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some-creep · 4 months ago

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Currently untitled sequel to "Little Bird" Ch 02/??

just like before i'll never finish it if i dont just post it lol. click >HERE< for chapter 1 if u didnt read it. A little Ari background lore and Adler talks to Falke.

S-23 Sierpinski, a remote mining facility located somewhere on Leng, home to some of AEON's best Replika staff ever produced, as well as a revolving door of Gestalt workers. Workers, perhaps, was being a bit generous. No one chose to end up there. You were "recommended" to transfer there. If you were lucky, you got discharged due to serious injury, but even that was increasingly rare. Perhaps AEON didn't enjoy the reputation their facility had garnered over the years; having startling few non-laborer Gestalt staff was starting to be seen as the first red flag to avoid an assignment there by any means necessary. But Gestalt staff were far more difficult to control if they hadn't been hand picked and raised for their positions, and even those individuals were far more likely to end up elsewhere to put their skills to good use.

A new batch of graduates made for a potential pool of bodies to send off for some arbitrarily created role. Some dubois officer position that held no real weight but looked good on a public list of staff members. The perfect role for a Gestalt that no one particularly wanted anywhere else anyway.

And that had been how Ariane found herself shipped off across the galaxy, far away from home yet back to where she'd been born. Perhaps they had thought she'd be better suited for the quirks of life on Leng, but more than likely they just didn't care what happened to her. Her aunt had been so proud. An officer! And so young! Ariane wondered if she was intentionally delusional or just stupid. Maybe her aunt had gotten tired of caring for her after realizing going to “normal” school with the other kids hadn't immediately fixed her.

At the time of her deployment, Ariane had been quite certain she would be dead in just a few months time. Management would decide the position wasn't working after they'd gotten all their usage out of her, and she'd be quietly reassigned as a laborer. She was still certain that would have been the case if not for the fact that Falke had taken an immediate interest in her. And now she was trapped, walking a thin line between Replika and Gestalt. A Replika staff member who did not belong; a Gestalt who had sided with her oppressors. Most days she tried not to think about it– kept her head down, stayed locked in her little radio room all day writing messages to report to Falke. None of it was ever important. Nothing she did ever mattered. After a while, she took to doodling while she worked, then reading, and sometimes even sleeping. No one seemed all that interested in what she actually did so long as she was where she was supposed to be at the times she was supposed to be there.

It was likely because she was fucking her boss.

People knew, of course. Ariane certainly wasn't bragging about being sexually exploited by her superior, but it was a relatively small facility where no one left regularly. At a certain point, everyone knew everything about everyone. This, of course, was not helped by the fact the Protektor Controller had outright seen her and Falke together. Falke was a terribly busy woman and oftentimes business could not wait. Sieben’s intrusion had not perturbed Falke, and so she kept toying with Ariane as she spoke to the STCR unit.

Ariane had never felt so humiliated in her life. She locked herself in an upper-level bathroom stall and cried for a few hours before returning to her room for the night. And then…nothing happened. No one mentioned the incident to her. No one behaved any differently around her. Sieben knew without a shadow of a doubt and life went on as normal. Falke didn't bring it up the next time they saw one another because it hadn't mattered.

Ariane had been certain for a long time that Replikas weren't supposed to be able to have or even want sex. They didn't wear clothes because they had nothing to cover up. All the Replikas she'd ever met had been working. Teaching, nursing, policing, managing, things like that. She knew what the Nation told her about Replikas. Perfect workers, perfect copies, perfectly loyal, unburdened by silly distractions like Gestalts often were. Everyone should aspire to be just like them.

Then, she met them. Talked to them. The EULR unit who brought her meals during the day had a girlfriend, a STAR unit. She always smelled like gunpowder because her girlfriend spent all her free time in the firing range. That unit went by Hunter and was considered well respected amongst her peers, which made Ariane anticipate her to be scary, but instead she seemed…nice? Even a little bit dumb at times. One track mind. She wanted to take Elster to the shooting range because she had decided Elster was cool for dating a Gestalt and that made them friends and friends went shooting together. Elster had yet to make good on that offer because Ariane wasn’t comfortable around guns and Hunter had intended it to be something of a ‘double date’.

Ariane had, after a while, given in to her curiosity and asked a question she knew was offensive but one she had no one else to ask. Did Replikas have sex? What did that even look like? She'd spent enough time around Elster to be well aware of the fact there was nothing down there but more plastic.

Eule hadn't been offended. EULR-S2301. The oldest of her kind on base. She had a nickname, as all EULRs did, but amongst people outside her cadre she'd earned her title of being simply “Eule”. With that age came experience, and that experience had given her plenty of opportunities to explain the nuances of being a Replika to both her newly created peers and young white-haired Gestalt officers alike.

She had been told, “just ask Elster what she likes. Everyone is different.” Unhelpful at the time, certainly. Ariane understood that in a general sense but certainly not an anatomical one. Eule eventually explained to her that Replikas could be disassembled for maintenance but amongst themselves they'd been clever enough to figure out they could get more out of it then a few changed parts. It was about vulnerability and trust, hardly any different than it was between Gestalts.

Elster had been either too shy or too oblivious to mention any of her needs to Ariane. “LSTR units don't have needs,” was a common phrase out of Elster's mouth whenever Ariane tried to offer her something for her comfort or benefit. After a while, she'd just started framing them as orders until Elster got the hint it was okay to enjoy things.

LSTR units worked with their hands a lot. Every Replika did, of course, but LSTR units did so in such a way they were more prone to possible damage over time. Small movements, repetitive work, gradual wear and tear to internal components. The plate on their wrists popped off for quick, easy access.

The first time Elster took the covering off of her arm made Ariane horribly nauseous. Wires and meat. Twitching, nondescript meat, vaguely resembling muscle as she understood it but not quite. She'd nearly fainted at the sight of it and Elster, flustered, had quickly covered herself back up. It felt wrong seeing her like that… Ariane's mind registered the sight as a serious injury that needed immediate care. The nauseous quickly faded into guilt as Elster was the one apologizing for scaring her.

The next time she'd been better prepared for what to expect. It was still difficult to fight her immediate reaction of aversion, but Elster was her partner. Elster had stuck around her almost since day one when she’d wandered into her bedroom for a last minute repair. Elster listened to her with great interest even though she rarely had context to understand what Ariane was talking about. She, too, was equally as passionate about what she was designed for, often going out of her way to help with personal repairs too insignificant to be officially filed as maintenance requests.

Elster was so sweet and accommodating, and at times just as out of her element as Ariane was. Elster deserved better than her.

Ariane had often wondered after their first moment, did she deserve Falke. She hadn't argued, hadn't said no, hadn't tried to distance herself after the fact. She hadn't told anyone, tried to reach out, nor had she even bothered discussing it with the people she did trust. Elster cared about her but Ariane didn't even have the decency to confide in her. Maybe that was the reason she always lied about the marks Falke left when she wanted to play too rough.

In a hospital bed after school. Erika and Isa carried her to the train to have her injuries looked at despite her protests.

“I'm fine,” she had insisted through bruised ribs and dangerous amounts of swelling. Breathing was excruciating.

“I'm fine,” she had insisted every sleepless night after the fact.

Ariane was always fine because she had to be. If Falke ever caused her serious harm Ariane had to accept the fact she was just going to die because seeking medical treatment would be acknowledging she wasn't fine.

For the moment, things were fine. In her stuffy little closet, trapped between a concrete wall and a polyethylene chassis, with textured fingers gently stroking her back, Ariane was content. It was a position she’d found herself in many times before and one she hoped to be in for the foreseeable future. She'd flipped on the small television set for some kind of background noise, and to help distract from the overnight workers wandering the halls. The facility never truly stopped, even if she needed to every now and again. Whatever it was she'd turned on, they'd definitely seen it before.

“How was work?” Ariane asked.

Elster only hummed in response, a non-committal noise of “it was okay”.

“Any under the table repairs today?”

She thought for a moment before replying, “I fixed a set of string lights for the EULR dorm.”

“Were they nice to you this time?”

“Nicer.”

Many of the EULR units on base seemed to think Elster was…odd. It made some kind of sense; they were talkative and social and Elster was designed to be a quiet loner. They were friendly and Elster wasn't permitted to be, so consequently she didn't have much practice socializing. ARAR units at least were social amongst their own kind, but Elster officially had nothing of the sort.

“What about you?”

“Me? Oh. The usual. Boring. You should visit me in my office sometime. Maybe a little play break~?”

Elster frowned, resting her chin on Ariane's head. “While we're both working?”

Ariane giggled, “why not? You get breaks, don’t you?”

“No. I mean, if I’m expected to do something, I have to go do it.”

“You’ve visited me before.”

“Yes, to fix the wheel on your chair.” Ariane huffed, bumping her head against Elster’s chest. “You’re no fun, Ellie.”

Elster had made several small repairs for her since her arrival at the base. Her lamp, her chair, the fan in the corner of her room. Simple things. Pointless things. Excuses to spend time with Elster before she’d convinced her to share her room and then her bed. She enjoyed watching Elster work. Her focused expression as she pieced together how to solve whatever problem was in front of her. Sometimes she looked at Ariane the same way as she used her innate problem solving skills to figure out how best to pleasure her. To anyone else, being looked at like work might have been somewhat offensive, but for Ariane it was the highest compliment she could think of because it came from someone who legitimately enjoyed doing the things she did.

“I thought you liked that I was serious.”

“Yes, but. Mmn!”

Elster laughed, kissing the top of her head. “Well, I’m here now. If you’re interested in playing, that is.”

Ariane pushed against Elster’s shoulder, knowing full well that the Replika rolling onto her back was entirely to play along. Ariane couldn’t actually move her no matter how hard she tried. Straddling Elster’s lap, she took her hand and lifted her arm up. “Pretty please?” she asked, tracing her finger along a seam in Elster’s arm.

Looking up at Ariane, she swallowed, nodding.

Adler was a perfectly fine employee when he wasn't trying to insert himself in her personal business. A habit of his that was becoming increasingly prevalent as time went on. Falke wondered if she hadn't been strict enough with him despite being promised he'd be plenty obedient without much work on her part. Whatever the case, she certainly felt like she was paying for her inaction now.

“Commander? I know it's an inappropriate time but I was hoping I could speak with you about a matter I consider urgent?”

Falke didn't see the point in entertaining him. She knew what this was about, but she also knew he'd never really drop it until she made him. And she couldn't make him without talking to him. Pity.

“Go ahead.”

Adler straightened his posture as he looked up at Falke, who was leaning against her door frame, head bowed to avoid hitting the top of it. This was her time off, and she figured it was unreasonable to expect all that much professionalism from her. “Myself and several other staff members have been concerned lately about your sudden changes in behavior.”

That was almost certainly an embellishment if not an outright lie on his part. Sieben hadn't seemed all that concerned about her behavior as of late, and other staff seldom interacted with her directly enough to notice any significant changes. Kolibri, maybe, but they hadn't mentioned an issue with her either.

“Oh?” Falke raised an eyebrow, arms crossed. She waited a moment before throwing him a leading question, “since when?”

“Ever since that girl showed up and–”

“Officer Yeong outranks you. I'd be careful what you say next.”

He flinched, glancing around the room as if anything present might help him make sense of what Falke had just said. Was that actually true, or had the Commander arbitrarily decided it in the moment just to keep him in line?

“Be that as it may…” he began, slowly, hoping not to misspeak in a way that might further agitate the Commander, “her presence seems to cause too much of a distraction for you and I–”

“Are you really in a position to make that claim?”

Adler hesitated before nodding. He had made a promise to himself not to give up so easily. He had to do everything in his power to ensure his beloved Commander was operating correctly. “Well, I… yes. I think that I am. After all, it’s my job to support you and sometimes support requires pointing out problems and helping to solve them. I mean no disrespect.”

Falke rolled her eyes, stepping out of her doorway to stand up straight. “Your job is to obey me. It is not to question me. Now, I’ve been quite lenient with you up until this point as I have better things to do than waste my energy keeping you in line.”

“Commander, please. This isn’t you. I know you.”

“You… “know” me.” She repeated, flashing a smile that did not reach her eyes. “You know what your programming tells you,” Falke leaned forward, voice low. “You know what you are designed to know. You feel what you are designed to feel. There was a Falke before me, wasn’t there? And you knew her, too, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but she was different. She wasn’t the kind of leader you are. That’s why she was replaced. I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you because I care about you. It’s different!” His instance only made her laugh. Adler looked away, furrowing his brow. What more could he say? Why had the Commander betrayed him like this? Didn’t she care about him the way he cared about her? Of course she did! She had to!

With a flick of her wrist, Falke forced him to look back up at her. “Look at people when you’re talking to them.” He wasn’t worth the effort, but his incessant need to question her meant he needed to be put in his place. “You realize, don’t you, I’ve read your files. I know everything about you. Your schematics, your issues, all of it. Nothing you feel towards me is real. New ADLR models are designed to be good little obedient tools to keep facilities running. We are not friends, and we certainly are not anything more than that despite what your pathetic little mind likes to think when I neglect my duty to keep you in line. You are a Replika. Start acting like it.”

Falke released her invisible hold on him, watching him stumble backwards, trying to form some kind of rebuttal. She did not wait for him to collect himself before she calmly spoke, “goodnight, Adler. I will see you at work tomorrow.” She could hear him trying to sputter out a “Commander, wait,” as she turned and vanished back into her room, bedroom door sliding shut behind her before he could finish.

