#ark plans cleanup

[anniekoh]

Two books on ecological restoration in suburban yards and urban places.

We Are The Ark: Returning Our Gardens to Their True Nature Through Acts of Restorative Kindness

by Mary Reynolds with illustrations by Ruth Evans

Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World by Emma Marris

ARK = ACTS OF RESTORATIVE KINDNESS wearetheark.org Weaving a patchwork of safe havens for Nature globally, in our gardens, schools, public spaces and beyond.

Notes/examples from the book:

www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/forestry/managing-our-forest-resources/tree-seed/seed-planning-use/climate-based-seed-transfer

Dutch rewilding project at Oostvaardersplassen

www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/21/pioneering-dutch-rewilding-project-oostvaardersplassen-works-to-rebuild-controversial-reputation-aoe

Ecovillage Findhorn www.ecovillagefindhorn.com We strive to demonstrate low-carbon, place-based values & practices for human settlements to thrive visit our low-carbon presentations! CasinoOnline.tf Casino Online España Casino en ligne France Suomalainen Nettikasino Online Casino Deutschland

Rewilding the Scottish Highlands. Trees for Life. https://treesforlife.org.uk

Camp Paradise is the world’s first ecosystem restoration disaster response camp and is a unique approach to a catastrophic environmental event.  On November 8, 2018, the deadliest wildfire in California history destroyed the town of Paradise and its surrounding communities. At least 85 people died and more than 50,000 people lost their homes in this devastating fire.

www.campfirerestorationproject.org/events

https://theecologist.org/2010/jun/08/living-machine-ecological-approach-poo

Rebecca Hosking from wildlife filmmaking to agriwilding landscapes by Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes (2021) https://soundcloud.com › maria-ehrnstrom › rebecca-hosking-from-wildlife-filmmaking-to-agriwilding-landscapes

pika assisted migration temperature

duwamish river cleanup coalition eco-industrial

charles elton ecology of invasions

[that-little-zebunny]

CONTROL ME MY LOVE

Loki x Reader

Warning: Possessiveness, Jelousy, implied Smut, Public makeout.

Note: Here's another entry for our Archive Cleanup at @the-th-horniest-book-club 💜 based on the ask above 🤭 I enjoyed making this one whoo~ hope you'll enjoy it too. Ty!!

You are walking with heavy steps as you get near the tower. You just got back from a very anger boiling date with Loki. You're happy that he's now not seen as someone who wants to rule the earth but as its hero now but the thing you dont enjoy are the fan girls.

You're out on a date on a nice Tuesday evening-your only day off for over two months- and you kept getting interrupted by people wanting to take a picture or ask for some autograph and he obliged not wanting to scar his newly found reputation but all you wanted was your man's full attention and to enjoy the very nice smelling and well cooked steak in front of you but that was not the universe's plan that night.

You end up eating the food with a clenched jaw that you feel like you'll regret it and get indigestion in the middle of the night.

"What's the matter my love?" Loki asked as he catch up with you fast steps.

"Nothing!" You said firmly clenching your hands as you got near the elevator.

"Oh I dont believe that. You really think you can lie to me?" He said as he stands infront of you blocking your way. You had to stop or you'll smack right on his perfect body.

"I said it's nothing. I just want to get back to our room and rest." You said side stepping him to continue your journey.

"This is our date night for quiet a while and you just want to go rest? Are we not to go and walk to the garden as we always do?" He said. You're now standing infront of the elevator waiting for it to open.

Stumping your right foot on the ground you faced him poking his chest with a finger. "And what? Get interrupted by your fangirls every steps we make? Or maybe I can go and be a photographer to every ladies that want to have a photo with you!? Hmm!!?" You said angrily raising an eyebrow at him.

He was stunned but it slowly stretched into a smirk as he stare at your eyes with his gorgeous green ones. "Is this jealousy my love?" He said his arms slowly embracing your waist stopping to stay on the ecposed back of your dress. You shivered as he teasingly rub his fingers on your spine.

"I...I don't know. I just hated how people keeps on interrupting our evening and how you are enjoying their attention. I wanted you all to myself tonight. I've waited to have you to myself..." You said sighing as his hands went down to cup your ass pulling you close to his body.

"Oh...I do enjoy it. Enjoy the reaction I got from you." He said. His face bend down to pepper kisses on your neck and jaw making you ark your head to give his masterful lips more access.

"Is it sick of me to need control over you?" You asked as you enjoy melting in his playful hands and addicting lips. He slowly walked you back until you felt the cold glass door of the elevator behind you. You didn't even hear it open up. Loki had you pinned making you feel the bulge on his pants and you automatically push your hips to his wanting to fell more of him, spreading your legs to make him fit in you as much as your dress allowed.

“No, it’s pretty hot. I love it when you’re all huffy and puffy and jealous.” He said grounding his groin on your covered cunt making you moan. You need him so bad and all the anger you felt earlier had transformed into something that made you want to undress Loki right there and then in the elevator not caring if anyone saw the two of you. Maybe it'll be a good thing to. It'll let everyone knows that he is all yours and they'll back away.

"i love these thoughts running in your mind right now my love. Though as much as I would enjoy letting you show everyone I'm yours I do not want any male mortal to see what is mine." He said kissing you hard his tounge entering your mouth licking and tasting you like a thirsty man in the middle of the dessert making you loose your strength. "Shall we continue this in our very private room and show me how you plan to control me and my body?" He said looking at you with need and all you're able to do was nod as he picked you up and walked towards your room.

Tom Hiddleston & Characters Tag list:

@jewels2876 @jobean12-blog @curlyred2020

Let me know if you wanna be added on the taglist :')

[thanksjro]

Eugenesis Part Three, Scene Three: The Eighties Weren’t All That Great, Actually

Nightbeat, Sunstreaker, Hoist and Grapple come out on the other side of the wormhole in 1984, on the Ark, just as according to plan. Nightbeat reminds everyone to not touch anything, lest they alter their present, only for that rule to be broken literally immediately.

Luckily, we seem to be working on Elegant Chaos time-travel rules, so things are working out okay.

But how do we know that? We haven’t been in the past for two minutes, surely the current state of the present is still up in the air.

Turns out Optimus never actually intended for any of the robots aboard the Ark to ever wake up or be found. He made sure that would happen by activating the Sidestep Drive- a molecule wiggler that renders the ship completely invisible.

So, Hoist just turned off the Sidestep Drive. He was always intended to, since Optimus had no intention of letting anyone out of the Ark crash alive.

That’s some dark shit, Optimus. I can’t believe this is the same guy who tells dad jokes and shoots hoops with the kids.

The gang splits up to look for clues, leaving Nightbeat all on his lonesome, as he reflects on when the Ark had gone missing. There’d been a lot of propaganda, some of it getting outright bizarre- think along the lines of cannibalism- but at the end of the day, all they’d known at the time was that Optimus Prime and a majority of the Autobot’s finest warriors just weren’t around anymore. He remembers how he’d not been picked for the fated mission, and retroactively feels incredibly grateful for it, despite having been incredibly disappointed at the time.

On a lower level of the ship, Grapple and Hoist are poking around looking for Optimus. Hoist wanders off to make sure his mind crystal didn’t get broken in the crash- Hoist was one of a group of Autobots who had their minds copied and placed onto the Ark in secret, just in case extra troops were needed after launch. It’s fine. Which is good, because it keeps the time-stream from getting too terribly convoluted.

Sunstreaker, on the other hand, is having a horrible time. He’s just found his own mangled body, his face having been more or less erased by an acid pellet that had been fired at him millions of years prior. Nightbeat apologizes, having not considered the fact that Sunstreaker had actually been on the Ark when he’d picked him for this mission. Yeah, that’s kind of a massive oversight, my guy. I can’t believe nobody said anything.

They find Optimus in the same room.

I guess it’s just physically impossible for anyone to write these two bastards without any Undertones™ bleeding into it at some point. “Journeys end in lovers meeting”, indeed.

Nightbeat, he’s a FUCKING SEMI-TRUCK.

While Nightbeat’s busy fat-shaming the robo-messiah, everyone else is busy trying to get him unstuck from Megatron. He makes the call to bring Optimus back online in the future, so he doesn’t have to see how thoroughly wrecked the Ark crew is.

The team carries Optimus back to the future, pall-bearer style. There’s a brief moment of panic when Grapple realizes that they haven’t found Optimus’ trailer, which is also a part of him and shares space in his mind? Weird to think that Optimus’ detachable butt shares his consciousness. Luckily, the reformatting hasn’t taken place yet, so his trailer doesn’t currently exist.

