#fiber optics course

[skillengg]

Connecting the World: How Training in Fiber Optics Opens New Career Doors

The world is shrinking not in size but in connectivity thanks to the rapid expansion of fiber optics technology. As digital communication continues to evolve the demand for faster data transmission grows incessantly. Amidst this technological revolution lies a golden opportunity for individuals seeking dynamic and lucrative careers. Training in fiber optics course is not just about learning to lay cables but opening doors to innovative careers that connect the world.

Fiber optics technology uses thin strands of glass or plastic known as optical fibers to transmit data at speeds close to the speed of light. These fibers are the backbone of the internet, our global communications network and various data delivery services. The technology surpasses conventional metal wiring in almost every aspect including bandwidth and data fidelity which makes it a critical component in modern infrastructure.

The rising global demand for high-speed internet and advanced telecommunication systems is driving the growth of the fiber optics market. From sprawling urban centers to remote communities everyone is eager to jump on the broadband wagon. This expansion is not just about enhancing communication but also about powering economic growth and enabling innovation across diverse sectors such as healthcare education and government services.

For those interested in a career in fiber optics there are various paths one can take. The field encompasses roles in design, installation maintenance and repair of fiber optic systems. Technicians, engineers and project managers are just a few of the roles that require specialized knowledge in fiber optics.

Training programs in fiber optics course typically cover a wide range of topics. Participants learn about the basic properties of light and optics fiber optic cable construction and methods of installation and testing. Advanced courses might delve into the intricacies of network design and fiber optic telecommunications systems including how to manage and troubleshoot them.

One of the primary benefits of a career in fiber optics is the breadth of industries it spans. Fiber optic professionals are not limited to working in telecommunications. They are also needed in medical imaging, automotive aerospace and military applications among others. This wide applicability of skills ensures that trained professionals can find opportunities in various fields enhancing job security and career flexibility.

Moreover the skills gained through fiber optic training are universally applicable regardless of geographic location. This universal demand creates opportunities for international work especially in regions undergoing rapid technological development and infrastructure expansion.

The economic benefits of a career in fiber optics are also significant. Due to the specialized nature of the work and the critical importance of maintaining robust communication networks, professionals in this field often enjoy competitive salaries and strong job prospects. Additionally the ongoing need for upgrades and maintenance of existing networks provides a steady stream of work even in economic downturns.

Apart from the economic and professional advantages fiber optics training also equips individuals with the capability to contribute to significant societal advancements. By ensuring that people worldwide have access to high-speed communications, trained professionals play a crucial role in diminishing digital divides and fostering global connectivity.

In summary, training in fiber optics offers more than just a job—it opens up a pathway to a thriving career in a field that is at the heart of modern communication technology. Whether it’s enabling faster internet in remote areas or linking global financial markets, professionals trained in fiber optics are essential to building the interconnected world of tomorrow.

By pursuing a career in fiber optics individuals are not just securing their own future but are also contributing to a larger movement that connects societies and empowers economies globally. The field is expansive, evolving and critically important making it an ideal career choice for those looking to make a mark in the world of technology.

[jobsacademy1234]

Online Fiber Optics Courses: Flexible Learning Options

Advance your career with our online fiber optics courses. Gain essential skills and knowledge through flexible learning options designed to fit your schedule. Perfect for beginners and professionals, our courses cover everything from fiber optics basics to advanced technologies. Enroll today for a cutting-edge education in fiber optics!

For more information - https://bit.ly/4dsxlh4

[kontentedgee]

Join Our Top-Rated Fiber Optics Course

Want to start a career in fiber optics? Join our top-rated fiber optics course to learn the skills you need. Our course is designed for both beginners and professionals, providing hands-on training and expert supervision. At Kontentedge, we provide the best online fiber optics course, allowing you to receive superior education from the convenience of your own home. Learn how to set up, maintain, and troubleshoot fiber optic networks. Get certified and gain access to new work prospects in the rapidly expanding sector of fiber optics. Enroll with Kontentedge today and take the first step toward becoming a fiber optics specialist!

[rip-headphones-users]

Ugh- its these idiots AGAIN??????

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Utah’s getting some of America’s best broadband

TOMORROW (May 17), I'm at the INTERNET ARCHIVE in SAN FRANCISCO to keynote the 10th anniversary of the AUTHORS ALLIANCE.

Residents of 21 cities in Utah have access to some of the fastest, most competitively priced broadband in the country, at speeds up to 10gb/s and prices as low as $75/month. It's uncapped, and the connections are symmetrical: perfect for uploading and downloading. And it's all thanks to the government.

This broadband service is, of course, delivered via fiber optic cable. Of course it is. Fiber is vastly superior to all other forms of broadband delivery, including satellites, but also cable and DSL. Fiber caps out at 100tb/s, while cable caps out at 50gb/s – that is, fiber is 1,000 times faster:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/why-fiber-vastly-superior-cable-and-5g

Despite the obvious superiority of fiber, America has been very slow to adopt it. Our monopolistic carriers act as though pulling fiber to our homes is an impossible challenge. All those wires that currently go to your house, from power-lines to copper phone-lines, are relics of a mysterious, fallen civilization and its long-lost arts. Apparently we could no more get a new wire to your house than we could build the pyramids using only hand-tools.

In a sense, the people who say we can't pull wires anymore are right: these are relics of a lost civilization. Specifically, electrification and later, universal telephone service was accomplished through massive federal grants under the New Deal – grants that were typically made to either local governments or non-profit co-operatives who got everyone in town connected to these essential modern utilities.

Today – thanks to decades of neoliberalism and its dogmatic insistence that governments can't do anything and shouldn't try, lest they break the fragile equilibrium of the market – we have lost much of the public capacity that our grandparents took for granted. But in the isolated pockets where this capacity lives on, amazing things happen.

Since 2015, residents of Jackson County, KY – one of the poorest counties in America – have enjoyed some of the country's fastest, cheapest, most reliable broadband. The desperately poor Appalachian county is home to a rural telephone co-op, which grew out of its rural electrification co-op, and it used a combination of federal grants and local capacity to bring fiber to every home in the county, traversing dangerous mountain passes with a mule named "Ole Bub" to reach the most remote homes. The result was an immediately economic uplift for the community, and in the longer term, the county had reliable and effective broadband during the covid lockdowns:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-one-traffic-light-town-with-some-of-the-fastest-internet-in-the-us

Contrast this with places where the private sector has the only say over who gets broadband, at what speed, and at what price. America is full of broadband deserts – deserts that strand our poorest people. Even in the hearts of our largest densest cities, whole neighborhoods can't get any broadband. You won't be surprised to learn that these are the neighborhoods that were historically redlined, and that the people who live in them are Black and brown, and also live with some of the highest levels of pollution and its attendant sicknesses:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/10/flicc/#digital-divide

These places are not set up for success under the best of circumstances, and during the lockdowns, they suffered terribly. You think your kid found it hard to go to Zoom school? Imagine what life was like for kids who attended remote learning while sitting on the baking tarmac in a Taco Bell parking lot, using its free wifi:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/02/elem-s02.html

ISPs loathe competition. They divide up the country into exclusive territories like the Pope dividing up the "new world" and do not trouble one another by trying to sell to customers outside of "their" turf. When Frontier – one of the worst of America's terrible ISPs – went bankrupt, we got to see their books, and we learned two important facts:

The company booked one million customers who had no alternative as an asset, because they would pay more for slower broadband, and Frontier could save a fortune by skipping maintenance, and charging these customers for broadband even through multi-day outages; and

Frontier knew that it could make a billion dollars in profit over a decade by investing in fiber build-out, but it chose not to, because stock analysts will downrank any carrier that made capital investments that took more than five years to mature. Because Frontier's execs were paid primarily in stock, they chose to strand their customers with aging copper connections and to leave a billion dollars sitting on the table, so that their personal net worth didn't suffer a temporary downturn:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/frontiers-bankruptcy-reveals-cynical-choice-deny-profitable-fiber-millions

ISPs maintain the weirdest position: that a) only the private sector can deliver broadband effectively, but b) to do so, they'll need massive, unsupervised, no-strings-attached government handouts. For years, America went along with this improbable scheme, which is why Trump's FCC chairman Ajit Pai gave the carriers $45 billion in public funds to string slow, 19th-century-style copper lines across rural America:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/27/all-broadband-politics-are-local/

Now, this is obviously untrue, and people keep figuring out that publicly provisioned broadband is the only way for America to get the same standard of broadband connectivity that our cousins in other high-income nations enjoy. In order to thwart the public's will, the cable and telco lobbyists joined ALEC, the far-right, corporatist lobbying shop, and drafted "model legislation" banning cities and counties from providing broadband, even in places the carriers chose not to serve:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/19/culture-war-bullshit-stole-your-broadband/

Red states across America adopted these rules, and legislators sold this to their base by saying that this was just "keeping the government out of their internet" (even as every carrier relied on an exclusive, government-granted territorial charter, often with massive government subsidies).

