted by Gyunei. They’re all equipped with the Psycho Plates based on that of the G-Doors, so I guess that whole operation paid off. 

MS Evolution 

The MS Evolution charts are from MS Bible, and this one translated by Zeonic Scanlations is for the Sazabi. It solidifies things we’ve already covered, like the Jagd Doga being meant for Char and that the Varguil was just one of the Sazabi prototypes (as well as developed at the same time as the Jagd), 

There’s also the AMS-120X Geara Doga Psycommu System Test Type which we’ve left out until now, made for the Char's Counterattack Mobile Suit Variations and was created by Neo Zeon themselves rather than Anaheim who manufactured the Jagd. Not only is it the first psycommu machine of Char’s Neo Zeon, but here it’s said that it came about before the psycho-frame. That would mean - if we were trying to fit things into place together - that it was created before Char’s Dijeh, the unit with the first working psycho-frame system. 

Also, the development for the Geara Doga is said to have started in the late stages of the Gryps War here, while the Fandom wiki and JP Wikipedia places it at the end of the First Neo Zeon War. Either way, it’s mass-production that began in 0090. And speaking of trying to fit things together, this is how the psycho-frame history looks in my mind : 

At the time of Char assuming control of Neo Zeon, the development of the Geara Doga is well underway. From it, the AMS-120X is born. 

The AMS-120X is shelved, leading to the start of Jagd Doga’s development - the Varguil’s development would also start at this time. Jagd Doga parts are integrated into the Dijeh Traversia for effective field-testing, from which the Jagd Doga is completed shortly after. 

The Jagd is rejected as Char’s machine. The involvement with the Titans remnants would start to perfect the psycho-frame for the unit that will eventually become the Sazabi. 

The Sleeves 

Universal Century 0094 - No clever title here 

AMX-107R Rebawoo

From Dengeki Data Collection - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn :

The transformable MS AMX-107 Bawoo, developed by Haman's Neo Zeon, is a machine that has undergone major modifications by the Sleeves. In addition to the separation function of the original machine, a psycho-frame is employed in the cockpit area of the upper body (Bawoo Attacker) and the nose of the lower body (Bawoo Nutter). This enables more advanced coordinated maneuvering by means of the pilot's sensor waves. It was intended to be a dedicated machine for Full Frontal, but after the MSN-06S Sinanju was acquired, it was confirmed that other pilots boarded it and it was deployed in actual combat.

Appears in the manga U.C. 0094: Across The Sky and U.C. 0096: Last Sun, piloted by the Cyber-Newtype Luger Lugh.

nutter, i barely know her

Universal Century 0096 - Heart-Shaped Laplace’s Box

Sinanju & Neo Zeong II 

The Sinanju isn’t a creation of the Sleeves, but the modified Sinanju Stein they took in 0094 that was officially meant for the Federation’s UC Project and was developed by Anaheim. Narrative retroactively added in the fact that there was a second Stein unit that was stolen back then as well. More about that, the Stein and the Rebawoo can be read about on this page written by Tom Aznable. It can perhaps be assumed that the MSN-06S-2 was kept in storage by the faction within the Republic of Zeon that supported the Sleeves behind the scenes led by Minister Monaghan Bakharo until it was time to send it out along with the Neo Zeong II to capture the Phenex. 

Basic info on Neo Zeong/Neo Zeong II by Kakarot197 - the choice to go back to wire-guide arms probably had to be done specifically because the II is the spare parts backup. In the Sinanju’s evolution chart in MS Bible shows that the Alpha Azieru is linked towards the Neo Zeong. As for its development, which is otherwise vague : 

According to Ryoji Kansai, there is no way that this machine could have been made solely by the Sleeves, and the design was transferred from Anaheim as a deterrent to the Unicorn Gundam. 

In Narrative, it’s mentioned that the basic design of the Neo Zeong was made by Full Frontal himself. As for trivia on the NZ II : 

According to Shunichi Yoshizawa, the director of NT, the red paint added as an accent to the shoulders is said to be a decoration inspired by kabuki Kumadori and biological blood vessels. 