It’s not everyday you gotta kidnap your dead leader from the past to fight a bunch of tentacle monsters. I think I can forgive Nightbeat for being a little short here.

Meanwhile, Sixshot is watching the cleanup of his fellow Decepticons’ corpses via Laserbeak’s surveillance footage. It’s looking grim for the ‘Cons; at least sixty percent of their forces are now dead or imprisoned by the Quintessons. Soundwave’s definitely dead.

Still got my doubts about that, but will see if those doubts bear any fruit.

Sixshot sends everyone away, so he can focus on how scared shitless he is about what’s currently transpiring.

The birth and pregnancy theming is ratcheting up in this Part to an alarming degree. Roberts, you’re obsessed.

Sixshot recalls the last time the Quintessons had invaded, where all of his friends- very powerful, nigh-indestructible friends- had been reduced to crumpled cadavers. He himself had hidden under their bodies, shellshocked to the point of considering self-terminating to save himself from a similar fate. He’s still shaken by the experience, hiding two miles underground in a steel silo, with no intention of ever coming out. He can still hear their screams.

That’s some pretty severe PTSD, Sixshot. Maybe you should make an appointment with Rung to work through all that trauma.

Up on the Conquest, General Quantax orders for his troops to get ready to bring the heat to the Autobots.

Roberts is really over here using the nonsense time units from the comics. This was before they had the Wiki, so he probably had some unofficial guidebook, or his own notes, to work off of. Good on him; that’s dedication to the craft right there.

A breem isn’t even ten minutes. Nightbeat better hurry on home.

Speaking of home, Prowl’s running in the halls like a hooligan, getting everything set up for the impending attack.

This just in, local jackass would rather have all of his friends murdered than face any sort of criticism. More at 11.

Quark comes up to him and asks if they can walk together to the munitions room. Prowl says yes, except no, because he’s already where he needs to be. Prowl, I think he asked because he’s scared, so maybe do the guy a solid.

It seems even the OCs know that Prowl sucks.

You want to be a good leader, but don’t want to put forth any actual effort in making people want to follow you. Maybe you should get a WWOPD? bracelet.

Prowl closes the door on Quark. He goes over to the desk and takes a look at the message First Aid’s left him.

That’s right, I’d nearly forgotten that Rodimus was possessed by the robot devil. Prowl’s pretty irritated by the pronoun game, seeing as Rodimus banned the name ‘Unicron’ from the Autobase lexicon in fear of it rousing the embodiment of evil living inside the Matrix.

If the climax of this book is Rodimus Goddamn Prime giving birth to the Antichrist, I am going to lose my fucking mind.

First Aid goes on to state that they still can’t get Unicron out of the Matrix, so whoever gets it next is going to also be subjected to this unwanted demon pregnancy Roberts what the fuck with this parallel. I know that Unicron basically haunting the Matrix was established in the comics, but come on.

That message ends, and Prowl, like any sane person, thinks long and hard on whether he’s ready for that sort of responsibility. Bold of you to assume that the Matrix would even be interested in your slimy ass.

The next message brings more great news- First Aid informs him that Rodimus had a massive seizure, and more than half of his brain’s been effectively turned to mush. He’s calling for High Command to pull the plug, before they pour all of what’s left of their energon into someone with a eight-percent chance of survival.

You’re really doing this, aren’t you Roberts? You’re going to kill Rodimus Prime. Astounding.

Chromedome calls. The Quintessons are on their way. Lots of them.

[docfuture]

The Maker’s Ark - Chapter 46

     [This is a chapter from my latest novel, a sequel to The Fall of Doc Future and Skybreaker's Call.  The start is here, and links to my other work here. It can be read on its own, but contains spoilers for those two books.  It is serialized irregularly, interspersed with related short stories and vignettes when I don't have a new chapter ready.  My target posting schedule is something new about every two weeks, a rate I still aspire to return to someday.  Because it's been so long, those reading this as it comes out may wish to refresh their memories with the last chapter that took place on Earth here.]

Previous:  Chapter 45

      A great torrent of snow and ice arced up behind Flicker as she carved her way across Europa.       She skated through a deep mist of leftover atmosphere and escaped ice particles.  Vision was nearly useless for anything but the overlays and updates on her visor.  But she didn't need it.  All obstacles were already gone--powdered, melted, or vaporized during her first visit.  The only directions that mattered were up, down and forward.       The mist flashed to plasma when it hit her damper field, close to her body.  Functional plasma--it helped power the MHD generators in her force field harness.       Curved force field blades stretched out behind her, extending her reach and refining it, letting her slice out vast icy windrows and fling them upward to be scooped up by the portal maw on the ship flying above and behind her.  Mostly.  The leftovers were a problem.  The 99+% efficiency of the scooping process was right on the edge of not good enough.       "Even if the construction goes perfectly."  She remembered saying that, what seemed like ages ago.  Everything she'd done had worked, and she'd stayed within planned parameters--but the project depended on more than just her.       The status on one of the force field modules changed from green to yellow.  That made two.  Four, and she'd need to call for a break to swap them out.  If nothing else went wrong first.  And given the complexity and scale of what they were attempting, that was--       Her visor flashed an alert:  Incoming signal from Diver, the Floater pilot of the gas giant flyer, which was trailing a slipstream to ease the strain on the portal ship.  She was also relaying messages to Flicker as needed; since the flyer was out front, its com unit didn't have to punch through the messy mix of dense cold water and rarefied hot plasma Flicker was plowing up.       "Stop time," Diver sent, along with a more formal signal, a string of emoticons, and a graph indicating that an accumulation of technical problems on the portal ship had reached a safety threshold.       "Got it," Flicker replied, along with a few emoticons of her own, ending with a shrug.  She turned off the force fields, and the vast billowing in her wake started to dissipate.       At least their translation protocols were getting better.  She had names for two of the Floaters now--nicknames and titles came across better than untranslatable personal names.  The pilot was 'Reckless Diver', and Journeyman's recent nemesis, the Floater safety guy, was 'Cheerful Cloud of Warning'.  DASI cautioned they were still missing nuances, but the names worked well enough.       Better than the portal ship at the moment.       As soon as Diver got the signal that her slipstream was no longer needed, she dived and landed.  Quickly.  She was on the ground with the hatch open in under ten seconds--she took pride in not making Flicker wait any longer than she had to.  Diver was heavily biomodded and her ship was built for storm chasing on Jupiter, so rapid deceleration wasn't a problem.  She and Flicker shared an enthusiasm for hypersonic shockwaves and jokes with the punch line 'And then I broke it.'  Flicker liked her.       Diver waved two of her envirosuit's six tentacles as Flicker boarded, then took off again as soon as the hatch closed, sending happy aerodynamic model updates and data mixed with more emoticons.  Flicker waved back then checked in with DASI.  Journeyman was supervising the controlled closing of the portal, and would return to Learning when that was done, leaving the portal ship to Three and her repair bots--who had a bit of work to do.  At least they weren't running low on replacement parts.  Yet.       DASI noted that The Floaters had part of an early warning network up and running, though they weren't ready to say how much warning they thought it would actually give of the Visitors.  There were a lot of difficulties involving time-shifted 'echoes', many of them from Flicker's actions during the fleet battle, but some from as far back as her destruction of the Topaz Realm during her dissociative fugue as Skybreaker.  That was always the challenge with sensitive detectors--separating out what you were looking for from the background noise.       Incoming voice call.   "Hey," said Malk, one of Learning's liaison biogestalts.  "Glad you're on your way back.  Pira and I get worried about your sensory deprivation."       "I'm okay," said Flicker.  "It gave me time to think, and work on my biogestalt exercises.  Those went well, but I need to talk to Learning about some starship stuff that's kind of important.  I figured out the reason I was twitchy when I woke up this morning."       "Anything we can help?"       "Learning probably can.  Last night was the first time I've ever had a full night's sleep far away from any significant mass.  And when I did my morning startup, some checks that have always failed before... didn't.  So a few things switched from cold lockdown to maintenance mode."       "Ooh.  Okay, I just notified the duty Auditor to authorize a new privacy segment.  Learning will be ready."       "Thanks.  This is good news, I think.  At least, good to know about, rather than stay ignorant, but..."  Flicker took a breath before finishing her message.  "My jump drive itches."       *****       "DASI says there is no indication of outside influence," said Sid, Doc's chief of security.  "But she also confirmed, without being specific, that Doc is working on some sort of cognitive or memory problem.  And I have discretion to call on available expert assistance."       "Which would be me," said Yiskah.       "Yes."       Sid looked at her expectantly.  He didn't say 'read my mind', but he was sure thinking it loudly.  They were in the small briefing room next to his duty station.       "Well, you're in luck," she said.  "I was already on my way, but Doc's been unusually concerned about 'side-channel information leakage modes'.  However, we're in a secure area now, so...  DASI?"       "Yes?" came from the wall speaker.       "Is Doc still down in the Dangerous Artifact vaults?"       "Yes.  He visited vault three, and set up a communications relay outside vault one.  He then invoked an interrupt restriction protocol, entered the vault and sealed the door, reactivated the defenses, and opened alcove one of vault one.  That was two hours and forty minutes ago."       Yiskah looked over at Sid, who raised an eyebrow and looked back.       "You have far more experience working with Doc than I do," she said.  "Do you have any personal observations that might be of use for my assessment?"       Sid looked thoughtful.  "The personality shift reports from yesterday worried me.  His actions since, not so much.  The last security update he sent said that he needed to fix something complex, and what he's doing sounds consistent with that.  Dangerous, but consistent.  It is a lot more like his style from back before he adopted Flicker--explain nothing except safety precautions."       Yiskah frowned.  "DASI?  What's in vault one, alcove one?"       "Restricted data," said DASI.  Available description, 'Second-order closed-loop cybernetic control helmet'; Safety note, 'Lethal trap, not Lyapunov stable'."       "Joy," said Yiskah.  "Are you willing to override the locks so I can get in?"       "Unnecessary.  You are already on the exception list.  I will warn him."       "All right," she said, and turned back to Sid.  "I'll handle it, and have DASI keep you updated."

