#and there’s tech that was cutting edge in the 80s sitting in the back of disused lecture halls collecting dust | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

heartofsnark · 3 years ago

Text

Can You Feel The Sun? (Chapter Five): Just To Want It All

Notes: As stated in last chapter notes, i have a decent chunk of chapters done so these are coming out pretty rapid fire. Otherwise, I don’t have much to say other than massive thanks to my friend who reads these over for me and has been cool with me dropping 80+ pages of fic on them in a week. because yeah...I finished another chapter of this.

Word Count: 7885

Chapter Warnings: mentions of alcohol and cursing, if that counts as a warning in cyberpunk 2077.

If you haven’t yet, you can read the previous chapter here!~

Lizzie’s Bar stands out brilliantly in the city; out of all the gangs, she thinks she likes The Moxes aesthetic the best. Vivid pink and bright teal. Their colors splashed across the overpass, along with a neon pink skull sign with hair and a bow. At the side of the building is a towering neon skull girl sign, full bodied with an animated kicking leg and axe held above her head, the same hot pink color.

She parks and gets out of her car, doing a quick scan of the area, searching for more Militech drones. None that she sees, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. The credchip burns in her pocket, remembering some of the stuff T-Bug has taught her. How to crack an encrypted shard and see what’s on it, how to transfer its contents. V rifles through her bag, remembering she had a blank credchip somewhere. If Militech did anything dirty, V should be able to transfer the eddies onto a clean chip.

V makes a beeline to the front door, cement blockers and walls covered in graffiti. More neon signs, the bars name over the door in glowing turquoise letters. Lizzie Jizzie scrawled across an outside wall; two screens on each side of the double stores, all covered in Nicola ads requesting V ‘taste the love’. Groups of people loiter in the open outside the bar. V’s eyes are drawn to the two bouncers outside the doors.

Two women, one leans against the outside wall as she puff away on a cigarette. Short slicked back hair that starts blue and then fades to green, eyes hidden behind sunglasses and a gold septum piercing in her nose. The other one stands in front of the doors, a yellow spiked bat held over her shoulders. Long hair pulled up into space buns, purple roots and pink ends. Both of her arms are metal; black with pink and teal accents as well as spikes along the forearms. Both women are skimpily dressed, no shame in that. The one wielding the bat has a white top with cleavage going beyond her breasts, showing her almost plastic looking skin and the Moxes tattoo across her chest. The other shorter haired bouncer is wearing neon pink pasties beneath a teal bomber jacket. V’s been here before, has maybe seen them in passing, both really attractive. She’s not sure there’s a Mox member who isn’t.

“Hey there, dollface!~” The bat wielder greets her with a grin, as if she could actually see V’s face.

“Interest you in a preem BD?” The smoker offers.

“What you got?” V asks to be polite, she doesn’t honestly even like brain dances. But the girls are cute, so… no harm in a little small talk.

“What don't we got? Women and men of your dreams, synaptic acting A-listers. No washed-up virtuporn boytoys or blow-up dolls here.”

“Auteur stuff - It'll grip your heart and blow your nerves right outta your body. Pure bit-based ecstasy - that’s why people come here.”

“Sure know how to sell it, don’t you?” V signs, trying not to laugh as the bouncers give her the spiel.

“Not a sales pitch, it's a warning. I'll give you one word - bespoke. Not for everyone's synapses.”

“Think you can handle it?”

“Think I can manage it,” she tells them, knowing damn well she has no intent to get any sort of virtus.

“Mmhm. Couple of things you need to know first,” she affectionately rubs her bat, “Ahem. Severe penalties for any unauthorized recording… “

“No drugs, no groping. Someone catch your eye, you do not grab 'em. You find 'em in the catalog, ask for a BD and get yourself a box.”

“No worries, not even my first time here.”

“Door's open. Have fun, Doll.”

“Welcome to Lizzie’s.”

The double doors open and V walks through a blue beaded curtain. There’s a front room, a stand where a woman with a bright pink mohawk is selling clothes, under another Nicola ad and neon letters saying ‘Fuck To Death’ behind her.

“My what a sweet face you have,” she says, her tone honeyed but its clear she hasn’t looked up from the counter, not even noticing as the masked merc walks past through another beaded curtain and double doors to the main club.

“Here in Night City~”

Music thrums as she steps in; the room is lit with strobing pink and teal lights. Couches with neon glowing lights on the underneath, some people with BD wreaths and others playing on their phones. People dancing to the club music and bar tucked away in the corner. She doubts the client will be right at the start of opening, so V finds an empty stretch of couch, sitting down on black leather with a pink neon light at her feet. V slides the Militech cred chip into her mask, it takes a moment, but she manages to crack it and get a look at the inside.

Ten thousand eddies and malware; it was meant to send all of Maelstrom’s data to another server and then fry the systems. Meaning, if V handed it over Maelstrom would get their systems fried, with her and Jackie dealing with the aftermath. V slides the blank cred chip into another slot in her mask’s edge, transfering the clean money over to it. Fucking around with tech and daemons isn’t her strong suit, but if she recalls Bug telling her that fairly simple malware like this could be reworked pretty easily. She works through the coding with her thoughts, the data and interface all on her mask. If she can get the coding right, she might be able to have it send something other than data back to the Militech servers… Shifting and twisting what she thinks will work… if she’s done it right, instead of sending data back to Militech’s server, it should inject the same malware back into their system. If used, it would spike both Maelstrom and Militech.

She’ll call up T-Bug before they hit Maelstrom, double check she did the steps right. If Maelstrom play nice, they can pay and be done, if not...she can fuck over the gangoons, Militech, and walk away with an extra ten thousand in her pocket. She puts the credchips in her pockets, spiked one in her left and clean one in the right.

Time to have a look around for the client. V making a beeline for the bar, bartenders always have all the info. Lizzie’s Bar in neon over the drink station, a brightly blue lit corner where a man works at making drinks, shelves of booze behind him. She climbs onto a blue vinyl bar stool, feet no longer on the ground and unable to resist swinging them a bit. The bartender comes to her; a man with slicked back dark hair, glowing white cybernetic eyes, and silver embellishments run across his cheeks and jaw. His shirt bright blue with a tropical design and if not for a single button above his pants, it’d be completely open. Beaded necklaces bringing even more attention to his exposed chest and stomach.

“Get you something?”

“Looking for Evelyn Parker,” she speaks the woman’s name, not wanting to waste time fingerspelling it even if the sound feels tight in her throat.

“And you are?”

“V, me and her were supposed to meet here.”

“Well, V, it’s a pleasure. I’m Mateo.”

“Nice to meet you… any idea where she’s hanging around?”

“Club's big. Gonna have to look around. Can't do it for you-”

“It's all right, Mateo,” a feminine voice calls out and V’s eyes are drawn to a woman at the bar, “I was waiting for this one.”

There’s something about her, distinctly Mox and also not. Her hair is a short vivid blue bob with bangs cut straight across her forehead. Heavy makeup, a tight silver sequin dress with a dipping neckline, red thigh high vinyl boots, a black trench coat that pools around her knees with a pink and white feathered collar. She holds two fingers up to the bartender and moves to the bar stool closer. There’s a clang and tink of glass; Mateo getting out a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses.

“That won’t be necessary,” V signs before he can fill the second glass, “I don’t drink on the job.”

“Aww, what a good girl,” Evelyn coos, a smile pulling at her painted lips, “Evelyn Parker. I knew it was you as soon as you walked in.”

“And you decided to let me wander around instead of introducing yourself?”

“I wanted to get a good look at you first.”

“And?” V watches as Evelyn takes a swig of her tequila.

“Rest assured, if I didn’t like what I see, you’d know,” she takes another drink, “C'mon. Know a place we can talk where ears won't prick up to listen. We'll be in the lounge, Mateo. Anyone asks we're not here.”

Evelyn takes her black clutch purse and leaves the bar, V puts some money down for Mateo; if nothing else to compensate for his time. V hops down from the stool and follows after Evelyn, through a pair of double doors that goes into a hallway tinted red and pink, booth doors lining the way. The blue haired woman opens up a door, standing to the side as V walks in.

The booth is small, circular with a red vinyl couch around it’s curve, a table in the middle projects a hologram of a stripper who twists and dances. V sinks into the cushions, watching Evelyn stride in and light a cigarette as the door closes behind her. Everyone in the city a smoker it seems. As Evelyn puffs on a cigarette, V is somehow just noticing the gold nail like finger caps she wears.

“Dex had a load to say about you. Called you professional, effective. And trustworthy. I hope he wasn't overselling…“

“You don’t give a shit what he says,” V retorts, not missing the tinge of disdain Evelyn’s voice. V doesn’t need anyone to blow wind up her ass.

“You have trouble accepting compliments?”

“Flattery’s beneath you.”

“Maybe Dex is beneath you,” Evelyn moves around the table, grabbing an ashtray from the table, then sitting down next to V, crossing her legs, “Have you known each other long?”

“First time working with him.”

“Hmmm, I've heard there are two kinds of fixers. Those with stable crews on long contracts and short leashes. Loyalty and predictability they value above all else. Then there's the other kind- Dex's kind.”

“Meaning?”

“Headhunters. They lay their trust elsewhere, not in people but in a thing- their intuition. They bet on potential. And if they lose that bet…It's the last mistake they ever make. I’m hoping Dex’s intuition served him well in this case.”

“Let's get to the point, why am I here, what’s this about?”

“Your target - I trust you know what it is.”

“Arasaka biochip.”

“Mmmhmm, their Relic, secure your soul technology. Arasaka's poured billions into personality transfer technology. But me - I just want the data on this one. The chip is tucked away inside Konpeki Plaza, the hotel. You ever been?”

“Fancy corp hotels? Yeah, no, way out of my price range.”

“The decor's to die for. As you'll see for yourself.’

So, V and Jackie have to bust into some fancy hotel to get the chip people are arguing about on tv. Understood, so far. But, theres a lot of risks involved in a heist of this scale. Its one thing to rip off a dropped piece of cargo or a convoy from a corp; but this kind of top notch tech?

“You know where the chip is, exactly?”

“In a suite on the top floor. The room's occupied by Yorinobu Arasaka.”

V swallows the lump in her throat, the son of Saburo Arasaka, heir to the entire fucking corp. She’s once again finding herself wondering why Dex thinks her and Jackie can handle a job of this caliber, the Arasaka’s seem downright un-fucking-touchable to a merc like her.

“He’s in NC?”

“Don't you read the screamsheets?”

“Not particularly, no.”

“Well, the media couldn't get enough of Yori coming to Night City, it was all over the headlines. He's heir apparent to the Arasaka empire - Saburo Arasaka's only surviving son.”

“So, he trying to take over while he’s in town?” V asks, trying to understand what exactly is going on.

“Only a handful of people in Night City know what the Arasakas' real plans are.”

“And you included in that?”

A smirk stretches across her face, green eyes devious; “Yorinobu is a puppet. He lost all his cards years ago when he failed to do daddy's bidding. Saburo's had Yori's balls in a vise for years. He might just turn the screw and crush them outright if he learns his son's up to no good again.”

“Someone like him is bound to have an army surrounding him, that hotel is probably a fortress by now.”

“Yorinobu keeps exactly no muscle around. Not one guard. Got rid of them a long time ago.”

“Why?”

“Surely you know what they say about Arasaka intel? Sneeze in Night City and a blossom drops from a cherry tree in Tokyo. Yorinobu was convinced his Arasaka security detail reported directly to his father.”

“If you got a spare ache up your sleeve, I’d love to see it.”

“ Now, this should make your tits perk up,” she says, putting the ashtray aside and leans forward.

“My tits are quite comfortable where they are, I assure you.”

“Cute, but more importantly, Yorinobu recently swiped the chip from an Arasaka laboratory. He's made a deal with NetWatch, aims to sell it to them. Have you spotted my ace yet or do I need to spell things out?”

“Okay, no muscle because he has daddy issues and no security on the device because he stole it from said daddy. Any idea where he’s hiding the thing?”

“Likely in a specialized container, one that mimics an organic neural environment. On the outside, it looks like an ordinary briefcase.”

“Which would be where?”

“You'll see for yourself soon enough,” she stamps out her cigarette and stands up, walking to the door, “Provided we're done gossiping about the Arasakas.”

“You know anything else about him?” V asks, wanting to see if she can mine any more useful information about the heir that could help.

“Quite a bit, actually. He studied finance and biotech in Tokyo. Hm, probably didn't have a choice in the matter, come to think of it. Saburo was grooming him to be his successor. But then Yorinobu vanished to chase his own dreams, cut himself off from the corp for years. Long story short, though the black sheep returned, the bitter taste remained. But that's only one side of him. There's another - an intelligent man who has always walked his own path and so has his own designs on the corp.”

There’s no doubt in V’s mind now that Evelyn knows Yorinobu personally, the way she talks and speaks is clearly colored by experience. Some prodigal son who ran away from his father and then came back with his tail between his legs when he couldn’t cut it alone. An odd lump in V’s throat at the thought; running away from shitty dads, being a black sheep…

“Sounds like any other corpo dick to me,” V signs, not liking the parallels her brain is starting to draw.

“Hm. Ever tried to imagine what life might be like for an emperor's son? You have everything, yet you are no one, nothing. At least as long as you remain in Saburo Arasaka's shadow. I…” she scratches almost sheepishly at her neck, her wannabe femme fatale attitude slipping for just a moment, “...sympathize. It's a vulnerability I understand well.”

V is still finding herself finding uncomfortable similarities between herself and fucking Yorinobu Arasaka. Its stupid, she doesn’t know the man and he has the wealth to destroy her for pretending she does. But, a power hungry leader for a father, leaving home, terrified of being under his thumb. Only difference, well many, but most pressing is she’s managed to make it on her own...so far… at least. Not that she hasn’t had her doubts or worries.

“So, what’s next?” V asks, practically shaking her head to dispel the weirdness swimming in her brain. Black sheep or not; Yorinobu Arasaka has a silver spoon in his mouth. She’s a nomad turned Night City edgerunner; their lives couldn’t be more far removed.

“Now comes the best part,” Evelyn opens the door and turns to leave, “Follow me. Got somethin' for you. Should help you plan. Braindance from Konpeki Plaza.”

V follows Evelyn out into the hallway, “ how’s a braindance going to help?”

“Think BDs are only good for fondling virtual tits, jackin' off to in those boxes?”

“Thought that was the main selling point, yeah,” V teases back as they turn a corner in the hallway, headed towards a door.

“No. They can be a very useful tool. Good for analyzing details human perception, even boosted, doesn't grasp. Exactly what you need,” Evelyn teases as they enters a dressing room, a few Mox at the tables painting their faces with makeup and styling their hair.

“What's on the tape?” Through another door and neon lights fade to harsher, darker lighting.

“Yorinobu's suite. The glorious interior,” the walk down a short metal flight of stairs, “You'll need to locate the Relic yourself. Hope I grabbed enough detail to make that possible.”

The stop at the end of the steps, Evelyn turning to look at V with a hand on her hips. Not that V really had any more doubt about it, but she’s been given more evidence that Evelyn and Yorinobu know each other.

“You recorded it?”

“Mhm. BD rec implant. Why, you object?”

“Not particularly, who you know and what you do with them is none of my business, lets see the braindance.”

“Judy'll help. She's a Mox, too,” down another short flight of stairs, deeper into the basement, “Besides, we go back… years.”

Evelyn stops them again outside a pair of double doors, Lizzie’s is starting to feel like a little maze at this point. But more importantly, Evelyn’s paused again, stumbled over her words and showed something under her facade. V felt something was off, a Mox but somehow not, and she’s starting to think Evelyn is purposely trying to put up a front. That she’s trying, a little too hard, to come across like femme fatale or corpo. Evelyn clears her throat.

“V, this is important. Judy's always been there for me. Always helped out. I trust her. But she's a Mox, not the latest member of your crew. Try not to forget. So you'll be a good girl, tread lightly and keep that tongue on a leash.

“Oh, but it's not my tongue you need to worry about.”

“Hmm, can feel you smirking under that mask, keep it up and I’ll tie those hands down, too,” Evelyn says with a wink as they pass through the double doors into another hallway, then through one more door.