NZ-666 Kshatriya 

One of my favorite MS ever. From Dengeki Data Collection - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn :

The concept was to downsize the NZ-000 Queen Mansa, which was deployed in the First Neo Zeon War, while maintaining its performance. By placing the psycho-frame around the cockpit, the space-saving psycho-mechanical equipment was successfully reduced, resulting in a smaller fuselage. It was a milestone in the development of new-type mobile suits based on Zeon technology. Despite its high degree of perfection, it is difficult for the limited resources of the Sleeves to reproduce it, let alone repair it when damaged. In addition, because of the complexity of its fire control system, it could only be handled by Marida Cruz, an enhanced human being.

And from Wikipedia : 

It is an exceptionally high-performance machine in the year 0096, but the only psycho-frames possessed by the Sleeves are those ordered from AE during the Second Neo Zeon War, and there are no facilities to reproduce them, so it is a one-and-only machine that is difficult to maintain.

Lastly, the red Jagd Doga that Quess used before she left it behind to go die in the Alpha Azieru was passed down to the Sleeves, where it was piloted by one of the Royal Guards. From Dengeki Data Collection - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn :

This is a machine modified by the Sleeves from the Neo Zeon Newtype MS led by Char Aznable. Its right arm, which was missing, was repaired by using it from the Geara Doga, its base machine. It is also equipped with funnels, but only two were lost in the battle during Char's Rebellion. The fuselage color was also changed from the red of the prototype to a yellow.

Outside of inspiring a grieving young man to become a mass terrorist, this is the only worthwhile contribution of Quess’ existence to anyone. 

THE BEAST OF POSSIBILITY

[alarrytale]

About Gemma’s pregnancy. As you said the fandom knew pretty early about it. What I found interesting that she was papped with Harry in Italy and she covered her belly with a huge bag. If you believe that paparazzi followed Harry against his will and saw pregnant Gemma they would sell her pics from another angle as well. It’s just proves again that Harrys team choses the ‘news’, controls what is posted and has an agreement with trashy tabloids. I also think that at first she consulted Harry’s team when is the best time to post about the baby. Like few minutes after her post we got an exclusive article with Harry’s and Gemma’s unseen on daily trash which was obviously pre written.

Hi, anon!

Yep, the paps are called by his team. Paps work 99% of the time by commission from PR teams. They don't hide in bushes or camp out at airports anymore. Paps and PR teams are in a symbiotic relationship. So they don't want to piss each other off. Paps will respect privacy if they're given something else in return, like exclusives. For PR teams it makes it easier to controll the narrative and their client's image. Paps don't have to deal with restraining orders, law suits and loss of access to the celebrity. It's a win win for both.

Harry wanted the paps there, and they got the exclusive reveal pics of the O tattoo in return for cleverly hiding G's pregnancy.

I don't think G consulted them about the timing, she decided that on her own, but she notified H's team in advance so they could write tie in articles to be published a long the reveal in order to maximise the impact and gain some publicity for H as well.

[jackietaylorsghost]

Hey! I remember you mentioning you use screen recording to make gifs and I was wondering if you could share how? The quality looks amazing!

oh thank you! i was convinced the other day the quality was awful so that's nice to hear.

i don't know how to do it on a mac as i use a PC but it's very easy. hit the windows button + g and a control panel of sorts will pop up onto your screen. if i can recall correctly the first time you do this quite a lot pops open, most of which you can close as you don't need them. the only one you need open is the capture tab - at the very top of your screen you'll have menu bar. hit capture on that, turn everything else off and pin the capture menu so you can click off and it'll stay - if you don't pin it it'll vanish if you click anywhere else on your screen! once it's pinned just open up what you want to record and hit the record button on the pinned capture tab. my recordings save directly into videos > captures and i believe that was automatic but if you can't find your recording hit windows + g again and then a 'see my captures' will open up on the capture tab. just click that. terrible picture below im sorry but you can’t use gyazo if the top menu bar is open annoyingly. ive circled what you want to click to open the capture tab and then you can see it there on the left. it’s movable so you can drag it to wherever suits you:

you're going to get the best results quality wise if you record directly from streaming sites like netflix/prime/paramount etc which you can do if you're on firefox. no black screens!! i hop on to my mum's accounts bcus i dont subscribe to everything so that's always my first port of call, to check if it's on a streaming site i can access. if i can't it works well on ahem other more free streaming sites (i can share my go to one but off anon) but just make sure you find a link with 1080p! and that's it! hope that helps <3

[pixeljade]

Of course if Bethesda hired ME, i could write them the greatest Fallout game of all time, set in the midwest (around Ohio/Detroit area), an area known as the Cornwastes, about 40 years after FO4. The region has been, since the Great War, basically unliveable due to deadly radioactive tornadoes, but those have begun to die down, and settlers from the East have begun to reclaim the region. Your only character story is that youve come along on a caravan, and you get to choose if thats because you're seeking a fortune on the new frontier, running away from a past, etc. The main story would actually change based on what you choose at the start, with a secondary villain based on that choice.

