#automatic generator start and stop unit

[selfguard]

Best Automatic Generator Start and Stop Unit in India

Selfguard Automation and Controls offers the premium quality automatic generator start and stop unit in India. It is suitable for all sorts of self-starting generators.

We have generators with both wireless and cable remotes. It comes in three models, depending on how it is coupled to various types of generators. The operation of all three models is the same.

[carionto]

Hyperbrake Racing

Everything in Human ships has a manual override. They love automating all processes and reduce any workload to nothing, but also have this compulsive need to be able to take direct control if so desired.

They also have emergency off switches for everything. Yes, including life support. Don't ask, you'll just get a variant of:

"But What If!?"

Obviously, this applies to things you should never under any circumstances shut down preemptively, such as a Hyperspace Jump.

The earliest space-faring civilizations quickly discovered that if a Hyperdrive has a power interruption even for a nano-second your atoms will get dispersed across a few light months. This is why all Hyperdrives have an internal chargeable uninterruptible power supply unit.

Humanity, however, did not allow "Not having any reason whatsoever" to stop them from figuring out a way. Utilizing their ridiculous quantum computer speed and the ability of their fusion reactors to charge a Hyperdrive mid-jump, and with an injection of a disgusting few million lines of hack code that manipulate all related pieces of hardware in just the most nauseating sequences, they created the Hyperbrake.

Also, not a metaphor - braking literally causes Humans to feel nauseous, sometimes throw up, rarely even pass out. Not a single volunteer crew member aboard joint vessels from any of the other Coalition species has dared to "test" what happens to them.

As with nearly all things Humans come across or invent, they will find a use for it should one not occur normally.

_____________________

Near Neptune

Daniel, Samantha, and Nicholas Schreier were three siblings ages 17, 19, and 20, respectively. Today they had "borrowed" their dad's General FordStar mark 980-MZ HaulerHound, a civilian grade transport typically used by small business owners. Dad, however, was an enthusiast, and had modified the "Hound Dog", as he calls it, with a military grade reactor and computer core. He's always been that guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who can get the thing legally enough.

There is a nearby research station that the kids often visit due to their mom working there, but today she was not. Instead, what they are doing, is racing against each other to set the best record. Well, technically the opposite of racing - coming to a halt.

Using the Hyperbrake, they are competing to see who can stop the closest to the stations outer point-defense range without entering it or you automatically lose. After Samantha's turn, they were suddenly contacted by the station. It was Yakovskii, one of mom's colleagues and a frequent guest at dad's barbecues, so they were on sorta good terms. Not by the tone voice coming through the comms rights now though:

"What in the Hell are you thinking!? At first I thought you were just messing around and accidentally did that, but TWICE now!?! I checked the trajectory, if you had stopped a half-second later, you would've ended up mere meters from Neptune's upper atmosphere! Did you account for the possible sudden gravitational pull? Can you maneuver that lumbering ship fast enough to not get pulled down? Not to mention Hyperbraking severely impairs your cognitive abilities for a moment? A moment that you need to be clearheaded for or risk DEATH!?!"

The three siblings could only hang their heads in shame and mutter out some weak apologies. After a moment of silence and reflection, Yakovskii speaks in a warmer tone:

*sigh* "Look, I understand it's a fancy new toy and you want to see what you can do. I get it, I really do. Me and my brother used to play vertical hockey the first time we got our hands on a surplus gravity field generator. But we first figured out how to make sure we didn't break our bones in case it failed. Seriously, never forget to consider your own safety first before you try out new things in a peaceful environment. You're not being chased by pirates or trying to avoid the law or whatever.

Take your time, pick a starting position that's further away and keeps Neptune and any of its moons to the side of the station, then aim for an area of space that only has the outer range of the defenses and empty space ahead from your point of view. And please set the regular Hyperjump destination within Sol, don't just pick a random place. The Hyperbrake sometimes loops in on itself and never executes the brake and can only be reset once out of Hyperspace. You don't want to get stuck in a pointless jump for hours do you?"

After this admonishment, the siblings apologized more energetically and took his advice to heart. They spent the next hour competing until all three were down to single meter differences and kinda got bored, so they docked at the station and hung out with the off-duty staff, played some poker, but then dad barged in and dragged them all home. They were not invited to the barbecue gatherings for two weeks, but only because mom told him to. Personally he was excited about all the data his kids had unknowingly given him with all their jumping and braking, a real stress test for his beautiful Hound Dog.

[sirwadewilsonfromimgur]

Deadpool & Wolverine: Amber Crimson and Noir

Authors note: this chapter contains story elements from "When two murderous Canadian mercenaries love each other very much..." aka the James chapter as well as the plot point from Amber Crimson and Noir so far. Enjoy the thrilling conclusion of the Noir ark. I hope you've read them

Content warning... Violence/Tourtre

[Pess play on opening music below]

Ark finale

Vanessa

Kansas city Missouri Earth-10005 2031

Vanessa had moved into one of the spare bedrooms of Logan and Wade's condos about two months ago, Dermot had set up a desk in the corner of the generously sized room that had a sweeping view of crown center. He was happily working from home but definitely out of his element. Even in a large home, Logan, Wade, and Althea were strange, loud, and .... unique room mates.

Vanessa had lived with Wade in the past, so she was used to Wade's quarks. However he'd developed some new ones. For instance,

The floor to ceiling windows present in almost every room had blackout curtains that had to be closed before the sun went down... Wade would run from room to room, closing the curtains. If he wasn't home and he walked in and someone else hadn't done this task he'd freak out, yelling " it's 6 o'clock and winter why are the fucking curtains still open! He'd then proceeded to sprint around the house, closing them.

It was compulsive but not without justification, due to an incident. During the day, everything is fine. All the windows had been coated with a reflective film. You couldn't see inside unless your face was pressed up against a window. But at night, the lights inside illuminate and defeat this privacy.

A sniper had put several holes through the window... and Wade... honeymoon phase of moving to a new city was over.

And now they needed new windows.

Years later, Logan had grown tierd this nightly curtain nonsense and had mechanical curtains installed that automatically shut at sundown... this didn't stop Wade's patrol, making sure the mechanism hadn't broken and looking in all the rooms to check the curtainshad indeed closed. It was just quicker now. Years later, this did lead to one embarrassing moment for James in his teen years

Sorry, kitten! By the way, that's perfectly normal. No need to feel shame about it.

FUCKING KNOCK NEXT TIME DAD!

The process of replacing the windows was the last straw of Wade playing nice with the HOA of the tower. Maranda (fucking bigoted bitch) had pulled her typical stall tactics and nonsense as a board member during the first remodel of the house.

Wade, to expedite the process had broken into the board president's unit and sat in his bedroom. Waiting for him to get home.

When he turned up and walked in his room, there was Wade on his bed, pointing a gun at him.

Hay Ed! Is this a memory foam mattress because it is comfortable as fuck... I usually avoid them because so often Logan gets too excited and stabs be when he's stabbing me if you know what I mean. *wink* and its just sucks all the blood up and never comes out. We've gone through 4 mattresses this year alone.

Mr. Wilson... please don't shoot.

Oh, Ed... I'm not here to shoot you. Im here to make a deal....

Wade hands him a shoe box labeled fuck me pumps.

Sorry about the box had to improvise. Logan got me those for our anniversary... it's all he wanted me to wear that night. Such a romantic... anyway, inside that box is three hundred thousand dollars in non sequential one hundred dollar bills. All for you, on the condition that whatever I want to do, I fucking get to do it without push back from You fuck's. If I want to put a giant inflatable godzilla on the roof with anatomically accurate genitalia for Halloween the only thing I want to hear is "what day is good for you to get that started"

He was installing level 10 bullet proof glass on the entire 19th floor, and whatever other security measures he saw fit in the common hallway, and they weren't gonna say shit about it. To add motivation to the bribe. A nine millimeter bullet with their name neatly written on it was given to them.

Here. Take this, hide it. Throw it away. Hell, put it on your mantel... I don't give a shit. Because if I really need to, I'll find that exact bullet again... and I'll give it to you again only the next time it will be moving really, really fucking fast. So don't make me give it to you again.

He did this with a majority of members of the HOA board and hadn't had any problems since...

Logan had been a less openly dramatic roommate. He had been consumed by his work. how Wade sweet talked his way into convenienceing him that now was a great time to have a baby, Vanessa would never know. Though she did know that mouth of his was more than just talented at yapping and quiping.

I wonder if Logan ever got the plastic vampire teeth on Halloween.

She was trying to avoid him when he was working. She didn't want to bother him while he was holed up in the office. Besides, he was smoking like a chimney on a poorly insulated house during a January blizzard. The smell of his cigars currently nauseated her, not to mention the second-hand smoke wasn't good for the baby evenin a well vintalated room like the office.

Logan had recently taken on a lot of investigative work. Detective shit. Murders, kidnappings, missing persons. He'd told vanessa that he really wanted to branch out from just being just killer. Not that she'd ever held that against him.

Some of her best friends were mercenaries, vigilantes, and contract killers. Hell, even the nerds at the Xmen put quite a few people in the ground, and she liked the one's she'd met.

From her understanding Logan had actually been doing well, he wasn't just a bloodhound, which he literally was. He told her that the egg had taken and she was pregnant before any tests were done. Lucky, first try. It was something they had all worried about.

Sometimes surrogacy takes a couple tries before one sticks... there was a 25% chance of failure and that's normal at least thats what the blue fuzzy doctor told them after the procedure.

I wonder what else he can smell on me and is too polite to mention.

Logan was also a decent investigator in his own right, followed clues, and noticed things the cops missed. He'd found quite a few missing persons, runaways mostly. He did his due diligence and made sure without question they weren't being abused, and that's why they ran away before returning them to their families. He'd even helped break up a sex trafficking ring.

Vanessa knew the trouble didn't really start until Logan took the case of his friend Maxine. She was murdered and dumped like so much garbage and not treated much better by the police handling the case. Vanessa had actually met her once at one of the boys' parties.

She remembered her and her partner Dal being warm and jovial with her. Though she'd heard that they were just as fiery as Logan and Wade at times, the only difference being their fights resulted in significantly fewer stabings as persons without a healing factor. Apparently, her case had been a brick wall Logan just couldn't claw through.

Vanessa herself had been fairing the last 2 months decently... the morning sickness was an annoyance. She'd felt like she'd been moving past that stage though.

It was a relief mostly because Wade had gone full mother hen

Vanessa, sweetheart, you ok in there?

I can hear you yacking and heaving like when Wolvy gets one of his hairballs.

I'm fine, Wade.

Ok... I just... Fuck! OW!

Ouch! Stop stabbing me, Lo! We'll take you to the vet and get some Laxatone. Fucking ow bad kitty!

One thing was certain tonight, Vanessa was board. She hadn't left the condo in about a week to do anything, Wade was out shopping, and Logan hadn't left the office since 9 am. it was now 9 pm... Dermot had an upset stomach. He made the mistake of trying the Satan sauce Wade kept for chimichanga nights, or lunch's in this case. He was warned by her and Wade. But he wanted to be one of the boys...

She texted all 3 of them and let them know she was going to Missy Bs, the drag bar that was just down the street. Dirty Dorothy was hosting shows their again, so Vanessa was double encouraged to go out and alleviate her bordum, she'd get a soda and watch the show. Perhaps be back in time to warm up her dinner and watch whatever Korean drama or old show on streaming that Wade was currently fixated on before going to bed. She did specifically tell Wade not to wait up for her since she knew he'd start cooking the second he got home.

She had stopped by an ATM and got about two hundred dollars in 5 dollar bills, it was customary to tip the drag queens, and being a former exotic dancer herself, Vanessa knew how important it was to be generous with the entertainment. Nothing worse than literally shaking your ass off only to find a G-string full of bills that added up to about 35 buck... and there was always at least one asshole who you had to call the bouncers on because he tried to slip a quarter in there.