ALEC didn't target red states exclusively because they had pliable, bribable conservative lawmakers. Red states trend rural, and rural places are the most likely sites for public fiber. Partly, that's because low-density areas are harder to make a business case for, but also because these are also the places that got electricity and telephone through New Deal co-ops, which are often still in place.

Just about the only places in America where people like their internet service are the 450+ small towns where the local government provides fiber. These places vote solidly Republican, and it was their beloved conservative lawmakers whom ALEC targeted to enact laws banning their equally beloved fiber – keep voting for Christmas, turkeys, and see where it gets you:

https://communitynets.org/content/community-network-map

But spare a little sympathy for the conservative movement here. The fact that reality has a pronounced leftist bias must be really frustrating for the ideological project of insisting that anything the market can't provide is literally impossible.

Which brings me back to Utah, a red state with a Republican governor and legislature, and a national leader in passing unconstitutional, unhinged, unworkable legislation as part of an elaborate culture war kabuki:

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/24/1165975112/utah-passes-an-age-verification-law-for-anyone-using-social-media

For more than two decades, a coalition of 21 cities in Utah have been building out municipal fiber. The consortium calls itself UTOPIA: "Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency":

https://www.utopiafiber.com/faqs/

UTOPIA pursues a hybrid model: they run "open access" fiber and then let anyone offer service over it. This can deliver the best of both worlds: publicly provisioned, blazing-fast fiber to your home, but with service provided by your choice of competing carriers. That means that if Moms for Liberty captures you local government, you're not captive to their ideas about what sites your ISP should block.

As Karl Bode writes for Techdirt, Utahns in UTOPIA regions have their choice of 18 carriers, and competition has driven down prices and increased speeds. Want uncapped 1gb fiber? That's $75/month. Want 10gb fiber? That's $150:

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/05/15/utah-locals-are-getting-cheap-10-gbps-fiber-thanks-to-local-governments/

UTOPIA's path to glory wasn't an easy one. The dismal telco monopolists Qwest and Lumen sued to put them out of business, delaying the rollout by years:

https://www.deseret.com/2005/7/22/19903471/utopia-responds-to-qwest-lawsuit/

UTOPIA has been profitable and self-sustaining for over 15 years and shows no sign of slowing. But 17 states still ban any attempt at this.

Keeping up such an obviously bad policy requires a steady stream of distractions and lies. The "government broadband doesn't work" lie has worn thin, so we've gotten a string of new lies about wireless service, insisting that fiber is obviated by point-to-point microwave relays, or 5g, or satellite service.

There's plenty of places where these services make sense. You're not going to be able to use fiber in a moving car, so yeah, you're going to want 5g (and those 5g towers are going to need to be connected to each other with fiber). Microwave relay service can fill the gap until fiber can be brought in, and it's great for temporary sites (especially in places where it doesn't rain, because rain, clouds, leaves and other obstructions are deadly for microwave relays). Satellite can make sense for an RV or a boat or remote scientific station.

But wireless services are orders of magnitude slower than fiber. With satellite service, you share your bandwidth with an entire region or even a state. If there's only a couple of users in your satellite's footprint, you might get great service, but when your carrier adds a thousand more customers, your connection is sliced into a thousand pieces.

That's also true for everyone sharing your fiber trunk, but the difference is that your fiber trunk supports speeds that are tens of thousands of times faster than the maximum speeds we can put through freespace electromagnetic spectrum. If we need more fiber capacity, we can just fish a new strand of fiber through the conduit. And while you can increase the capacity of wireless by increasing your power and bandwidth, at a certain point you start pump so much EM into the air that birds start falling out of the sky.

Every wireless device in a region shares the same electromagnetic spectrum, and we are only issued one such spectrum per universe. Each strand of fiber, by contrast, has its own little pocket universe, containing a subset of that spectrum.

Despite all its disadvantages, satellite broadband has one distinct advantage, at least from an investor's perspective: it can be monopolized. Just as we only have one electromagnetic spectrum, we also only have one sky, and the satellite density needed to sustain a colorably fast broadband speed pushes the limit of that shared sky:

https://spacenews.com/starlink-vs-the-astronomers/

Private investors love monopoly telecoms providers, because, like pre-bankruptcy Frontier, they are too big to care. Back in 2021, Altice – the fourth-largest cable operator in America – announced that it was slashing its broadband speeds, to be "in line with other ISPs":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/27/immortan-altice/#broadband-is-a-human-right

In other words: "We've figured out that our competitors are so much worse than we are that we are deliberately degrading our service because we know you will still pay us the same for less."

This is why corporate shills and pro-monopolists prefer satellite to municipal fiber. Sure, it's orders of magnitude slower than fiber. Sure, it costs subscribers far more. Sure, it's less reliable. But boy oh boy is it profitable.

The thing is, reality has a pronounced leftist bias. No amount of market magic will conjure up new electromagnetic spectra that will allow satellite to attain parity with fiber. Physics hates Starlink.

Yeah, I'm talking about Starlink. Of course I am. Elon Musk basically claims that his business genius can triumph over physics itself.

That's not the only vast, impersonal, implacable force that Musk claims he can best with his incredible reality-distortion field. Musk also claims that he can somehow add so many cars to the road that he will end traffic – in other words, he will best geometry too:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Geometry hates Tesla, and physics hates Starlink. Reality has a leftist bias. The future is fiber, and public transit. These are both vastly preferable, more efficient, safer, more reliable and more plausible than satellite and private vehicles. Their only disadvantage is that they fail to give an easily gulled, thin-skinned compulsive liar more power over billions of people. That's a disadvantage I can live with.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/16/symmetrical-10gb-for-119/#utopia

Image: 4028mdk09 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rote_LED_Fiberglasleuchte.JPG

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[lets-try-some-writing]

Ever since I read your Innocent Abominations story I've been thinking about the Matrix going in the exact opposite direction. This ancient, sentient, vaguely eldritch relic of a demigod takes one look at the Terrans and goes "BABIES!!!". Optimus barely even glances at them during their first meeting to check it they're ok and is promptly sucker-punched by divine parental instincts. As far as the two are concerned the Terrans are their niephlings and by Primus are they going to do all they can to help these younglings with the inevitable nonsense that will come with being the children of one of the Thirteen. They are prepared to live, die and kill for these children.

We love a good ol protective Op in this house.

Original concept here.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━

Optimus never hated sparklings or even younglings for that matter. He didn't exactly have plans to be a parent, but he'd been a mentor more than enough times to not be against the concept of potentially having progeny of his own. Of course all potential plans would come to fruition once the war was over and extinction didn't loom over his helm. At least that was what he thought.

When Bumblebee informed him of the Terrans existence, Optimus was pleased, but that was all. New Cybertronian life was always something to be cherished in a time when no newsparks had emerged since the war was at its peak. He didn't interact with the Terrans, largely for their own safety.

Then the time came, and he finally met the little ones.

The Matrix was never particularly talkative. It did not approve of war, and thus often kept quiet unless it was offering necessary wisdom and encouragement. But one glance at the Terrans proved to be enough to bring an end to its millennia long vow of silence. For the first time, Optimus heard the Matrix speak with words rather than in images or knowledge.

"Our younglings."

That was all it said, but Optimus felt it in every single fiber of his being. The Matrix had spoken, and as its vessel, Optimus obeyed. His very code shifted, command trees that he had never even known existed sprung to life, and before he knew it, he was already on a knee reaching out to shake the servos of the little ones. His finials perked up in a friendly manner, his field flared out in bursts, and his plating sat at an amicable mid flare, just enough to show trust. All this was done unconsciously as, without his knowledge, his very voice adjusted to be softer.

By the time all was said and done, the battle over, and the children safely escorted home, Optimus had never felt so alive. Megatron gave him the most disturbed look Optimus had ever witnessed, but at that moment, he didn't care. Within him the Matrix was already speaking again, offering thinly veiled orders and continuing to adjust him so that he would be better suited to the new task ahead of him.

All that kept him from hightailing it over to the Maltos every single day was Elita physically dragging him back toward wherever he was meant to be. Everyone was on edge watching Optimus fall further and further into his strangely happy daydreams. To them, it looked like what the humans called "baby fever" but on steroids. Optimus didn't even wait a week before he was obsessing over how to properly interact with the Terrans. He started making things for them and then promptly put them away since in his optics it simply wasn't good enough.

The Matrix had him on the move all the time, constantly reminding him of the little ones that were well within his reach. It had already begun all of its internal adjustments, and so all it had left to do was to make Optimus more appealing. The Matrix began the long process of hiding the outright malicious looking equipment on the Prime's frame, even softening his features somewhat so that he would come off as more peaceful. Optimus for his part didn't notice his frame bulking up in order to make him a better guardian. He most certainly wasn't aware of the way his very frame was edging into something firmer and yet less intimidating. A quiet guardian, that was what the Matrix wanted.

