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areus-in-a-little-cave · 2 years

Note

For the drabble requests:

SMP Earth techno and phil deciding to create the empire and the early beginnings of it :]

Congrats my guy ahhh so proud

This probably went a bit away from the prompt but :] I still think it fits! Anyway I hope you like it :D and thank you so much!! ember my beloved <3 <3

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The snow is something of a temptress.

It's beautiful, no one can doubt that. The way it shines in the sun, how it turns the once dim world an almost blinding white; nights are not as dark. It gets caught in your hair, it chills the air and offers relief from an otherwise burning world. It is soft on skin, akin to a kiss.

Snow tells a story, more than anything. It tells tales of wintertime, beautifully depicted in cards, and tales of travels as the ground beneath shapes around a man's boot.

Much like a siren, everyone is too caught up in the beauty to realize the ever present danger. They like to see the freshly fallen blanket on the plains around them, and never the cracking ice beneath leading to an unforgiving ocean.

Snow gives kisses that are welcome and gentle, but in just a shift of the wind, it is nothing short of ice shards tearing through one's cheeks. The once welcomed cold will cut deeper than the waters of cocytus, and there will be nothing that can be done once the sun is gone.

All that will remain the same will be the empty and endless plains, barren with only dead plants to comfort you as you march for hours in hope of finding warmth. Your own breath will betray you in the end, leaving you as your body grows to be colder than the dirt under your soles.

Without a light, a beacon of warmth, snow is death.

Philza loves the snow. He loves how it lands on his feathers, how it seemingly never touches him until he steps inside and removes his hat to be met with a pleasant surprise.

Phil loves the snow because it is beautiful and he isn't an idiot. He knows better than to stay out too late, to tempt fate. He knows that the worst thing you can do out into the snow is lose your warmth—whenever passing through somewhere frozen, Phil always either carries or makes someone else carry a waterproof box of matches; there’s usually something that can be burned.

It's very fortunate that most people aren't experienced with the cold. With their limited knowledge of it, they're smart enough to stay away—or they're stupid enough to die.

And when building an empire, that's very, very useful. What better a force to keep enemies away than nature itself?

Through his travels, Phil found himself somewhere interesting, somewhere barren and frozen and endless.

Beneath the topsoil, who knows what grew? What ore lay deep underground? What use such an untapped place could hold?

The Antarctic is something to behold.

And Phil spent weeks there with his friend by his side, cutting trees and burning wood, scraping by on whatever food they could find in such a barren place. It’s surviving, and though most would probably say it wasn’t living, Phil would disagree. Even if they’re cold and hungry, he’d never felt quite so alive as he had simply sitting in a half built cottage with Techno as they barely kept a fire stoked.

It took many long nights of fighting the biting cold, but Phil staked his claim to the land there with Techno by his side. Techno made sure to take each opportunity to whine about the cold—he's lying, of course; Phil shakes worse than him each day. He claims to do it for comedic effect, and to be fair, his quips do make the nights shorter.

With effort—sweat, blood, and tears—there's a home set up in the antarctic. A warm and man-made shelter for two emperors, crowning themselves as the sun set over the empty plains.

But they'll spread word of their new empire in the morning. They'll tell people of the land they can travel to to find home once they've slept their exhaustion off. Phil's far too tired to do anything as he practically collapses into the pile of blankets and pillows he and Technoblade had set up.

"It's basically a nest," Techno had teased.

Phil laughed. "Shut."

Somewhere lost in the blankets is Techno, and Phil finds himself a little comforted in knowing his friend is close by. He’s glad that through this all, Techno’s been there. He could have left to find any other land for himself, but he stayed with Phil to claim a wasteland—and Phil’s never going to be able to express his gratitude.

Phil hears a soft snore and reaches a hand out from where he lies on his belly under the blankets, blindly smacking his hand around until he feels his fingers tangle in thick hair.

Techno laughs softly as Phil struggles to pull his hand away. “Goodnight, Phil.”

"G'night, mate." Phil chirps, his voice muffled as his face is pressed into a pillow.

He lifts his wings up, shimming them through the blankets, and sets them over top of the two of them—he’s a little more comfortable without his feathers being suffocated.

Simply too tired, Phil lets his hand remain in Techno's hair, idly playing with it as he feels sleep beckoning him.

He's nearly out before he hears something—something low.

It starts off quiet, enough so for Phil to mistake it for the wind, but grows steadily.

Phil realizes what it is after a moment, lifting his face from the pillow to look across the pile of blankets.

A purr.

Techno is purring.

Technoblade—chosen champion of the blood god, an immortal powerful enough to rival literal gods, Phil’s closest friend and the only person he could see running the world with him—is purring.

Phil smiles before he starts laughing, and it’s clearly loud enough as Techno begins to sit up and look at him. Even in the dark of their shared cottage, Phil can see the confused look on Techno’s face.

Between laughs, Phil manages a few words.

“You—you can purr?”

Like a shot to the heart, Techno’s expression drops. Phil watches slowly as Techno grits his teeth and chuckles, visibly fighting several emotions all at once.

Prior to that very moment, Phil didn’t even know Techno could blush beneath his fur, but right then and there he sees Techno’s entire face go red. Phil laughs again.

“Phil—Phil—you gotta listen—please Phil, you’re embarrassing me in front of chat.”

Even as Techno desperately tries to bring up the nest in some attempt to sidestep his embarrassment, Phil continues to poke a little fun at Techno.

For their first night as emperors, Phil doesn’t feel all high and mighty. No, teasing his friend as they both struggle to stay awake does not feel like the actions of a ruler.

But they’re Phil’s actions, and for his first night as an emperor, he finds comfort. He finds his beacon of warmth.

#as always reblogs are sooo cool :]#ask #ask box #mutuals tag!!!#embers-archive #drabble requests #emduo #emerald duo #emeraldduo #areus drabble #thank you for the ask!#long post

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donutloverxo · 4 years

Text

Forever

*gif is not mine*

Note - this is for @buckyownsmylife 's 2k celebration and birthday. Congrats and happy birthday! I've never done a breeding kink so it's very new to me but I hope you like it.

Dividers by @whimsicalrogers

Summary - You've been in a secret relationship with Steve for two years. What happens when he tells you he wants to be with you forever?

Warnings - 18+ ONLY PLEASE, smut, breeding kink, sir kink, cum play, anal play, d/s relationship, deepthroating, boss/employee relationship, loosely edited.

Pairing - CEO!Steve Rogers x reader

Word count - 2.6k

You watched him carefully, on the edge of your seat to see how he’d react, although you had a pretty good idea of what he’d say.

“Mm,” Steve made a face, scrunching his nose up, “What is this?”

“Why, it’s pumpkin spiced latte!” you gushed, “Starbucks most popular drink,” trying to hold in a giggle to not give away your little scheme of annoying him.

“I--that’s not my drink, doll,” he frowned.

“Yes! I remember, your drink is iced black coffee, no sugar or cream. I’ve been working for you for two years, sir, it'll be pretty hard to forget.”

“Then why did you get--whatever this is?” he put the cup on his desk, too disgusted to even hold it in his hand.

“I thought you’d like to try something new! Be a bit more adventurous!”

It’ll be pretty hard to get your sir to be anything like that. He has always been so uptight and set in his ways, he had a rigid routine, a clean and proper house which was frankly kinda boring looking which is why you refused to live with him. He had asked you so many times. But you always refused. There’s no way you could live in a house that looked like it was taken out of a magazine catalogue. Where you’d be afraid to even eat anything on or near his expensive and spotless furniture. You’d probably murder him in a month or so.

But maybe he can be more open to other possibilities, he was with you, he should adopt maybe a little bit of your personality as you had done his.

“I’ve got all the adventure right here,” he smiled, wrapping a hand around your waist and pulling you into him, putting his cheek on the softness of your stomach.

“Hm, your next meetings in thirty minutes,” you hummed as you felt his fingers massage your hips, tempted to run your hands through his golden hair but not wanting to mess it up or make him look sloppy for his important meeting.

“Well, princess, I didn’t have my coffee so now my days off to a bad start. How will I sit through a meeting with Tony Stark? It’s impossible to keep up with that man.

“Um...” you bit your lip, “I didn’t really think of that... maybe I’ll go run and get you a new one right now!”

He chuckled, shaking his head at your naiveté, you were too innocent for you own good, even after being with him and doing the most depraved of things for so long.

He leant back in his chair, spreading his legs, “There is a way you can make it up to me and help me clear my mind.”

You blinked for a moment trying to process his words, “Oh,” you let out when you realised what he meant. “I’m, but...”

“What?”

“My implants expired. I need to get a new one, I’ve got an appoint in two days and I don’t want to take a chance...” you trailed off. There was no way you’d make him come in a condom or anywhere that wasn’t inside you either. So sex was off the table.

“Doll, you need to use that brain of yours sometimes, I know you can, you’re so much more than a pretty face,” he taunted you.

His harsh words really shouldn’t make your panties wet, so much so that you could feel slick running down your thigh but they did.

“You act as if you’ve got just the one hole,” he gave you a faux pout, a hand trailing up your thigh, up your skirt and past your stockings, “I can just use your mouth

....or your ass.”

“What? My ass?” you jumped, wanting to get away from him but he firmly held onto your hip.

You were well aware of his unhealthy obsession with your ass. He had ate it and fingered it, made you wear all sorts and colors of butt plugs so many times, sometimes even in the office. But you absolutely refused to take his dick up your ass.

Nope. Never. Absolutely not. No. Nada.

No matter how many times he’d ask for it, you were not taking his nine inch dick up your poor small ass.

“Relax, doll,” he grinned, “Get to work. I don’t have much time,” he motioned to his bulge.

You simply nodded, quickly scrambling to get on your knees. There were many ways to have sex than the good ol' penis in vagina--even if that was your personal favorite. You could just blow him for the next couple of days and ride his face.

It was honestly ridiculous how you literally couldn’t go just two days without his dick.

You were using your hands to pump his throbbing shaft, giving light kitten licks to his tip to rile him up and to maybe get a taste of your favorite creamy goodies.

“No hands,” he commanded.

And you almost whined. He always does this! Ruins your fun by taking away control from you.

“Not fair!” you mumbled, putting your hands behind your back as he held onto your face to properly use it.

“I decide what’s fair and what’s not, princess,” he stated, pushing your head down on him.

Lifting his hips up, cooing when you choked on him, tears streaming down your face and ruining your sweet makeup.

He tutted, brushing them away with his thumb, “Look at me, doll,” he told you and like the subservient secretary that you were, you immediately looked up. “What the fuck do you spend thousands of dollars on Sephora for if you can’t even get waterproof makeup?”

You frowned in confusion because you didn’t he if he was seriously asking or not. Did he expect you to answer? With your mouth full of dick?”