Vanessa was actually well off, officially retired. She was serious when she said she'd offer her services as a surrogate as a friend, but not for free. In the midwest, the number of dollars currently in her NBKC account would last her the rest of her natural life and then some... she told Dermot he could retire too. But he liked work. Definitely the kind of guy that if he didn't have a 9 to 5 to go to, he'd disappear into an easy chair and an early grave... Vanessa also suspected he had a little of that toxic masculine pride, cant ask your sugar mama for money. It'd gotten him into trouble, you can't out marksman Wade at the range, You can't out drink Logan and live... and as he recently learned. You can't out hot sauce either of them.

Silly boys *she chuckles to herself*

The ride share had dropped her off at the door. She was a little early for the show. She walked in, got a ginger ale, and quietly thanked god that they didn't allow public smoking indoors in Kansas city.

The show, as expected, was a loud and flamboyant good time. A lot of the queens were aslo funny as fuck on top of being on point with thier costumes. Vanessa didn't leave the show with a single five dollar bill, and to her, it was money well spent.

She headed to the bar to get one last Ginger ale for the road when she was approached by a woman...

Hey pretty lady, can I buy you a cocktail...

Oh, sorry, I'm not drinking tonight. Just getting a Ginger ale...

Oh, cheap date then. She winked as she ordered the soda and a Martini for herself.

I appreciate the drink, but I don't want to lead you on. I'm in a pretty committed relationship...

That's ok. Vanessa... felt disarmed as she said this... it was odd, like for no reason, her defenses were down... and it was ok, sure she'll have the drink.

I'm just out trying to make friends, you know. It can be kinda lonely...

Again, she didn't quit understand, but Vanessa suddenly felt a little lonely and wanted the company.

Vanessa chatted with the lady for a while. She was about to tell her she needed to go home.

If you're hungry, there's this place called Town Topic. Fantastic burgers, been there since the depression or some shit. Open 24 hours... we should go.

Vanessa wanting to tell her that perhaps another time, that she really need to go... but instead she found herself hungry, and agreeing to go with this lady. It was weird... she felt compelled. Next thing she knew she found herself getting in to this lady's car.

Ya know, it's been a long night... why don't you take a little nap... I'll wake you up when we get there

No sooner than it was said.... Vanessa was out like a light, snoring lightly in the passenger seat.

Logan had stepped out of the office. It was getting close to 11pm, long day of brooding, and he worked up an appetite. Wade and Al had eaten already... when he opened the fridge, he noticed two tinfoil covered plates.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end...

Has Vanessa not come home yet.

No penut, she's at the drag show...

Logan looks at the clock... the show ended a while ago, darl'n, I'm gonna text her.

she hadn't been gone that long.... she's a big girl papa, she can stay out past curfew if she wants.

No, it's not like that Wade.... Ive got a bad feeling... something is off.

Logan put his plate back in the fridge and walked to the bedroom. He quickly changed into his black and yellow combat suit. He walked back into the living room.

Peanut, what are you all dressed up for.

I'm going out to find Vanessa... she hasn't responded, I don't like this.

And you couldn't do that in your normal clothes?

I told you. I got a bad feeling, besides blood and Versace don't exactly pair well.

Oh, wrong again, Penut. Blood and Versace is the best paring.

Stay here, call me if she comes back...

Wolverine started at the obvious place, Missy B's. He thanked providence or whatever for trusting his instincts. He'd not been too late this time, Vanessas scent was still fresh and heavy. He was able to lach on to it and follow it out to the parking lot... he'd made his way to an empty spot when the trail lightened slightly... they had obviously taken her in a car...

Unfortunately Logan could not be afforded such luxury. In order to stay on the trail he'd have to be on foot.

thankfully, the fates again had shown favor. It was a still night, not even a lightbreeze. The scent was still fresh if a little less intense. Following his nose without regard for his safety, Wolverine walked out into the middle of southwest traffic way. Was certain that she'd been taken due east, and he bolted down West 39th Street running on all fours, looking like a yellow and black werewolf.

Eventually he found himself in the hyde park neighborhood of Kansas city.

When vanessa came too, her head was throbing, and the fluorescent lighting was not helping. She tried to move but she was shackled to a wall. Standing up right arms open... Wade would call it a T pose.

What Vanessa didn't know is that Cynthia Bragg had been escalating the degree of suffering she caused in her kills, she'd been killing less because she knew Logan was creeping around every corner. So now she economized her victims. Less opportunity meant not letting the one you had go to waste.

Vanessa was gagged... she could breathe, she could scream, but the sound would be so deadened that no one could possibly hear her in this basement... she wasn't scared so much as she was sad at her predicament. She new what would happen when the boys figured out she wasn't coming home... This wasn't Wade fault... but Vanessa knew he'd blame himself... and be devastated... double loss, her and the life that could be that she had inside her.... this was the worst possible end for her short life.

Her captor turned around, almost sensing Vanessa's waking.

Hello again... she smiled like a demon. You and I are going to have some fun... pretty lady...

I'd tell you to not be afraid, but you should... you should be terrified...

This statement didn't net Cynthia the response she'd hoped Vanessa just stared at her defiantly. Vanessa clearly had her wits about her now... not an unexpected circumstance... her powers of suggestion worked better when she could charm someone first. Disarm them.

Cynthia wordlessly presented a box... in it were needles of various gages, conditions, and sharpness... she slowly jammed and jabbed Vanessa up and down her arm, leaving some in, pulling some out. Rivulets of blood formed dripped and flowed. The pain was exquisite, Vanessa groaned but did not scream as she endured the pain of the dull one's ripping through her skin, looking very much the sick caricature of a cartoon Voodoo doll.

Unsatisfied with the results, Cynthia left Vanessa for a second and came back with a ball pein hammer and a gruesome looking masonry cut tempered hardened steel nail. The point of which is not that pointy... the was absolutely going to hurt.

Slowly, methodically, Cynthia slammed the nail into Vanessa's palm, all the while humming Ave Maria. the crucifixion Imagery clearly not lost on her.

Vanessa did not! Would not scream. She wouldn't give this Depraved hearted bitch the satisfaction as her hand was pinned to the wall, crushing nerves, tearing flesh.

Oh, a tough gal i see... we'll just have to up the anti.

She holds up the hammer an Vanessa's eye level and drops hammer on her foot.

Oops... well, since this doesn't seem to be working, we will try something else

Vanessa figured this was the end. Sure that cunt was gonna come back with a Bowie knife and slowly disembowel her.

On the journey of her life, she had a lot of regrets. Also, at the moment, she was in incredible pain. She mourned for herself almost as much as she mourned the fetus inside her.

Wade would be devastated, he'd lose his best friend and his future baby all in one horrid act... these thoughts, the pain... the frustration of being unable to defend herself. She was so sick of being the fucking damsel in distress. She thought... only this time she was going to fucking die. She wasn't going to be saved. She didn't see how. The pain and despair began to consume her.

All of it came to a head, she was in the darkest spot, of the worst day of her life, and that was saying something...

Then suddenly... Her skin flashes blue for a second... she feels... different. Unknown to her until just now... Vanessa had been a mutant in her own right. The stress, worry, and pain of this moment brought it out of dormancy. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew she could transform, shape shift. And not just skin deep like Mystique, she could copy bilogy and abilities.

Well shit, this could have been handy with fucking Francis... she thought to herself... think quick Vanessa how do we use this to get out of here. She wasn't sure how to harness her abilities, but she had to be a quick study if she wanted to live.

What could she be that'd get her out of these shackles and get the nail out of her hand... that's it! That one guy Logan and Wade, always banged when they were in New York. Kevin... (Wade tells her fucking everything) but more importantly she met him once, what was is Xmen name.... fuck it was hard to think clearly with several inches of galvanized steel in your hand.... Morph, she said a small prayer to a god she doubted existed. Keep the baby safe while I do this. She struggles through the pain she concentrates and transforms into a grey skinned being sliding her hand up and off the nail and warping her arms through the shackles quietly.

Cynthia was looking at her toolbox of tourtre devices totally engrossed in her maniacal thoughts, looking for the perfect toy to satisfy her vile lust. She hadn't noticed Vanessa slip free.

Vanessa stealthy as she could carefully picked up the ball-pein hammer that was dropped.

What did Wade always tell her

When you have the opportunity, always go for the headshot.

Cynthia had settled on the end of a frog gig fork and was about to get back to her dark hobby when she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head... and then nothing

Vanessa was spatterd in gore by the time she heard the loud bang from upstairs...

Wolverine had kicked in the door of the house, he'd made his way to the basement to a scene that shocked and immediately relieved him covered in blood holding a hammer dripping in a visceral liquid of brains, blood with a tangle of hair... Vanessa had not stopped when Cynthia hit the ground. The back of her head looked like a grenade went off in it. She turned to Wolverine. Dropped the hammer on the corpse and walked towards Logan...

Ooops *she Sneered*

Vanessa, I'm so sorry... I was late, I... I...

Vanessa grabbed the man dressed in yellow and black and hugged him tightly

It's ok, you're here, Im alive... also, you and Wade never have to worry about being late or saving me again... Vanessa Carlysle can save herself.

She took a step back and held up her arm... it transformed into a familiar looking muscular arm, and *Snikt* three bone claws popped out.

FUCK THAT HURTS! HOW THE FUCK DO YOU DO THAT ALL THE TIME!

Logan chuckles, tell me about it, sister. Looks like you've discovered your gifts...

Why aren't mine metal?

That's a long story I'll tell you later... I'm gonna call Wade.

Not the police....

No.

Logan looked around the room, the blood and gore of the scene was bad... first, the defense for justifiable homicide in self-defense in Missouri requires that you stop after the assailant is stopped/disarmed/disabled. You can't shoot someone in the chest and then go for the headshot after they're already on the ground... you can't pummel a hole in the back of someones head after you've knocked them out. It ceases to be self-defense.

There's a chance Vanessa could be charged with manslaughter at a minimum if the prosecutor was feeling frisky... and Logan, who's had bad feelings all night, had a bad feeling about calling the cops.

Logan was able to pin the address address in his phone and send Wade the address. Craftsman style home in Hyde park much like the ones around it.

He'll be her as soon as a ride share pics him up...

Vanessa trying to not think about her trauma...

Why the fuck do you guys not have a car yet... you're gonna need one when the baby gets here, what if they get a fever and you gotta run to the ER, you gonna wait for a car?

Logan choked back a little emotion as he realized how close he came to losing his best friend, his baby, and probably Wade, who would have never recovered.

We need to... but that's Wade... Missouri counties treat cars as real estate. You have to pay taxes on them annually based on assessed value. He's weirdly libertarian about that one thing. Lord knows he jumps through hoops to keep the IRS paid and off our back.

That is fucking weird...

That's fucking Wade... and we both know what thats like

(Meanwhile, just beyond the vail)

Are they really discussing local tax policy over my corpse...

I've seen weirder scenes.

Who the fuck are you?

Some folks call me Azrael, Yama, Shinigam, La Calavera Catrina, Vanth, Ankou, Anubis, and Osiris... though I have one friend who calls me Lady Death. I'm partial to THE Green Witch lately... she says this as she produces a flower and hands it to Cynthia

Oh... ok, she looks at her closer. I liked your work in Parks and rec by the way

Aubrey Plaza looked like her. Not the other way around, Lady Death had this face for centuries, and it was one of her preferred aspects. She thought this as her charge spoke again.

So... am I going to Hell.

The afterlife is kinda what you make it... or so I've been told. I'm just here to keep you from haunting the place. I've only seen the door and shown people in... speaking of. It's Time Cynthia Bragg.

So God doesn't care?

Oh... I've never met the Architect, the being closest to what you'd call God... and I don't really know what they think about morality or other complex questions that I'm certain you want to ask. but unfortunately, i don't have a lot of the answers and even less time.

Ok, one more question... whay are you being so nice... I was a monster [she said this with suddenly gained post-life clarity]

It's not my job to punish, also as they say. You catch more flies with honey.

Or corpses... files are attracted to corpses.

Indeed, come now. It's really time to go now.