When all was said and done, Megatron was slightly terrified of this new and strangely cheery Optimus and Elita was no better. Both united over their shared concerns and opted to quietly watch Optimus when he finally found a decent excuse to visit the Terrans. Megatron was incredibly on edge when Optimus all but bolted toward the Maltos residence and then skidded to a perfect stop so that he could walk forward calmly as if nothing had happened. He was so focused on performing well that the battle hardened warrior all but vanished.

In his place was the dock worker from long before the war. An excitable young mech eager to help and offer what wisdom he had. The Terrans were pleasantly surprised to find that the supposedly ancient Optimus Prime was, from what they were seeing, a gentle giant. The Matrix had never been more pleased when Optimus settled down and offered to engage with the Terrans in whatever manner they found best. He spent the whole day with them, reading, telling stories, letting them beat him in mock battles, and teaching them what he could of Cybertron.

There was no violence to be seen in him as he played. Megatron was slightly terrified, but he said nothing and allowed the moment. It was only when Optimus hummed an old folk tune and wrapped the Terrans in his field that Megatron finally understood what was going on.

"You can't adopt them. They have a family here."

"We are well aware. Don't worry. We have no intention of taking them away."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"They are the offspring of our brother. They are young and must be guided by kin."

"You don't have any siblings Optimus."

"I do not, but together, WE do."

"Oh not the Prime slag again. That relic hasn't done anything during the war, so why would it act now?"

"The Matrix had no reason to act. It detests war. New life has given us something to unite over."

"So you are going to teach them?"

"Yes. We will guide and watch over them. We will not be their parents, that is not our station. But we will always be here for them... for that is the duty of a Prime."

Every moment he could spare, Optimus did everything in his power to make time for the Terrans. The Matrix sang when he visited, and despite how much it weirded out Bumblebee, the human Maltos, and Megatron, Optimus kept coming back.

Younglings born of Quintus. He never thought it would come to pass. And yet here they were, bright and full of life.

Despite his new and more docile appearance, Optimus Prime was more than ready to act when the Terrans were targeted. The Matrix abhorred war. But it was not necessarily against violence in small doses.

[my-naughty-writings-and-musings]

I need some self indulgent writing to lift my spirits so have some Earthspark!Bee x Reader enjoying some time outdoors where the former is getting a workout and finds the reader really enjoys what they see. Need some more Bee topping content out there.

You didn't know how to tell him, and weren't sure he'd want to hear it anyway, but...

Bee was so hot when he worked out.

It had been a surprise to learn that bots exhibited physical exhaustion in much the same way humans did, though less of a surprise to find they needed exercise to stay in shape. As you'd grown closer with the Scout, you'd been able to observe his workouts in person and increasingly up close, often offering encouragement, timing his practice races, and keeping track of refreshments to keep him energized. It hadn't missed your attention that he loved when you were openly impressed by his prowess, but you'd never let on how much you enjoyed watching him push his limits. The ragged ventilations, the sheen of coolant on his armor, the increased confidence he got when a session went well... and his cute pout when they didn't. No part of you felt ready to confess your feelings, even if the two of you were regularly intimate in far more conventional ways. It just felt like tempting fate to push the weirdness of interspecies banging to interspecies banging with kinks.

So here you were, pretending not to be more than appropriately interested as he braked hard and drifted to a showy stop across the makeshift finish line, engine roaring as he zipped by you in a gleaming yellow blur. The rush of air that followed him both ruffled your hair and nearly flipped up the thick blanket beneath you, but you still cheered and remembered to click your stopwatch. Chunks of dirt flew across the empty grass field from the force of his spinning stop, the lingering dampness of the cold morning resulting in a purposely showy shower of dew that sparkled in the early morning light. Transforming with momentum to show off an acrobatic twist onto his pedes, he skidded to a halt not five feet in front of you, ground rumbling under the weight of his massive frame.

Exhausted but ecstatic, he let out a sizable sigh that steamed in the chilled air, servos on his hips as he caught his breath and turned his wild optics to you. Every fiber of your willpower had to fight to keep your eyes on his gaze and off the coolant making his armor glisten in the pink light of the sunrise. The sound of his delighted and breathless voice only made it all the harder to focus. "Time?"

"Two minutes and twelve seconds." you replied reflexively, smiling despite your struggles as you were quite happy for the progress.

"Nice! New record!" he gushed with a pump of his fist, the adorable enthusiasm making your heart warm with affection and a tiny dash of pride. In the wake of so much frustration trying to best his old speed record, you'd encouraged him to try something new; mastering obstacles on a variety of terrains, such as the track you'd promised to set up on your open property. It had taken some convincing, but with the promise that he got to see you every time he trained for "motivation", the Scout had conceded. Judging by his beaming smile now, the idea could conclusively be called a good one.

"Woo, gonna need to wash off, but all this training is worth it." he said with a kick of his pede to dislodge some dirt. Despite being rather particular about his appearance, he was always willing to get down and dirty to improve his performance, which you found more attractive than words could possibly convey. Wiping some coolant from his brow and stretching his servos high above his helm, the Scout unintentionally made quite a show of himself in the radiant morning light, which made it impossible to miss the steam rising off his armor. You noted a definite thirst of your own as he gestured for the cooler at your side. "I think I'll have a drink now, this course always leaves me a little low."

Not trusting yourself to speak, you quickly got out the bottle of energon that had chilled in the ice, needing both hands to lift what was to him a tiny refreshment. He took it gratefully, uncapping the lid and tossing it back for deep, thirsty gulps that made your face flush with enough heat you were worried steam might come off your own skin. Your eyes couldn't stay away from his lips as your imagination tormented you with memories of all the ways they had pleased you in the past... What you wouldn't have given for him to go down on you right there, the excitement of the workout making him all the more passionate and perhaps a little aggressive as he pinned you down against the blanket-

His optics opened and flicked in your direction before you had a chance to look away, and your blush turned to a horrified blanche as his perplexed expression let you know you'd been caught staring. 

"You okay?" he asked with concern, wiping away a bit of excess energon on his lip as you wondered if teleporting out of embarrassment was possible.

"Yeah, totally, why?" you replied in a disjointed stammer, barely able to speak and completely incapable of coming up with anything convincing. You suddenly felt far too warm for your jacket, but you had forgotten how to remove it in your overwhelming mortification, and your embarrassment only grew when he failed to be convinced. 

"You were kind of staring off into space." he pointed out without missing a beat, making the ordeal all the more horrifying. He didn't look at all offended, merely curious and a little concerned, but you were still embarrassed in ways you would never live down. Why hadn't you tried to employ just a little self control? Why was it so incredibly hard to resist when he got like this? Why were you still so turned on!?

Survival took over, and you strung together a few halting words in the world's lamest attempt at an excuse. "I was looking at you." you said in your first display of unintentional honesty, trying to look for anything interesting along the empty forest and rolling green pasture. There was nothing, and you had to bite your lip as he cocked his hip and rested a servo on it.

"At me, huh?" he pressed, tilting his helm and raising a brow in a gesture you found far from displeased. You knew him well enough to read the first hints of smugness creeping into his expression, but you were still too flustered to respond to it, your capacity to flirt nonexistent in the face of such utter ridiculousness.

"Well, not at you, but... in your general direction." you mumbled, finally managing to avert your eyes once he started grinning. Ironically, your playful irritation at his ego gave you the strength to exert some willpower, but when he dropped to his knees before you to get up close and personal you were once more reduced to speechlessness. His palm rested on the blanket as his broad shoulders put your entire body in shadow. 

"Are you liking what you see?" he teased, having found you out completely. Looming over you to emphasize his greater size, his smirk deepened when your wide eyes betrayed how utterly overwhelmed you were with arousal. 

Nothing but a long drawn out "uhhhh" escaped your lips as your gaze swept over his broad shoulders and powerful chassis, the lingering heat from his engine warming your already scorching face to the point you reflexively unzipped your jacket. Could anyone really blame you for finding him so utterly irresistible? Could he blame you for finding him so attractive, and for being all the more attracted to him when he exercised?

"Never would have thought you had ulterior motives for these training sessions, Y/N." he purred, looking over the obstacles spread across your field that the two of you had set up together. The accusation, though leveled playfully, brought back enough of your sense of self for you to attempt to explain yourself. 

"I didn't-"

"Kidding, don't worry." he interrupted before you could begin a whole tangent about the first time you'd seen him exercise up close and how unintentionally enlightening it had been. Softening his gaze a little, he met your eyes just in time for you to see desire overtake smug satisfaction. "If anything, I'm kind of flattered."