#signalis #ariane yeong #signalis falke #fklr #signalis elster #lstr #adlr #i dont think i used the main tag last time but i decided idc this time #this chapter isnt even that bad so whatever #i didnt really edit this cuz i got tired of looking at it #one day if when i finished and put it on ao3 #i'll actually finish it nicely or some such

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dailyanarchistposts · 9 months ago

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F.6.3 But surely market forces will stop abuses by the rich?

Unlikely. The rise of corporations within America indicates exactly how a “general libertarian law code” would reflect the interests of the rich and powerful. The laws recognising corporations as “legal persons” were not primarily a product of “the state” but of private lawyers hired by the rich. As Howard Zinn notes:

“the American Bar Association, organised by lawyers accustomed to serving the wealthy, began a national campaign of education to reverse the [Supreme] Court decision [that companies could not be considered as a person]… . By 1886, they succeeded … the Supreme Court had accepted the argument that corporations were ‘persons’ and their money was property protected by the process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment … The justices of the Supreme Court were not simply interpreters of the Constitution. They were men of certain backgrounds, of certain [class] interests.” [A People’s History of the United States, p. 255]

Of course it will be argued that the Supreme Court is chosen by the government and is a state enforced monopoly and so our analysis is flawed. Yet this is not the case. As Rothbard made clear, the “general libertarian law code” would be created by lawyers and jurists and everyone would be expected to obey it. Why expect these lawyers and jurists to be any less class conscious then those in the 19th century? If the Supreme Court “was doing its bit for the ruling elite” then why would those creating the law system be any different? “How could it be neutral between rich and poor,” argues Zinn, “when its members were often former wealthy lawyers, and almost always came from the upper class?” [Op. Cit., p. 254] Moreover, the corporate laws came about because there was a demand for them. That demand would still have existed in “anarcho”-capitalism. Now, while there may nor be a Supreme Court, Rothbard does maintain that “the basic Law Code … would have to be agreed upon by all the judicial agencies” but he maintains that this “would imply no unified legal system”! Even though ”[a]ny agencies that transgressed the basic libertarian law code would be open outlaws” and soon crushed this is not, apparently, a monopoly. [The Ethics of Liberty, p. 234] So, you either agree to the law code or you go out of business. And that is not a monopoly! Therefore, we think, our comments on the Supreme Court are valid (see also section F.7.2).

If all the available defence firms enforce the same laws, then it can hardly be called “competitive”! And if this is the case (and it is) “when private wealth is uncontrolled, then a police-judicial complex enjoying a clientele of wealthy corporations whose motto is self-interest is hardly an innocuous social force controllable by the possibility of forming or affiliating with competing ‘companies.’” [Wieck, Op. Cit., p. 225] This is particularly true if these companies are themselves Big Business and so have a large impact on the laws they are enforcing. If the law code recognises and protects capitalist power, property and wealth as fundamental any attempt to change this is “initiation of force” and so the power of the rich is written into the system from the start!

(And, we must add, if there is a general libertarian law code to which all must subscribe, where does that put customer demand? If people demand a non-libertarian law code, will defence firms refuse to supply it? If so, will not new firms, looking for profit, spring up that will supply what is being demanded? And will that not put them in direct conflict with the existing, pro-general law code ones? And will a market in law codes not just reflect economic power and wealth? David Friedman, who is for a market in law codes, argues that ”[i]f almost everyone believes strongly that heroin addiction is so horrible that it should not be permitted anywhere under any circumstances anarcho-capitalist institutions will produce laws against heroin. Laws are being produced on the market, and that is what the market wants.” And he adds that “market demands are in dollars, not votes. The legality of heroin will be determined, not by how many are for or against but how high a cost each side is willing to bear in order to get its way.” [The Machinery of Freedom, p. 127] And, as the market is less than equal in terms of income and wealth, such a position will mean that the capitalist class will have a higher effective demand than the working class and more resources to pay for any conflicts that arise. Thus any law codes that develop will tend to reflect the interests of the wealthy.)

Which brings us nicely on to the next problem regarding market forces.

As well as the obvious influence of economic interests and differences in wealth, another problem faces the “free market” justice of “anarcho”-capitalism. This is the “general libertarian law code” itself. Even if we assume that the system actually works like it should in theory, the simple fact remains that these “defence companies” are enforcing laws which explicitly defend capitalist property (and so social relations). Capitalists own the means of production upon which they hire wage-labourers to work and this is an inequality established prior to any specific transaction in the labour market. This inequality reflects itself in terms of differences in power within (and outside) the company and in the “law code” of “anarcho”-capitalism which protects that power against the dispossessed.

In other words, the law code within which the defence companies work assumes that capitalist property is legitimate and that force can legitimately be used to defend it. This means that, in effect, “anarcho”-capitalism is based on a monopoly of law, a monopoly which explicitly exists to defend the power and capital of the wealthy. The major difference is that the agencies used to protect that wealth will be in a weaker position to act independently of their pay-masters. Unlike the state, the “defence” firm is not remotely accountable to the general population and cannot be used to equalise even slightly the power relationships between worker and capitalist (as the state has, on occasion done, due to public pressure and to preserve the system as a whole). And, needless to say, it is very likely that the private police forces will give preferential treatment to their wealthier customers (which business does not?) and that the law code will reflect the interests of the wealthier sectors of society (particularly if prosperous judges administer that code) in reality, even if not in theory. Since, in capitalist practice, “the customer is always right,” the best-paying customers will get their way in “anarcho”-capitalist society.

For example, in chapter 29 of The Machinery of Freedom, David Friedman presents an example of how a clash of different law codes could be resolved by a bargaining process (the law in question is the death penalty). This process would involve one defence firm giving a sum of money to the other for them accepting the appropriate (anti/pro capital punishment) court. Friedman claims that ”[a]s in any good trade, everyone gains” but this is obviously not true. Assuming the anti-capital punishment defence firm pays the pro one to accept an anti-capital punishment court, then, yes, both defence firms have made money and so are happy, so are the anti-capital punishment consumers but the pro-death penalty customers have only (perhaps) received a cut in their bills. Their desire to see criminals hanged (for whatever reason) has been ignored (if they were not in favour of the death penalty, they would not have subscribed to that company). Friedman claims that the deal, by allowing the anti-death penalty firm to cut its costs, will ensure that it “keep its customers and even get more” but this is just an assumption. It is just as likely to loose customers to a defence firm that refuses to compromise (and has the resources to back it up). Friedman’s assumption that lower costs will automatically win over people’s passions is unfounded as is the assumption that both firms have equal resources and bargaining power. If the pro-capital punishment firm demands more than the anti can provide and has larger weaponry and troops, then the anti defence firm may have to agree to let the pro one have its way. So, all in all, it is not clear that “everyone gains” — there may be a sizeable percentage of those involved who do not “gain” as their desire for capital punishment is traded away by those who claimed they would enforce it. This may, in turn, produce a demand for defence firms which do not compromise with obvious implications for public peace.

In other words, a system of competing law codes and privatised rights does not ensure that all individual interests are meet. Given unequal resources within society, it is clear that the “effective demand” of the parties involved to see their law codes enforced is drastically different. The wealthy head of a transnational corporation will have far more resources available to him to pay for his laws to be enforced than one of his employees on the assembly line. Moreover, as we noted in section F.3.1, the labour market is usually skewed in favour of capitalists. This means that workers have to compromise to get work and such compromises may involve agreeing to join a specific “defence” firm or not join one at all (just as workers are often forced to sign non-union contracts today in order to get work). In other words, a privatised law system is very likely to skew the enforcement of laws in line with the skewing of income and wealth in society. At the very least, unlike every other market, the customer is not guaranteed to get exactly what they demand simply because the product they “consume” is dependent on others within the same market to ensure its supply. The unique workings of the law/defence market are such as to deny customer choice (we will discuss other aspects of this unique market shortly). Wieck summed by pointing out the obvious:

“any judicial system is going to exist in the context of economic institutions. If there are gross inequalities of power in the economic and social domains, one has to imagine society as strangely compartmentalised in order to believe that those inequalities will fail to reflect themselves in the judicial and legal domain, and that the economically powerful will be unable to manipulate the legal and judicial system to their advantage. To abstract from such influences of context, and then consider the merits of an abstract judicial system.. . is to follow a method that is not likely to take us far. This, by the way, is a criticism that applies…to any theory that relies on a rule of law to override the tendencies inherent in a given social and economic system” [Op. Cit., p. 225]

There is another reason why “market forces” will not stop abuse by the rich, or indeed stop the system from turning from private to public statism. This is due to the nature of the “defence” market (for a similar analysis of the “defence” market see right-“libertarian” economist Tyler Cowen’s “Law as a Public Good: The Economics of Anarchy” [Economics and Philosophy, no. 8 (1992), pp. 249–267] and “Rejoinder to David Friedman on the Economics of Anarchy” [Economics and Philosophy, no. 10 (1994), pp. 329–332]). In “anarcho”-capitalist theory it is assumed that the competing “defence companies” have a vested interest in peacefully settling differences between themselves by means of arbitration. In order to be competitive on the market, companies will have to co-operate via contractual relations otherwise the higher price associated with conflict will make the company uncompetitive and it will go under. Those companies that ignore decisions made in arbitration would be outlawed by others, ostracised and their rulings ignored. By this process, it is argued, a system of competing “defence” companies will be stable and not turn into a civil war between agencies with each enforcing the interests of their clients against others by force.

However, there is a catch. Unlike every other market, the businesses in competition in the “defence” industry must co-operate with its fellows in order to provide its services for its customers. They need to be able to agree to courts and judges, agree to abide by decisions and law codes and so forth. In economics there are other, more accurate, terms to describe co-operative activity between companies: collusion and cartels. These are when companies in a specific market agree to work together (co-operate) to restrict competition and reap the benefits of monopoly power by working to achieve the same ends in partnership with each other. By stressing the co-operative nature of the “defence” market, “anarcho”-capitalists are implicitly acknowledging that collusion is built into the system. The necessary contractual relations between agencies in the “protection” market require that firms co-operate and, by so doing, to behave (effectively) as one large firm (and so resemble a normal state even more than they already do). Quoting Adam Smith seems appropriate here: “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” [The Wealth of Nations, p. 117] Having a market based on people of the same trade co-operating seems, therefore, an unwise move.

For example, when buying food it does not matter whether the supermarkets visited have good relations with each other. The goods bought are independent of the relationships that exist between competing companies. However, in the case of private states this is not the case. If a specific “defence” company has bad relationships with other companies in the market then it is against a customer’s self-interest to subscribe to it. Why subscribe to a private state if its judgements are ignored by the others and it has to resort to violence to be heard? This, as well as being potentially dangerous, will also push up the prices that have to be paid. Arbitration is one of the most important services a defence firm can offer its customers and its market share is based upon being able to settle interagency disputes without risk of war or uncertainty that the final outcome will not be accepted by all parties. Lose that and a company will lose market share.

Therefore, the market set-up within the “anarcho”-capitalist “defence” market is such that private states have to co-operate with the others (or go out of business fast) and this means collusion can take place. In other words, a system of private states will have to agree to work together in order to provide the service of “law enforcement” to their customers and the result of such co-operation is to create a cartel. However, unlike cartels in other industries, the “defence” cartel will be a stable body simply because its members have to work with their competitors in order to survive.

Let us look at what would happen after such a cartel is formed in a specific area and a new “defence company” desired to enter the market. This new company will have to work with the members of the cartel in order to provide its services to its customers (note that “anarcho”-capitalists already assume that they “will have to” subscribe to the same law code). If the new defence firm tries to under-cut the cartel’s monopoly prices, the other companies would refuse to work with it. Having to face constant conflict or the possibility of conflict, seeing its decisions being ignored by other agencies and being uncertain what the results of a dispute would be, few would patronise the new “defence company.” The new company’s prices would go up and it would soon face either folding or joining the cartel. Unlike every other market, if a “defence company” does not have friendly, co-operative relations with other firms in the same industry then it will go out of business.

This means that the firms that are co-operating have simply to agree not to deal with new firms which are attempting to undermine the cartel in order for them to fail. A “cartel busting” firm goes out of business in the same way an outlaw one does — the higher costs associated with having to solve all its conflicts by force, not arbitration, increases its production costs much higher than the competitors and the firm faces insurmountable difficulties selling its products at a profit (ignoring any drop of demand due to fears of conflict by actual and potential customers). Even if we assume that many people will happily join the new firm in spite of the dangers to protect themselves against the cartel and its taxation (i.e. monopoly profits), enough will remain members of the cartel so that co-operation will still be needed and conflict unprofitable and dangerous (and as the cartel will have more resources than the new firm, it could usually hold out longer than the new firm could). In effect, breaking the cartel may take the form of an armed revolution — as it would with any state.

The forces that break up cartels and monopolies in other industries (such as free entry — although, of course the “defence” market will be subject to oligopolistic tendencies as any other and this will create barriers to entry) do not work here and so new firms have to co-operate or loose market share and/or profits. This means that “defence companies” will reap monopoly profits and, more importantly, have a monopoly of force over a given area.