It wasn’t surprising that he knew what you spent money on, he let you spend as much money as you wanted on anything you liked, but he insisted on having a joint account so you both could be transparent with each other.

He shushed you when you tried to speak--to explain that you’ll try a better mascara next time.

“You look so pretty with your face stuffed,” he groaned, his hips stuttering as he emptied his load in your mouth.

You swallowed it all, knowing well and good by now that sir didn’tlike it when you let anything go to waste, “Thank you, sir,” you smiled up at him as you popped his dick out of your mouth. “I’ll go clean up.”

“You go do that. And remember to be at my place at seven sharp for dinner.”

“Yes sir,” you answered as you tried to stand on wobbly legs.

💍💍💍

He looked at the ring in the turquoise blue box, so bright and shiny and beautiful, so much like you. A big diamond with smaller ones on the band. He was sure you’ll love it. With the fortune that he had spent on it--you have to.

He just wasn’t sure if you’d say yes.

Or how he should go about asking you.

He couldn’t do it at a public restaurant. Even after all this time your relationship was still very much a secret. If people found out you’d have to stop being his secretary. And he wasn’t sure he could bear going so many hours everyday without you. YOU were his life now. How did he ever even live without you?

“Guess who,” he smiled when he heard your sweet voice, and felt your soft hands over his eyes, closing the box in his hand on instinct.

“Oh my god!” you squealed, removing your hands and jumping up and down in mirth, “Is that Tiffany’s?! Is it for me!”

All the screeching and the screaming made him flinch, he got up from his chair, turning around to see you, “Who else would it be for, doll?”

You squealed again, clapping your hands, you tried to snatch it away from him but he held it away, making you frown. You whined like a petulant child when he held it above his head, too tall for you to get your hands on.

“Sir!” you stomped your foot.“Please give it to me! What is it?” you jumped, hoping to snatch but with Steve being over a foot taller than you, it proved to be difficult.

“Uh... honey, you’ll have to wait a bit...” he had planned on cooking a five course meal for you and asking over candle lights, but you decided to show up over an hour early.

You stopped your ministrations, your lip wobbling, “Why...”

He sighed, his heart breaking at the mere thought of upsetting you, “You just have to, princess. Do you trust me?”

You nodded without a second thought. You most definitely did.

“Then you’ll just have to wait.”

💍💍💍

“Oo sir...,” you moaned, pushing on his wide shoulders when you felt his tip brushing against your pussy lips, “Not on birth control. Remember? Just... um.. just.”

He released your nipple from his mouth with a loud, obscene pop, his elbows on either side of your face as he looked down at you, “Just what, princess?”

“Just... um... well could you just eat my pussy tonight? I was so good in the morning to you!” And you missed having his talented tongue on you. Even though you were pretty sure he made you pass out by eating you out just two days ago.

“Of course I can, princess, you know I love the way your cunt tastes.”

Your cheeks heated up as he moved you onto your stomach, propping your hops up with a pillow.

Shivers running down your spine as he pressed kisses to it with his soft lips, over your butt before biting it and making you gasp.

“Love how I can pull all those sounds out of you,” Steve mused. There was no way in hell he could ever be with anyone who wasn’t you. He looked up at your empty hands, how he should have out a ring on it ages ago. He can’t let you go.

He wanted to do this forever. To be with you forever. What was he even waiting for?

“I want to give you my name,” he blurted.

You looked back at him over your shoulder, meeting your lust blown dark eyes, “Huh?” you asked, not sure that you heard him right.

“Mrs Rogers. It has a nice ring to it don’t you think?”

“Um, yes, maybe,” you immediately pushed your head into your pillow, too shy to even look at his beautiful face.

You had thought about being Mrs Steve Rogers the moment you met him. You loved the idea of being his wife and bride. You liked practicing your signature with his name, write your name along with his whenever you wanted to doodle or pass time. He had caught you more than once but never mentioned it.

Since he didn’t even want to tell others about your relationship, you doubted he’d want that kind of life long commitment.

Which was okay. For now.

It sucked but you were never going to beg him or even ask him to marry you.

“Are you just teasing me? If so... then that’s very cruel.”

You knew he wouldn’t play with your feelings like that but then why would he bring that up out of nowhere?

“You know I never lie, sweetheart,” he said, spreading your cheeks to reveal your glistening cunt and your small hole to him. “In fact I think I should prove it to you. Pump you full of my come tonight and knock you up.”

You propped yourself up on your elbows and looked back at him, stuttering over your words and gaping at him like a goldfish.

“What? Are you serious?”

“Hopefully I can we can conceive tonight itself.”

“I – uh – I don’t wanna be pregnant on my wedding day, I don’t want anyone thinking that it’s a shotgun wedding or that I’m trapping you,” you stammered.

“Then we can get married in a month, or even a week. I can’t wait anymore. I want a family with you, I want the whole world to know that you’re mine.” What better way to do that then to literally make you round with his child?

Before you he hadn’t really given having kids any thought. But now he knew he wanted to have a little you. He imagined having just one kid with you. He wasn’t too keen on sharing you so maybe one would be more than enough.

But he hadn’t thought about this aspect of it. The trying phase. How he'd get to keep you full of his cum till you got pregnant.

And how much more beautiful you’d look when you were round with his child, carrying his seed.

“Uh, okay,” you whispered you couldn’t really think straight, it was all happening so fast, but there was one thing you knew for sure--this was all that you ever wanted. To be married to the love of your life and to have his kids.

“What? You’ll have to speak up, doll.”

“Yes, sir, I want to have a baby with you. I want us to be married. Please make me yours,” your eyes watery as you bore yourself to him.

He smiled, moving up to press a kiss to your temple, “That’s all I needed to hear,” he promised.

Turning you to your back, “Wanna see your face when I come in your pussy, doll.” He told you.

Your face was heating up, with the way he was looking at you--as if you were the most precious thing he had ever seen, you couldn’t bear to keep facing him but decided to look into his eyes, dig your nails into his biceps as he entered your channel.

“You’re squeezing me so tight, doll, will make me come, ugh,” he groaned, pressing his forehead to yours once he was completely sheathed in you. He wrapped you up in his strong arms, slowly rocking into you.

“Steve,” you whimpered, “wanna come...”

“I got you, baby,” he hushed you, pecking your lips before being his hand down between your bodies to roll your bud, which had you squeezing him even tighter.

Your entire body quivered as you clenched around his length, gushing all over him. Laying limp in his arms as he started fucking into you.

“You’ll make such an amazing mother... your titts,” he looked down at them, bouncing due to the force of his hips driving into yours. He latched his lips onto a hardened nipple, imagining them fuller and heavier.

“They’ll be even bigger, your hips too...” he whispered against your skin, his nails digging into your skin, sure to leave scars.

“Oh... you’d... you’d...” Make good dad too. He had all the qualities it took to be a good father. And where he lacked you flourished.

You sighed, feeling his warm cum fill you up, he stayed inside you, a leg between and under yours as he laid on his side.

Wiggling his hips to make sure his softening cock was as deep as it could be, so his spend would stay inside you. He collected some that leaked out of your joined sexes with his fingers, bringing it up to your mouth, “Don’t let it go to waste, sweetheart.” As you eagerly sucked his fingers clean.

“Hopefully it takes,” he said, drawing random patterns on your stomach.

“Mhm, guess I can cancel my appointment...” you murmured before drifting off to sleep.

💍💍💍

You yawned widely, sitting up and stretching out all your limbs, aching so painfully since Steve was hell bent on keeping you full of his seed, you could still feel it seeping out of you, he made love to you three more times before he finally let you get some shut eye.

Something sparkly caught your eye, you looked in at your hand and the diamond on it. Smiling in awe at just how lucky you were.

“Wonder if it worked,” you said to yourself, rubbing hand over your tummy.

Tags will be in the reblog! Click the link in the bio to be join the taglist or shoot me an ask/dm.

Comments and reblogs are really appreciated! ❤

Please note that my work is not to be reposted or published anywhere other than my Tumblr or AO3 account without my permission. Reblogs are most welcome though!

#steve rogers x reader #chris evans x reader #steve x reader #captain america x reader #steve rogers x you #marvel x reader #avengers x reader #chris evans x you #ceo!steve rogers x reader #ceo!steve rogers

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sonicringbond · 2 years

Text

Sonic Ring Bond - Episode of Amnesia Island 02

The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.* *SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS retains full rights over the Sonic the Hedgehog™ intellectual property and can terminate or take control of this work at any time.

-----

★~Destiny…~

A stack of fortune cards placed lovingly into a waterproof case.

~Our futures as they are meant to be…~

A white garment dropped on the floor.

~A pursuit we are meant to follow ourselves…~

Pink hedgehog feet playful kicking it around and finding openings.

~It’s an adventure!~

Gloved hands grabbing the garment and pulling it up with a hop.

~An exciting challenge that makes life so interesting!~

Leaving the pink legs bare, the leotard fit almost perfectly.

~A path that leads us to meet so many people…~

A pink tail soon burst through an opening and began wagging, shortly followed by arms erupting hand first from puffy white shoulder sleeves allowing the leotard to fit perfectly at last.

~So many destinies intertwining.~

A pair of socks tossed into the air.

~Good ones and bad ones.~

A hop and a skip with a slight tumble leaving feet clad in socks.

~So many intertwining and getting lost in each other.~

A stiff red head band adjusted on pink spined head.

~But that’s part of the challenge.~

Pink hedgehog girl with blue eyes twisting and turning before a circular mirror on convex clay wall.

~Not losing sight of your destiny and helping others find theirs too!~

Fussing a bit with the leotard before grabbing a pair of red ballet flats from a hook on the wall.

~My destiny is to be Sonic the Hedgehog’s one and only lover~♥~

Leaving the room with a spin holding the shoes over her shoulders.

~It’s all I remember of being me.~

Tail wagging much faster as she moves with great restraint down wood floored corridor.

~That is the fate of all the residents of Amnesia Island.~

Hand on round knob, carefully opening wooden door.

~To forget who they were and start life anew…~

Black hedgehog boy fast asleep in a soft cottage bed.

~EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND 02~

Morning light filtered through wood paned window and curtains Motes of dust drifting in the air catching the light playfully Wooden furniture with gentle curves and round posts and legs Houseplants in pots Ivy and mushrooms growing from the clay and brick walls A quilt rising and falling with peaceful breathes White crystals growing from the body of sleeping boy

~Fate…~

The hedgehog girl’s tail stopped wagging and her mouth fell open just a little as she looked in on the sleeping hedgehog boy. He lay peaceful and silent, lost in a deep slumber and dreams unknowable. Wanting to get a better look at him, the girl made to tiptoe across the wooden floor, pausing with each creak and groan of the old planks. But the boy did not wake, and she was soon beside him looking down with her blue eyes at his peaceful and youthful face.