"Yeah?" you said as he leaned in, moving automatically to close the distance between you. Heat was rising within the both of you now, and you'd been laid down on his berth enough times to know what this was building to as you removed your jacket and laid back on your plush blanket. It also wasn't the first time the two of you had enjoyed yourselves outdoors, but with the added excitement of his workout you felt as giddy as you had the first time he'd carried you across his bedroom.

"Yeah." he confirmed in a low rumble. The greatest difference between then and now was the confidence radiating off of him, which contrasted starkly with all of his prior uncertainty over how much force to use and his fears that he might hurt you. Such hesitation was nowhere to be found as he held his front end up on his elbows and pulled you in for a kiss, his lips just as heated and hungry as you'd hoped as you melted into his touch. Cupping his face with both hands, you let out a whine as he pulled back, though you shifted to a soft groan of delight when he tugged on your pants and nosed his way down your pliant body. Fumbling in your haste, you barely had the capacity to unbutton yourself with his heated ventilations rushing over you. Strong yet nimble servos assisted you in stripping off everything below your waist when your shaking hands proved unable. 

Tender kisses down your stomach had you gasping as he maneuvered your legs to either side of his helm, the warmth of his armor and the rumble of his engine filling your body with enough want you wouldn't have been surprised if both of you started steaming in the chill morning air. Bold in a way you'd never seen before, the big bot made a show of tossing his empty energon bottle aside as he hooked his thumbs under your knees, his voice deep and filled with hunger like you'd never heard. "So if you don't mind... I'm still a little thirsty."

There was no time for a reply as he buried his mouth between your legs, surprising you yet again with a level of aggression and feral want that you'd never seen or experienced from him before. It was everything you could have hoped for and so much more. Fully revved up from his workout, Bumblebee didn't hold back in the slightest, shoving his glossa in deep to your already soaked and eager pussy. You had to clap a hand over your mouth to keep a scream from rolling over the hills, but at his proximity he could hear every moan and cry that you let out into your palm and they only egged him on. Letting out a growl against your throbbing clit, he swirled his glossa about as if relishing your flavor, using one arm to gently pin you against the blanket so he could go as deep as he pleased.

Reflexively grabbing his horns for stability, you thrust clumsily against his face as everything you could have ever dreamed of became a reality. Hot blasts of air from his vents stirred the grass around you in waves, and you had to fully bite your hand to keep yourself quiet as his lips sought out your clit to suck hungrily on the fully erect bud, his dentae grazing its tip as he pulled it into his mouth with relish. Whole galaxies spun before your eyes as he sucked forcefully.

It took no time for all the tension inside of you to gather for a world shattering orgasm, the blissful coil of impending ecstasy reducing you to a whimpering, moaning, gasping mess of desire that clung to him as if the whole world might melt away if you didn't. Once more your attention had him growling with satisfied want, and a glance at his expression found the bright blue optics that typically gazed upon you with nothing but love almost overflowing with animalistic desire. The fact that you wanted him in such a feral way had him unhinged with lust, and it was with that look you screamed out your completion for him to enjoy.

A thirsty glossa pumped inside of you for every throb, finding no resistance thanks to the surge of lubrication that gushed forth as your body spasmed through a white hot burst of ecstasy like no other. Anyone in the world could have overheard your campy cries, but you couldn't have cared less, your entire world consisting of nothing more than the beautiful mech before you and the loving thrusts of his glossa as you careened back to earth to find your heart hammering from exertion and your body twitching from overstimulation.

Once you'd settled completely into the afterglow, Bumblebee withdrew with a parting kiss on your tingling pussy, a trail of lube following his sopping chin as he pulled back to a more conversational distance. Licking his lips, he let out a sigh of his own satisfaction. "Much better..."

"What about you?" you asked in a barely audible whisper, able to see but not really feel or control your legs. Bumblebee wiped some of the mess from his face as he allowed you to lay down and catch your breath, taking a moment to respond as he admired your half naked and fully satisfied form. 

"I'm a little worn out." he replied honestly, sounding far more relaxed than he had previously. It seemed he'd spent just about every bit of energy he had to spare on you and the workout, but there was no doubt desire for more in his voice as he helped you gather your clothes and get dressed. "How about... we sort that out after I get a shower?"

Considering how well boldness had just paid off for him, you decided to let it take the wheel. Shimmying into your underwear, you smiled sweetly up at him as he assisted you in getting your noodle limp legs back into your pants.

"Why not during?" you proposed, loving how he reacted with surprise despite all of his earlier confidence. You put a hand on his and let it linger there, finding your own confidence as your strength returned and the tingles faded enough for you to think straight. "I can help you relax, and, you know, take care of some things."

"I like that better." he replied simply, gathering the supplies from the workout and getting ready to transform so they could be unceremoniously shoved into his passenger seat. Finding your own giddiness returning, you were on cloud nine as he dropped into his altmode and popped the doors for you, welcoming your presence with a rumble of his engine before he zoomed off in the direction of the bunker. It wouldn't surprise you if the two of you were utterly spent by noon.

[hypervoxel]

Jumble of headcanons in no particular order about Vark because I need to write them down somewhere to pretend to be organized

He started off sooo cute and tiny, like the size of a guinea pig. And he made laser noises like a baby Cuban crocodile.

He was so so tiny. He did not stay tiny.

Sharks sense electricity! He's naturally drawn to Vox when Vox is taking in or letting off too much power. He naturally interrupts Vox's overstimulation and warns about seizures, so Vox trained him some actual medical alert tasks.

Service shark Vark 🐕‍🦺

On the topic of electricity, I also headcanon him as having some aspects of an electric eel as well. A fantasy eel. He can take in some of Vox's excess energy, and isn't bothered by the sparks Vox throws off.

I'm chewing on the idea that Val bought Vark for Vox as an apology gift.

Now I'm just quoting myself directly from discord: I keep thinking of how I can include this (Vark being a gift from Val) in my one fanfic where it obviously does not fit bc Val hates Vark in it. Maybe he's jealous that Vox cares way more about Vark himself than the fact that Val gave him a gift. So unappreciative, didn't even have make-up sex over it bc Vox was too busy practically having a breakdown over how adorable Vark is. Val realizes that this was a mistake and he should have picked a very different gift instead

Vark is such a well behaved good boy when he's working, as a service shark. When Vox is in distress, Vark is so focused on trying to help with all the power of his tiny shark brain <3 Outside of that tho? He's a terror. He's so excitable. He canonically (in the old Voxtagram art) jumps on and knocks people over. This ties into him previously being a tiny adorable little thing. It was sooo cute when he jumped on your leg, back when he was the size of a large potato. It stayed cute up until they realized he was going to be so much bigger than they ever expected.

(It's like a bottle raised bull. The cute things they did when they were a little baby calf are no longer cute now that they're so large they are going to hurt you on accident just trying to be friendly and playful. RIP.)

Other service dog tasks for Vark: deep pressure therapy (of course. Interrupting behaviors such as when Vox is getting overwhelmed. Blocking to stop other people from getting too close to/touching Vox when he would shock them. I am forgetting so many things and will continue writing this list later

Vox doesn't do public access with Vark. This ties into my headcanons for Vox that he is deeply ashamed of himself and he cannot let anyone know he has problems ever.

Unfortunately, I am evil. So I also like the idea of Vark as an owner-trained service animal who is hmm not the perfect candidate for the job. In the same way shepherds aren't recommended for anxiety work, he can feed too much off of Vox's own emotions and has issues with guarding aggression that at times cause him to become reactive. (*points at my fanfic where he bites Val*)

I love bad representation.

Alsooo I don't like hammerhead sharks or animals that are too cartoon-y for me to understand as a real creature, so I'm making up a new design for Vark

Based on a Bonnethead Shark! Fun fact about Bonnethead Sharks: they are omnivorous! They eat seagrass :)

So Vark is omnivorous but unfortunately he's also like a tiger shark in that he'll eat anything even if it's not food. Tiger sharks have been found with license plates, tires, and other trash in their stomachs (sad)

Don't ask Vox how many times Vark has needed emergency exploratory surgery after eating something he shouldn't have. He doesn't want to talk about it.

Vark chews on wires like real sharks biting at undersea fiber optic cables. Chomp chomp

When Vark was a tiny baby, Velvette dressed him up in silly little outfits to post online. She doesn't do that anymore because he has mostly outgrown his cuteness stage for her: she only thought he was cute when he was little.

[weaveandwood]

In Hushed Whispers

There was a little interest in me posting some Dragon Age: Inquisition fanfic here, so I'm going to share the one shot I have written! I know I have a few mutuals who are also doing their first playthrough of Inquisition, so if you haven't done the quest this one-shot is named for, don't read this! Consider this your warning!

Pairing: Cullen/Female Lavellan (Brinni, my dual wielding rogue) Words: 1,374

Angst

Read on AO3!