It is also likely that a multitude of cartels would develop, with a given cartel operating in a given locality. This is because law enforcement would be localised in given areas as most crime occurs where the criminal lives (few criminals would live in Glasgow and commit crimes in Paris). However, as defence companies have to co-operate to provide their services, so would the cartels. Few people live all their lives in one area and so firms from different cartels would come into contact, so forming a cartel of cartels. This cartel of cartels may (perhaps) be less powerful than a local cartel, but it would still be required and for exactly the same reasons a local one is. Therefore “anarcho”-capitalism would, like “actually existing capitalism,” be marked by a series of public states covering given areas, co-ordinated by larger states at higher levels. Such a set up would parallel the United States in many ways except it would be run directly by wealthy shareholders without the sham of “democratic” elections. Moreover, as in the USA and other states there will still be a monopoly of rules and laws (the “general libertarian law code”).

Hence a monopoly of private states will develop in addition to the existing monopoly of law and this is a de facto monopoly of force over a given area (i.e. some kind of public state run by share holders). New companies attempting to enter the “defence” industry will have to work with the existing cartel in order to provide the services it offers to its customers. The cartel is in a dominant position and new entries into the market either become part of it or fail. This is exactly the position with the state, with “private agencies” free to operate as long as they work to the state’s guidelines. As with the monopolist “general libertarian law code”, if you do not toe the line, you go out of business fast.

“Anarcho”-capitalists claim that this will not occur, but that the co-operation needed to provide the service of law enforcement will somehow not turn into collusion between companies. However, they are quick to argue that renegade “agencies” (for example, the so-called “Mafia problem” or those who reject judgements) will go out of business because of the higher costs associated with conflict and not arbitration. Yet these higher costs are ensured because the firms in question do not co-operate with others. If other agencies boycott a firm but co-operate with all the others, then the boycotted firm will be at the same disadvantage — regardless of whether it is a cartel buster or a renegade. So the “anarcho”-capitalist is trying to have it both ways. If the punishment of non-conforming firms cannot occur, then “anarcho”-capitalism will turn into a war of all against all or, at the very least, the service of social peace and law enforcement cannot be provided. If firms cannot deter others from disrupting the social peace (one service the firm provides) then “anarcho”-capitalism is not stable and will not remain orderly as agencies develop which favour the interests of their own customers and enforce their own law codes at the expense of others. If collusion cannot occur (or is too costly) then neither can the punishment of non-conforming firms and “anarcho”-capitalism will prove to be unstable.

So, to sum up, the “defence” market of private states has powerful forces within it to turn it into a monopoly of force over a given area. From a privately chosen monopoly of force over a specific (privately owned) area, the market of private states will turn into a monopoly of force over a general area. This is due to the need for peaceful relations between companies, relations which are required for a firm to secure market share. The unique market forces that exist within this market ensure collusion and the system of private states will become a cartel and so a public state — unaccountable to all but its shareholders, a state of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy.

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elizabethplaid · 2 months ago

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youtube

The Piano Guys - "O come, O come, Emannuel"

I'm fond of "O Come, O Come, Emannuel" after finding it in my flute exercise book as a teen. I love hearing how the tune and dynamics ebb and flow, swelling to heights and deflating like sighs. It was easy to literally feel that when playing it on the flute.

When it comes to cello music, I especially love long tones, drawn like breaths. And that's why I feel this rendition gives an easy-to-understand rendition of that ebb-and-flow movement to the music. Getting hints of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" from the piano is a nice accent, though not essential to the piece.

I tend to get picky about covers and variations, especially old songs that so many people have made their own spin on. Below the cut are a few links to renditions that seem interesting.

-- Beckenhorst Singers A rich-sounding choir. The piano and cello could stand on their own. I like how they're both a uniting thread and their own force in the background, at different points in the song. Not traditional; def a modern interpretation, which keeps it alive.

-- Musica Medieval - "Nowell Synge We Bothe Al And Som: A Feast Of Christmas Music In Medieval England - Gothic Voices" The opening song is the rendition of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" that started this journey. Other than being rushed in a few parts*, this is a near-perfect rendition to me. The acappella voices keep the song feeling human, not entirely "heavenly". I never paid much attention to the lyrics, but it feels like a lament. This version conveys the sorrow and reverence.

*The original score or sheet music is written with that "rushed" bit. Musically, it feels like there should be another pause to let the notes breathe, but the lyrics are written to flow faster there. Again, I didn't pay attention to the lyrics when I originally played. It's just my own, personal nit-pick. Even if art gets the rough edges polished off to be easier to consume, that's not the creator's original intention.

-- Choir of King's College, Cambridge Oooh, pipe organ time. I can just imagine feeling the music resonating in my body. This is a pretty "traditional" rendition. It gets the job done, not too much fuss. The pipe organ is another instrument that conveys the ebb and flow of the music, but the rushed bit still gives me anxiety. It gives me flashbacks of not knowing the songs sung at my aunt's church, trying to hum along and not seem like a heathen. But that's my own hang-up, haha.

-- The St Michael's Singers Starts as acappella, joined by pipe organ and the rest of the choir after the first voice. I like this version better than the previous one. Might also be their recording set-up. Do I hear hints of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" in between 2nd and 3rd verse? I can't tell anymore.

#music #video #music video #the piano guys #christmas #christmas music #cover song #Youtube

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majorbaby · 2 years ago

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Frank Burns is a great character because the writers and Larry Linville were aware that he was supposed to be terrible, and no attempt is ever made to redeem him.

Linville left the show because he felt there was nowhere else for the character to go, and I'd add that there was nowhere for Frank to go that wouldn't undercut the character's effectiveness.

And yet despite never achieving any recognizable redeeming qualities the way that audiences like to see in an antagonist (and MASH audiences would later get in Charles) Frank isn't entirely flat either.

Frank wants to be liked, and who can't relate to that feeling? When the one person who ever wanted to have him around (Margaret) moves on from him, it's the catalyst of a loss of any kind of self-preservation and his subsequent discharge.

He thinks Trapper and Hawkeye are neat, and sometimes he does the equivalent of yanking on their pigtails (albeit very hard) for attention. At the end of "Germ Warfare" Hawkeye and Trapper bring him flowers as an apology for having stolen his blood, cue sentimental music playing in the background as Frank slowly accepts the peace offering - it's kind of a sweet moment for them.

There's also some interesting class stuff going on with him. In Welcome to Korea pt 1 he laments to Margaret that he wasn't allowed to join the fraternity that BJ was a part of because he didn't own a black suit, which is a small detail but if you're looking at this through a class lens, then it changes the tone of Frank being on the receiving end of BJ's pranking him.

Hawkeye and Trapper were almost always punching up at Frank. This would've been possible even if say, Trapper was of a similar class-background as BJ (I doubt it, but we don't know enough about Trapper to confirm) by having Frank and Margaret team up against Hawkeye and Trapper. It was a fair(er) fight. Frank and Margaret do outrank Hawkeye and Trapper which gives them a bit of an edge, but Hawkeye and Trapper have the moral high ground and "nothing to lose" since they've been drafted. Frank and Margaret even recognize that the odds are in their favour once Trapper leaves.

To circle back to my original point - why is the Frank Burns character so great:

1) Talk about committing to the bit. They didn't blink once with Frank - but even an unrealized potential for growth is still potential, and it's there, if you want to see it. Lesser shows have gone the route of "rehabilitating" such a character in order to "make them three dimensional" and Frank Burns proves there's no need for that. Frank is fictional so you can write him off if you want to, but my feeling is the reason people protest bad decisions made by "bad people" is because they believe change is possible.

2) Everyone was in on the joke. Not so with Charles and Potter. Charles was your 3:1 ratio of flaws to virtues that make up your "jerk with a heart of gold" or "redeemable villain". His class positioning should provoke a withering response from audiences, but he's softened by his 1-part virtue. Frank Burns is a smokescreen - something that anyone can point at and identify as a "bad person" within five seconds. But how much structural power does he have compared to Charles? It's a sort of power to be a literal white supremacist and still be a "redeemable villain" on television.

Potter is an outright villain and the narrative, tragically, has no idea. When Potter's army brass moments were framed positively, that's when MASH became a poor imitation of itself. It looks like MASH, but it doesn't sound like it. When Frank used to wax teary-eyed about the brave men of the United States Army, you could rely on Hawkeye and Trapper to cut him down immediately. In the later years, BJ and Hawkeye nod along solemnly to Potter's sermons about brave men serving their country and how he's so proud to be one of them. Frank babyyy, you're sorely missed.

#mash #frank burns #re: mash #lesser shows: it's the office. i'm talking about michael scott.#sometimes characters who are worse are better #class on MASH

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gojossotoru · 26 days ago

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Introducing the non-jock football player

Full name: Choi Joo-yeon

Nicknames: soccer girl (used by the jocks and some people. It was because she's, like, the first female football player according to them even though there are female football players in school before her), pretty boy (used by some male students and some female students as flirting or teasing. Due to her boyish looks and her short hair, she often gets mistaken as a boy and she gets really annoyed by it)

Preferred name: Joo-yeon

Age: 17

Birthdate: January 3rd

Sexuality: straight

Height: 6'1"

Race: asian

Ethnicity: Korean

Appearance: natural beige skin, dark brown eyes, short boyish black hair

Clique: non-cliques

Likes: football, gimbap, chocolate milk, music, handycams, romance movies, Korean movies, Korean TV shows, her hometown, jjajangmyeon, tteokbokki, sleeping, playing games, practicing, making her notes aesthetic, eating, food, autumn, yogurt with blueberries, vanilla ice cream, exploring around, cats, bunnies, aesthetic looking photos/pictures, exercising, skincare, fashion magazine, dramas, clean clothes, the smell of old books, showering, her friends

Dislikes: racism, discrimination, arrogant people, dirt, double standards, horror movies, cringey pick up lines, nudity on movies, math, studying, strong perfume scents, cafeteria food, people being mean to her, dirty clothes, unfunny 'jokes', being forced, Mr. Burton, bullies, coffee, sticky things, muds, loud thunder, impatient people, rude people, having bad odor, people who can't take a hint, unnecessary hate, misgendering her

Hobbies: listening to music, playing football, recording something (or someone) with her handycam for memories

Nerds reputation + status: 45%

Preps reputation + status: 29%

Greasers reputation + status: 39%

Jocks reputation + status: 53%

Bullies reputation + status: 10%

Non-cliques reputation + status: 80%

Townies reputation + status: 5%

Best friend(s): Pete Kowalski

Friends/Acquaintances: Kirby Olsen, Ivan Alexander

Enemies: Ted Thompson

Love interest: ?

Tropes: ?

______________________________

Background:

She was born in Seoul, South Korea to Choi Seok-jin and Kim Min-ah. Growing up, she watched every single football match with her parents who are both fans of football (but the father is more a big fan than the mother) and Joo-yeon became inspired by her favorite football player, Ahn Jung-hwan. In school back in her hometown, she was teased for acting like a 'boy' (she plays football and she sits with her legs spread, it's because sitting like that is comfortable for her) and having a little bit of the manners of a boy. Joo-yeon wasn't bothered by it because her classmates didn't tease her badly enough and didn't bully her for it, it was light teasing and she was okay with it. During middle school days, she had short boyish hair (and to this day, she still has it) and some people confused her to be a boy, that made Joo-yeon feel frustrated and told them that she's a girl in an annoyed tone of a voice. At the age of 16 after her grandma passed away and her father got fired from his job, Joo-yeon and her family moved to the United States, specifically moved to Bullworth, New England on November 17th due to job opportunities and her uncle (her father's side of the family) lives in Bullworth. When she got transferred to Bullworth Academy, Ms. Danvers called her 'boy' because of her hair and her tomboyish outfit (Joo-yeon corrected Ms. Danvers later), and lastly, the rest is history

______________________________

Personality:

She loves to sleep, literally. She would sleep anywhere, whether she's in a class or she's at a library, she would sleep without any hesitation. It's because when she's asleep, she can be in her dream world as her fictional self and can dream her own way. It's her own way of escaping reality and even if it's kind of a bad habit for her, she would still do it for the rest of her life. Besides sleeping, she's really active when it comes to sports but mostly football. She loves to practice it everyday to level up her football skills and it makes her feel better when she plays against someone, and she's really serious about football. She doesn't back down from criticisms and bullying, she insults them or even smacks them really hard with her school bag (or just kicks their stomach with her leg). She thinks they don't have anything to do other than being mean to her, she didn't even do nothing to them and yet, they're being mad for no reason. She's sensitive if someone yells at her and she can't help but to feel emotional and have tears under her eyes, she's been like that ever since she was a toddler. She's talkative, likes to talk about her life back in Seoul, South Korea and her interest in football and wanting to be a football player as her dream career but she would be talking nonstop and someone needs to interrupt her in order for her to finally stop talking or else she would go on forever. Although she dislikes studying, she still studies because 1. She hates failing and 2. If she fails, she thinks she'll not get into university. She takes school seriously and doesn't let any dramas and distractions get in her way. She loves recording with her handycam in school because she wants to keep the memories of her and those around her and wants to share it with her own future family growing up and to share what it is like to be in Bullworth Academy but not only she records in school, she also records at random places to save memories and for nostalgia. She's clumsy, Joo-yeon doesn't look around where she's going and sometimes she would fall to the ground, which makes some people who notice her chuckles or straight up laughing due to her falling, it makes her feel really embarrassed but she still isn't careful 'til this day

Overall, Joo-yeon wants to make memories in Bullworth (+ school) with her handycam and wants to be a football player in the future

______________________________

Infos about Joo-yeon:

--- just to clarify that she doesn't play American football!!! She plays football (soccer) 😭