~Fate is the will of the gods, their whims to use us who chase our destinies as their playthings.

~This island is a place of fate according to the will of the cards. A place where those of us who have challenged the gods wind up losing everything. I can hardly imagine having challenged a god myself. I’m just a simple hedgehog girl really, though Nana says I’m way too childish and rascally for my body. I don’t know…~

The Hedgehog girl took a moment to look down at herself, not able to really observe her own ninety-centimeter height. She could try to compare it to the sleeping boy at his full meter height, but it would tell her nothing about how tall she should be with her rapidly maturing figure.

“Hmph,” the girl vocalized her disagreement. “I think I’m pretty small for my figure. Maybe I’m a runt? Ooh~ It doesn’t matter, but I better go greet Nana!

“Before I go,” the girl stopped herself and bent full at the waist to put her face right in that of the sleeping boy’s. “Good morning, Tempest~♥ You best wake up soon so we can figure out how to best help you fit in on Amnesia Island. Tee-hee~♥ I wonder if you’ll be like me though and yearn for adventure far beyond the clouds on horizon.”

With one last giggle, the girl spun around as she returned to her full height before carefully tiptoeing back out of the room. As she closed the door behind her she paused for just a moment to look in through the crack that still remained and pouted. “Really though Tempest, wake up soon. Nana and I are both worried about you.”

With that the girl closed the door and ran quickly down the hall, her footfalls unnecessarily loud as she shouted out a cheerful greeting.

“Good morning, Nana! Tempest is still sleeping so I’m going to go out and gather more Rings before another storm hits!”

“So noisy first thing in the morning, Rosy,” an elderly woman’s voice lovingly chided the hedgehog girl, Rosy. “Such a rascal you are. And put your shoes on before you go outside! Please, dear!”

“Okay~♥”

As Rosy’s voice faded behind a closing door and ringing bell, a voice slipped from the mouth of the sleeping boy.

“Wait…,” he murmured and reached out with his right hand from under the covers. It was not the hand of any other hedgehog person however, but a thing that moved like liquid imitating a much larger version of such an arm. But it was hard to tell save where the liquid dripped off and disappeared in the air as it was a thing of absolute darkness that reflected no light whatsoever, appearing more as a hole in reality. But even it was not spared from the white crystals growing from the boy’s body as the fingertips were each themselves more of those crystals. Yet, as his own blue eyes, blues no different in hue from Rosy’s, opened and stared at that hand, his memory deprived mind had no idea if it should be bothered or not and a pale blue glow began to emanate from within the crystals on his body.

~Destiny and fate. Our futures that we chase after and the whims of the gods. The order of the cards tell me which is which, and it is why I know that my destiny is with Sonic well beyond the clouds on the horizon past the distant ocean waves. But I also know that it is fate that has brought the three of us to this island. Whatever it is the gods want from us though, I’ll fight against it if it’s bad even in the slightest. My instincts tell me that’s what Sonic would do too, and since we’re destined lovers, tee-hee~♥ I’ll support him even now before ever meeting him again. And I say again, because I’m sure, sure that was not just a dream. He reached out to me with everything he had. I just hope no one catches up with him and his heart while I help my new friends here. It’d be awful breaking their hearts with the revelation of my destiny. Hopefully, hopefully Tempest and Nana don’t have heart break due to destiny either.~★

EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND 02 - END

-----

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic The Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement.

The Sonic Ring Bond alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and IP research which can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

The Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond story are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein, regardless of creator, context, use/ function, intent, and time of creation, considered for all legal purposes without contest, compensation, employment, or offer of employment, liability, etcetera, the property of the Sonic The Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS regardless of having read or possessing awareness of this disclaimer.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic au #sonic ring bond #sonic fan fiction #amy rose #rosy the rascal #sonic oc #tempest the black #nana the hen

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headoverheelsforramsey · 3 years

Note

Hello, hello! This week, we are going on a little:

Home Tour!

Notes: Answer the following with pictures (dialogue from your characters is optional!). Collages are highly encouraged if you want to answer a question with multiple pictures because tumblr mobile only allows 10 total pics. Otherwise, tumblr on a desktop lets you add multiple pictures (non-beta)!

For both:

What does the outside of the home look like? (Front/back yard, garden, pool, etc)

Living room and home office (if any)?

Kitchen and dining room?

Bedrooms? (Master, guest, others)

Other rooms?

Do you own your dream home? If not, what does that dream home look like?

What is your favorite room to spend time in with each other?

Super super late to this, because of my stupid exam but now we are here so let's go! 💃🏽🏠

A/N : I am placing this two years and seven months after the wedding, because I HC Ethan and Meera staying at Ethan's apartment for two years after the wedding and they only start house hunting when they have the baby talk and start trying for a baby. So technically not newlyweds anymore. Now let's get started! ✨

Meera opens the door and greets Bree.

Meera : Hii Bree, welcome to our humble abode.

Bree (chuckles) : This place is anything but humble. I hope I am not causing much trouble.

Meera : Absolutely not. Who else is going to make me feel like a youtuber?

Both laugh, Ethan joins and greets Bree.

Bree : Congratulations on the good news Dr. Ramsey. How far are y'all?

Ethan : Thank you Bree. It's been 3 months already.

Meera (cradling her small bump) : Yup one trimester down two more to go.

Ethan (kissing her forehead) : And then there will be a mini version of you running around these halls.

Meera : Nope it's gonna be a mini you.

The couple shares a look as if challenging each other.

Meera : Fine, Bree, whose team are you on? Do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?

Bree : I am happy with either because at the end I'll be interviewing him or her too.

The three of them share a laugh.

Bree : Let's get started, shall we?

Ethan : Sure.

What does the outside of the home look like? (Front/back yard, garden, pool, etc)

Front :

Meera : We were looking for something modern yet chic, something that is totally us. I fell in love with the design whereas Ethan was in total awe of the open space and glass doors. Needless to say our heart was stuck on this no matter how many more houses we visited.

Backyard :

Ethan : The backyard also doubles up as the garden but it's not quite completed yet.

Meera : Yes it's been two months since we moved, and we haven't been able to work on the garden because of work and the pregnancy. Ethan : But we want to build a garden with a tree house and maybe some swings.

Meera (too excited) : Ohh swings! Yes please add it onto the list. Why didn't I think of it before?

Pool :

Meera : Definitely my favorite part!

Ethan : She is a water baby through and through so that's no surprise.

Meera : Don't act like you don't appreciate me in a swimsuit, Ramsey (winks)

Ethan : There is no denying that.

Living room and home office (if any)?

Living room :

Ethan : Meera was hell bent on having an L-shaped couch.

Meera : Those things are so bougie I had to have one because now I can finally afford one. But yeah the living room is so relaxing with a beautiful view of the outside.

Home office :

Meera : Honestly speaking, I do not understand the utility of a home office, I didn't understand back at his apartment neither do I understand now. If I am supposed to work from home I can do that on the couch or on my bed or even better on the daybeds by the pool.

Ethan (shaking his head) : You'll get it darling. When you start your maternity leave I'll see how you make zoom calls with the pool as your background.

Meera shrugs.

Kitchen and dining room?

Meera : This part was all Ethan so I'll let him do the talking.

Ethan (proudly) : A Poggenpohl kitchen with a granite-topped island adds an ultramodern touch. Glass shelves display colorful glassware convenient to the wet bar. A translucent sliding glass door below the shelves hides the more utilitarian gadgets. And finally playful mod pendant lights seem to levitate over the dining table, which is meant to resemble a river running through the woods.

Meera : You sure you didn't miss your true calling as an interior designer babe?

Ethan (smirks) : Nope, just the fact that I tend to excel at everything I do, Rookie.

Meera : And that makes you 10 times hotter!

Bedrooms? (Master, guest, others)

Master bedroom :

Meera : The bedroom has a different color scheme and tone from the rest of the house because I wanted it to stand out and break the monotone.

Ethan : Again the chandelier was Meera's opinion.

Meera : Finding common ground between his minimalistic taste and mine was difficult but we made it through.

Master Bathroom :

Ethan : Meera I don't think it was necessary to bring Bree in here.

Meera : It was absolutely necessary! Just look at this tub Bree! The bubbles and champagne dates we have here are a total hit.

Guest rooms :

Ethan : We have two guest rooms and both are styled the same way, but unfortunately we haven't had any guests yet.

Meera : Is it unfortunate Dr. Ramsey? Bryce is just a call away from crashing here.

Ethan (pinching the bridge of his nose) : Anyone but Lahela.

Meera : We haven't thought about the baby's room yet. But we have the nursery now.

Ethan : Yes, maybe we'll turn the nursery into a bedroom or one of the guest rooms in a few years. Let's see.

Nursery :

Meera : This was completed just yesterday hence the delay in the interview, Bree.

Ethan : We decided to keep the gender of the baby a surprise so we went with a gender neutral nursery that matches the colour scheme of the house.

Meera : Also because Ethan Ramsey would rather die than paint the walls of his house pink and blue.

Ethan (rolls eyes)

Other rooms?

Home library :

Meera (takes in the smell of books) : Better known as my safe haven.

Ethan : This was absolutely non-negotiable for Meera.

Meera : We both own a lot of books and the collection keeps on increasing now with the baby incoming. And look at this reading space. It's from my dreams.

Ethan : This is tucked away in a far corner of the house and is the most serene place around here. Once, I returned home from the hospital and called out to Meera a hundred times, she didn't answer, I started panicking and then found her silently sitting here in her own world.

Meera : If I ever go missing please check here before running to the police, because once I am in here I forget the existence of the world.

Bree picks up "Peppa pig's super noisy Sound Book" which was kept on a thick medical journal with a smile.

Ethan feels embarrassed but Meera laughs.

Meera : Yes these are the new ones in our collection. Ethan was reading it to the baby before you arrived.

Home Bar :

Ethan : The wine cellar grew into a home mini bar because we had this unused space left.

Meera : He loves showing this and his collection off.

Ethan : Excuse me! If I remember correctly your friends were very impressed as well.

Meera : True that. Bryce went bat shit crazy during the housewarming party. He said he felt he got back his bartending days.

Ethan (proudly) : And Jackie's exact words for that evening's toast was "to hell with Donahue's"

Meera : Yeah yeah, you did a great job honey. Also the more surfaces the better for us.

Ethan : Keep it PG for the love of God.

Meera (shrugs) : Pregnancy hormones.

Bree (points) : And that?

Ethan (facepalms) : The only thing that doesn't match with the vibe here.

Meera : Nonsense! It was a housewarming gift from my friends and I absolutely love it. Ethan just feels it is a cheaper and juvenile version of his favourite game, soccer. But don't worry Bree, I'll get him to play someday.

Ethan (smirk) : I would very much like to see you try Dr. Ramsey-Bose.