Cullen threw the crumpled up message across the room and leaned over the war table, shaking his head, willing himself to take his next breath even as dread constricted every fiber of his being. 

Dead. 

He slammed his fist against the table, toppling over the markers that had been so carefully placed earlier that day. He told her it was a trap - he told them all! She wasn’t an idiot, she knew it was clearly a trap as well. Still, she was determined - and that determination had doomed them all.  

He paced the length of the room. Back and forth, over and over, replaying their last conversation in his head, trying to figure out what he could have said differently. 

“Redcliffe has repelled thousands of assaults. If you go in there you’ll die, and we’ll lose the only means we have of closing these rifts. I won’t allow it,” he had told her. Of course, there was the unspoken reason he hadn’t wanted her to go, one he was too foolish and too scared to voice. No, better to have her believe he only saw her as a tool, a weapon for them to wield. Nothing more. 

Cassandra, Josephine, and Leliana argued the optics of marching on the castle, the consequences of leaving a foreign magister in power on Ferelden land. It appeared they had been outplayed. No matter how hard Cullen stared at the table, a strategy would not come to him. 

“There has to be something we’re not thinking of,” she had said quietly, finally breaking the silence and looking at each of them. “Another way in.”

Discussions took place. Brinni paced back and forth while Leliana and Cassandra spoke of the secret entrance for the family and planned the “distraction” Brinni and her envoy would be for the magister. Someone suddenly barged into the war room with insider knowledge of the magister’s plans - Brinni seemed to trust him and his easy confidence, so everyone else did as well. 

It was settled. They would leave first thing in the morning. 

 “The plan puts you in the most danger - we can still go after the Templars if you’d rather not play the bait. It’s up to you,” he said to her before parting, his cool demeanor soothing over the storm within. Don’t go. It’s a trap. You will die. 

She went. So did Blackwall (prisoner), Varric (prisoner), and the new mage, Dorian (dead). 

Dead. 

If he had just talked to her, told her how important she was - not just to the Inquisition, but to everyone in their inner circle even after this short amount of time, how he looked forward to reading her messages from her seemingly never-ending duties in the Hinterlands, how their conversations while he was overseeing the training exercises were the best sort of distraction…

He sighed. She still would have gone. Still would have died. 

He walked out of the building, staring at the breach in the sky. What were they going to do now? 

Months passed. It was almost a year to the day since the Inquisition lost their one hope at closing the Breach. Cullen had been right about Redcliffe. He threw troops at it, but they were no match for The Elder One’s demon army. Thedas was gone - everything was covered in red lyrium. Leliana had been captured on a spy mission months ago. Cassandra and Iron Bull led a charge soon after the news of Brinni’s death reached Haven with the rest of her companions - they never returned. Josephine tried her hand at diplomacy and was caught by a demon possessing a nobleman. 

Dead, dead, dead. 

Only a handful of troops remained. Templars, warriors, and even a few elves had traveled to Haven after everything really started going south about a month after…after her death. They fought for the fallen Herald of Andraste. He fought for her. Brinni Lavellan. He still found his thoughts easily drifting to her. He did a double take every time he saw an elf with short white hair the color of starlight. He missed her, even now. Even as he mounted his favorite horse outside of Redcliffe Village, ready to lead one last charge against the castle. One last attempt at saving the world, though it was certain they would all end up the same as everyone else who had tried.

Would he see her once this was over? He mulled the thought over as they marched on the castle through fields of red lyrium, the power surrounding it warm and intoxicating. He saw corpses with crystals growing out of them and shuddered. What world was left to save? They got to the bridge and he dismounted, taking all of the riding gear off of his horse. He dropped it to the ground before slapping the horse’s hindquarters, sending it off to live whatever life it could manage. There would be no one left to care for it after today and he could not bring himself to watch the horse die in battle. He smiled to himself. “The Commander has a soft spot” - she had teased him about that once in the stables, long ago.

A horrible grinding noise brought his attention back to the present, the telltale sound of the demons that had laid waste to the land and the people of Thedas. This was it. He raised his sword, rallying the small troop behind him and charged. 

They fought as well as they could, taking down a few demons while the demons took down more of them. He watched as they fought and fell, their numbers shrinking further and further until only a true handful were left, each fighting their own hopeless battle. A cry, a thud. Dead. A shout, a demonic laugh. Dead. 

“Sir, behind yo-” someone called out, seconds too late. Cullen started to turn, his sword preparing to strike when he felt a sharp pain in his chest, followed by searing heat and frigid cold seeping through his body. He fell to the ground, looking up at the roiling green-grey sky and tried unsuccessfully to remember what it looked like on a clear, blue, cloudless day before magic destroyed everything. He was lying in something warm and wet and he was tired, so tired. His eyes fluttered and the world grew dim. The cries of battle were quiet now and the grinding noise from the demons drifted further from his consciousness. 

It was over. 

“Sir? Sir? A message from Redcliffe,” a voice called from outside the door of his office, accompanied by urgent knocks. 

Cullen startled and sat up. Had he been sleeping at his desk? The long nights and early mornings had caught up with him, it appeared - he would need to keep a better schedule. He cleared his throat, calling for the messenger to enter and took the small envelope from him. 

He quickly ripped it open to read the missive from Brinni’s operation, his eyes scanning desperately for a key word to indicate how the mission went. He quickly crumpled it up and threw it across the room to prevent himself from spending all day reading it over and over again before leaning over his desk, his head in his hands. 

Mission successful. Recruited mages as allies. Will explain when we return. - B

She was fine. She didn’t die, she wasn’t taken prisoner, and she had recruited the mages as allies for the Inquisition. Once again, she exceeded his expectations. He leaned back in his chair, his face to the ceiling and laughed loudly, the cord of tension within him that had been wound so tightly since they left finally loosening. Was the tension he had been harboring solely due to the fate of their Inquisition? They would be able to continue closing Fade Rifts and perhaps close the Breach with the assistance of the recruited mages. Or…was it something that was beginning to take hold inside him, gentle and warm, just like the way she smiled at him during her rounds the other day when she found him in the stables, brushing his favorite horse’s mane and talking sweetly to it? “The Commander has a soft spot,” she had teased him. 

It appeared that the Commander may have had more than one.

[untitled5071]

can you write a fan fic of lisa & creature being all cute? just fluff. maybe even with her showing him some “new” stuff he’s never seen before, like music and movies etc. pls & thanks :)

Ask and ye shall receive, hope you enjoy!

🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦

“Oh you are gonna love this one, I know it. I have very good instincts about these things.”

Before he could make any noise of objection or question, Lisa clamped the headphones of her walkman down over the creature’s ears, including the newly re-attached one. She gave him a moment to get used to the sensation of artificially drowned-out noise before she inserted the Siouxsie and the Banshees tape into the deck and started the first track. The opening beat of “Spellbound” began to play, and Lisa watched as the creature tried to process what he was hearing, brow furrowing and lips twitching as his 1837 classically-trained brain tried to come to terms with the existence of the synthesizer. 

They were sitting on her bedroom floor; Lisa had come home from school not too long ago to find the creature sitting outside of her open closet doors, her carpet all but covered in piles of modern amenities and technology that the creature had collected during his last several hours of being home alone. When she walked in, his eyes lit up like they always did when he saw her, and he had gestured to his treasures, an inquisitive groan in his throat. The sound was barely out of his mouth before she had plopped down across from him, bag of Corn Nuts in hand and ready to share the wonders of the glorious 1980’s with her newly resurrected companion. 

And of course, Lisa’s first order of business was to introduce him to good music.

“See, I told you you would like it. We have very similar tastes, you and I, and it’s called good taste, trust me.”

Turning away from him as he started messing with the buttons on the Walkman, she looked around at the other household items that had caught the creature’s eye. To her left lay one of the twin fiber optic rainbow light burst decoration…things from the TV shelves downstairs, the ones Janet had always forbidden her from touching since they, like everything else in the pink monstrosity of a home, were meant to be seen and never touched by her unworthy fingers. 

Well, aside from the bloodstain on the carpet underneath them, Janet was gone. 

The were battery-operated, so while the creature unplugged and replugged the headphones on the walkman and marveled at how quickly the sound stopped, Lisa switched the trinket’s lights on and began playing with the hundreds of plastic bristles that made up the light display, giggling softly to herself as she pushed them this way and that, bunching them up and then letting them go, whatever she felt like. She was in the middle of running them in between her fingers like some kind of particularly coarse fur when her hand was suddenly joined by a much colder one, and the creature-now with the walkman headphones around his neck-joined her in fiddling with the decorative plastic piece. 

Their eyes met, and she took just a second to be entranced by how the rainbow changing light reflected in his eyes before looking back down, taking his hand in hers and guiding them both to skim over the top of the bristles, watching them sway with the movement. 