--- and yes, she's available (for the explanation of '?' on the love interest and the trope part)

--- she wears the female school uniform, that makes people not mistaken her as a boy and rather she's just a girl with boyish short hair. But when she's in her gym uniform or her casual outfits, people who never seen her, know her nor notice her before will mistake her as a boy

--- even though she's a tomboy, she loves girly stuff such as makeup, clothing, doing her nails, etc. and she wears girly clothes sometimes

--- she speaks Korean and English but she's more fluent in Korean because that's her native language and for English, she's still learning and trying her best to be really fluent in that language (yes, she understands English and speaks English but not at the native level)

--- she gets mocked in school by several people when she speaks English because of her Korean accent. She also experiences racism in school and outside of school

--- she starts playing football when she was 7

--- she's allergic to dogs

--- a lot of female students have a crush on her because she looks like a boy (and those female students THINKS that she's actually a boy), Joo-yeon doesn't really mind about them having a crush on her unless they confess to her and she has to tell the truth to them. But there are some female students who knows that Joo-yeon is not actually a boy and still have a crush on her

--- when Joo-yeon is in her gym uniform, Mr. Burton would sometimes call her 'boy' (not that he cares about her actual gender) and in annoyance, she would correctly tell him that she's a girl

--- she talks to herself in Korean

--- she sleeps in classes most of the time and she sometimes doesn't get caught by teachers. But when she's not sleeping, she would be focusing on the teacher teaching in class

--- Ted Thompson is JEALOUS OF HER!!! He's jealous that she's good when it comes to sports and also jealous that she's a good football player (even though he plays American football)

--- people in school would be confused that she's not a jock due to her playing sports really well (especially soccer) and doesn't understand why she didn't join the jocks clique (she has her own reasons)

--- she can eat up to 5 noodles

--- her favorite TV show is Stairway to Heaven (K-drama)

--- she has a white bunny plushy with black glasses named "Bo-mi"

--- she really cares about her face and body that she has over 9+ skincare products

--- she exercises everyday if she's not lazy and has the energy to do it

--- after graduation from Bullworth Academy, she plans to go back to South Korea (with a permission from her parents of course) to go to a university in Seoul and after university, she also plans to be a football player in South Korea

--- she loves to make her notes aesthetic (the upper middle picture on the moodboard for reference)

--- she always has her handycam with her all the time just to record for high school nostalgia (or nostalgia in general)

--- Kirby thinks she's kind of cool unlike Ted and maybe the rest of the jocks

______________________________

Hiii!!! >.<

Idk if she's going to be my last oc but my head can't stop having ideas. So we'll see

Anyways I hope you like her and the faceclaim is Yoon Eun-hye as Go Eun-chan from Coffee Prince

Credits to lovelogs for the filter on the moodboard <333

#bully #bully game #bully rockstar #rockstar bully #bully scholarship edition #bully canis canem edit #canis canem edit bully #bully canis canem #canis canem #bully oc #my oc #my original character #my original oc #original character introduction #original character info #choi joo-yeon

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befuddled-calico-whump · 1 year ago

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Total $hit$how: Bombs Away

in which Joy overcomes her boredom

cw: adult language

previous ///// masterlist ///// next

×~×~×

Things went from exciting to uneventful in record time. Even though they were on a supposed ‘tight schedule’, all they did was train and practice and practice and train.

Joy was no stranger to training overkill; she'd experienced it plenty in the army, but that at least made some sense. The army was full of dumbass kids who came in not knowing which way was up. Here wasn't.

...With maybe the exception of Harbor. The guy looked thirty, but sure as hell acted like a dumbass kid. It was hard for her to pinpoint how old he actually was.

Not that it really mattered. No matter their age, skill, or background, they were all monkeys in the same shitshow.

They'd been here for close to a week now, and they still hadn't been given more info for the all important file. Not to mention the fact that the mission made no sense to her.

Sure, they were all skilled. Jericho had proven he could bust down cyber walls better than a digital wrecking crew, and she'd seen Benji crack every lock Sahota tossed his way in seconds. Even Kaius, for all his insufferability, was adept at finding little details the rest of them missed. And though Harbor followed directions about as well as a deaf rat would follow the pied piper, he still had the biotech to give him an edge on whatever Sahota tasked them with.

Skills aplenty. But why couldn't whoever’d sought them out just helo some mercenaries to whatever floor the secret tech shit was on and bust it up? Why did it require so much finesse? If it was so important, if leaving the program alone would potentially doom the city, what was with all the secrecy? And maybe most importantly, why couldn't the almighty Sahota and Vic do it themselves?

It probably wasn't her business. She probably just didn't care enough about the polite subtleties tech conglomerates required to give a shit.

But the powers that be demanded secrets and fine tuning, so fuck it, she'd play their game.

Training was fun enough, but Joy could stand to complain about their downtime options. As far as she could tell, they could either read, work out in the gym that was set up on the far side of the training room, or mindlessly wander the hallways.

She'd checked out the little library, and hadn't found many books she was interested in reading. There was barely a shelf's worth of nonfiction; old equipment manuals and biographies of people she’d never heard of. There was a significantly higher amount of classic literature. The kind of shit you had to read in school, and probably her least favorite genre. She'd sifted through the paperbacks anyway, if only out of boredom. The most worn book was a copy of the dreaded 1984, and when she flipped through its pages, she found tally marks. A shit ton of them, like someone had been bored and just wanted to see how many they could make.

There were maybe a hundred to a page, carefully drawn in the margins. Weird as they were, Joy couldn't find anything that gave them context, even after devoting an evening to checking the rest of the books for markings.

Maybe someone had a weird sense of humor and just wanted to put down 1,984 tallies. Either way, it didn't seem worth it to lose her mind over, so at the end of the night, she'd just shelved it and gone to bed. That had only been day two. Who knew how much time she'd have to kill while waiting for the mission to kick off?

The compound was woefully lacking in the engineering department. It didn't even have a proper toolbox, at least not one she'd been able to find, and Joy resorted to swiping little bits of cutlery and disposables to build shit. Nothing useful, just little things to entertain herself.

Day three, she made a working crossbow out of toothpicks and dental floss. Day four, a tiny model plane crafted from broken plastic cutlery. By day seven, she was on the verge of dismembering the AC unit in her room, just to see if she'd be able to fix it without a manual.

Joy pondered if it would be worth it as the crew stood half-awake on the sparring side of the training room, waiting for the morning’s session to begin. Of course, she didn't exactly have tools, but maybe she could improvise something.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed everyone else suddenly look towards the door, and made an effort to point her gaze in the same direction and pretend to pay attention, even though her mind was elsewhere.

It was Vic who walked in. A little weird, since it was usually Sahota strutting through the doors, but Joy brushed it off.

“Good morning, everyone,” Vic said.

“Good morning,” she parroted with the rest.

Maybe she could find a butter knife in the kitchen? With enough dedication, she could probably shape it into a half-decent flathead.

“I heard you've all been doing well in your training,” Vic continued.

What if she ran into an allen bolt though? Well, if it wasn't recessed she could probably finger-loosen it with enough dedication, but if it was—

“Today I'm going to test your skills.”

Joy's gaze suddenly sharpened. A test? That was new. Did that mean they were finally close to getting this show on the road? She raised her hand, and waited for Vic to look her way.

“How are you gonna do that?”

“I've laid out a mock mission. I'll give you all an objective, and see how quickly you can meet it. And perhaps more importantly, how you meet it.” He folded his arms, offering a friendly smile. “I'm afraid I haven't had the time to watch every one of Sahota's sessions. I’d like to see how it's coming along with my own eyes.”

“Where is Sahota?” Kaius asked from beside her.

“He's on a mission. A real one.” Vic chuckled. “Can't come to the phone right now and all that.”

“What sort of mission?”

“Well now, I can't go handing you all the details, Mr. Manak. I'm sure you understand.”

Joy had already assumed Sahota was going somewhere. This morning, she'd caught him and Vic in the kitchen and she swore they'd been about to kiss. She'd awkwardly excused herself then ran to tell Jericho.

Poor Jer needed something to distract himself with. The two of them had learned that there was no wifi in the computer lab way back on day one. And since they couldn't leave the compound and didn't have communication devices of their own, that meant they were effectively cut off from the rest of the world.

Which did make sense, considering all the top secrets they'd supposedly be exposed to. Not to mention the fact that the base’s location was probably a secret in itself.

Joy could deal. Her family was used to her going months without contact. Jer, on the other hand, was used to working from home. He had a kid now, a six year old daughter, and fuck had it really been that long since she'd last seen him?

They’d only had a semester's worth of compsci partnership before she'd deployed for the third time, but they'd really hit it off. Kept in touch, more or less, though she'd never mentioned her shady weapons dealings and he'd never mentioned his secret hacker missions. Which made them even. And now their respective skills had brought them back together, so Joy couldn't complain.

She was a little hurt that he'd never mentioned his kid, but given his skillset, she got it. You could never be too safe when you had both a family and a dangerous hobby.

“Her name's Arabella,” he'd told her, passing over a wallet-sized photo of a grinning girl with an assortment of wildflowers poking out of her softly-coiled afro. “Her mom took that on her birthday this year. She wanted a fairy princess party. That's the reason for all the flowers.”

“She's adorable.”

“She's a handful,” Jer said, smiling a proud-dad smile as he put away the picture. “She's the only reason I agreed to do this.”

Joy didn't have to ask what he meant. She didn't know what was at stake for the rest of the team, but for the two of them, it was just as much about protecting their loved ones as it was staying out of jail. It wasn't the government she had to worry about, or pride, or how society might judge her family. It was old enemies. People who would see her picture on the news and suddenly know where to look for her weaknesses. She imagined Jericho was in the exact same boat.

Vic clapped his hands together; a relatively soft sound, but enough to jerk her focus back into the moment.

“If everyone is ready, I'll brief you on your tasking.” He strolled over to one of the built-in metal cabinets that lined the sparring area, punching in a code on a keypad that prompted the doors to slide open. Inside, on the shelves, were what Joy could only describe as high-tech basketballs.

Or at least they were roughly the size and shape of a basketball. Most similarities ended there. They were smooth metal, with fine seams that suggested interior electronics, and a lense that was almost like… no shit.

“Are those robots?” Joy blurted out, forgetting to raise her hand this time.

Vic smiled. “Sharp, Miss Cavan. They are. Or drones, rather.” He took one in his hands, thumbing a button on the side, and the thing whirred to life, lifting itself from Vic’s grasp and hovering there.

Joy watched it with wide eyes. How was it floating? There was no propelling system or engine she could see, was it—?

“Electromagnetism,” Vic said, as if answering her thoughts. “We have a weak field that covers the training grounds.”

“Fancy stuff,” Jericho murmured.

“Is that our task?” Benji asked, gesturing at the drone. It swiveled in the air, facing its camera towards him, and he took a cautious step back. “Those… thingies?”

“On the contrary,” Vic said, moving to activate the other two. “The drones will act as a stand-in for armed security guards. They'll attempt to prevent you from reaching your goal.”

Benji gave an exaggerated wince. “But the drones aren't armed, are they?”

“They are.”

Joy's eyes flew to the trio of bots, scanning for weapons capabilities. Based on their size, they didn't have the carrying capacity for ammo or a full auto system. Not that she assumed Vic was willing to shoot them, but…

“Each drone is equipped with the equivalent of a cattle prod. Nothing that'll do permanent damage, but enough to give you a sting.”

Benji took a bigger step backwards. At this point, Joy was probably the only one in range of said ‘equivalent of a cattle prod’, but she didn't care. If anything, she wanted them to come at her so she could watch how they deployed their attack. Fuck, she’d give her left arm to take one of these apart. Maybe Vic would let her mess around with their armaments? She could probably devise a ranged electrical attack, if she could just get a look at the internals. She'd done similar shit in the gun shop, and she'd worked with some low-grade drones when she was still running arms overseas. Shouldn't be too tough to combine the two.

“What is our task?” Kaius took a step forward, so that he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her, his eyes on the drones. “What goal will they be trying to prevent us from reaching?”

At that, Vic drew out another metallic device, this one boxy and covered in so many screens and buttons Joy figured most were just for decoration.

Vic set it down, typing a quick sequence into a keypad next to the cabinet. A giant sound, like stone dominoes, echoed out from behind them, and Joy whirled around.

The concrete pad that stretched between the sparring mats and the gym equipment was moving, shifting around like tectonic fucking plates and rearranging into something that looked like an abstract painting; huge cement cubes stacking into a maze of stairs that nearly reached the ceiling.

“Holy shit,” Joy whispered. “How does that work?”

Vic chuckled. “I can’t give away every secret, Miss Cavan.”

“Can I come work for you guys?”

“We'll see.” He hefted up the metallic box, fidgeting with some of the buttons and dials on one of its faces.

“Alright, team, listen up,” Vic said, raising his voice to draw their attentions back from the newly formed obstacle course. “This,” he held up the box, “is a bomb.”

Joy raised her eyebrows, again scanning its surface. If it was a bomb, its fuzing was total overkill. But given her current surroundings, she guessed she shouldn't be too shocked.

“It's… like a real bomb?” Benji asked, but Vic’s only reply was a smile. He pressed a button, and the side facing them lit up in a garish, movie-style countdown. Digital red, seconds already ticking away.

“Shit,” Benji muttered.