Meera : And I'll see how you say no when your son asks.

Ethan : It's gonna be a daughter.

Meera : We'll see.

Do you own your dream home? If not, what does that dream home look like?

Ethan : For the majority of my life home for me was a structure of bricks and cement with a ceiling but Meera was the one who brought all the love and light and showed me what a real home felt like. So for me, my home is where my heart is and for this lifetime it's kept safe with this gorgeous woman whom I fortunately call my wife.

Silence lasts for a couple of minutes then Meera snorts.

Meera (drying her eye) : Damn you pregnancy hormones, I am not even wearing waterproof mascara. It was super cheesy Ethan, a non pregnant me would have definitely called you out on your cheese but this pregnant Meera has to agree with you. Even a stable is my dream home if I have my dream husband with me. (she kisses Ethan) but I wouldn't mind a Jacuzzi, a home theatre, a game room (laughing)

Ethan (an easy smile on his face) : Always knew you were in it because of the money Bose.

What is your favorite room to spend time in with each other?

Meera : The library. Just him reading to our unborn child like he isn't already the most perfect man in the world.

Ethan (a very satisfied smile on his face) : First I am very surprised that you kept it PG. So the obvious answer is the bedroom but other than that, the patio, which is not a room though.

Ethan : Meera has a slight deficiency in vitamin D so to avoid complications, we spend a lot of time here in the sun. We play board games, read and even discuss work here sometimes.

Meera : Ooh yes! This was another great investment and a great way to utilise the humongous outdoor space we have.

Ethan : I hope you had fun Bree. Thank you so much for doing this.

A quick shoutout to @a-crepusculo and @jamespotterthefirst who came to my rescue when I couldn't add more than 10 pics. Also thank you Bree for doing this you are a star and an angel. 💜

Tagging my usual : @starrystarrytrouble @mm2305 @charisworld @choicesfanaf @potionsprefect @genevievemd @shanzay44 @little-flowers-on-heaven @schnitzelbutterfingers @coffeeheartaddict @gryffindordaughterofathena @chemist-ana @adiehardfan @custaroonie @ireneadlerisseggsy @takemyopenheart @natureblooms24 @mainstreetreader @izzyourresidentlawyer @a-crepusculo @quixoticdreamer16 @starryeyedrookie @barbean

+ @openheartfanfics

Please let me know if you want to be added or removed. And if you want to sit out only the answers to the ask games hit me up too. There won't be any hard feelings. I promise. 💜

#asked and answered #newlywed game with our host Bree #queen Bree supremacy!#jamespotterthefirst #ethan ramsey x mc #ethan x mc #ethan x meera #dr. meera bose #cue the queue

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gumnut-logic · 3 years

Photo

Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3 | Bit 4

Sorry for the delay with this. was completely derailed a couple of weeks ago, but I have now written more :D Thank you for your patience.

Many thanks to @janetm74 and @gaviiadastra for the read throughs and support. ::hugs you both to bits::

We are nearly there with this one, I think. Have some military!bros considering the threats. I hope you enjoy it.

-o-o-o-

It was Scott who saved Virgil.

But it was Gordon who saved Scott’s heart.

Eos remained caged while John was convalescing and Gordon hovered about it like a predator. Every sense wanted it gone. It had not only well proven it was a threat, but it had seriously and permanently injured his brother. It all added up to destroying the beast to protect his family.

But he couldn’t.

He had promised John.

And the red-headed bastard had used Paris to do it.

Gordon ground his teeth. The rule as long as he had been living was ‘never slight John or you will regret it’ and he was regretting it now. His navigator brother was quiet and calm, but when he grew passionate, nothing could stop him.

And there was something about this beast staring up at him with photographic eyes that unnerved him beyond the threat it possessed.

“What are you?” Its vocalisations were definitely female, much like sirens of the deep, deigning to lure men to their deaths.

Gordon didn’t answer.

“You have mechanical pieces. Very unlike the rest.”

“Shut up.”

It tilted its excuse for a head and retreated a little for a few moments.

The moments didn’t last long.

“Why do you possess different mobility mechanisms to the others?”

Gordon grit his teeth.

Fortunately, Scott strode in at that moment.

Eos stared at the newcomer, creeping almost crab like on spindly metal limbs from one side of the cage to the other.

Scott eyed the contraption with disdain. “I assume you haven’t changed your mind.” The commander’s tone was curt and Gordon had no doubt he had damaged his relationship with his brother by doing this.

It hurt.

“No. No, I haven’t.”

Eos darted its lenses between the two of them, fear obvious in its metal posture.

How did she do that? What had John created?

He caught his use of pronoun and cursed to himself.

But his brother believed this was worth Paris.

Paris.

When his brother was healthy and more coherent, Gordon was going to have an extremely long and detailed discussion about this.

“I need to speak with you.” Scott’s voice was almost hoarse.

Gordon looked up at him. He had thought this was about Eos, but possibly not. “Certainly.”

Scott eyed the automaton. “But not here. I will meet you in my quarters.” Without further word, the commander turned and left, cane tapping erratically on the deck.

A swallow and Gordon turned his attention to Eos.

The creature stared up at him in fear.

Pressing his lips together hard enough to white them out, he followed his brother and locked the room, setting an alarm for his peace of mind.

Scott’s quarters were towards the centre-forward of the ship and when he arrived, he found the door open, waiting for him.

His brother sat at his desk, the mahogany surface covered in neat piles of paper, two fountain pens were precisely placed at the top of a smooth writing surface. The room itself, as with all things Scott, was as neat and orderly. It felt a little cold to Gordon, who preferred a little more homeliness – his brothers called it mess, but what did they know? The fact it was Scott’s domain gave it more warmth. His brother’s presence was the light in the dark it always was, but really, the room could do with a little more…chaos.

As Gordon sat down in one of two chairs opposite Scott’s desk, he purposefully nudged the other one out of alignment.

It made him feel better, and Scott’s glare was at least a little amusing in this dark time.

Scott pushed to his feet and walking around the desk, shut the door to the room, spinning the waterproof seal tight in an obvious preference for privacy.

Instead of returning to behind the desk, Scott strode over to the now crooked chair, aligned it, and sat down.

His cane clattered against the chairlegs as he positioned it close.

There was an intensity and hesitance in his brother’s movements that had Gordon frowning, but he waited. Scott would find the words.

He leant forward and dropped his elbows onto his knees, clasping his hands in front of him. “Gordon, you don’t have to answer, but I have some questions regarding what happened after the accident.” A swallow. “With Virgil.”

Gordon blinked. “Uh, we’ve discussed this before. I don’t remember very much.”

“But you remember something.”

There was an anticipation at the end of that line and the silence waited for Gordon’s answer.

“Why do you need to know?”

“Virgil is building an eye.”

Another blink. “For John.”

It wasn’t a question, but Scott nodded anyway.

“How?”

“He believes he can give John back his sight by plugging a mechanism into where his eye used to be.”

“How?”

“I don’t know! I’m not a mechromancer. This is why I’m asking you. You’ve experienced it. What does it feel like? Does it hurt?”

And there lay the issue. If Virgil was planning on helping John ‘that way’ then there was a risk, to both brothers. For Scott, that was one of the definitions of hell.

Gordon reached out a hand and dropped it onto Scott’s knee. The tension there was ever so tight. “Speak to Virgil.”

“He’s all defiance and refuses to listen.”

“Considering you most likely challenged his right to attempt this, I’m not surprised.” Gordon sighed then looked down at his feet…his artificial feet. “He’s warm. His hands grow hot and something reaches inside. He’s soft and gentle and then suddenly whatever is ailing me stops hurting. He takes the pain away, Scott.” He looked up at his worried brother. “I don’t know how he does it, but I do know he does it with love and would never hurt me.”

“But it hurts him.” Scott’s lips were a pale thin line.

Gordon’s shoulders dropped. “Yeah, I know. I don’t want him to do it, I know he’s on the very edge of his capability. The definition of ‘machine’ wavers between metal and flesh, but he is determined.” He looked down at his feet almost in shame. “There are days he has saved my sanity, and I am ashamed to admit it, but I’m am glad he is capable of this.”

Scott was silent a moment.

“Do you think he is capable of doing this for John?”

Gordon’s eyes widened. “I…mechanically? I’ve seen Virgil perform miracles before. I guess?”

“I can’t afford to guess.” Blue eyes narrowed to slits. “He nearly died saving you. How can I risk that?”

Gordon’s heart clenched. “I know.” It was something he doubted he could ever repay his brother and seriously hoped he never had the opportunity, because such a situation would be horrific for all involved. There was guilt. “I would do the same for him, if I could. For you. For any of us.”

Scott nodded once. “I know. And that is exactly what Virgil is saying. It is his choice. John’s choice. No guarantees. It is a risk.”

“John is not dying. Perhaps it won’t take as much? Virgil was tired after my legs, but not incapacitated. Perhaps this won’t take as much.”

“We don’t know.”

“Exactly.” Gordon sighed. “Perhaps we need to trust Virgil knows what he is doing. Think of the positives, if he is successful in whatever he is planning, John could have his sight back. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Virgil improves his sight and gives him a built-in telescope so he can gaze up at the stars. This is outside our skillset, Scott. I trust Virgil with my life. Perhaps the question is whether you trust Virgil with his.” Another sigh. “Or with John’s.”

“I trust him.” It was parched but true.

“Then trust his judgment.” Gordon could not believe he was arguing with Scott to allow Virgil to do a possibly dangerous procedure on his brother. Truly it was the harder job to be the spectator, invested in the participants and unable to help. Gordon almost wished it was his own eye, then the decision would be easier.

Scott didn’t answer him, obviously lost in consideration.

“Chances are they will do it anyway. You know there is an understanding between those two.” He squeezed his brother’s knee. “Everything will be okay.”

“You don’t know that.”

“But I do know that I was blown up and I’m still here.” A small smile. “More or less.”

His brother grunted.

“We will be there beside them. That is all we can do.”

Scott dropped his hand on top of Gordon’s and held it tight, but he didn’t say anything further.

It was Gordon who saved Scott’s heart.

But it was Grandma who saved them all.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Gordon Tracy #Scott Tracy #an attempt at Steampunk #Where there be dragons AU #steampunk AU #Virgil Tracy

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cursewoodrecap · 3 years

Text

Session 22: Five-Dimensional Man-Go

This is a session I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time. I get to introduce three of my favorite characters in the entire campaign.

In the real world it’s been a while, but this was the session we officially welcomed a new chaos goblin player to the table. And damn, am I glad we did.