Evelyn leads her through the basement doors, a dark little room with servers, netrunning chairs and screens. In an office chair slouching with one leg on a desk is a woman; late twenties or so with olive skin. One side of her hair is shaved, the other shaggy and down to nearly her shoulder, a deep green color with bright pink ends. The woman is heavily tattooed, bright red roses nestled above her collar bones, a spider web on her right shoulder, a cartoon ghost sitting in a shell, and a large number 13 on her bicep are among the standouts. But V could spend hours describing each artwork.

“Ahem.”

“Hey, there you are…” Judy greets Evelyn, a playful almost flirty tone to her voice.

“This is V. She's here for that BD roll. And V, this is Judy - best braindance editor I know.”

“Enough already, gonna make me barf.” There’s a slight accent to Judy’s voice, not unlike Jackie’s.

“Impressive set up,” V signs, at least, she assumes it’s impressive. Tech is already a bit of a blind spot for her, especially when it comes to brain dances.

“Mhm, Analyzers, sensory sig amps, acoustic and emotive wave monitors, facial expression translators.”

“Ahem, Judy,” Evelyn stops the inked editor before she can tell V more.

“All right, all right… Compiled your BD, Ev.”

“What do you think? Will it do?”

“Still pretty raw… but yeah, oughta do.”

“Mhm. V needs to get deep inside, that's most important.”

“So, let's calibrate, tune it to her,” Judy stands up from the table and moves to the desk closer to the door, sitting down below a neon pink light, “Believe me, I've dealt with worse. Should see the dig-Jig Street porn we gotta contend with sometimes.”

Evelyn has followed behind Judy, standing behind the editor’s chair, “So we drop V inside? Let her look, let her rummage around, right?”

“How 'bout it, V? Raw braindance - ever taken a dip before?” Judy leans forward on the desk, looking at V.

“No, not at all, but I’m a quick learner,” that feels like a lie as soon as she says it, “ and need to know what I’m dealing with. So.”

“Siddown, settle in, and we'll get you goin'.”

V turns around to the chairs, either netrunning or ripperdoc chairs, she’s not sure. But, she climbs into one, settling down into it as Judy comes back out around the desk. Judy is nearby, fiddling with a brain dance wreath.

“Be easier to fit without the mask.”

“Mask has optic tech, linked to my neuroport and biomon, should work just like it does with any set of cybereyes.”

“‘Fraid of ruining the mystery?” Evelyn asks, teasing again.

“Mask is for business, lot harder to track a merc if you got no clue what they look like. You that curious, feel free to try and track me down during my off time.”

“Fine, fine,” Judy affixes the BD wreath around V’s head, lining it up properly on the merc before walking back to the desk, “Gotta create your sensory profile first.”

“Go for it.”

“Now, sit still, look at me. Gonna run the analysis soft should feel a slight tingling…”

V’s breath catches as it prickles across her skin, a crackling and warm sensation crawling across every nerve. From the base of her skull, down her spine, across her arms to her fingers, running down her legs to her toes. A vague pulse, a current of something.

“OK now let's set the optics and other sensory sigs. Look smack into these two screens, pretend it's an eye exam.”

The two wreath panels flash and strobe white light, building in urgency and frequency.

“Gimme two more minutes. One more sec, need to get the pain receptor limiters in… OK. All set. Need to test your profile first. Tossing in a sam-”

“We can just use my recording, there’s no point in wasting time,” Evelyn interrupts Judy.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I’m fine with just jumping to her BD,” V interjects her opinion, “better to get right to it.”

Judy sighs and rolls her eyes; “Fine, fine, what do I know.”

“Great, I’ll just need to patch Bug in.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Who?” Judy jumps up from her desk, crossing her arms and looks at V like she just asked to summon Satan.

“Runner from my crew, security specialist. She'll tell me what to look for while we analyze. No problem, I assume?”

“Actually, it is a problem! You’re already asking me to cut fucking corners and now you want to bring someone else in?! Not what we agreed, Ev!”

“It’s not a big deal,” V signs, not sure what Judy’s sudden problem is.

“No big deal! You don't quite grasp the risks I took by lettin' you in here! What I'm risking pokin' around with this stuff!”

Judy continues to yell and V rolls her eyes, she’s a BD editor, not part of the actual crew, the client, or the fixer. If Arasaka goes after anyone it sure as shit won’t be Judy, so why is she throwing a fit.

“And you don’t seem to grasp the risk I’d be taking if me and my partner went stumbling into that hotel with no fucking clue as to what we or our runner are up against. I miss one hidden turret and I get pumped full of lead, either my runner links in or I’m gone.”

V makes a point to twist her head and look at Evelyn at the last part; Bug is the most highly trained member of their crew and Dex’s go to runner. Without her involvement and eyes on it, the job won’t be going anywhere.

“Bye then!” Judy yells out, “good riddance and don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

“Judy, please…”

“Ev, she wants to bring a 'runner in. What part of that don't you understand?! How do I know she'll only perch in this footage, observe, not fuck with anything?!”

“Because Bug is literally involved with the heist, has a dog in this fight, and wants it to go well too,” V signs, hoping the AI voice is getting her annoyance across, Judy does level a glare at her over Evelyn’s shoulder.

“Me,” Evelyn steals Judy’s attention, “I'm your guarantee.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Help me, this one last time. I promise everything'll work out, just like we planned.”

And it hits V, between the flirting and the soft drop in Evelyn’s voice here. The reason Judy is so worked up about this; her and Evelyn have something. Friends teetering the line into something else, girlfriends already, or maybe even more than that. V’s not sure. But there’s something distinctly not platonic to the way they interact. Maybe that’s the play on Evelyn’s. Scam Yorinobu Arasaka then run away with her porn editor girlfriend.

“Fine,” Judy shakes her head and sits back down, the anger gone, “call Bug and we’ll dive in.”

That issue taken care of V rings up T-Bug, the netrunner answering after a ring or two.

“What’s up, V?”

“Bug, listen. I got some useful footage from Konpeki Plaza. It's a braindance.”

“Konpeki? Ohhh, thought as much…” Judy looks up at Evelyn.

“Someone there with you?”

“Client and her...friend...is what I’ll settle on; that’s not what matters right now, its going to give us a layout of the room, a chance to find where the chip is, and some idea of security.”

“All right, see if I can walk you through it. Jackin’ into your tech now,” notifications alert across her mask’s interface, “Mh, you've gotta give me access. Opening port 1779… Secure protocol? Good, I'm goin' in. Should be getting my request… …now.”

“Got it. You ready?”

“Millisec. OK, connection confirmed, now some quick temp ICE and… we're clear. Ready to dance.”

“Let’s do this.”

And with that the wreath panels begin to flash and strobe in front of V’s eyes, quicker and quicker until the world goes out in white. And in the next snap of a moment, one reality becomes another. Her body is no longer her own, she’s placed in Evelyn’s mind standing outside an elevator. What feels like her body, moves to adjust a purse strap, gold capped nails.

“All right, V - eyes open. Gotta find out where Yorinobu is keepin’ the Relic. Everything is controlled by thought and intention; you can step into editor mode, access everything her cyberware picked up a signal of, can scan, rewind, fast forward. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

The doors open, exposing the hotel room, and a horror show of a man walking towards her. V can feel the spike in fear, whether from Evelyn in the moment or V’s own instinctual reaction; she isn’t sure. He’s around eight feet tall, complete metal and cyberware from his feet to his upper lip; more machine than human. Wire, hydraulics, steel; all branded with Arasaka. The flesh section of his head is sickly ashen protrusive veins, glowing red where eyes should be. As he draws closer there’s a whirr of machinery, hydraulics pistoning to give him movement. How is he alive? How is he functional?

“You look like a cut of fuckable meat. Are you?” He asks as he walks past, voice edged with something inhuman.

Evelyn reigns her fear back in, the past version of her walking deeper into the room, where a dark haired man sits at a table in front of a large screen where another blonde haired man speaks back to him.

“I said no,” the dark haired man speaks out, his voice colored by a Japanese accent and V knows it’s Yorinobu. Evelyn continues to walk closer, her heels clicking against the floor.

“They'll have my head for this…”

“Then you shall perish for a good cause.”

“But I-”

“Make yourself comfortable. I need a minute to finish,” Yorinobu tells Evelyn, sparing just a glance over his shoulder.

“Listen in on that conversation, V! Could be something important.”

She wants to watch through first, do an initial watch to look for things and then go more in depth. Two watches at least should mean she’s covered everything. Yorinobu switches the conversation to his holophone, pacing around the room. Evelyn meanwhile puts her purse down on the chair, then walks behind him, trying to keep him in range

“My father is a tired, visionless old greybeard who thinks nothing will change and he'll live forever in his tiny, frozen bubble! You will listen to this - Saburo is an addled despot utterly removed from reality, stuck in some fossilized vision of a world that no longer exists! Of a world that may never have existed! We have not seen eye to eye for the last twenty years. I am quite sure we won't now.”

Yorinobu continues to talk as Evelyn pours herself a glass full of champagne and takes a drink, the tech allowing V to taste the sweet bubbles as if they were on her own tongue. Glass in hand she takes a slow look around the room and walks back to the center of it, sitting at the table, the plush of the cushion letting her sink into it.

“Noted,” Yorinobu says into the phone as he starts to walk back to Evelyn, there’s something in his eyes, “enough.”

He hands up, putting the phone down on the table. Evelyn looks up at him and V through her eyes gets her first good look at the Arasaka heir. Dark hair with the sides shaved down close to the scalp, glasses perched on his nose. His cyberware is surprisingly minimal for a man of his wealth, two streaks of silver going up his neck to his jawline.

“Sorry, to make you wait,” he touches Evelyn’s shoulder and the woman rises, “business can be stupid.”

They’re close and V can feel his hands on her, Evelyn’s, hips. Evelyn’s hand on his shoulder.

“Mmh, it wasn't long,” Evelyn hums and it feels wholy unnatural to feel like she’s speaking with someone else's voice, “Not even long enough for me to grow bored.”

His hands start to creep and Evelyn goes to pull away, movements playful, when Yorinobu pulls her back in. Then he starts to dip his mouth.

“Fuck no!” V yells out as she pushes the thought to enter editor mode, separating her senses from Evelyn’s before she has to feel Yorinobu’s lips on Evelyn’s neck. She looks down and sees herself, though slightly digital, her bright blue nail polish and not gold jewelry. The scene around her has paused and a digital filter over them.

“Something wrong?” T-Bug asks with a slight laugh.

“Nearly had corpo droolon me,” V signs, happy to find the tech allows her translator to work in editor mode, “was going do a watch through, then a second go in editor mode, figured two look throughs would be best...then”

“Then you nearly had to lock lips with Yorinobu Arasaka.”

“Gag, rewinding back to scan the call fully.” With a thought she watches as Evelyn and Yorinobu move in reverse, getting back to win the heir was starting the call. Once she gets where she needs to be she scans his phone and restarts it from editor mode, thankful for the sensory disconnect. She hears the man on the other end of Yorinobu’s call speak.

“Please speak with your father. He's taken a particular interest in this project, he can certainly explain the risks invol--”

“My father is a tired, visionless old greybeard who thinks nothing will change and he'll live forever in his tiny, frozen bubble!”

“I should not even be listening to such things.”

“You will listen to this - Saburo is an addled despot utterly removed from reality, stuck in some fossilized vision of a world that no longer exists! Of a world that may never have existed! We have not seen eye to eye for the last twenty years. I am quite sure we won't now.”

“Read the documentation carefully. The Relic requires specific storage conditions. You MUST provide them.”

“Noted,” Yorinobu hangs up again and V pauses the BD.

“Heard that? Relic docs gotta be around here somewhere. Look for them,” Bug confirms.

“Once we find where the chip is stored we’ll do a clean sweep of the security, okay Bug.”

“Smart thinking.”

V watches half-heartedly as Yorinobu and Evelyn interact; her range of vision and senses limited to Evelyn. She fast forwards through the two canoodling, only mildly catching Evelyn mentioning something about ‘candy’ though V assumes it’s of the nose variety. Evelyn separates away from Yorinobu for a moment and walks to a control panel, offering to lend music to the scene.

But V’s interest is piqued when she catches Evelyn rifling through Yorinobu’s messages, a few spam and scam emails. Then she pulls up an email from Clouds, a dollhouse in the city. Evelyn deletes it, V rewinds back and pauses. The email thanks Yorinobu for his patronage; hmm, heir has a taste for doll prostitutes. Something, Evelyn doesn’t want that email to be there… Its all beginning to make more sense and V’s not sure she likes it.

The merc fast forwards further through the BD, moving through to Evelyn playing awful music and going to meet Yorinobu in his bed. Where he sits with a tablet, the second the screen is clear. She pauses and scans it, bingo.

“Manual details a special temp controlled container. Relic needs to be kept real cool,” T-Bug explains through the technobabble.

“Chip’s got to be in a freezer.”

“Yep. Could damage it otherwise. OK, switch on thermal layer detection in the editor. Should be easier to spot where Yorinobu's keeping the chip.”

V switches with a thought, the world turning into temperature signatures as she searches for unnatural cold places and spots. An air conditioner pumps out cold air, but that would be a stupid place to put billion dollar tech. One malfunction and you lost it all. She rewinds back to get more of a view, a ice bucket for champagne, a fridge?

“That’s just a regular fancy fridge, not cold enough,” Bug tells her when she spends t0o long contemplating it.

V rewinds further and an amass of blue ice cold air from behind a pillar catches her eye, It seems to come up through the floor, unlike the AC, ice bucket, or fridge she has no clear idea where this one is coming from. A secret container in the floor? Seems like a much craftier place to hide expensive stolen tech, V scans it.

“Right, grabbed the heat sig. Matches the spec in the docs,” T-Bug tells her.

“Chip has to be here, we got it.”

“Mmhmm, time to scan security.”

V switches back to the regular mode, looking for what she needs to scan. The camera system first.

“Shit, cameras packed with newtech motion sensors, heat sig activators. IFF.”

“Can you kill it?”

“With access to their subnet, but we need the Flathead bot for that.”

They continue on, with Bug commenting on each security measure they scan. Alarm with fresh firmware, Automated turrets connected to the hotels server. Yorinobu’s pistol, loaded with the safety on. V rewinds and fast forward, searching anything else that might be an issue but comes up empty handed.

“Seems like we got everything. Looks like all their security systems are linked to the hotel subnet. We need the Flathead. No other way to shut down these systems,” T-Bug sumises.

“No way around it ourselves?”

“Nope. Least I'm fresh out of ideas. Think we got everything we need.”

“Okay, but hang on the line with me after we get out of the BD, need you to look over something for me, if you don’t mind.”

“No problem.”

V exists out of the brain dance, a flash of white and the world returns. Judy and Evelyn looking at her from across a desk, T-Bug still in the call panel of her mask. Her eyes hurt, her throat feels dry, and she can feel a migraine pushing at her temples. She fucking hates brain dances.

“Get everything you need?” Judy asks, a dark raised eyebrow.

“From the BD, yeah, got to clear something with Bug while I got her on the horn,” V gets the chip she fucked with out of her pocket and slides it into the proxy reader of her mask, “got a chip I fucked around with; decrypted and tried to rewrite the virus on it, so it will spike the people who gave it to me. But I want to make sure, I didn’t fuck up.”

“Need me to grade your work, V?”

“Kind of…”

“Oh, shit, V. You fucking over Militech?” T-Bug exclaims, a little pride in her voice as she reads over the code, thankfully her voice is only audible to V through her hearing aids.

“Mmhmm.”

“And you don’t want to sign and have your translator read it, because you don’t want to risk the client knowing you’re fucking over Militech while prepping to fuck over Arasaka.”

“Mmhmm, will it work?”

“It will fry the servers of any tech it’s plugged in proper and fry the servers it’s linked to, a Militech van from the looks of it. Won’t be a dent in their bottom line, but will surely piss off some reps. That what you meant for it to do?”

“That was the plan.”

“Preem work then, but I do want to make some...edits,” T-Bug edits the chips code in front of V’s eyes, “there we go.”

“Something wrong with it?�� Nerves creep up V’s throat, if she fucked up, she’d rather learn her lesson now.

“Nah, I added a bit of a personal touch for you, nothing wrong with a little style added to your hacking.”

“Appreciate the help.”

“You know I won’t always be here to check your work.”

“I know, I know, but it doesn't mean I won’t take advantage while I can. Thanks again, talk soon.”

“Later, V.” With that V hangs up the call and slots the spiked credchip back into its respective pocket. Judgement, suspicion, and resentment are radiating off of Judy.

“I'll wipe the cache and your data. You were never here.”