“I trust you understand your goal then.” Vic pressed another button and the box spun out of his hands, hovering alongside the drones for a moment before disappearing into the maze of concrete that now stood in the center of the room.

“Evade the drones. Disarm the bomb. You have one hour.”

He grinned at the collection of shocked faces surrounding him.

“Try not to die.”

×~×~×

tag list:

@theonewithallthefixations

#joy is also fun skdjfjjr my easily bored gal #total$hit$how #writing #not exactly whump per say but i feel the need to establish everyone before i go wild

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dottiechan · 1 year ago

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TWC Secret Santa @wayhavensecretsanta ❄ - Happy holidays, @ejunkiet!

It was an absolute pleasure to create for you, I love Lizzie and Ava so much!!! 🩵 I couldn't decide whether to draw or write, so enjoy a bit of both. (BTW I seriously recommend @ejunkiet's fics of their detective OC Lizzie Quail, they're so good.) Happy holidays again! xx P.s. If you saw me accidentally post a draft of my gift to you a few days before... Shhh no you didn't. 🥲

Summary: After Unit Bravo's holiday dinner with Detective Lizzie Quail, Felix realises all the photos he took with his polaroid camera are botched.

Wordcount: 835

Warnings: smoking, Fuzzy Holidays Feels™

Too blurry. Too crowded. Mason is holding up his middle finger. Not focused on the subject. Ava appears to be sneering?

The polaroids scatter on the floor as they’re being dropped, Felix’s frustration seemingly travelling through his fingertips and into the botched pictures as they skitter across the parquet. He had such high hopes for this holiday dinner they’ve panned - he even volunteered, much to Nat’s suspicion, to help decorate the warehouse to prepare the background for his perfect winter photos. There doesn’t seem to be a single wall or piece of furniture without strings of fairy lights or garlands hanging off them - and yet somehow, he managed to mess up all the pictures he took.

“I should have just used my phone, not this stupid polaroid Nat gave me,” he grumbles, as he sinks to the floor dramatically from the sofa. He turns his head to the left, expecting a response from Mason, but aside from the shrug of a shoulder, and a puff of smoke, he’s as disinterested as always. Felix allows his head to loll right now, and peeks through the open doors into the dining room, but his other team members are too far to share in his misery. Lizzie is in the middle of a story, which has Nat’s full attention, and Ava’s full, well, everything? Attention, adoration, respect, senses, everything. They’re cute, the way they hold hands over the table, how Ava squeezes Lizzie's hand encouragingly when she trails off or gets embarrassed by her own rambling. Felix hoped he would capture a moment between them, something candid, something like right now, but he’s missed his windows of opportunity - like for instance when Ava finally allowed herself to be dragged under the mistletoe with Lizzie, but their picture was ruined by the detective spilling her drink all over herself.

“Felix?”

“Leave me alone,” he replies, but he also cracks one eye open to make sure Nat, who’s just entered the room, doesn’t lose interest in his pity party on the floor. But she’s already retreating, so he starts flailing his limbs as if he were making a snow angel in the sea of polaroids. “Please don’t leave me alone. Mason won’t talk to me and I’m embarrassed. I messed up all the pictures. I tried taking them like you showed me but I messed up.”

“They’re not so bad,” Nat says kindly as she sits with her friend, plucking the odd semi-decent pictures from the ground. “See? This is lovely.”

“Yeah, but Lizard has hot chocolate spilt on her sweater in that one.”

“Don’t call her that,” Mason grumbles, as he sweeps some polaroids off his lap - the by-product of Felix’s snow angel performance - and flicks his cigarette into the flames of the fireplace. Nat pretends not to see, but the pain flashing across her features has already made Felix feel a little better. They spend the better of the next hour going through the pictures and sorting them out, while Mason sits close-by, smoking, lost in his thoughts. All that breaks their peace is Frank Sinatra’s drawling voice coming from the record player, and the occasional laughter from the lovebirds still camped in the dining room. By the end of it, they’re left with a handful of decent-ish photographs, and Felix wastes no time sticking them into the photo album he got from Lizzie for Christmas.

There was a moment today, a moment worth capturing, one that was befitting of the old silver screen movies Nat made him and Lizzie watch, between Ava and their beloved detective. Naturally, Felix - a rotten romantic at heart - is pissed that he wasn’t able to capture it. It was a moment far better than the forced kiss under the mistletoe, a moment of intimacy, when the pair thought they were away from prying eyes. A hand under Lizzie’s jaw, Ava’s eyes fixed on the prize, wanting to kiss but being unable to take their eyes off of each other… Obviously the shutter of the camera ruined it, causing the pair step away from each other, and Lizzie to hide her blushing cheeks behind the curtain of her frizzy hair, but that’s beside the point. They were happy. Maybe happier than he’s ever seen them. Things are often so fucked up, with the odds always stacked against them, that Felix sometimes lives in the comfort of these moments. He lives in his family’s happiness, in his friends’ laughter, in Lizzie’s tight hugs, in Ava’s pats on the shoulder… If he could, he’d capture all these moments in a jar and keep them very close always. Photographs are the next best thing - which is why he’s bummed out the picture he took of this moment must be so unrecognisable that it was swallowed by his sea of botched photographs.

He’s lost in thought when Mason nudges his shoulder, a polaroid of Lizzie and Ava in his hand stretched towards him.

“Found this under the sofa. Not too bad, if you’re into this lovey-dovey shit.”

#twc secret santa #ava du mortain #twc detective #twc fanart #twc fanfic #dottiechanart #dottiechan writes #digital art #other people's ocs

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lettersfromtone · 1 month ago

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Who was Theobald Wolfe Tone? Why Do We Care?

With just under a month until the first letters from our friend Theobald Wolfe Tone will start arriving, I thought it'd be fun to fill the intervening time with some context, background information, extra reading and so on. I'll keep these supplementary posts to the tumblr primarily, as I'd like to have the substack serve as a largely unadulterated compendium of the diary entries for the interest of anyone coming upon this down the line. It also gives us a bit more room for discussion, as the comments (and reblogs and etc.) are on here, whereas they're off on substack.

Anyway! With all that said, let's return to the questions from the title: who was Theobald Wolfe Tone, and why do we care what he wrote?

I'm not going to waste time giving a full biography of Tone - there is a perfectly servicable account of that on his wikipedia and if you want a more academic account, there's also the extensive Dictionary of Irish Biography entry. For the cliff notes though, Theobald Wolfe Tone was a member of the Society of United Irishmen, a nationalist organisation formed in Ireland at the end of the Eighteenth Century ultimately responsible in 1798 for the first major armed revolt against British colonial rule since the subduing of Gaelic Ireland back in the Seventeenth Century. Tone was one of the founding members of the Society, and is generally seen to claim a place in the hagiography of Irish nationalist heroes. His involvement in both Catholic Emancipation and the development of Irish nationalist ideology is highly significant, and he was an active member of the Society of United Irishmen from its foundation all the way up to his death.

While I don't want to get into his full biography, I do think it's worth outlining the context in which his diary was written. Our encounter with Tone begins in February 1796, as he arrives in Le Havre in France. His diary covers some of the most interesting aspects of his career as a revolutionary, but for the full picture of why he was even in France to begin with, we need to flash back to 1794, when a man named William Jackson arrived in Ireland.

By this point, France and Britain were at war (and had been since the year prior). Jackson was sent as a spy by the French government to take a measure of Irish discontent and in particular how the Irish public might respond to a French invasion - ultimately seeking to see if Ireland could be viably used as a weapon against Britain. Jackson, an Irish emigré himself, successfully made it to Ireland and was eventually able to arrange a meeting with prominent United Irishmen Archibald Hamilton Rowan and Theobald Wolfe Tone. Through their meetings, Tone was given the responsibility of writing a memorandum on the state of Ireland to present to the French government. Four letters were ultimately produced - and of these two were addressed to Nicholas Madgett, the man responsible for Jackson's mission, and contained copies of Tone's memorandum.

Unfortunately for Jackson and the United Irishmen, these letters were intercepted by the British intelligence service and Jackson was arrested and brought to trial for treason in April 1795. At this point in time, the Society of United Irishmen was still a public society, but their involvement with Jackson cast a great deal of suspicion onto Rowan and Tone. Rowan chose to flee the country in the wake of Jackson's arrest, but Tone chose to remain in Ireland, believing his political connections would ensure lenient treatment.

The Trial of William Jackson is a major moment in the evolution of Irish nationalism in this period, and perhaps we'll discuss it in greater detail another time, but for now what matters is that in the midst of the fallout of the trial, Tone agreed to go into voluntary exile to America in lieu of any other punishment for his involvement. It was intended that he would settle in America, however prior to his departure he and several other United Irishmen concocted a plan for him to travel to France instead, to make contact with the Revolutionary French government and induce them to send aid to the nationalist cause. Thus, in 1795, after making brief contact with United Irish agents in Philadelphia in the United States and securing papers and passports, Tone set sail once again for Europe, bound for the port of Le Havre.

...which is where we'll leave the story for now - we'll have to wait to see how gets on once he starts writing to us, starting 2 February. See you then!

#irish history #history #united irishmen

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irish-urn · 10 months ago

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I absolutely LOVED your response, and I agree! thanks for spending time on it <3 what draws me in about dasey is how complex it is, its forbidden love, “if its wrong I don’t want to be right”, the family dynamic, the drama, the suspense! so it’s always a let down when they hype it up so much and then nothing happens lol I want to see how dasey faces this hardship and how they present themselves moving forward. I’m so curious to hear about your after-LWL hc! I wonder how the family would react now that kids and divorce are involved. I know you’re currently writing a series about this so you don’t have to reveal too much, but how would Casey and Derek handle this as young adults? It’s not all unicorns and rainbows when dasey gets together, there’s definitely a storm coming.

LOOK, I didn't understand Taylor Swift's reputation album before I re-discovered Dasey. But now I do understand; and someone please remind me to put "But Daddy, I Love Him" on my kick at the darkness playlist because... Damn. If that isn't them.

Ohhhh Life With Luca!! You're right, I am writing a series about this — I'm actually writing, like, three parts all at once? (*hides face in shame*). The really interesting thing about the LWL world, though, is that Derek and Casey's priorities have shifted. No longer are they majorly concerned with George and Nora's opinions, but instead they're far more worried about Luca, Molly, Kai, and Skyler's opinions. And, maybe it's just me being a bit of a romantic, but I truly believe the only one of those four that would have some trouble with them getting together would be Luca: and that's because he still has a relationship with his dad. So for his mom to move on would be very painful for him to witness; but he's also very obviously fond of Derek. The six of them just really worked as a unit in the movie, and I think everyone can see that.

I strongly believe that Skyler would do everything in her power to see her dad happy; I actually HC that she figures out his feelings for Casey within weeks of them moving into the Guest House. And as for Molly and Kai -- we never see them even mention their dad, except for one instance where Kai says that "Mom and Dad don't let us swear"; and Molly tells Skyler that she wishes they could be "cousins AND sisters" -- so I think they're far more concerned with everyone being happy and them getting the attention they need than any social weirdness.

SO! With all that being said, I'm working on a part of that series where Dasey are together (because we all know that's where we're headed) and there is drama happening in the background. There's a little bit about how George and Nora did not react well -- to quote one part, "…Unfortunately, Nora and George were not handling this new relationship with any sort of grace, and there was no way they were going to take the kids so Derek and Casey could happily fuck themselves into oblivion." -- and I think Nora and George are choosing to view this relationship as a TERRIBLE REBOUND for Casey and both of them are calling Derek and Casey incredibly selfish and have they even thought about the kids?

(This, of course, made both Derek and Casey livid because, uh? George and Nora got engaged before ANY of them had met ANY of the other family; so who's considering who now???? Where they currently stand in that part of the series is that both parties are giving the other the silent treatment.)

I still think Edwin, Lizzie, and Marti would react the same way, no matter the ages. There's a little bit of concern regarding the children, but as soon as they checked in and saw that Derek and Casey are constantly checking in with the children and being as open as they can about the whole thing, I think they would just... be happy for them.

But Simon is struggling. Simon is struggling because he sees these two as his big BIG siblings, and unlike the others where blood only connects half of them, he IS connected by blood to ALL OF THEM. And, y'know, Casey has been with Peter for as long as Simon can remember -- one of his earliest memories is getting to hold baby!Luca. But Casey is so obviously happy and calmer with Derek, and Derek is happy and HOME so Simon can actually SEE him; so he's trying very hard to get on board. He fails a bit, says some things he probably shouldn't, but he's trying really, really, really hard.

I think, if he were a child, it would be easier for him to adapt. With my kick at the darkness series, for instance, he won't bat an eye — he's never going to remember a time when they weren't together, so he'll just... accept it as a part of his weird family. I'm currently playing with a sequel to "sick with sadness" as well, and he's 9/10 in that story; he finds it weird and kind of gross, but with the middle McTuris' help, he adapts quickly too. I got the sense from LWL that Simon loves Derek and Casey a whole bunch; looks up to them and trusts them, much like the younger three looked up to them in LWD. So I think love is going to win.