      In the elevator on the way down to the sub-basement, Yiskah contacted Stella Prime.  "Anything to add?" she sent.       "The personality change was a side effect of something he did in order to properly brief Journeyman," replied Prime.  "After Journeyman and Flicker boarded Learning, Doc alerted me that he needed to do some messy memory cleanup and would be unavailable for a while, and he spent last night in an isolation chamber.  I'm more concerned about something else.  He has unreplicated causal loop experience in his head, and judging from what DASI and I are seeing on Earth, we appear to have hit some sort of tipping point or phase change.  It would be useful and timely for Doc to update his loop models.  Get him to explain if possible.  I can't spare the attention right now."       Yiskah frowned.  "That could take a while, and I won't to be able to follow everything."       "DASI will.  And if you mind scan him, he won't gloss over uncertainties.  He has a characteristic reaction to them, he won't be able to hide it from you, and he knows it.  And I have to go--new crisis."       "Understood."       *****       Yiskah let the door close behind her after entering.  She raised an eyebrow, but avoided starting a full mind scan.  The vault was silent except for the faint whisper of a ventilation fan--the impression of rustling echoes was an illusion created by the interaction of her telepathy with the shielding in the walls.  The door to one of the alcoves stood open, and its shelf was empty.       Doc sat in a folding chair with a water bottle beside him.  His usual lab coat was absent; he was dressed as if for strenuous outdoor work, in a t-shirt, many-pocketed jeans, and sneakers, along with his goggles.  And the helmet.       The helmet looked old in the way of futuristic technology from the end of the previous millennium, apart from the small rectangular boxes attached to each side, which looked like a battery pack and a wireless communications module of more recent vintage.       Doc nodded and smiled.  "Hello, Yiskah," he said.       "Hello," she replied.  "I went along with your precautions.  Care to tell me just what is going on?"       "Too much," he said.  "But I'm to the point where you can safely help.  Good to see you."       "You could have called first."       Doc shook his head.  "No point.  I needed to deactivate a personality overlay.  Its security wasn't as aggressive as your mind trap, but it still precluded useful telepathic contact.  And I wasn't going to open the door in the middle of the risky part.  I suppose you'll want to verify identity continuity first?"       "Back up.  Is this overlay gone now?  Will a mind scan cause you any difficulties?"       "It has been deactivated, yes, but I still need to clean up.  And go ahead.  Hazards are marked, and I have the major ones secured, but I'm not done reindexing.  And I'm not apologizing for the mess."       Yiskah moved to stand in front of him, and put a hand on his shoulder before beginning her visualization scan.  One way she could use her telepathy was to give form to a subject's mental organization, analogies, and personal assumptions.  It gave a useful overview and it was fast.  It had arguably helped save Doc's life twice.  She let the images come into focus and fill her perceptions.       The two of them stood inside a large square of chain link fence topped with barbed wire.  It was cluttered with large green boxes, insulators, and heavy cabling of the sort you might see in an electrical substation.  Yellow and black striped tape and orange cones surrounded several boxes, though work appeared to be complete.  The whole station was humming with power.       The entire surrounding landscape looked like a major construction site that had suddenly been converted to storage.  Pallets piled high with... something... were covered with tarps.  Some of them also had hazard tape, shipping tags, or more detailed caution signs on them.  Silent robots steadily moved boxes from one pallet into a freshly built and still unpainted warehouse.  The ground was covered with tread tracks, and a bulldozer and backhoe rested nearby, unmoving for the moment.       Yiskah own perception had an effect on the visual form of the subject's self-image, so she could shape them to pull out psychological nuances.  Doc wouldn't be able to tell what he looked like unless she told him or chose to create a mirror.  The last time she had scanned, he had appeared as a more elderly version of himself, a lab-coated scientist in his late fifties or early sixties.  He had changed.       He stood relaxed, arms at his sides, and smiled crookedly at her.  "Well, how do I look?"       Yiskah narrowed her eyes.  He still looked like himself, but younger, perhaps in his mid-twenties.  His hair was long, pulled back in a queue.  His goggles were absent, and he wore a black t-shirt with an unusual flower and some strange writing on the front.  He seemed poised and confident.  She found his appearance quite encouraging...       ...except for the helmet.       Glowing strands emanated from it all directions, some to the power station boxes, others to faint, force-field-like bubbles over some of the pallets.  Three climbed to the cloudy sky, and one of those strands pulsed steadily with green energy.  The helmet radiated heat, and sweat trickled down Doc's face, unnoticed.  There was a faint smell of smoke and ozone.       Doc should not be that relaxed, not amid these signs of tension and strain.  The wrongness of it grew more jarring every moment.  She took a step back and released the visualization, leaving them facing each other in the vault once more.       "You've got a lot going on in there," she said, "and I have many questions, but that helmet worries me the most.  Are you done using it?  How willing are you to take it off?"       "Not quite done, and very," said Doc.  "No way it's leaving this vault.  But I want to leave it on for a while longer, to damp side effects.  The mood balancer helps with that."       Yiskah breathed in sharply.  "Mood balancer.  Okay, now I understand the 'lethal trap' note."       Doc half-smiled.  "It's definitely not something I'd want to use every day, or outside this vault, but the note was for Flicker; the lack of stability means the helmet would likely kill her in under a second.  And she might otherwise be tempted to try if she knew what it can do."       "It's definitely affecting your judgement right now.  Could you please take it off?  Asking nicely."       "You aren't going to let this go, are you?"       "No," said Yiskah.  "Any reason to stay down here once the helmet is safely locked up again?  Do you need me to take you to the med center?"       "Living quarters will be fine, but if you'll willing to give me another hour, I can--"       "You can have neurological damage.  And your other symptoms will only get worse."       "Yiskah, if I stop damping--  Okay.  I'll grant that it's possible for you to provide the level of support I'll need to keep the next day or so from turning into a cascading disaster when we get hit by another crisis--and we will--but the withdrawal effects will be grueling for me and probably distasteful for you.  I really don't want to be as much of a pain as I'll be if I have to stop now."       "Your rationalization is a thing of beauty and fine craftsmanship," she said.  "But I'm not buying it.  Asking less nicely."       Doc stood, his face now grim, then closed his eyes to commune with the helmet and perhaps DASI.  After a moment he opened his eyes again.       "Ten seconds," he said aloud, and moved to the shelf in the alcove.  Yiskah followed, ready to catch him if he collapsed.       She could feel the wave of anger and other emotions hit Doc's mind as the helmet shut down.  He managed to keep his hands steady as he removed the helmet from his head, placed it on the shelf, and closed the alcove door.  He turned to face her.  "Wonderful," he said.  "Best case now is embarrassing emotional context mistakes, profuse unintentional oversharing, and peevish ranting."       "We can do better than that," she said.  "And I have a handy list of rant topics for you."       Doc made a chopping motion with his hand.  "No point arguing here.  Upstairs."       "Sure, let's go.  Nice evil twin impression, by the way."       Doc winced, and she could sense the beginning of his migraine as the vault door opened.  "Fool," he muttered.       Yiskah laughed.  "Ah, your sense of humor survived.  We'll get you through this."       *****       Safety interlock reverification status:  Verified.       Hazard avoidance priority reverification status:  Verified.       Resuming command sequence from low speed interface buffer.  Inefficient protocol warning.       Subsystem hazard alert notice 0081538621644:  Action--defer.       Subsystem maintenance alert notice 0081538621645:  Action--defer.       Subsystem hazard alert notice 0081538621646:  Action--defer.       ...       Subsystem hazard alert notice 0081538627929:  Action--defer.       Subsystem maintenance alert notice 0081538627930:  Action--defer.       Selected alert notice actions complete.  Returning to configuration lockdown.       Loading test sequence for auxiliary communication using [localization missing] gradient inducer... Done.       Protocol synchronization signal received.  Beginning sequence.       ...       Sequence complete.  Safety and compatibility verified.  Settings saved.  Test session complete.       ...       "Done," said Flicker as she opened her eyes.  She glided to the floor of the maintenance bay, and Learning turned the gravity and lights back on and shut down the scanners.       "Everything's locked down again," she said.  "My jump drive is back on safe, and the deferred messages should only itch when I first wake up.  I didn't want to disable them completely."       "A reasonable compromise," said Learning.  "Maintenance messages, even old ones, from a system as complex as yours are not to be dismissed lightly."       "Yeah," said Flicker.  "The portal gradient detector com channel thing seems to have worked, too.  Your scanner signals got through, and it felt like the protocol got properly set, but I didn't get a good sense of the details.  It's really hard to keep my subconscious from filtering them out.  Did all the keys and checksums match on your end?"       "They did," replied Learning.  "The Floaters will be somewhat relieved."       "I'm relieved, even though it's slow.  Cloud is right; if my visor gets trashed during a space battle, I'll want a better com backup than trying to use a black hole as a signal lantern."       "Indeed.  I am glad your tests were successful."       "I'm starting to find my balance as a starship, but extracting parameters and changing anything safely is still an incredible pain.  Your backup and feedback really made a difference.  I may want to do more tomorrow, depending on how the ice collection goes."       "I will be available.  Is there anything else I can do to ease your acclimatization or otherwise assist you?"       "Well, yes.  There are some starship to human body reflex translation issues I'm going to be working on for a while.  Would it be against procedures or anything if I use the gradient com to call you informally, possibly at odd times?  The low bandwidth isn't a problem at human speeds, and I need the practice."       "I will always be happy to assist," said Learning.  "Fleet support is my primary mission, and I am assigned to liaison duty.  