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

The creature looked up, locking his eyes with hers and holding her gaze with a sudden intensity. She blinked, a little taken off guard, but then his gaze softened, and he pointed to her. She blinked again, confused, before her affection-addled brain kicked on and she understood. 

“Oh, me? I’m pretty?”

The creature nodded, smile fond, if not a bit exasperated. Lisa blushed, suddenly nervous to meet his gaze, instead choosing to look down at the fiber optic lights-or anything else besides him-to distract herself from the sudden squeeze on her heart. 

“I mean, thanks but I’m no Geena Davis, my teeth are kinda big and I’ve got this weird snort laugh thing and my hair never listens and..ooh, wait, look at this!”

She cut off whatever noises the creature was about to make to object by fishing out a VHS of the Rocky Horror Picture Show from the bottom of one of the piles, turning it around so he could see the cover. He looked from it to her and back again in a way that clearly told her that he wanted to be excited, but had no idea what he was looking at, so she rolled her eyes and pushed herself up from the floor, offering a hand to help him to the same with his bum leg. His cheeks darkened a little bit at the contact, and Lisa decided to specifically not mention how he squeezed her hand for just a moment longer than necessary for support. 

He was barely on his feet before she was tugging him along, down the stairs and into the living room, where she pushed his shoulders to get him to sit on the couch. She put the VHS into the player and let the trailers roll. The creature’s eyes widened almost comically as he beheld the wonders of television, and he looked to Lisa, clearly with a billion questions. She smiled, and patted him conspiratorially on the shoulder. 

“Welcome to the movies! You were about 50 years away from this kinda thing when you died, but don’t feel bad, the first ones were just about trains and stuff anyway. This is where it really gets good.”

The creature hummed in curiosity as Lisa reached forward to press ‘play’ on the tape, but before she could get back on the couch with him, she got an idea, jumping up  from her crouched position in front of the TV. 

“Stay here, I’ll be right back!”

Leaving a bewildered and bemused creature behind, she sprinted to the kitchen to grab some drinks, and returned with two Sprites, which she popped open while the opening credits started, a disembodied pair of lips fading into existence and beginning to sing to them. She sat down next to the creature and handed him one, clicking their matching drinks together before turning to the screen.

“Can’t have a movie without snacks! We should have enough time before Dad and Taffy get home, so get ready to have your old fashioned Victorian mind blown, buddy.”

The creature tilted his head in question before taking a sip of the drink he was offered, though he sent himself into a coughing fit almost as soon as the beverage crossed his lips. Alarmed, Lisa jumped into action and thumped him on the back, flinching slightly as a centipede dislodged itself from..somewhere and scurried across the floor while the creature composed himself. 

“Damn, I guess I should have warned you about carbonation. Good thing you’re already dead or that might have killed your Victorian ass outright.”

The glare he gave her would have been murderous if there wasn’t so much adoring laughter in it, and after she made sure he was okay, she snuggled into his side a bit more on the couch, taking a sip of her own drink and watching out of the corner of her eye as he took much smaller and more cautious sips of his soda. The opening exposition began, and right before the first song started, Lisa remembered something, turning slightly to watch the creature with a small smirk. 

“Oh I should probably ask, how do you feel about lingerie?” 

The creature’s sputtering coughing fit lasted a lot longer that time. 

[jadeandroses]

(look, if getting sick from covid shots is what I have to do in order to write like this, then I would get them every single week if I could)

lifeline

(first) (previous) (Ao3 version)

(Warning: TF One spoilers ahead!)

You would assume spending three days in stasis would allow a person time to think.

On the contrary, for three days, Elita thought about nothing. She felt nothing. The yawning ache in her spark was nonexistent, just for a few days, and her body relaxed as it enjoyed its final few days of strength.

She wasn’t fully conscious of it, but her spark was failing. Somewhere, in some deep recess of her mind, she knew it.

She just didn’t have the energy to care.

~~~~

The next time she recovered any sort of awareness, she found a hole in her chest where her cog should have been.

In itself, this wasn’t very strange, considering she had lived the vast majority of her life without one. But what was odd—and what finally pulled her out of the deep abyss of slumber—was a white, glowing wire protruding from that hole in her chest.

It didn’t hurt. But it coursed with embers of energy—wisps of power that weren’t unlike the spark-deep fire that had left her in this state. She shifted her body around it, and felt it even in her back.

In an attempt to see where it began or ended, she reached out and pulled at it. It sent a minor jolt through her system. She gasped.

…wait.

…It was nice to hear her own voice again.

Where was she, anyway? She knew medical bays—and this wasn’t one. It didn’t have the lights, the smell of sterile air—no. The world around her was dark, save for the glowing cable wrapped around her spark. The only sounds came from her—and even then, her frame was oddly quiet.

With nothing else to do, she pulled at the cable again. She fought the spark deep reflex to let go, and shuddered—loosened her grip, but didn’t release it.

It wasn’t attached to anything, but it did seem to float upwards. She ran her fingers across it, drinking in its energy—

—and suddenly, she was back in the Well of Allsparks, in freefall. Arms wrapped around Orion. Power—fire, unlike any she had ever known—shooting through her for the first time.

She jolted back. Blinked out the visions that danced behind her head.

When she opened her eyes again, there were two cables wrapped around her spark, loosely woven together in the abyss.

…at this point, curiosity had gotten the better of her. She grabbed the other, and was treated with the immediate sight of Orion Pax raising a middle finger to Darkwing.

(…he thought her back was turned. It had been—but she was getting to see it now. It was delightful.)

Two more winding cables emerged from her spark as she watched Orion’s memories play out in front of her eyes—D-16’s and Bee’s. And as she watched their memories—of meeting Orion Pax, of the darkness of mines and the light of the surface—a billion more burst from her as she gasped.

Like fiber optics, they wound together, packed into the tiny space that her cog once occupied in her chest. They wound around her spark, their weight heavy, yet feathery.

Time.

This was her gift. The power given to her by Alpha Trion himself. Time itself danced before her eyes, captured in the sparks and memories of everyone she had ever loved.

And it was a gift she had squandered.

…right?

No. She shoved that thought down with the vow that she would never regret it. Orion—no, right, Optimus—would never have survived if she hadn’t done what she did. Seeing it play out from both of their perspectives, she was certain of it now.

But her life—that was her own. Her choices were hers and hers alone, and if they had led her here, then so be it.

Which led her back to the question: had she truly squandered her own life in defense of another? Was this her eternal fate, her Allspark—doomed to the abyss with only the memories of everyone she had ever cared about?

She looked at the cables surrounding her spark, willing them to provide her answers. They didn’t. Stubbornly, they floated upwards, the answers they held in the past clear, yet their future frustratingly uncertain.

All she could see were the memories.

And that, in of itself, could never capture the whole of what time truly was, could it? The present was just the moment in which the past and future met, held hands in an endless moment, and all she had here was one half of it.

There were other halves to these lifelines. They were sticking out of her back right now.

She grabbed those cables, and forced them to loop around so that she could see them. She saw some that ended, some that went on for miles and miles—and yet, she didn’t dare look too hard. Somewhere, nestled in this web of lifelines, was her own—and the answer to her own fate was probably the only one she could stomach right now.

Her own lifeline wrapped the tightest around her spark. It made it easy to find, in the chaos.

It had an end. In fact, it was a hell of a lot shorter than some of the rest. Not enough to be worrying, not enough to make her think her death was imminent. But the lifeline that wrapped around her own the tightest went on, for just a little bit longer.

She blinked as she processed what that meant.

Orion outlived her. Not by much—but he did.

“Typical,” she scoffed absently. Although, if she was being honest with herself, she was grateful for it. It meant she found success in her role as his guard.

She let the future slide out of her hands, though, and pondered that.

Perhaps she found the ultimate success as a guard. Her role as his confidant, though? Commander and friend? …how could she accomplish either of those if she was dead?

Sweet Primus below, she did not want to die. Not anymore. She still had Bee’s training to worry about. Still had that drink to grab with Chromia. She still had to punch both Shockwave and Megatron in the face. Her hope lived on, nestled in a spark that was worthy of the Matrix, and oh, there was so much she had to tell him.

The proof of her own survival rested in her back. Determination welled up in her spark.

She had no cog, but it didn’t matter. She was enough. She was whole. She was Ariel, she was Elita-1, both in equal measure. Her past and her future selves held hands to create this moment, in which she could prove herself better than anyone. Even her own self defined limits.

Lifelines in her spark, she transformed around them, so that she was facing, not the past, but the future. She took hold of them. Felt every single one of them tense around her spark.

And, before she could think twice about it, she pulled.

It sent a jolt of fire through her—but she was used to the burn by now. She did it again, already readying the next hand as she worked. The lives of everyone she loved slid through her, and she drank in their memories and their futures like it was energon.

She was going to get out of this.

She had to.

There came fire in her spark, but she shoved the pain down, and screamed a challenge to the Allspark itself—was this the best they could do? Try and hold her down with the fire she commanded?

Well.

Then maybe she, like her beloved Optimus, had earned her name.

Proved herself better than anyone.

Even than death.