Judy stands up from the desk and V tries to decipher a few of the tattoos she sees, noticing more sea themed ones, like a dolphin and sharks. V flinches behind her mask as Judy removes the BD wreath, glad to be free of the contraption, but she could have taken it off herself.

“Thanks…” V signs, despite this, just trying to be polite despite their spat.

“Keep it,” Judy hands her the wreath, V getting a good look at the octopus tattooed on the woman’s hand, “I'll put it on Ev's tab. Portable device for handling BDs. I already uploaded your calibration settings. Not as sophisticated as what we got here, but should do the trick.”

“And it keeps you outta harm's way. Clever.”

“Speaking of harms way, know what I see looking at you,” Judy pins her hands to her hips and gives V that look again, “walking, talking corpses.”

“We needed this recording, just… relax, will you?”

“Relax! If Arasaka finds out you have it, you're dead. I'm dead! If you fuck this up and Arasaka comes knocking on my door!”

“Judy, relax, that’s… not gonna happen,” Evelyn is the one trying to soothe the editors temper again.

“Evelyn, please… no shortcuts. You go that route, city'll always win. So be careful.”

“'Course I will be. Besides, we'll talk in a bit,” Evelyn looks to V, “lets walk.”

V stashes the new BD wreath into her bag and climbs from the chair, following Evelyn out of Judy’s basement space. It’s not like V is heartless or doesn’t know anxiety; but of everyone involved, Judy has the least skin in the game. V can’t spend her time coddling someone who doesn’t have a whole hell of a lot to worry about compared to her, Jackie, or Bug.

“Well? What do you think?” Evelyn asks and V can see that hint of nerves coming back.

“You’re not worried about this coming back on you, if they start looking through everyone he’s been dealing with?”

“They'll have a long list, then. Packed full of big names. Much bigger than mine. You tell me who they check first. Corpo hotshots and cutthroats? Or a little bedroom plaything like me?”

“Well, then... “ V tries to find her words, this all seems, too good, “intel on the heir, on the place, know roughly where the chip is, and how we should get to it… Seems like a perfect plan and job.”

“Mm. Thanks. Now the punch line, please.”

“Seems too good to be true, there’s got to be a catch…”

“Cold feet? Are you looking to get out of it?”

“I want to know you’re in control here; that there’s no secrets, no catches, no surprises that turns this heist from a cakewalk into a bloodbath.”

“V. I have zero reasons to haze you. We’re in this together. Really. Trust me that I got this.”

“Okay, if you say so, what next?”

“V….” there’s nothing good in the way Evelyn pauses, words stuck to her tongue for a moment, “Do this job for me. I mean me alone. No splitting the payout with anyone else. No middlemen. No Dex.”

Of course, of fucking course, there had to be something. Evelyn’s trying to play cutthroat corpo, fucking over a fixer because she has dollar signs in her eyes. But, she’s too damn naïve to the game to know that no merc with the lead in their gun would pull that shit. Greedy mercs who screw over their fixers end up broke on the street at best and swimming with cement shoes at worst. And a high profile one like Dex has the means to destroy her.

“Fucking knew there was a catch, you want to fuck over our fixer.”

“Dex is a middleman. And a useless one at this point.”

“You don't fuck with fixers. That's the one rule every merc in this city knows - and actually follows!”

“But if we're smart…”

“There is no smart to this, a mistake like that will cost me my reputation and without that, a merc is fucking nothing in this city. Are you serious about this?”

“Better ask yourself that question. Do you want to spend the rest of your days blasting scavs? Or become a legend overnight? Your choice.”

“He would put me in the ground, if I pulled some gonk shit like that.”

“I could give you fifty percent, V, . Eddies enough to do whatever the hell you like, without needing Dex for anything. With cred like that, you wouldn’t want for anything, you could retire.”

“It’s not about the money.”

“I thought you were a merc. I thought it was always about the money.”

“No, its not actually. He trusts me, he’s taking a leap with me. And even if he weren’t, I’m not the only person I got to worry about. Bug vouched for me too and Jackie is my partner. I fuck over my fixer, it hurts them too. I’m not going to send them down the river for a bigger cut of the pie.”

“Fine. I never asked. But V?”

“Yeah.”

“I just hope you're as good as you are naive.”

“Pff, you think I’m the naive one, here. Cute.

“If you need me, call. I'll send you my number. Now go. I need a few words with Judy.”

“Later, then.”

And with that V heads back up the stairs, tension draws tight across her shoulders. This whole damn thing with Evelyn throwing her off. The BD and everything seems clear cut, if they get the Flathead, the job might even be easy. But, wanting to fuck over their fixer. Evelyn is not the corpo or femme fatale or whatever she seems to think she is. A doll, V’s sure of that. Evelyn must have deleted the email from Clouds because its’s connected to her and the Mox offer protection to sex workers; must be where she and Yorinobu met. Clouds even has connections to Arasaka through the Tyger Claws. And she managed to become a powerful rich man’s plaything, so now she thinks she’s smart enough to fuck over not only him but Dex too.

She’s a messy client with good intel. V doesn’t want Evelyn to get hurt. The older woman is in over her head and doesn’t know how the merc world works. She doesn’t deserve to get hurt for that, the last thing V wants is for Dex to lose his cool and hurt the woman. But, V also owes it to him to let him know Evelyn put that deal on the table. If she doesn’t, what’s to say Evelyn won’t pull this on another fixer? Or Dex gets another job aligned with her and the next merc she offers this to isn’t so loyal? She has to tell him.

V fumbles with her holo as she walks back through the club, doing some quick research on Konpeki Plaza. Finding their policy on guns. Given the stealth nature of this mission, she can assume the only way they’re getting in is to find a way to get in like regular patrons. Which means they’d be scanned for guns as soon as they get through the door. If something goes south, she doesn’t want her and Jackie left unarmed with a hoard of Arasaka soldiers on their ass.

But they can’t confiscate cyberware.

Might be time to cash in her savings for something. Her holo buzzes in her hand as Dex calls; her stomach drops. Unsure for a moment what to say to him, if she should go ahead and tell him what Evelyn tried to pull. Would he lose his temper? Drop the entire damn heist? Would he hurt her for it? It weighs on her shoulders as she pushes through a blue beaded curtain, considering her options with a finger hovering over the phone.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cp2077 #johnny silverhand #silverv #(slowburn eventual)#evelyn parker #judy alvarez #aidan becker #aidan v becker #female v

10 notes · View notes

aelaer · 5 years ago

Text

300

Tumblr’s algorithm picked up my last whumptober post and that unexpectedly rocketed me up to over 300 followers (welcome new folks, I haven’t had a chance to even look at y’all yet). But really it’s quite flattering. (I think at least 10% of them are pornbots, but beggars can’t be choosers.)

So I guess in uh, celebration/woohoo, I’m just gonna post snippets from my WIPs (outside of the whumptober ones as those are coming out in the next couple days) which… well, it’s something. :3 Yes it all has to do with Stephen, I’m going one-trick-pony mode right now and it’s a friggin blast.

This is long and has WIPs of art too, so cut cut cut bellllooww.

The farking Doctor Strange/Sherlock crossover that’s been at 80% complete since July and still has no title

However, before Sherlock got caught up into the cloak once again, he forced his eyes to the man’s hands. A lot could be discovered by someone’s hands.

And what hands they were. His eyes involuntarily widened at the sight of the ragged, and in some places hypertrophic scars on the back side of each finger. He quickly looked to the other hand; they were there, too. Clearly they were crushed in some sort of accident, but an accident that left him upright and without any hint of a limp. It was possible that they were caught in some sort of machinery, but both at the same time? Statistically speaking, a car accident was more likely. A car accident that damaged the bonnet of the car and crushed his fingers between the steering wheel and the dashboard, more than likely leaving permanent nerve damage. Unfortunate.

The age of the scars showed that they were healed over, but their nature made it difficult to determine how long ago they were received. With the overall lack of fading, however, it was likely that the damage occurred within the last few years. He could not see his palms and determine anything from there, but the callus upon his right middle finger determined which hand he wrote with. Or once wrote with, at any rate. His hands could certainly be worthy of further study, if only to attempt to determine their surgical history.

Upon his left wrist was, of all things, a wristwatch. He narrowed his eyes. It was a Jaeger-LeCoultre and it was not a counterfeit by any means, but it was not a model he recognized. It looked very similar to the Master Ultra Thin Moon only just released; was this an early prototype for a new model? Even as the question fluttered through his mind, he immediately chastised himself for his stupidity. There was clear wear on the band that spoke of it being worn for years, never mind the cracked face.

Custom-made, he eventually concluded, though even that answer did not quite sit right with him. Regardless, it spoke of a man who had wealth— or used to, in any case. The wear and damage on the watch told a new picture now, but he seemed to still be connected to some form of influence. His clothing was of a very rich quality, and that was not including the unique cloak. Perhaps he was now connected with someone in the Greater Tibetan area, or someone of wealth in the Indian subcontinent. Or from there, at any rate.

He let his eyes go up the length of the man’s sleeves. Cloth bands decorated the forearms of his otherwise seemingly-plain shirt, likely made of wool and hemp. He indulged himself and studied the embroidery on the edge of the cloak again. He received no further information concerning its origin and make beyond what he had already determined, but there was something about it that was absolutely enchanting.

But enough lingering; he finally turned his body to lay on his side and brought his eyes up to meet the bearer of this very odd ensemble of attire.

And he saw himself.

Within the Shadows (villain!AU) sequel that finalllyyy has a title, Inhibited Lodgings (I think this one is about at 85%! So soooonnnn)

When one of the nurses came in with dinner, Stephen hardly acknowledged him. The nurse set the tray on the overbed table and, after a quick, “Eat while it’s hot!” left the room.

Stephen ignored it. He continued his obsessive perusal of the tablet, shaky fingers managing to steady enough to click link after link after link.

Stark came in an hour later and the tray was still untouched. He quirked his brows up. “Y'know Doc, if you don’t eat, Doctor Cho is going to be very stern with you and you’ll feel terrible after that.”

He raised his head from the tablet at the sound of Stark’s voice, blinking. “What?” He then looked at the tray of food. “Oh… right. I forgot that was brought in.” He looked at the now stone-cold chicken and broccoli with a small grimace.

“I’ll have them make you another plate. Send that info up, FRI.” Stark sunk into one of the chairs beside the bed. “What has you so distracted, anyway?”

Stephen turned the tablet around to show him his screen, which had a list of all the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 for all genres in 2011. “I only considered yesterday that there might be differences in music between my reality and this one. A check to see if my favorite artists existed here turned into something of a full day project.”

Stark was clearly interested. “No kidding. Did you find any differences?”

“Dozens. In some ways it’s amazing that it’s only that many across hundreds of artists and songs, but I cannot imagine not having Rocky’s training montage paired with ‘Eye of the Tiger.’ ”

“I know I’ve seen a couple of those films, but I couldn’t tell you the name of any training song off the top of my head,” he said. “But I’d probably remember a song with that name.”

He nodded. “Exactly! I can live without the 'Macarena’ and 'Kung Fu Fighting’, but that song made that sequence legendary.”

Stark’s lips twitched in amusement. “I’ll take your word for it. Anything particularly good from your reality that you found missing?”

“I’m still debating if losing all of Journey’s discography is worth never having to hear 'Don’t Stop Believing’ again.”

Time Travel Pseudo!villain Stephen aka Freakin Carmen Sandiego (yes, this is gonna happen. But it’s not happening until those two above are completed, and it’ll be written concurrently with the rest of the villain!Stephen series, as I suspect it will be on the longer side. The outline’s 4 pages long…)

He walked over and crossed his arms as Bruce replayed the video; it was definitely a better quality than the pixelated mess of everything else he’d seen so far. Even with the high-definition, though, the man’s fully-black outfit made him difficult to see against the night sky, and his face was completely covered by what looked like both a mask and hood. He’d be all-but-invisible without the glowing lights all around him. A gasp suddenly ran through the crowd, and the camera swiveled to look at the Palace of Westminster, now bereft of the tower. A few shouts then broke through, and the camera footage swung back to the night sky, but the man was gone.

“Where’d he go?” Tony asked as he leaned over Bruce and pressed both the replay and mute button.

“Uh, according to witnesses, after Elizabeth Tower vanished, he darted under the bridge— probably at the end with the screaming there— and disappeared.”

“I thought that was Big Ben,” he muttered, pressing replay again.

Bruce shook his head. “No, Big Ben’s the bell in Elizabeth Tower. I knew someone in college— British— who got rather annoyed over that misnomer. Really annoyed, actually.” He made a face to himself.

Tony, however, was busy squinting at a bit of the footage he had paused. “Does it look like he has a sort of— something— on his chest?”

The physicist leaned in and squinted alongside him. “Yeah. I’d say it almost looks like one of your arc reactors, but I don’t think your arc reactors do this.”

“But it could still be a power source,” Tony answered.

“Definitely,” Bruce answered. “It looks almost like he’s pulling from it.”

“That makes no sense, but a lot of this alien tech is nothing like anything that exists on Earth right now. I’d be interested in figuring out how it works.”

Bruce continued to peer at it. “So would I,” he said. “If you can keep it from S.H.I.E.L.D long enough to do so.”

Tony makes a face. “They have the scepter to play with. They can have it when I’m done.”

“You’re going to have to catch him first,” he pointed out.

“Pshh, after Loki, this’ll be easy-peasy. We’ll have him caught within two days.”

ARTS (just the two Stephens for now)

I didn’t have time last weekend to work on digital Stephen, but he’s still a lot farther ahead than when I last posted here sooooooo. (I won’t have time this weekend either, so… he’ll come sooner or later).

Annddd I figured out what my ugly yellow corner square is gonna be. I’m doing fan art for a fan fic like a real nerd. Bringing out the prismacolors again. Right now I’m still in the ‘messing around with line art’ phase. I plan to do this while I’m at tabletop gaming on Sundays.

And that’s that for WIPs. Now I need to go work on ficlets.

#my wips #my writing #my artwork

21 notes · View notes

upinthestarsx3 · 5 years ago

Text

Off Limits (m) part 6

Professor!reader x College student!Jungkook au

Genre: short series|smut|mostly angst|fluff in future|au

Word count: 3.4k

Warnings: Explicit language, mature content, including some masturbation and voyeurism in this chapter.

Summary: You’re fresh out of college having just received your masters degree in Math. You begin working at a nearby college and meet your headstrong student, Jungkook. After a drunk hookup; things get complicated.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

a/n: It’s been so long. Ugh I just fixed so many typos so apologies to anyone who read before I edited lmao. This chapter was fun to write. Enjoy and sorry i’m so flaky with posting more often!

The drive to Jungkook’s house is a blur. You sped through the main road knowing that he would also be on his way home; it was a race that you had to win.

When you arrive, your fingers run over the smooth keypad; trying every combination that might possibly get you into his fancy high tech building.

“Baby.” You hear someone whisper from behind you, letting out heavy breaths as if he’d just ran a mile.

You don’t need to turn back to know that it’s Jungkook, “Leave me alone.” You demand through pursed lips; your fingers still running rapidly on the keypad.

“You’re going to set off the alarm, y/n.” He speaks up again, his tone stern as he held his keycard in his hand. This time you turn towards him, confused that he used your actual name instead of calling you baby; the nickname you grew to love hearing from him.

“Let me in; I need my things.” Your words spill from your mouth like venom, and your glare holds nothing but disgust in them.

“Not until we talk.” He tells you, instead of asking.

A look of disbelief washes over your face, you place your hands on your hips and shake your head from side to side,

“No! I don’t want to talk. I want my things.”

He lets out a loud exhale as he rolls his eyes,

“Y/N, please stop being dramatic. I’m sorry, okay? Where will you go if you leave tonight?” He grills you, walking towards you to take your hand in his; but you quickly snatch it away, catching him off guard. His hand drops to his side, his eyebrows creasing deeply as he takes his keycard and swipes it for you.

The two of you walk quietly side by side to his front door. He reaches for his keys and pauses for a minute; taking a long look at you with fluttering eyes, and you see that same admiration in them.

“What, Jungkook?” You whine, eyes rolling as you quickly break eye contact with him.

“I love you.” He whispers, “and I don’t want you to leave me.”

“I don’t even think you know what love is,” you reply bluntly. He doesn’t acknowledge your insult as he finally opens the door and allows you to walk inside.