You are the most powerful defender of Earth, so no one can question my duty."  A pause.  "I'd do it anyway; but that means you don't have to worry about getting me into trouble."       "Heh."  Flicker smiled and looked down.  "Thank you, Learning."       Flicker left the bay and returned to the entryway of the small group of compartments she was sharing with Journeyman, DASI's local node, and, in a more abstract way, Three.  She checked in with DASI on the way and frowned.  Status for Journeyman hadn't updated for a while, but they were passengers and guests when off-duty, so DASI was being conservative about following Grs'thnk etiquette on shipboard privacy.       "Hey," said Three from the entry display as Flicker closed the hatch.  "Good job on your snow tossing!  All of today's problems were hardware or at the portal end--or both.  DASI said your exercise metrics looked really good, and the tests when you came back worked out too.  How are you doing?"       "Better than I expected," said Flicker.  "I owe you an apology."       "Me?  For what?"       "Back when you first started talking about Learning?  And how you felt about him?  I was skeptical and kind of dismissive?"       "It's all good, Flicker.  Appreciating him can require a shift in perspective."       "Well, I've made the shift.  Learning and I set up a hierarchy of joint safety reflexes so I don't have to worry about ripping up his interior, burning out anything, or punching a hole in his hull if I have to move in a hurry.  So I can finally relax all the way when I'm on board.  And I've worked with him a bit."       "Nice, isn't he?" said Three.       "Yeah.  But I need some advice.  I noticed something earlier, and I slowed back down just a bit ago to catch up on body chemistry and emotional lag.  It's gotten quite a bit stronger.  I'm having a reaction to him that I'm having trouble sorting out."       "That's not unexpected.  Pleasant or unpleasant reaction?"       "Pleasant but awkward.  You'll probably laugh, because you have your emulators, or whatever you use, and--"       "I won't laugh at you," said Three.  "And if you feel uncomfortable staying on board, the backup for the portal ship is almost here, and has active life support and plenty of room, so--"       "No!  I'm not uncomfortable.  I'm fine with Learning.  More than fine.  I really like the way he interacts with me.  I just started thinking about some things, and..."  Flicker trailed off.       "Well, he does have recreational bioemulator remotes, so if--"       "I know, Pira told me about them.  That's not..."  Flicker looked down.  "I mean, he's a starship.  And so am I.  When we can take some time without being irresponsible, I want to dance with him.  Dive close, mesh my momentum transfer with his grav repellers, and spin around.  Tickle his strain grid sensors with my inertial dampers.  Trace patterns with my energy transfer in his shields, and...  And a hundred other things I haven't thought of yet and I sure there are things he'd think of too.  Play with him.  Laugh with him.  Make jokes about the show we'd be putting on for the other ships.  But he has his crew, so privacy is an issue, and I don't know what restrictions he's under, and what might not translate, and whether this is all too fast, or..."       She looked back up.  "Am I being silly?  And would any of this bother you?"       "No," said Three.  "You aren't.  And you wouldn't bother me.  He's been gently flirting with you for a while now.  What has changed is that you're starting to think of yourself as a starship, so he's a peer instead of a funny alien AI.  And he's well socialized--the Grs'thnk are very careful about that for their ship AIs.  So if you like his style, he's quite attractive."       Three smiled.  "I was already comfortable as a fleet of starships when we first started working together, so I took a shine to him pretty fast.  But he's been 'just a friend' to you before this.  Does what he and I are doing bother you?"       "Oh, no.  I wouldn't even be considering this if you hadn't made me aware that he might enjoy that sort of thing too.  But there's something else.  Learning and I have compatible safety protocols now.  That's..."  Flicker bit her lip.  "I used to have dreams about that."       "Yeah," said Three.  "That would do it."       "So... What should I do?  Should I talk to him about it?"       "You can certainly talk to him.  But there are a couple things to consider.  About the restrictions he's under--you realize that making every reasonable effort to keep you happy is part of his job?"       "Yes, he's been very up front about that.  That's part of not being irresponsible, because it's a power imbalance.  I'd want to spend some time talking to him, and you, before I consider actually doing anything--but not talking about it seems like it would be irresponsible too."       "That's a healthy attitude."  Another smile.  "You're certainly benefiting from our little starship social support group.  Not having one for most of your life was what made you vulnerable to dissociation.  I'd never have pushed dissociation as a temporary solution if I'd known how bad yours still was.  I'm sorry about that."       "Not your fault," said Flicker.  "DASI said that Doc and Journeyman deliberately kept you in the dark.  You were the only one who could push me the right way to uncover the biogestalt problem--but you might not have done it with full information, because it was riskier than you thought.  And involving you directly in any causal loop is really dangerous because of your mind trap."       "It was a humbling experience.  But I'm glad it worked."       "Me too.  Today was much better than most of yesterday--and I'm feeling better than I expected to be able to away from Earth."       "One other thing about Learning," said Three.  "There is a boundary issue.  He's not supposed to have any direct contact with DASI, so he and I have been doing a lot of indirect stuff--some of it diplomatically sensitive.  Don't get me wrong--it's a lot of fun, too.  But some of it's like the kind of things Doc and Jumping Spider used to coordinate when they were spending time together."       "Um," said Flicker.  "I never did get Database access to a lot of that stuff.  So I'm not sure... Oh."       "Yep.  So if Learning changes the subject or makes a joke that doesn't quite answer a question--he usually has a good reason.  Are you willing to accept that?"       "Yeah," said Flicker.  "I should probably start practicing that sort of thing, too.  Because I'm not very good at it yet, and things like whether or when I might be able to make an unassisted jump to Grs'thnk or Xelian space are going to be really important military intelligence.  Whether I want them to be or not."       "An excellent idea.  I can help too, but there's a funny Grs'thnk diplomatic training game for it that I think you'll like.  Learning is great at it.  And picking up the mindset while enjoying yourself should help reduce stress for Journeyman."       "How is Journeyman?" asked Flicker.  "Is he out of the shower yet?  He must have ported back really late."       "He's recovering.  He didn't port back; he took a shuttle, because--"       "He didn't port?  Is he hurt?  What happened?"       "It's all right, he just didn't want to put extra effort into balancing energy and momentum transfer while he was feeling wiped.  Your day went better than expected; his went worse."       "Okay thanks going to go talk to him", said Flicker.  She zipped over to the hatch to the inner compartments and waited impatiently while it opened.       *****       Multitasking.  Yiskah typed up summaries for DASI at the workstation beside Doc's bed, glancing occasionally at updates from Stella Prime and a crisis tracker.  Prime was still in a contentious meeting with representatives of the Kyrjaheim Intervention Cooperative, the organization that a majority of Golden Valkyrie's Choosers had founded to conform to EDU transition guidelines on humanitarian military intervention.  They had already ended a nasty war in East Africa in a single day, which would probably have attracted more attention if it hadn't been the same day the Russians tried to nuke Black Swan.  Other wars were being discussed--whether they were inevitable, how soon they would happen, and what to do about them.  Opinions differed and tempers were short.       Doc was on his back with a damp cloth over his eyes and a med monitor on his wrist.  Painkillers had taken some of the edge off his migraine, but he had agreed to give his visual cortex a rest for a while.  Yiskah projected her presence to him with a light touch, reassuring without being intrusive, while he rambled.       "Breakdown of the default consensus future," he said.  "That's the cause of what DASI and Stella are seeing, and no I don't know how bad it's going to get yet.  It's been building for a while.  There's a public part and an underlying part, and they reinforce each other.  It's not just a result of causal loop pressure.  Looks like the models underestimated the significance of feedback loops involving magicians using social media--those can grow much faster now.  I discussed it with Journeyman just before he left."       "Thoroughly alarming him in the process," said Yiskah.       "He was already thoroughly alarmed.  Sharing his anecdotal data with me probably had a net calming effect, given what else we talked about."       "About that.  You were unwilling to allow DASI to record the conversation, even under fully locked privacy.  Why?"       "We were in the middle of a causal loop, discussing relevant actions.  I wasn't going to involve anyone else.  And there's another, more esoteric reason--compatible past broadening.  If things got dire and he needed to risk a chancy port that might result in a sideways worldline transfer, any allowed point of incompatible history that we both knew about and agreed on beforehand could make it easier for him to pull off.  But if DASI recorded it, that would break a necessary symmetry.  Under one version of my worldline theory, anyway--but it was an easy tradeoff.  He agreed."  A note of humor crept into Doc's voice.  "At least, that's how I remember it."       "Well," said Yiskah, "you believe that, so there's no point in arguing now.  However.  I'd like to know a bit more about the alarming overlay you allegedly deactivated downstairs.  And any other mental work you've done recently.  Your thinking has changed.  For the better, apparently, but..."       "Understandable," said Doc.  "That was my nightmare processing overlay.  It started as a causal-loop-compatible composite of old versions of me from worldlines that managed to contribute to my coherent nightmares.  The Grs'thnk would call it a partial pseudogestalt--they use similar constructions as medical aids in cases of severe neurological or cognitive disruption.  I used it as an interpreter and gatekeeper; it kept triggered-release and age-inappropriate memories inaccessible while preserving the original nightmare data in encrypted form.  It was never intended for use around anyone else, and I haven't used it for a while, for a good reason.       "I updated it as I augmented, so it worked properly with newer memories and nightmares, while remaining compatible with older ones.  I also adapted it to use as a safety backup for other work, such as detecting mental influence.  To deactivate it, I need to pass a few security checks.  This was intended to protect my primary nightmares from exotic forms of tampering or eavesdropping, such as might be employed by an overconfident forensic telepath."       