There would be a faction of ghouls who survived the deadly weather in the region, who claim it as their own land that smoothskins are taking from them. Many of them have taken to violence to control it, calling themselves the Ghoul Liberation Fronf. There's also a group of sapient mirelurks to the north, by the great lakes, who live in a tribal, agrarian society, which seems almost idyllic...but not very fond of outsiders. Of course the settlers have their factions as well; a group of Synths who would like not only to settle down in a place thats bigger than their previous hiding holdouts, but also hope to find a new technology to shape their future. There's a merchant guild from around D.C. wastes which has plots to establish a trading path with the west coast, but who seem to be exploiting their workers. Then there's the raiders, who have finally begun updating their playbook after success at Nuka-world and The Pitt. Now they have something close to organized crime, and they're working directly with the laborers moving into the area.

There's also of course a burgeoning government...a confederation of different regions across the east coast, who have allied with the leaders from the Cornwastes, with little more than power plays keeping it intact. Each region has their own laws, and their own military, but must allow free travel and commerce amongst the citizenry. This results in a lot of friction between the sectors, with military from each sector often exploiting other sectors citizens near the borders. The actual confederated government does nothing to stop these scuffles, being led currently by the same man who founded the Merchants Guild, whose only goal is his own enrichment. Overall, the three factions you see out of this government in the Cornwastes are the militarized Commonwealth Army, which is formed of remnants of both the Minutemen and the Brotherhood, and claim to fight for the good of all citizens (an idea which locals find questionable); the secretive and threatening Capital Coalition (Think like G-men, except with power suits backing them); and the Appalachian Militia, who are made up of some of the biggest misfits in their entire region (including several friendly Super Mutants, who have calmed down since FO4 due to new advances in biomedical engineering.)

Each of the three C's of Ohio and Detroit would be accessible. (hey, if FO4 can have most of Massachusetts we can have a bigger map this time!) There's gouges across the landscape caused by the erosion of the extreme weather, though, making transportation largely happen over bridges, which factions control as chokepoints. There will be a dynamic "sector control" system where you can aid factions in taking new bridges and acheiving their goals bit by bit. Once a sector has been taken by a friendly faction, you can build over the entire sector like you do with FO4 settlements. Of course, each of those sectors have various resources worth acquiring as well. There are, of course, some limitations; sometimes a faction wont want to expand into a sector, because they are allied with the faction controlling it, and there are some points which are considered shared ground. Also, sectors arent just gained through combat...you can take sneakier routes, sometimes even just talking a faction out of their claim of a sector.

As for the main storyline, once you get into the region and finish setting up your character, you get caught up in a tense altercation between the government and a group of armed labor workers blocking the path. Just before the Commonwealth Army threaten to "put the workers back in line", the Ghoul Liberation Front attacks both of them. You as the main character are swept away by a mysterious woman from your caravan who hides you with a stealth boy, and hands you a letter and a key, before dying from a wound. The slaughter ends with the leaders of the three factions falling back to regroup, and the letter leads you to a nearby town. Its there that you end up swept into a larger plot: the key has been passed down for generations, kept safe in one of the vaults, and evidently unlocks a deadly pre-war weapon that was being developed in Detroit. You then go on a story which involves the fate of the entire region, weighing the implications of history as well as simple citizen lives. Will the locals remain in power, or will the settlers take control? Will the government stabilize, and if so, who will be in control?

As for gameplay, much of it will be similar to FO4 with the added sector system, but also, you can actually get synth limbs and implants which are moddable as you progress. This adds one more layer to FO4's already robust modding system, as well as playing into the ever-present Fallout theme of 'what is a human anyways?'.

Anyways Bethesda if you wanna hire me i graduated cum laude with a degree in narrative arts back in may, and have a handful of accolades under my belt. I can give ya a resume and a portfolio if you want!