He watches you sadly as you gather your things, sitting at the edge of the bed while rubbing his sweaty palms against his jeans.

“Will you stay if I tell you what happened between me and Taehyung? Is that why you’re upset?”

“If you don’t know why I’m upset then we really have nothing to talk about.”

“You always try to make me seem like the problem, y/n. All I do is treat you well and you drag me along like a fucking rag doll because you know I love you.” He mumbles before he breaks into sobs. It takes all your might to stay put and not rush to his side and embrace him until his sadness passes, but you don’t- you refuse to feed into this any longer.

“I’m not going to let you manipulate me. Not this time, Jungkook.” Standing your ground as you hold several boxes in your hand.

“Everyone always fucking leaves me.” He sounds wounded, broken even. You wonder if he’s been this intense since the two of you first started dating.

You stand awkwardly by the door, silent for a few minutes, debating if you should even say anything at all,

“Hey.” You call out to him.

“Just go.” He croaks, turning his face away from you as his tears continue to flow freely.

“Kookie, look at me. This is not healthy. I’m so sorry that I let it go on; I should have never crossed that line. You are my student, and I am your professor. That is all it will ever be from this point forward.”

He rolls his eyes and gives you an incredulous look,

“Baby, you and I both know we can’t go back to that, not after I’ve been inside you-“

“Stop it.” You cut him off, twisting the door knob to leave before glancing back at him once more, telling him, “I don’t like who you’re becoming.”

Jungkook skipped 3 classes during the week, no emails, no texts, and no calls. The same paranoia that drove you crazy once before, crept its way back in once again. You hand back quizzes to your class, ignoring the awkward glances from both Jimin and Taehyung.

Are you on campus?

You can’t just keep missing classes.

Stop ignoring me! It’s immature.

He reads every message and leaves you read, which only fuels your anger. You continue class with a smile plastered on your face while you glance to your phone every once in a while.

Halfway through class the door swings open, and in walks Jungkook with another female student whom hasn’t been present from class; and they walk in hand in hand. None of them spare any glances your way and you clench your fists tightly by your sides,

“You two think it’s okay to just walk into class 35 minutes late and not even apologize?” You practically growl.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry. I was distracted, it won’t happen again!” Mina apologizes sincerely. Not that it made you feel any better. You look to Jungkook and raise your eyebrows, waiting for him to explain himself.

“What?” He snaps loudly, embarrassing you as the group of students look from him to you, waiting for your response.

“See me after class,” you reply, turning your back to everyone and facing the board to finish the problem on the board.

“Or what?” He sarcastically talks back, “You’ll punish me?”

You snap your head towards his direction a shocked expression as you watch him lick his lips with low sultry looking eyes- all while having his arm around Mina.

Glancing to your phone you see that it’s 20 minutes too early to end class, but end it anyway,

“Have a good weekend, guys. Remember, midterms next week; I’ll email you all an exact date this weekend.”

Students quickly dart from their seats and out of the classroom, excited for the weekend, presumably.

“Jungkook, I told you to stay after class.” You demand, staring daggers through him. He rolls his eyes dramatically and tells Mina he would text her later.

“Why are you acting like this?” You ask in a small voice, looking away from him and towards the floor.

He stands there and stares down at you, a stoic expression on his face,

“Why am I acting like this? You mean getting together with someone that will actually appreciate me?”

“I meant why are you missing classes, showing up late, and being rude to me in front of everyone.” Of course you were upset about him dating Mina, but you’d never admit that to him. This seems to bother him, his face turning into one of confusion.

“Fuck you, y/n.”

“No fuck you, asshole! I’m so sick of you and your childish games.”

The two of you stand there, arguing in low voices to avoid being heard, like two children.

A knock on the door makes the both of you jump about two feet apart,

“Oh, I’m glad to see the two of you here.” Jin smiles, “y/n, the art competition is on Monday at 7pm, don’t forget. It’s right on campus, first floor in the art building. Jungkook, I’m expecting some great work for the art show from you.” He doesn’t wait for a response before he waves and walks off.

Jungkook begins walking towards the door without another word. This was something you were not used to at all, you had grown accustomed to him always being the one to apologize, admit he’s wrong, and ask for another chance- never did you think he would stop,

“Wait!” You yell out, “I left some things at your house, I’m gonna need to pick them up.” You continue, your voice much lower than before.

“I’ll be with Mina tonight, but you can get them tomorrow night.” He walks out without a goodbye, a smile, or an I love you, and it breaks your heart.

You arrive to the motel you’ve called home for the past week, lying in bed and allowing yourself to finally cry, weeks and weeks of emotions building up, only to be uncaged as you sit on a bed in an empty room, filled with nothing but an 80s style tv and a dresser that had cat claw marks engraved in it.

Grabbing your phone and looking through your contacts you scroll through names of people you haven’t spoken to since college, only stopping when you find Jungkook’s name, labeled as, Kookie.

The phone rings twice before it goes right to voicemail, signaling that he ignored it; which only made you cry more. You quickly begin sending texts to his phone back after back, unconcerned that he would be with his rebound.

“Please talk to me.”

“I’m sorry, okay? I am sorry!”

“Kookie..”

“Please don’t do this to me.”

A half hour passes, and you find yourself walking to nearest place that could get you blackout drunk. You were unbothered that you were now in a bar occupied by drunk young adults no older than 30. You’re too busy impatiently calling the bartender over and asking for three shots, all for yourself, and throwing them back before asking for another round.

“Geez, y/n. Slow down, wait, I can call you y/n, right? Since we’re not on campus?” Jimin’s voice sounds alarms in your head as you turn slowly towards him.

“Just fucking great.” Is your nice way of greeting him back and you place your head in your hands.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay, we’re not on campus. Everything okay with Jungkook?” He asks, making your eyes widen and you cringe,

“Please don’t do that, don’t- don’t ask about him. It’s weird.”

“Okay, fine. How about a shot? My treat? I still feel really bad about the whole Taehyung situation.”

You contemplate asking about Jungkook and Taehyung, wondering why they hated each other so much when they apparently used to be like brothers.

“Fine, shots. Your treat.” You smile, still a little uncomfortable, but not enough to turn down free liquor.

“y/n! y/n! Are you okay?” You hear Jimin’s voice echoing as you try to gain your balance, you haven’t drank this much since you turned 21. If you were being honest, you were more of a wine drinker and hated clear liquor.

“I’m fine.” you slur. Smiling his way and ignoring his worried glances.

Towards the back you see a group of people playing beer pong, and you quickly run to join them; Jimin tries to grab your arm but you pull away and walk over to the man who needed a partner.

It wasn’t like you to meet strangers in the bar- hell, bars weren’t even your thing. But here you were, lying on the bar table with your shirt lifted preparing for body shots with your beer pong partner after winning two games in a row.

You soak in the feeling of this man sucking liquor from your stomach and licking his way down to your hips, humming as began leaving kisses there.

You turn your head to glance around the bar, suddenly worried that Jimin might be watching. Instead, you’re met with Jungkook’s wicked eyes. His arms crossed over his chest as he raises his eyebrows accusingly. You quickly jump up from your lying position and push the man away from you as you walk to the door,

“Koo-“

“Don’t talk me, y/n.” He hums defeatedly, helping you to his car and buckling you in,

“Jimin called me and told me you were out of control.”

“I was fine!” You lash out, who did Jimin think he was? Calling Jungkook on you?

He ignores you the rest of the way, and takes you straight to his apartment complex.

“Go brush your teeth. You stink like liquor.”

Pouting at his insult you run into the bathroom, opting to take a shower as well.

“Kookie, please bring me a towel.”

He walks into the bathroom and throws the towel on the counter from the doorway, not even darting his eyes your way. He goes to walk back out and you comment,

“Want to come in?” A hopeful tone in your voice,

“No.” And he slams the door behind him.

His bad attitude made you wish you were back at your lonely motel, he doesn’t want anything to do with you and it tears you apart. The both of you lie in the same bed but he lies down a foot away from you, lying on his back and staring up the ceiling.

“Kookie.” You whisper, turning on your side and reaching out for him. You reach his arm and prepare for him to pull away, but he doesn’t. Sure enough, you slowly scoot your way towards his warm body, and as if it’s instinct, he wraps his arms around you. You don’t dare say anything to ruin this moment, he loves you, and you were beginning to think you loved him back.

In the morning you wake up to an empty bed, your head feels as though it’s weighed down by bricks and you squeeze your eyes shut.

“There’s medicine and water on the night stand, I’m making breakfast. You need to eat.” He smiles softly, the smile doesn’t reach his eyes but it’s a good start.

“Thanks.” Is all you’re able to get out, afraid you might say the wrong thing and set him off.

It stays that way the entire morning, quiet but content. No words are ever needed between the two of you. It was like you spoke through touching, through facial expressions, and through helpful gestures.

You watch him sit in front of his drawing canvas, the stress on his face makes you upset for him. He had only two days to finish his art exhibit work- and he hasn’t even started.

“I don’t know what to do,” he explodes, making you jump from your position on the bed,

“Why don’t you draw a portrait of your dad, you’d automatically win, no one will turn down a school president portrait.

“Shut up.” He laughs; the soft wrinkles near his eyes make your heart melt.

“Maybe you just need some motivation,” you say, standing up from the bed, walking towards him before you stand in front of him, attempting to sit in his lap but he pushes you back down on the bed.

“Seriously? After last night you’re going to try that?”

“Jungkook, how many times do I have to say I’m sorry! I wasn’t myself last night.”

“You haven’t said sorry at all, y/n.” He’s clearly frustrated and you know you’ve screwed up whatever nice moment the two of you were having.

“If you were pleasing me than I wouldn’t have to find it somewhere else.” You snarl. His eyes shoots from his canvas and he purses his lips,

“Then you should learn to please yourself.” He grills you, waiting for another smart comment to come from your lips,

“I don’t- I’ve never done that. I mean, I’ve touched myself but I’ve never-“

“Really?” He questions, a surprised look on his face as he loses interest in the canvas.

“You can teach me.” You beg, pulling his hand and guiding it to the crotch of your shorts, he moves his chair and kneels in front you, rubbing you through the thin material, listening to you let you soft moans. Just as quickly as he started, he stops.

“What the hell.” You meant to yell, but it still comes out as light moan.

“I wanna see you touch yourself.” He bites his lip before sitting back down in front of you.

“Take of your shorts baby.” He guides you, watching your every move. You listen to him, taking it off quickly and throwing it across the room. You reach for your panties but you hear him speak,

“No. You listen to what I tell you to do.” Your eyes light up and you nod your head quickly.

“Pull your panties to the side, I wanna see your pussy.” He shifts in his seat and moves a little closer. Your run your fingers over your slit covered by a laced thong before moving the thin material to the right side.

“What next.” Squirming in your place begging for instruction to please your throbbing womanhood.

“Run a finger between your lips, baby.”

You quickly swipe a finger all the way up to your clit but he smirks,

“Slower.” Dragging out the word, and leaning in to get a better look,

“So pretty.” You look up at him with a smile and see that he’s already palming himself through his jeans,

“Touch your clit. Flick it a little bit, it’ll feel good.” He reassures.

Bringing your index finger to your clit you graze it lightly and arch your back in pleasure, feeling you pussy get wetter.

You look up at him expectantly and see that he’s drawing; looking between you and his canvas. You quickly squeeze your legs shut and sit up,

“What are you doing?”

“Drawing.” He answers as though it’s no big deal.

“Yes I know what you’re doing but- but-“

“No one will know it’s you. Has anyone ever seen you like I have? Naked? Legs spread open? You touch yourself for anyone else other than me?”

“No.”

“So nothing to worry about, open your legs.” He comforts you lovingly,

“Now show me how you finger yourself, baby. Show me how you please yourself.” His words alone make you moan and you find yourself begging for him to finish you off, he doesn’t of course. This was your lesson- your payback for last night.

“Oh gosh,” you squeal, your hips circling as you continued to finger yourself,

“Rub your clit with your other hand.” He murmurs. You quickly place your hand over your clit and rub it at a fast pace while fucking yourself with three fingers.

You hadn’t realized how long you’ve been at this until you see his finished canvas pushed to the side and his hand wrapped around his cock as he moves his tight grasp up and down.

“Fuck me, Kookie.” You whine, fingers still rubbing your clit, your body shaking.

“Apologize.” He commands, just like you demanded of him the night at the strip club, the first night you two got together.

“Apologize!” He demands a little louder this time, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“I’m sorry.” You agreed, leaning up to pull him closer. He pushes you back on the bed for a second time tonight and crawls over you. Placing an elbow next to your head and the other on his cock to guide himself inside of you.

Sex with Jungkook tonight was the opposite of what you were used to. He was slow, gentle even. Allowing his body to completely mold with yours and feeling every part of your body.

“I love you,” he declares,

“I know.”

He picks up the pace, smiling down at you and watching your eyes roll back with each thrust. His moans were driving you mad and clenched around his dick, something you did when you were about to cum. He throws your legs over his shoulders and takes a hold of your upper thighs, using them to grip you as he continues to pound into you relentlessly. You can feel him pulsating inside of you,

“Cumming.” He breathes heavily, eyes squeezed shut,

“Fuck.” He looks shocked to see you still writhing beneath him.

As soon as he releases you, you push his head lower until he’s facing your cunt. Without waiting for instruction he licks a strip up your pussy, enjoying your reaction. You run fingers through his hair and tug harshly at the strands.

His tongue pokes through and begins toying with your clit, pausing every once in a while to shove his tongue inside of you. “Oh god, Kookie.” You scream as you cum, trying to push his head away as he continues to suck your juices.

“I love you.” You finally admit as the two of you lie in bed together. He slowly looks your way with a large smile, looking just as drained as you were. He pulls you in and kisses you softly.

“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m with Mina now.” You slap his chest and the two of you break out in giggles.

“Shut up!” You complain with a smile. Your laughs die down eventually and he looks at you, a serious look in eyes as he proceeds,

“No more games, baby. I’m yours and you are mine.”

a/n: The story is on an indefinite hiatus.

masterlist is here

60 notes · View notes

sineala · 5 years ago

Note

I’ve never actually got to read iron man comics. I don’t know where to start but I will check out the ones you recommended. I did notice though in CBR forum and Reddit there are a lot of hate towards the fact Tony is adopted and no one likes his biological mom and adopted brother. Many wants it retconned, and there are apparently two Arno Stark in which one of them is the son of Morgan Stark. How many Starks are there and are they alive? I’m a noob hehe

The situation with Arno Stark is… complicated.

The easiest thing to start with is the three living Starks: Tony, his brother Arno, and Tony’s cousin Morgan.

We haven’t seen Morgan in canon in a while – though he’s been around since the Tales of Suspense days – but last I checked he was still alive – and anyway, I’m pretty sure he’s survived being dead at least once – and really what you should know about him is that he’s not a good person. He likes to show up every few years and attempt to murder Tony and/or take over his company. Basically, he really wants his company. He’s a terrible, terrible human being. He’s Howard’s brother Edward’s son, if you’re looking to draw a family tree; it’s implied that there was some unpleasantness between Howard and Edward that Morgan resents Tony for.

There’s also Arno Stark, Howard and Maria’s biological son. As of Slott’s run he seems to be… kind of evil, or at least he’s actively working with Sunset Bain, and that is usually not a good sign. This is the Arno Stark we first get as part of Gillen’s run.

And then there’s the other Arno Stark. Arno Stark was first introduced in canon in 1984 under the name of Iron Man 2020 – obviously, this was back when 2020 was a lot farther away. The idea is that this Arno is the current Iron Man and is, in fact, as you say, Morgan Stark’s son. So he’d be Tony’s future first cousin once removed. (He also presumably has children at some point, because Andros Stark – Iron Man 2093 – whom Tony meets in one of the Doomquest sequels, is one of Arno’s descendants.)

So here Arno is in 2020 (or maybe 2015, I forget) zooming around and enjoying being Iron Man. The Wikipedia entry for Iron Man 2020 is basically a good summary – essentially, he starts out basically being very mercenary, working for various people (including Sunset Bain).

(For the record, as far as I know, at this point Sunset hadn’t been established as one of Tony’s exes; she’s been a villain selling tech to other villains since the 80s, but I don’t think we got the Sunset/Tony until Busiek’s run.)

And, oh, yeah, Arno has a time machine, so most of his operations involve him traveling back to the then-present (the eighties) and fighting people. I get the impression that toward the end he ends up being more heroic. (I’ve only read a few issues of this myself; at some point I should sit down and read the rest.)

