#data cleaning solution

[iteamanz]

Medical care demands a safe, clean environment. With the rise of COVID-19 and antibiotic-resistant diseases, now more than ever, cleaning must go beyond appearances as a matter of community health.

So, how can you ensure that your ER, recovery rooms, hallways, kitchen, washroom areas, elevators—every floor in the hospital—are clean enough to conform to the standards of high-quality healthcare? With our commecial healthcare cleaning tools combined with the i-know kit, you can monitor the cleanliness of all touchpoint areas. See the best cleaning tools for hospitals, including our i-know test kit to determine if surfaces have been adequately cleaned.

With i-know, it only takes around 60 seconds to measure dirt levels on a surface. That speed and accuracy empowers cleaning teams with useful data to get objective feedback on the quality of their commercial cleaning practises.

[dataentry-expert]

Best Data Cleansing Services at Affordable Price

The purpose of listing products on the Amazon website is to quickly multiply business chances by utilizing the eCommerce marketplace. Data Entry Expert is the best option to get affordable Amazon Data Entry Services. To list a product on Amazon, you must additionally include details about the product, such as the name of the brand, category, specifications, photos, and range of prices. A company needs to keep ahead of the competition online and turn prospective clients into loyal ones.

To know more - https://www.dataentryexpert.com/data-processing/data-cleansing-services.php

[exopelagic]

I AM A CODING GENIUS

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #28

July 19-26 2024

The EPA announced the award of $4.3 billion in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants. The grants support community-driven solutions to fight climate change, and accelerate America’s clean energy transition. The grants will go to 25 projects across 30 states, and one tribal community. When combined the projects will reduce greenhouse gas pollution by as much as 971 million metric tons of CO2, roughly the output of 5 million American homes over 25 years. Major projects include $396 million for Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection as it tries to curb greenhouse gas emissions from industrial production, and $500 million for transportation and freight decarbonization at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced a plan to phase out the federal government's use of single use plastics. The plan calls for the federal government to stop using single use plastics in food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035. The US government is the single largest employer in the country and the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services. Its move away from plastics will redefine the global market.

The White House hosted a summit on super pollutants with the goals of better measuring them and dramatically reducing them. Roughly half of today's climate change is caused by so called super pollutants, methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Public-private partnerships between NOAA and United Airlines, The State Department and NASA, and the non-profit Carbon Mapper Coalition will all help collect important data on these pollutants. While private firms announced with the White House plans that by early next year will reduce overall U.S. industrial emissions of nitrous oxide by over 50% from 2020 numbers. The summit also highlighted the EPA's new rule to reduce methane from oil and gas by 80%.

The EPA announced $325 million in grants for climate justice. The Community Change Grants Program, powered by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act will ultimately bring $2 billion dollars to disadvantaged communities and help them combat climate change. Some of the projects funded in this first round of grant were: $20 million for Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association, which will help weatherize and energy efficiency upgrade homes for 35 tribes in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, $14 million to install onsite wastewater treatment systems throughout 17 Black Belt counties in Alabama, and $14 million to urban forestry, expanding tree canopy in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

The Department of Interior approved 3 new solar projects on public land. The 3 projects, two in Nevada and one in Arizona, once finished could generate enough to power 2 million homes. This comes on top of DoI already having beaten its goal of 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects by the end of 2025, in April 2024. This is all part of President Biden’s goal of creating a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pledged $667 million to global Pandemic Fund. The fund set up in 2022 seeks to support Pandemic prevention, and readiness in low income nations who can't do it on their own. At the G20 meeting Yellen pushed other nations of the 20 largest economies to double their pledges to the $2 billion dollar fund. Yellen highlighted the importance of the fund by saying "President Biden and I believe that a fully-resourced Pandemic Fund will enable us to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemics – protecting Americans and people around the world from the devastating human and economic costs of infectious disease threats,"

The Departments of the Interior and Commerce today announced a $240 million investment in tribal fisheries in the Pacific Northwest. This is in line with an Executive Order President Biden signed in 2023 during the White House Tribal Nations Summit to mpower Tribal sovereignty and self-determination. An initial $54 million for hatchery maintenance and modernization will be made available for 27 tribes in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The rest will be invested in longer term fishery projects in the coming years.

The IRS announced that thanks to funding from President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, it'll be able to digitize much of its operations. This means tax payers will be able to retrieve all their tax related information from one source, including Wage & Income, Account, Record of Account, and Return transcripts, using on-line Individual Online Account.

The IRS also announced that New Jersey will be joining the direct file program in 2025. The direct file program ran as a pilot in 12 states in 2024, allowing tax-payers in those states to file simple tax returns using a free online filing tool directly with the IRS. In 2024 140,000 Americans were able to file this way, they collectively saved $5.6 million in tax preparation fees, claiming $90 million in returns. The average American spends $270 and 13 hours filing their taxes. More than a million people in New Jersey alone will qualify for direct file next year. Oregon opted to join last month. Republicans in Congress lead by Congressmen Adrian Smith of Nebraska and Chuck Edwards of North Carolina have put forward legislation to do away with direct file.

Bonus: American law enforcement arrested co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. El Mayo co-founded the cartel in the 1980s along side Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Since El Chapo's incarceration in the United States in 2019, El Mayo has been sole head of the Sinaloa Cartel. Authorities also arrested El Chapo's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez. The Sinaloa Cartel has been a major player in the cross border drug trade, and has often used extreme violence to further their aims.

[internetmarketingscale]

With Email appending and Data Cleaning Solutions, You Can Boost Your Business ROI

The need, advantages, and core purpose of data entry services are all explained in the article.

The need of maintaining and purifying data on a regular basis cannot be overstated given how critical it is nowadays. The ROI of your marketing efforts will increase if your data is well-maintained. Cleaning up such huge data files must be a burden, but it is manageable. It is crucial for all firms to have the correct data for their marketing campaigns from their massive data sets. In order to create a high-quality database, Email appending anddata cleansing entails eliminating and identifying flaws from the inconsistent data. Missing data, inaccurate data, and other issues are frequently to blame for inconsistent data.

The sales and marketing departments of many companies have reported a variety of database issues, including misspellings, duplicates, missing email addresses, etc. No matter what marketing methods you employ, the problem of data decay remains a top worry for the majority of the firm. Since managing the real-time data refresh is highly challenging and the database contains blank information, it is the worst nightmare.

In order to control their lead cycle, marketers are heavily investing in their lead generating tactics. Cleansing and updating your database is the first step in any lead generation plan, and it is crucial for the success of any lead generating campaign.

The main goal of data cleansing solutions is to design a data review, email lists and cleansing process tailored to your unique requirements, ensuring that data is frequently cleaned and enriched. Any data management technology, including salesforce, marketing, and others, may be used, but how well they work depends on the data you have available. You may increase ROI by evaluating the quality of the data in your CRM solutions.

After a certain amount of time, data that is not refreshed frequently starts to become outdated. People are currently changing employment frequently, which means that their contact information also changes. If CRM is not maintained, the record will become out of date. Not being able to contact a prospect because of incorrect email addresses is another issue.

Industry Specific Data cleaning and improvement can provide new sales opportunities, increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing campaigns, and maximize your campaign's return on investment. Most importantly, it keeps your consumers satisfied and devoted by improving the relevance and accuracy of their mailings.

An outsourcing company offers a full range of utility services to clients worldwide and is aware of the potential and challenges facing this industry. By offering a whole range of front office and back office services relating to the utility sector, service providers increase the efficiency and agility of businesses.

[verysium]

ACT 1, SCENE 3: blue lock headcanons

sae is into skincare: lotions, serums, the whole set. he and rin used to have self-care nights as children during which they would sit in bed with matching face masks and watch cartoons on the family tablet. if they were in a good mood, they would let you join.

barou listens to classical while working out. no joke. this man is so insanely focused he will shoot goals and play paganini at the same time. his work ethic is low-key why you were attracted to him the first place.

nagi is lazy to the point he will deliberately buy five pairs of the same exact pants just to save himself the trouble of having to choose an outfit in the morning. thank god for reo otherwise nagi would still be dressing like he just crawled out of bed. he still can't do much about his bedhead though.

rin desperately wanted to join sae in the deeper end of the community pool; however, he was deathly afraid of drowning. his only logical solution was to cover himself in pool floaties while he dipped a single toe into the water. even to this day, he still has traumatic memories of that experience. you need to hold his hand every time.

kaiser acts like his football prowess comes entirely from natural talent. in reality, he trains to an obsessive degree behind the scenes. you could come home at midnight, and he would still be there replaying every single highlight of his recent game. he is the type to keep detailed notes about all the players he went up against.

isagi likes to walk around his hometown of saitama and just observe the snapshots of life around him. whether it's a street vendor, children playing on a grass patch, or a couple in the sunset, he secretly enjoys these little vignettes of human experience. he would become sentimental when it comes to you. sometimes you have to pull his head out of the clouds.

nagi has parents who work overseas, so the most he sees of them is through video calls or holiday presents. occasionally, he also gets a birthday card shipped through international mail. when you threw him his first surprise party, he secretly felt touched because his family was never big on physical celebrations.

sae is ridiculously good at anything that involves data and calculations. he participated in a math competition one time in junior high, and he would have made it to the national level had he not been entirely focused on football. refused to tutor rin in algebra though because apparently his little brother has to figure out everything for himself. if it were you though, he would begrudgingly agree.

bachira holds the world record in procrastination. his notebook, pencil, and eraser are still as untouched and pristine as they were on the first day of the academic school year. he does not know what a book is, nor has he read one. he only studied because you refused to cuddle with him otherwise.

ego eats so many cups of instant ramen noodles that his glasses begin to fog up from time to time. anri has to clean the frames and lenses weekly just to make sure his myopic self can even see. at this point, she's the real MVP of the entire series.

barou likes to open the windows right after it rains because he enjoys the sweet smell of petrichor. his ideal day would be spent lounging on a couch with some tea and a novel. it would be even more perfect if you snuggled under the blankets with him.

niko sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night, immensely insecure about his forehead. he thinks it looks giant though it really isn't. you have to brush his fringe back and pepper kisses down his face and remind him that a big forehead means a big, sexy brain, so it really isn't that bad. he believes you and goes back to sleep.

shidou would make fun of boomers. in fact, he'd ridicule every single person he considers past their prime. he does not believe in any form of authority, nor does he like being told what to do. if he had his way, he would have turned the entire world into anarchy a long time ago. the only reason why he doesn't wake up and make himself everyone's problem is because he doesn't want to upset you.

kaiser knows he is very well-endowed physically, so he purposefully walks around your apartment shirtless. if he catches you eyeing him, he will make a big deal out of it. tries to not-so-subtly flex his biceps every time he reaches for the milk carton.

reo loves cocktail dresses, especially in the wine red shade. something about the accentuated figure and natural curves gives him goosebumps. his favorite part of you is when your tummy slightly protrudes after you've eaten too much. you might think it's embarrassing, but he thinks it's adorable.

rin only uses shower gel, mostly because he learned his lesson after using the locker room shower stalls. never use bar soap, always use bottled. he's also the type to always have shower shoes. sae taught him that.

bachira is the type of student to completely misread the question and still not feel bad after the teacher points it out. oh no, he was actually supposed to solve for x, not just circle it? he'll shrug it off like nothing ever happened. at least he tried. the teacher should be grateful for his effort.

sae says he does not understand the sentiments behind cute couple traditions but then proceeds to get upset when you show up to his game without wearing his jersey. would definitely get you matching bracelets for your anniversary.

aiku has a high spice tolerance. he would definitely drown his food either in sriracha or buldak sauce. if you can't handle spicy though, he would set aside a separate plate just for you and manually spoon out the food just to make sure you have something to eat too.

aryu never has dry cuticles. he is always trimming and filing to perfection. sometimes he has beef with your nail tech because he thinks he could have done so much better on your acrylics. refuses to let you go to a salon because he already has all the tools and expertise necessary.

sae does not know how to cook. his manager has always ordered take-out for him. the one time he tried to use a microwave, he completely misread the package instructions and nearly burned the entire building down. called you up with the straightest face afterwards to tell you that the smoke alarms were not shutting off.

barou unconsciously caves into peer pressure. every single new trend makes him rethink his personal style. however, he views it all with an old man mentality. like what are these youngsters doing these days? dying their hair every possible color of the rainbow? he has to do that too. proceeds to call aryu to add red streaks into his own hair. sometimes you have to remind him that external opinion should always taken with a grain of salt.

chigiri has a major sweet tooth. if you so much as bake him one single treat, he will have made plans to put a ring on your finger before he even finishes the damn pastry. his ideal partner is someone mature and understanding who can take care of him well. definitely likes the homemaker type.

gagamaru is the seeing friend in your relationship. no matter how many trips he makes to the optometrist, he will always come back with perfect 20/20 vision. definitely a nature enthusiast, and he loves hiking. even if you're blind as a bat, he will always be there to hold your hand in the dark.