(We return to the full material plane)

Vanessa and Logan had taken the opportunity to go through the house, what they had discovered was shocking and created more problems.... Cynthia was a cop... Logan actually knew her. He hadn't recognized her for obvious reasons when he first walked in... Secondly, in her office, he'd discovered her second pet project beside murder. Him, and Wade... and MFM. She'd been doing her own legs work tying all of them to organized crime, contracts they had agreed to. Interpol reports and illicit weapons purchases...

It killed his soul... but Logan could not report any of this for sure now... this crime scene, this evidence. For their safety, it had to disappear. Wade had walked into the office when he came to this conclusion.

What's up in here, Penut?

We got big problems, Princess. Call Peter... we need the cleaner.

The cleaner was actually an employee of MFM at this point, an anti-forensic expert he could wipe a crime scene...

He was there within the hour, was briefed on the situation, and came up with a game plan... all four of them suited up in hazmat suits he'd brought and proceeded to clean.

Free advice to any would be assassins...

Clean all visible evidence of blood with high concentration peroxide, not bleach. This will destroy all genetic material and clean the area. Secondly, treat the area with sodium percarbonate... this chemical defeats luminol/BlueStar Forensic, the room may be suspicious to the well experienced investor... but investigators have to convenience jurys made up of common folks who expect "CSI" evidence to be presented, and when it's not, the argument fails. Investigators know this. it's how many cases get relegated to the cold case archives.

The body was wrapped and put in Cynthias' car. Both would disappear without a trace. The house was cleaned and wiped of any evidence of anyone ever being there. Logan had found all the evidence against him and Wade and loded it in the cleaner's car. He and Wade would take it to the safe house in Liberty while the cleaner delt with Cynthias car... He also found evidence of Cynthias' own crimes... her trophys... he packed these too.

By the time Cynthia was reported missing, they were all long gone... the house looked spotless, as if nothing was ever out of place yet lived in. Reports from neighbors stated that they had seen her the day prior. They didn't see her drive off that night to go to the bar, and perhaps Cynthia herself had something to do with that, not wantingher neighborsto see when she had "guests"...

To them, it looked like she'd got in her car that night some time after dark drove off and just never came home.

5 days later

Logan called Dal, he'd ask her to come to the house. She arrived an hour later... he met her at the door; escorted her to the office poured her a glass of the best scotch he had on hand, a Sherry Oak 25 Year old Macallan.

He set the glass in front of her...

If you don't like your scotch neat, I can go to the kitchen and get you some ice... though some would call that an insult to the alcohol. I won't judge.

This is fine Logan... she sips the scotch.

Why'd you have me over. You were very insistent...

I solved Maxine's murder... That's the good news..........

That pause is 8 months pregnant buddy. What's the bad news.

You're the only person that can know. The suspect met an end that would implicate someone that's important to me, and frankly, covering it up was the better option... professionally. Dal... Maxines killer was a Cop. She's dead... and will probably be assumed missing. My team will have made it look like she skipped town for unknown reasons...

Your... team... implications... cover ups.

Logan I thought you were a fucking detective.

Fuck... I'll level with you, Dal... I wasn't 100% honest with you when I told you what Wade and I did for a living... I am a licensed private investigator, and on paper, that's what I do... poorly... apparently, I'm a mercenary... a contract killer. That's our bread and butter. The P.I. shit is just a cover. But just once I wanted to do something, I wanted to help...

Dal reach over and opened the Humidor on Logans desk.

May I?

Sure.

She pulled out an Opus X, carefully cut the end off the same way she'd seen Logan do a hundred times, grabbed the small blowtorch like lighter and lit her cigar. Logan went over to the wall and flipped on the rooms air filter system.

Logan... sware on your unborn child's life! the person that killed Maxine is dead, and you're 100 percent sure that was her killer...

Logan walked over to a banker box against the wall and grabbed it.

I went through the house, I found the sick fuckers trophy collection. I found these... Logan pulled out a pair of underwear... genetic evidence suggests they belonged to Maxine (this was bullshit, no lab analysis was done on them, the truth is Logan could still smell Maxine's scent strongly on them. They'd been kept in a plastic zipper bag... but Logan didn't want Dal to think he had the impropriety of a "panty sniffer" today was weird enough she didn't need that.) Maxine's killer is dead and what's left of them is probably at the bottom of the Missouri river.

She took a big swig from he scotch and puffed her cigar.

If we're being honest Logan, for me... it was a job well done. Did maxines killer suffer?

I'm not sure. I couldn't have been pleasant.

Good! Fuck'um! Logan i'll be honest had you brought them in I would have smuggled a gun in to court and shot them myself... I don't know if I was ever interested in justice. Revenge; That I can handle... detective or hitman, though... I hope that pro bono offer still holds up...

Logan chuckles lightly You couldn't afford it if it weren't.

She kissed him on the cheek. Thank you Logan... I'll see you and Wade later... I've got things to do.

Bitter sweet for Logan... he was glad that the results worked for Dal...

But for him, this was one of his biggest failures. Having to cover up Cynthia's death meant a significant number of families would go without the closure that Dal now had.

Had he'd been a moment sooner, he could have saved Vanessa and taken Cynthia Bragg in. Damn the evidence she had on us.

We could have picked up and started somewhere else. Fuck we came here on a whim, why not.

Too late now. He packed all the cold case files, the evidence recovered, took them, and buried them in the deepest part of the storage room.

He was stacking boxing and holding in his emotions, trying not to feel the devastation and failure in his chest... Wade was standing in the door...

After all these years, Peanut... I think i can sense whenever you're not doing good. You want to talk to me about it?

I spent the better part of a year running in to a wall trying to solve this case. To do it the right way! To bring that fucker to justice.

But you did get her...

Vanessa "got" her Wade! I was late!

She's dead, though. She can't hurt anyone else. The city is freed from a killer who terrorizing the community. Not just the community, our friends.

At what cost...

We're soldiers, Wade. You know damn well that Pyrrhic victories don't count for shit!

Logan grabbed Wade, held him close... and did something that shocked Wade... he cried, guilt and failure for once didn't manifest as rage...

Oh... Penut. Im so sorry, I didn't realize it was like that.

I think I'm done solve'n crimes... I should stick to what I'm good at. Killing.

No, babe... don't say that. You've solved murders, found kidnapped children... you've done great things... this... this is just a setback.

It's a big one, Wade. I haven't felt quite like this... well, since I got to this world.

Wade knew what Logan was alluding to.

Tonight, it'd be Wade holding Logan together. Riding the storm of emotion out. He'd do it gladly, anything for the man whom held him together these last 7 years. His rock, his anchor being.

All the cold case files tied to Cynthia Bragg, knowing he couldn't bring peace to those families. He put them in a box and placed them as far back in the storage room as he could.

Epilogue:

Late July, Friday night, 18th and Vine... the jazz district of Kansas City... Logan and Wade dressed in suits of a color more muted than Wade normally would have worn black with pinstripe and slate grey, respectively. They walked into the Blue Room Jazz club, and following behind them was Dermot in a Tuxido, the only suit he had brought with him from New York and Vanessa who was in a black sequined dress tight but classy it had a plunging neck line accented with a necklace.

The platnum chain was set with white diamond, rubys, and citrine. The pendant was a large Tanzanite in brilliant cut about the size of a half dollar. It flashed blue or purple depending on how you looked at it. It was a gift from the boys to express gratitude for the greatest gift Vanessa had given them... a son. James was born on July first, a happy health baby boy.

They'd all been obsessed with the child and his care. Wade was a dutiful father unafraid of soiled diapers or the spit up that occasionally happened when he fed the boy... however, that morning at breakfast, Althea had enough.

Listen fuckers! It's time for a family meeting. You dumb bastards are going out tonight, and I don't wanna hear any guff. I'm a blind woman but I can cook and care for myself so I can handle a fucking baby for a few hours. None of yall have left this house in almost a month and I'm fucking sick of hearing you! So figure out where the fuck your going because come 8 o clock better not be a fucking one of you in this house!

Althea was salty but they agreed she was right. They settled in to there table ordered cocktails and waited for the show.

So Ness, since you've had an opportunity to flex your powers a little more, are you gonna go back to New York and join the X-men [cough] dorks [cough]

Logan elbowed Wade in the ribs. Are you calling me a dork bub?

Of course not sweetheart sides you ain't an Xman anymore.

Vanessa laughing. No, I don't think I'll be joining that club... besides, can you imagine me on a mission and Scott calling me by some goofy code name... like what Copycat? Because I can copy people?

I suppose all the good names are taken

Right!? No, I don't think I'll be doing that. Besides, we got a little announcement... Dermot and I aren't going back to New York. We've decided to stay here.

Oh, that's fantastic! Lo you here that? We're going to save so much money on jet fuel!

I'm happy to hear it.

We've actually already done some house hunting online. We're gonna go to some open houses in Liberty and Blue Springs next week. If we like what we see, we'll make an offer.

Well, I will say it's been great having you and Dermot as roommates. I'm thrilled you won't be far.

Let us know if you need help with anything.

And the night wore on. The friends discussed future plans, he drinks came. They tosted to new beginnings and the company of good friends.

The show started, and the music played, and the credits roll.

The End

[garvet]

Evacuation alarms had been blaring every ten minutes since morning, driving everyone insane. The takeover threat had everyone packing up and frantically hauling essentials to the cargo lifts for shipment to the production dock above. It was the perfect time to “lose” or steal something valuable in the chaos, which made the supervisors the most nervous of all. SecUnit had already had to punish several workers for attempted looting—two non-lethally and one lethally as a demonstration. The first two were carried away, while the last was left as a warning to other looters, lying in front of the sealed warehouse under SecUnit’s watchful stance. It had been ordered to guard the warehouse no matter what.

Of course, SecUnit had tried to remind the humans that wasting resources this way was detrimental to the company and that deploying equipment like it for evacuation support would be far more efficient. But Supervisor Bethane had been adamant. Likely, she wasn’t capable of rational thought after yesterday’s management party and the constant alarms blaring. So, the most valuable assets were evacuated first, while everything less critical was locked in the warehouse. Then, personnel was ushered out in an orderly fashion.

SecUnit tracked the security system’s reports on the movements of the final group of SecUnits and personnel. The other SecUnits sent it sympathetic, concerned pings, but there was nothing they could do either. Supervisor Bethane had simply forgotten about it. One of the units even sent it an image of her dozing in a shuttle seat, waiting for departure. She’d removed her interface and covered her ears with noise-canceling headgear to block out the alarms. So, any hope of someone remembering it was futile. SecUnit turned off the evacuation feed. It didn’t want to count the minutes and seconds or watch the shuttles and cargo transports depart for the station.

The governor module would automatically notify it when the evacuation was complete. Better not to think about it.

Not thinking wasn’t working well. So it just kept pinging the SecSystem and the other SecUnits until the connection with them went silent.

It was alone.

Then it immediately received a warning about exceeding the permissible distance from a client. The only available client lay at its feet and had cooled off a few minutes ago. SecUnit could do nothing about this. It couldn’t even allow itself to be decommissioned while on patrol.

This was exactly how it had imagined its end—not in combat with other SecUnits during a hot takeover, not while saving a client. Just uselessly standing on guard of a stupid locked warehouse in an abandoned facility, over the corpse of an executed client.

The governor module worked flawlessly. Heat, generated by SecUnit’s entire frame, began to rise smoothly but rapidly. Normally, the unit controlled these systems itself. But in cases of emergency unit destruction, safety limits were disabled, and the temperature spiked toward meltdown. SecUnit hoped it would stop perceiving all of this before it actually started to melt.

Its consciousness was filled with error messages. Pain sensors no longer obeyed it, nor did anything else. So, all it could do was go insane from the pain and hope the thermal relay finished its job quickly.

Then, the heat began to subside.

After a brief reboot, SecUnit observed the following:

1 Some of its armor had been removed.

2 It was covered in coolant, the kind used to douse overheating equipment.

3 A living client was crouching next to it.

No, the corpse was still a corpse. This was another client, one of the most problematic ones, judging by the tags appearing in its quickly recovering systems.

“Looks like it’s a bit hot here,” remarked G53U, setting down a coolant canister. “Forgot my glasses and came back for them. Great violation  eh?”