~~~~

If she thought waking up in the abyss was strange, the next sensation rendered it fairly normal, by comparison.

She jolted. The ground came slow underneath her, but it came all the same. Simultaneously, she was light as air, and yet she still had gravity, pulling at her gently.

And the only thing in her field of vision was blue.

Energon?

Blue eyes blinked at her, wider than moons, and she let their owner scoop her up. She knew those eyes, didn’t she? That infinite sadness behind them, lifted if even for a moment?

She felt thrusters, and then they broke above the surface. She gasped, and continued to do so even as they crashed—harmlessly—onto solid ground.

And before she could process anything—the renewed strength in her spark, the cool sensation of dusky air—there came the feeling of arms around her, and a face in her neck.

“Orion?”

He nodded, but his voice betrayed a stifled sob. “Do not scare me like that again, Ariel!”

Their frames dripped energon, but she didn’t care—she threw her own arms around him like her life depended on it.

She cackled—the sound of her ugly laughter echoing in the chamber of…wherever they were. She didn’t care. She lived on. For all she had sacrificed, for all she had proven, she had earned the right to indulge in the pleasures of living, for a moment.

“I’m okay,” she croaked, and she meant it.

~~~~

She wasn’t entirely sure where they were, but she agreed to linger, at least to catch her breath. Wherever they were, it was beautiful, at least—pools of energon alight in colors, multicolored stalactites dripping down and glowing, illuminating the long dilapidated workbench nearby.

That was before Optimus smiled at her, knowingly, and explained that he had brought her to where the Matrix had been forged, by the hands of the thirteen.

She startled.

“Vector Sigma?” she hissed.

His knowing smile erupted into a full blown grin.

“You brought me to Vector Sigma on the off chance their power still lingered here, and then dumped me in a pool of energon hoping it would bring me back?”

“Hey, I went in with you, first of all,” he shot back. “Second, legend’s always said that the power of the Matrix lingers here. I figured, if anything would work…”

She nodded, understanding. She could feel it, even, embers in the air clinging to her frame even as she sat by his side.

He shrugged. “Besides. This was a place I had been wanting to find since I became Prime. You just gave me a reason to.”

“Way to make a girl feel special,” she taunted.

He chuckled. The goofy grin didn’t drop as he scooted closer to her.

“You are.”

She felt her face turn hot.

They weren’t words she was unused to hearing, especially from Orion Pax—but it felt different this time. The weight of revelations she’d had while unconscious echoed in her ears, and his own determination to save her sent a fresh rush of heat through her spark.

He thought she was special. Sure, she had spent a lifetime proving it—but it wasn’t Orion in front of her, it was Optimus. Favored of Primus himself, and he thought her special.

(Unless he was like her—his past and future holding hands to create this moment in which he was both.)

“I feel like you’d have done this for anyone,” she declared, looking away. Her pedes dipped into the pool of energon in front of her, tiny ripples dancing up her frame, and she drank in that sensation.

“Maybe,” he said, and she could hear the shrug in his voice. “I don’t like watching people hurt because of me. I hated that it was you, though.”

“I was the only one who could. Alpha Trion gave me this power for a reason. To protect you.”

He shook his head. “To stand beside me in equal might.”

She stared at him, quizzically.

“The Matrix told me,” he explained. “You are a million things more than my guard, Elita, and I have so much more I want to say. Just, for now…promise me something, please?”

She nodded, and scooted closer to him. He took her hands in his.

“Unless you think it’s absolutely necessary, please don’t do whatever that was again. Almost losing you was unbearable.”

Stubborn little optimist, she thought. Her hands wrapped around his.

“It goes both ways,” she vowed. “Unless I think it’s necessary.” She took a deep breath. “Just, let me say something?”

He nodded. Absently, his thumbs rubbed over the back of her hands.

She glanced down. Hands wrapped loosely around each other, just like their lifelines. She thought of how annoying he had been, a lifetime ago in the dark of the mines, but how he had ultimately been the one to bring them light. She thought of how beautiful he was, when he wanted nothing but for her to live.

No going back, now.

“…I think I love you.”

She didn’t dare look at him.

How crappy a bodyguard was she, to outright confess to her crush on her charge? But she was more than a guard, wasn’t she? He had admitted that himself, and she had never been one to mince words, anyway.

She dared a look, to find his eyes wide, and his jaw on the floor. She dared a smile—shy—meanwhile she mentally celebrated the look on his face. She broke a Prime with just a few simple words.

Maybe this was the ultimate proof that he was still the same Orion Pax, on the inside. Putty in her hands, after all this time. Beautiful, inside and out.

He hadn’t breathed, but when he finally did, she could hear him shudder.

“Since when?”

She scoffed. “I just figured this out as I was dying, Pax, don’t make me try and pinpoint that!”

“I’m not,” he protested, his surprise melting into the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. “I’m just…well. I suppose I never thought I would hear those words from you.”

She giggled, because was it really that far-fetched? Maybe it would’ve been, a lifetime ago, when they were nothing but miners trying to survive. They were more than what they were born for, though. They had the privilege to fight, now, to make something of themselves. In truth, they already had—a Prime and a commander—but even then, they could learn and grow from that.

He lowered a kiss to her hands, and then to her cheeks, and all the while she giggled madly as she returned them. Perhaps she was truly mad—sick with the delight of living, and having the privilege to fall in love.

Of having this moment, in which their pasts and futures could hold hands amidst eternity.

[skillengg]

Fiber Optics Course Explained: Master the Technology Powering Modern Communication Systems

In today's interconnected world, fiber optics plays a vital role in facilitating high-speed communication. From broadband internet to global telecommunications, fiber optics is the backbone of modern infrastructure. Understanding this technology is crucial for anyone pursuing a career in telecommunications, networking, or even emerging fields like data science and the Internet of Things (IoT). 

What is Fiber Optics?

Fiber optics is a technology that transmits data as light pulses through glass or plastic fibers. Unlike copper cables, which rely on electrical signals, fiber optic cables use light, offering significant advantages in speed, bandwidth, and data transmission over long distances. This high-efficiency technology is used in many applications, from connecting continents through undersea cables to powering local broadband networks.

A fiber optics course typically begins with a foundational overview of this technology, introducing students to the basic concepts, physics, and principles governing light transmission.

Core Components of a Fiber Optics Course

A comprehensive fiber optics course covers several key topics, including:

1.Types of Fiber Optic Cables

Students will learn about the two primary types of fiber optic cables: single-mode and multi-mode. 

- Single-mode fibers : These are typically used for long-distance communication. They have a smaller core diameter, which allows only one mode of light to pass through, reducing signal degradation over large distances.

- Multi-mode fibers : These are used for shorter distances, typically within local area networks (LANs). Their larger core diameter allows multiple modes of light to travel through, but they are more prone to signal distortion over long distances.

2.Fiber Optic Transmitters and Receivers

The course will also cover how data is transmitted and received in a fiber optic system. This process starts with a transmitter, usually a laser or LED, which converts electrical signals into light pulses. These light pulses are then transmitted through the fiber optic cable to a receiver, which converts them back into electrical signals. Understanding this conversion process is key to troubleshooting and maintaining fiber optic networks.

3.Splicing and Termination Techniques

Splicing refers to joining two fiber optic cables together, while termination is the process of adding connectors to the ends of the fiber. These skills are essential in practical applications, such as building networks or making repairs. Most courses will provide hands-on training in these techniques, including the use of fusion splicers and other tools.

4.Loss and Attenuation

One of the most critical challenges in fiber optics is signal loss, or attenuation, which can occur due to various factors such as cable length, bending, and impurities in the fiber. Courses will explain how to measure, minimize, and manage loss using techniques like signal boosting and error correction. Understanding how to reduce attenuation ensures the efficiency and reliability of fiber optic networks.

5.Testing and Maintenance

Regular testing is a crucial part of maintaining fiber optic systems. Students will learn how to use optical time-domain reflectometers (OTDRs) and other specialized tools to diagnose problems and ensure the proper functioning of a fiber optic network. A course will also cover safety protocols, as working with fiber optics involves handling delicate materials and high-intensity light sources.

Practical Applications of Fiber Optics

- Telecommunications : Fiber optics is the foundation of modern telecommunications networks. It provides the high bandwidth and low latency needed for long-distance phone calls, internet, and TV services.