© verysium 2023 / please do not translate, repost, or plagiarize any of my works

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Modern AU in which WWX works a maintenance job at the Lan's corporation to make ends meet for himself and A-Yuan.

He does various things such as cleaning, fixing leaks, electrical work - so nobody really knows how intelligent and creative he really is.

Until one day.

Wei Ying was tasked with cleaning the co-CEO's office one evening, and his eyes caught onto a piece of paper on the desk, with graphs and figures and questions about how things don't add up.

He looks at the data, huffs and picks up a pen to fix it.

Halfway through he realizes what he's done, chuckles a bit bitterly and continues on with the cleaning.

Lan Wangji is stunned to find a half solution written on his paperwork the next morning.

And so begins a Cinderella-style search for the secret genius among the staff.

They find him snacking on chilli in the janitor's office.

[brawltogethernow]

—

L fell over from his customary seated position, died in his nemesis's arms, then came to in his customary seated position.

  He fell over.

  "Richard?" said Wammy, the alias he'd been using four cases ago. "Are you alright?"

  "Watari?" he said dumbly, into the floor. Wammy was dead. He hadn't wanted it to be true, but he had been sure when he saw the data kill switch had been flipped, pieces of information slotting together to form a whole even when he didn't want them to. His own hand had carved him into a device that did this process automatically. It was too late to deny facts.

  "What?" said Wammy like he didn't recognize the Japanese alias.

  L pushed himself up halfway off the ground. "Fuuuuuck this," he said, and fell over again.

⁣

"Why me?" he wondered aloud. "Does this happen to everyone killed by the murder notebooks? I can't investigate an infinite multiverse, Weatherby."

  "Probably not," conceded Wammy. He was currently humoring L gamely. L had been able to provide multiple descriptions of future events that would confirm he wasn't cracking up, but none of them had happened yet. He had never been much of one for keeping track of the date regarding matters where someone could do it for him, which didn't help. Well. Wammy would come around.

  L was humoring himself, too, for now. There was no point assuming his mind wasn't reliable. Using his brain to run diagnostics on itself could wait until it seemed necessary. If he was having an Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge moment it was certainly going on for a very long time.

  He ground his molars against each other. The Kira murders had been supernatural, but clearly guided by a hand that either was mortal or thought the same way. So far, this seemed...random.

  "I don't like this," he informed the room, and incidentally Wammy. His latest sugar cube tower collapsed and split into two factions, one falling into his tea and the other scattering across his desk. Tea sloshed out of its cup in futile pursuit of the desk faction.

  He picked up the teacup by the mostly not sticky handle and sipped it, pursuing the grit at the bottom of its basin. He put it down and but his thumbnail. It was slightly sweet. He needed to wash his hands. He added, "Well. I like it better than being dead."

⁣

He sent the party interested in his current case an e-mail with enough key bullet points of the solution for them to clean up what was left of it themselves, which was more than he felt like doing for a rerun of a case. If he were stuck only rehashing already closed cases he might entertain the theory that this was Hell. But the world was wide, he had only lived a year or so beyond this in the first place, and the Kira case was still open.

  He tried to console himself that Light Yagami possessed one of the most ruthlessly brilliant minds L had ever encountered. This did not make him feel any better about being beaten by a fucking child. L was an extremely petty man about things like that.

  (He had been a worse minor. If he had been eighteen as well when faced with such an infuriating suspect, he would probably have been the one instigating physical altercations. He would have broken Light's perfect nose instead of playing around with him, and then maybe he wouldn't be undead.)

  He gnawed his thumbnail, brain too itchy to be content just pressing it against his bottom lip where he could usually stop. He knew on one level of thought he was risking ending up with sore and bloody cuticles, but it was not the level primarily in charge of his teeth and hands when he was stressed. Was he stressed? Extremely, yes. But should he have been? His life wasn't even in danger, nor was Wammy's. Kira hadn't claimed his first kill yet, probably hadn't acquired his weapon, that awful, intriguing, unassuming notebook. And when he did, L could just...

  L didn't even have to do anything. He could just ignore it, and stay ensconced in whatever HQ he chose. Name unrecorded, face unknown, existence not relevant to Light Yagami's twisted morals. He already knew all the key mechanics of Kira. The method, the means—he was sure he'd already known the why. He had all the answers he wanted. Light had given him his answers.

  His true face... It was all the confession L had needed. An honor, even.

  Ha!

  L didn't need anyone's sanction to solve the Kira problem, either. He could steal the notebook. He could hire a hitman.

  Dull pain and the taste of blood alerted him that he'd bitten through his thumb.

  He popped it into his mouth to keep blood off his keyboard. No, he didn't want to kill Light Yagami. He probably should kill Light Yagami, but he didn't want to. He wanted to... To...

⁣

Of the many casualties of the Kira case, there was no one he cared to intervene for he hadn't led to danger with his own hand. (Should he have cared more about Beyond? Eh, he'd interfere if Wammy brought it up.) Even Naomi, who he hadn't spoken to in years, should have no reason to return to her home country if L didn't repeat old plays.

  ...He wondered if he was perhaps taking the wrong lessons about treating people as expendable from the situation.

  He tapped his fingers. Naomi. He had liked her.

  He spent an hour at the keys confirming where she was. The sun had set around him, at some point, leaving him in a black room with the monitor a white inferno at the center. Moved to Burbank, engaged, retired. She must be bored out of her mind in an empty room of her own making. No wonder she had died over this case too.

  He hoped it was exciting first. Light had never mentioned her.

  Focusing all of her faculties on her boytoy only for a killer to take him away... She must have gotten very unlucky to have not proved a bigger obstacle.

⁣

After it came clear that L was reporting his experiences accurately (or hallucinating his confidant's confirmations), Wammy sat silently for a subjectively long minute and forty-seven seconds.

  "What is it like?" he asked at last. "Dying."

  "I don't know, I was kind of distracted," L deflected, because this is true.

  Wammy gave him a blank yet communicative look.

  L bit down on his other, less raw thumb. Why hadn't Wammy come back with him, possessed of his own experience to draw on? Was there another Wammy, elsewhere, who has gone back alone?

  Could it be he really didn't die? No. L was sure.

  Kira had done that, but even spider-scrabbling blunted fingertips at the bottom recesses of the linty pockets of his heart, L couldn't find it in himself to feel too righteously indignant. L was the one who had wanted to win badly enough he'd anted up his allies in their game. He had been cocky. He had been too cavalier.

  "Frustrating," he answered. "Like when you can't stay awake even though you're in the middle of a project."

  The brain, whirling determinedly away even as it stopped receiving fresh blood, as the vision narrowed down to a thin line, a screen shutting off uncaring of whether it was the end of the program.

⁣

He researched relevant players he hadn't been aware of at this point. All were transpiring to be about where he'd have plced them.

  The web of events was elaborate. But that could have been dream logic. He'd tried, but never gotten the hang of, lucid dreaming. He was not sure he would be truly convinced this was happening until he'd discovered a why.

  He hovered his overful teacup not quite at his lips. Next, he could find a backdoor into the TCPD systems, but...maybe...

  He wormed into Yagami Light's computer instead. After 24 hours of passive data collection this provided him with Souichirou's passwords and how Light concealed he was using them.

  It was very amateur, which was the best way to hack an organization that thought it was going to be hacked by professionals. Casual exploitation of loose security.

  It was child's play on top of this to get a day-old visual on Light. L looked at the security photo and felt a thrill up his spine. Ah, death really didn't change me for the better at all, he thought.

⁣

"What's next in the docket?" asked Wammy, tidying up the workstation they were slated to abandon. (L remained on his computer chair and let this happen around him.) He was content to follow L's lead, even knowing he had led them both to their deaths.

  "I want to find out why I've come back in time, and how," said L. "...But I don't have any leads to speak of."

  "Except young Yagami," concluded Wammy, who was not an unclever man.

  "I don't want to return to the Kira case," L admitted.

  "Completely understandable," said Wammy without judgment. He was not an overly moral man, either.

  L fidgeted. Flopped somewhat. "The Kira case is the most interesting case on the planet right now," he said.

  Wammy waited.

  "But I already know how he kills," L sulked. "And dying kind of hurt."

  Wammy's mouth pursed at this. But he only asked, "What are you planning, L?"

  "I'm going to insert myself," announced L, rising and stepping out of his chair. "What do we have in liquid assets right now?"

  "What will this be put toward?" inquired Wammy.

  L rolled his eyes up toward the ceiling and thought about it, chewing his lip. "Shenanigans," he declared.

  He realized he had forgotten a social step and stopped his creep for the exit. He swiveled his head around. "Though Weatherby, if you want to return to the school for a year or two, or perhaps go on vacation—"

  "I'll go where you go," interrupted Wammy, chilly.

  L pursed his lips, finding now he'd began it that this was not the perfunctory check-in he'd taken it for. He said, "I would prefer if you didn't die."

  Wammy sighed. "A similar sentiment is why I will accompany you."

  L turned back around. "I see," he said, nodding. "Emotional blackmail."

  "This time I trust you to take the appropriate precautions," said Wammy.

  "Ugh," said L. "You're no fun."

⁣

To enact his very ingenious and only partially driven by general doubt in reality and spite scheme, L got a job at a pastry chain in Tokyo.

  After less than a single afternoon, the manager deemed L unfit to serve customers (this was correct), so he was shuffled onto glazing duty. He accepted this without complain as, due to the pop-up-cum-cart-style layout of the establishment, this still allowed him a clear view of anyone patronizing the establishment. Moreover, he did not especially want to serve customers.

  He despised the thin plastic sanitation gloves, which felt like rather than protecting his hands they moved the barrier of contaminated flesh up to his wrists, oils creeping and substances splashing upwards, until he wanted to decontaminate his arms up to the elbows and down to the bone.

   It's for the case, he told himself even though there was no case, not really. It was the same process of steeling himself to put discomfort aside for a greater cause.

  The greater cause this time was just bullying Yagami Light.

  This is a cinnamon roll of great justice, he told himself, then held it up to eye level and examined it, debating whether to eat half of it in front of his manager. For great justice.

⁣

His fingers twitched. He solved cold cases from his backlog and sent in tips about them thumb-typed on a PDA on his lunch breaks. He was so understimulated he contemplated playing some stocks, which he was trying to cut back on. He had more money than one person could ever need and than he had any inclination to redistribute responsibly, and also he acclimated to them the way some people did to pachinko.

⁣

The manager sat him down. "I have been informed I can't fire you," he said.

  "Yes," said L, who had purchased the chain before applying for the job.

  "But I want to," said his manager, like it was important L knew.

  "That's fine," said L. He pulled an industrial tub of cold icing over, stuck one finger into it, and licked it.

  The manager's mouth flexed murderously. L entertained himself briefly by imagining this scheme if Light was his manager.

⁣

When Light finally walked in, L had been shuffled back to cashier duty to get him to stop licking the donut icing, where he would remain until customer satisfaction dropped untenably low. With a pull that was gravity-inevitable, they locked eyes across the room, and a realization was clear to L at once:

  He's bored again.

  Without anyone challenging to oppose him, Kira was already getting bored. A smile spread like an ocean oil slick over L's face. Or perhaps like the mysterious and ever-widening sticky spot under the second stove that no one could seem to mop up.

  Everything was falling in line with his loftiest expectations. Light would crawl on his knees right to L. He didn't realize it, but he was desperate.

  And L would lead this insufferable man, in his supplication, right through the mystery floor goo.