Yiskah raised an eyebrow.  "Was that why you decided I wouldn't be able to help?"       "Not before I was done, yes.  Because back when I woke up from my coma, I discovered I had a small problem.  I could still activate the overlay.  But without my top-level augments, my primary way to deactivate it was gone, and most of my backup methods were unavailable due to side effects from what you and Stella did while saving my life.  Another way required a fresh coherent nightmare--and those stopped around the same time."       "I explored other methods," said Doc.  "Then those triggered-release memories started popping up after I used the pool in Kyrjaheim.  I really needed the overlay to verify I was putting them into the proper context.  And there was one sure way to handle the deactivation problem, but it required extensive preparation and some risk.  I started the preparation, in between working on everything else.  I was almost ready; I was literally seconds away from telling Stella about it when Flicker interrupted.  And then Breakpoint called and there was no more time.  I needed the overlay right away, to pull and interpret some original nightmare memories to help Journeyman."       "And then you were stuck with it for a while."       "Yep."       "So... Why did you need the Helm of Lethal Trap to deactivate it?"       "I didn't.  I needed the helmet to re-augment.  That's what all the prep and most of the time in the vault was for--I did a partial replacement of my top level augments.  I concentrated on the memory management and stability segments, and left out all the speed optimizations, which were by far the most time consuming parts.  And I needed the helmet because that's what I used the first time, and I still had backups of the process memories stored encrypted in a special corner of the Database.  Otherwise it would have taken weeks."       Yiskah smiled wryly.  "So that's what left you with such a memory mess."       "No, the re-augment went fine."  Doc waved an arm.  "And the primary nightmare memories are safely locked away again.  I'm a mess because I haven't reassimilated the secondaries.  A lot of them are emotionally loaded, they've all been recontextualized, and I'm not the same person I was when I first had them, so they don't fit nicely anymore.  I didn't know which ones I'd need, so I had to pull all the ones with Voidsmith, and there were a lot of them."       "Voidsmith?"       "Journeyman.  I warned you about context mistakes.  His name was Voidsmith in many of the nightmares."       "Why were your memories involving Voidsmith so emotionally loaded?"       "He can escape from the end of the world, potentially carrying measure from a dying worldline to one that survives.  That is so important.  I've seen him do it in half a dozen nightmares."  Doc took a deep breath.  "And not do it.  Twice.  Because he can run away... But he never wants to."       Yiskah frowned.  "Why is it so important?  I never followed your original discussion of measure with Prime very well.  I can see having a higher measure of surviving worldlines is nice in an abstract sense, but that doesn't help us if we're dead, no matter what happens somewhere else, right?"       "Ah.  Measure is a mathematical generalization of size.  I'm using it kind of sloppily, because I have no way to prove just how it applies to my worldline theories.  But in most of the theories I've used to make predictions that actually helped, higher measure for a worldline and 'similar' worldlines is good.  It allows more connections to other, living worlds, more power behind probability manipulation and causal loops that help everything survive, and more options in general.  I'm fairly certain that Golden Valkyrie depends on measure manipulation to affect the future indirectly.  And Journeyman can transfer measure to us as well--because he exists in other worldlines in our cluster.  And there's some evidence he's done exactly that.  Twice.  Recently."       "So how does he manage it without leaving three of him running around?"       Doc waggled a hand.  "Not entirely sure, but measure isn't a number, it's a generalization.  What we would expect to see in the aftermath is something unlikely and fortunate involving Journeyman.  Like, say, appearing 17 seconds before he left when he ported Flicker and himself home from the portal mishap, while just barely surviving.  Or finding some disturbingly detailed tips in his blind drop when they ported home from Flicker's first session on Europa.  I'm still arguing with Ashil and DASI about the details of how measure transfer relates to sideways worldline transfers, causal loops, and apparent time travel to the past.  And there are many complications that I'm handwaving.  But they both agree that relative measure of worldlines is a useful concept.  As is the idea of 'future survival measure'--that's how likely a worldline is to endure in the absence of outside help.  I've been using the word measure for both, which, again, is sloppy.  But it's also faster, and I'm pedantic enough already."       The humor returned to his voice.  "Speaking of sloppy, we'll want to do our best to keep the future survival measure of Earth from dropping too much while Flicker, Journeyman, and Golden Valkyrie are gone.  They're more likely to survive the Visitors if they aren't causally linked to problems here, but if it gets too bad, they might come back to a different worldline where we did a better job.  Could get a bit lonely if that happens."       *****       Journeyman was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at his hands.  He was wearing pants, but his shirt and hat were still on a nearby chair.  It looked like he had started to get dressed after his shower, then stopped.  There was an open flask on the nightstand.  Flicker wasn't sure exactly what was in it, but it was definitely something alcoholic.       "Mike?"       He looked up, his eyes concerned.  "Hey, Flicker.  You okay?"       "I'm fine.  I was worried about you.  Three and DASI said things got pretty rough at the portal."       Journeyman smiled and his eyes relaxed.  "Oh, well..."  He waved a hand and looked to the side.  After a moment he picked up the flask and replaced the cap.       "Yeah," he said.  "They did."       She glided over.  "Touch no touch?"       "Touch."       She sat down and put her arms around him.  She didn't say anything.       "Opening was fine," he said after a while.  "Nailed the space we wanted.  Got the portal situated, then Three expanded it with her generator, and brought the Floater test unit online as a backup.  And we were okay for the first couple of hours.  Couple of shaky spots.  Whenever the snow flow hitting the rim and bouncing off shifted, Three had to blip her drives to keep us on the right orbit, and that made the portal want to slide off-center, so I had to kinda tap at it then the generator would pick up and balance it."       Journeyman start to wave his hand, noticed he was still holding the flask, and put it back on the nightstand.       "Did the mass accumulation make it harder?" asked Flicker.       "No.  Well, yeah, but we were ready for it.  Except for the back pressure.  The plan was not to make the space too big or it would take forever to shrink it back down after we get it filled and you're ready.  And I followed the plan.  But I think we made the space just a little bit too small.  Or not quite stretchy enough at the non-portal boundaries, which is basically the same thing."       He waved his now-empty hand.  "Three compensated for the back pressure.  She did that great.  Hell, she did everything great.  Forget her being prickly yesterday, she kept everything together today, sang sea shanties when I was on the edge, and...  Well, anyway.  Problem was, to keep the portal permeable so we could keep scooping snow without vapor escaping, she had to tighten up the tension in a way that made it harder for me to feel what was going on.  So I was trying to steer the portal with less and less feedback.  And that sucker was huge.  No way could I ever manage that big a portal by myself, I'm a finesse guy."       He looked down.  "Then shit started breaking.  Heard you had a little trouble with that, too."       "Not bad," said Flicker.  "Two generators went yellow, and one of those turned out to just be a flaky sensor."       "Yeah," said Journeyman.  "We had sensors, generator cells, one of the grav units, two inertial compensators, and I forget what else.  Oh, and the secondary resonator on the Floater unit just flat died about halfway through.  And it was freshly tested.  Cloud said they didn't 'untranslated the expletive untranslated', but DASI says that's just colloquial Floater for 'why the frick did it have to do that now?'  He's good at swearing.  Where was I?"       "Things were breaking."       "Oh, yeah.  About five hours in Three had to switch to using both generators, with the Floater unit as the primary, to keep the tension low enough so I could still guide things.  And in hour six, we had a desync and suddenly I had to pull one whole side of the portal.  It was like trying to turn an angry rhinoceros with rubber bands.  Three got everything back under control and resynced in under a second but I was kind of a wreck after that.  I wanted to go the full eight hours but Three said something was hitting yellow in hour seven so we had to shut everything down, and when we were finally done I asked her what hit yellow and she said it was me."       Journeyman looked over at her with a slightly desperate expression.  "I'm sorry.  Did what I could."       "Mike...  You did everything anyone could ask, and more."  Flicker sped up to check in with DASI and Three on her visor, then slowed back down again.  "Three says she's going to swap in the backup portal ship for tomorrow; the maintenance levels are better because they had more time.  And a team of six engineers from the Xelian Volunteers are helping her troubleshoot all the problems--we were doing so many new things at once there were bound to be glitches.  And there's even--okay I'll stop now because your eyes are starting to glaze over."       "Yeah, my brain isn't braining very well.  I keep worrying about some of what Doc said.  About running if the Visitors show up before we're ready.  I don't know if I can do that.  I could see it as a way of baiting them away?  Maybe?  But we'd have to circle back, somehow.  I can't just abandon everyone here--I mean there are so many people I care about on Earth, our Earth, not some hypothetical... Gah."       He rubbed his forehead.  "And tomorrow.  I don't know if we'll be able to reopen the portal.  I don't know if I'll even be able to find the right place to try.  If we can't find the space again we might have to start over from scratch."       "Well," said Flicker.  "If we have to start over, we start over.  Europa has plenty of ice.  And it wouldn't be from scratch, because we have a lot more data now, and everyone is analyzing like mad.  Everyone else--don't worry about it, we're clear to rest."       "Don't worry.  Heh."  He leaned back until he was lying sideways on the bed with his feet still on the floor, then looked up at her.       Flicker put her hand on his chest and met his eyes.  "Mike, you've helped me so many times.  Let's worry about tomorrow... tomorrow.  Not tonight.  Okay?"       Journeyman blinked, but didn't look away.  Then he smiled.  It was a faint smile, but real.  "Okay," he said.