- Data Centers : With the increasing demand for cloud computing and data storage, data centers rely on fiber optics for high-speed connections between servers, storage devices, and users.

- Medical Industry : In medicine, fiber optics is used in imaging equipment like endoscopes. These devices allow doctors to see inside a patient’s body without invasive surgery, improving diagnostics and treatment.

- Military and Aerospace : The high security and reliability of fiber optic communication make it ideal for military applications, including secure communication and navigation systems in aircraft and submarines.

Conclusion

A fiber optics course provides a comprehensive education on the principles, applications, and skills needed to work in this high-demand field. By mastering fiber optics, you will not only gain technical proficiency but also position yourself for a career at the heart of modern communication systems. Whether you are looking to build or maintain networks, troubleshoot technical issues, or develop innovative solutions, fiber optics knowledge is a crucial asset in today’s technology-driven world. 

[jobsacademy1234]

Fiber Optics Technician Training Programs: What You Need to Know

Discover the essential details about Fiber Optics Technician Training Programs. Learn how these specialized courses can equip you with the skills needed for a successful career in the growing field of fiber optics. Explore program options, curriculum highlights, certification requirements, and career opportunities. Whether you're starting fresh or advancing your technical expertise, find out what you need to know to become a certified fiber optics technician.

For more information - https://bit.ly/4dsxlh4

[ahollowgrave]

Friend, I know you did not reblog the 22 Dawntrail ask game! So I would like to humbly request more Selenite lore in the near future. Also, what do you think Odette and Selenite would think of each other?

(Teehee after they sent this I DID reblog the dawntrail ask game mentioned. Like a scamp.)

Man, Selenite is still so new she is truly just rolling right along in the rock tumbler! So while I have some ideas many of them are subject to change. Since her first appearance here I’ve already made some changes to her looks and more will probably come! And since S9 as a whole is still so new with limited lore I imagine bits and pieces of her will change as we play more of this expansion. Such is the life of an RP character, tbh, especially an AU version of an RP character!

I have another ask for how Selenite’s readings work, so I’ll save her work for that one.

Anyway:

Her full name is Selenite, friends call her Nite. Does she have a surname??? Probably. Not that you need to know it. 

She doesn’t wear a regulator anymore. Like many of her fellow citizens, Selenite wore a regulator from a young age. It wasn’t until the loss of her parent and the gnawing feeling of missing someone important -- and a few frank conversations -- that she removed it. She’ll never get the memories of her parent back but she hopes to honor them by feeling any fresh grief. 

Selenite’s parent was probably None’s S9 shard. Details pending. 

Unlike Odette, Nite is 100% alive! Wow! A normal heartbeat and body temperature!

She’s def had some augmentations done! Probably out of boredom. I imagine boredom is a big problem in S9.

The one I’m 100% sold on is her hair not being…. Fully hair anymore. To emulate Odette’s hair’s iridescent sheen, Selenite has fiber optic lights woven throughout that emit a low glow. Practical? No. Cool? Very. 

Also since I keep trimming Odette’s hair I think Selenite gets to have the long fantasy hair. You understand. 

The other one is her eyes. Odette can see souls/ghosts/spirits out of one eye and I think Nite could as well (this is from their shared ancient) but maybe had her eyes removed in favor of optics upgrades. IDK!! I just think…. Cool eyes. You underSTAND!!!

I hesitate about these only because she doesn’t wear a regulator and I feel like they are def tied to regulator usage, but this is why she’s in the rock tumbler. Maybe she got them before she took off the regulator and they still work just maybe… not as well. Much to think about!!

Nite makes a lot of her choices based on Boredom. It's not her greatest trait!!! but it's fine.

She sleeps a lot -- almost like she’s sleeping for two. Always tired. As a result, she’s always got an energy drink in her hand and she’s usually looking for additional stimulants. 

Personality wise she is just so chill. She’s too tired to be worked up, man. 

Another reason she’s on the very fringes of a lot of groups like Oblivian, she doesn’t have the passion to join something like that fully but she supports in ways she can. Like convincing people death isn’t that bad, isn’t that scary. 

Chill but also prone to pranks and jokes. Big fan of teeheeheeing over here. She loves a bit.

She’s only left S9 twice and nearly died both times, without her regulator, so she does NOT leave the city anymore. For all her talk about death not being scary it is very much very scary but that’s okay, she just doesn’t talk about those trips. No worries, haha!

Beautiful fat lesbian <3

I do not think she and Odette will ever meet. Maybe in the background of each other's shots or something, so to speak. That said I do love a what if!!!

I think they'd get along great. I think they'd fit together so well they were long lost twins. Not without hurdles, of course. Nite is freaked out by the ashkin thing, Odette is freaked out by Nite's freak out because are you serious? Mostly I think it's a lot of bickering. They'd change each other for good.

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 29, 2024

The time course of feature-selective attention inside and outside the focus of spatial attention. Andersen, S. K., & Hillyard, S. A. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(16), e2309975121.

The role of uncertainty in regulating associative change. Chan, Y. Y., Lee, J. C., Fam, J. P., Westbrook, R. F., & Holmes, N. M. (2024). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 50(2), 77–98.

Neural correlates of perceptual similarity masking in primate V1. Chen, S. C.-Y., Chen, Y., Geisler, W. S., & Seidemann, E. (2024). eLife, 12, e89570.3.

Timing along the cardiac cycle modulates neural signals of reward-based learning. Fouragnan, E. F., Hosking, B., Cheung, Y., Prakash, B., Rushworth, M., & Sel, A. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 2976.

Multicore fiber optic imaging reveals that astrocyte calcium activity in the mouse cerebral cortex is modulated by internal motivational state. Gau, Y.-T. A., Hsu, E. T., Cha, R. J., Pak, R. W., Looger, L. L., Kang, J. U., & Bergles, D. E. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 3039.

A cognitive-computational account of mood swings in adolescence. Gregorová, K., Eldar, E., Deserno, L., & Reiter, A. M. F. (2024). Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 28(4), 290–303.

Probabilistic causal reasoning under time pressure. Kolvoort, I. R., Fisher, E. L., van Rooij, R., Schulz, K., & van Maanen, L. (2024). PLOS ONE, 19(4), e0297011.

EEG decoders track memory dynamics. Li, Y., Pazdera, J. K., & Kahana, M. J. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 2981.

Dynamic saccade context triggers more stable object-location binding. Lu, Z., & Golomb, J. D. (2024). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(4), 873–888.

It is not all about you: Communicative cooperation is determined by your partner’s theory of mind abilities as well as your own. Markiewicz, R., Rahman, F., Apperly, I., Mazaheri, A., & Segaert, K. (2024). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(5), 833–844.

Dopamine control of social novelty preference is constrained by an interpeduncular-tegmentum circuit. Molas, S., Freels, T. G., Zhao-Shea, R., Lee, T., Gimenez-Gomez, P., Barbini, M., … Tapper, A. R. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 2891.

Space wandering in the rodent default mode network. Nghiem, T.-A. E., Lee, B., Chao, T.-H. H., Branigan, N. K., Mistry, P. K., Shih, Y.-Y. I., & Menon, V. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(15), e2315167121.

Attention-based rehearsal: Eye movements reveal how visuospatial information is maintained in working memory. Sahan, M. I., Siugzdaite, R., Mathôt, S., & Fias, W. (2024). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(5), 687–698.

Manipulating Prior Beliefs Causally Induces Under- and Overconfidence. Van Marcke, H., Denmat, P. Le, Verguts, T., & Desender, K. (2024). Psychological Science, 35(4), 358–375.

Top–down modulation in canonical cortical circuits with short-term plasticity. Waitzmann, F., Wu, Y. K., & Gjorgjieva, J. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(16), e2311040121.

Phasic locus coeruleus activity enhances trace fear conditioning by increasing dopamine release in the hippocampus. Wilmot, J. H., Diniz, C. R., Crestani, A. P., Puhger, K. R., Roshgadol, J., Tian, L., & Wiltgen, B. J. (2024). eLife, 12, e91465.3.

Eye blinks as a visual processing stage. Yang, B., Intoy, J., & Rucci, M. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(15), e2310291121.

Distinct information conveyed to the olfactory bulb by feedforward input from the nose and feedback from the cortex. Zak, J. D., Reddy, G., Konanur, V., & Murthy, V. N. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 3268.

Conjunctive encoding of exploratory intentions and spatial information in the hippocampus. Zeng, Y.-F., Yang, K.-X., Cui, Y., Zhu, X.-N., Li, R., Zhang, H., … Zhou, N. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 3221.

Environmental regularities mitigate attentional misguidance in contextual cueing of visual search. Zinchenko, A., Conci, M., Müller, H. J., & Geyer, T. (2024). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(5), 699–711.

[textillianfiber]

So, I just finished binding off my vacation knitting, which, of course, means finding a new project. I decided that if I can go stash diving and find the yarn for it, I will do the West Knits MKAL. This is what I have come up with (at the moment). Both are Fiber Optic Yarns Kashmir in the colorways Green Curry and Caramel Apple. (And I do have two skeins of each.)