  L favored Light with his (he was told) very unsettling customer service smile. "Welcome to Cinnabon," he said.

—

AO3

[magnetictapedatastorage]

like once a month i have to take a minute to appreciate that from the 1950s to the 2010s when we wanted data storage the collective solution was "eh throw some rust at it." i'm serious. half a century.

these are data tapes, essentially rust on a ribbon, and were used in huge mainframes:

this is rust on a circle, kept in a protective sleeve. they got smaller over time but all use iron oxide particles just like the tapes above:

this is also rust on a circle, but kept more secure inside a metal box so that it can be protected and kept ultra-clean:

...those metal boxes got pretty small. small enough to fit inside one of these:

[wonkyplate]

how could you not be obsessed with the soong's when this whole family are designed to make each other depressed

a brilliant man who fathers androids in his own likeness, more concerned with the continuation of his legacy and research than with showing love to his own children

a kind woman with so much love to give but her husband and children can't love her back in the same way (except maybe lore, but we know that at some point she came to fear him and he was deactivated)

[spoiler] the eldest android, one of noonien's first prototypes, who lacks the positronic net his younger brothers are built with. i can only assume he was treated differently by his father for the "failure" he built him with

the middle child who is designed with all the faculties of someone who can experience the best and worst of humanity and is punished for becoming wayward as a result, with little to no guidance or help ("you could have fixed me!")

the youngest android who is perfectly suspended behind the window of humanity and spends his life trailing after it, constantly in search of fitting in when he's aware it may never happen. if this father truly loved any of them, data was the most loved - which begs the question: was noonien so afraid of showing love that he required a son who couldn't know the difference?

and then you've got:

data not remembering anything about his family (wiped clean) but he has all the memories of the colonists who feared him ???

[spoiler] juliana's memories and humanity being unknowingly transferred into an android because her husband couldn't bear the thought of losing her, something which data learns after he meets her decades after the memory-wipe, but noonien still ends up losing her when she leaves years later and remarries

[spoiler] the conflict of morality when choosing whether to tell your mother she is now an android because you're desperate to have some sort of a family to share your life with, and not telling her to save her happiness !!!!!!!!!!!

data being left behind out in the cold on omicron theta while the crystalline entity destroyed the colony and all organic life on the planet, because juliana was afraid that he would turn out like lore and she couldn't bear the thought of damning another son to a life of misery

lore and data clearly feeling some sort of sibling connection but neither of them being well equipped to be the perfect brother. lore is on a crusade for a satisfaction that he'll never achieve without his family's help and data is too rigid to fully understand the intricacies. there have been too many betrayals and too much hurt for data to let lore in willingly (+ vise versa but the Mentally Ill edition)

b-4 being entirely too good for this world. he deserved so much more

this family is one of the most fucked up things about star trek. roddenberry didn't want to introduce conflict into the utopian series and so while it's a beautiful vision to aspire to, it's got this naïve and unfulfilled feel to it. people and stories thrive on conflict & solution, so the writers must have an exceptionally difficult time keeping things interesting for us. tng pulled it out of the bag with the soong tragedies

[writing-until-i-drop]

What's In A Name? Chapter Seven

Meg Harding and Kate Carter were inseparable until their friends died five ago, then she ran to New Orleans to save lives as a paramedic. But when Javi calls on his two oldest friends to help him collect data, counting on their matching natural instincts for tornadoes, Meg goes home for the first time in years. That's where she meets Tyler and the rest of the Wranglers, the YouTube storm chasers her dad likes to watch, and finds herself fitting in more with them than with Storm PAR. Meg only plans to stay for the week but will it be easy to leave when the dust settles?

If a certain cowboy has a say in it, nothing about leaving is going to be easy.

A/N: Time to get back to taming tornadoes

AO3 Link

Previous Chapter

Meg woke with the sun, giving Tyler a kiss on the cheek as she snuck out of bed, sliding her pillow between his arms. She poked her head in Kate’s bedroom only to find it empty, could she have been in the barn? Meg rushed down the stairs and out the front door, ignoring the rain, and Cathy shouting after her, a glimmer of hope in her chest. Kate was sitting at the desk, flipping through her old research, wearing the same clothes from the night before. She looked up, grinning from ear to ear and Meg felt herself getting excited, smiling back.

“Are we back?” Meg wasn’t sure what she would do if Kate said no, she needed her best friend back, her other half, her matching shade. She wanted them to be on the same page just like they used to be. 

“We’re back, Mud Bug.” Meg shouted in excitement, jumping in the air. “Think Tyler can get me a new model up and running?” 

“You bet your ass, baby.” Kate hugged her tight, spinning them both around, their unbridled laughter filling the barn for the first time in a long time. “What changed your mind?” 

“You, my mom, Tyler,” Kate shook her head as they pulled apart, “He asked me how much more I was willing to let that tornado take from me and I realized I’d already let it take three of my friends, I wasn’t going to let it cost me another. Not you, not when I just got you back.” 

“You’ve always had me, Katie my Lady,” Meg hugged her again. “And we’re going to finish this together, for them.” 

“God, I’m so glad you’re doing this with me.” 

“Always,” Meg was grinning from ear to ear, matching the expression on Kate’s face. “Want to help me wake Tyler? Like we used to do with Jeb?” Kate snorted, 

“Definitely.”

The two girls strolled back towards the house, soaking themselves from head to toe. Cathy spotted them from the kitchen, smiling at their intertwined hands.

“I’ll cook breakfast, you’ll be needing it.” They thanked her, giggling as they trekked up the stairs. “But you’ll be cleaning up all that mud you’re tracking!” A small price to pay. When they got to the guest room, Tyler was still sound asleep, clutching the pillow, and with a mischievous glance, the girls threw themselves on top of him.

“Wake up, wake up, wake up!” 

“Huh? What?” Tyler struggled beneath their combined weight, blinking up at them. They were wearing matching grins, their drenched clothes soaking him and the sheets in seconds.

“We’re gonna do it, baby,” Meg wheezed happily, Kate wriggling on top of her.

“Do what?” Tyler asked, his voice raspy from sleep.

“Tame a tornado!” Kate cheered, beating excitedly on Meg’s back. “Get up, come on,” Meg and Kate scrambled off of him, heading straight out of the bedroom, Tyler calling after them. 

By the time Tyler got to the barn with his laptop, Kate had all of her data laid out on a workbench and Meg was up in the loft, using the pulley system Jeb had helped her install to lower barrels of solution to the ground. 

“Mornin’, darlin’,” Meg called out, tearing up her hands as she slowly lowered one of the heavy, yellow  barrels. “Kate, babe, you know where I left my gloves?” 

“Tyler, can you toss her the red gloves on that desk over there?” Kate pointed towards Parveen’s desk, which had been uncovered sometime in the night.

“Yes, ma’am. So, we’re doing this?” 

“We’re doing this,” Kate and Meg responded together, making him smile. He grabbed the gloves and climbed up the ladder to the loft, passing them over to Meg.

“You gotta stop sneaking out of bed in the morning, baby,” She rolled her eyes, giving him a peck on the lips.

“I’ll write it in my vows,” Tyler was staring up at her like a man in love, smiling softly with expressive eyes. She kissed him again, cupping the back of his head. Tyler’s lips were soft and warm against hers, his tongue slid across her bottom lip but she pulled back. “You know, I’m gonna find you gettin’ Kate that new model pretty sexy.” 

“Yeah?” He grinned, 

“Yeah.” Tyler bit his bottom lip, looking more handsome than Meg thought he had a right to, watching her turn back to the barrels before sliding down the ladder and joining Kate at the workbench. Meg took a minute, watching two of the most important people in her life, standing side-by-side, huddled close over a laptop. 

Meg wanted to get used to this, being back in the barn, watching Kate be smart, the excitement of an upcoming chase brewing in her chest. She could see it now, Lily working on Cairo at Parveen’s old workbench, Dani fixing up Tyler’s truck in the middle of the barn, Boone editing videos at Jeb’s desk, Dexter working on the scientific instruments in Addy’s corner, while she checked over her supplies. It would be like old times but different in the best kind of way.

Cathy made them break for breakfast at some point, preening like a proud mother hen that they were getting back to Kate and Parveen’s research project. Afterwards, Meg took the time to mop her and Kate’s muddy footprints from the floor before rejoining the duo in the barn. Only to be turned around by her shoulders by Kate and pushed back towards the house,

“Time to get dressed, Mud Bug.” 

“We goin’?” 

“We’re going,” Kate confirmed, “You ready for this?” She held out her hand,

“Born ready, babe,” And for the first time in years they did their secret handshake. “But I’m gonna need to borrow some clothes.” 

Dressed in Kate’s jeans and a Sooner jersey tied off at the waist, Meg did a check of everything she had left in her medical kit after the tornado from a few nights before, making a mental note of everything she needed to restock on. Mostly bandaids, gauze, and alcohol wipes. 

“Did you mean that, what you said in the barn?” Tyler came up from behind, kissing Meg’s neck. She leaned back into his chest, reaching up to cup the back of his neck, his arms wrapped around her waist.

“About bein’ ready to chase today?” Her squeezed her hip and it dawned on her what he was talking about. “About needing my gloves to move those barrels?” Her palms really were torn up but she had taken a few minutes to bandage them up.

“Are you always going to be like this?” Tyler kissed her neck again, sending a shiver down her spine.

“Obstinate? A pain in the ass? Teasin’?” His teeth grazed over her pulse point, stealing some of her desire to go chasing instead of staying in Cathy’s spare bedroom all day. “You askin’ me about what I’m gonna write in my vows, Arkansas?” Tyler hummed, covering her neck in kisses. “We’ve gotta go, Ty.” 

“You gonna answer my question?” Meg turned in his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, taking in the moment. Tyler was too handsome, standing there in an orange flannel shirt, wearing a backwards baseball cap, staring down at her with those big green eyes of his. “I know it’s only been a few days, darlin’, but…” He trailed off, eyes squeezing shut. “I feel like-” He exhaled sharply. “I’m not good with words, baby.”

“You’re doin’ fine, Ty.” She brought him down into a kiss, “I’ll be writin’ it in my vows, hell, I could write them tonight, but,” He caught her lips in another, needy kiss. “Let’s give it a little bit more time before we call the preacher though.” Tyler kissed her until she was dying for air, her mind consumed by thoughts of him. 

What would happen when she went back to New Orleans? Her heart hurt at the thought but she couldn’t just abandon the life she had built there to what, see if when the adrenaline faded they were still infatuated with each other? It wasn’t practical, it wasn’t responsible, but a part of her wanted it more than anything in the world. 

“Let’s go tame a storm, baby,” Meg pulled away first, Tyler not releasing his hold on her waist. His eyes went wide, cheeks flushing dark red, “What?”

“You’ve got a really delicate neck, darlin’.” Meg groaned, knowing exactly what had happened.

“I bruise like a peach,” Cathy was going to have a field day when they got downstairs. “Let’s go.” 

Downstairs, Cathy sent Kate to the truck with a bag of sandwiches and Tyler with a cooler, pulling Meg into the kitchen for a quick word. 

“Is it time for me to call Rabbit and declare myself a winner?” She gently touched Meg’s neck, inspecting what she was sure was only a small hickey. Meg batted away her hands,

“No, there are no winners yet.” Cathy perked up,

“Yet?” Meg rolled her eyes, hurrying towards the front door. “Yet?” Cathy called out after her, throwing her hands up in exaggerated frustration as Meg basically threw herself in the backseat, telling Tyler to step on it. 

Kate could not sit still, she was far too curious about everything in Tyler’s truck to not look around like a kid in a candy store. She was fully slipped out of her seat belt, dangling over the center console, digging through everything on the floorboards.

“What are you two getting into?” Tyler asked, focused on driving but getting increasingly more distracted. Meg’s hand touched something that crinkled beneath the driver’s seat and hollered in excitement when she pulled it out.

“Cheese Doodles, hell yeah!” She tossed one back, it was only mildly stale. “Ooh, Sour Patch Kids.” 

“Stop it,” Tyler admonished, Kate settled back in her seat but didn’t stop snooping.