SecUnit stood. It needed a cubicle badly. But until the supervisor’s orders were rescinded, it couldn’t leave its post. And it badly needed to address this violation. G53U’s presence here should have been classified as an attempted theft. SecUnit was doing everything it could to convince the SecSystem that G53U had likely been left behind in the chaos. But the SecSystem provided it with data on G53U’s recent movements. The client had been in the dock, checked the cargo module loaded with equipment and SecUnits, received information about the forgotten Unit from the SecUnits in cargo, went to the supervisor’s shuttle, which had already departed, then hid behind the dock vending machine. After the ships departed, G53U hacked the lift and dock security systems and descended to the facility.

Company property damage and attempted theft (the coolant canister still sat next to G53U as undeniable evidence).

SecUnit raised its arm and activated its energy weapon. It sincerely hoped the weapon system had been damaged by the governor module. But no, it was fully intact. If it had been broken, it would have had to snap G53U’s neck instead of making this quick and clean.

And now it will be left alone again.

“Oh, come on,” said G53U, looking at the gun aimed at him. “Just arrest me, beat me up, or hit me with a shocker. I told you, I came back for my glasses. I need them after re-augmentation until everything settles in. You can check with the med system.”

SecUnit sent a query to the med system and lowered the arm.

“You could just arrest me until they get back,” G53U suggested. “They’ll be on the station for five hours at least, not even unloading. It’s an evacuation drill, the bonding company requires them to do this fucking circus every year.”

SecUnit knew that. It even approved of such drills, but the way this one had gone irritated it.

“G53U, you are under arrest for violating evacuation procedures and damaging company property,” it announced.

“Yeah, sure,” agreed G53U, dragging the corpse aside. “Guard me, and I’ll sit here reading scientific articles under your supervision. You can make sure I don’t watch porn on the job, okay?”

G53U opened a feed channel for them two and sat down at its feet to read articles.

SecUnit didn’t object. The articles were interesting, and it hoped the humans wouldn’t be in a rush to return from the station.

[clean-bubbles-aka-bubbles]

Bamboozling a Bamboozler

Mark and Cesar stared through the glass doors, realizing that Bubbles had just sacrificed her chance to escape with them to potentially trap the Perpetrator inside. Mark pounded his fist against the transparent glass of the automatic door, frustration and worry etching his face.

"Bubbles, you don't have to do this alone!" he shouted, though the glass muffled his voice.

Cesar grabbed Mark's shoulder, gently pulling him back. "She made her choice, mi amigo. We have to trust her. She knows what she's doing."

Inside the hospital, Bubbles took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. She knew the layout well enough by now, having navigated the dark hallways under duress. Her plan was straightforward but risky: lead the Perpetrator into a glue trap on the place's roof. 

Since she was alone, she could use her magic freely as she wanted to… as long as it was not a powerful spell that would destroy the place since she would’ve lost control of her abilities without her headphones with its missing antenna. 

She quickly summoned a pail of transparent industrial glue and used a fire spell from her hand to heat it so it wouldn’t harden.

Once she had the glue ready, Bubbles began making her way to the roof, her footsteps echoing through the now eerily quiet hospital corridors. The silence was punctuated only by the distant, muffled thuds of the Perpetrator as it struggled to free itself from the impalement. Knowing time was of the essence, Bubbles moved swiftly but cautiously, aware that any noise might draw the creature to her prematurely. She used the blood from her wound and dragged it across the hospital floor. 

Knowing the Perpetrator was clever, she needed to stay on guard. But as she reached the roof stairwell, she paused, listening intently. The sounds from the Perpetrator had stopped. Either it had freed itself or was lying in wait. 

“Bubbles!” Cesar’s voice echoed in the halls.

“Clean Bubbles… what are you doing?” Mark’s faint voice echoed in the hall.

She flinched. Did Mark and Cesar find a way to break in, or was it a trick?

It has only been at least 10 minutes.

Bubbles paused at the base of the stairwell, straining her ears. The voice calling her name sounded authentic, with genuine concern and urgency that only her friends could muster. Yet, in the depths of the hospital, with a creature known for its deceitful abilities, trusting even the most familiar sounds was risky.

She took a deep breath, making a decision. "Stay out! It's a trap!" she called back firmly, hoping her friends would hear and understand her warning. Whether it was Mark and Cesar or a deception by the Perpetrator, she couldn't risk leading the danger back to them.

With her mind set, Bubbles continued up the stairwell, gripping the pail of heated glue tightly. Her footsteps were soft but deliberate as she ascended towards the roof. The cool night air greeted her as she pushed open the door to the rooftop, her eyes scanning for any signs of the creature.

The rooftop was bathed in the moon's light, creating long shadows among the ventilation units and satellite dishes. It was the perfect place for an ambush—open yet filled with enough obstructions to provide cover. Bubbles set the pail down carefully and started spreading the glue across a strategic roof section near the access door. She planned to lure the Perpetrator into the sticky trap, giving her enough time to either incapacitate it further or retreat.

Pouring the heated glue, she made it look like a transparent puddle in a large circular pattern. The muffled sounds of movement below hinted that the creature might have extricated itself and was now pursuing her. She worked faster, spreading a generous layer of glue. Satisfied with her handiwork, Bubbles stepped back, hiding behind one of the conditioning units.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited, the silence now starkly contrasting with the chaos of just minutes before. She could feel the Perpetrator's presence; it was close, its malevolent intent almost palpable in the cold air.

Then, as expected, the heavy door to the rooftop creaked open. Bubbles peered around the unit, watching as the dark form of the Perpetrator stepped out onto the roof, its movements cautious yet filled with a brutal purpose.

It paused, sniffing the air, its grotesque face twisting as it sensed her nearby. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Its voice was glitchy like a film buffering, and its heavy footsteps searched the roof. 

The Alternate crept forward, its distorted voice echoing in the cool night air. Bubbles held her breath behind the air conditioning unit, watching the creature through a narrow gap. She could see it scanning the rooftop, its hideous, uncanny cartoonish eyes searching intently for any sign of movement. She needed her trap to work because she couldn’t use her magic. Otherwise, it would reveal her identity as the Celestial Artisan.

As it moved closer to the center of the roof, towards the glue trap she had prepared, Bubbles tightened her grip on a makeshift weapon she'd crafted from debris found on the rooftop—a sharp, jagged piece of metal that had broken off from one of the satellite dishes. Her plan was simple: once the glue immobilized the Perpetrator, she would leave it there and return to her friends, leaving it stuck.

The creature stepped closer, its feet just inches from the edge of the glue trap. Bubbles waited, every muscle tensed for action. The Perpetrator paused, a sudden wariness overtaking its posture as if it sensed something amiss.

.

.

*FWISH!*

*THUD!*

.

.

With a swift, unexpected movement, the Perpetrator leaped back, avoiding the glue. It landed right behind Bubbles, its tall form towering over her. "Clever girl," it hissed, its voice dripping with malice. "But not clever enough."

Bubbles gasped, the cold edge of fear slicing through her as she realized her trap had failed. The Perpetrator stood menacingly close, its eyes gleaming with a sinister light. She had underestimated its ability to perceive danger, a miscalculation that could cost her dearly.

The girl swung her makeshift weapon without hesitating, aiming for the Perpetrator's head. The metal shard whistled through the air, but the creature was quick, its reflexes sharp. It caught her wrist mid-swing, its grip iron-tight, causing her to wince in pain.

“You think this is enough to stop me?” the Perpetrator sneered, twisting her arm painfully. “You’re alone, and you’ve just used up your last advantage.”

The teen gritted her teeth, pain shooting through her arm. She knew she had to keep it distracted if she had any chance of escaping. “I’m never alone,” she spat defiantly. "But I choose to fight this battle alone—""

.

.

*FWIP!*

*SQUEEZE!*

.

.

URRK!! She coughed as she felt its tail curling around her throat, cutting her off.

Panic rose within Bubbles as the tail tightened, its vice-like grip constricting her breath. Desperation flickered in her eyes as she struggled against the powerful constriction, her hands clawing at the alien appendage. Her mind raced, seeking any possible escape from the dangerous hold.

"You see," the Perpetrator taunted, its face looming close, a grotesque smile curling its lips, "your friends can't help you now. You chose to face me alone."

Gasping for air, Bubbles felt the darkness creeping at the edges of her vision. Yet, within her, a spark of defiance still burned. Summoning what strength remained, she managed a weak smile. "Then... you're not… paying attention," she rasped, her voice barely audible.

Confusion flickered across the Perpetrator's features, its grip loosening momentarily in curiosity. That slight hesitation was all Bubbles needed. 

With her free hand, she reached into her pocket, fingers grasping at the last of her crafted tools—a small, homemade flashbang she had prepared earlier from hospital supplies. She knew the risk of using such a device in close quarters, especially given her precarious position, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

.

.

*Clink!*

.

.

With a swift movement, she pulled the pin and shoved the flashbang directly beneath the creature's jaw, pushing against its grip to create just enough space. "Bright lights might not hurt you, but let's see how you handle a surprise," she gasped, the words raspy through constricted breaths.

.

.

*BANG!!*

.

.

The flashbang detonated with a loud bang and a brilliant flash of light. The sudden noise and light stunned the Perpetrator, its senses overwhelmed. Its grip loosened momentarily, giving Bubbles the split second she needed. She wrenched free, gasping for air as she scrambled away, distancing herself from the dazed creature.

The Perpetrator shook its head, trying to clear the disorientation. It snarled, eyes narrowing as it refocused on Bubbles, who was now several feet away, breathing heavily but ready for another round.

"Still think I'm alone?" Bubbles taunted, drawing the creature's attention. She knew she had to keep it engaged and angry, her mind racing to figure out another way to exploit its weaknesses.

The creature lunged faster than before, forming a motion blur. Bubbles rolled aside, barely avoiding a deadly swipe. She knew she couldn't keep dodging forever. She needed to end this now.

Spying the glue trap she had prepared earlier, Bubbles had an idea. She led the Perpetrator on a precarious dance around the rooftop, edging closer to the trap with each pass. Fueled by rage, the creature followed blindly, focusing on capturing her.

As they neared the trap, Bubbles feinted a stumble, baiting the Perpetrator into a pounce. At the last moment, she dove away, and the creature, too committed to its trajectory, landed squarely in the middle of the sticky glue.

.

.

*SPLAT!*

.

.

The glue did its job. The Perpetrator struggled, its movements sluggish as the adhesive began to set. Panting from exertion and relief, Bubbles watched as the creature tried to free itself, its efforts growing feeble.

"I may be on my right now," Bubbles said, stepping back to catch her breath, "but I'm never truly alone. And you," she pointed at the creature, "underestimated what one determined human can do."

The creature glared at her, its eyes filled with malice, but its body was trapped. Bubbles didn't wait to see if it could free itself. She used this opportunity to retreat, heading back to the hospital stairwell. She knew Mark and Cesar were waiting, and every second she delayed increased their risk. 

The girl had five minutes to return to them or collapse from blood loss. She could heal her wound if she wanted to, but that would stir suspicions because fighting and trapping an Alternate unscathed is logically impossible.

“You… mortal,” the Perpetrator spat, a tinge of respect in its voice. “You’re not like the other humans, are you?You’re a fighter, always putting yourself on the line and knowing what to do. You cleverly planned a trap for me and always have weapons of surprise up your sleeve. Typically, most mortals would scream and run away in fear. But you… girly, your presence seems to influence.”

She stopped in her tracks, stopping at the doorframe between the hospital and the rooftop. “Why…” she coughed. "Why does that matter to you?”

The Perpetrator’s form shimmered as it struggled against the glue, its voice modulating between anger and curiosity. "Because," it rasped, "you defy the usual patterns. You don't succumb to fear like the others. It's... intriguing."

Bubbles, her breath shallow from the exertion and pain, leaned against the doorframe for support. The night wind chilled her sweat-damp skin, but her mind was focused, sharp. "Maybe," she replied, her voice steady despite the weariness tugging at her limbs, "that's because I've seen things you can't imagine. And faced fears you wouldn't understand."