[disneyvoguemagazine]

#DisneyUnclassified

Ciara reveals classified documents cataloging her exponential time training hourly sessions with martial arts masters (Feu Long, Foxxy Pamela Gurier, Shaft, Stick, Sinister, Sean Combs, RoboCop, Rocky, A Team, The Million Dollar Man, Bruce Lee Students, Master Gen, 3600 hours spent of her life training as a Psychic soldier for the Mickey Mouse Club and the documents found exposing the worm tunnel she traveled through to participate in Mortal Kombat with otherworldly beings, under the allies 'Blade\Sonya' the footage captured via 'sidekick-TMobile' device, documents her termultuious journey dawning the power of the pink ranger zord stored data imprint on the sidekicks sim card and as one of the magic kingdoms most expériences archiologist has rastered 'The Power', the first trials of this Ranger sirum has been distributed amoung the groups @Loona @Kard @MissA ,

Infused with @SpaceX #Cybertron Autobot technology allows the ranger techs back at mission control access to the data collected from the hardware of the new suits.

I.U -Frostlass

Chris Crocker-Slyveon

Beauty Marsh- Chanel (Spriggattio)

Dragonair- Seulgi

Gardvoir- Ariana Grande

B.B Kiddo - Grimes

Ponyta - Bonnie McKee

Wigglytuff - Lindsay Lohan

Espeon -WillowSmith

Ladyian - Flora G

Jynx - Chlöe Bailey

Seaking-Lizzo

Ampheros - Miley Cyrus

Frilish-Noah Cyrus

Mew -Shannon Williams

Meloeta- Kim Petras

Rihanna-Starmie

Aubery Peoples- Muk

MeganJetteMartin-Gloom

DemiLovato-Grimer

IceSpice- Swana

Bambi - Sawsbuck

Altaria- CardiB

DelKatty- Nicki Minaj

Unknown- BTS

Eevee- Nayeon

Ashley Tisdale -Ratata

JeffreeStar-Mother of Frost lass / YakYakk (cellphone conversation cameo)

BritneySpears cameo [ As Béatrix Kiddo of the KillBillSaga mother of BBKiddo leader of the eSports International Champion Team #SamuraiSkirts

with @Zendaya as Nakia Belle daughter of Copperhead of Bills four assets played by Vivica A Fox; Uma Thurman (played by Britney Spears in the Samurai Skirts Films. Synopsis: When B.B Kiddo "Claire B. Aka Grimes" takes her eSports team to the Olympic winter games, the steaks become mortal when her team dawn's the legendary Hattori Hanzo blades after a being named 'Aura' hacks the games code and recreates the events of the popular series Sword Art Online. )

Starring JeannieKim Chanel as The Firth Child Angel EVA unit 05 LaBlanc The black Rose

. In the end the Skirtz win the Gold medal and the facade covering the event is later exposed as the game company's chairs and executives are made a mockery in the industry for their mal practices in their business ethics when the company's abuse of female gaming icons and influencers pops the gaming giants legacy and ruins their flawless reputation when B.B leaks the security footage of the company using the girl gamers as sex slaves and toys for the male dominated gaming industry. When the truth comes to light showing one of the most epic games in history covered for a real operations intelligence interception mission the world watched live as what appeared to be just am online game turned out to be the government's biggest intelligence war in real life.

All of these events converging with GameFreaks Trainee Project 'Trainer Lass' Space X secret splicing program testing engineered spliced genetically enhanced cultures giving the subjects pokemon like essences and advanced traits or above average apptitude s

I.U loop artist details her account as the groups leader or 'Big Sister' the pokè-docustreamentary converges with the groups member 'X Jet / XSR BlackBird 'portrayed by Claire B aka Grimes' her competing for the few positions for the girl group trainer LASS, pokemon company's first ever live music dance reality pop girl band, their experience at Coachella with Marvels Runaways band and working with Minnie Mouse as the events around Hugh Jackmen announcing his involvement for #Deadpool3 as the movies cast were filming around the events that will influence the Kingdom Hearts Movie. With the Mouse Queers proving to the world the magic that was unfolding into the real world has made the fantasy of a magic world living truth tofay.

[toaster-boi]

and just a few years earlier, damn near the exact same thing happened with an entire plane!