“You have a lot of stuff in here.” She flipped down the visor,

“Yeah, that…that’s a mirror.” Tyler sounded so done with them as Meg continued to list off every snack she found tucked away in the back. Kate opened the glove box, signed photos of Tyler spilling out. Meg burst out laughing as Kate reacted in a mix of horror and embarrassment, quickly shoving it closed. “Have you ever been in a car before?” Kate’s embarrassment didn’t last long though as she started flipping switches Meg knew she shouldn’t be touching. Meg, instead of saying anything, just sat back and watched the show.

“You got a lot of gadgets.” 

“Don’t touch that, there’s guards there for a reason,” Tyler warned but Kate went about what was decidedly not her business, flipping each of the red safety guards.

“What do these do?” Meg laughed, watching Tyler try to stop Kate from setting off the rockets and then trying to keep his composure when she did. Kate, to her credit, immediately apologized and stopped messing around with things. 

“Alright,” He pointed at the weather map on the screen showing three storm cells, “What about these two little ones just west of Enid?” 

“Yeah, but this one to the east has the sky all to herself,” Kate pointed at the screen. Meg rolled her eyes, texting Lily about the whole fireworks thing.

“Yeah, I’m not falling for that one again.” Kate threw Meg a “can you believe him” look that had her giggling and Tyler sighed. “You serious?” 

“Tell you later.” 

“Baby, tell her not to be mean to me,” Tyler whined, reaching his hand back. She squeezed it, loving that he was keeping her included even though she was in the back seat.

“Katie my Lady, tell the man which direction to go.” 

“Don’t start taking his side,” Kate sassed with a laugh, pointing Tyler in the right direction.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” 

“Hey!” 

Taglist: @theforevermorereject @beltzboys2015-blog @writingrose @sinners-98-world @nerdgirljen @candlejuice @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby @football1921 @katiemcrae @emma8895eb @itsdesiree86 @closetspngirl @lostinwonderland314 @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @winterassassin1804

Next Chapter

[seniorpollinationtechnician]

Meet the Townies: ᴇᴛʜᴀɴ ᴀɴᴅ ɪꜱᴀᴀᴄ

Ethan Harper grew up an only child and spent his formative years immersed in the world of engineering. His fascination with machines and technology was inspired by his father who was a skilled mechanic. While attending high school, Ethan secretly began working on a personal project where he attempted to design and build a robot. He poured countless hours into this endeavor, often sacrificing teenage milestones to tend to this robot he later named ISAAC (Intelligent System and Advanced Assistant Companion). Upon graduating High School, Ethan enrolled at Foxbury Institute where he pursued a degree in Mechanical Engineering. During his time there, Ethan excelled in his studies, consistently earning top marks and impressing his professors with his innovative ideas and dedication to the craft. In his free time, he continued to work on ISAAC since the university's state-of-the-art facilities and access to cutting-edge resourced allowed him to make significant improvements. He refined ISAAC's design, enhanced its capabilities and incorporated the latest advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics. After graduating with honors from Foxbury, Ethan quickly began carving out a professional life for himself. His reputation as a brilliant young engineer opened many doors and he received numerous job offers from leading tech companies. Ethan's expertise eventually caught the attention of the military who offered him a position to develop a project for them. Though he initially hesitated, the opportunity was too enticing to pass up. Despite his professional success and the accolades he received for his work, Ethan felt an intense void in his life that he couldn't seem to fill. His relentless pursuit of perfection in his projects, particularly with ISAAC, often left him feeling isolated. The extensive time he spent in the lab, both during his time at Foxbury and throughout his career, meant that his personal life took a backseat. Ethan's social interactions were limited and he found it difficult to connect with others on a deeper level. His closest colleagues, at one point, noticed and gently encouraged him to step out of his comfort zone and try dating. Ethan reluctantly agreed and while the dates he went on did not lead to a lasting relationship, it helped Ethan open up and see the value in balancing his personal and professional life. As he continued to make strides in his professional career, Ethan was approached by his alma mater, Foxbury institute, with an invitation to teach part-time. The university recognized his achievements and believed that his expertise could inspire and educate the next generation of engineers. Teaching at Foxbury became a profoundly rewarding experience for him. Standing before eager students, he shared his knowledge and passion. He found joy in helping them navigate their own paths and would often encourage them to think creatively and push the boundaries of what was possible. Meanwhile, ISAAC continued to improve every day, becoming an indispensable part of Ethan's life. By this point, ISAAC's capabilities extended far beyond what Ethan originally intended. ISAAC excelled in research assistance, laboratory management, and technical maintenance. The robot could analyze complex data, run simulations and suggest innovative solutions to engineering problems which significantly sped up Ethan's workflow. ISAAC also managed clerical tasks such as organizing files, scheduling meetings, and maintaining equipment, allowing Ethan to focus on more critical aspects of his projects. ISAAC'S home automation features made Ethan's personal life a breeze, as well. The robot could control various smart devices, perform household chores, such as cleaning and grocery shopping, and even cook meals based on Ethan's dietary preferences. Recently, Ethan and ISAAC relocated to the town of Oasis Springs due to a job offer at a cutting-edge research lab.

[headphones-ct-09978]

So....I saw this earlier today. Apparently this is Kylo Ren's quarters and it's just.....so freaking sad! 😢

That being said, I had an idea: What if Kylo's apprentice, who works for/with Hux and is paid a hefty wage, buys him a new bed and other comforts?

Comfy

Kylo Ren X General Hux X Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: Kylo Ren's apprentice worries about him.

Tags: @kylorenny @jaynesilver @lifeofroos @knightsofladyren

(I tagged some of you cuz I thought you'd like this. Lemme know if you don't wanna be tagged in any more 😅)

. Your master was away on yet another solo mission, the directive unknown to you. While he was away, you were back to working for Hux as his assistant. Things were running smoothly, and with Kylo gone, Armitage seemed a little more at ease. Either it was that tea he was sipping once again, or the absence of your master, but he was smiling more and was generally more relaxed. That morning, or rather, the start of your rotation, was no different. You were busy filling in data into your data pad when he walked over to you and rested his hand on your shoulder, a gesture which was rare but welcome. "How's the report coming along, Y/n?"

You flashed him a startled smile, his action shocking you out of your thoughts momentarily. "It's going fairly decent, General. Everything is accounted for and the updates from our suppliers just arrived. Is there anything we need, aside from rations and weapons?"

Hux thought for a moment, reading what was on your data pad over your shoulder. After a moment, something seemed to click in his head. "You have everything listed, but Lord Ren has...certain preferances in regards to rations."

"He's a picky eater?" you asked in jest, glancing over your shoulder at the ginger general. Hux snorted "I wish it were that, but no. He's on a strict diet, at least that's what he's mentioned."

"Do you know what he prefers? He hasn't told me much about his...personal habits." you replied, opening a new tab on your pad so you can jot down any notes or suggestions Hux had. But Hux shook his head. "I haven't the faintest of clues as to what that man likes or doesn't."

"Fair enough."

A moment passed as Hux thought of a solution. "He may have some products in his quarters that may clue us in as to what he eats." he retrieved his own data pad and swiped the screen a few times before he pulled up a pass code and sent the set of numbers to you.

"What's this?" you asked as you stared at the lengthy line of numbers.

"That is Kylo Ren's pass code to his quarters. He's an extremely secretive and private man and it was a pain to figure this out."

You tried to hide the smirk on your face. "And why, General, would you want to enter his quarters?"

Hux flicked the tip of your ear, a tiny playful gesture. "We have regulations here aboard this ship, and those regulations require a certain level of tidiness. Kylo has very little time, it seems, to keep his quarters neat. The pass code is for service droids to clear up any...messes he leaves." The General was, of course, referring to the times when Kylo vented his rage on anything within reach, often destroying furniture or consoles. Hux, as always, had to either pay for the damages himself or clean up the debris.

"Ooooooh, oh I get." You said, still flashing him a cheeky smirk, a smirk which he returned moments before he took another sip from the mug he was holding.

"Well, in that case, I'll go take inventory of what he has and get back to you on that." With that, you gave him a tiny salute and headed towards your master's quarters.

...

"Whoa..."

As the doors whooshed open, you were greeted with a cold, stark sight. The room was entirely black, it's lights a cold white. The table was empty, the bed that was against the wall was entirely too small for your master. The room was devoid of comfort and warmth, at least the kind of warmth that a man with such status should have. There was no furniture whatsoever, aside from the one chair that was near the table. You walked in and immediately shivered. It would appear that not even the heat was on in this room. "How can a man live like this?" you mumbled, feeling pity for your master as you walked towards the cupboards.

The cupboards, which were also a smooth, obsidian hue, were situated on the opposite side of the room, near what you assumed was a sink. You opened one of the cupboards and found...absolutely nothing. His shelves were empty save for a few dust bunnies. The sight concerned you. "How the fuck does he eat or sleep? No, no, this isn't good. Screw it," you shut the cupboard quite forcefully. "He's getting fed and sleeping when he gets back, I don't care how mad he gets."

With that, you swiftly left the room with plans and a grand scheme.

...

"You want me to do what???" Hux choked out after he spat out his tea in shock when I informed him of my plan.

"You don't have to pay for anything, I'll use my own credits, but I think he needs this." you said again. You showed Hux the list you made, as well as the already filled out request papers you had signed. He scrolled through the data pad, reviewing everything you had requested, brows furrowed in concern. "You sure about this, Y/n?" his grey green eyes looking back at yours. You nodded, not changing your mind. This had to be done. Hux sighed. "Fine. I'll have these sent. Everything should arrive before he returns."

You smiled and gave him a hug, earning a surprised "oh!" from him. "Thank you, Armitage!" you said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Hux cleared his throat a little, trying to hide the blush that was making it's way onto his face. "Alright, alright, don't get used to it. I'm not in the business of granting everyone's requests. This is a one time deal, since you are paying for everything."

You chuckled and nodded. "Very well, General."

...

The mission had been brutal and Kylo was battered and bruised all over. But when he exited his ship, he walked with his masked head held high. His confident stride, however, held a bit of a slight limp. A shot from a blaster had grazed his calf, leaving him wounded. He tried to ignore the pain, but the could already feel that the bandage his leg was bound with was starting to leak, blood dampening his trousers. Exhausted, he made his way to his quarters, ordering a passing officer to send a medical droid to his room.

Unlike most who returned from battles, looking forward to whatever comfort they had, Kylo knew he had nothing to feel good about returning to. At least, comfort wise. He almost grimaced when he envisioned his baron room, knowing that rest and recovery was not an option. Or so he thought.

When the doors opened, his eyes widened beneath his mask. "What the-"

Kylo walked into the room, looking around in confusion. 'Did I walk into the wrong room?' he asked himself. He turned around for any telltale signs of his presence, and sure enough, there, to the left of the door, was a burnt gash where he had slashed his saber across the metal.

He turned back to the interior of the room, and stared at his new surroundings. The table was no longer empty, but had some bottles of sweet beverages and crisp water on top of it's smooth surface, and there was also a bowl filled with fruits. But that was not all. The tiny bed that Kylo once had, was now replaced with a lavish looking one. The frame appeared to be made from metal materials found and mined from Cantobight or somewhere from that planet's region. The bed posts were tall and had what appeared to be hooks on them, for holding/hanging articles of clothing. Kylo approached the bed and placed his hand on top of the black comforter that covered the bed. All his life, he never had anything quite as nice or comfortable. In fact, he felt he never deserved anything quite like this.

He took his mask off and placed it on the nightstand beside the bed. When he did, he saw a little piece of paper poking out from under one of the pillows. He reached over and pulled it out, recognizing your handwriting right away. As he read your little note, he felt a small smile spread across his weary face. When he was done reading it, he tucked it into his pocket.

That sleep rotation, after the droid had left and gave him the usual programmed "You need to rest" speech, he pulled back the covers, curled up, and for the first time in years, he slept, resting both his body and soul.