Valeria goes to Hoeska’s armor smiths for some upgrades, and accidentally kicks off a goth fashion montage. Her new armor has gorgeous black detailing with purple rose accents, accessorized with a brand-new Shusva-skin bag with matching claw clasp. Gral picks up a fancy Shusva-leather cloak and belt. Shoshana, realizing that a vampire’s castle is basically a Hot Topic, gets some fishnet arm warmers to accompany her fang necklace. We also get some healing potions and hope they aren’t made from lost souls or anything.

Valeria resummons Aethis, who pops back into existence in a burst of glitter that’s entirely incongruous with the local grim aesthetic. Apparently celestial gators are only mildly inconvenienced by fatalities.

As we hitch up the horses to get back on the road, we find out Ser Boris is also preparing to head out. “Woods full of many nasty creatures. Must keep hunting! Maybe I find way down to Barroch, I have heard monsters are attacking workers there.”

Gral perks up at the name of his people’s capitol. “I’m sure the orcs will treat you well. What kind of monsters are they dealing with?”

“Wolves, bears, maybe werewolf? I will find out when I get there! Cursebreakers do not have much of working relationship with orcs, so info is scattered. That is why I must investigate!”

While he heads south into orc territory, we’re gonna go north toward Sturmhearst to look into all the Key nonsense Professor Bjork told us is goin’ down. It’ll be a long trip; it’s on the coast, and we’re well into the heartland of the wood. As we get closer, we’re gonna have to look for new maps, too – the patchwork of safe zones and Curse disasters changes rapidly, and the roads that were passable a month ago might be deathtraps today.

We trek for several blessedly uneventful days. One night, in a region where a sizable number of halflings have settled, we have the fortune of seeing an inn on the horizon as night starts to fall. A sign proclaims the Fusilier’s Rest, a combination winery and inn located on a lush vineyard. Valeria’s kind of suspicious of anything too plant-based right now, but the rest of us totally want a winery tour.

We hitch up our wagon next to a post labeled Valet Parking. Aethis parks themself in the stables. Looking at the place, with its rather low doorframe and quaintly painted décor, we suspect Demish wine snootery instead of weird plant cults.

We duck through the door and take in the scene. It’s on the upscale end of totally normal, with locals sitting around eating and a huge pot of Demish onion soup bubbling on the hearth. The old halfling bartender is wearing pieces of a worn but well-cared-for blue-and-gold uniform. Two polished old pistols hang within reach on the wall, along with a pristine old Fusille musket in a place of honor behind the bar. Shiny medals in a handmade case are proudly displayed atop the bar.

As is D&D protocol, we look around for any notably wacky characters. We find them in the corner: an old man with unkempt white hair and multi-lensed, colorful glasses, engrossed in a game of Man-go against a young human doctor. We know he’s a doctor, because he’s got a stubby-beaked Sturmhearst mask pushed up to expose a tired but friendly face. His coat might once have been a lab coat, but it’s since been patched and sutured together so many times that it’s probably done a full ship-of-Theseus. His right arm is in a makeshift sling, and he’s nursing a small glass of Kevan vodka; probably the closest thing they have to rotgut moonshine in a wine-snob place like this.

We’re like, neat. Let’s eat soup.

Valeria orders a local vineyard wine and chats with the bartender about it. “The man who runs it is a madman; he thinks he can grow good wine grapes in Valdia. But he pays my sister well, she does her best.”

“Oh, don’t listen to René, his sister does marvelous work! No halfling will admit that wine grown outside Demionde will be more than spoiled grape juice,” teases one of the local barflies.

Gral asks Valeria who’s winning the Man-go game. The old man is rambling pleasantly, barely paying attention, and he is absolutely crushing the young doctor. The doctor looks like he’s totally aware he’s being taken to the cleaners, but he’s gonna let the old guy have his fun. As the game draws to a close, the younger man smiles ruefully and hands over a few coins. Meanwhile, the old fella, his eyes magnified to mismatched sizes by his funky glasses, spots our most conspicuous party member.

“Kyr! How’s the wine?” he calls, beckoning her over.

“Quite good actually!” Valeria chirps. “Was that the Kiloni maneuver?”

“Yes, or a variant I picked up somewhere! The Killam maneuver…kilometer…kilowatt? Something of the sort.”

Valeria very much wants to play him, and the old guy’s defeated opponent is happy to trade her his spot. The young man’s propped up leg hits the ground with a suspiciously loud clunk as he vacates his chair for her.

The old man peers up at her, bright-eyed even behind multiple layers of glass. “So what brings a Knight of the Rose here?”

“We’re headed to Sturmhearst, actually!”

“I see! I’ve heard the roads between here and there are pretty tricky to travel, you know.”

“No kidding. Do you have an updated map?”

He snaps his fingers. “No, but I just came from there! I’ve got an old map and I can easily update it for you kids. René is on night watch, I’ll leave it with him so you don’t have to stay up waiting for me to finish it. I know a route that’ll get you there lickety-split and safe as trousers! Now let me guess, you played at the clubs in Aurentium? You have the look about you.”

“Not the clubs, precisely…”

“Ah! Street rules, then!”

Valeria, who played Man-go against literally everyone who would have her, shrugs. “Maybe?”

“René, we’ll need some cups and a dumb hat!” the old man calls.

The young doctor wanders over to the bar and gets a refill, settling down next to Shoshana. “Hey, wanna bet on their game? The old guy’s pretty sharp.”

Shoshana laughs. “Oh, my friend is definitely gonna lose. I’ll put a silver on her, though, out of loyalty.”

It’s an odd game to spectate. Valeria falls behind early on; an insight check shows he’s not cheating, he’s just VERY good. Oh, and also Valeria’s assuming an entirely different set of house rules than this guy, and it’s tripping her up. Wait, are we doing street style, or dock style? Anyway, Valeria’s wearing the dumb hat now. At one point they both spit on the board.

“Y’know, I’ve never seen anyone from Sturmhearst take the mask off,” Shoshana says to her new drinking buddy, watching the game with confusion.

“On the clock, it’d be a safety hazard! But off the clock, eh, it’s fine. Some people get more elitist than me about it, I’m a hometown Valdian through and through.”

(You’re from Joisey, I’m from Joisey! What exit?)

“I haven’t actually been to the university since the Curse started, but I’m heading back to research some stuff I found out up in the Grammelsmarsh swamps. Some real disconcerting stuff regarding undead, and the like. The locals refer to it as the Wailing Wight.”

Shoshana gives him a once-over, rolling a decent Perception. He’s scruffy, though that could mostly be from hard travel, and definitely looks like he’s had a rough time of it. His arm’s in a sling and the little exposed skin Shoshana can see has more than its share of nicks and scars. His gait when he walked over was slightly uneven, one leg making a suspiciously heavy thunk against the wooden floor. Over his shoulder, he’s carrying a long, heavy case sealed with tar for waterproofing.

Hold up. She points to the case. “Do you have an alive guy in there?”

“…Uh.”

“You hesitated, and that’s not great.”

“Uh…no. No, I do not have an alive guy in here,” he says awkwardly.

“Okay, because the last time there was a weird bag, there was a whole-ass dude in there, and it turned into a whole thing.”

“N-no, no no no, there’s no person in the case,” he protests, not quite meeting Shoshana’s judgy cat eyes. He definitely doesn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, even though the case has started gently twitching.

Meanwhile, old Man-Go man has proved himself quite fluent in Draco-Aquilian, though with an unmistakable mammalian accent. Gral butts into the lively conversation when it winds back to Valdian. “It seems like you’re rather well traveled. What is your profession?”

“Oh, y’know, I go here and there. I’ve been around. There’s so much to see out there!”

Valeria smiles. “I can’t fault you there. Anything in particular you’re looking for?

“I go wherever the winds take me, mostly,” he says, as if Cursewood travel isn’t the most dangerous hobby since they invented pyromancer cookoffs.

Valeria, impressively, only loses the game by a little. The old man jovially shakes her hand and promises to go get started on that map to Sturmhearst for us, springing to his feet with surprising deftness for his age and bustling up toward his room.

Gral and Shoshana, meanwhile, are busy makin’ friends with the doctor guy. “What swamp were you fighting undead in?”

“The Grammelsmarsh? It’s downriver of Mornheim.”

“Ohhh! We heard some, uh, adventurers did a purifying ritual on the river. It might help your situation?”

“That’s great, but…I dunno. Once you mix in swamp gas, things get a lot more interesting.”

“The explosions kind of interesting?”

“…Sometimes.”

The players have noticed that our doctor friend here is, like…not an NPC, there’s another guy at the table (the same player as Isadora! :D), so we start sizing each other up as travel companions.

“You seem like a pretty decent guy,” Gral says, immediately insight checking.

“I mean, you guys seem on the up-and-up too?”

Shoshana winks at him. “Well, I’m not that up-and-up but these two are very diplomatic and important.”

“If you’re also headed up to Sturmhearst, it might make sense for us to travel together? I’m not very quiet,” he admits, knocking on his knee with a clang, “but if you-“

“Hello!” Valeria, hearing clanking, has clanked over loudly to join. “Kyr Valeria Argent, at your service!”

“Uh, hi! I’m Vigdor. I’m a doctor! I mean, you knew that, with the, uh-“ He points to his bird mask. “If you need any balms or salves – I mean, I’m mostly a surgeon, but I know some herbology.”

Is that so! We chat about Dr. Ulmus and Dr. Kjeller. Everyone loves Dr Kjeller!

“I’ve heard of Dr. Kjeller! I haven’t met the guy, but he’s the leading expert on troll physiology. Getting him to come lecture hasn’t worked out so far.”

We ask René the innkeeper about any local threats. Apparently this town’s gotten lucky; the biggest threats recently have just been bandits and one overaggressive badger.

“Oh yeah, one of my cats fought one of those, it went badly,” Shoshana remembers. “For the badger, I mean. I have weird cats.”

(The inn also has cat. His name is Jean Clawed.)

Eventually we all head upstairs. As the night bears on, the girls fall asleep, presumably after painting each other’s toe claws and gossiping. Gral’s still awake, practicing his lute in the rare luxury of a single room, when he pauses. Something doesn’t sound right.

Putting his lute aside, he listens cautiously at the window and feels a deep dread grow in his stomach. The faint scent of ozone drifts in the air. The crickets and night birds have gone dead silent, and in the unsettling quiet he can hear the terrible growling, piping sound he’s heard twice before: once in a house in a hole, and once as Bullbreaker’s expedition faced its destruction.

With great urgency and no volume control, Gral sends a Message to a sleeping Shoshana: “RED ALERT, KEY SHIT’S HERE.” Shoshana wakes up and kicks Valeria.

Gral then sends a Message to our new friend Vigdor, more calmly. “If you have weapons, get them now. Something is happening, it’s going to be dangerous.”

The early warning lets Vigdor and Valeria armor up, Shoshana helping Valeria buckle on the heavy pieces in a hurry. Meanwhile, Gral sprints downstairs, casting Mirror Image as he goes.