The fun thing is, I can actually see divorced!Casey caring a lot less about her mother's opinion about her and Derek because Casey has already been through a failed relationship, one where she tried to do the right thing -- I am a strong believer that Derek took off in LWL canon because he and Casey were teetering on the edge of the knife and someone stepped over the line and the other panicked. I suspect Derek is the one that leaned in too close or said something, and Casey FREAKED, and so he took off -- and doing the right thing didn't last. It hasn't stopped her from loving Derek, nor from him loving her. So why should she fight it any longer? She's already hurt the two of them enough; so what if Nora isn't happy? Casey is an adult living on her own, and she's tired of doing only what she's supposed to. She's going to get it right this time -- very much in the same way Nora is determined to get it right this second time too. Gosh, they really are mother and daughter, huh?

(Any other questions? I'm still not sure I really answered this one correctly...)

#life with derek #asks #life with luca #dasey #i just love the complications #*chews on it like jerky*

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kylekozmikdeluxo · 8 months ago

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5 Random (Sometimes Brief) Hyperfixations of Mine

One of the fun things about being autistic isn’t just the hyper fixations that become part of your official lore, but also the weirder, sometimes brief obsessions that really came and went. Maybe not necessarily what might form your core interests, but still a good-sized part of you.

They formed a strong camp in your brain for about 2-3 months, maybe even a little longer, and then just left as you developed a new obsession… And you sometimes get the urge, years later, to revisit some of those things… Or maybe they are still firm interests of yours, but they’re just in your massive file cabinet room that forms up most of your electric head meat... sharing space with a gazillion other things…

I’ll share some of mine with you today, on this Disability Pride Month. (Yeeehoo! I get two Pride months in a row!)

MAPS/ATLAS/GLOBES - As far back as first grade, 1998/99, I was really into how road layouts worked. Just how all the roads I was on, they looked like interlocking noodle grids when seen from above... And how maps and atlases, carefully done up by people, depicting them. I would get lost for hours in one of my dad's county atlas books, and soon I began to know where everything was. Which exit took you to which, etc. As you could imagine, I really really like SIM CITY and stuff like that back in the day.

But also maps in general. A playground my dad took me and my sister to had a painted U.S. map on the pavement, and I remember learning my states through that before school taught me all of that, or that episode of ANIMANIACS. I had at least one globe as a child, too, and was often mesmerized by it. Learning all the different countries around the world... Fun stuff, and because of that, I can name countries adults older than me (I'm 31 and a 1/2) have never even heard of... Yeeeeah, kinda concerning? Anyways, I think the street maps will always be the ones I liked the most. I still find them fascinating, especially when there are overhead maps of environments in video games. Could stare at those aaaaall day.

THE TITANIC - I think us autistics and neurodees all had THAT phase at one point in our lives. Titanic, Greek mythology, Ancient [Insert Civilization Here]… In third grade, in the year 2000, my class had a unit on the Titanic. I had already been aware of the Titanic because of that little 1997 indie movie that few people heard of, but that was just something in the background for me. I remember hearing the Celine Dion song incessantly on the radio, too. (Not complaining, I think it’s a lovely song.)

From there, the design of the ship fascinated me, and I got into Titanic for a little bit. I had a big coffee table book about the ship, and found what had to have been a clearance copy of the 1996 PC game TITANIC: ADVENTURE OUT OF TIME. I played that A LOT, it’s a favorite of mine, a fascinating and sometimes ominous alt-history sort of suspense/mystery adventure. I also had this random VHS about the Titanic, I couldn’t tell you what it was… It wasn’t the 1950s Titanic movie, it was some black-and-white, almost documentary-like look at the ship? I remember just getting that VHS somewhere, and I have no idea where it went… By early-to-mid 2001, I think that phase sorta set sail…

LENNY LOOSEJOCKS - The adventures of a string cheese-looking Aussie and his canine Donga, LENNY LOOSEJOCKS came from an indie flash game site called Ezone. Launched in 1995, I remember spending quite some time on that site around 2000/01-ish (you know, in the dial-up days of Internet), playing the variety of weird little games they had. Of all the LENNY LOOSEJOCKS games, the one I played the most was the cosmic one, LENNY LOOSEJOCKS IN SPACE.

I was aaaaall about that for some time, and while I had already learned about the Solar System in school (and was subsequently fascinated by all of that), this just made me appreciate it all even more. Each planet had a unique atmosphere and look to it, and the lack of music and the ambience really immersed me into those planets- I know, I’m talking about some flash game that inspired me greatly as a kid, not STAR WARS or whatever cool kids who had “actual” childhoods grew up with, lol. Anyways, yeah, this was my STAR WARS, my Roman Empire, something like that. I probably write so much cosmic/space/galactic stuff largely because of this game.

DRACULA - This one’s rather weird, I think it was spurred by a Hostess commercial from around late 2001/early 2002 where an ersatz Dracula transforms into a bat and flies headfirst into a neon sign that resembles Hostess’ signature telephone cord-looking cupcakes. I found a VHS of the 1931 Bela Lugosi DRACULA sitting around (not sure how that got into my orbit), and just sorta started drawing and writing a lot of horror-tinged, weird vampire stuff for a little bit. I remember whenever I’d play with my Casio keyboard back in the day, there was a pitch shifter wheel of sorts. I remember pressing the keys on the organ setting and using that dial to make it sound like a distorted horror movie soundtrack. From a beat-up film print. Even 9-year-old me in early 2002 picked up on those sorts of things.

I’ve always had a thing for the dark, the macabre, the gothic, and such. Even went as a vampire for a few Halloweens. I also remember doing a book report (this is around fourth grade) for the book DRACULA DOESN’T DRINK LEMONADE, from the series THE BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS. I just thought the idea was pretty cool and creepy, and to this day? I still think vampires are pretty cool, and I sometimes incorporate them into what I write.

THE ROAMING GNOME - Around the mid-2000s, Travelocity - the online travel agency - ran a series of commercials featuring a little garden gnome with an offscreen voice. I caught a couple of the commercials circa summer 2005, one where he get zapped across a room by an electrical outlet…

youtube

And another where he gets hit by a cart at the airport…

youtube

12-year-old me thought these were the height of comedy GOLD. I quoted these constantly, and it was to the point where one of my uncles went out of his way to buy me… A whole-ass GNOME. And we had that at my dad’s place for a little while, I think it got chipped up over time or stored away somewhere. I’d love to find it again, if it’s all in one piece lol.

#Youtube #disability pride #autistic #hyperfixations #random stuff i was into #2000s #i was a weird kid #i'm still weird #1990s #90s kid

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stories-me · 4 months ago

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Potential Character for Mrs. Kelsey and Tumblr 10/30/2024:

Jill Jones, Military Watchog:

What she’s from: Pokémon Armonia.

What she could be in: Gamma World.

Personality:

Jill is a serious hard worker. Being raised by a cop, she also has a strong sense of justice and is ready to help anyone in need. But she also expects good manners and the same seriousness from others and she might give you a long rant if you fool around too much. She is easy to work with (if you are on the same page with work ethics) but it’s a bit harder to make friends with her since she usually considers everyone as just work partners. But if you manage to stick around long enough, Jill will warm up to you and show that deep down, there is a normal girl. She is a bit competitive and eager to prove her skills in any situation.

When under the influence of the Shadow Virus (which unlocks one’s “darker side”), she becomes a laughing maniac, as opposed to her usual, reserved personality.

Background:

Originally from a world where Pokémon not only existed, but became anthropomorphic and replaced humanity as the dominant species, Jill grew up in the underground slums of Goldenrod City. She and her family lived a modest life. They weren’t very rich, but they never complained and did their best. Even from a very young age, Jill has always had a strong sense of justice thanks to her father who worked at the local police unit. She admired him and always dreamed of a similar career path. Thus, she is always ready, willing and able to help those who need help. She used to spend most of her days patrolling the underground mazes and playing at being a guard. Despite all of this, she is not easy Pokémon to make friends with. Jill’s mindset is: “work first and fun later (never)”.

Jill had only one Pokémon who she called friend, a young Flaaffy. She was the one who encouraged Jill to apply for the Pokémon Armonia Institute. There she could train with elites and hopefully become a better fighter. Not to mention strengthen her other skills that she would need in life. Jill agreed and sent her application letter… Hopefully this school would help her to improve her battle skills and most important, teach her how to have fun and make friends.

After spending two terms in Armonia Institute, she has learned a lot and grew a lot stronger. Well, a lot sure has happened! From party events to turning into an ice type, or turning pink. Huge fire on the island and PIRATES! Thankfully things seem to be calming down now and normal school life can continue. She has learned to relax a bit but is still quite serious about her grades. She has met some other students but made only one good friend. (you need to do better Jill).

When Jill turned 15, she made a wish of finally evolving. Jirachi blessed the little Patrat with her wish and Jill evolved into a Watchog. Jill was ecstatic and she feels now she has a bright future ahead (pun intended).

Years after school, she became part of the military… but then, things went somewhat wrong, due to the Big Mistake, and she found herself thrust into Gamma World, where, after finding out about them, she allied with the Restorationists, a group determined to rebuild the United States of America (while taking into account the… “alterations” the Big Mistake caused).

How she is like me:

We both want to help others and can be quite determined. In addition, we both have a strong sense of justice. Also, we usually have good manners, and have a few friends… though one stands out, in my opinion: Trey, a good friend who I’ve known since Elementary School. Frankly, if you want to be my friend, helping me with fan fictions is a good way to start.

How she is NOT like me:

Sometimes, I find it hard to relax, in certain situations.

Kelsey Notes:

While we tend to become friends with those we share common interests with, it is also important to consider the other interests your friends share outside of fan fictions

For example, in zoom we have many different conversations (from the weather, current events, upcoming shows/movies, etc) in addition to something you might add about fan fictions because it’s a big chunk of time

People are able to talk to you at fan fictions for varying amounts of time, some 5-10 minutes, other conversations can go longer depending on how strong their interests in fan fictions are

While Jill is serious about her work and goals, it is important for her to be flexible and shift her focus to other things if she wants to engage in social activities

Her time at the Armonia Institute can be comparable to your time at Inspire- they keep you engaged in a variety of activities which has expanded your ability to focus on other things besides fan fictions

Despite how strongly you preferred to spend time looking at fan fictions, you became determined to participate in life more

You realized a strong sense of boredom and loneliness even when spending time with fan fictions

This realization has helped you stay focused on other activities to create more balance in your life

In creating more balance in your life, you can now hold conversations with others that aren’t related to fan fictions without getting frustrated

You have bonded more with your social network and look forward to time chatting with friends and going out in the community with others

Jill might be a good example for task initiation when it comes to the big mistake- other characters might be overwhelmed with a task like rebuilding the USA

Sometimes we get so overwhelmed with a big task we need someone to help push us to just get started so we don’t overthink on what needs to be done

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reiverreturns · 1 year ago

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I’m only starting to get into f1 can you explain the offseason f1 vs fia drama I wanna understand it

I certainly can m'love!

So a little bit of background context before I get into the meat. This whole drama centres around three main players. The first of these is Susie Wolff, an ex-DTM and F1 development driver, former CEO of Formula E, and now MD of the all-female series F1 Academy reporting directly into Stefano Domenicali. She also happens to be married to Toto Wolff (our second player), Team Principal of Mercedes AMG. Our third player is Mohammed Ben Sulayem, current FIA president who has been plagued with accusations of fostering sexism as of late as well as being an outright misogynist, stating that he thought women were stupider than men on a personal website prior to his election. He is also well known for not being popular in the ranks of F1, who see him as a powerplayer and someone who continually overreaches to influence the sport to an unreasonable degree.

SO. This all starts with swirling media rumours that earlier this season there was an incident in a TP meeting where Toto accidentally shared confidential insider information that triggered a complaint from one or more of the other team principals. The implication here was that Susie told Toto the insider info because she's his wife and apparently doesn't give a shit about professional integrity. Anyway the FIA confirmed this in a statement yesterday and said their Compliance Department is actively looking into the matter as a potential conflict of interest. Neither Toto, Susie, Merc, F1, or anyone else had been notified of this investigation and learned with all the rest of us through the press release that this was an ongoing investigation. Susie Wolff sends the most dignified and classy fuck you of all time via instagram and I fall in love with her a little more

Still, it's fair to investigate a complaint, right? Well here's the thing - this evening every single F1 team (bar Merc obvs) have released a statement saying they did not complain to the FIA about a potential conflict of interest. And if no one complained, the FIA have basically been caught with their pants down. They have either 1. taken grossly inappropriate action based on one shitty media report, 2. have lied about their reasons for investigating the Wolffs and Susie in particular, or 3. given the entire F1 paddock reason to lie about this which seems very unrealistic. F1 teams will happily throw one another under the bus for a dime there would have to be something immense happening to make them unite like this.

It's hard not to see this mess as a classic Ben Sulayem overreach and extremely sexist gamble to try and oust Susie Wolff from her senior position in the organisation. It's also hard not to see the teams' action tonight as a coordinated attempt to put pressure on the FIA and for Ben Sulayem to resign. Either way, someone's lied on an extremely public stage, put people's careers at risk, and the fallout is going to go on well into the new year.

Oh, and the FIA end of season awards show is on Friday. You know, the one some members of the Merc team got fined for not attending a few years ago when Hamilton got screwed out of an eighth world title. Lol. That should be a barrel of laughs.

Anyway that's what you missed on Glee I hope it helps/made some sense?!