The creature paused, its movements ceasing as it considered her words. A low, grudging chuckle escaped its form. "Perhaps. Or perhaps you are more than you seem, human."

Glancing back at the trapped Perpetrator, Bubbles knew she couldn’t linger. Every second spent was a risk not just to her safety but to Mark and Cesar’s as well. 

Yet, she couldn't help but respond, her tone a mix of defiance and weariness. "I'm exactly what I need to be to survive. And to protect what matters."

“You’re just like the Celestial Artisan, aren’t you?" It replied as she quietly stiffened at the mention. “Always putting their life on the line 24/7 to save a single soul from everyone. They have always been able to outwit Alternates–getting a scratch, a two, or none–and eliminate them. Otherwise, the Celestial Artisan would have to improvise with its… attack. And you here, human, are possessing some similar… skills.”

"I'm not the Celestial Artisan." She shook her head. "What... makes you think I am her?"

The Perpetrator chuckled darkly, its form pulsating within the confines of the glue trap. "You have the same determination, the same cunning, the same... disregard for your well-being," it rasped. "And besides, who else but the Celestial Artisan could pose such a threat to us?"

Bubbles tensed, her mind racing as she considered the implications of the creature's words. The Celestial Artisan was a legendary figure, revered for their ability to thwart the Alternates' plans repeatedly. But they were also shrouded in mystery, their true identity unknown to all but her.

I'm not her,"" Bubbles repeated, her voice firm despite the uncertainty gnawing at her. "I'm just... someone trying to make a difference. Someone who refuses to let creatures like you terrorize innocent people."

The Perpetrator's eyes narrowed, its gaze piercing as it studied her. "Perhaps," it mused, "but you have the same spark and fire in your eyes. And that, my dear, is what makes you dangerous. You’re like her, and you act like her.”

The teen froze momentarily at the creature's insinuation. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest, her mind racing with the implications of its words. She knew any slip could confirm the creature's suspicions, potentially exposing her true identity and jeopardizing everything she had worked to protect. Her gaze hardened, and she steadied her breathing, maintaining a façade of calm.

"I'm not whoever you think I am," she replied curtly, her voice firm. "But I learn from the best."

"Indeed, you do. But remember, girly, no one can hide their true nature forever. It always comes to light." The Perpetrator chuckled, mixing mockery with a hint of admiration. “But tell me, do you sometimes feel you’re not human in some moments? After all, everyone seems to get intrusive thoughts at some point. Am I right?”

She seemed to pause once more, contemplating her thought. Sure, she was human. But she was a human with superpowers–making her the Celestial Artisan. But… can humans with superpowers be classified as humans at all? Or are they just people who were mutated with insane abilities?

Has she been working so hard that she’s beginning to lose her humanity?

As she pondered the complexities of her identity and the broader implications of being human with supernatural abilities, she realized the Perpetrator was not only challenging her physically but was also provoking a psychological duel. It sought to undermine her confidence, to make her question her essence and purpose.

"I'm human enough to care, and that's what counts," she finally replied, her voice steady despite the turmoil inside her. She had always found solace in the gray areas of her identity—between being a savior and just another soul striving to make sense of her chaotic reality. "And my thoughts, intrusive or not, are my own. They don't define me, nor do they control me."

The Perpetrator snorted, its form still struggling against the sticky confines of the glue trap. "So righteous, yet so secretive. You're an interesting puzzle, human. A puzzle I'm sure we'll solve soon enough."

Bubbles felt a chill that wasn't from the night air. The creature's words were a reminder of the constant danger lurking, always ready to strike. But now was not the time for fear. She needed to act to ensure her friends' safety and her escape.

"Keep guessing," she shot back sharply. "You'll find that I'm full of surprises." She couldn't afford to engage further, not when every moment spent here was a moment in which the Perpetrator could gather more about her. However, it kept talking, and if she left, it would only confirm the Alternate’s suspicion.

The creature that seemed to pose as a more monstrous parody of Cesar let out an amused, gravelly laughter echoing off the roof. "So philosophical, yet so naïve. You think you control them, but in the heat of battle, in the depths of fear, who holds the reins?"

She clenched her fists, feeling the sting of the creature's words. They were meant to disorient and provoke doubt, but she knew her strength lay in her resolve and her ability to adapt and persevere.

"Enough games," she said sharply. "You're trapped here, and I must ensure you stay that way. My friends are waiting for me."

The Perpetrator's form shifted within the glue, its movements sluggish as it tried to free itself. "Your friends... yes, the bonds you think protect you can also bind you, make you vulnerable.Remember, Bubbles, every strength has its shadow."

Turning away from the creature, Bubbles began her retreat towards the stairwell. She knew it was right about one thing—her connections made her vulnerable. But they also gave her something to fight for, a reason to push forward despite the odds.

Reaching the ground floor, she navigated through the dimly lit corridors, using her intimate knowledge of the hospital's layout to avoid potential hazards. Her side throbbed with pain from the earlier encounter, a stark reminder of the night’s brutal realities.

She reached a ‘Staff Only’ door. She opened it and walked outside before walking around the exterior of the building. As she rounded the corner, she saw Mark and Cesar waiting anxiously. Their faces, lit by the flickering light of an overhead bulb, registered relief and concern as they took in her battered appearance.

Without a word, they moved towards her, their expressions asking all the questions their lips didn't.

"Are you okay?" Mark asked, stepping forward to support her as she leaned heavily against him. “You’re bleeding.”

"I'm fine," she assured them, managing a weak smile. "The Perpetrator is stuck on the roof, trapped in glue. It won't bother us for a while."

Cesar looked past her, his expression still tense. "We heard everything. That thing... It knew a lot about the Celestial Artisan. How can it be so informed?"

Bubbles paused, considering how much to reveal. She knew her friends deserved the truth, but how much should she share? The risks were high, and the implications of her full disclosure could alter everything.

But she simply shrugged, her gaze drifting away momentarily as she considered how much to reveal. "Alternates talk, just like people do. They observe and learn; this one has been around long enough to pick up a few things."

Mark nodded, though his brow furrowed with unresolved questions. "But how did you manage to set all that up? The trap, the escape... It's like you've done this before."

There was a moment of heavy silence as Bubbles carefully considered her following words. "Let's just say I've had a lot of practice with sticky situations," she quipped, hoping to lighten the mood. Her friends chuckled, though the underlying tension remained palpable.

"We should get out of here," Cesar suggested, glancing around the dim hallway. "Before it frees itself or others show up."

Bubbles agreed with a grunt. "I heard you and Mark own a cabin in the woods." She chuckled.

“Yeah, we do.” Cesar smiled with pride. 

“We can go there and rest for the night until we can figure out how to stop these Alternates.” The brown-haired male nodded.

“But I thought physical attacks don’t work?” The Hispanic male raised an eyebrow.

“The Celestial Artisan can harm them with her magic,” his friend remarked. “And Clean Bubbles happens to study her personally.” He looked at her with a confident grin. The female teen felt slight amusement that they didn’t know that she was the Celestial Artisan, but she knew she had to keep it a secret. 

“What!? How?” His friend looked bewildered as he looked at the girl.

She gulped, ready to tell another lie to mask her secret. “I’ve been observing the Celestial Artisan for quite some time… When she first appeared in the newspaper, I got intrigued.” A soft sigh left her lips, her heart quietly becoming heavy and light at the same time.

“I started to observe and record through the camera to see how she combated. Pretty sure enough, she dropped a piece of paper." She reached into her pocket.

"It turns out she's got these magical sigil cards that appear to have a different effect or spell when cast.” She held up one of her small square-shaped cards with a circle and symbol in the center.

As she explained her fabricated story, the boys listened intently, nodding along with her words. Her explanation seemed plausible enough to them, given the mysterious nature of the Celestial Artisan's abilities. They exchanged glances, silently acknowledging the gravity of the situation they found themselves in.

"Wow, that's... pretty incredible," Mark said, his tone filled with awe. "So, you've been studying her methods to figure out how to combat these Alternates?"

Bubbles nodded, tucking the sigil card back into her pocket. "Yeah, exactly. I've been trying to piece together whatever information I can find to help us fight back. And so far, it seems like these sigil cards might hold the key to defeating them."

Cesar's expression turned thoughtful. "But how do we use them? Do you need special training or something?"

Bubbles hesitated, knowing she couldn't reveal the truth about her own abilities. 

But the worst part is that she–the Celestial Artisan–could only use the spells if they were in her presence. However, she wasn’t confident that the spell activation would work for people with no magical abilities. Sure, she could create cards that could work for humans, but if it didn’t work for the boys or any other people, then they’re entirely screwed.

She was threading a dangerous line, providing hope while knowing she might not be able to deliver on its full promise. “Um… how about I get patched up before I die from blood loss, and we can talk about this in the cabin?” She suggested, fear fluttering in her stomach. 

Mark and Cesar nodded in agreement, realizing the urgency of getting Bubbles medical attention. They knew they had a lot to discuss, but her health was the priority for now.

"Right, let's get you patched up," Mark said, offering Bubbles his arm for support.

Together, the trio made their way out of the hospital, cautiously scanning their surroundings for any sign of danger. The night air was cool against their skin, a welcome relief from the oppressive atmosphere of the hospital.

As they reached the parking lot, Bubbles winced as she felt another wave of pain shoot through her side. She leaned heavily on Mark, grateful for his support. Cesar hurried ahead to retrieve their car, a sense of urgency driving him forward.

Once inside the vehicle, they wasted no time in stopping the bleeding on her side. They were going to clean the wound once they got to the cabin. The journey was silent, each lost in their own thoughts and concerns. Bubbles sat in the backseat, her mind swirling with a mixture of pain, exhaustion, and uncertainty. She was drowning under the pressure and burdens she had been carrying. 

But after all, this was the consequence of having extreme power.

[waluigis-biggest-fan]

So I wanted to explain some stuff for a friend who's not into Battletech so that he knows what I'm talking about.

Timeline

Pre-Star League

humanity expands out to form the Inner Sphere (basically the closest planets to Earth which is called Terra because sci-fi story) and the periphery (planets further than the Inner Sphere). Then humanity had a big war, like we do, and formed the Star League.

Star League (2570-2780)

Humanity forms space United Nations but this United Nations has an emperor and 5 great houses, namely House Steiner, House Merik, House Davion, House Kurita, and House Liao (we'll get to them in a second). It was all Star Trek and happiness (except for the fucks at House Kurita who kept trying to samurai duel people with mechs to the point there was an elite organization called the Gunslinger Program specifically trained for dealing with their bullshit). Then this fucker Ameris came along and tried to take it all over. This not fucker called Karensky kicked his ass then took all the Star League Defense Forces (space UN peacekeepers) and fucked off beyond the periphery where nobody heard about them for hundreds of years.

Succession Wars (2781-3049)

Ok so now we get to the most commonly used era in Battletech, the Succession Wars. Basically, every House wanted to create a new Star League with themselves as the leader. This is followed by two centuries of warfare encouraged by the fucks at Comstar (we'll get to them too don't you worry your pretty little head).

Clan Invasion (3050-3061)

OH HEY SO YOU REMEMBER KARENSKY AND HIS FUCKERS!?! So they came back but now they're a warrior cult based around fighting in Battlemechs. Whereas the rest of the galaxy was involved in war that destroyed all their tech production bases, the Clans were having a technological renaissance so their shit is better than the Inner Sphere shit. They fight a lot and kill a lot until eventually Comstar challenges them to a Batchal (their version of a duel but on a planetary scale with multiple armies involved). The clans all sent basically 2/3rds of their entire armies to fight Comstar...

and Comstar kicked their fucking asses.

The general who Comstar chose to do so was named Focht and that's exactly what he told the Clans to get. They retreated and could no longer threaten the newly reforged Star League.

Civil War (3062-3067)

So now the newly reforged Star League immediately started infighting and destroying itself. Go figure.

Jihad (3068-3080)

The Word of Blake, a religious cult offshoot of Comstar, starts jihading everybody after Star League 2: Electric Boogaloo falls apart.

Dark Age (3081-3150)

Nobody liked this era and it doesn't matter. Basically, the internet shut down and everyone lost their minds.