The Marvel Wiki says he got pulled out of his timeline and became a zombie and is dead now, but whatever, these things happen.

So at this point you might start noticing a couple of familiar names in both sections – like, both Tony’s brother Arno and his future cousin Arno are working with Sunset Bain (and with Jocasta and against Machine Man, FWIW) and the thing is, I am not sure what the hell is going on but either Iron Man continuity is completely fucked up (which is one reason I have heard people express negativity about the adoption storyline) or someone at Marvel has A Plan, because this is in the solicitations for October’s comics:

IRON MAN ROAD TO IRON MAN 2020Writer: Dan SlottArtist: Valerio SchitiThe Road to IRON MAN 2020 starts here! From the cusp of tomorrow’s dreams to the forefront of imagination, one man always soars on the cutting edge of adventure! You know his name. Tony Stark is Iron Man. And Iron Man…is an idea. Always changing. Always evolving. An idea without limit! The future is now. Strap in!

So I have no idea how but it seems like all these facts are all going to link up. Somehow. We’re all going to find out. It’s a mystery.

#Anonymous #replies

27 notes · View notes

bettas-and-other-oddities · 6 years ago

Text

Basic Betta Care Guide:

This will be a bare minimum care guide for betta care. As with most of everything on this blog, it is mostly going to be based on my experience of keeping bettas, stuff that I have researched, and full of sarcasm. Please, with any new pet, do research of your own to ensure that you know how to properly take care of your animal, or you may end up torturing or killing your animal.

TANK SIZE

There is a bit of debate on the betta community about the minimum tank size for a betta fish. In my eyes, a 5 gallon (~19L) for a permanent home. You can use a 2.5 for a small hospital tank, or for a temp tank if you suddenly came into ownership of a betta. If you choose a 2.5, please look into getting at least a 5 gallon (~19L) for your betta. Bettas love lots of space to swim and explore, as well as water quality is easier to maintain in a large tank. 5 gallons (~19L) are also the smallest tank that can safely maintain a stable tank cycle. Besides, the bigger the tank, the more you can decorate.

CYCLE YOUR TANK

The niteogen cycle is this big long process that is invisible to the eye. A short hand explanation is basically benificial bactera grows in your tank when you have an ammonia source, like fish waste, and it grows and grows until the bacteria is able to convert your ammonia and waste into other chemicals and such. I'm not so great at describing cycling, so here is a great link to look into!

Cycling your tank is a long and boring process, and it can happen anywhere between 2-8 weeks. Its long and boring, but putting a fish in an uncycled tank (also called fish in cycling) can be detrimental to your fish, as it usually results in stress, ammonia burns, and even death. Here is another link in case you are reading this after you added a fish to a new aquarium.

You can use bottled bacteria, like Seachem stability, API quick start, or Tetra safe start to help speed it up, but there are some discussions on whether or not they actually help. You can also ask a friend that has tanks if you can have some of their filter media to add into your filter. I don't recomend getting pet store filter media, as you could accidentally introduce sickness or parasites.

A FILTER AND HEATER ARE REQUIRED, NOT OPTIONAL

Most people assume that a betta can just live in a cute little bowl for its whole life. Which is so wrong. Your tank absolutely needs a filter and a heater. Filters help keep a stable nitrogen cycle and helps reduce maintenance. A heater is needed as bettas are tropical fish, coming from places like Malaysia and Thailand where temps are a nice warm 78-90°. With a heater in your tank, it should keep your betta tank at a toasty 78-80° F ( 25-27° C). A cold tank can lower your bettas immune system which leads to illness, as well as it slows their metabolism and activity levels. A good filter and heater is key to a happy bettas. Here is a diagram of what wattage heater is needed for your tank size!

TANK DECORATIONS

Getting a new tank can be exciting when it comes to picking out decorations! But take a minute to think about them before you go hog wild on them. Bettas have very beautiful, and very delicate fins. You have to find decorations that won't cut up your new betta buddy. Live plants are a great option. They are very soft, and even help with your water quality. Low tech plants don't require a ton of additional care, and can look amazing. Here is a link to a website that gives you info on some easy to care for aquarium plants!

If you don't want to try out live plants, silk plants are also a good option for bettas. They are very papery plants that are soft and safe for a bettas fins. I have silk plants in both of my bettas tanks. They are also easier to clean, with just some hot water and a clean, non soapy toothbrush.

If you want non-plant decorations, its really inportant to make sure there are no sharp edges. You can test this by taking a nylon stocking and dragging it across the decorations. If it catches, it might not be so safe for fragile fins.

Always check the inside of your hides. It can be super soft and smooth in the outside, but the inside can have the sharp edges of seals and other things. Make sure your betta cant get stuck in them, as well.

Bettas also like to have a very heavily planted tank. They are fearful in large open spaces. Here is a couple ideas of a good betta tank.

PICKING OUT YOUR BETTA

Picking out a new buddy can be the most exciting part of starting the hobby. Its really important to decide where you want to get your betta. If you decide to go online and order a betta, make sure there are good reviews on the breeder. If people say that their betta never arrived, died during shipping and had to pay for a dead betta, or there is just poor quality bettas, its best to look for a different breeder. A good breeder will have a variety of pictures of the betta, and will be able to answer your questions about the betta you're intersted in. They also will have some good reviews. You can always ask the betta community for recommendation for breeders. I don't have a lot of experience with getting bettas online, so I don't have a lot of info on them. ***

If you plan on getting your betta at a pet store or local fish store, there are still some things to look for. You want to make sure the betta is active, and alert. They should also have healthy fins for their tail type. Small tears are okay of you plan on keeping your water clean and healthy. I don't recommend beginners going out and "rescuing" a sick betta, as you won't have a lot of experience dealing with illnesses, and could potentially end up with a dead betta within days of purchasing the fish. If you are experienced and want to help a sick fish, go ahead and help it.

Its also a good idea to go to the store, look at the bettas, and go home and research the type of betta you liked the most. Some betta types have lots of health issues. Twin tails are more susceptible to swim bladder, dragon scales often go blind, and "rarer" breeds like black orchids and platinum can have health issues from breeding. Pet store bettas are also just in general less healthy than normal due to the disgusting amount of over breeding.

TANK MAINTENCE

Now that you have everything set up, you have your betta buddy, don't sit down and relax yet. There is still a lot of care maintaining your new tank. Usually you need to conduct 25-30% weekly water changes on your tank, and also make sure everything in your tank is healthy. Maintence can include water changes, cleaning the inside of the glass to clean off algae, trimming back plants when the get too long, and cleaning your gravel. A lot of new fish keepers just assume you can throw a fish in a tank and that's all there is too it. Unfortunately, that's not the case. A fish tank is maintence. If that's not for you, its best to stop reading and consider a pet rock or a fake houseplant. Not keeping up on your maintence can lead to a gross looking tank and sometimes death.

FEEDING AND FOOD

Its easy to feed a betta, but harder to find a food that's actually good for your betta. Sure, it can eat goldfish flakes, but its not good for it. Usually for food, I recommend frozen blood worms, daphnia worms, fluval bug bites, and omega one betta pellets. Its good to vary up your bettas diet.

The pet store may tell you that you only need to feed your betta once a week, but thats usually because bettas are in cups and they need to reduce waste, and the bettas don't need that many calories. Your betta at home is going to need more food. I feed my bettas almost every day, with fasting days throughout the week. Its important to know that a bettas stomach is only about the size of their eye, and over feeding is really easy. They only need 2-4 pellets of food per day. You can split that up into two feedings, or do it all at once. As much as your betta begs for food, don't over feed them. It can lead to health issues.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR FISH GETS SICK

You can do everything right, and keep your water pristine, and still end up with some sort of sickness. And that's okay! Most illnesses are very treatable. The most common illnesses with bettas are swim bladder and fin rot. Swim bladder is usually caused by over feeding. Here is a link to a website that better explains it, and how to treat it!

The other most common one is fin rot. This usually happens due to a cut on the fins that gets infected. It can look like a black or red outline on the fins, and the fins look tattered and broken. Here is a picture of my late fish Tofu that had a bad case of fin rot.

Usually, warm clean water and taking out decorations that are sharp will help. If it doesn't, there are some awesome over the counter medications you can get to help it. Stay away from pimafix or melafix, as they are mostly tea tree oil and the oil will end up coating the bettas labyrinth organ and suffocate the betta.

If your betta doesn't look or act normal, consult a veterinarian or ask a local betta keeper/expert, and they can help you.

Here is a website that I like that helps with betta diseases.

SHOPPING LIST

Here is a quick shopping list of things you will need to set up a new tank!

Tank at least 5gallons (~19L)

Water conditioner (I recomend Seachem Prime)

Soft decorations/plants/gravel

Heater

Filter (depending on the filter I would get filter floss to house your bacteria)

(Optional) bottled bacteria

API master test kit to test your parameters

Water siphon/gravel vac (helps with water changes)

Betta food

Your new betta buddy (for after you've set up and cycled your tank)

I hope that this was helpful to people wanting to get into the hobby. Please feel free to reblog and add things as you see fit! I hope you guys enjoy!

***I usually get my fish from my local pet store. I don't quite know how the fish process is when ordering from an online breeder, I only know as much as comparing it to getting a dog from a breeder. Please feel free to reblog or messege me with a more accurate explanation/guide to betta breeders!

#betta advice #male betta #betta splendens #betta fish #bettablr #bettatank #aquablr #aquarium #aquariumblr #aquariums #betta help #fish tank #siamese fighting fish #fishblr #betta misconceptions #betta #betta care guide

82 notes · View notes

drrjsb · 5 years ago

Photo

Body and Soul: The Endgame Fix

Part 5: Lunch and Learn

Summary: It's still Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. Bruce drives Natasha through his adopted town of Bridgewater and on to his house. News travels fast. They have company waiting.

[Monday, Oct. 30, 2023] It was a pleasant ride to Bridgewater with no real traffic since it was only about 11:00 am on a Monday, and the highway route he took was mostly through the countryside. It didn’t hurt that it was Autumn and everything was tinged golden, crimson, and orange, especially the hard maples and oaks. It was good to be away from the muddy pit and construction at the Compound. It was even better to have Natasha finally coming home with him.

Bruce could have taken the second exit and arrived home by a quicker route, but he’d wanted to show her the historic part of the town that he’d adopted or, more actually, that chose to adopt him. There was a bit of a strip mall out by the highway, but “Old Bridgewater” (or just “Downtown” to the locals) was picturesque with a river cutting through the middle of town and several beautiful arched stone bridges and Victorian-style houses and other striking architecture.

At one time, it had been a mill town and produced woven fabrics, but those days were far in the past. Now it was a quaint, bedroom community headed toward being an outer, outer suburb with a little light industry and tech to go with some agriculture that had been given a boost by the Decimation. Nat was surprised at the number of people who recognized them and waved from the sidewalk at Bruce. He’d rolled his window down to return their casual waves. She smiled as she realized he genuinely enjoyed the interactions and wondered if any of them were “Hulkies” like Marsha had mentioned.

Bruce laughed when a couple of preschool-aged kids pointed eagerly at their vehicle while they waited on a red light to change. The small girl and boy both broke into bicep-flexing poses. He returned the flexed salutes with one of his own. “Hulk out!” he called to them, and they squealed with glee. “You can always tell the kids who’ve watched the Go Green Science videos because they get all excited like that. Sometimes I think it’s really the HX everyone is impressed with since it’s unusually large. To most of the local folks, seeing me or the vehicle isn’t such a big deal anymore unless they’ve just been snapped back, so there’s just kind of a wave hello to a neighbor. ‘Nice to see you.’ I like that about this place.” Nat thought he was being modest about some of the attention. She’d spotted a few people sneaking pictures, too. Were they Hulkies?

Just when they seemed to have reached the end of town, he’d taken a turn to the right and paralleled the river as it flowed around a bend. When they came around the curve and the trees no longer obstructed the view, Natasha’s mouth dropped open. “You bought a castle?!”

Bruce laughed, “No, it’s just a big crazy Victorian-style house with some round rooms and stonework. It has three and a half stories and a finished basement. The mill and warehouse are also Victorian era, like most of Main Street, on the outside, but I have cutting-edge lab and workshop space inside.”

“Your house has turrets, Bruce. It’s a castle.”

“Fine, I’m ‘The Beast’ in a castle now,” he joked, deepening his voice. “I guess that makes you Belle?”

“I’d be your Belle. Got a library?” Natasha teased back.“Do I have a library?! Have you been impersonated by a Skrull for five years?” He was completely happy to see her smile and joke with him again; it gave him faith they could at least try to make a go of it together this time. He hadn’t exactly rebuilt the house and grounds just for her, but he’d put a lot of his love for her into it with the vague hope that someday she’d see it. Now, he hoped she’d fall in love with it as he had.

The gravel crunched under the HX’s wheels as Bruce pulled up to the gate in the decorative, yet substantial steel fence surrounding the property. There was a camera, but no gatehouse, and he rolled the window down and pressed in a code on a panel then let it read his left thumbprint. Bruce scanned the driveway ahead that forked off to the house on the left and the old factory complex with the labs on the right. “That’s kind of weird. Usually, Sirius is front and center as soon as he hears the car on the gravel. Maybe Vella shut him inside by accident before she left?” he hypothesized. He didn’t believe it for a minute, but no need to go on high alert just yet. After the metal gate rolled back, Bruce drove cautiously down the drive and parked the vehicle in its usual spot in the driveway where the pavement circled behind the house, near the back porch. “Please do me a favor and sit tight for a minute, Nat. I want to see where the dog is.” Bruce opened up a panel above the rearview mirror and pointed to a toggle switch. “I want you to flip this when I get out. The vehicle is a bunker if it needs to be. With you just back . . .”

“Do you have a gun in here?” Natasha demanded, her voice all business.

“Promise me you won’t get out of the car unless it’s 100% necessary.”

“80%.”

“Deal. I have one of your old Glock 26s in that wooden box in the backseat. It’s loaded, 10 shots, but I don’t have any extra rounds. Also, I have neighbors within earshot, and I would prefer not to scare them shitless.”

“Got it. I promise I will sit tight until things go south.”

“Make that 80% south,” Bruce reminded her before he left Natasha in the HX. She was as good as her word and engaged the “bunker” mode, which involved a form of nanotech that reinforced the existing plating, extended it down to the ground, and covered the glass and tires. He hadn’t told her how to disengage the shielding, so he hoped she’d sit tight and let him deal with whoever was here. He was pretty sure he had an idea whom that might be since no sensors were tripped.

“Sirius! Here, boy!” Bruce called and then whistled. There wasn’t the usual happy bark and scrambling of toenails on wood and stone as the big black mix charged out the pet door or careened around the corner of the porch, so Bruce turned to the trees surrounding the backyard. “Barton, if you’re holding my dog hostage, don’t expect to be invited to lunch.”

“I’m not holding it hostage. I just want to talk to whoever you have with you and make sure you aren’t getting made a fool of,” called a familiar raspy voice from behind him. Clint dropped down from the roof on the far corner of the porch. Bruce was relieved to see he wasn’t wearing his “Ronin” gear though he did have his bow and quiver over some basic tac clothing.

“Where is my dog?” Bruce asked, sounding stern.

“It went in the door thing. Hasn’t come back out.”

“Why would that be?”

“It wasn’t exactly staying quiet.” Bruce scowled at him. “It may have gotten a little sleeping gas before he went to bed.”

“You gassed my dog.”

“It’ll be fine in about an hour.”

“I cannot believe you gassed my dog,” Bruce said in a low growl.

“It’s a big dog with a bigger bark, okay!?”

Bruce didn’t mean to be losing his temper, but now he was pissed off. “He’s an overgrown puppy for crying out loud, Clint, not a guard dog. Try a dog treat.” He unclenched the fingers of his right hand again and stepped back. It never helped to loom over smaller people unless you really wanted to fight them or make them piss their pants, he reminded himself. No, he really didn’t want to fight Clint. “Why the fuck couldn’t you just use a phone or wait on the front porch?”

“You could have called. Instead, I had to overhear this from Fury talking to Carol,” the archer accused.

Dammit, Danvers, update your security protocols (or quit having Clint do your dirty work if that’s what was going on), Bruce thought. “I’ve been a little too busy making sure Nat was okay. You gassed the dog, so now what do you have planned to do to Natasha, hmm? Because this IS Natasha. OUR Natasha!”