#it's soooooooo messy #only hating on Sulayem could unite the grid so fully lmao. peace and love on planet earth.#formula 1 #f1

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rikomoriyama01 · 2 years ago

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Cannibalism - AFTG YC AU

based on cake verse my beloved TW cannibalism / pica / consensual and dubiously consensual cannibalism / government sanctioned cannibalism / diseases

"science background"

certain people have genetic defect which over course of their lives alters their neurological system to a point they stop being able to feel taste or scent of natural food sources

the condition is incurable and negatively impacts mental health

can cause malnutrition loss of interest in food

always leads to cannibalism

*people in late stages of the disease develop preference for human flesh as it's the only natural food source that still has taste and smell, certain people seem to have much more attractive smell and taste

"People are not made equal some are more tasty than others"

In borderline cases meeting of two perfectly compatible persons (A yen and A cupid ) can lead to cupid ignoring voice of reason and immediately aim to devour yen

YEN: A strong desire or inclination; a yearning or craving. The monetary unit of Japan

CUPIDity: Excessive desire, especially for wealth; covetousness or avarice. An eager desire to possess something; inordinate desire; immoderate craving, especially for wealth or power; greed. Discovered and first publicly documented in Japan while cases of the phenomenon were written off as mental instability everywhere else]

Riko is a cupid he knew it ever since the day he got to taste kevin day's blood, even worse kevin day is Riko’s yen and every night they were left alone together they both feared Rikos self control will run out

Riko picks people for perfect court based on their compatibility [all of them are likely his yen's]

Legally after age of 18 all cupids are forced to wear plastic muzzle covering their mouth

Andrew is also cupid but he masks well and nobody knows, he also brings fake blood samples to doctor appointments to make sure he is not discovered, and is absolutely not prepared when Neil turns out to be his yen- bad things happen

Aaron is not a cupid, after Andrew is discovered they often swap places (Andrew goes out in public without muzzle and dressed like Aaron carrying Aarons id bc no way he will walk around muzzled even if it puts others at risk)

Riko bit off Jean’s lips while kissing one day after that he refuses to approach anyone without the muzzle on

Cupids do not possess sharper teeth or super strength, their digestive tracts are no different than normal people, often times individuals end up misdiagnosed with pica(cases of eating other persons hair , napkins etc.) Cupids show preference for red meat in diet through their lifetime usually raw, which can lead to health complication but also is theorized its body's way of preparation to consume human flesh in future Cupids tend to form strong emotional connections with yens (one sided) The society doesn't condone cannibalism, the flesh eating is dangerous both for Cupids and any humans who might even willingly partake in their feeding, consensual cannibalism is also illegal (when organized by individuals directly) Cupids are allowed to eat designated and prepared remains and useless body parts after medical procedures after the flesh is checked and deemed safe for consumption. The system is made for safety of everyone as Cupids lack ability to take their own safety in consideration as well (prion diseases, and all other sickness that can be transferred from body to body by tissue consumption as well as general inability of human digestive tract to deal with most of tissues) Cupids often suffer from digestive tract blockages after ingestion of inedible items, the health of their digestive tract is in below average conditions based on their dietary preferences. The black market is blooming and Moriyamas are at the head of it. Humans can not save animals but when cell multiplying technology was discovered they decided to save themselves and start trying to clone human flesh for Cupids consumption, its impossibly expensive for a normal person but a rich person can enjoy safe and flavourful meals that are strengthened with all vitamins and minerals necessary.

#riko moriyama #andrew minyard #arron minyard #kevin day #aftg #canibalism #AFTG YC AU

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luv-assangiebatch · 1 year ago

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Mendax Undercover - Chapter 7: P4

Over the next several weeks, Julian and Kat continued to meet at least twice a week to work on their research. Kat would prepare datasets and then Julian would test them through his pipeline programs, tuning parameters often for optimal results. Kat also continued to scour through published literature in case any new variants of interest popped up. Preparing the datasets could be tricky sometimes, and also required some advanced coding skills, for which she required Julian’s expertise and guidance. They often found themselves working late hours in Julian’s office as they simply lost track of time while engrossed in their work. Sometimes they would decide to have dinner delivered to the office or Kat would step out to pick something up for them.

While they both were very professional and focused on the project, they were also spending a lot of time together and getting to know each other rather well. They shared jokes, anecdotes, and funny stories from their pasts. Kat shared stories from her life in the United States, and Julian then would share stories about his childhood in Australia. Australia seemed like a different world to Kat and she could not fathom ever making it there, it seemed like it was on the other side of the moon. However, Julian made it seems less foreign to her, and she told him how she often joked and called Arizona the “Australia” of the United States due to the warm climate and strange, ominous creatures that could be found there. Julian told her a little about his early hacking days in his teens and twenties, but he was careful to not mention his website or citizen journalism activities via “the fifth estate.” He was beginning to grow quite fond of Kat and was pretty sure she was a trustworthy individual, but he still felt the need to be cautious. On the other hand, Kat’s crush-feelings for Julian just continued to grow the more she got to know him. She was fascinated by his mind and how talented he was with computer programming. She could see why he was hired as a VP in bioinformatics. While he was very confident and even arrogant at times, he never made her feel inferior. He seemed to value her contributions to the project and treated her as an equal colleague rather than as if he were her boss or mentor. They both began to truly enjoy each other’s company, and they looked forward to their working meetings together, despite knowing they would often run late into the night.

One day, on a day when Kat and Julian usually met after work, Kat noticed Julian was not in the office. She was a little concerned and a bit disappointed to think that they would not meet that day, since she always looked forward to her time with him. She did notice however, that he was online via the instant messenger intranet program, and she saw some emails from him come through of which her variant scientists group was copied. She figured he was simply working from home that day, and that he probably had his reasons for doing so. She pondered sending him an instant message just to check in and make sure he was alright, that he hadn’t fallen ill or anything, but she did not want to overstep her bounds.

A couple hours later, as the usual time for their regular meeting approached, a strange chat window popped up on Kat’s computer. It was not through the company’s regular intranet instant messaging program. It looked more like a command prompt, with the white letters on a separate window with a black background. It simply read “Kitty-Kat.”

Kat felt a wave of heat flash through her face once this message popped up. It was so strange—if it were Julian, why didn’t he just message through the IM program? Then again, how could it be anyone other than Julian, who was the only one to call her Kitty-Kat. She glanced around her desk, making sure no one else was nearby, then she bit her lip as she started to type a response in the mysterious chat window.

- Julian, is that you?

- I’d still like to meet today, if you are up for meeting offsite.

This has to be Julian, she thought to herself. Who else could it possibly be? Kat was extremely intrigued—Julian continued to keep up the mystique.

- Yes, I can meet offsite.

- Excellent. I will send a driver to pick you up at 4pm. He will be parked in a black car across the street from the back lobby.

This was the same spot where she often saw Julian enter a black car after leaving the office after their late meetings.

- Great, I will be there!

- See you soon.

Then the little black chat window disappeared. Kat felt her heart starting to race in her chest. This was all so strange and mysterious. Why the secret chat window, why was a black car picking her up, and most importantly—where was she going? She had so many questions, and while this was all so baffling and a little nerve-racking, it was also exciting. Julian sure knew how to keep things interesting. She looked at the clock and saw it was 330p, and at that point she didn’t even care if she had emails to answer or other work to tend to—whatever it was it could wait until tomorrow. All she could think about was making it out to that street in time to see where this car was going to take her. She quickly gathered up her things and rushed toward the elevators.

Once she made it to the lobby, she continued to scurry across the floor and caught Astrid’s attention at the front desk as she breezed right by her without a greeting.

“Hé! Kat! Hello to you, too!” she quipped after her.

Kat stopped in her tracks and retreated back toward the receptionist.

“Oh goodness, I am so sorry, Astrid!” she gasped, catching her breath. “I am in a bit of a hurry…”

“Clearly! Who’s on fire?”

“Well…Mr. VP is not here today, but I got a strange message from him and he is having a car pick me up at 4:00!”

“Pick you up? And where is it going, this car?” Astrid inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Kat placed both of her hands on the large marble desk and leaned in dramatically.

“I have NO IDEA!” she gasped with a mixture of fluster and excitement.

“Oooooh, quel mystère!” Astrid bubbled with curiosity and enthusiasm for her friend. “Well would you like a little snack for the road? I’ve got some of those little cakes you like…or perhaps some crisps?”

Kat laughed, she loved how generous Astrid was with her snacks. It was sweet how she wanted to take care of everyone, especially her good friends.

“Not right now, my stomach is kind of in knots, but thank you!” Kat then looked up at the clock, then back at Astrid. “Oh, I just realized I am supposed to meet the car outside the back lobby— outside the restricted elevator! But how are you doing?”

“Agh, I’m fucking tired, you know it! Now vas-y, vas-y or you will be late! But we all will want details later, you know. Now go!” Astrid exclaimed as she shooed Kat off toward the back lobby.

Kat chuckled breathlessly as she waved to her friend and ran toward the back lobby. Just as she made it outside, she saw the black car pull up across the street. She felt her stomach drop once she saw the car and trotted over to it, trying to look a little more graceful even though she could not see the driver inside. His side of the car was facing the other side of the street. After she approached the back door on the passenger side, she opened it and peered inside inquisitively.

“Hello, um—were you sent by—”

The driver rolled down the divider between the front and back seats and looked at her with dark eyes that matched his dark, short hair.

“Dr. Assange—yes. Are you…” the man hesitated for a second, as if what he was about to say next was a bit absurd. “Kitty-Kat?”

Kat let out a breath and blushed lightly, feeling a little embarrassed herself. “Yes…Kat,” she started to clarify, but then rambled nervously as she climbed into the car. “…Kitty…Kitty-Kat….yes…” She shut the door and once she got settled she looked in his direction again, her head titled inquisitively.

“Can you tell me where we are going?”

“You will see soon enough. Once you get there, you will walk through the lobby to the elevators, and take it up to P4.”

Kat nodded, still so baffled by this mystery. “P4…” she repeated.

“Enjoy the ride, Miss…” And with that, the driver engaged the divider and began to drive away from the biotech building.

Kat took a moment to catch her breath and look out the window, as if looking at the passing scenery would give her clues on where she was headed. She then took a few minutes to make sure her hair was set right and refresh her light red lipstick. Then she took out her phone and began to text her friends in the group chat.

Kat: You guys, I am in this car that Mr. VP sent for me and I have NO IDEA where it’s going!

Aside from Astrid, the others were astounded by this curious scenario.

Jun: He wasn’t onsite today…

Bethany: Ooooh how exciting!

Astrid: You must tell us EVERYTHING!

Marilu: Maybe you’re going to his residence?

Quite honestly, going to where Julian lived would have been the most logical, educated guess. However, Kat did not want to assume, or presume, anything. Even if it were his home, she still had no idea where that was. It could be an hour away for all she knew.

Kat: The driver did tell me once I get there, to take the elevator up to P4.

Astrid: P4???

Marilu: P may stand for penthouse…

Bethany: Ohhh penthouse, of course! Mr. VP would be in a penthouse!

Jun: What a fun adventure!

The friends continued to text for a while until the car finally stopped and the driver rolled down the divider again.

“Have a good day, Miss…Remember, P4.”

“Oh! Okay—P4…” she repeated under her breath, then she looked at the driver as she opened the door. “Thank you very much, this is a lovely car.”

The driver smiled lightly. “Thank you.” He rolled up the divider again and Kat shut the door. As the car drove off, she turned around and faced the rather tall building in front of her. It wasn’t as tall as Santé Genomics, but it looked to have about 16 floors or so. She walked up a modest staircase to the front double doors and walked inside. It was an older building but it looked to have been remodeled. The wooden floor was polished and shiny, and had ornate, multicolored area rugs decorating the main walkways. To her left, there was a front desk, and as she continued to step forward past the desk she finally saw the brassy, reflective elevators. She pushed the “up” button and once inside the elevator, she saw the button for P4. It seemed Marilu was correct in guessing the P stood for penthouse. She tried to calm her nerves as she rode the elevator up to P4, and she was relieved to not have anyone else stepping on and off—she must have caught it at a perfect time.

The elevator finally made it to P4 and once the door opened, Kat walked out into a very quiet hallway. The hallway also had a wooden floor with a long runner that was decorated similarly to the one in the lobby. The walls were painted a very neutral grey color. She finally reached a door at the end of the hallway that had a P4 on it. Kat took a few breaths and took a moment to dry her sweaty palms on the sides of her slacks before she finally went to knock on the door.

However, before her hand could hit the door, it opened suddenly and quickly revealed Julian standing on the other side of it. He looked to inhale for a second, with his mouth slightly opened and his eyebrows raised, but then he quickly relaxed and smiled in a way that was both playful and seductive. His platinum blonde mane was a bit tousled, with rebel strands hanging near his right eye as usual while most of them on his left side were tucked behind his ear aside from a few light ones that seemed to escape and do their own thing. He was wearing a white collared shirt with a couple of the top buttons undone in a relaxed look and the shirt was loosely tucked into dark green-to-grey slacks made of a soft, comfortable fabric. He looked quite casual and comfortable indeed, but still breathtakingly handsome. In fact, Kat worried that he heard a squeak escape her mouth as she lightly gasped at his sight.

“Kitty-Kat— hello! I’m glad you could make it,” he smiled genuinely.

“Hi, Julian…!” Kat returned, still in a bit of a daze.

“Please, come in…!” Julian motioned a bit awkwardly with his arms. Sometimes the way he moved them made them look like they were asleep. He then shut the door once Kat stepped inside.