René the innkeeper is cleaning his fusille with practiced precision, humming an old marching song. Gral can hear something moving in the kitchen behind the old halfling, so he pops another stealthy Message cantrip. “This is the orc from earlier. I think something bad is in the kitchen – I’ve heard that noise before. Hold on tight to that musket, I’m going in.”

“The back door is locked, I would have heard someone come in,” the old soldier whispers back.

“These things don’t use doors,” Gral hisses.

A 17 Persuasion convinces René, who loads a bullet into his musket. “Where are those friends of yours?”

A heavy clank from upstairs answers that question, as Vigdor and Valeria thud toward the stairs. Gral scopes out the room and sees, on the bar, a big leather map case. The map from the Man-Go guy! Then he peers into the kitchen and, yup, that’s a fleshhound, all right.

Everyone else upstairs bursts into the hall just as a second fleshhound emerges into existence next to them. Shoshana, without hesitation, hits it with a gout of flame. Its strange ethereal flesh solidifies for a moment, but then it shakes itself and charges forward, its displacement energy restored.

Meanwhile, the one downstairs doesn’t aim for Gral or René, trying to run past them. Gral plays a discordant note on his lute, using his Minor Key at the opposite frequency to its vibration and preventing it from displacing, before he strikes. A spectral, scarred orc swings a warhammer down on the creature, Thrice-Burned’s ghost getting some payback as Gral’s blade strikes true.

René takes a shot with his musket and crit-fails, understandably freaked out by the writhing mass of teleporting tentacles, the wild shot careening directly into Gral. Luckily, it only pops a Mirror Image, but everyone upstairs hears a frustrated yell of “NO. FRIEND! ME FRIEND!”

Vigdor dashes past Valeria to the stairs, his previously-motionless arm reaching out of its sling to slap her on the armor with a resounding clash of metal. A silver Jotunn rune glows through the cloth of his sleeve, and she feels Protection from Good and Evil snap into place over her. She takes the cue and stabs the hound, rose vines bursting from her trident and stabbing their long thorns into its oddly flickering flesh.

The pupils on the Eyegis snap to the space behind the beast. Our normal eyes see nothing, but the Key-aligned shield’s eyes see a magical gate, faintly connected to the hound.

As a member of the Order of the Rose, Valeria’s trained to deal with fiendish incursions. This isn’t a portal to the Hells, but she thinks it might get closed similarly. As she charges forward to deal with it, everything seems to move twice as fast as it should: the Key’s spatial distortion has made certain areas the opposite of difficult terrain, where you can move double your speed. Nyoom!

Shoshana zaps it with lightning and heads downstairs to help Gral, who’s being slapped by tentacles. The zapped one flees toward the portal, but Valeria Sentinels and stabs it to death. The downstairs hound gets its tentacles into the real Gral.

Vigdor moves to Gral’s aid, ripping away the last of his sling and clamping a large circular blade to his forearm. With the pull of a ripcord, it loudly whirs into motion. As the Buzzing Butcher slams into the displacer hound with a gory squelch, he asks about sneak attack, like a rogue!

A very, very loud rogue.

Gral breaks away from the hound’s tentacles and looks around. Through the windows, more fleshhounds have appeared outside. The space outside is warped – leaving this inn is going to be very difficult while all this nonsense is going on. The lights of the vineyard seem miles away.

However, Gral realizes, the hound responded to the sound of his lute. And when he used his Minor Key he caught a glimpse of the portal it came through. He begins to play again, using the Minor Key to try to take control of it. The GM allows him to burn a 3rd level spell slot for a colossal roll of 33. He moves the portal inside a wall, to temporarily block anything coming through.

René takes a shot at the remaining hound and misses.

Valeria, upstairs, draws her chained sword and spends a 1st level slot to try to close the portal, the same way paladins close Infernal gateways. The chains of Rack extend from the sword and stitch the portal shut.

(Gral and Valeria each gain inspiration for using Portal Trixx!)

A Thing Occurs at initiative 0, and we hear strange piping coming from the stables. We’re kind of occupied, so we trust Aethis to bite anything that bothers the horses.

Shoshana sprints down the stairs and to the bar. Aw, there’s another flesh hound coming in from the kitchen. Her Chill Touch misses, and the new monster slaps Gral.

Vigdor nyooms through a Zoom, which makes some Really Weird doppler effects happen with his clanky leg and his buzzy arm. He slides across the bar like an action hero and slams his saw down, missing the hound and showering the room in a hail of splinters.

Valeria is still upstairs, and it is LOUD downstairs. She’s gonna dash to get the heck down there and rejoin the festivities.

Gral Phantasmal Forces the new fleshhound, and in its mind, horrible liquid tendrils emerge from the soup pot and constrict around it. The soup rises to the defense of the Fusilier’s Rest!

René gets his wits about him and takes a pistol shot at the nearer fleshhound, tagging it with a bullet and keeping it in place. “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE. OUR POLICY IS NO PETS! I will not make an exception for you, you do NOT seem particularly polite!”

The fleshhound grabs the map case off the bar and starts to run for it. René hits it with the butt of his rifle. The second hound can’t attack Vigdor since it’s too busy convincing itself soup isn’t dangerous, so Vigdor’s free to draw his pistol and unload a Sneak Attack bullet into the fleeing hound’s back.

René reloads his musket. It’s been a long time since he’s done it under fire, but the Royal Fusilier Corps of Demionde does not half-ass their training.

The portal the hound’s heading for bisects a wall now, so it might be hard for the hound to get through. Before it can worry about that, though, it comes face to face with Valeria, who’s ready to rumble. She kills it, dropping the map to the ground, and skitters through the Zoomy Zone to try to trident the second hound. It displaces out of the way.

Gral seizes control of another portal, and this time decides to use it to see what’s going on. He tries to hop out to the stables, where that weird noise is coming from. He enters a weird nether space full of the flickering bodies of fleshhounds, writhing and blinking, which the DM calls the Threshold. Gral accepts psychic damage to see what’s going on, and the patterns become clearer as the Key takes hold temporarily in his brain. These portals all connect to each other and the Threshold at the same time. Whatever’s out in the stables, making that eerie piping noise, is tied to the portals – it can’t fully exist in our realm. So if you close all the portals, it’ll force that thing to leave; if you drive it away, the portals will close. Either way, the Key’s influence on this place will fade.

Oh, and that thing out in the stables? It’s the Lurke r again.

Gral’s old enemy wrests control of the portal back from Gral, who stumbles back out into the inn, reeling from the sudden whammy of Key taint.

Shosha shoots lightning at the nearest hound, which retaliates by leaping through her, disrupting her matter with its own. It’s a highly unpleasant experience. A new hound jumps out of the portal next to Valeria. As Vigdor, Shoshana, and René all attack, Gral shuts another portal with his lute’s magic. “Guys, there’s something horrible in the stables!” he shouts. “If we bust enough portals it’ll go away!”

The Lurker continues to make mysterious dice rolls, but apparently it’s rolling poorly, so we don’t quite find out what it’s up to. It peers through one of the last few portals, only visible to Gral and the Eyegis. It’s hard to get a good look at, fifth-dimensional as it is, but it’s weirdly humanoid, actually? It’s surrounded by floating lanterns and holding some sort of pipe or flute.

(The DM notes that Jean Clawed is awake and doesn’t see why any of this is his business. He’s capable of using the portals; he’s not Key tainted, that’s just how cats are.)

We exchange blows with the remaining hounds, Chromatic Orbs flying and chainsaws buzzing. René bayonets a hound to death, for the honor of all NPCs.

Gral powerslides on his knees across the Zoomy Zone, playing a complicated riff, woobling himself right through the fireplace into the kitchen. He spends another level 3 spell slot to get the portal to dance itself shut. “And that was Through the Fire and Flames!”

René reloads his gun. Shoshana blasts the hound with fire, so Vigdor’s action goes off and he chainsaws it to death, the body and spine getting caught in the spinning chain. FATALITY.

The searing light of Shoshana’s fire casts sharp shadows on the walls of the inn, which begin to writhe and re-form, swirling together into a lithe, snarling feline shape that springs toward the Lurker. It pounces with an odd, broken yowl that’s incredibly familiar – although Valeria and Gral have only ever heard it once, from underneath an overturned laundry basket.

Vigdor, who’s never met a flesh-hound OR a cursecat before, makes an arcana check to figure out what in the seven hells is going on. It seems some sort of entity is thinning the barriers between realities? Its very essence seems to be intermingled with portal; it cannot fully leave the portal or exist in this realm. Like a malevolent, sentient pair of curtains.

He’s like okay, curtains sound like something I can chainsaw. It’s curtains for you, see? (Fun fact: if he rolls 21 or higher on attack roll with chainsaw, he gets sneak attack regardless of other circumstances. Because it’s a goddamn CHAINSAW.)

The Lurker turns its attention directly on us, or at least to the enormous hissing cat hellbent on ruining its day. Gral, still strumming furiously, realizes the Lurker’s only got a couple of portals left. He’s closed a portal already; he’s gonna try to close all of them for good. The DM imposes disadvantage and a brutal pile of psychic damage, but Gral is unphased, hitting a power chord that shakes the entire inn.

The Lurker screeches and reaches for him, the space around Gral beginning to warp, but it’s too late, the portal slamming shut against it. The Zoomy Zones vanish; the portals close, the strange atmosphere fades. The road looks to be the size it was before instead of an endless stretch of packed earth; the vineyard is once again an easy ten-minute walk away.

His big solo complete, Gral sways and collapses unconscious. Valeria runs over and Lays On Hands so he doesn’t die, while Vigdor starts casting Mending on the destroyed bar furniture. Shoshana, meanwhile, just stares dumbstruck at the place where a huge spectral cat is dissipating into shadowy smoke.

“…Schmendrick?”

René is holding himself together, but he’s an old man and it’s been a while since he fought this much. He took a bit of damage; Valeria pat pats him some HP. “Thank you, Kyr. I…I need to check on my other guests. The old man with the Man-Go game, we must find out if he lives.”

Valeria accompanies him upstairs. Rack’s glowing rose vines are still visible, stitching the portal shut; it’s healing more quickly than Valeria’s used to seeing. The door to the old man’s room swings open under Valeria’s cautious knock. The bed is unmade but empty, and the old man’s luggage is gone. The only things left are a generous tip on the counter and his odd multicolored glasses.

As Vigdor steps outside to clean viscera off his chainsaw, Gral scopes out the stables. There’s evidence of disturbed earth around the grounds, but nothing conclusive. Aethis seems to be unbothered.

We reconvene without much to show for our investigation. But we have one last clue: Why were the hounds so interested in the old man’s map? We spread it out on one of the bar tables and crowd around. It’s a map of Valdia, but the path it shows us to take to Sturmhearst makes No Sense. It’s not even contiguous! It tells us to start here and wander north, and then the line cuts off next to some scribbled equations, the route picking up again elsewhere, where he’s drawn a symbol we don’t recognize – and so on, in strange and nonsensical disconnected paths.