'53, Korean war, a USAF F-86 gets shot down near the Sino-Korean border. plane gets picked up by the *ahem* advisors sent by the Soviets, and the air superiority tech gap got a little bit slimmer.

so, for context, the MiG-15 was a pretty good fighter in its own right, especially in sustained turning engagements. however, the F-86 had a bunch of tech onboard (tech the USAF had access to since WWII, for the most part) that made it exceptionally nimble at high speeds.

specific examples: g-suits, basically full-body compression socks that keep the pilot conscious during extreme maneuvers; hydraulically-boosted control surfaces, so the pilot doesn't have to strongarm the controls at high speeds; and lead-computing gunsights, which used a short-range radar to assist with hitting fast-moving targets.

all of this tech was already NATO-standard, but they were completely new developments for Soviet aviation (turns out engineers might not innovate so well when you use them for prison labor) so the MiG-15 was actually quite a handful to use in combat. after the lucky shootdown, all of the tech i mentioned previously was integrated into the MiG-15bis, the second production run, and the two fighters became more of an even match.

Re: the Fagot anti-tank rocket, it reminds me of my favorite story of Soviet weapon design.

So, the Nazis were working in infrared homing missiles during WW2 but never completed any by the time the war ended (though they got close).

The Americans collected a lot of information on these systems, through spies and Operation Paperclip, and started work on their own guided air-to-air missile: the AIM-9 Sidewinder.

They worked on it from 1946 to 1955, when it was operationally complete and authorized for mass production.

The first time they got used was the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, in 1958. The Taiwanese air force was flying American F-86 Sabres, vs China's MiG-17s. The MiG-17 outclassed the F-86s, flying over them so high the Sabres couldn't hope to hit them, and then they could swoop down and attack when they had the advantage.

So the US decided to help out: they secretly helped Taiwan modify their F-86s with the new heat seeking missile, and provided something like a dozen of the missiles to use again the MiG-17s.

On the 24th of September, the F-86s engaged the MiG-17s with the new missiles, surprising them with the ability to attack when the MiG-17s were supposedly outside the operational range of the F-86s, shooting some planes down. This was the first use of guided air to air missiles in combat.

Four days later, there was another skirmish, and an F-86 shot an AIM-9 Sidewinder into a MiG-17... And it didn't explode.

The MiG-17 made it back to base, with the groundbreaking new missile type never before seen in the history of warfare, and it was mostly intact. The Soviets convinced the Chinese to send them the missile, and within two years they had developed the Vympel K-13: a clone of the AIM-9 Sidewinder.

The US took the best of Nazi scientists weapon development, then spent over a decade developing a never before seen super-weapon that would change air combat forever... And one of the first DOZEN fired ended up embedded in plane, unexplored, and then delivered to their greatest enemy.

They might as well just have mailed the schematics to the Kremlin. And I think that's hilarious.

[quintedriving]

Best Driving Center in Trenton: Your Path to Safe Driving

Why You Should Choose the Best Driving Center in Trenton for Your Driving Course

When it comes to learning how to drive, choosing the right driving school is crucial for both your safety and success. Whether you’re a first-time driver or looking to refresh your skills, the best driving center in Trenton can make all the difference. With so many options available, how do you know which driving course is the best fit for you? This blog will explore why opting for the best driving course in Trenton can help you become a confident, responsible, and safe driver.

What Makes a Driving Center the Best?

When searching for a good drive center in Trenton, you want to consider several factors to ensure you're receiving the highest quality education. Here are some important aspects that set top-rated driving schools apart:

1. Experienced and Qualified Instructors

The hallmark of a great driving school is its team of experienced and highly qualified instructors. The top driving center in Trenton will have instructors who not only have extensive driving experience but also the teaching skills to help students succeed. They should be patient, clear, and able to communicate complex concepts in an easy-to-understand manner.

These instructors also need to be familiar with the current road safety laws, local driving conditions, and the latest driving techniques. This ensures you’re learning the most relevant skills to navigate any driving situation confidently.

2. Comprehensive Driving Courses

The best course in Trenton should offer a variety of lessons that suit different learning styles and needs. Whether you’re an absolute beginner or you just need a refresher, a good driving school will provide structured lessons that progress from basic skills to more advanced techniques.