“How the hell do you know? You weren’t there on Vormir. You didn’t see her let go. That was Natasha,” Clint said through gritted teeth. They both stared at each other, filled with grief and anger and guilt. It wasn’t necessary, not now, not anymore, but it was hard to let go.

Part of Bruce wanted to step forward and backhand Barton into the next county for all the time he’d had with Natasha that he hadn’t and for failing to die when both Bruce and Hulk would have done it in a heartbeat, but Bruce reminded himself that it no longer made any sense to be jealous and petty about any of it. That wasn’t Nat who died. It was a horrible sacrifice that still had meaning, but it wasn’t one the real Natasha had been fated to make. He straightened back up from the defensive crouch he’d been slipping into and relaxed both hands. Bruce kept his voice low and calm. “Don’t remind me. We were both fooled, Clint. If you want to talk to her, put your weapons on the porch. All of them.” Clint didn’t seem convinced. “Dude, if you don’t believe me, call Maximov. All four of us there agreed this is our Nat. Now, I need to see how the pup is and get Natasha settled because she’s had one hell of a five years, too. Disarm or get the hell off my property. Now.”

Read more on WattPad, Fanfiction.net, or AO3

1 note · View note

birdie02 · 6 years ago

Text

Thoughts on Skate America 2018 Men’s SP

Welp the GP starts off in the US, aka my timezone, so I can watch live! Sort of... kind of late at night though xD

Warmup – lmao at that switch of the lineup. Heard that Vincent had a back injury, glad to see he’s back. Hopefully he’s recovered successfully. Nathan has… interesting hair (it’s better than cutting the curls off for Pyeongchang though), and glad he has a costume this time (I disliked his costumes last year during the latter part of the season). Vincent landed a 3A successfully, though could do a bit more on the smoothness of the landing. Matteo has a nice 3F. Oof Nathan popped that 3A into a single. Tried it again and landed it successfully. Sergei popped a 3Lz into a 1Lz… popping culture huh. Nathan landed a 3A again. Nice 3Lz Sergei! Ooh dang that 4Lz by Vincent. Moris popped a 4S into a 2S. Matteo landed another nice triple (flip?).

Vincent Zhou – Ooh nice ombre costume. Simple but sweet. Is this a lyrical program song? Interesting opening choreo. Most parts were good, some parts could be more convincing though. Nice 4Lz3T (rippon!), though there was some space in between the 4Lz and the 3T. Nice 4F. Oooh a donut spin into a half-Biellmann, I love! Nice 3A! Great with the jumps today! Ooh that last few seconds of the choreo were great! Great that Vincent skated clean at home! 76.38 Hmm, URs were called for a lot of the elements, possibly the 2 quads and the 3A. Interesting. I saw that the 3A was under but idk about the other two. The 4F was nice though, so idk. Strict judging?

Moris Kvitelashvili – Not watched him before. This is Debussy’s Clair de Lune, ok. Oof that 4S… slipped off that edge. Good 3A! Nice camel spin, the extension was good. I like his spins! I kind of dislike that piano-playing fingers imitation choreo there. Oof that quad (Toe? Sal?) ended in a fall, so no combo. That donut (?) spin was good but his costume xD Um I gotta say that the music cut/transition between the spin and the StSq was quite weird in my opinion. Maybe this is a remix of Clair de Lune, but as a classical piano player (amateur), I’m a bit irritated at the program music xD 68.58

Matteo Rizzo – Not watched him as well, but heard that he did a heck ton of competitions last season or two season ago, lmao (or is this someone else? Idk). Ooh elegant shirt for the top. Ok I like the opening choreo, smooth and graceful. Great 3A! Good 3Lz3T, very airy and easy. Nice donut spin. Ok idk what they’re called but they’re not donut-spin looking bc the lines (if you look from a bird’s eye view) are kind of not a round hole, looks more like a stiff polygon. That StSq has a nice choreo, it’s real cool. Nice 3F, good running edge after the landing. Good skate, I like it! His skating is very classic and elegant. 78.09

Nathan Chen – Oh that opening pose! That look! Wow this opening choreo and song, omg :o I’m very into it already. Hopefully he delivers as well, both technically and musically. Nice 3A! Good, very good. Wow, tight 4F but landed. Stepped out though. Music is such a contrast to his last season’s music, though, but not in a bad way. I’m feeling the musical part of it though! Nice 3Lz3T! Supposed to be a 4Lz, idk? Looks to be having a fun time with the program. He’s a good performer to this song. Good skate to start the GP! It is better than the FS at Japan Open for sure. Boy did he collect so much goodies on the nice. Omg the opening choreo and expression xD I’m laughing om xD Maybe the 4Lz didn’t get enough height for 4Lz? But dang I’m really feeling the program. 90.58. Dang the tech controller is tight today. I’m glad they are more tight than lenient, though. Not a fan of inflation.

Sergei Voronov – Not a fan of the costume (I have a… thing against basic block coloring styles, just a preferences I guess). Ooh Rach music! My roommate plays the same music for his SP omg :o I’m stunned. Omg. How the heck. Very shocked. Good 4T2T! Very Russian Rach music omg. I love this music. Tight on the 3Lz, and gotta say I’m not feeling the long set up. Nice donut spin!! Step out of the 3A. Wow look at those 2 sets of twizzles ahhh. Wow that sit spin was fast. 78.18. Got to say that his musicality can improve…

Alexei Bychenko – Wow that costume is hecka detailed in terms of genera color design. What is this… opening music? Referring to the voice. The orchestra sets the tone quickly, wow. Good 3F, very fast and powerful! 3A landed, but turned out on the landing. I’m not a fan of that weird voice, it’s giving me the creeps… Oof that popped 3Lz turned into a 2Lz3T. Lmao it’s weird seeing such a high 3T after the 2Lz. I recognize the music now (StSq) but can’t place the name on it, hmm. That’s a lot of things going on in the StSq (elements-wise), perhaps to meet the intensity/pace of the music. Just saying, I wish the strict calls tonight were reflected across all disciplines 24/7 in all events, but that’s wishful thinking xD. That 3A had good height in that slow-mo! 69.69

Omg Julian Zhi Die Nee is 3rd! Omg! Nathan has a decent lead on the rest of the crowd, which is in the low 80s, high 70s atm.

#figure skating #fs #my commentary #skam 2018 #vincent zhou #moris kvitelashvili #matteo rizzo #nathan chen #sergei voronov #alexei bychenko

4 notes · View notes

theroomdowntown · 6 years ago

Text

Inside the facility where Kodak brings film back to life

Inside the facility where Kodak brings film back to life Here’s a look at how thin strips of acetate become tiny blank canvases.

Paul Simon never wrote a song about Kodak Ektachrome, so you’ve probably never heard of it. But you have seen pictures shot on the film: The astronauts brought it to the moon in 1969, and National Geographic photographers have carried it around the globe.

Launched in 1946, Ektachrome evolved from a slightly finicky stock prone to issues with fading into a go-to medium valued for its vibrant colors. Hues skew toward the blue end of the spectrum, creating more-realistic images than the warmer Kodachrome of Simon fame. Both are slide films—meaning they produce full-color pictures right on the film rather than white-is-black/black-is-white negatives. But Ektachrome is easier to handle: While Kodachrome gets its color from dyes in the developing process, Ektachrome contains its own pigments, so developing is less labor-intensive.

But the film favorite nearly didn’t survive a tumultuous decade. As digital cameras and smartphones axed analog photography’s market by 80 percent, Kodak ended Ektachrome’s run in 2012. The sunset, however, did not last long. Since 2015, a growing enthusiast market and a goose from cinematic heavies such as directors J.J. Abrams and Christopher Nolan have helped 35-millimeter-film sales rebound. The trend spurred Kodak to revive Ektachrome.

Over the past 18 months, the Rochester, New York, company has worked to fine-tune the chemical mix that made the iconic film. Kodak will have it back in the hands of photographers later in 2018. Here’s a look at how thin strips of acetate become tiny blank canvases.

A tall tale.

Stan Horaczek

The Eastman Business Park in Rochester spans 1,200 acres and has its own power plant, private railroad, and fire station. This smokestacked building, which Kodak sold in 2013, sits just outside one of the company’s only remaining facilities for analog-film production, where Ektachrome takes form.

The left side of this image is from a modern digital camera (a Canon 5D Mark III); the right side is an Ektachrome exposure. We retouched the Ektachrome frame to better match the stock’s original color (rich blues). Our original shot was on an expired roll from the secondary market and so had a pinkish tint—though you could still see some of the characteristic blue in the shadows.

Into the light.

Stan Horaczek

The elevators in Building 30, where Kodak blends film chemicals, help workers’ eyes get used to the conditions that light-sensitive compounds demand. From street level, they enter cars lit green, a hue that encourages their peepers to adjust to the dim, film-safe red tones upstairs. The crimson light won’t react with the more than 1,200 chemicals Kodak keeps and catalogs here. Staff maintain the building at 75 degrees and 50 percent humidity, conditions that help stabilize setting agents such as gelatin and cut down static electricity, which can expose film.

Wet ingredients.

Stan Horaczek

All film has two main components: a substrate and layers of photosensitive chemicals—the stuff that makes pictures happen. Ektachrome requires 106 components distributed across 15 layers. Workers load raw materials into the industrial mixers seen here to create blends that, among other functions, resist fog and balance the acidity of the film.

Color seal.

Stan Horaczek

Down the hall in the precipitation room, chemists mix the compounds that make the film sensitive to light. Pumps push raw materials such as silver, bromide, dyes, and salts into the kettle (center) in densities measured out to five decimal places. The result is silver halide crystals tuned for different colors; those dyed yellow will grab blue light, magentas capture green, and cyans snag red.

Blend tech.

Stan Horaczek

At the bottom of this 475-gallon mixing kettle, a planar emulsion precipitation apparatus (or PEPA), which vaguely resembles a perforated plastic watermelon, spins at up to 5,000 rpm. The speed helps evenly distribute the silver halide crystals in liquefied gelatin to create an emulsion. Learning to work with the fussy animal-derived material is what spurred Kodak founder George Eastman to create the film giant’s research arm in the late 1800s.

Connect the pots.

Stan Horaczek

Once blended, chemicals travel in barcoded containers across “The Bridge,” a conveyor-belt system that connects Building 30 to a coating facility in Building 38. Once the substances cross this expanse, an automated process takes over, reducing the risk of spills or mix-ups. The light-sensitive emulsions occupy matte black boxes, while other elements await their fate in bottles.

Hot pot.

Stan Horaczek

Here in the melting room, machines called dumpers move silver halide emulsions and other chemicals into massive kettles. This row of 26 mixers re-melt gelatin and marry disparate compounds into film coatings. This room is typically blackout dark when mixing is in process.

Shake it off.

Stan Horaczek

Coatings get cleaned up in this, the “hot room,” on their way to meet their acetate base. The tubes running across the room’s frame deliver materials to filters (not shown) that catch any undissolved gelatin. Meanwhile, ultrasonic vibrations shake out bubbles that could leave voids on the film. The space stays above 100 degrees to keep everything flowing freely.

Master control.

Stan Horaczek

The coating process happens in perfect darkness, but it’s controlled from this 1980s masterpiece. Two rooms away, machines paint each of Ektachrome’s 15 layers onto acetate. The 52-inch-wide film rolls pass through a coating waterfall, a cooler, and a dryer. Once they reach the other side, the direction switches, and the film circuits through the whole process again. If laid end to end, the trip would stretch nearly a mile. The facility sits on a steel-reinforced concrete slab that reaches 100 feet below the ground, all the way to bedrock, negating any ambient vibration that could cause coating inconsistencies.

Drum line.

Stan Horaczek

Once the film is finished and the coatings hardened, workers seal it in light-tight wooden containers and truck it down the street. Each case holds a roll of sensitized stock as long as 12,000 feet—Ektachrome runs will be 6,000 feet. Kodak paints the airtight containers flat black on the inside, and seals them with collars to ensure no light can seep in and prematurely expose the film.

Cut, cut, cut.

Stan Horaczek

This moving-truck-size machine, known as the slitter, slices the 52-inch rolls into 38 individual strips of 35mm Ektachrome. The apparatus is similar to what food packagers would use to trim Doritos bags but with some special Kodak modifications, such as custom blades. Normally, this room is pitch-black; only strips of green glow-in-the-dark tape help workers find their way around the behemoth.

Punch a bunch.

Stan Horaczek

This device, which Kodak calls “the heart,” punches holes in the edges of the film so sprockets inside a camera can crank through exposures. Film travels from the reel at the right through the rotary perforator in the center at a rate of 3,000 feet per minute. The corrugated tubes that extend like arteries (hence the cardiovascular name) on the top and bottom of the machine are vacuum lines that suck away the chads. Each roll of 36 pictures will have roughly 700 holes.

GADGETS

You should buy an instant film camera—here’s how

Instant prints make smart phone photography seem boring.

You have lots of options for instant film cameras. Here’s how to pick the best one for you.

Quality control.

Stan Horaczek

Engineers test sections of film in a developing lab. They spot-check for imperfections including incomplete chemical coating or crinkles from the machinery. During production, Kodak uses night-vision cameras to monitor the film for irregularities such as uneven application or breaks. If the machines sense that something is wrong, they mark that spot on the roll so testers can then cut out that piece and diagnose the mishap.

Wrap it up.

Stan Horaczek

The final film goes on to the packaging area, where a machine wraps it around plastic spools like these. Each batch of Ektachrome nets out to nearly 3 million feet of film—or more than 600,000 individual rolls. How much of it the company makes will depend on sales; film has a finite shelf life—even if you store it in the fridge.

June 13, 2018 at 08:39AM via Digg https://ift.tt/2t2TMnJ

More from our dtla photo studio in downtown los angeles at www.theroomdowntown.com

The post Inside the facility where Kodak brings film back to life appeared first on The Room Downtown.

from WordPress https://theroomdowntown.com/index.php/2018/06/19/inside-the-facility-where-kodak-brings-film-back-to-life/ photo, video, los angeles, dtla, photostudio, studio, photography, downtown, light, cinematography, film, fashion, portrait, camera, www.theroomdowntown.com

#Our Photo Studio #beauty #camera #cinematography #downtown #dtla #fashion #Film #light #los angeles

1 note · View note

icefactoryentertainment · 4 years ago

Text

Story Beats:

Sweeping Overview horizon shot of a very high tech city

Zoom in and focuses on a very tall building with one of the windows cut out

Main character is pressed against a wall making sure to not be seen by guards

Main Character (MC) peaks around the corner to see a guard sleeping

MC quickly/quietly moves to the other end of the hall and down a corridor.

Just as he's about to take a step forward, he stops, checks his arm computer, reaches into his coat, and rolls a bubble shaped white smoke bomb down the hall.

The bomb explodes as it reaches the center of the hall revealing and laser grid

MC taps on his arm computer

Computer plans a safe route and a quick route.

MC cracks his knuckles, and proceeds to take the quick route

After that ordeal, he now notices a maze of cameras

Checking on his arm computer, he saw that he can turn some off periodically

He watches the timing and, at the right moment, speeds off under the camera's gaze.

Quickly makes his way through the various halls until he reaches a long, black hallway with a white path

At the end of the hallway, he sees the vault.

"Jackpot"

Scene changes to a dirty apartment littered with bottles of alcohol

A Young, but tired looking man is sitting on the couch flipping through channels

A close up on his face shows that he's been crying

The detective glances down at the items on his coffee table: a gun, a badge, and his phone

He reaches for the coffee table seemingly reaching for the badge

Grabs his phone and scrolls through texts from "Bro"

Various messages can be seen but he lands on 4:

(My line's always open, man. Though I should probly change my tone lol)

(Please man, you gotta go against this, it ain't right locking her up like this)

(I've called you 10 times, what? Are we just leaving it at "it's my job, I can't do anything else"? Dude, you know this ain't right, so are you gonna help me?)

(You know what? Forget it, if you won't help I'll do it myself. Not like you've been reliable lately anyway)

Close up on the detective, a pained expression is on his face.

A single tear rolls down his cheek

His thumb hovers over the call button.

Cut back to MC checking his arm computer.

Computer states the alarm in this hall will blare due to sounds over 80 decibels, which is akin to an average alarm clock.

MC attempts to be as quiet as possible while making his way down the corridor.

He has a scare when one of his bombs (black one) falls from his coat.

He catches it just before it hits the ground.