Next:

[atc74]

The Convention Connection - Two by Two

What originally started out as a one shot for @iwantthedean has turned into so much more. This series is over a year in the making and there is only part left after this. I hope you all have enjoyed this ride as much as I have. 

Catch up on The Convention Connection

Summary: A baby shower is thrown for the expectant parents. 

Word Count: 1915

Warnings: Excessive use of fluff, pregnancy frustrations

Thank you to my saving grace, @just-another-busy-fangirl​, beta extraordinaire. 

“Jay!” Nicole called from the upstairs of their home. She was in the nursery they had just finished a few days ago. With only about six weeks to go before her due date, they wanted to make sure that everything was finished before they were too close and Nicole was too big to do anything.

The nursery was finished in soft blues and greens with a Noah’s Ark theme. Jensen and Nicole had decided that since there were two babies coming, they would use the theme “Two by Two.” One of Nicole’s friends at the hospital was an accomplished artist and had spent hours painting the walls to get the theme just right, giraffes and elephants painted meticulously added to the feel.

Nicole had been banned from the room until it was finished and it wasn’t until last weekend that she had been allowed in, after Jay had assembled both cribs. All the other accessories and furniture had been stored in the generous walk-in closet. With the help of a couple of friends, everything was placed with Nicole’s direction and the room was absolutely perfect.

Jensen walked in the room, finding his very pregnant wife sitting in one of the plush rocking chairs, rubbing small circles over her swollen middle. She still took his breath away and he marveled at how lucky he was to have found her and that she had agreed to share this life with him. “Hey, Baby, what’s on your mind?”

“Ash and Ang are flying in today. The spare room is already made up, but Matt and Rob won’t be here till Friday. Are you picking them up?” Nicole inquired.

“Yes, I talked to Ash before she boarded and her flight is on time. Angelina’s is delayed because of a storm in Minneapolis, but I will get her, too. I promise,” Jensen assured her.

“Okay, good. I just don’t want to miss anything and I feel with all these hormones I am forgetting everything lately!” Nicole was tired and getting frustrated with the amount of information she felt she was forgetting lately. From her medical knowledge, she knew “pregnancy brain” was not an actual ailment. She deduced that is was just everything else on her mind, with the twins due to arrive in six weeks, but she couldn’t shut it down.

“Everything is all set for the baby shower on Saturday, too. Beth already ordered the cake and it will be ready Saturday morning. I was informed that your girls are going shopping Friday morning before the guys get here. Ashley Renee and Beth will be here that afternoon and everything is going to fine. Your only job is to relax, be beautiful and grow my babies!” Jensen knelt in front of her, kissing her stomach lovingly as he gazed up at his wife.

“I am going stir crazy. My blood pressure is down but they won’t let me return to work and only lifted some of my restrictions. I can hardly clean anything and I want to do something!” Nicole fumed.

“Well, I can get you out of the house if you want to join me when I pick up your friends,” Jay offered, seeing a smile as it spread across her face.

“I think I can handle that!” she laughed. “I miss my girls so much!”

~*~

Wednesday night was spent with delivery pizza and cheesy rom coms as the three friends caught up. There was talk of baby names, but Nicole wouldn’t give in and reveal the names she and Jensen had picked out. The only thing anyone had been told was that they were expecting a boy and a girl.

“So Ash, tell me how things are going with Matt,” Nicole probed as she dug into her ice cream.

“Things are amazing! Being married to Matt is the best thing in the world right now and we have decided to start a family!”  Ashley squealed and the three of you shared of group hug at the happy news.

“And Angelina, I know things are moving along with you and Rob. Aren’t you so glad I got you that extra VIP for Minneapolis?” Nicole bragged.

“Duh! I know the long distance isn’t ideal, especially with planning a wedding. I am anxious about the move, though. It isn’t just a whole new city; it will be the start of a whole new life with him. I am not anxious about being married to him; that I can’t wait for, but the rest of it scares me a little. I have lived in Minnesota my entire life, but most everything he does is in Los Angeles. He has an entire career there while I can get a job anywhere,” Angelina admitted, looking at her dear friends as tears glistened in her eyes.