IlClan (3151-Present)

(Credit to KingsofWinter on Deviantart for the map)

The Clans form a massive big clan called the IlClan (pronounced ill-clan) who conquer Terra and form a new Star League but with tech-fetishism and batchals.

Everyone is still fighting.

The Big Factions

There are a couple big factions with a lot of lore to them so I'll get the main ones out of the way just so you know them.

House Steiner (Lyran Commonwealth)

Germans with attitude and no sense of stealth. Basically just take the biggest mechs possible and throw them at the enemy.

House Merik (Free Worlds League)

'Murica fuck yeah.

House Kurita (Draconis Combine)

You know japan? Its that but in space.

House Davion (Federated Suns)

Also 'Murica fuck yeah but with a more knightly aesthetic.

House Liao (Capellan Confederation)

China plus Soviet Russia.

Comstar

A cult that runs all the faster than light telephones. They basically stop technology from progressing and keep everyone at war with stealth operations. They also control Terra and nowhere else. Their plan is basically to blast humanity back to the stone age then everyone will have to follow their cult's teachings. Fun stuff.

Terms and Definitions

Battlemech: Just a mech designed to fight.

Autocannon (AC): An automatic canon. The higher the number after it, the bigger the rounds it fires.

Particle Projector Cannon (PPC): It takes a particle and accelerates it massively. Its the worst weapon you can get hit by in Battletech short of a Gauss Rifle or a Heavy PPC.

Extra Range (ER): Some weapons have extra range variants. It does what it says on the tin.

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums of 2024: #9 - 'C, XOXO' by Camila Cabello

After three solo albums of solid Latin pop, C, XOXO represented a distinct about-turn for Camila. While the advance promo was all about her embracing hyperpop, a boast sort of delivered on by the wonderful and frankly deranged lead single “I Luv It”, the truth is often a bit more complicated: roughly half of the ten full length songs here would not have sounded out of place on her earlier records and, even within the more altpop material, some of these songs are more off the wall than others. But what it does feel like is something akin to what U2 tried on Achtung Baby: an attempt to harness a kind of cool that isn’t automatically available for the asking. This was something that she soon found out: the press backlash was often vicious, with reviews taking a “how dare she?!” line full of heavy handed authenticity policing. 

Which is a shame, because for those who actually stopped to listen, C, XOXO has got plenty going for it. Rosalía collaborator El Guincho unites with Jasper Harris (Lil Nas X, Tate McRae) behind the desk and it’s hard not to look at them as a team seeking to balance approaches: El Guincho is most obviously in the ascendency on “I Luv It”, but the likes of gorgeously off-kilter ballad "Chanel No 5" and the snappy, minimalist banger “He Knows” bear his mark too: lowkey, deeply unusual but also bracingly melodic. Elsewhere, one assumes that Harris had the upper hand for the more old style Camila material, such as The Dream referencing summer bop "DREAM-GIRLS" (spot the reference!) and the spectacularly ill timed (tho surprisingly enjoyable) Drake collab "Hot Uptown". 

Camila herself ofc is a key player too, fully in charge as chief songwriter for the first time and truly stepping up on the twitching, soaring "Chanel No 5" and the chatty acoustic melodrama of "Twentysomethings". However, she can sometimes sound a bit stretched - "Dade Country Dreaming" in particular is withdrawn enough musically to leave her verse feeling a little exposed, tho luckily guest stars JT and Yung Miami are on hand to steal the show with terrifically bratty performances. Lyrically she takes a hip hop influenced approach at times, drifting into stream of consciousness flows which mostly sound great but can just occasionally fall a bit flat. Tbh I don’t really mind too much - this is Camila after all, I’m not expecting Shakespeare, and i like the sense of her reaching beyond her grasp - but one wonders if a more collaborative approach might have helped from time to time.

The tendency to hedge bets between the two styles feels telling - commercial concerns doubtless came into play - and also speaks to another slight weakness: both sets of material are largely great but it leaves the album feeling a bit messy and unfocused, something added to by the frequent interludes which bring little of any value. The more unusual songs are also too front loaded, meaning that by the time the second half comes around, the early shock and awe has started to fade a little. But this is fairly minor stuff all things considered: the music on C, XOXO is generally very strong. A flop it might have been but it's clear that she needed fresh thinking and, if she can hold her place in this new lane with a bit more confidence, the Camila Cabello show might have a third act in it yet.

[motsimages]

The episode in Star Trek TNG where they find some aliens that nobody has been able to communicate with is an excellent example of how IA, automatic translation, etc. are a poor solution when it comes to interpreting, interpersonal and multicultural communication.

The universal translator does, generally speaking, an excellent job at deducing how a language that nobody has ever heard or seen before works (for the sake of the episode, not because it is as easy to do that, but technobabble and it works). Obviously, it doesn't do wonders and this episode, Dormak, shows why.

It managed to deduce vocabulary. It didn't deduced culture. It didn't even deduced grammar or syntax. The way those people speak, according to the UT, barely has verbs. They don't have real sentences. Is it how they usually work OR is is them trying to simplify their speech to, what they consider, the most basic units so that they are understood?

I interpret at an NGO and the workers of the NGO tend to speak in short sentences and not conjugate verbs when speaking to the refugees they're helping. Just so you know if you see yourself ever speaking with a learner of your language at a very basic level: NEVER do this. Make simple sentences, yes, but not artificial sentences. Use conjugated verbs.

Back to the episode, the UT does more harm than good in that what it says in English is meaningless to the English speakers. Excellent job in deducing some vocabulary of a language it never encountered before, excellent job in deducing some words were untranslatable names, very poor job in translating.

In that episode, humans managed to find referents from a certain planet, apparently unrelated to these aliens, which is probably from where the UT could established that those were names. So that planet's mythology could be a basis for xenolinguists to start understanding and translating these aliens. There is more vocabulary and grammar to get from there.

Or it could be that they were saying something else and the UT couldn't translate that (again, for the sake of the episode and how it works, it cannot be this option).

But more importantly: the Tamarians ARE making a real effort at communication. They use gestures, they repeat once and again what they are saying. They make more of an effort, at all times, to communicate and share with other aliens they find to the point that they force Picard into a situation just to show what they were saying.

The humans, on their side, try absolutely nothing. Where the Tamarians say 5 words and gesture, Picard replies with long sentences, technical words, and no physical gestures at all. Picard is constantly rigid and in any case, all of the humans decide that these aliens are a danger by default. That's how humans go into a first contact: assuming the worst first. I am surprised they have achieved anything at all and I perfectly understand Vulcans in Enterprise always supervising them.

In any case, neither Starfleet nor the Tamarians seem to have a protocol of first contact that actually works. None of them have stopped for a moment to think of how could they communicate with people they just met that have a completely different culture, despite encountering other races frequently. They trust their UT blindly, and they shouldn't.

The universal translator doesn't work and they don't either. Guys, this is why you can't relay on technology for communication. It is a tool, but there are many others. Never trust technology blindly.

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Fictional Throwdown Friday!

This Week's Fighters...

Saron vs Tom Hansen!

Conditions:

No Restrictions

Scenario:

Saron has finally returned with his vampire army ready to take over the world. The government sends Tom Hansen to stop him.

Analysis: Hansen

The ocean depths are a mysterious and dangerous place. At the lowest survivable levels of Earth's surface, strange creatures straight out of Lovecraft's nightmares evolved to survive the dark, cold, crushing depths of the ocean floor. And humanity was about to unearth some of its most dangerous creatures.

In the coldest parts of the Atlantic Ocean, Russian oil diggers discovered a new form of life within the ice they were mining. Exocels. Parasitic creatures that were completely uncategorized by existing scientific theories. Capable of overtaking the higher brain functions of their host and mutating them in response to dangerous external stimuli. Naturally, the crew of the Star of Sakhalin begain trying to weaponize these new creatures to sell for a profit. Predictably, it didn't work out. The ship was quickly overrun by mutant zombies and a distress call was sent out.

The call was answered by Tom Hansen, an officer of the United States Coast Guard who really wants to be Leon Kennedy. He and his crew were sent to rescue everyone on board, only to find everyone already dead or zombified. Narrowly surviving the massacre of his crew, Tom was left alone on the ship as the only thing stopping the Exocels from falling into the shadowy hands of the CIA.

Luckily, Hansen comes equipped with every weapon a survival horror protagonist could ever need. He comes decked out with the usual affair of pistols, shotguns, and automatic weapons, each laser scoped to ensure perfect accuracy. Even his standard M1911A1 can completely pop a human’s skull like it was made from confetti, to say nothing of his MP5, AK47, and Benelli M4. But all of that pales in comparison to his sawed off M79 Grenade Launcher to blow apart any Exomutant that gets hit by it, even shredding through Exo zombies that evolved specifically to withstand bullets and fire arms.

Tom would quickly adapt against the rapidly evolving Exocels, using a modified harpoon gun whose harpoons emitted a protein gas, allowing his shots to distract Exocels with delicious smelling harpoons. Perfect for luring them into a trap or grouping them together for a grenade. Hansen has fought through squadrons of Russian mercenaries, defeated invisible Exocel zombies, dodged a steel door that was blasted at him by an explosion, and survived getting infected by an Exocel that tried to eat him alive from the inside out twice.

With nothing but raw wit, determination, and witty one liners, Tom rigged the entire ship to blow with C4 and faced down the man behind the entire disaster. Kamsky, the mad scientist turned sentient Exomutant out to replace humanity with his zombified master race. Kamsky is strong enough to completely demolish a metal bridge just by jumping right through it, generating an energy equivalent to 397,700 kilojoules.

Source:

Ultimately, Hansen defeated Kamsky, blowing the Star of Sakhalin to pieces and exterminating the Exocel threat once and for all.

Analysis: Saron

Eternal Evil is a 2022 Resident Evil clone with vampires instead of zombies.

6000 years ago, the vampire king Saron ruled the earth and used humans as cattle to feed vampires. Alukar, a vampire who liked humans, decided this was fucked and helped start a human revolution. Saron got so mad about this that he turned into a tree(?) and turned the Earth's oceans into a blood(??). This escalated the conflict so badly that now all vampires are dead.

Decades later, in the year 2001, a group of vampire cultists resurrected Saron's minion Safar, who begain scheming his master's resurrection. To this end, he murders the wife and daughter of Cross, the local hotel manager, manipulating him with the resurrection of his daughter if he turns his hotel into a feeding ground to turn guests into vampiric minions. With Saron resurrected with blood and a vampiric plague spreading across the city, local cops Marcus and Hank team up to put a stop to the nightmare.

As the strongest of all vampires, Saron has all the powers you'd expect of a vampire king. He can fly with gigantic bat wings, tear you apart with superhuman strength, survive and regenerate from normallu fatal injuries, such as numerous headahots, and turn you into a vampire by drinking your blood. More over, vampire blood is infectious. Not only will any human who drinks it get turned into a mindless ghoul, but animals exposed with mutate into giant beasts with near human levels of intelligence. And, of course, vampires can be resurrected just by exposing them to human blood.

Saron is tough enough to defeat a revived Alukar in single combat and is stronger than his minion Safar, who is fast enough to dodge bullets and tough strong enough to punch through solid stone walls, which would require roughly 148,018 kilojoules.

Source:

Of course, he also has the standard vampire weaknesses. He requires blood to survive, silver weapons will completely vaporize him, and.... he has a conspicuous red glowing weakspot on his chest? Specific.

Eventually, Marcus would defeat the evil overlord, avenging Hank and becoming a vampire himself to defend humanity alongside Alukar. But, there was some complexity to this evil overlord. Saron genuinely believed that vampires and human healthily co-existed, with vampires keeping humans in line, preventing us from destroying ourselves in his own eugenicist philosophy.

Eventually, as humanity fell into a capitalist dystopia, Marcus would agree with his fallen foe, turning his back on humanity to rule them himself. Even long dead, Saron's dream of vampire supremacy lives on.

Also, Hank's backstory involves him failing to kill Osama Bin Laden and thereby allowing 9/11 to happen. This is mentioned once in an audio log and never comes up again. It's just there and sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise unremarkable vampire B movie plot.