-End-

[theminecraftbee]

second’s slightly arbitrary guide to vault hunters knowledge unlocks

so, one of the main questions I see new vault hunters players have is “which mods should I unlock in what order?” unlike skills or even, if expensively, expertises, mod unlocks in vault hunters are completely irreversible, which means they can be kind of intimidating for new players. so here’s my (somewhat arbitrary) guide to what to unlock! keep in mind I’m not a “top player” or anything, so these might not be the PERFECT meta picks, just a guide for new guys.

also if your question is “but I have one knowledge star and am like level 5 what do I unlock NOW”, the answer is probably vault compasses if you’re getting lost, either stack upgrades or double pouches if you’re having inventory management issues (depending on whether “numerous stacks of common items” or “many types of items” is currently your larger problem), or storage drawers if overworld storage is giving you nightmares.

additionally, my biggest unlocking mods advice is to check how much the thing you want to do costs in materials before unlocking it. nothing sucks more than unlocking a cool mod and only realizing you need an echo pog to interact with it and you’re only level 15 afterwards, after all!

anyway let’s go, general guide beneath the cut.

STORAGE MODS

these mods give you the first three without price increases before they start getting more expensive, which is useful, since people almost always combine more than one solution. even after they start getting more expensive, it’s only +1, so this is a category you should get the thing you want or need in when you want it without worrying about it locking you out of other options later.

Storage Drawers are the backbone to basically everyone’s storage system. they work fairly simply: each drawer can store a certain number of stacks of a single item. add upgrades to increase the number of stacks or make the drawers automatically void excess. if they are connected by other drawers or trim to a drawer controller, you can double-click the controller to move everything in your inventory that goes into a drawer to one of them, and that controller acts as a port for other storage interacting with it. because they can store an absurd quantity of items, are way cheaper than basically every other storage option, and are useful right up to the late game, these are by far and away the most common first storage option. I can’t recommend them enough. even early game before you can afford a controller they clean up your inventory SIGNIFICANTLY with the number of stacks they can hold.

Colossal Chests are a trap earlygame. unlike regular chests, you can’t use quark’s sorting or searching functions, which means they’re effectively the “hiding it under the bed” solution to chest monsters. however, mid-game once you actually have another storage mod, these become fantastic, since they’re much cheaper and use much more common materials than storage disks and capable of storing large amounts of items. the largest one you can make in vault hunters is 5x5 for the record. a lot of people like using this with ssn to help reduce lag.

Simple Storage Network is… controversial. it’s the cheapest early way to make a searchable storage network, but it gets very laggy the more chests you attach to it, and many of a storage system’s most useful functions are no longer possible to craft in vault hunters because of it. also, it eats items with NBT data, so never store crystals, jewels, gear, or similar things in it. my general recommendation is to do whatever you want in singleplayer (although if you want a crafting interface you’ll need to upgrade out of this eventually), but in multiplayer only use it if you’re using colossal chests or something else that prevents you from having to make massive silos of chests, and save your server the headache. it’s only one knowledge point, though, and it’s much cheaper generally than the digital options, so I totally understand why people go for it, and it can super be worth it early game when you just need to be able to search your inventory! just be aware of the caveats.

Applied Energistics 2 is one of your two main digital storage options. digital storage should be your end goal with a storage system! it is the more complex of the two. my understanding is that it’s cheaper if you know what you’re doing, as well as more powerful, but that it’s notoriously a beast for people who don’t know it to try to understand. if you don’t have good spacial reasoning skills maybe stay clear, but if you do and you like a more involved storage approach, go with this. also, be aware you’ll need something that can produce power in order to use this mod. (ae2 comes with power generation on its own, but I don’t remember if you can craft that in vault hunters or not.)

Refined Storage is the other of your two main digital storage options. digital storage should be your end goal with a storage system! compared to ae2, refined storage is fairly straightforward, but it’s slightly more expensive and a bit less powerful at its highest levels. it is the one I recommend to most people, though, just because “straightforward” is really valuable if you don’t want everything to be a puzzle. also, be aware that you’ll need a mod that can produce power to use this mod.

Mekanism QIO is a third digital storage option you can only use with Mekanism unlocked. my understanding is that it’s quite powerful, although it does not work with altar automation. most people won’t use this on account of mekanism being a pre-requisite and mekanism being fairly late-game, but if you want to use it, it’s almost certainly just as good of an option as the rest!

LOOTING MODS

the majority of these are pouch upgrades, but this also contains bulk soul dust recycling and the vault junk controller. these mods get more expensive by two points for every one you get, so the order does matter somewhat; remember for each mod in this category you get that is not “a bigger pouch”, the slightly further away bigger pouches get, and for each bigger pouch you get, the further away other inventory management gets. so it’s a balance for when you get what! that said, most players end up unlocking basically everything in this category eventually, because it’s all quite useful, and even at maximum price it doesn’t get as expensive as the production mods or big mods or big toys get. unlock things as you need them in this category. I tend to unlock things in this category whenever I have the knowledge stars to unlock it and nothing else I want to save up for at that exact moment!

Bigger Pouches are the vast majority of the unlocks here (being double pouches, belts, small backpacks, and large backpacks). they’re prerequisites for each other, so you have to unlock them one by one. normally, I unlock them when the pouches I have aren’t cutting it. that said you could just as easily get by with a small army of smaller pouches, you just won’t be able to fit as many upgrades! so this is a mileage may vary thing.

Stack Upgrades are the most useful pouch upgrades, and should be the first ones you buy. these are multiplicative by each other—two tier 2 stack upgrades in the same pouch don’t add 8x the number of stacks a single slot can hold, but 16x! these also mean pouches with a lot of stack upgrades can be a poor man’s storage drawers in a pinch. you will need these, get them before you upgrade past double pouches.

Refill Upgrades are one of the two QOL pouch upgrades. you can save this until late, but the ability to automatically always have a stack of an item (or, well, up to nine items!) in your hotbar is extremely handy for things like marking blocks, kiwis, and food, and helps save hotbar space and time managing inventory. I personally find this more useful than the feeder upgrade but that’s a preference thing.

Feeder Upgrades do one thing only: automatically have you eat a food (which can be controlled with a whitelist/blacklist) from the pouch it’s installed in when your hunger goes down. this seems sort of arbitrary in vaults since hunger doesn’t heal your health but it’s actually really nice and once you get used to it you’ll be so sad whenever you don’t have it. set the food it feeds you to vault sweets and literally never have to worry about your hunger bar again. this is normally either the last pouch upgrade I get or second-to-last (before big backpacks) but I could totally justify getting it way sooner.

Junk Controller is… interesting. it sometimes doesn’t play nice with pickup upgrades and pouches, although I think that’s fixes at this point. it automatically voids items you pick up in the vault that are on its list of controlled items. it’s capable of handling WAY more than a void upgrade can, but honestly I find the advanced void upgrade can do everything I need it to when it comes to voiding vault items, and the junk controller is pretty expensive. however, if you’d prefer not to have to use void upgrades and to never have to deal with vault junk again, I could see this being the thing for you!

Soul Harvester is pure QOL. it is so much faster than and so much more efficient than the soul diffuser that I recommend everyone get it at SOME POINT, if only to make processing things into soul dust more efficient, but if you don’t do much recycling it’s probably not very useful for you.

POWER MODS

this is the first category on the list that makes other mods in the category enough more expensive that the order you unlock in, and whether you unlock at all, matters, at +6 per mod. you will also almost inevitably need at least one of these no matter what you do. as such, this category can be overwhelming for people. luckily it has an answer! the answer is powah. you should get powah. yes I know it’s the most expensive one and means you’ll have to wait longer but you’ll thank me later.

Iron Generators are sort of a trap. they’re cheap at low levels and good for early game, but the cost for higher-level power generation is very high compared to how much power they make, they burn fuel whether something is currently drawing power or not, they don’t come with any kind of cables so you’ll need a handling mod to move the power or to place them directly next to the things they need to power, they can’t charge items like the mining gadget or the building gadget, and they make everything else in the category more expensive. however with all of that said: if all you’re doing is powering an RS system, then yeah, you’re probably fine to just use these forever and buying these as the cheap option is probably fine.

Powah is the most versatile of the options here and comes with literally everything you need to make a decent self-sustaining power grid. the best generators for most people are the solar panels, which only require direct sunlight, and thermo generators, which provide power as long as they’re above a heat source and provided water. a supplementaries sink (which doesn’t require a mod unlock) or a thermal expansion aqueous accumulator (which does) can do that job easily. additionally, batteries are really useful for various gadgets, the ender network lets you move power remotely, and it can charge items inside its energy cells. the main downside to this mod is that it’s a royal pain in the ass to actually CRAFT any of this; while most of the individual ingredients aren’t that expensive, there are normally many steps to any higher level craft and the base ingredients add up. luckily, mod boxes are really good with this mod, and you can normally get a decent system running from almost only those.

Flux Networks are vault hunters’s best option for storing and moving power around. this mod doesn’t come with power generation options on its own, but it’s the most powerful for transferring power around by far. a good purchase in tandem with another mod.

Botania Flux Fields allows you to turn botania mana into power. it doesn’t come with any cables, so you’ll need a handling mod to move the power around, but as several botania mana flowers can be made self-sustaining, this is probably an interesting option if you already have botania before you need any power.

Thermal Dynamos are like if iron generators were actually good. they require constant fuel like an iron generator, but they have a much wider variety of things they can burn and actually produce meaningful power. they require thermal expansion to unlock, though, so I’ve never used them by virtue of the fact that by the time I have thermal expansion, I almost always also have powah. they also don’t come with cables.

Mekanism Generators are the best solution for producing very large amounts of power. the mekanism reactor is more than the vast majority of players will ever need, but if you’re getting deep enough into mekanism that you need a nuclear reactor’s level of power generation, you should accept no substitute. once again though for most people a large powah setup will normally cover your needs, this is, quite literally, the nuclear option.

HANDLING MODS

these mods don’t do much on their own, but they make handling output from other mods much easier. they make each other somewhat significantly more expensive, but tend to be overall cheaper than power mods, so even with that +5 knowledge points required for each new mod in the category, it’s not normally hard to get more than one. these are a very “get them as you need and/or want them” category, but you’ll almost always find yourself wanting at least one, if not more, to get things done.

Modular Routers are probably the best mod in this category. they do just about everything, able to wirelessly transfer items, fluids, or power, sure, but also able to activate things like a player, automatically kill mobs, vacuum items (or experience!) from the ground, and probably more. a common sight in many vault hunters bases are the signature laser beams of routers shooting things around. they can be a little complicated to understand at first and I highly recommend watching someone like iskall use them when you’re starting out, but once you understand them you will soon learn to love them. they work by creating a router, then placing “modules” in that router that tell it what to do. you can also add upgrades to the routers! this is my biggest recommended handling mod; if you only get one, this is the one that can do most everything anything else in this category can.

Pipez are simple: they’re fairly cheap pipes that move items, fluids, power, or gasses from one place to another. this is the quick and cheap option for handling, and are often the most intuitive. the downside is that you physically need to lay the pipes between places, so they take up a lot of space. fun bonus fact: at a certain level of power draw, a power pipe with an advanced pipe upgrade will be MUCH cheaper for rate of power transfer than using powah cables. I learned this the hard way. in general these are fast, minimally laggy, and surprisingly useful, especially for fluids (or gasses if you’re using mekanism).

XNet is presumably powerful but I don’t know anyone who uses it on account of it also being kind of complicated. my understanding is that if you have any kind of item/energy/etc transfer that you want to apply interesting logic to, this is your solution, so it’s probably nice as the “brain” of your base. I can’t say much else because I don’t use it though.

Dark Utilities is a small but handy mod. its biggest draw are its plates, which are items that can be placed like a carpet that do things to entities that step on them. most notable are the vector plates, which push a mob in the direction they point and the various damage plates, including a non-lethal damage plate that’s great for exp farms or the player damage plate, which makes mob drops fully AFK-able. also not to be discounted are a few redstone odds and ends (including a randomizer) and special blocks that only certain types of entities can pass through (great for filtering in farms). this mod is almost always recommended in tandem with ispawners, but can be useful in all kinds of farms outside of that too.

Iron Furnaces are basically a fancy QOL mod: they let you make really absurdly fast furnaces, including ones that are powered by power instead of fuel. they’re almost surprisingly useful though; a fast furnace can save you a whole lot of time!

Automatic Genius is—well, if you’re at the point of unlocking automatic genius, you probably already know, to be honest. it’s auto-crafting, it’s useful, it practically has the entire game as prerequisites so. there’s that.