Shoshana, on a hunch, puts on the multicolored glasses the old man left behind. Like 3D glasses, they reveal the hidden image. Through the kaleidoscopic lenses, she can see remnants of the Key’s influence all around the inn; the fading Zoomy Zones and closing portals light up in ultraviolet. The map, meanwhile, has gained an entirely new dimension, like a layer of holographs. NOW the shortcuts make sense – they route through other dimensions along the z-axis, with additional symbols and labels giving helpful hints.

To be honest, it does look like a much faster route. And one of the notes says it leads to the “Drowned City” – hey, isn’t that where Bullbreaker ended up? But we’re all rightfully wary of hopping right back into another flesh-hound portal disaster.

We now have the Extradimensional Map and the Stranger’s Glasses.

Oh! The map has a note for us: “Happy Journeys to a fellow master of the game. Your friend, T.T.”

We immediately rifle through our notes and realize he may have been Professor Trevor Twombly, Headmaster of Sturmhearst. Vigdor, did you know that guy?!

Vigdor didn’t recognize him. Maybe the guy looked like Twombly, if you squint? There were a lot of old men at Sturmhearst, and they wear masks most of the time? Also he had distracting glasses? So, like…maybe?

As we bicker, Vigdor snags the glasses off the table and heads to his room, opening up his case and taking a look. The lenses don’t reveal anything new about the object inside.

Unfortunately, the poor rogue didn’t bother to stealth. “Whatcha doin’ in here?” says Valeria, who followed shortly behind.

“Um, just looking at my leg, seeing if anything is weird-“

Valeria immediately checks Vigdor’s lower limbs for wounds. “I can help! An extra pair of hands can always-”

“No, no! I think I’m okay! Really!” he protests. He glances into the case again, clearly torn, and sighs. “Let me explain.”

He lifts a whole human leg out of the case, kicking and twitching.

“This is my leg, and I’m taking it to Sturmhearst. I’m not sure if it’s wholly mine anymore.”

Through his torn pants, Valeria can see a clunky clockwork leg to match his buzz-saw arm.

One player immediately yells “FULL METAL ALCHEMIST.” Another player says it again, in a slightly different voice.

Dr. Vigdor Gavril has joined the party!

#the cursewood #session recap #the key #valeria argent #gral omokk'duu #shoshana bat chaya #vigdor gavril #schmendrick #trevor twombly

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sauiice · 4 years

Note

hello! It's been a while since the holidays buut do Like and Lanie celebrate any holidays? do they have any traditions or like special food maybe? love ya!

hihi 💖!!!! holidays are always a good time! most planets celebrate the New Turn, the point in which the Ticker resets- and it’s similar to our New Years, where most everyone is awake and parties can be found across the galaxy! Lim and Lanie couldn’t afford much in terms of parties as kiddos, but you can’t have a New Turn without popping candy and a couple fortune cans. fortune cans are a good time, you essentially buy one each and eat a snack out of it on the top of every shift (essentially an hour), and on the moment of the New Turn you get a little fortune!! it’s always been a running joke with them that Lim kept getting those super dramatic romance based ones, despite being too much of a dweeb to pursue romance in the first place lol

There’s also the Phoenal Festivals, which celebrate when Her Wings, the other moons of Phoena, position themselves on either side of the planet. It’s a festival full of firey masks, face paint, wing motifs, professional (and non-professional) fire artists, and spicy foods- most of the smaller things, luckily for the siblings, being handed out as souvenirs and not having to be paid for! it’s just a big ol planetwide party, it used to have religious background but has largely faded into a commercial and party holiday. the big solar panels covering the planet play light shows on a couple of the nights, and the siblings would always love watching em while seeing how many Fire-crumbles they could hold in their mouths at once!

And last but not least, Lanie has taken to celebrating a couple Kaktrin holidays with the Translator when on Veronahines, most important being what Pinktongue has so affectionately called the Rainy Day Parades (as I can’t type in the kaktrin characters lol), it’s a holiday that doesn’t warrant much decoration since it can happen on different times every turn; but the big ol waterproof parade monsters are what you really go to see. they’re much like paper dragons, but made of tarps and some have tubes to collect the rain and splash onlookers, some being like sprinklers, some having mounted water guns- overall, don’t wear something you care about if you’re going. most Kaktrin just wear as little as possible, aside from fun tarp capes and costumes if they have any (though that’s mostly the kiddos). There are some specific soups and fruit meals that are cooked when the rain happens, so if they aren’t on-planet, many Kaktrin will keep up with the timing and cook some of the meals to celebrate from afar. Some also carry water guns, so never let your guard down no matter what planet you’re on 👀👀

sorry to blab but I LOOVE holiday stuff!! :D!!!!

#should we go home #SWGH #worldbuilding #holidays #oc #original character #sci fi

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skeletonsloverockcandy · 5 years

Text

A Hitchhiker’s Guide For Androids

Summary: Logan is an AI that has escaped to Cardinal Valley, a lovely mountain town, and needs a job and a place to stay.

Warnings: Threats, censored cursing, stabbing mention, gore mention, violence, violence mention, deceit mention, food mention, Logan having a weird robot body and doing robot things, high stakes, stress, hostage situation, crying, potential breakdown.

Fandom: Thomas Sanders, Sanders Sides

Characters: Logan/Logic, Patton/Morality, Roman/Creativity, Remy/Sleep, and Emile Picani

Pairings: Implied romantic Remile

Word Count: 5,230

Chapter One

Chapter Two: Job Searching

Logan watched as the bus pulled away from the station with the sunlight glinting off its metal back, then began trotting towards the center of town. Cardinal Valley had a thriving downtown area with a clustered grouping of specialty shops and studio apartments. There was a mix of rustic, brick, two-story buildings with old ads from a time long gone painted on their sides, and newer, sleeker, glass-paneled complexes littered in the area. It suggested rich local history and modern advancement corroborating to create a charming blend of aesthetics. Trees lined the sidewalks and traffic medians, tastefully separating the road from the shops and foot traffic, and providing a comfortable spot for shade as benches were intermittently placed underneath. Whenever a breeze blew by, dewy drops of water from that morning’s rain shook off the trees, the sunlight catching it as it cascaded down. It made the top of Logan’s head and new shirt slightly damp again, not that he minded all that much. He was waterproof after all. Most of the shops had plants around them, from their windowsills, to sitting in pots framing the doorways of the buildings. They were surrounded by flora. The majority had hanging gardens in small baskets held up by chains to a small hook in the awning of the establishment. They held anything from herbs, to succulents, to bunches of geraniums hanging in their pots. The shops themselves seemed colorful and pleasant too, providing a range of looks meant to attract their target customers. The shopkeepers cheerful, sweeping the fronts of their establishments or tending to tables and other things, never hesitated to send a hearty wave towards the potential customers milling about the sidewalk, as well as their fellow shopkeepers.

The town was surrounded on most sides by gentle sloping mountains coated in pine trees and could be viewed from the center of town. They formed the horizon beyond the buildings and cradled the area in a gentle embrace.

As Logan strolled down the sidewalk he took all these things in, appreciating the comforting appeal of his new town of residence. His hand was secure on his plastic bag of clothes and he adjusted his new glasses as he quickened his pace towards the center of town.

He passed a trash bin as he walked and he paused for a moment to look in it. Ah, there! He pulled out a recently disposed of paper from that day and sat on one of the benches that were underneath the sidewalk trees. His eyes scanned back and forth on the paper until he found what he was looking for. Apartment listings.

He looked for one that had minimal appliances since he didn’t need to cook, and minimal room since he didn’t take up that much space. He also did not have that much money right now, so he had to invest in what he could afford. He found one with his requirements and took note of the phone number printed in the listing. Logan took out the phone he had stolen and turned it on. He frowned at it because he was perfectly capable of communicating through other means by himself, but this was the simplest form of communication with his current predicament, and the last thing he wanted to do was appear suspicious. Thankfully for him, talking on the phone is very rarely suspicious, but seeming to talk to yourself...that’s another story. Then people begin to question your mental stability. He shook his head slightly, he would just have to deal with his bruised pride, even if it meant relying on lesser technology, that’s why him and Dr. D stole the phone in the first place after all.

He dialed the number on the newspaper and waited for the line to pick up. Within seconds a woman’s voice came on the phone. Logan inquired about the apartment’s availability and its price. After discussing the matters with the landlady and determining the affordability of the first month’s rent, he affirmed his interest in the apartment and set up a time later that afternoon to meet up at the complex it was located and finalize his decision to purchase with her.

He hung up the phone and just looked out at the city for a moment. It was so different from the lab. It was so alive. Before he had escaped he had never seen a plant or other living creature other than the scientists. He knew what they were, of course, because what good was an espionage robot without basic human knowledge. But being here, free, and surrounded by life for the first time, it made something stir in him that his processors were whirring to figure out. It caused his internal wiring to heat, but it didn’t feel bad, and despite there being logically no reason to, Logan felt the urge to smile. And he did. He allowed himself to sit a moment and smile.

Okay, moment of reprieve over, back to the task at hand. If Logan was going to live on his own and rent an apartment, that meant finding a source of income would be the next necessary thing for him to do. He had to get a job, preferably sooner rather than later. He flipped through the newspaper to look at job listings and took note of a few near the location of his soon-to-be apartment. That was where he would look first.

He walked deeper downtown and stashed the newspaper neatly into the bag that held his new clothes. Logan walked by a few potential establishments. A bank, a cell phone repair shop, and a Game Stop for instance, and he started his job hunt.

He left with varying levels of success in a venture that took nearly 3 hours among just those three establishments. The bank turned him away because of his lack of credentials despite his claims of being excellent with numbers. The cell phone repair shop seemed impressed by his knowledge pertaining the inner workings of machines, but was dissuaded by Logan only possessing a licence and no other legal paperwork or references. And the Game Stop apologised because the news ad was old and they had already filled up the position with someone else.

Walking away from his preferred potential places of employment, he started expanding his reach and looking elsewhere.

As he turned a corner, something caught his eye. Help Wanted: See Applications Inside, was hand-written on a sign with a smiley-face drawn at the bottom. Logan looked up at the building of his good fortune and his face fell. It was a soft-pink painted building with a powder-blue, ribboned awning. It looked like one of the older brick buildings of the area that had been refurbished. It had windows lining the front wall around the glass door that were slightly more narrow than those of the surrounding buildings and they had powder-blue wooden shutters to match the awning. The glass door had potted ferns on either side and made the whole thing look more rustic. Chairs and tables stood politely in groups under the awning and people were sitting in them, drinking coffee, eating sweets, or laughing, but that wasn’t the thing that stopped Logan. Different pop-culture characters were painted in simplistic forms on the wall and the door. Finally, over the awning but below the windows of an in-shop apartment in neat cursive print were the words Cartoon Café.