Throwdown Breakdown:

A simple fight between two simple characters.

While Saron definitely has the skill advantage on paper, there are a few things holding him back here. Saron was a vampire king for a long time, he fought a hundred year war against other vampires for control of his kingdom.... but most of his fights are against either other vampires or pre historic humans. Against modern humand with modern weaponry, he struggles to adapt and cope.

Conversely, while a vampire king may sound like something Hansen's never fought before, all of Saron's powers are something he's seen before from the Exocel zombies. Regeneration, infection, flight, and mutation are all common abilities among the Exocel infested. This means that Saron would struggle against Hansen just as much as did against Marcus for roughly the same reasons, while Hansen is if anything better prepared for this fight than the Eternal Evil protagonists were. Guy who fights zombies and monsters is better equipped than guy who *checks notes* failed to kill Osama Bin Laden.

This just gets more definitive when you consider Tom's stat advantage, with roughly comparable speeds and a 2.6x strength advantage. Sure, Tom's lack of silver bullets means Saron could eventually be revived, sure, but he'd still solidly win the fight.

As for the whole "turning into a tree" thing, it's suggested that Saron can't do that anymore after being dead for thousands of years, so any god tier amp from the Tree of Vampires is outside the scope of this fight.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Tom Hansen!

[selfguard]

Best Automatic Generator start and stop Unit

Selfguard is one of the trusted supplier of the automatic generator start and stop unit in India. It is used for all types of self-start generator. We have generators with a wireless remote and a wired remote.

It comes in three models, depending on how the device is connected to different types of generators. The operation of all three models is the same. Get the best automatic generator start and stop unit from the Selfguard.

[broken-clover]

Ayo hope you're doin good as of reading this, I do have a quick question regarding the Cloverswap AU (if you're still doing that btw)

Does Terumi feel guilty about the first world (I.E the Age Of The Origin, and the start of the Prime Field Device War)? Also, does Terumi consider Izanami a sibling, seeing as she IS apart of The Master Unit, does he like bothering her or surprising her with affection (if he does)?

(I suppose I need something soft to take my mind off of things...)

Trying to wrap my brain around everything to do with the Prime Fields feels like a losing battle (I have genuinely tried to understand Blazblue's story but I really cannot parse all of the random stuff they keep tossing in so I've kinda just given up)

For the most part I just keep the general strands of Terumi's background since weirdly his motivations are mostly straightforward (and, admittedly, perfectly reasonable at first? I'd get bored if my entire job was tied to destroying the things my sister made.) Like with a lot of the stuff about Kazuma I think a lot of Terumi's fuckups were done either accidentally or out of ignorance since he'd spent eons floating around in nothing.

Like, oh! There's something new here! I wanna play with it! Maybe I can show it to my siblings- wait no no no fuck stop poking my sister you're making her angry!! Uhh well now there's someone inside my sister, are you my sister now? I guess that's nice, I wanna see where she came from- wait where did the world go. Did I mess up. Shit.

Though the Boundary is stuffed full of information, since he was basically just floating in the void smashing things as necessary Terumi didn't really understand a lot of mortal concepts. At best, the idea of them was very abstract. He's the baby sibling of the trio, his job isn't to understand, it's to destroy the things he's supposed to destroy. The idea of him causing a war because he wanted to play with the Weird New Thing swimming in his home never crossed his mind as a possibility since, well, why would it? He's just playing, why would that he a bad thing?

When the idea sinks in that technically, the destruction of the old world was his fault, he's veeeeery upset by it. Susanoo curls up in a dark spot somewhere for a few millennia, even hesitant to destroy Amaterasu's creations like he's supposed to because he's worried about breaking everything again on accident. But with enough time, he's simply too curious to not take a peek at the new reality his sister is in charge of now. He wants to know about the new world, but he now also knows that flaunting himself and his siblings to mortals is a bad idea.

I imagine in addition to being easier to travel around in, having a human body gave him some additional reassurance that most people wouldn't find him very interesting. When he first met Relius, he was very apprehensive at the idea of giving arcane knowledge to mortals, even if his curiosity won out in the end. He did spend several minutes making Relius pretty please cross his heart to not use the boundary knowledge for evil. Had he not encountered sweaterdad Relius the world probably would have been fucked because Terumi also barely understood what lying was at that point, Relius is like the one guy that would have said 'yes' and meant it.

Imagining Terumi and Izanami is weirdly funny because I figure he'd be very confused about their relationship, at least until someone mentions the mere idea of her maybe being considered his little sister, and then it's all over because Terumi's just hung up on the thought that he's not the youngest anymore (given his experience with Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi he automatically assumes older = in charge and makes the rules).

I am still not 100% on how Cloverswap Izanami works but in any case I could see Terumi being overenthusiastically overbearing and that ending up with him getting stabbed by her for it. he's more emotionally wounded than anything.

[dykeishheart]

Actually tbh I think I can explain why the "tumblr user base is aging" comments being consistently left so frequently on posts about mundane household chores usually made by 20somethings, and why that cognitive dissonance is happening now. Think about what one really big thing might be driving a huge wedge into the two current major generational demographics of tumblr users' worldviews on housework's relationship with aging. It's down to a combination of factors really.

Firstly, our cultural milestones around the proper age to be living independently, taking care of one's own need for food and clean stuff, and buying things have undergone massive cultural changes that our collective ideoformic culture hasn't fully wrapped its head around. People used to move out at different ages than they do now, which is primarily down to rent being exirbitantly higher now and homeownership becoming a unicorn. Self-sufficiency is largely a skill reserved for second class citizens because white America has historically offered the privilege of building servants into their models of familial units; wealthy families have servants, middle class families have mothers, poor families have children. If you're someone whose white family used to be well off enough to not rely on the work of their kids to do household chores because one parent stayed home to do that, but you now exist in a time when both parents need to work to stay even, you might be shocked to learn a teenager has a favorite burner on the stove. If you're black, this is not shocking at all because there's never been a time when that wouldn't be the case for you, because second class citizens don't typically get to benefit from good economies.

The second big contributer here is technology. Kitchens and laundry rooms have only gotten fancier and more technically capable in the last 30 years. Smart technology in appliances, sensors in microwaves and dryers, autopilot vacuum cleaners, remote starting and stopping of tech, this all represents a huge dropoff in how much skill and input various household tasks require. If you're rich. This shit is expensive and a huge majority of people will never get to use this stuff while it's new, while the people already in a position to have it have an easier and far less personal relationship with their household tasks in a way that would absolutely impact how they respond to hearing about someone having a favorite set of measuring cups. Fact is, a person who air fries all their meals, has a pre-measured laundry pod that works for all clothes regardless of color or material, can rely on their microwave to perfectly defrost everything with no experimenting, has a robot clean their floor, and has a fridge which makes a digital shopping list with a button to automatically place Walmart and Amazon orders when things get low, is living a VERY different life than a person their own age who has to do literally all of that manually with direct input that relies on knowledge of how all their appliances work and how to balance all those tasks.

When you have a website that has no monetary requirement for use beyond the pre-imposed limit of living privileged enough of a life for internet access in an english speaking country (okay that's not a requirement but we all know how white this website is, and how American it is besides), you can just end up having a lot of really popular posts about doing chores made and shared by people poor enough to have to have done chores as children, and a hell of a lot of comments from people rich enough to not have had to do chores as a child and still rich enough to have their chores done by their Amazon Smart Home, but who remember their parents talking about chores all the time and assume the post was made by a middle-aged person. It's a quirk of generational shifts in culture, lack of any significant communication between demographics within the same generation, and good ol' classism and racism.

[umbra-vulpes]

Alegraves' Daily Life Headcanons Vol.2

*And we are back for more Alegraves fluff hcs! Most of my hcs ideas are for some minor life stuff yet I love how all these small details in life show how they are together. Hope you guys enjoy it! And please forgive my poor English. The previous post is down below:

Alrighty, Let's Go!

When they first started dating. They really got confused about one thing in each other culture and that is the use of temperature units. Graves is used to using Fahrenheit (°F) as an American and Alejandro are using Celsius (°C) just like most non-American people do. They got really confused about temperature and does have a serious talk about it. But as they have been together longer, their brains just adapt and coverts it in their head automatically.

The other things that their brains are automatically adapted to are time zone coverts between certain places so they can call and talk to each other regularly. For example, they both remember the time zone difference between Japan and Mexico as Graves always needs to visit the shadow bases in Ashika Island, Japan.

Both of them CAN NOT and WILL NOT handle cold weather. As both grew up in places that were not involved with much snow and extreme cold, Even though they have been through all kinds of terrains and extreme situations during missions or training, they just don’t like cold weather in general. It doesn’t bother them much daily but sometimes does irritate them a little if the weather gives them a chill. This is why they always prefer the 141 to come to visit them in Mexico instead of them going to visit them in England. They also prefer to go to tropical countries if they’re on vacation.

They don’t get sick easily but when they do Graves is that exaggerators baby type who always said I’m dying or whines and groans about how sick he is and acts like a kid in order to get whatever he wants, especially Alejandro’s Attention, HE WANTS Alejandro to baby him even more when he sick. Meanwhile, Alejandro is that workaholic type that will get out of bed and work on something as soon as he gains a bit of energy back and go back to sleep like a rock when he is tired, which makes him seem not that sickish but that doesn’t stop Graves mothering him if he hears Alejandro coughing or sneezing, which Alejandro secretly enjoys it.

Both of them are morning people due to their jobs and ranch life. they both have similar body clocks and can wake up without an alarm type. During the weekend or holidays, they usually wake up at the same time as dailies but will stay in bed longer to snuggle or talk or do something wicked or just simply see if they can fall asleep again.

Even though both are very busy, Alejandro’s job is considered more ‘regular’ as he always gets to come home after long days of work, since their ranch is close to the Vaqueros’ base. While Graves’ job requires him to travel often when he doesn’t have a mission or chasing down his enemies, he will stay at home and work on leads or ranching, he always jokes himself as a part-time stay home husband, and Alejandro jokes that he is an American 50s TV shows housewife. They definitely role-play the hell out of this kink.

As for morning routine, Alejandro usually will take a shower first to woke on his intense skincare routine while Graves goes to make their coffee and something simple to eat as breakfast (like an American 50s housewife, Alejandro jokes), after they finish breakfast then it’s Graves’ turn to shower, and Alejandro will wash the dishes.

Graves occasionally will go to work with Alejandro, training with the Vaqueros, making tactics for their co-op and training, or just hang around, Alejandro loves having him around, especially seeing Graves napping on his office’s couch sometimes when he is back for a meeting or let Graves drive him back home after a long day of work, that melts his heart.

They always make up some weird bets, like how long it takes for Soap and Ghost to engage or Will Price to save his cigar or hat first if they both gonna fall, that kind of stupid bets. Rudy occasionally joins the pools, while Gaz always joins in when he is around, they probably have a group chat betting. Little do they know, Rudy and the rest of the Vaqueros also do the same things to them secretly, Rudy wins a big chunk of money betting who and when one of them gonna propose to the other first.

Alejandro can fall asleep very quickly and easily, and he sleeps like a rock but if he got woken up suddenly or feels someone is approaching, he would go into fighter mode automatically, Most of the Vaqueros learn/witness it the hard way. Even Graves got attacked by him a few times when they first started sharing the same bed. But over time, Alejandro finally got used to it at home or other places where he felt safe.

Graves is a light sleeper and has sometimes suffered from insomnia. he can fall asleep but often wake up in the middle of the night, that’s why he always prefers to work out at night and make his body painfully tired so that he can force himself to sleep better. But after sleeping with Alejandro, his sleep quality has become better since they found comfort with each other and if comfort doesn’t enough, rounds of good sex will always work.

Both men are awfully competitive, anything related to a bet or a race or anything comparable, they will try to beat the other men as hard as they can. That ‘I love you but I’m gonna beat the shit out of you’ trash talk is part of their love language, which scared some of their friends.