“Oh, Boo, everything is going to work out just fine. You guys have so much love, it will get you through anything. Trust me, Jensen and I have been there. You just have to be honest and work it out together,” Nicole comforted her as Ashley refilled their drinks; wine for them and some sparkling water for Nicole.

“Nic is right, Ang. It wasn’t easy for me either when I moved in with Matt, all the way across the entire country! I miss my friends and family, but we have each other and that is what matters,” Ashley added.

“I knew this weekend was what I needed! Thank you both so much for talking me down from the ledge,” Angelina gushed.

“Okay, we have a full day of cleaning and setup to do tomorrow, so we should probably hit the sack. Friday we have groceries and food prep. Beth and Ashley will be here mid afternoon and Rob and Matt get in around five. We will pick them up, check into the hotel, then come back here before dinner, so we can get the rest of the room ready,” Ashley recounted, listing everything off on her fingers.

“I can’t wait for everyone to get here for this baby shower! I can’t believe we talked Jensen into a co-ed shower!” Angelina chimed in.

“Okay, everyone in bed. I am exhausted and it’s only ten o’clock!” Nicole yawned. The three women made their way upstairs, still chatting excitedly about the upcoming events.

~*~

“Rob, did you put out the balloons?” Angelina asked her fiance as he walked into the house, still shaking snow out his hair.

“Yes, Honey. Matt and I took care of it. The sidewalk and driveway are cleared and salted. It is finally starting to let up, I think,” Rob pondered as he gazed out the window.

“Okay, thank you. Beth just ran to pick up the cupcakes and I have the stand ready for when she gets back. The food is almost ready, and all the decorations are-” Angelina went over the list in her head before her thoughts were broken by one of her favorite voices.

“Ahhhhh!!! Oh my God, girl, you look stunning!” Brianna’s voice rang through the house as she walked through the front door, greeting Nicole, wrapping her in a side hug. She rubbed her hands over Nicole’s bump. “I can’t wait to meet these bundles!”

“Hey Bri!” Ang called out as she made her way from the kitchen to the front of the house. She squeaked as Brianna hugged her so tight she could barely breathe.

“I am so happy to see you girls! Congrats on the engagement by the way. Rob, you sly dog!” Brianna playfully punched Rob in the arm before hugging him, too. “Kim is on her way, but had to make a stop. Jared and Gen are swinging by the liquor store and will be over, too. And Misha, well, Misha is Misha.”

“The punch bowls!!” Ashley shouted as she ran back in the kitchen.

~*~

The house filled quickly with the chatter and laughter of all of Nicole’s friends and family. Besides blood family, the guest list was a who’s who of a Supernatural Convention. Mark and Sarah Sheppard had made the trip, along with Ruth, Jason Manns, Rich and his wife, Jaci.

Tours of the nursery were given and games were played. The food was a big hit, everyone commenting on how creative everyone had been in the planning. The theme was comfort foods and although the list was odd, it was what the Lady of the Hour wanted.

The food included a taco bar, homemade meat lover’s pizza, fried rice and chicken sandwiches with a variety of fixings. Ashley Renee had made a cute watermelon ‘ark’ filled with fruit, arranging little plastic animals in and around it. There was also a hot chocolate bar with all the toppings and a plethora of sweet treats. The hit of the party was the cake, which was tiered cupcakes decorated with animals, two of each, just like Noah had on the Ark.

The shower was a booming success and once all the gifts had been opened, the proud parents addressed their guests.

“Nicole and I are so overwhelmed by all the love, and support and are so happy that all of you could be here with us today,” Jensen started.

“None of this would have been as special if you weren’t here. We would like to say a huge thank you to Ashley and Ashley Renee, Angelina, Beth, Genevieve and Jared, for all their help planning and set up. Also to Matt and Rob for shoveling; snow was not in the forecast!” Nicole added.

“Now, we have a few gifts to hand out as well,” Jensen continued. He handed an envelope to Mark and Sarah, then another to Angelina and Rob. Both couples opened them together, gasps coming from all four.

“Are you serious?!” Ang and Sarah asked at the same time.

“Yes, we had a long talk about all of this and any of you would have been excellent choices, we have asked these four amazing, incredible people to be the Godparents of our children,” Jensen announced. “Who would be better than God and the King of Hell?”

Everyone enjoyed a good laugh at that. Both women had tears in their eyes as they hugged Nicole and Jensen, their partners doing the same.

“We’d be honored, guys. Thank you,” Rob humbly told Jensen and Nicole.

“Yes, absolutely,” Mark agreed.

The guests started dispersing shortly afterwards. Jared, Matt and Rob carried all the gifts upstairs while the ladies got started on the cleanup. There was enough food left over for dinner that night and everyone sat around reminiscing about how they had met, favorite stories and  embarrassing admissions. Gen recalled her pregnancies fondly, nudging Jared, quietly suggesting maybe trying for another.

“Well, we gotta go, guys! Thanks!” Jared stood and threw Gen her coat.

“Oh geez!” Jensen groaned, shaking his head at his best friend.

“Make it a girl this time, Padalecki!” Nicole threw out as they walked out the door.

“So, are you guys really not telling anyone what their names are going to be? Someone has to know.” Matt looked around at everyone else left in the room, his eyes finally landing on Nicole and Jensen.

“No, we haven’t told anyone yet, Matt. But…” Nicole paused.

“Their names are Av-” Jensen stopped as soon as Nicole placed her hand over his mouth.

“Jay! We agreed! Pull up, man!” Nicole chastised her husband.

“Aww, come on! I hate secrets!” Jensen pouted.

“Six more weeks guys, Chuck willing,” Nicole just smiled.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Rob chuckled.

Tags - now open - do the thing: @iwantthedean @chelsea072498 @paintrider13-blog @d-s-winchester @just-a-touch-of-sass-and-fandoms @just-another-busy-fangirl @winchesterprincessbride @waywardjoy @like-a-bag-of-potatoes @mamaredd123 @ellen-reincarnated1967 @sis-tafics @katymacsupernatural @tankcupcakes  @wonderange @meeshw777  @tmccarney @ruprecht0420 @theoriginalvicki @hexparker @nanie5 @docharleythegeekqueen @megansescape @notnaturalanahi @impalaimagining @mrswhozeewhatsis @blacktithe7 @emoryhemsworth @dracotomanddeansprincess23 @bringmesomepie56 @devilgirlsarah @spnbaby-67 @emilycollins11 @myoutletforfanfiction @deansangelgirl @mizzzpink @jerk-bitch-and-an-angel @kayteonline @percussiongirl2017 @fanfreak07 @tattooedmomster13 @sandlee44 @moonstar86 @uttertrash–butlikecutetrash  @squirrel-moose-winchester @growningupgeek @charliebradbury1104 @evansrogerskitten @feelmyroarrrr @itseverythingilike @smoothdogsgirl @ashstrom87 @supernatural-jackles 

Dean/Jensen Only: @akshi8278 @iamabeautifulperson18 @suzannebeaketa @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @deandoesthingstome @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @boxywrites  @sparklesuperwholock88  @ericaprice2008   @leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid   @tardis-full-of-fallen-angels 

[hgfstreamchats]

El Arca

Hello! Hello there! paused Castlevania for christian lion sex Castlevania would understand. but they just found the giant demon that I very much wish to smooch!!! Is the sound functioning? tis! Excellent! Oh, there we go Sound seems okay Well, in that case, I won't delay! Onto the lions we go. It was being... "funny" he wants a cursed kids show he should go watch donkey ollie agin Deleting my messages and so on OH NO NOAHS ARK Ahh, I see you're ahead of the game! I'm deeply suspicious already. did Saberspark ever upload his edited version that includes *all* the jokes You'll love it, night human. It's got lovingly rendered animal excrement. No, but this is the uncut version. oh good Jesus it does not help that they have regular human hands youre gonna see chicken strips, night When you say "chicken strips"... do you mean that a chicken strips? you'll see mr.... noseybonk.... jesus fucking christ And fire. Uh.... yeaah that's about normal for discord servers As you can see, we're off to a great start. prostitutes thinkin he's Zeus