Look for a driving center that offers flexible options such as behind-the-wheel lessons, online theoretical lessons, and defensive driving courses. Offering both manual and automatic driving courses ensures you can learn to drive in the vehicle that suits your preference or lifestyle.

3. High Pass Rates

The success of a driving school can be seen in the pass rates of its students. The good driving center in Trenton will have a high rate of students passing their driving tests on the first attempt. A high success rate indicates the effectiveness of the course structure, the quality of the instruction, and the dedication of the school to ensuring each student is fully prepared for the test.

By choosing a reputable driving school with a proven track record, you significantly improve your chances of passing your driving test and obtaining your license.

4. Well-Maintained Vehicles

Safety is of paramount importance when learning to drive, and the condition of the vehicles used in your driving course plays a significant role in this. These cars will be equipped with dual controls, giving the instructor the ability to intervene in case of an emergency, ensuring the safety of both the student and the instructor.

Having access to well-kept vehicles also helps you become accustomed to the latest car technology, from parking sensors to backup cameras, which can enhance your overall driving experience.

5. Flexible Scheduling and Convenient Location

Whether you have a busy work schedule, school commitments, or family obligations, it’s important that the driving course fits into your life. Look for schools that offer weekend or evening lessons, especially if you work full-time during the week.

Additionally, the location of the school is an important factor. A centrally located driving center in Trenton with easy access to public transport or parking makes it more convenient for you to attend your lessons.

Why Trenton is the Ideal Place for Learning to Drive

Trenton, with its varied driving environments, offers the perfect setting for learning to drive. From busy city streets to quiet suburban roads, you’ll have the opportunity to gain experience in diverse traffic conditions. When you take a course at the best driving, you’ll be trained to handle all sorts of driving scenarios, ensuring you’re fully prepared to drive anywhere with confidence.

The Benefits of Taking the Best Driving Course in Trenton

1. Building Confidence Behind the Wheel

One of the biggest challenges for new drivers is nervousness or fear when it comes to being on the road. With the right instruction, however, you can build confidence and gain the skills you need to drive safely and competently. 

2. Learning the Rules of the Road

Driving is not just about controlling a vehicle—it’s about understanding the rules and responsibilities that come with it. The driving center will teach you not only the mechanics of driving but also the importance of obeying traffic laws, practicing safe driving habits, and being a responsible road user.

By understanding the rules, you’ll be able to avoid costly fines, accidents, and, most importantly, ensure the safety of yourself and others on the road.

3. Defensive Driving Techniques

An often-overlooked aspect of learning to drive is defensive driving—anticipating potential hazards and knowing how to react. The top driving course will include defensive driving lessons that teach you how to stay alert and make safe decisions in different driving situations. These skills can help you avoid accidents and stay safe, even when other drivers aren’t as careful as they should be.

Conclusion

When it comes to choosing the best driving center in Trenton, look for a school with experienced instructors, comprehensive courses, a high success rate, well-maintained vehicles, and flexible scheduling. The best driving course in Trenton will not only help you pass your test but also ensure you become a skilled and confident driver who is ready for any challenge the road may present. By making an informed choice, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a safe and responsible driver.

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Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv: Know The Difference

The most accurate smart TV platform improves the enjoyment that home entertainment can bring. Since there are massive options, obviously, the best operating system will greatly affect your perception. Among the most crucial smart TV platforms are WebOS Smart TV and Android TV. Both present with different features, user interfaces, and functionalities thoughtfully catering to various preferences.

In this article, we will compare WebOS Smart TV Vs Android TV, highlighting their user interfaces, app ecosystems, performance, voice control capabilities, and more. By understanding the differences, you can make a well-informed decision based on your needs.

User Interface: Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv

Now, by comparing the user interface between WebOS Smart TV and Android TV, probably the first thing that comes across your mind is user interface.

WebOS Smart Television

With the WebOS Smart TV, one can experience a very simple and easy-to-use interface. It employs a card-based system, making the switching and viewing of applications and settings straightforwardly accessible to the user. A horizontally-scrolling carousel provides quick application and content access to items users have used often. Ease of transfer between apps and configurations is allowed by the simple layout.

It is for people who sit and watch without any botheration and would like their television experience simple and hassle-free. For a casual viewer, WebOS Smart TV platform is just about as good as it gets: user-friendly with as few frills as possible.