Graves actually can understand general Spanish and Latin, and he can read and speak semi-fluently. But that National Thick American accent with a Texan accent as a cherry on top never fades away when he tries to speak both languages. Alejandro hates that accent very much but he gives up fixing it as he only sees little hope to succeed over time and he accepts the fact that his husband speaks like an idiot when he is speaking Spanish or Latin.

On the contrary, Graves fucking Loves Alejandro’s accent when he speaks English. It’s hot, but not as hot as Alejandro speaking his own language. That’s one of Graves's biggest turns on and Alejandro knows it and abuses it.

Let me know if you guys want more!

[dennydraws]

I'm unsure to get Unicorn Overlord since I like Fire Emblem but generally dislike other strategy RPG games (I didn't enjoy Triangle Strategy). Would you recommend it?

Oh boy... I'd want to say absolutely but I will try to describe pros and cons as best as I can without any spoilers first :D

First off, you have to know what makes you like FE as a game?

Second well, I too didn't really like Triangle Strategy even though I did my share of fan arts... okay I only drew Dragan a lot lol....

Gameplay

Overlord Unicorn uses gambit system (it was my first time hearing that!) so you don't move individual characters, you assign the characters into a unit and the whole fight is automatic (though it still has some rng involved.)

You assign skills and can tweak conditions to them, which can be a lot of fun if you are into min maxing or want to experiment and optimize. I did some tweaking and played on medium difficulty (?) and had no issues, if anything it started to feel too easy after a while.

It is real time movement and not like with how FE has turns. It can seem scary or maybe overwheling if you're not used to such systems. I adapted very, very fast. I didn't feel any weird difficult curves and everything flowed very nicely.

The menu may seem very overwhelming at first because it is very busy ...but after an hour or two of gameplay, the menu and the whole UI felt like some well designed work of art and became very intuitive.

Open world

Unlike FE, here you can roam and explore and do side quests and find treasures, restore areas you liberated... it has a lot of small activities which I loved to do between battles. So the game felt a lot more relaxing and fun to me because it wasn't just cutscene > battle > cutscene battle. You can tackle regions out of order and pretty much can go into the final battle right away if you really want to!

Story!

Hokaaay so... A lot of people do say TS had better story and I think yes, but UO felt way more satisfying to me. At the end of a game, I want to feel satisfied not conflicted or bittersweet or feel like "ah if only this or that happened". But if you are more into realistic outcomes and an idealistic finale doesn't vibe with you then you may cringe at some parts.... or you can of course just execute everyone you see if you rather do that!

You do get very basic beat bad guy, liberate area, reclaim your home kingdom so it's not anything over dramatic or gut punching. If you like a character, chances are you will recruit them. Nearly every enemy you bump at you end up recruiting (as long as you don't execute or jail) so at least no surprise your favorite died I guess? :D;;;;

I don't want to spoil but you do get some nifty lore and explanation on why bad guys do the bad things and while simple, I really enjoyed it.

The romance in the air! (or not)

Okay I will be a little blunt, that's not the kinda game for that xD;

It's heavily biased towards hetero couples and the male options are like none. Nearly all if not all of the female ones end up romantic and become Alain's queen. It's obvious what the target is here. Nothing that can stop the power of fanfiction or fan art though!

Other characters than Alain don't really get affected by the amount of rapport conversations so you don't really ship other characters like in FE games and their endings don't get affected by how much their rapport developed.

Personally, I saw the maiden ring as fancy status accessory and just slapped it on my favorite character and moved on. Lore wise, it is important and you do get 2 variations of the ending where your chosen maiden ring bearer plays a bigger role.

About the jiggly wigglies

I don't know how you feel about fan service but it sure has some of them jiggle mechanics on some female character! It's not too bad and it doesn't feel out of place given how...everything kinda jiggles. (the food especially!) so it didn't personally bother me but I know some people may side glance it so I thought to bring it up.

Final thoughts?

I am not sure... If you pick it with more open mind without trying to compare it to FE, I think you may enjoy it.

My final thoughts on UO is that I felt extremely valued as a player. Again, I try to avoid spoilers but I could see where they thought "lets add this" or "lets give that" to make the experience more fun/smooth/enjoyable. My perception is slightly wrapped as someone who has experience working in game development, I can tell when a dev team put thought and tested things and when a dev team just wanted to meet a deadline and publish something. This game is not the later.

I read it took 10 years to make this game and it kinda shows with the amount of polish it has. But I also don't want to set some extremely high expectations just because I had so much fun. xD;

Maybe download the demo, see how it is and if you think it's your cup o tea, grab it on sale!

I hope this helped some! ^o^7

[envihellbender]

a sequel for the rebel ben +hux emperor vader au please😏

Thanks for the request! For reference, part one is here:

Characters: Ben Solo (rebel), Lieutenant-General Hux, Emperor Vader

Fandom: Star Wars

Ben could have used his new found freedom to escape, or warn the rebels, but he knew that was a stupid plan. Instead, he simply wandered the corridors - suspiciously at first. As soon as he left the bridge he quickly looked to either side of himself, his force blocking collar made him vulnerable and unable to properly scope his surroundings. He expected at any minute to have guards dragging him back to his cell, this whole thing having been some sick game. However, it seemed that wasn’t the case. He felt finally free for a moment, his collar didn’t seem to stop the thoughts of others entering his mind and he’d been surrounded by guards thinking about what they’d like to the “pretty little rebel dog”. Even worse was hearing what went through Lieutenant-General Hux’s mind, and for some reason his thoughts were louder than everyone else’s. When he was far away from the bridge and unsure where he was, simply following the corridors hadn’t done him much good a voice filled his mind.

“Ben, come to me…”

He froze, he recognised it. He heard it many times before, a voice he had been manipulated and tricked by as a child. He swallowed, frantically looking from side to side in hopes that it would simply be some stormtrooper instead. No such luck. Against his better judgement, he followed it - he felt it get louder and stronger as he turned right and headed down a flight of stairs. He felt the voice laugh, making his fists screw tight and his jaw clench. He felt his steps quicken into a sprint, and when he rounded a corner turning left he was stopped on his tracks by a Stormtrooper.

“Erm… Skywalker, sir?” The soldier asked, Ben stared at him with furrowed eyes.

“I’m… Ben Solo.”

“Erm, right. Well. I’m unit FN-2187 and I’m supposed to show you to your quarters.”

“Oh. Okay,” Ben replied, he turned back over his shoulder. He felt a smugness, and quiet chuckle as the voice quietened. He followed the Stormtrooper who seemed nervous, as if he hadn’t been here long. He’d heard about Lieutenant-General Hux’s child soldiers, poor brainwashed kids, some even feral children from desert planets, who were trained with a similar program from Brendol Hux’s academy. As Ben followed the white armoured soldier round a series of identical corridors he wondered how old he was, what he looked like under his helmet. Suddenly the soldier stopped, causing Ben to stumble.

“We’re here,” he said unnecessarily. He tapped a code into the door and turned to walk away.

“Erm, are you going to tell me the code?” Ben asked.

“Oh! Yeah. Fuck. It’s erm. 0311,” he said over his shoulder before hurrying away. Ben swore under his breath, of course Vader would choose that number. He was toying with him again. Ben entered his room, his thick eyebrows raised as he did. The doors shut behind him automatically and the lights came on. It was fairly spacious, it had a large double bed, a few screens he assumed showed holoprograms and such things, a comfortable looking sofa and an en-suite bathroom. He fell onto the bed, stretching out long limbs as he body finally relaxed. After being in a cell for so long he had to admit he was quite pleased to be here. A well furnished, spacious, private cell was definitely an improvement.

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but the way his door opened and beeped told made him awake with a start. His eyes were half lidded and he sat up, scowling when he realised who was at the end of his bed.

“Well, pleased to see your getting your rest, Solo,” Hux snarled. Ben scrambled to his feet, taking a few steps towards him with a scowl on his face.

“I wouldn’t try anything, I’m not locked up now remember,” Ben smirked, he looked Hux up and down, everything he’d heard had been correct. He might have ended up back in a cell if he attacked Hux, but he’d he damned if he was going to let some spoiled, Imperial brat get the better of him.

[noticiassincensura]

Google Maps Changes Forever: The Biggest Update in Years Brings Aid Against DANAs and Connection with Waze

Google has announced a range of updates for Google Maps, including a new feature to help in cases of DANAs (isolated depressions at high levels) or floods.

If there’s one essential app every traveler should have, whether walking, using public transport, or driving, it’s Google Maps. The internet giant has created the go-to platform for maps, thanks to its precise directions and a massive database of roads, locations, and real-time alerts that help ensure there are no unwelcome surprises along the way.

For this reason, a major update like the one Google has just announced might be met with some concern. We’ve seen many popular apps lose their way — no pun intended — by introducing controversial changes that didn’t help users. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

The upcoming Google Maps updates focus on improving the app’s existing foundation rather than revolutionizing it. A prime example of this can be seen in the enhanced navigation mode, which now shows lanes more clearly, as well as key road elements like pedestrian crossings and traffic signs.

New and Improved Navigation on Google Maps

Maps can use this information to provide more accurate directions, such as indicating the exact lane you should be in to exit or merge. Now, a blue line will show the precise path to follow, and the app will display lane indicators.

In general, Google Maps’ driving mode will display more information than ever, aimed at helping users drive with less stress. After the chaos caused by the worst DANA on record, drivers will appreciate that Google Maps now displays weather-related incidents, such as flooded roads, ice, snow, or poor visibility.

The New Weather Incident Alerts in Google Maps

Drivers can report these weather incidents just as they already report accidents or traffic jams. This feature is one that Google Maps “borrowed” from Waze, though the teams behind both apps emphasize it as a collaboration. To underscore this, they announced that incidents reported on Waze will also appear on Google Maps, and vice versa, with a unified platform that automatically shares alerts across both apps.

Google Maps remains useful even when you’re outside the car — sometimes literally. Another major update is the introduction of indicators from your parking spot to your destination. Once you park, the app will remind you to save your parking location and guide you to the building entrance. This way, you won’t “get lost” trying to reach your destination and can easily find your way back to your car, using the map, Street View, or augmented reality view.

Nearby Points of Interest Along Your Route

If you’re looking to explore on your way home, the new Google Maps feature makes it easier to see nearby points of interest along your route. After planning a route, simply tap on “Add stop” and Maps will show key attractions, scenic spots, and restaurants.

It’s important to note that not all these new features will be available globally at the same time. For example, the option to add stops will be available worldwide starting next week, while the enhanced navigation experience with lane and sign indicators will launch first in 30 cities, with plans to expand to more locations.

Gemini in Google Maps

Another major update to Google Maps, however, won’t be available in Spain for now, as it will initially launch in the United States. This is the integration of Gemini into Google Maps — a less surprising addition considering that Google’s AI assistant has been rolling out across its apps. But while it may not be surprising, it’s still intriguing, as the Maps team seems to have integrated Gemini in a way that enhances rather than disrupts the experience.

Gemini won’t interfere with basic navigation but will appear in place recommendations and information panels. The goal is to enable users to ask the AI for help with planning or finding places they may have previously overlooked.

For example, you can ask for help planning an evening with friends, and Gemini might suggest a themed bar or music venue. When you select a location, the info panel will look different, with almost every category featuring data curated by Gemini. For instance, it can show customer feedback trends or provide a descriptive summary of the place.

You can also ask Gemini for details like the atmosphere or whether it has outdoor seating. Google has clarified that all this information comes from “real human input,” and user reviews remain accessible. On the topic of AI, Gemini will soon be available in Rivian electric vehicles, where it can display summaries of places like restaurants and stores on the in-car touchscreen.

Immersive View Expands to More Cities in Europe

In Europe, we’ll start seeing more cities with Immersive View. This technology drew a lot of attention upon its announcement, though initially, only a few cities were available for exploration in this mode. Immersive View uses a blend of photographs, AI, and computer vision to create realistic 3D models of cities that you can explore on your phone. This includes details like traffic conditions and changing light based on the time of day. Immersive View will now also help find parking and display complex turns along your route. It will expand to 150 cities worldwide, including several cities in Spain.