Turns to the vault and checks his arm computer, realizing it's an electronic lock

While hacking the lock, MC prepared a smoke bomb (blue)

Right as the door opens, he tosses the bomb inside and a puff of electric smoke bursts

MC rushes inside and scans for his prize.

He sees a pod the size of a soccer ball in the middle of the room and checks to see if that's it.

Side of the pod: "Auto info processing unit: B3E A.I. containment pod"

MC grabs the unit and swiftly leaves the vault.

MC checks the pod and sees the power button and presses it

Message on pod: "initializing, reboot, 0%"

MC pockets the pod and gets moving back through the sound hall

Right as he reaches the hall, his ringtone goes off

MC looks around as the room lights up at the sound

Military Gun drones scatter from ports in the wall and starts swarming

"Damnit"

MC taps a button on his wrist

His hover shoes activate

Skates off at full speed, avoiding gunfire from drones

Guards are alerted and are ordered to block his path.

MC gets into a brief altercation with guards, during which he spots a set of emergency stairs.

After knocking away a guard, MC darts to those stairs and jams the door behind him.

Pauses, then heard footsteps coming from below

checks the floor below him, guards coming up

MC checks on pod: "25%"

makes a mad dash to the roof

Cut back to the detective pacing the floor with a phone to his ear

No answer

He repeats this a few more times

Suddenly the tv catches his attention

Breaking news report states someone broke into a government building

Detective checks his phone

Looks back at the tv

Then grabs his gun, and badge

As he leaves he calls his station requests a ride to the building

Cut back to the top of the building, establishing shot on the roof

MC runs to the edge of the roof

Looks around and checks on the pod: 80%

MC turns to see that he's surrounded by hover crafts

On one of the hovercrafts is the detective who jumps on the roof to confront MC

A stare down occurs with the detective holding a gun to MC

MC holds out pod

Pod lights up at 100% and starts making child like noises

Detective hesitates

MC drops a smoke bomb (white) and an envelope

MC disappears

Detective checks the edge then notices the envelope

Opens it to see a photo of twin teenagers working on the same pod MC had.

0 notes

arplis · 5 years ago

Text

Arplis - News: 30 items on sale for Memorial Day that’ll improve your home and beyond

With the U.S. cautiously reopening, it’s probably time to take stock of where you're at. After spending all these weeks in the house, you’ve likely already assembled a little list of items you either realized you were missing or need to replace. And those kinds of revelations probably apply to nearly every room.

We got you. From the bedroom to the kitchen to the bathroom, we’ve put together a list of some cool items all under Memorial Day discounts right now. On top of that, use the code SUMMERSAVE20 during checkout and you’ll get an added 20 percent off everything. Load up!

The Bedroom

Comfort always starts with some great sheets, so the Bamboo Comfort 4-Piece Luxury Queen Sheet Set ($26.39 after discount, originally $109) offers a high-quality microfiber and bamboo blend that’s soft, breathable, hypoallergenic, and wrinkle-free.

Of course, wrinkle-free is easier said than done...but the problem of wrinkled sheets and mattress toppers gets crushed by the Bed Scrunchie 360° Fitted Sheet Tightener, Holder & Extender ($25.59 after discount, originally $59.95), the world's first 360-degree all-in-one bed tightening system. Clip it to the edges of your sheets, tighten the clamps and you’ve got a flawless hotel bed look and military corners in seconds.

youtube

And if you’re having a little trouble drifting off to sleep, the LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Machine ($31.99 after discount, originally $49.99) sports 20 unique digital sounds with pinpoint volume control to mask noises, focus your mind for relaxation, and get you a more peaceful rest each night.

The Living Room

Since the living room is the center of your media universe, the Monster SMART Universal 2-Device Remote Control ($15.99 after discount, originally $29.99) brings it all together, the first smart remote control specifically designed for Windows 10 Home Theater PCs. With the touch of a button, you can toggle back and forth between your TV and your Windows computer and control both with ease.

youtube

Meanwhile, the Moodo Smart Home Fragrance Diffuser ($86.39 after discount, originally $169.80) brings a selection of literally dozens of unique high-quality fragrances to any room, all deployable through your smartphone app. You can mix and match all kinds of compatible smells to match your mood -- and you’re only diffusing when someone is actually there to enjoy it.

youtube

In case you’re looking for cleaner rather than scented air, this portable rechargeable Ozone Generator ($19.99 after discount, originally $32.99) is designed with a built-in battery to diffuse ozone quickly. It captures harmful airborne particles; eliminates odors like indoor smoke, cats, dogs, and other pets, and dust; and purifies your living room, bedroom, kitchen, and beyond.

The Home Office

Your home office is probably still a work in progress, but if you base it around a Stan Desk Adjustable Standing Desk ($159.99 after discount, originally $246), you’re making a bold, healthy statement. You can adjust the height for your laptop to your ideal posture while you avoid all the health hazards of sitting for 8 to 10 hours a day. And standing has been shown to boost your productivity too, so it’s an across-the-board win.

youtube

But if you’ve still got a traditional desk, the ProBASE X Laptop/Monitor Stand and 6-in-1 Hub ($115.99 after discount, originally $159) can still give you some of those benefits. It not only elevates your device, but it’s also got a charging port that dramatically expands your device's connectivity to include USB, USB-C, SD, and microSD; while letting you charge compatible devices up to 4x faster than conventional charging ports.

Meanwhile, the Cushion Lab Ergonomic Lumbar Pillow ($23.99 after discount, originally $45) is also keyed to your long-term health and comfort. Designed to contour naturally to your back, it provides effective pressure relief and posture optimizing support. With this pillow, you effectively turn any home chair into an ergonomic office chair.

For those looking to add a touch of style to your home office decor, the Rymek Retro Bluetooth Mechanical Keyboard ($143.99 after discount, originally $255) is an instant game-changer. Bluetooth 3.0 compatible with a rechargeable battery and a bunch of ultra-modern features, the throwback style keyboard offers the tactile beauty of old-school manual typewriter keys -- with the same reassuring clicking sound.

youtube

With the phone at the heart of all business these days, you need the Tenikle 2.0 Bendy Suction Phone Mount ($19.19 after discount, originally $29.98) — an innovative suction cup tripod that twists and grips your phone, tablet, or other devices, so you can mount it in any position. It doubles as a selfie stick and can also be strapped to your vehicle or bike. While you're at it, snag a three-pack of 10-ft Lightning cables ($13.59 after discount, originally $99.99) to keep all your Apple devices fully charged up however you're using them.

With the Rollova 2.0 Digital Ruler ($61.59 after discount, originally $89), even the simple act of measuring has gone hyper-digital. With a simple tool , the Rollova calculates distance over a variety of surfaces, supplying accurate measurement lengths, even over curves.

youtube

The Kitchen

Any kitchen gets an instant shot of class with a quality knife set -- and this ultra-precise Damasukasu Japanese 3-Piece Master Chef Hanshu Knife Set ($55.99 after discount, originally $299.99) definitely fits the bill. These carbon-rich steel blades feature a 12° degree cutting edge for ultimate precision and are full tang, triple-riveted, and nitrogen cooled for enhanced hardness and flexibility.

And why settle for a coffee maker when you can make coffee in a work of art? The Alessi Pulcina 3-Cup Espresso Maker ($39.99 after discount, originally $120) was designed by renowned architect Michele de Lucchi to look immaculate. But it’s also a high-performance coffee maker with a boiler that stops dispensing the drink at just the right time for a richer, fuller aroma and flavor.

When it’s time to clean up, this set of the iTouchless 13-Gallon and 2.5-Gallon Automatic Sensor Trash Cans ($79.99 after discount, originally $159.95) both have infrared sensors, ensuring an accurate automatic open lid response every time without ever touching the bins.

The Bathroom

Since flushable wipes aren’t always so flushable, the Fohm Toilet Paper Foam and Dispenser Set ($47.99 after discount, originally $80) turns regular toilet paper into wipes that won’t end up clogging your sewer line to the tune of thousands of dollars. The no-touch dispenser spritzes a skin-safe foam that’s cleansing, more hygienic, and a savvy answer to the paper vs. wipe debate.

Meanwhile, no medicine cabinet should be without a temporal thermometer to scan temperatures at a distance. This Digital LED Infrared No-Contact Thermometer ($63.99 after discount, originally $129.99) reliably scans from an inch or two away in under one second, offering no-contact measurement and minimizing the spread of germs.

On the Go

Of course, our health is a major concern everywhere we go now, so this two-pack of Two-Ply Statement Face Masks ($14.39 after discount, originally $29.99) is made from premium, stretchy fabric to block germs, bacteria, particles, and droplets, all with a cheeky, “Fine, You?” message printed on the front.

And with surfaces serving as hotspots for viruses like COVID-19, the Hygiene Hand Antimicrobial Brass Door Opener and Stylus (2-Pack) ($30.39 after discount, originally $50) is a perfect EDC item to push buttons, turn keys, hook door handles, sign touchscreens, or do anything else while avoiding unnecessarily touching potentially germ-ridden surfaces.

To help streamline all that stuff jangling around in your pocket, the KeySmart Flex (2 Pack) ($10.39 after discount, originally $20) holds up to eight keys in an easily accessible, ultra-durable polycarbonate sleeve that slides into your pocket perfectly.

It’s a rough world out there -- and the 2-in-1 Protective Case with Stand for Nintendo Switch Lite ($11.99 after discount, originally $19.99) will make sure your Switch survives it all. Made with shock-absorbent high-quality flexible TPU to offer full protection from everyday bumps, scratches, dust, and fingerprints, you can still play with the case on. So even if you drop it during a bad beat, you’re still covered.

Once the world restarts again, a solid round of the PutterBall Backyard Golf Game ($135.99 after discount, originally $189.95) could be just the ticket for you and all your friends. It’s like a mash-up of golf and beer pong, only outside. In addition to sharpening up your golf game, it’s also a heck of a lot of fun.

vimeo

Your Tech

If you’re going out into the world, your music should come too. With the Resound XL: Portable Bluetooth 5.0 Speaker ($19.19 after discount, originally $69.99), you get a unit featuring great bass, enhanced by Aduro's proprietary passive bass radiator with its unique triangular design. It automatically connects to paired devices and lasts up to 30 hours. So toss it in your bag or backpack and take it anywhere.

In case you don’t need everyone to hear your tunes, the HUB Hi-Fi Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds ($57.59 after discount, originally $250) are not only weatherproof, but feature wireless charging, ambient noise-cancellation, and some killer sound. Get eight hours of continuous playtime, and then charge up on-the-go with the extremely powerful charging bank for up to 100 hours of on-the-go listening. It’ll even charge up other devices too.

youtube

For the videophiles, the Prima 1080p HD Pocket Projector ($223.99 after discount, originally $799) casts a 200-inch cinema-quality HD image onto any surface. With a light four times brighter than other portable projectors, the Prima delivers a crisp, sharp picture in any lighting condition and can access the Google Play Store, so you can download apps and stream directly from Prima.

youtube

That drawer where you put your batteries is undoubtedly a disaster, so get it all in order with the ZeroDark Battery Organizer and Tester ($15.99 after discount, originally $49.99). This unique system holds up to 110 AAA, AA, C, D, 9V, and even small batteries, all with a handy digital tester accurately displaying the residual voltage, so you’ll always get the most out of your batteries.

Lights

The H2 Waterproof, Rechargeable LED Wide 180° Angle Headlight ($29.59 after discount, originally $50) is the perfect companion for any outdoorsman. With its revolutionary 180° broad spectrum of illumination design and super lightweight at only 4 ounces, the waterproof H2 is great for hiking, camping, rocking climbing, running, and more.

youtube

If you’re looking for a light for your camera or smartphone, the Pictar Smart LED Light ($31.99 after discount, originally $49.99) is a compact, powerful, high-quality light that can dramatically improve the quality of your photos and video clips. It even comes with the Pictar app that will let you control light temperature, white balance, and more than 20 preset shooting modes right from your phone.

youtube

Last but not least, the Saberlight Bolt ($10.39 after discount, originally $99.99) sports a free-form plasma arc to spark up grills, candles or anything you’re smoking with ease. At just 5 inches long, it’s extremely portable and the high-density lithium battery provides 100 lights on a single charge.

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/30-items-on-sale-for-memorial-day-that-ll-improve-your-home-and-beyond

0 notes

sonipanda · 7 years ago

Text

Round 3 with Ceduire and I have a good feeling about these seeing as the last 2 were not up to scratch in my eyes.

The Spec

Price: $29

Size: One Size

Website: Ceduire Tender Wave Tights

My Outfit

I won’t be doing a complete outfit for this blog, as I mainly wanted to give focus to the tights this time around. I teamed them up with my khaki knitted jumper dress and some converses (which are not included in this review)

The Review

Let me begin with some blurb from their website:

The Céduire Difference Dress your legs with Céduire style. Designed using top knit material and special process, Céduire tights are very stretchy and comfortable. They can go great with anything. Your shorts, skirts, and even your ripped leggings.

Tech It Out Size Available: One-size (Heights 150-180cm Hip 80-110cm) Pattern Type: Classic Plaid Colour: Black Fabric: Fabric is very stretchy Material: 80% Polyamides, 20% Spandex Style: Street, Party, Club and Casual occasions Handmade Package: Comes in a premium quality gift bag, ready for gift giving to colleagues, friends and loved ones.

The Packaging: speaks for itself really. It’s exactly the same as the past two reviews.

Getting Them On: I found that these are once again inside out, so you will have to turn these the right way before you get them on.

Now I tried my hardest to get the chevrons to line up with their other but they ended up doing their own thing and I just gave up after 10 attempts! As you can see in the image above, the points don’t line up in the middle anyways so food luck trying to be line up (if you’re a perfectionist!)

The Toes: are nicely reinforced due to the extra material and these fit perfect around them too. Enough wiggle room and they stay put throughout the day too! One cute thing I did notice is that little cut out before the design begins!

The Band: is actually a really good on this time. It’s not so loose that I have to twist it to stay up on me, so I am dead impressed! It sits just above the belly button, but that’s on a shortie like me so it might be lower on a taller person!

The Design: is something that does catch my eye totally, and I do have a very similar pair that I did a review on years back! I do love this type of design because it just adds edge onto the look that you’re going with. Yep even though the points don’t line up on the leg, it’s not so bad!

The Feel: is kinda rough, but not that bad as some can be. Due to the type of material used, it should be expected if I am honest. By the way these can catch very very easily, so do e careful when you are in them! I actually managed to snag it and quickly stopped a rip from happening too!

Overall Thoughts?

I think these have done way better than the last two I had of Ceduire, and I actually do like them a lot! They fit well on the legs and don’t move around when you’re rolling all over the bed!

Céduire Tender Wave Tights Round 3 with Ceduire and I have a good feeling about these seeing as the last 2 were not up to scratch in my eyes.

7 notes · View notes

putthison · 8 years ago

Photo

Ten Great Sneakers for Spring

Every year around this time, I get an itch to buy a new pair of sneakers. Warmer weather calls for lighter, more comfortable footwear. And while I like camp mocs and penny loafers, nothing really feels as laid back as a good pair of sneakers.

In years past, I’ve rounded up some styles I’ve been looking at each season. I still stand by those choices, but here are ten more if you’re looking to add something casual to your wardrobe this spring:

Wakouwa Deck Shoes ($226): Wakouwas are a reproduction of 1930s US naval deck shoes, which used to be produced by Sperry. Designer Pierre Fournier remade them on a modified Alden last, gave them some interior arch support, and designed them in interesting color combinations. I like how the chunkier silhouette sits under fatigues and work jackets (sort of like the outfits you see below), as well as minimally styled, contemporary casualwear. There are also some great outfit ideas on Instagram, if you need more inspiration.

Reebok Club C ($35+): Reebok, once the emblem of dad shoes, has been getting a lot of play lately, thanks in part to a renewed interest in British sportswear. The company’s Classics and Workouts are worth a look, although I’ve been wanting a pair of Club Cs -- a spin-off of the company’s iconic 1980s designs. Finish Line has them on sale right now for a low $35 (the discount shows up at checkout). For something less dad-ish, check out the ones with gum soles.

Buttero Carrera ($325): I like Buttero for their slightly off-beat takes on classics. These Carreras, for example, are inspired by running shoes from the 1970s and ‘80s, but look like they were striped down to their bare basics, and then remade with ridged panels, a chunky Vibram outsole, and thick leather laces. Clearly a designer sneaker, but done in a way that shows you don’t take yourself too seriously.