BIG MODS

this category is one of the ones that gets to people, because it’s one of the +12 categories. whenever you pick a mod in this category, make sure it’s one you want, because the next one will be very expensive! chances are if you’re a modded player, you already have an opinion about which of these four is the most useful to you, but if you aren’t, I’ll attempt to give some tips.

Thermal Expansion is probably the easiest of the four for a new player to understand. it requires power generation, but most of this mod works by simply building a machine, which then does that machine’s one thing. (for example, the redstone furnace, which cooks things using redstone, or the pulverizer, which crushes things.) I personally really like thermal; it’s extremely straightforward and compact and decently powerful as an earlygame option. it also sort of has ore doubling; you can pulverize raw chromatic iron to make two raw chromatic iron dust, which can then be smelted to two ingots, but for other ores the ratios are a bit messier and often comes out to “just use fortune and a normal furnace unless you need the secondary products”. still, very useful as a mod!

Create is a mod you probably already know; it’s taken the world by storm, after all. building create contraptions is fun and more intuitive than redstone and routing power to a lot of people, and it has a number of very useful tools, such as the crushing wheel and its ability to ore double, the various ways you can convert items using fans, and one of the very few ways to automatically farm trees in vault hunters. the main downside of create is that it’s deceptively expensive in larimar and chromatic iron and that it can’t produce power. also, in my experience, create is the laggiest of the big mods, although your mileage may vary on that front.

Botania is a magic mod that’s secretly actually a tech mod. it doesn’t require power, instead using its own power called mana, and can be used to do a large number of useful things, including farming trees, making cobwebs and other rare and hard to make altar ingredients, and making some very pretty decorative blocks. personally, I always had trouble wrapping my head around botania for some reason, which is silly since I’ve somewhat figured out mekanism, an objectively more complicated mod. of the four big mods, botania definitely helps you get the most hard-to-get and unique blocks, but it’s the only one that doesn’t have any kind of ore doubling.

Mekanism can get you as much as quintupling your ores, has a number of fairly high-powered machines, but is also really complicated in a lot of places and requires an entire power grid to use effectively. also, the mek suit isn’t in vault hunters, if you wanted that. I love mekanism I think it’s very fun also you should NOT get this as your first big mod unless you have so many resources to spare. make this your second one at the very least, it’s VERY late-game, but enjoy it when you do.

UTILITY MODS

unlike the last several categories, these don’t make each other more expensive ever! instead, these are all mostly small but useful mods that don’t fit in another category. whenever you want one of these go ahead and buy it, there’s no reason not to and it won’t make anything else more expensive!

Vault Compasses is one of the most useful mods in the game. all it adds is a vault compass, which is a compass that always points back to the entrance of the vault. you can also hold down shift+right click to set it to point to a new point in the vault, such as a loadstone in an elixir vault or the last monolith in a defeat the guardians vault. it costs four netherite ingots, which is a lot in the early game when most people get this, but it’s VERY WORTH IT. you’ll never be lost again!

Elevators create a special block that, when above or below each other, let you jump to teleport up to an elevator above you or crouch to an elevator below you. they’re very useful in bases with verticality; I like to use them to hide a lot of my storage and mechanisms in a basement that’s invisible from the main build, lol, but they’re handy for any kind of similar thing. pro tip: you can disguise them as any block by right-clicking them with that block!

Trash Cans are what they sound like: a special block that permanently destroys what you put in them. they can have a whitelist/blacklist, and you can pipe or hopper items into them. they’re handy for things like getting rid of unwanted armor from mob farms or other junk items that would otherwise clog up your handling.

Waystones allow you to teleport to pre-determined locations; a waystone lets you interact with it to teleport to any other waystone you’ve found, if you have the mod unlocked, and the teleport pads teleport you to a specific other pad. they’re just extremely handy for getting around a server, and on my friends’ server we just give everyone a knowledge star to unlock these on day one so we can get to each other’s bases easier.

Torch Master gives you several tools for preventing mob spawning. there are ways to prevent both passive and hostile mobs from spawning, and to place large amounts of light. the mega torch has a pretty wide radius too, so it’s fairly easy to cover your whole base.

Altar Automation is the only prohibitively expensive utility mod; this is meant for use lategame. it can be bound to either an ae2 or rs controller, and then will automatically take items from that storage system to complete the altar for you, leaving your only job to hit the button and get the crystal. it’s very handy, but also deliberately meant for buying after you’ve mostly already got all the other mods you want.

BIG TOYS

all of these mods are fancy QOL mods. they all require power, so don’t get one before you have a power source! additionally, only building gadgets come with a way to charge, so make sure you either have batteries or a way to charge before getting these. at +12, this is once again a category where order matters. however, since they’re all QOL, it’s a less massively consequential choice than your choice of production or big mods. go with the one that vibes with you most.

Building Gadgets are tools to help you place blocks, copy/paste structures, swap blocks, and delete blocks. they’re held in your inventory but require power, which means they either need to be charged or you need to have a battery. luckily, they come with the enercell for charging. I can’t express enough HOW MUCH EASIER these make building large structures; the base building gadget alone speeds up building massively. I highly recommend these on any skyblock world just for sheer ease of building platforms, but also anyone who likes Big Buildings should probably consider them.

Weirding Gadgets are chunk loaders. they require power. not much else to explain other than the obvious “be careful on servers when you are leaving your farms loaded please”, I think.

Mining Gadgets is a mod that gives you a cool laser to mine blocks with. I love my mining gadget, it’s very fun, but fully upgrading a mining gadget is very expensive in chromatic steel (and in echo for the magnet and void upgrades) and a very, very solid argument can be made that the only advantage this thing has over a hammer is that it has a long range, the ability to automatically place lights, and the ability to stop liquids in their track. meanwhile, it has the very large disadvantage of requiring being charged with power, costing a lot to get upgraded, and not being able to mine more than a 3x3. it’s up to you if any of those benefits sound like they beat a hammer to you and you decide to get it.

Digital Miner is a mekanism device that automatically mines out everything in an area for you (rather like an old-school quarry). just place it in a location, give it power, and let it run! like most mekanism devices, this thing requires a lot of power, and it is, once again, arguably slower and more expensive than a hammer. however, it’s also fully automatic and requires no effort on your part to get a LOT of resources, so it can be very worth it for those who do not enjoy mining themselves!

PRODUCTION MODS

arguably even more consequential than the big mods you choose are the production mods. which production mod you go with will decide on a multiplayer server what is your “thing” and what requires trading; on singleplayer it will decide which altars will be easy for you and which will be hard. there’s also no right choice here (although I’d argue there are two wrong ones). at +12, it’ll be a bit until you unlock your second one, so choose wisely!

SNAD is a trap. it vastly speeds up the growth of things that can grow on sand but it’s just not worth the +12 to everything else for that alone—and that really is all you get. don’t get it.

Easy Piglins are less of a trap but still a trap. they allow you to put piglins in special boxes for trading, as well as make automatic traders. however they don’t really do anything that picking up a piglin, putting it in a hole near your portal, and throwing gold at it manually doesn’t do, so for the +12 to everything else, for my money, this one isn’t worth it.

Easy Villagers by contrast is worth it. while the ability to pick up villagers and easily re-roll trades doesn’t require unlocking this, the various villager blocks this mod unlocks are very handy for doing trades much easier. it also comes with one-block breeders, iron farms, and crop farms, and the ability to automate any of them, including the villager trades. personally I tend to find villager trades aren’t my main alter bottleneck, so I go for this last, but someone else may disagree with me on it, and honestly I don’t blame them. a solid choice.

Cagerium is one of the two mob farming options. cagerium works by creating terrariums for passive mobs, mob cages for hostile mobs, or a binding plate for boss mobs, and then putting spawn eggs you get from the vault in them. it then outputs that mob’s drops into a chest below, passively. you can put up to four eggs in a cage to make it faster, but you need a skeleton key to swap out what’s in a cage. also, it’s slow compared to ispanwers. however, it’s cheaper early game, doesn’t require building a farm, and is better at a few edge-case mobs (namely, boss mobs like the wither or ender dragon if you get one of those eggs and shulkers, because shulkers are a nightmare).

iSpawners is the other mob farming option. this lets you create an expensive item called a survival spawner that works like a regular vanilla mob spawner, only you can pick it up and move it, it’s much faster, you can swap what egg is in it whenever, and it is active in a much larger radius of the player. ispawners are more reusable and much faster at producing drops than cagerium, but they require infrastructure like a farm to be built around the survival spawner to be effective, and while the survival spawner is a one-time craft it’s a VERY VERY expensive one. which of the two you prefer is a matter of preference.

Botony Pots are one of the two plant-growing options. this mod lets you make pots that automatically grow plants over time, including plenty that can’t be farmed normally, such as spore blossoms or small dripleaf. the hopper botony pot has been made more expensive than it used to be, so it’s at parity or more expensive than swapping things out of a phytogenic insulator to have a lot of them, but for passively farming plants, botony pots are still king. the one plant it can’t do is any of the trees, however, so you will still need a solution for that.

Phytogenic Insulators require thermal expansion and power, and are your other plant farming option. they’re rather expensive, but they can be freely swapped through, can produce things like trees that botony pots can’t, and are much faster than botony pots (especially when maximally upgraded). like with ispawners and cagerium, this is a matter of preference for which you pick, but you’ll probably only need one of the two.

ALCHEMY MODS

these, thankfully, don’t require any strategy or explanation; you can only go one at a time, and each unlocked mod is a new upgrade to your existing vault potion (or vial to start with). each upgrade heals more health and has a stronger chosen effect. that said, no matter how high you upgrade, you always have the same number of charges. take these when you start needing that extra health!

and that’s everything! hopefully this is helpful for new players playing along with the hermits! happy vaulting!

[ninjagirlstar5]

AVA Chosenweek - Day 1: Stargazing/Cloudgazing

Ignore the fact that this is literally minutes away from midnight on the 28th where I'm from, I was a lot more busy than I thought I'd be-

I'll just clean things up in the morning but enjoy this little piece of writing I did for day 1!

Edit: Did the clean up, and here's an AO3 link!

When Chosen had first stepped into Minecraft, it wasn’t anything he had expected.

Well, seeing the red rocky terrain with lava almost as common as the Sea of Data’s waters and dangerous mobs in nearly every corner wasn’t the best first impression for a game he had never touched before, let alone heard of. But once Mango had led him to another Nether Portal, the scenery had quickly become something remotely familiar: a lush forest of grass and trees as far as the eyes can see and a river flowing nearby. It was just a little bit different from what he’s seen in the OuterNet.

Different as in, Minecraft is literally a world made of blocks. Blocks that he can break down and pick up, suddenly having an inventory where he can pick and choose what he needs with just a glance in his mind’s eye. And with just a wave of the block in hand, he can place down those blocks and build whatever he wants, even a platform he can hop on to reach a ledge he can’t get to. Not that he needed to, having the ability to fly and all, but Chosen had seen Mango do it a few times as he and his child helped scope out the area.

An area where Chosen can make his new “house.”

Well, the “house” they’ve started making was less of that, and more of a hole dug into a cliffside and blocked off with (temporary) cobblestone for the front, and a wooden door. He's not sure why Purple was so insistent that they use this spot in all honesty.

Maybe it was because Chosen had been chilling on the cliff and he had taken it as a sign that he liked it.

Maybe it was because it was the exact same spot where Mango and Chosen had stopped to rest during his first day exploring Minecraft.

Or maybe it was because the view was as nice as the OuterNet’s Data Bay and decided that it'd be good for Chosen to see it every time he woke up.

Chosen wasn't sure and he didn't really ask. He simply thought about it for only a minute before deciding it was “good enough” as a base. But when he had said that he'd need a house made of stone to avoid accidentally burning anything down, Purple immediately jumped at the chance to suggest that they build Chosen's new house into the cliff. Despite his surprise, Mango had backed his child up on their idea so long as Chosen approved and, well, he couldn’t really bring himself to say “no.”

And that was that.

Chosen was lying in a bed in his new “house,” staring at the ceiling they had dug out into a decently sized square and torches to light up the room to prevent monsters from spawning in. They had made decent progress between the three of them, with Mango helping Chosen with crafting and building the balcony while Purple measured out how much space he would need living in this base. But they had just finished the balcony’s staircase around the cliffside when Mango and Purple had to leave due to how late it had gotten. They needed to attend to their lives back in the OuterNet, Mango juggling his jobs and Purple with her classes, in order to pretend they had some kind of normal routine that didn’t involve hiding a(n ex-)terrorist from the world. And now, here he was, all alone in this tiny Minecraft bed that was surprisingly soft…

And Chosen was unable to sleep.