Ha! HAH! I really dont wanna see that one dude's teeth like that again This seems.  Familiar but not too familiar.... Oh man you are NOT gonna like what happens to those trees when they get soaked in seawater. the children are brats she's dumping him lmao Good for her! This is perverse. "are you... the devil" It really is. Especially your grandparents' trees. -calmly- "that's enough :)" And all those slaves you went into debt to free. I mean hey, at least the debt will be gone too! "what do you mean, the fuck do I know about boatbuilding" That's something! "well then. we're all going to die!" "Oh, finally!" "haha, we're all going to die" Oh. Well, that answers that. this is.... surprisingly well done "No more, no less. I want lots of sickly, genetically doomed animals in this new world." Is this some kind of... antisemitic caricature Probably. "kind of making me feel inadequate" chicken strips! Still less self-centered and malevolent than Primus. Pffff Okay, so, chickens don't have... mammaries.  So is this some kind of weird roleplaying thing? Are the chickens furries?? He's summoned as many animals as he knows how to spell. Sorry, Xoloitzcuintli. this movine needs to slow the fuck down oh my god official favorite character I like how he spent valuable time illustrating each one. "I am SO going to this sex resort" She looks awfully happy for someone who just learned everyone she knows is going to die in a flood And the parents look awfully happy for people who just learned THEY'RE going to die in a flood they're going to spend the end times fragging I would. ...And did, come to think of it. Ayyyy. Her? Ahhh, a liar. I like him! I love her They're one another's beards for the sake of surviving the flood. And that's wonderful. True. Who made that chair. some of these animals are super uggo Wait, did both of those kangaroos have pouches? Hang on, were those--yeah, that They do! lesbians I support them The orangutans weren't the only ones to beat the system. Maybe they're pregnant That'd explain how come there's still kangaroos Ironically, if they got pregnant by different parents, they'd be the most genetically diverse species in the world. *partners Yes, exactly! "what was that last one 8)" ...Want to know a fun fact about kangaroos :) that they have multiple vaginas? ...Yes. that still fucks me up Their genitals are positioned in reverse? Oh, that. All this out of a patch of trees? They are PROUD of that model Y'know, you'd think that a LOT of other people would have survived.  There was more than one boat in the world at the time this is set Okay so what ARE the carnivores going to eat idk why they call her fat. she's got an ass that just don't quit and I think that lion;s a fool for choosing some other lioness But the other one has tiddies.  Lion tiddies. And a clever mouth, apparently. Where's the pig's partner? he is a bi disaster The male lion, I mean he is He'd be dead after that. But what ARE the predators going to eat There was a single, doddering old lion in the group. Maybe they're going to divide him up? Write up her report. "Write up my report" = "Legitimately weighing my choices between mating with you or a watery death." Harsh but fair. Ahhh, Perfect Storm-ing it. Well well well. "See, I'd rather room with that tiger" Hello! Hello! Hello, sorry I'm late--is this that weirdo Noah's Ark furry disaster?! It is! It IS Damn "hey do you guys hear music" ....Carrion. *Dear Unicron, are they feeding on the drowned corpses of the dead?* .... oh hey it's the vampires' plan from castlevania Oh hey, that's a possibility They bob right by and they just scoop them up. It makes as much sense as anything else Although, after forty days... reptile room Heheheheh those snakes just wanted to mlem!!!! hahahah "woah that is NOT the letter I got" okay well that explains how the carnivores arre geting fed FEESH Oh right I guess the carnivores are eating fish Fish aren't people! Considering they haven't broken out into an orgy, I'd say they're showing surprising restraint. a least he feels bad about it She has lipstick THATS THE SECOND TIME They... both have pouches. The good ship Bad Decisions in action The kangaroos got away with it. thats way more than two chickens though I guess to be fair eggs are necessary "THEN we can eat them" FISH AND EGGS YOU DUMB LASS this dude has the right idea What...w as that what is ANY of this Who even knows? Where's your *one* female? I like that he's buds with the pig trying to think of what a panlion would look like given ligers and tigons exist she's giving u the key to her vag I wonder where the male panther is https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Leopon01.jpg Found some. oh cute! Huh. In this scene: shadows are rendered. I'm sorry is her name "panty" Panthy, I think, but that's still BAD How charming and necessary. Wow, what a necessary scene those jerks should be thankful the raccoons helped them out All that craftsmanship and you couldn't rig the piles and piles of excrement to dump neatly into the water? nah that'd be too easy Ease of cleanup and sticking it to your god at the same time. Bah I bet he's not even dead that's three Oh no, they kicked the ladder down.  How will he ever get out now he pinched a tiger's rear Does it even matter who steers, I mean none of them know where they're going "quick, smear this blood on your tits" lock him in the slammer oh so that's why it matters whether they can steer Where's he going to pause or rest? ... this is the worst haka I've ever seen doc I'm begging you to look up real hakas after this film to cleanse my eyes Will do. hahahah That was dark. "surrender, we can have a threesome" how convenient Already so many rabbits Monarchy or cannibalism.  The only two choices. "You're here even though you got to this point in your life without knowing fire does that!" "did that lion just look at me?" holy shit lmao It gets caught in a southwesterly breeze and the ship goes up in flames. hukkhhkhkjhjk well the polar bears will be fine! Right? well I guess it woulkdnt be a south american made film without a huge party at the end Uh They're.  Making her cage dance? I don't think they're making her do a thing LOL ALSO I'M SORRY WERE THE DONKEY AND DEER DOING IT IN THE CONGA LINE They've told her multiple times she's free to leave that cage. that was Well, then! look at that dummy thick jaguar That sure did happen That WAS. Let us be thankful it is over That certainly was a thing that happened. now for a much needed reprieve Peel off the tracksuits. I've seen some vids of the womens soccer team from NZ doing hakas and it's absolutely great Much better than the orangutan doing it. for sure Oh, good, she's sixteen Yikes Ewwwwwww I will be honest I thought this was going to be an LP a Planet Coaster thing It's exactly that, but you know...real. God "due to tax state regulation" ...oh, I bet that was LAX state regulation He's clearly someone who has any business demanding "the prettiest girl." [wasted] The advice in question" "Don't" Right? "We are smarter than everyone and that's why we're building the MURDERCOASTER" That one got to live. that kid's smart Apathetic Child is the smartest one in the video. Well that's not good jesus christ is that blood It is. They certainly did show those idiot mathematicians, physicists, and engineers. JESUS CHRIST Jesus Questions about the inspection process. Something special. "We all have something special to hold onto." Like a severed head. christ I'm gonna bump out for now. take caare all! Goodnight! Good night! Wait, did we watch the roller coaster one? I know I've seen THIS one... hmmmm Oh!  With the giant hole! The giant body trench? Yes! Glorious! In that case, I'm all out of light notes to end on. Suggestions? SNL What's That Name? We could just browse this channel a little bit and look for one we haven't seen! All the ones I've seen have been... fun. This, then we'll browse the channel. I'm for it. God Hahhahaha Ohhh boy Finish that thought God They all look good tbh. True, true. Fire.  I like it. Now I'm slightly nostalgic for Interface on Wheels. Do tell! Ohhhh I've forgotten everything about the game save that my city was called that. Just imagine driving through this place I will not. Well then. Drive into the Void. Hey, it makes sense, you can bet on the games. I'm curious to see how the fire's going to happen. I mean, they seem to be happening on their own just fine Lovely. Oh no!  The orphanage! It's Little Lamplight! Hey, I'm up for another if you are. same! Excellent! THIS is the one. Ha! Dear lord. It lives there now. This is like bizarro Ratatouille It's majestic. How else will the customers get their daily dose of broken glass? So ungrateful \o/ Yes.  Yessss. One more? Sure! Yes. And why wouldn't it be. I like how carefully they rendered the butt. Priorities. VERISIMILITUDE I've known medbay Eradicons that would if they could. Amazing. Oh Boy As a doctor, I can verify every single thing about this. I love it. I love their walk animations.  It's like they're on roller skates. It does! or those wheelieshoes Heelies! yes! those. 24/7 Are those bloodstains Oh yes. Uh oh! I like the blow dryer next to her bed. Amazing. The only note worth ending on, something terrible happening to Grace. You might even call it... a Grace note. ;) Terrible. Shame on you. I love it. It's what I'm here for! It is, in fact, your saving grace HAH! :D Although, frankly, I don't think ANYONE'S saving Grace. She had her chance to run. She sure did. Well--thanks for the stream!  It's been a great time, as usual. :) Thank YOU for gracing me with your presence! Ha! Good night! good night! Good night!

[callmemoprah]

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[neareport]

Strong Arm offering free guidance/low-cost service for flood victims

Strong Arm offering free guidance/low-cost service for flood victims

JONESBORO, Ark. – A Craighead County business will set up a mobile command-type operation in Randolph County as flood recovery efforts begin and plans to offer low-cost restoration services to those affected by the disaster.

Strong Arm Services will offer equipment rental for those who plan to do the cleanup and recovery themselves without hiring full professional crews. Without flood insurance,…