Pilgrim Surf & Supply x Vans Slip-Ons ($75): No sneaker gets more wear in the summer for me than my Vans slip-ons -- largely because I’m lazy. They take zero effort to put on and look great with anything. Solid white will always be unassailable. I also like this pennant design Vans did with Pilgrim Surf + Supply (a really cool shop in Brooklyn). The cream/ white design looks even better than last year’s pennant kicks in black/ white, which I regretted missing out on.

Nike Air Max 1 Essential ID ($130): One of Nike’s most enduring designs, the original Air Max 1 is centered around a visually exposed air bubble at the heel. The silhouette here is aggressively chunky, but in a way that looks good with slimmer jeans. Nike allows you to customize your own pair through their ID program, although I like the pre-designed Wolf Gray colorway you see above.

Novesta Star Dribble ($69): A funky take on the classic Chuck Taylor high-top silhouette. The minimalist uppers paired with a chunky, ribbed sole and slightly sloppy, utilitarian construction (you can see glue marks on a lot of these) make Star Dribbles the “anti-tech” of sneakers. I want to wear a pair of these with the kind of workwear outfits you see above. Team them with some fatigues that are rolled up a bit higher on the ankle.

Vans Suede Half Cabs ($52): Before Vans released their Half Cabs, skaters used to cut down their Caballeros and put duct tape around the opening. The company has done a ton of collaborations on this model over the years (most recently with Gosha Rubchinskiy and Our Legacy). The mainline white suedes are also on sale right now at Need Supply for a reasonable $52. You don’t have to go skater cosplay here, but they’d look great with the sort of things you’d find at Self Edge. Just make sure the jeans are a little slimmer so they don’t swallow the shoes.

Zespa ZSP4 ($243): White, minimally styled low-tops, such as those from Common Projects, feel like they’ve run their course these days. That said, they’re still useful for all the same reasons why they became popular. They’re understated and incredibly versatile, easy to wear with everything from dressier topcoats to casual field jackets. If you’re tired of seeing the Achilles Lows everywhere, you can check out Zespa’s ZSP4s. There’s a bit more branding here, but it’s done in a way that looks sophisticated.

OAMC Marathon ($509): OAMC does these really great sneaker designs that sit between the designer fashion and streetwear. These Marathon Lows, for example, are inspired by classic running shoes, but are made from a combination interesting materials and contrasting panels. Too bad they’re wildly expensive.

Novesta Marathon ($149): Like with the OAMCs, I like how these look with slim, tapered jeans and soft, lambskin leather jackets. The simpler design on the Novesetas, however, will also lend them to more classic casualwear looks (think: “Rugged Ivy” ensembles with mountain parkas, flat front chinos, and button-down shirts). Sort of like the classic retro runners we’ve rounded up in previous guides, but a bit more modern looking.

#Wakouwa #Reebok #Buttero #Pilgrim Surf & Supply #Vans #Nike #Novesta #Zespa #OAMC #Sneakers #Shoes

39 notes · View notes

connorrenwick · 4 years ago

Text

Friday Five with Nastaran Mousavi

Born and raised in the small Iranian city of Sari surrounded by the Alborz Mountains and the Caspian Sea, architect Nastaran Mousavi grew up appreciating the vast differences between the rich natural landscape and the heavily populated city. With a houseful of architects, it’s no surprise that it’s the career she landed on as well. Mousavi earned her undergraduate degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Tehran before moving to the United States in 2011 to study for a Master of Architecture degree at the California College of the Arts (CCA). She remained in San Francisco after school and co-founded Studio BANAA, an architecture practice focused on innovative urban infill and adaptive reuse projects for real estate developers, local businesses, and community organizations. The firm is also a certified Woman-Owned San Francisco Local Business Enterprise (Micro LBE). Over the years, Mousavi has taught architecture for the Young Artist Studio program and undergraduate students at CCA, while also acting as a guest reviewer at Academy of Art University, CCA, and UC Berkeley. Today, she joins us for Friday Five to share places, designs, and things that inspire her.

Photo: Esghali Iranmanesh

1. Mazandaran I grew up in a small but dense city in the province of Māzandarān. This chunk of land in Northern Iran is unique in many ways. It is bounded on one side by the Caspian Sea, and by the Alborz mountain ranges on the other. Through the history of Iran and the many invasions it has undergone, this land has remained majorly intact due to its geographical setting. The language (now considered a dialect – Tabari) and the culture remain mainly untouched and unaltered. The fertile lands close to the sea and the giving and rich forests along the mountains made this jewel a diverse ecosystem. My life has been split between the dense urban setting of my hometown and the rich, lavish setting of villages where my farmer relatives lived. The juxtaposition of these two very different lifestyles have always raised a question in my head on which lifestyle is really better for us and our planet? I continue my obsession with villages and micro-living and anywhere I go, my first pick is to visit a village. I believe that’s where you really learn about an ethnicity, their culture, art, and way of living. Where globalization and industrialization are ruining all these unique and rich pieces of land and their culture.

From the book: “The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramon y Cajal” \\\ Photo taken from book: Nastaran Mousavi

2. Brain Cells, biological microscopic forms/geometry in nature One of my biggest inspirations is natural forms, especially the microscopic ones. I dig deep in those and love to study their structure and materials. I’m obsessed with collecting books that depict natural forms and compositions. There is something in nature that we as human beings have not yet been able to realize and replicate. Compositions that work so perfectly in terms of color and structure, functions that are harmoniously creating an ecosystem that’s self-sufficient and works on its own.

Tala Madani, Projections, 2015. Oil on linen, 80 x 98 1/4 x 1 3/8 inches. Courtesy the artist; David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles; and Pilar Corrias Gallery, London \\\ Photo: Josh White

3. Tala Madani I became familiar with Tala Madani’s work at multiple museums in the US and Japan. She’s an Iranian-born American artist and her art has a satirical theme. Her sketchy but exaggerated style through which she describes delicate relationships between people and themselves and their body, some things you might not see or touch on in everyday life are very inspirational to me. It’s always a discovery process looking at her work, which is what I like!

Photo: Nastaran Mousavi

4. Handwoven Rugs I come from a world of rugs, and I’m obsessed with them. Every time I travel home, I bring at least one rug back with me. I sometimes spend hours sitting on my rugs at my apartment, and it just takes me all the way back to Iran and to my childhood memories. All the effort and thought behind creating these masterpieces are invaluable. From Gabbeh to Farsh to Gilim and Namad, there are thousands of years of history, culture, art, and heritage in these pieces. I can’t get enough of them.

Photo: Maryam Moqisé

5. Locally Crafted Jewelry I am not a jewelry designer or maker in any way, but I sure am a collector. I am particularly interested in jewelry made by indigenous people from all over the world. It is a type of art that really comes from people and is something that I feel should not be “designed” in the contemporary term. Any place I travel to, I try to buy jewelry from local artisan markets, where the opportunity is given to local and indigenous people to showcase their arts and crafts, not from fancy museums. One of my favorite jewelry makers is mim accessories, an online jewelry store founded by Maryam Moqisé from Iran. What I love about her mission is that she collaborates with indigenous women from different tribes of Iran (Balochi women in particular), using their craft such as Suzan Duzi (embroidery) and weaving to create authentic handmade jewelry. Suzan Duzi is a crafting technique carried over for hundreds of years amongst the Iranian tribes using natural dye to create vibrant fabrics.

Work by Nastaran Mousavi:

Photo: Mike Sanchez

Voyager The Square This kiosk for Voyager had to be built in just 45 days. But not only that, being a small space within a much larger one at San Pedro Market in San Jose required creative solutions for brand visibility and ease of use in a high traffic area. Challenge, accepted. We positioned most of the glass windows to overlook the street and created a round bar that would stop people in their tracks from any angle (long enough to smell the coffee). Arched metal shelving echoes the broader context and colored triangular dowels shift and change with your line of sight – creating movement where there isn’t much space to move.

Photo: Danny Le

Zenrez The fitness tech company, Zenrez, calmly sits on the cutting edge of a crowded industry. So, for us, the headquarters needed to harness that spirit and inspire its workers every time they jogged through the door. We designed the entire space – that sits within a historic building in downtown San Francisco – around a central piece we call the “spine” (no idea why). Curving and flowing through the center, it separates focus areas and collaboration spaces, while guiding people through the space. Inspired by Eastern philosophies at the heart of the brand, we kept the interiors full of light, air, ergonomic shapes, and hints of nature. Perhaps most importantly, we designed this space to grow as the company does – with the opportunity for more desk space and collaboration areas as needs change.

Mini Living Finding new ways to house more people in a city of diminishing space, is a challenge that’s always on our minds. A Dezeen x MINI Living Future Urban Home competition asked us to consider how we will live in cities 100 years from now and propose an innovative solution for a “big life, small footprint.” We brainstormed hard, threw ideas at the wall, and worked with fellow architect and urban designer, Sarah Estephan, to consider how we could add density to a low-rise landscape. The crux of our solution was to create a self-contained mini village where work and play coexist, and space is shared like never before. We proposed utilizing backyard spaces as extra land lots to house more homes. And embracing rooftop gardens, close neighbors, small business hubs and affordable housing that feels modern, vibrant and community minded.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/07/friday-five-with-nastaran-mousavi/

#Uncategorized

0 notes

ncmagroup · 4 years ago

Text

by Steli Efti

Sales isn’t always a high-octane race, where you close deals left and right at 200 mph. With the spread of COVID-19, the market is slowing and business is starting to move at a glacial pace.

This is not only a rough situation for everyone involved, but it’s also extremely demoralizing for salespeople. And even when the market starts to turn around, the reality of slow times is regularly felt by seasonal businesses. This is just one of those times where you won’t be seeing new cash hit the bank—but that’s exactly why you need to maximize downtime.

Think of yourself as a professional athlete. If you just go hard during the peak season and relax during the off-season, you put yourself at the whims of your own business cycles.

Especially during an economic downturn, you have to stay disciplined and take charge of your own fate. Let yourself slide, and your muscles will atrophy and deteriorate.

What does Kobe do when basketball season is over? He hits the gym. He practices his free throws and nails down his footwork. Championships are won during the off-season.

Take it from the people at Ambition, whose software is focused on improving sales performance:

“Everyone is so worried about motivation, but it’s impossible to stay motivated all the time. The more valuable character trait for an Inside Sales Force—or any organization—is discipline.”

As things go down, it’s a massive opportunity to give yourself and your team a competitive edge over all the other people out there twiddling their thumbs and playing Candy Crush. It’s your chance to bring it every single day, and make sure your own performance level is at its peak—so when the good times return, you skyrocket to the top.

Train intensively during downtime

Use downtime to constantly improve your sales team, and perfect the craft of sales.

When you and your sales team are used to closing deals every day, it’s easy for the off-season to sap at morale. The best salespeople are highly active and goal-oriented, and it’s frustrating to maintain a sense of purpose when your benchmark for success is stripped away. The most powerful way to keep everyone on board and motivated is to keep busy and focus on getting better sales, rather than just selling.

Consistent training is the key to sales success—but there’s not always time for it when the money is flowing. Use downtime to sharpen and reinforce the skill set of your team. As Chet Holmes writes in his book, The Ultimate Sales Machine, “If you take the time to sharpen skills and improve knowledge in every possible area, your company will start to run better, smarter, and faster—like a finely tuned sales machine.”

Train more, expand your expertise, and tweak and refine your sales strategy by:

Scheduling intensive training days for your team to hone existing skill sets and expand new ones

Experimenting with different cold call scripts and email templates

Going over your call logs and sales data as a team to improve your sales process

Set measurable goals for each training session, and try building a skill roadmap for your sales team that tracks their progress in various skills (prospecting, communication, subject-matter expertise, technology).

Give each team member a rating in each skill, so they have a clear benchmark for progress. As they improve, you can use these small wins to keep your sales team upbeat and forward-looking.

Take the opportunity to sharpen your skillset and that of your team, while developing new ones—and invest in your future. Teach your sales team how to code and conduct data analysis. Sit them down at the support desk for a day.

Focus on ways you can do better and be better, and you’ll build an all-weather sales machine that will dominate all seasons.

Reconnect with your customers

When you’re having difficulty drumming up a new business, take your existing customer relationships to the next level by visiting them in person. In doing so, you’ll boost loyalty and retention with your company, and drive your company forwards in the years to come.

According to the Gartner Group, 80% of your company’s future profits will come from 20% of existing customers. They’re the beating heart of your business.

In an ideal world, you could wine and dine them, or even just take them out to coffee. The best thing you can do is get out of the office and actually visit your customers.

Of course, this is currently not a possibility for many companies due to COVID-19. But don’t let this be an excuse to skip this step: Instead, use video calls to spend face-to-face time with your customers. Rather than go out for a coffee, have a virtual coffee via Zoom.

The time you spend on this transforms a transactional relationship into a partnership, and locks in future profits.

In each visit:

Start by talking in broad strokes about their business and yours.

Learn as much as possible about your customers, and constantly look for how your product can enable their own goals.

Get a sense of their workflows, and the nuts and bolts of how they actually implement your product and find areas of friction you can help alleviate.

Ask them what they love about your product, and what they hate about it.

You’ll figure out which of your customers are delighted with your service, and put your product to good use—but also identify which of your customers use your product actively, but are unhappy with it and at risk of churning. Visiting your customers either in-person or virtually gives you a window into your product that no amount of usage data can replicate.

It’s especially important when sales are slowing. You get a better sense of what your customers are doing, but more importantly, you see firsthand how your product empowers people every day. It takes you back to why you’re selling in the first place, and it’s one of the most powerful ways to re-inspire yourself and your team during a slump.

Create opportunities for new business

Maybe the fish aren’t biting. But that doesn’t mean all your sales efforts should come to a grinding halt. During the off-season, your prospects aren’t getting flooded with calls—which is precisely why you should call them.

Get a leg up on the competition, and start building new relationships that will blossom in the future by picking up the phone.

Call new prospects, and say:

“Hey, I just wanted to reach out to you. I know that nobody’s buying right now, and that’s okay—I’m not trying to make a sale right now. All I’m trying to do is get to know you better, so that in the next quarter or year, whenever you make your buying decision, you know me, you know what I can do for you, and you know if you want to do business with me or not.”

Don’t try to push for the sale—customers hate it when salespeople try to get them to buy when they aren’t ready. Instead, position yourself so that when they are ready to make the purchase, your name is the first one that pops into their heads.

Start the relationship off on the right foot, when they know you’re not selling anything yet—it makes it that much easier to start building trust now, and drill down before game time.

Redefine your market

Keep hustling, but try hustling new things. Are there markets out there you haven’t explored? Opportunities you haven’t pursued? Can you sell your product to the enterprise?

Jason Lemkin advises combing through your existing customer base and looking to your outliers to redefine your market. Say that your product is a travel and expense management platform. The majority of your customers are in tech, but you have 1–2 in healthcare.

Healthcare professionals travel all the time and use horrible software. It could be a sector of business that will create explode growth for your company—and the perfect time to scope it out is when your current sales outreach is slowing down.

Always look for new growth opportunities for your business. The market changes constantly, and successful companies don’t rest on their laurels. New competitors enter, while customer needs grow and evolve. You have an evolutionary imperative: adapt or die.

By constantly reaching out to new prospects and exploring new markets, you discover opportunities to build a counter-cyclical part of your business that resists downtime. You find steady streams of revenue that can counteract seasonality altogether.

Proactive vs. reactive

“Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” — Muhammad Ali

People often look to minimize the impact of downtime. They reduce risk-taking, lay off staff, and cut internal spending. But this is the kind of short-term thinking that impedes future success.

Be proactive instead of reactive. You know the old saying, “The true test of character is what you do when no one’s watching?” It’s the same with sales. The true test of your sales team is what it does when no one’s buying.

Don’t just accept that you have a seasonal business, kick off your shoes, and relax. There’s never an excuse to stop hustling.

Sharpen your competitive edge, and look toward aggressively improving all aspects of your sales outreach. When you don’t see any opportunity, go out and create new ones—they’re yours for the taking. In doing so, you’ll transform downtime into uptime.

Go to our website: www.ncmalliance.com

Sales team seasonality: How to maximize downtime during the coronavirus pandemic by Steli Efti Sales isn’t always a high-octane race, where you close deals left and right at 200 mph.

0 notes