Figures.

Chosen sighs, dragging his hand down his face. It’s not as if he didn’t like the idea of living in Minecraft. It was probably the best option considering his circumstances, even if it wasn’t a perfect solution.

It just didn’t fully sit right with him.

Not when it felt like they were, in a way, running away from a fight.

Running away from their problems.

Running away from their own crimes.

Chosen furrows their brow, feeling a familiar urge rise in their code. It was an itch of wanting to do something when they didn’t have to do anything. When they had to lay their head down and close their eyes to sleep.

But they haven’t been able to do that in a long time, forced to jump from place to place just to avoid getting arrested by RocketCorp. And just when they were finally letting their guard down at Mango’s house…

Chosen swallows.

They don’t want to think about this.

Not right now.

So Chosen pushes the covers off of them and gets out of bed. They didn’t plan to do anything that took up too much energy, not tonight. They weren’t in the mood to go fight a random mob in the forest. No, they just wanted something small and quiet to do. Chosen passes by the crafting station as they walk, their mind blank on what they could even make without wasting resources. They didn’t want to get scolded by Mango if they did that so Chosen left it alone for now. Instead, they step outside for some fresh air.

The balcony wasn’t completely finished and was made out of wooden planks as a placeholder until they create more “aesthetically pleasing stone blocks,” Purple’s words, not theirs. Honestly, Chosen doesn’t really care too much about decoration as long as they had a roof over their head. Although some railings would be nice since they didn’t want anyone to fall over the ledge. They wouldn’t be able to recover unlike them, who can fly. But Chosen didn’t bother to make some even though they had the wood to do it. They just sat down on the edge and stared at the view.

The stony shore biome where his base was placed overlooked an ocean where it meets the mouth of a nearby river which flows through a meadow and goes on as far as the eye can see. The sun has long since set, with the moon taking its place with a soft, white glow. In its own blocky way. The chill of the night made Chosen shudder but they didn’t move from their spot. They simply let it envelop him as they take slow, deep breaths. They can hear mobs in the distance hopping around on land or splashing in the water but they weren’t approaching and that was more than enough for them. As long as the mobs don’t bother them, then they won’t go out of their way to attack them. At least for tonight.

Tonight, they simply stared at the sky.

Honestly, there wasn’t anything that interesting in Minecraft’s sky. The clouds weren’t as malleable or easily formed shapes like the OuterNet, restricted by the game's design of blocks for nearly everything. It’s not as if an occasional shape can’t naturally form like any other cloud in the OuterNet. It simply wasn’t as recognizable for Chosen in the world of Minecraft. Perhaps it was even less interesting than the times he would gaze at the sky on the roof of the home he actually wished to return to.

But the sky was no less beautiful than before, the stars glimmering down at him alongside the moon. In fact, Chosen still found it amazing even after the initial wave of awe had passed by after his first day in Minecraft.

And just staring at the sky of Minecraft reminded Chosen of one important fact that even the OuterNet couldn’t free him from:

There were no PCs of all the Creators in this world.

No IP address written across the sky, too tiny for most sticks to see from down below but still hovering above them all.

No distracting lines that criss-cross each other to represent a PC as he tries to pay more attention to the clouds and stars.

No reminders of what he had escaped all those years ago.

Just a giant, vast atmosphere that greeted him the same way it did when he first stepped into Minecraft’s main world.

It was wonderful. Like an invisible stone in his gut dissipating without another word.

Here, Chosen didn’t have to see a single PC as he stared at the sky.

Here, Chosen can just stare at the sky simply because he can and bask in its beauty.

As the wind blows through his hair, Chosen lets out a soft sigh. It wasn’t much, but stargazing at least gave him the feeling of doing something, despite how little he has to do. Despite how much this new “house” did not feel like a “home.”

But it was nice.

Nicer than anything the sky of the OuterNet could provide him with.

And Chosen, upon feeling a wave of calmness approaching, embraces it.

Just for tonight.

[surgerypatient]

Alan Strid/@gas-writer "The Medical test" continued with AI

He neglected continuing the story for a reason but said nothing of anyone else doing such a thing, so here's mine:

Antiseptic Sterilization

The antiseptic sterilization room is starkly clean, a sterile contrast to the unremarkable building where this began. The nurses, faces obscured by surgical masks and protective face shields, move with mechanical precision. They start by handling your unconscious body with latex-gloved hands, applying a transparent ointment around each orifice. This ointment serves as a barrier, preventing any microbial invasion. Using small applicator sticks dipped in medical glue, they seal the ointment in place. The process is meticulous and thorough, starting with your eyes, then moving to your mouth around the endotracheal tube, your ears, nostrils, and finally, other orifices. The sensation of the ointment is cold and slightly numbing, and the glue quickly hardens, forming an airtight seal to ensure no contamination.

Next, they place you into a tight, velvet-feeling fishnet sack. The fabric clings to your skin, and you feel the rough texture against your flesh. A network of solution nozzles surrounds you, and with a sudden synchronized hiss, they begin dousing your body with a cleansing solution. The liquid is cold and stings slightly as it contacts your skin, stripping away all exposed hair, bacteria, and dead skin. The nozzles operate in stages, each one administering a different type of spray. Some emit a fine mist that coats every inch of your body, while others deliver a jet stream that forcefully washes away debris. A few nozzles provide a gentle, pulsating wash, ensuring that every part of your body is thoroughly cleansed and sterilized. The process is repeated several times to ensure complete sterilization, and the solution is allowed to sit for a few moments to maximize its effectiveness before being rinsed away.

Securing Vitals Monitoring

Before proceeding with the surgeries, the medical team secures various monitoring devices to your body to keep track of your vital signs throughout the procedures. Electrodes for heart rate and electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring are placed on your chest, secured with a layer of medical glue to ensure they remain in place despite any movements. A bispectral index (BIS) monitor, which tracks your level of consciousness through EEG data, is attached to your forehead with the same adhesive. Additionally, a pulse oximeter is clipped to your finger to measure blood oxygen content, and its sensor is reinforced with glue to prevent dislodgment.

32-Tooth Extraction

Once back in the OR, the sealing substances are carefully removed, leaving your skin clean and smooth. You are positioned on the dental operating table, and the tooth extraction begins.

The surgical team starts by donning fresh gloves, masks, and gowns. They position you on the dental operating table and use surgical drapes to cover your body, leaving only your mouth exposed. The nurse inserts a mouth prop to keep your mouth open wide, ensuring it remains open during the procedure. The surgeon selects a straight elevator and begins to loosen each tooth methodically. The elevator is inserted between the tooth and the surrounding gum, and a gentle twist loosens the tooth from its socket. This process is repeated for each tooth, feeling for the slight give that indicates the ligaments have been disrupted.

Once the teeth are sufficiently loosened, the surgeon switches to dental forceps. The forceps grip the crown of each tooth firmly, and with a twisting and pulling motion, the teeth are extracted one by one. The sound of the roots breaking free from the jawbone is a mix of crunching and popping, which can be unsettling. The suction device is used continuously, gurgling as it removes saliva and blood from your mouth, ensuring a clear field for the surgeon.

After all 32 teeth are removed, the surgeon inspects the empty sockets for any remaining fragments or debris. She then uses a bone file to smooth any rough edges on the jawbone, ensuring there are no sharp points that could cause discomfort later. Finally, dissolvable sutures are placed in each socket to close the wounds and promote healing. The surgeon ensures that the sutures are evenly spaced and securely tied to prevent any post-operative complications.

Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy

Next is the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. The team repositions you and adjusts the drapes to expose your mouth and throat.

The procedure begins with the insertion of a mouth gag to keep your mouth open wide. The gag is adjusted to ensure your mouth remains open without causing undue pressure on your teeth or jaws. The surgeon uses a scalpel to make small, precise incisions around the tonsils. Each cut is deliberate, designed to minimize bleeding and provide a clear path for removal. The tonsils are then partially severed from their attachments, and the surgeon switches to an electrocautery device.

The electrocautery device emits a low humming sound as it activates. This tool uses electrical current to cut through the remaining tissue and simultaneously cauterize blood vessels, reducing the risk of excessive bleeding. The surgeon carefully maneuvers the device around the tonsils, ensuring complete removal while controlling any bleeding. The tonsils are then gripped with forceps and extracted, leaving small, cauterized craters where they once were.

The adenoids are next. The surgeon uses a mirror and headlight to visualize the adenoids at the back of the nasal passage. She then employs a curette, a specialized scraping instrument, to remove the adenoid tissue. The curette is inserted through your mouth and maneuvered into position. With a swift scraping motion, the adenoids are detached and removed. Again, the electrocautery device is used to control bleeding and ensure all adenoid tissue is excised.

Hemostats are applied as needed to clamp off any small vessels that continue to bleed, and the suction device is used continuously to remove blood and other fluids from the surgical site. The surgeon ensures that all remnants of the tonsils and adenoids are completely removed before concluding the procedure. She checks the surgical area thoroughly, using a combination of direct visualization and palpation to confirm that the tissues are clean and free of any remaining debris.

The entire process is meticulous, with the surgeon and her team working in unison to ensure a smooth and successful operation. After the procedure is complete, the mouth gag is carefully removed, and the drapes are adjusted to prepare for the next phase of surgery.

Appendectomy

You are moved to the OR table and positioned for an appendectomy. Fresh surgical drapes are applied, covering you except for the surgical site on your lower abdomen. The sterile field is established meticulously, with each drape placed precisely to ensure no contamination.

The surgeon begins by making an incision with a scalpel just above your right hip. The initial cut is about three inches long, slicing through the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Once the incision is made, the surgeon uses retractors to hold the incision open, providing a clear view of the underlying tissues. Hemostats are applied to clamp any bleeding vessels, ensuring a bloodless field. The surgeon then uses Metzenbaum scissors for delicate dissection, carefully navigating through layers of muscle and fat to reach the appendix.

As she approaches the peritoneum, the thin membrane that lines the abdominal cavity, she switches to a more delicate touch, making a small incision in the peritoneum to gain access to the abdominal organs. The surgeon gently lifts the loops of intestine, searching for the appendix. Once located, the appendix is carefully isolated from surrounding tissues.

The surgeon clamps the base of the appendix with a pair of hemostats to prevent any contents from leaking into the abdomen. She then uses Metzenbaum scissors to cut the appendix free from the cecum, the part of the intestine where it is attached. The removed appendix is placed in a sterile container for examination. Surgical sponges are used to absorb blood and fluids, keeping the area clean.

To close the incision, the surgeon first sutures the peritoneum with absorbable stitches, ensuring that the abdominal cavity is sealed. She then sutures the muscle layers, being careful to align the tissues properly to promote healing. Finally, the skin is closed with either sutures or surgical staples, and a sterile dressing is applied to protect the wound.

Gallbladder Removal

Gallbladder removal follows. The team re-drapes you to expose the upper right quadrant of your abdomen, ensuring a sterile field. The procedure is performed laparoscopically, which means it will involve several small incisions rather than one large one.

The surgeon begins by making several small incisions in your abdomen, typically four. She inserts trocars, which are small, tube-like instruments that provide access points for the laparoscopic instruments. A laparoscope, which is a long, thin tube with a camera and light at the end, is inserted through one of the trocars, giving the surgical team a clear view of your internal organs on a video monitor.

The surgeon carefully maneuvers the laparoscope to locate the gallbladder. Using graspers inserted through another trocar, she lifts and holds the gallbladder in place. Scissors are then used to dissect the tissue around the gallbladder, carefully cutting away the connective tissue that holds it in place.

The cystic duct and cystic artery, which supply bile and blood to the gallbladder, are identified and clipped with clip appliers. These clips ensure that there is no bleeding and that no bile leaks into the abdominal cavity. Once the clips are securely in place, the surgeon uses scissors to cut the duct and artery.

With the gallbladder fully detached, it is placed into a small retrieval bag inserted through one of the trocars. The bag is then carefully pulled out through one of the incisions. The surgical team ensures that the bag remains intact during removal to prevent any spillage of bile.