Kat continued through the entryway and walked toward the large living area, which was backdropped with large windows from floor to ceiling and no curtains. Due to the time of day, the sun was starting to set but plenty of light still filled the room. She noticed that despite the large dining table a few feet away, Julian seemed to be set up working at his couch and coffee table. He had a couple of laptops open on the table and various papers strewn about the table and floor nearby.

“Would you like anything to drink?” He called from the kitchen area, that was somewhat blocked off from the right side of the living area.

“Oh um sure…I’ll just take some water, thanks!” she called to him.

Julian returned with a bottle of water for Kat and he was holding a brown bottle of some other beverage in his other hand. Kat sat down on the far end of the couch, closer to the kitchen and windows. As she opened her bottle of water and took a drink, she watched Julian start to head back to his side of the couch. He brought the brown bottle to his mouth and quickly popped the cap off with his teeth before sitting down and releasing the bottle cap into his hand, which he then tossed onto the coffee table. He took a swig from the bottle then set it down on the table. Kat watched in awe, unaware she was actually gawking a little bit. He was so peculiar sometimes, but it just added to his mystique. He was never short on presenting these unique quirks at random, and for Kat, it just made him that much more appealing. He wasn’t just any ordinary man, and Kat loved that about him.

Julian glanced to his left, his eyes peering out at Kat from behind his white-blonde strands while he was hunched forward toward his laptop on the coffee table.

“What?” he seemed to take note of her frozen state.

Kat didn’t even realize she was staring until he called her on it. She lightly shook her head and managed to say something credible.

“What is that?” She motioned toward his drink on the table.

Julian looked back at the bottle and picked it up. He took another drink and licked his lips before looking back at Kat.

“This is Club-Mate—it’s a low-sugar energy drink. Would you like to try it?” He leaned toward her, extending his arm to offer her the bottle.

“Ohhh!” She smiled. “Okay sure!” She reached for the bottle. “Energy drinks though, usually not good for my nerves…” She then took a sip.

Julian nodded with a grin. “Ah right, the anxiety and decaf…” he remembered. His grin grew, amused at Kat’s adverse reaction to the Club-Mate.

“Yeah…it takes a little getting used to…an acquired taste…” he chuckled softly as Kat offered him the bottle back while squinting her eyes a bit.

She giggled. “I suppose so…”

Julian looked toward the bottle as he held it in front of himself. “Yeah, this helped keep me awake and focused for hours as I worked on various projects…”

“Like during your PhD studies…?”

He smiled softly then looked in her direction again, his zircon eyes tender and almost shy.

“Something like that…”

Their eyes locked for a brief moment before Julian finally looked back toward his laptop. “Alright, so—where are we at today?”

“Well, I was having some trouble tweaking the datasets to include some other biomarkers such as FGFR3 and NECTIN-4… and I think we also were still working on fine tuning the parameters for optimal accuracy and precision for the pipeline…” Kat recounted while she worked to unpack her laptop and set it up on the table next to Julian.

“Yes…it’s proving to be quite the challenge. Fortunately, I have plenty of stamina for such an endeavor,” he flashed a smug smirk as he looked at her again.

Kat did everything in her power to hold back her blushing. Was he purposely being flirtatious there? The answer was yes, yes he was. She took another drink from her water bottle, relieved that the cool temperature helped to dampen her lustful feelings for the moment.

“One thing about programming, is search engines are paramount. All programmers search for code. Sometimes that is a good 80% of the work—and it can often be time consuming—hence the need for things like this—” Julian lifted his bottle of Club-Mate.

Kat smiled and nodded. She and Julian then proceeded to work on optimizing the datasets and finding the best code to help them tweak their pipeline program. Time quickly flew by, as it tends to do when working on coding and programming puzzles. It can seem like the work just started, but hours pass by like minutes in a flash and this evening was no different for Kat and Julian. It soon got darker in the penthouse flat as the sun had set long ago, but neither of them seemed to notice as they had ample light beaming from the laptops in front of them. Julian, who was extremely focused and determined, spent most of the time in the same hunched over position as he searched and typed away on his laptops. He was definitely in the zone and hadn’t even gotten up to retrieve more Club-Mate servings.

As the hours continued to pass, Kat started to grow sleepy but she didn’t want to disappoint Julian, especially since he was working so hard. She didn’t want him to think she was not dedicated to the project. So she thought she could just silently sneak in a quick rest of the eyes for a few minutes and Julian wouldn’t even notice. She leaned the back of her head against the couch and closed her eyes. She felt quite comfortable and the room was dark and quiet, aside from the light tapping from Julian’s keyboard which was a relaxing sound like rain drops on a rooftop. Just another minute or two, she kept thinking to herself before her body finally succumbed to the relaxation and drifted off into a deep slumber. Her body remained upright for a good half hour or so, and Julian was so engaged in his work he did not even notice at all until her body started to shift. She slowly collapsed toward Julian, the side of her head grazing his shoulder. Once he felt the contact he looked toward her, a bit startled. He quickly leaned back into the couch and once he did, her head fell straight into his lap. Kat then let out a sleepy sigh and her hand rested on Julian’s knee, her body feeling quite content and comfortable, indeed, but still completely asleep.

Julian blushed once her head landed in his lap, near such an intimate area. He bit his lip and froze for a moment, unsure how he should proceed. Should he wake her up, or let her rest? He then smiled softly to himself as he looked down at her. He found this display of vulnerability on her part to be rather endearing, and the gentleman in him did not want to disturb her little nap. Plus, a part of him was curious to see how she would react once she woke up. The thought made his tender smile turn into a bigger amused one for a small moment, then it slowly faded as he blinked softly. He pursed his lips and looked to his left, reaching for a blanket that was draped over the back of the couch. He gently placed it over her body as it was cradled next to him, then slowly returned to his hunched over position at the laptop, continuing his work.

A couple more hours passed by, and Julian became so focused on his work he almost forgot Kat was still sleeping in his lap, until she finally began to stir. She took in a deep breath and sighed, grasping onto his knee as she returned to consciousness. Once she opened her eyes and saw a rather unfamiliar setting—the large windows staring back at her and the fabric of a rather unfamiliar couch. As she continued to wake up and realize where she was, and that her head was not resting on a pillow but Julian’s left thigh, her eyes widened and she quickly shot upright, pausing before turning to face Julian. Part of her was hoping he wasn’t there, or that this was a dream and she did not just embarrass herself in front of the VP of Therapeutic Bioinformatics.

“Welcome back, sleepyhead. Did you have a nice Kat-nap?” Julian quipped in a low, velvety purr that probably would have made Kat melt into a puddle of goo if she weren’t so mortified at the moment. She slowly turned toward him, still a bit hazy but enough to notice the sweet, amused smile on his face and blue zircon eyes shining in the monitor lighting.

“Oh my gosh…did I fall asleep? What time is it?” She asked, touching her forehead for a second. The blanket fell off of her arms and rested around her lap.

Julian looked at the clock on his laptop. “It is a quarter to 1…I suppose probably a good time to stop for the night.” He then looked back toward her.

Kat, a mixture between flustered and hazy, lightly shook her head. “Goodness, Julian, I can’t believe I just conked out like that…I am so embarrassed. I apologize for being so unprofessional, it won’t happen again.”

Julian blinked softly at her while his mouth fashioned a slightly crooked grin. “It’s okay, no need to apologize…we did work pretty late…”

“I suppose I should get going, huh? Let you get some sleep…”

“Hmm…” he murmured softly, as he reached for the blanket and gently pulled it up around her shoulders. “I dunno, it’s quite late actually…” His hand naturally dropped from her shoulder to the couch, right next to her lap with the back of his hand barely grazing the side of her thigh.

Their eyes met once again and Kat’s heart began to pound in her chest. This was probably the closest she had been to him. His lips were mere inches from hers, and they looked so soft and kissable.

“I think it might be safer if you stay here for the night. I have an extra room you can use…”

Kat felt a little silly, initially thinking that maybe he was inviting her to stay with him for the night, on a romantic level. Which if he did, of course she would have accepted—and if Julian were certain of this, he would have proposed it. While they both felt the chemistry, neither was sure how much of it was one-sided or mutual. They both also sensed each other’s hesitation which resulted in an atmosphere of sexual tension for the both of them.

“Thank you, Julian…that is so generous of you…but I don’t want to impose…”

Julian shook his head with a smile. “No, no…don’t be silly. It’s late, the trams aren’t running any more and my driver is in for the night. Plus look at all this space…” he gestured around his flat. “I have the room to spare.”

He then stood up from the couch and Kat looked up at him once he extended his hands out to her, offering to help her off the couch. She lightly placed her hands in his and instantly felt a small spark from the contact. Julian actually had beautiful hands—they were strong, yet soft and well-manicured. Once she stood up to meet him, her eyes found themselves in direct line with his exposed neck which teased her desires and looked particularly lovely in the moonlight of the living room.

“C’mon…let’s get you settled,” Julian said softly.

Kat fought another blush as her eyes met his once again. Her eyelashes fluttered as she smiled shyly. “Okay…thank you…”

Julian grinned lightly and they both paused, letting their eyes lock for a moment before Julian finally turned away and let go of one of her hands.

“This way, follow me…” he whispered, leading her down the hallway toward the spare rooms.

Kat bit her lip as she continued to hold onto his hand lightly while she trailed behind him. She blushed when they passed the door to his bedroom, pondering what a night with him in there would be like. Surely it would be nothing short of sinful and heavenly.

“Will this be okay for you?” he asked, stopping at a fully furnished and decorated room, complete with a double bed that had plenty of blankets and pillows to spare.

“Oh, this is lovely—better than my flat,” Kat giggled. “I might get spoiled and then you won’t be able to get rid of me!”

Julian breathed out a laugh then looked at her with bashful yet flirtatious eyes that were somewhat guarded by loose strands of his hair on both sides of his face.

“That might not be so bad…”

Kat’s heart seemed to stop and take a dip into her stomach as she looked back up at him.

Kiss me, you gorgeous, brilliant fool! You know I want you to…

Sometimes Kat wished she were more bold in these situations, maybe more brave and confident like Astrid… but she also wanted to be chased and feel desired. After a few moments of awkward silence, she finally spoke again.

“This is a lot of rooms for just one person, you really live here all by yourself?”

Julian’s air changed a bit, and he suddenly seemed more guarded. He had let go of her hand and shifted his weight a little. He took in a deep breath and nodded.

“Uhh yeah…this place actually belongs to an old friend of mine who wanted me to watch it over for him…”

The “friend” was actually a fairly wealthy donor to his journalism vision and website.

“Oh I see,” Kat nodded, actually finding comfort in that explanation. It made Julian seem more real, that he didn’t own this extravagant penthouse on his own.

“Oh, I almost forgot…hold on…” Julian then quickly whisked away to his room for a moment, then shortly returned with a t-shirt and some flannel pajama pants.

“Here… in case you want something a little more comfortable to sleep in for the night.”

Kat smiled as her body flushed with warmth. This was a really sweet gesture on his part, and somewhat intimate as he was letting her wear some of his clothes.

“That’s so thoughtful…thank you,” she returned humbly. “You’re a gracious host.”

Julian nodded with a little smile.

“Okay, I’ll let you get settled…”

“Okay…”

After Julian left the doorway, Kat unfolded the black t-shirt and on the front of it was a white decal of a large ship with several sails, and the words “The Pirate Bay” written under it in a sort of “Old English” font. Kat was intrigued and wondered what The Pirate Bay was. She made a note to look it up the next day, but for now she really needed to get some sleep. She went ahead and changed into the t-shirt but had not donned the soft pajama pants yet. She then found an outlet to plug her phone charger into, and she stood by the bed checking her phone for messages and setting her alarm. A few minutes later, Julian stopped back to ensure she was able to settle in. He stood outside the doorway and let his eyes survey her from head to toe. Her back was toward him, wearing only the t-shirt that cut off just below her bottom. He licked his lips briefly before biting his bottom lip while he took some time to admire her bare, slender legs. He finally let out a little cough to let her know he was standing behind her. She whipped her head around to face him, a little startled at first. She thought he had turned in for the evening.

“Just thought I’d check to make sure you didn’t need anything else…”

Kat smiled. “Oh thank you—I think I am okay. I am just trying to find where the switch is for this lamp…”

Julian smiled as he walked over to her.

“It is a tricky lamp…it’s up here…”

The lamp was one that was mounted to the wall, and had a switch somewhat hidden on the top ledge. It was a peculiar place for a switch rather than on the brassy mount itself or somewhere closer to the bulb.

After Julian stepped in to turn off the switch, it left him standing inches in front of Kat once again in the darkened room with only subtle moonlight peering in through the nearby window. He smiled to himself as he looked down at her, noticing that his Pirate Bay shirt served her quite well.

Kat felt her molecules buzzing inside of her again with him standing so close, also while she was only partially dressed.

“Thank you…”she finally managed to squeak out as their eyes seemed to lock almost intensely.

Julian lowered his head, and also seemed to lean in a little closer. His hand was still on the wall after turning off the switch. Kat took in a small breath and her heart began to pound faster in her chest once he looked into her eyes again.

“Goodnight…Kitty-Kat,” he murmured softly as he reached out to touch her shoulder and flash one final grin before backing away.

“Goodnight…Julian…” she whispered with glossy eyes. She then watched him as he walked out of the room.

Neither one of them slept well that night, each in their separate beds while their hearts secretly longed to be with the other.

#mendax undercover #assangie #kassangie #the fifth estate #can you spot the easter eggs?#my shitty writing

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