Android TV

Contrarily, Android TV provides a much more personalized interface to the user. Its home screen is a square grid of app icons mated together with content ideas and recommendations from personalization into Google's ecosystem. Furthermore, it provides chances for the user to reorder the app setup and create shortcuts and customize the home screen according to his or her individual preference.

This customization level makes Android TV highly suitable for a more personal experience. For those who enjoy fine-tuning their smart TV settings and content in a manner that best suits their preferences, Android TV offers flexibility that WebOS Smart TV cannot offer.

App Ecosystem: Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv

Android TV

In terms of app availability, Android TV is a clear winner. For, Google's ecosystem opens up the treasures of the Google Play Store and a myriad array of apps offering something for all tastes: from entertainment and gaming to productivity.

Android TV has massive libraries of apps:

●      Netflix

●      Amazon Prime Video

●      Disney+

●      YouTube

but not limited to the streamers themselves-gaming apps, productivity tools are all here, and there are a few niche choices, as well. The newer customer for Android TV, being a gamer, streamer, or looking for cool new apps, is going to have more options through Android TV than the Smart TV for WebOS.

WebOS Smart TV

Although not nearly as varied as Android TV in apps, WebOS Smart TV focuses on more mainstream streaming services. It brings critical services like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video very easily to the user's fingertips, putting them in a category in the operating system as a great selection for pure streaming enthusiasts. LG adds its proprietary apps, including LG Channels, to this mix to up the ante for niche viewers. The WebOS Smart TV gets the job done on essentials, making it an exceptionally good option for those focused on entertainment and streaming.

Performance: Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv

Both WebOS Smart TV and Android TV deliver commendable performance, yet each possesses its unique strengths.

WebOS smart television

The WebOS Smart TV certainly shines due to fast-paced as well as agile performance. Its sleek, lightweight interface makes a fast boot-up time and leaps between one application to another without causing any sort of lag. The intuitive design and optimal grooming provide the experience of minimal time lag when shifting between applications or while exploring content. Therefore, it is the best for people requiring speed along with efficiency in their viewing experience.

Android TV

Android TV boasts a ton of features so that the users can explore a world of tools and functions, which also includes gaming and home applications. The variety allows Android TV to be incredibly powerful, but in low-end devices, performance lags a little sometimes. In that regard, high-end devices excel with Android TV and give pure navigation through the apps, and 4K content is supported and advanced sound is available.

For those who enjoy additional features like gaming or high-end media, Android TV offers a more robust experience. However, WebOS Smart TV remains faster and more responsive on basic tasks, making it a better option for those who value simplicity and speed.

Voice Control: Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv

Voice control has been an essential feature for many smart television users, and both WebOS Smart TV and Android TV give perfect integration with voice assistants.

Android TV

Android TV will be fully integrated with:

●      Google Assistant

●      Control playback

●      Change settings

●      Instruct other smart devices in their home using voice commands.

Android TV supports Amazon Alexa as well, so users can have even more flexibility with their voice controls.

WebOS Smart television

The WebOS Smart TV also supports voice control and supports both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Moreover, it integrates LG proprietary voice assistant. This feature will definitely serve as a comfort extension for users deeply rooted in the LG ecosystem, or even those who prefer the alternatives of voice control from LG. Users can enjoy webOS Smart TV hands-free navigation with only minimal effort required.

Conclusion: Which is Best for You?

The decision between a WebOS Smart TV and an Android TV ultimately hinges on your individual preferences and the intended use of your television.

WebOS Smart TV appeals perfectly to those who will appreciate both simplicity, as well as speed and sleekness. It caters beautifully to casual users seeking an effortless smart TV experience, offering swift access to essential streaming applications.

Android TV would be the perfect option for those seeking something that can allow them to make it more personalized, expanded applications, and high-class features. It perfectly caters to those who enjoy gaming, finding niche applications, or personalizing their smart TV experience.

Both WebOS Smart TV and Android TV function quite efficiently but the personalization of it is different with the variety of apps available on Android while WebOS Smart TV has the fame attached to ease and applicability. Both options are there from several brands like Tesla, so you get to opt for one that best suits your interests.

Ultimately, WebOS Smart TV emerges as the ideal choice for users seeking simplicity and efficiency, whereas Android TV stands out as the superior option for those desiring more features and customization. Regardless of your decision, both platforms promise to enhance your entertainment experience.