Throughout the procedure, the suction/irrigation device is used to maintain a clear view and clean operative field. This device irrigates the area with

a sterile solution and suctions away blood and fluids. Once the gallbladder is removed, the surgeon performs a final inspection of the abdominal cavity to ensure there is no residual bleeding or bile leakage.

The incisions are then closed with sutures or surgical glue, and sterile dressings are applied to each site. The surgeon removes the drapes, and you are repositioned for the next procedure.

Prostate Removal and Orchiectomy

Repositioned in the stirrups, the prostate removal and orchiectomy are next. Fresh surgical drapes are applied, covering your lower abdomen and genital area.

The surgeon begins by making an incision below your navel with a scalpel. The incision is deepened carefully through layers of skin, fat, and muscle until the surgeon reaches the abdominal cavity. Retractors are used to hold the incision open, providing a clear view of the surgical field. Hemostats are applied to control any bleeding from cut blood vessels.

Using dissecting scissors and a combination of blunt dissection techniques, the surgeon carefully separates the prostate from surrounding tissues. The nerves and blood vessels that run alongside the prostate are meticulously preserved to maintain functionality. Once the prostate is fully isolated, it is removed and set aside.

Next, the surgeon moves to the orchiectomy. Incisions are made in the scrotum, and the testicles are carefully extracted. The spermatic cords are clamped with hemostats, cut, and then ligated to prevent any bleeding. The testicles are removed, and the incisions are sutured closed with absorbable stitches.

A hormone implant is placed in the cavity left behind by the prostate. This implant will provide a controlled release of hormones necessary for your transition. The surgeon then carefully sutures the incision in the lower abdomen, ensuring that each layer of tissue is properly aligned to promote healing. A catheter is inserted into your urethra to ensure that urine can drain freely as you recover.

The surgical mesh may be used to support the pelvic floor if necessary, depending on the extent of the tissue removal and the individual anatomical needs. The mesh is carefully placed and secured, ensuring it provides the necessary support without causing discomfort.

Facial Feminization Surgery

Finally, facial feminization surgery is performed. The surgeon reshapes your facial features, softening your jawline, reducing the size of your Adam's apple, and altering the shape of your nose and cheekbones.

The procedure begins with the surgeon making incisions with a scalpel along predetermined lines marked on your face. These incisions are strategically placed in natural creases and along the hairline to minimize visible scarring.

To reshape the jawline, the surgeon uses an osteotome and mallet. The osteotome, a chisel-like instrument, is carefully positioned along the jawbone, and the mallet is used to gently tap it, shaving down the bone. This process is repeated in small increments, allowing the surgeon to sculpt the jawline gradually and precisely. The burr drill is then used to smooth and contour the bone, ensuring a natural and feminine appearance.

For the reduction of the Adam's apple, the surgeon makes a small incision in the throat area. The tracheal cartilage is carefully exposed, and a portion is shaved down using a scalpel and specialized instruments. The surgeon takes great care to preserve the surrounding structures while achieving a more feminine contour.

Altering the shape of your nose involves careful dissection and reshaping of the nasal bones and cartilage. The surgeon makes incisions inside the nostrils and along the columella (the tissue between the nostrils). Using a combination of osteotomes, chisels, and a burr drill, the surgeon reshapes the nasal bones and cartilage to create a softer, more refined appearance. The skin is then re-draped over the newly sculpted framework, and the incisions are closed with fine sutures.

To enhance the cheekbones, the surgeon may use implants or fat grafting. For implants, small incisions are made inside the mouth, and the implants are carefully positioned over the cheekbones. If fat grafting is used, fat is harvested from another area of your body, purified, and then injected into the cheeks to add volume and contour.

Each step of the procedure is meticulously planned and executed, with the surgeon constantly checking the results to ensure symmetry and balance. The incisions are closed with fine sutures, and a sterile dressing is applied to protect the surgical sites and promote healing.

Vaginoplasty

The final procedure is vaginoplasty. You are positioned and draped carefully to expose the genital area while maintaining a sterile field. This highly complex surgery involves creating a neovagina, clitoris, and labia from the existing penile and scrotal tissue.

The surgeon begins by marking the surgical site. A midline incision is made along the penile shaft, and the skin is carefully separated from the underlying tissue. The penile skin is then inverted to create the vaginal canal. This involves meticulous dissection to preserve as much tissue as possible.

The urethra is shortened and repositioned to a more anatomically correct location. This requires precise cutting and suturing to ensure proper urinary function post-surgery. The erectile tissue is removed to reduce the risk of complications and to shape the new anatomy.

The surgeon then creates the neovagina by forming a cavity between the rectum and the prostate. The inverted penile skin is carefully inserted into this cavity, and the surgeon ensures it is properly positioned and secured. The neovagina is then lined with the penile skin, and any excess skin is trimmed.

The clitoris is formed from the glans of the penis, preserving the nerve supply to maintain sensation. The surgeon carefully shapes the glans into a clitoral structure and secures it at the top of the vaginal opening. The labia minora and majora are created from the scrotal tissue, which is dissected, trimmed, and reshaped to form the outer and inner lips of the new vulva.

Throughout the procedure, the surgeon uses fine sutures to close incisions and to secure the newly formed structures. The area is irrigated frequently to maintain a clear surgical field and to minimize the risk of infection. Surgical sponges are used to absorb any fluids, and hemostats are applied to control bleeding.

Once the neovagina, clitoris, and labia are formed and positioned correctly, the surgeon performs a final inspection to ensure everything is in place and there are no complications. A vaginal stent is inserted to keep the canal open during the healing process, and a sterile dressing is applied to protect the surgical site.

32-Teeth Transplantation

The following procedure is equally intricate and requires precise coordination. Another man, conscious and terrified, is brought into the OR. He is positioned next to you, and surgical drapes are used to maintain sterile fields around both your mouth and his. The man struggles and pleads, but the medical team remains focused on their task.

The team begins by sedating the other man to prevent excessive movement. The sedative is strong enough to keep him still but not enough to fully anesthetize him. He is aware of the procedure, but his body is unable to respond.

The extraction of his 32 teeth begins with the insertion of a mouth prop to keep his mouth open. The surgeon uses a straight elevator to loosen each tooth, feeling for the give that indicates the ligaments have been disrupted. The dental forceps are then used to grip the crowns of the teeth firmly. With a twisting and pulling motion, the teeth are extracted one by one. The suction device is used continuously to remove saliva and blood, ensuring a clear field.

Once all 32 teeth are extracted from the donor, they are immediately placed in a sterile solution to keep them viable. The donor's mouth is inspected for any remaining fragments, and the sockets are cleaned and sutured closed to promote healing.

The next phase involves the implantation of the extracted teeth into your mouth. The surgeon positions you with your mouth open using a mouth prop. Small incisions are made in your gums to create new sockets for the donor teeth. The teeth are carefully inserted, one by one, ensuring they are properly aligned and secured. Each tooth is anchored using fine sutures and a dental bonding agent to stabilize them in place.

Throughout the procedure, both you and the donor remain under close observation. The surgical team works efficiently, ensuring that the teeth are transplanted quickly to minimize the risk of failure. The donor's teeth are now your own, a complex and unsettling addition to your transformation.

Once the teeth are implanted, your gums are sutured to secure the new teeth. The surgical site is cleaned, and a dental guard is placed to protect the fresh implants. The donor is moved out of the OR, his role in the procedure complete, while you remain to undergo further evaluations and treatments.

Final Preparations

After all the surgeries are completed, the surgical team ensures that all incisions are properly closed and dressings are applied to protect the surgical sites. You are transferred to a recovery room where you are closely monitored as you slowly regain consciousness.

As you wake, the reality of what has been done to you begins to sink in. The pain and discomfort are overwhelming, and you struggle to comprehend the extent of the changes to your body. The medical staff remains professional and detached, their focus now on your recovery and stabilization.

Waking Up

Hours later, you begin to regain consciousness. The transition from oblivion to awareness is gradual and disorienting. The first sensation you register is a dull, pervasive ache that seems to emanate from your entire body. The soft beeping of monitors and the hum of medical equipment fade into your awareness, grounding you in the reality of the hospital room.

As your eyelids flutter open, the harsh fluorescent lighting overhead causes you to squint. Your vision slowly comes into focus, revealing the sterile white walls of the recovery room. You feel groggy, your mind foggy from the anesthesia and the cumulative effects of the extensive surgeries.

The first

thing you notice is the oxygen mask covering your nose and mouth, delivering cool, steady breaths. You attempt to move, but your body feels heavy and uncooperative, bound by the lingering effects of the anesthesia and the fresh post-operative pain.

A nurse, noticing your stirring, approaches your bedside. Her face is partially obscured by a surgical mask, but her eyes convey a calm, reassuring presence. She gently checks your vitals, her touch practiced and efficient.

"Welcome back," she says softly, her voice soothing. "You're in the recovery room. The surgeries went well. Just try to relax and let your body rest."

Confusion quickly turns to panic as you realize you have no memory of agreeing to any extensive surgeries. You try to speak, but the words come out as muffled protests through the oxygen mask. Your attempts to move are met with sharp pain and the restrictive feel of the compression garments and bandages.

You start to thrash, pulling at the IV lines and trying to rip off the oxygen mask. The nurse steps back, her eyes widening in concern.

"Please, you need to stay calm," she urges, trying to soothe you. "You've had multiple surgeries. Moving around too much could cause complications."

Her words barely register as you continue to struggle, your panic escalating. Another nurse quickly joins, holding your arms gently but firmly to prevent you from causing harm to yourself.

"I didn't agree to this! What did you do to me?" you manage to shout, your voice hoarse and filled with fear.

The nurses exchange worried glances before one of them speaks. "We need to call the doctor. Hold on."

Moments later, a doctor enters the room. She looks composed and serious, her expression one of professional concern. "Please, try to calm down. You're in a safe place, and we're here to help you."

"Help me? I didn't agree to any of this!" you shout again, your voice shaking. "What did you do to me?"

The doctor steps closer, her tone calm and authoritative. "You've undergone several surgeries. I know this is a shock, but we need you to stay still and let us explain."

"Why? I didn't consent to any of this!"

Dr. Patel takes a deep breath. "We understand that you have no memory of consenting. You were selected for a comprehensive medical trial, and we have documents indicating your agreement."

"No!" you shout, your panic rising again. "I never agreed to this! Let me go!"

The nurse quickly increases the sedative in your IV again, and you feel your resistance weaken as the drowsiness takes over. "We will discuss this further when you're feeling better," Dr. Patel says. "Right now, your body needs to heal."

As the sedative pulls you back into unconsciousness, you feel a deep sense of betrayal and fear. You’re left alone with your thoughts, wondering how you ended up in this situation and what will happen next.

Subsequent Awakenings

The next time you wake, it’s in small increments. You’re more alert each time, but with that alertness comes the realization of the changes to your body. The pain is still there, a constant reminder of what has been done.

A different nurse, this time a man with a kind but professional demeanor, is checking your vitals. "You’re awake," he observes. "How are you feeling? Any pain or discomfort?"

"All of it," you mutter, trying to shift without causing too much pain. "I need to know… why."

"Let’s get you comfortable first," the nurse says, adjusting the bed so you’re in a more upright position. "Dr. Patel will be in shortly to discuss everything with you."

This time, when Dr. Patel enters, she’s accompanied by a psychiatrist. "This is Dr. Williams," she introduces. "We’re here to help you process everything."

"I just want answers," you say, exhaustion in your voice. "I didn’t agree to this."

Dr. Williams steps forward. "We understand how disorienting this must be. Our records show you were a part of a trial, but it’s clear there’s been a severe misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" you echo, incredulous. "You’ve changed everything about me!"

Dr. Patel and Dr. Williams exchange a look before Dr. Williams speaks again. "For now, let’s focus on your recovery. We’ll work on finding out exactly how this happened and ensure it doesn’t happen to anyone else."

Their words offer little comfort as you lay back, feeling a mix of anger, confusion, and helplessness. The road ahead is uncertain, but for now, you focus on the small victories of recovery, each one bringing you closer to understanding the full scope of what has happened and reclaiming some control over your life.