Logan sighed a bit to himself, this was not the ideal place he would want to be employed, but he wasn’t one to turn up his nose at an opportunity, and it was getting late, so he might as well try one last place before meeting with the landlady and trying again tomorrow.

He opened the door with a small jingle and was surprised to find the inside seemed more spacious. He took a second to look around the interior of the café. The inside seemed to have a mismatch of furniture. Couches lined one wall and stuffed animals of different cartoon characters including Pikachu, Stitch, and Mickey Mouse among others, were piled on top of them. The tables and chairs were vivid pastel colors, and more pictures from cartoons lined the walls with an assortment of Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon classics. Customers were sitting in chairs eating and chatting, or else snuggling on one of the couches with their laptops and taking advantage of the free wifi. A few were even cuddling the stuffed animals while nursing a mug of hot tea. The customers in the establishment added to its particular aesthetic as well. Most of them looked college-age and wore a variety of clothing, mostly Tees and hoodies referencing various animes and cartoons as well . It was as if the customers themselves were handpicked to fit the theme of the establishment. Interestingly enough there was also a decent grouping of young children there with their parents, which was more expected given the place’s appearance. Though there were a few people that didn’t seem to fix image of the establishment at all, such as a pair that was sitting at a small table near the register and quietly bickering. One had a black and purple hoodie on with dark eyeshadow under his eyes and dyed purple hair, while the other wore a white varsity jacket with red sleeves and wore more subtle, less depressing makeup on his face. There was also an individual leaning against the counter where the register was and looked hipster-esque with a plaid black-and-white flannel tied around their waist, black skinny jeans, sunglasses, and a white T-shirt that read B*tches Need Beauty Sleep. All this while sipping on an iced coffee in a plastic cup, completing the image. Interesting group of customers to say the least.

Finally Logan looked at the counter to view a long line of customers ordering at the register. The counter held a display filled with different cartoon themed sweets, such as Fire Nation Fudge, and Bugs Bunny’s Homemade Carrot Cake, and the beverage menu was filled with several more examples of pun-filled, cartoon-themed food names. The employee running the register was roughly average height, a bit on the shorter side, wearing a light blue polo shirt and round glasses. He had dirty blond, curly hair, freckles dotting his face, and hazel eyes. As he tended to each customer he displayed a bright and peppy demeanor, and through the gentle hum of conversation in the café, Logan could hear the employee cracking jokes and making puns. He felt indifferent towards the use of humor by the employee, but could recognize the charm the man had that enthralled the other customers laughing with him.

Logan went ahead and stood in line with the other customers because it would be impolite to skip even for an application. Eventually the line windled down and he was in front. The peppy man in blue spoke.

“Hiya kiddo! What can I get for you today?”

“No, I apologize for the misunderstanding, but I do not actually wish to purchase anything today.” The employee looked at him confused before Logan continued.

“I wish to inquire about the sign in the window indicating an available job position, I was wondering about securing an application.” The employee’s face lit up and a huge grin stretched upon his features and began to excitedly shake his hands.

“Oh my goodness! You’re here for the job interview? That’s fantastic! We’ve had a few people apply already, but if you get the position, I can’t wait to get to know you! I love love LOVE meeting new people!” Logan looked on at the open display of mirth with a bit of a loss of what to do. He was not yet good at dealing with exuberant displays of emotions, but he would just have to manage.

“Ah...yes, as I said, I would like to apply for whatever position you have open. Can I receive an application?”

“I don’t know kiddo, can you?” The man smiled a bit at his joke. Logan took a breath to regain his patience and tried not to roll his eyes (D’s habits had rubbed off on Logan while they were together) before he responded.

“My mistake. May I receive an application?” The employee giggled at Logan.

“Oh sure, you know I’m just messing’ with you right, kiddo? I’ll get that for you right away. Then after you fill it out, you can schedule an interview with my boss, Emile. Though he might prefer it if you call him Dr. Picani.”

“Doctor..?”

“Oh yeah! He has a PhD in psychology, but he’s taking a break from the practice to follow one of his other dreams for now.”

“Thank you, that cleared up some of my confusion.” Logan stated. As the employee reached under the counter to grab an application, he suddenly started.

“Oh I just remembered! How rude of me! I completely forgot to introduce myself. I’m Patton! The proudest Patton papá to perpetuate this place of p..work? (Darn lost it) Pastries! That’s it!” He laughed at his alliteration, “But you can just call me Patton, or dad, whatever suits your preference! (Yes, got another P word).” He muttered the last bit to himself.

Logan again struggled to keep his composure.

“Why would I call you..? You know what, never mind. Thank you for the introduction Patton, now can I please have the application?” He tried not to sound exasperated. Goodness gracious, usually he would be putting extra effort into expressing these perceived emotions to sell his supposed “human nature”, but here he was doing all he could to reign it in. Patton laughed a bit.

“Yepperoni! Coming right up mister..?”

“Logan.”

“Alright Logan! Coming right up!”

Just then Logan heard a slight disturbance behind him before he was roughly shoved away from the counter and onto the ground. A man in a denim jacket stepped in front of him and drew a knife, grabbing Patton by the collar of his shirt pointing it at him over the counter before yelling in his face.

“Gimme all the money in the register, now!” Patton began to stutter.

“B-b-but sir I..I-” he managed to get out before being cut off.

“Did I freaking stutter? Money. Register. Now! Or I’ll cut you open!” Several of the patrons stood up in shock, including the one in the varsity jacket, but the one with the eyeshadow was holding him back and whispering at him hurriedly. Patton responded to the situation by putting his hands up in surrender and yielding.

“Okay, okay, I’ll open up the register. Just please don’t hurt anyone, I’ll get the money.”

“Yeah, you better or else someone’s guts are gonna be all over the floor.” Patton visibly swallowed, and with shaky hands started to open the register. The customer with the sunglasses sat down his coffee and started inching towards the back room of the café. The aggressor saw the movement out of the corner of his eyes and shouted.

“NOBODY F***ING MOVE OR THIS GUY GETS SKEWERED!” with a frantic and wild look in his eyes. The man with the sunglasses held up his hands and said,

“Okay, nobody’s movin’ babes, you do you, just don’t hurt the guy.”

“That’s better,” the aggressor said, “but I’ll hurt him if I f***ing want to.”

A man in a pink polo shirt with brown pants and glasses started coming out from the food preparation area, looking slightly bewildered before shock lined his face, and the man with the sunglasses made a motion with his hand to try and shoo him back to where he was. The man in pink nodded slightly but seemed unable to move as he witnessed the scene in front of him. Patton began unlocking the register the best he could while the aggressor was still gripping the collar of his shirt, and it was at this time, having witnessed the scene thus far, that Logan slowly began getting up. He didn’t want the scene to get out of hand, so he’d try to de-escalate the situation the best he could.

“Excuse me,” he spoke, “if you are short on funds, there are other ways of acquiring money that don’t involve threatening people.” The aggressor turned to look at him.

“Listen man, if you don’t shut the hell up I’m gonna stab you instead.” The knife was still pointed at Patton.

“I find that unlikely, but I do know that murder is far worse a charge than armed robbery, and I doubt you desire life in prison.” At this point the aggressor whipped around and lunged towards Logan while shouting, “UGH BE QUIET!”

Logan has anticipated this and began to apply his self-defense programming. He pivoted on his heel so his body was parallel to the attacker trying to stab him, then grabbed the wrist with the knife and the nape of the man’s neck, next he directed the attacker’s body towards the ground, placing his knee on the other man’s back to restrain him, then rolling his wrist slightly to make him drop the knife, and finally kicking the knife away from the two of them. Simple step-by-step process.

The café was dead silent. Shocked faces marked the customers and the staff. It was as if they were frozen. Seeing their inaction, Logan gently prompted them.

“Would someone like to contact the authorities?” The man in pink was the first that seemed to break from their collective daze.

“Y-yeah, I’m on it,” he said before walking into the back room for the telephone.

Logan looked up and surveyed the room before his eyes landed on the man with the varsity jacket.

“You. Can you help me retrain this criminal until the authorities arrive?” The man who had been held back by his more glum looking friend, now was looking at Logan with abject surprise and his arm slowly raised to gesture at himself.

“Yes, I mean you. Now if you will please, can you and your friend help me?”

The man in the varsity jacket stepped forward with the man in the hoodie following apprehensively. The aggressor struggled vainly, as Logan weighed quite a bit, cursing at the three of them before he seemed to accept he wasn’t getting away and he sagged in defeat. Logan directed the two on how to hold him without him getting away, then he let go.

The crowd finally appeared to break from their stupor and an outcry of relief rung out. The man in pink, who Logan assumed to be Patton’s boss, Dr. Emile Picani, came out of the back room announcing he had called the police and they were on their way. Then he ran up to the man in sunglasses and embraced him in a bone-crushing hug. Logan overheard his rushed speech as he talked to the other man.

“Remy! Are you alright? That was terrifying! You handled it so well, oh goodness, I’m so glad you’re okay.” The man with the sunglasses, Remy apparently, hugged Emile back and took a long shaky breath.

“You know me babe, always cool as a cucumber. You know I had everything handled, right gurl?” He held Emile out at arms length and pulled down his glasses so he could see his sincerity. Emile laughed shakily in relief and hugged him again, though less constricting than the previous time.

Patton was still behind the counter, gripping his heart and breathing heavily. Logan tentatively approached the counter and waited for Patton’s breathing to regulate. After a minute his breathing slowed to an almost normal pace and he looked Logan in the eyes, coming back into himself.

“Patton, are you alright?” Logan inquired.

“That...was the scariest thing...I have ever...experienced…in my life,” Patton said, “I almost died, and you...you saved me…” Tears began welling in his eyes. “Logan, you saved me! Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!” He reaches over the counter and hugged Logan. Logan stiffened, he almost irrationally feared Patton feeling his metallic endoskeleton, before reasoning that that was a perfectly rational concern, however, unlikely to occur because he trusted he was made well enough to pass for a human by touch as well. He straightened his glasses before awkwardly attempting to hug Patton back giving him a gentle pat of comfort.

Before he could recover from the hug though, Patton reeled back and half-heartedly slapped Logan in the arm.

“Hey!” It didn’t hurt, but it was the principle.

“Don’t you dare do that again! You could have died! He could have stabbed you! It’s scared me half-to-death!” He looked fierce now, a fire in his eyes, alight with concern and compassion. He softened though at the overwhelmed look Logan had on his face from the emotional whiplash.

“But honestly Logan, thank you. Without you I could have been a Patton-pancake. Oh! A Patton-cake if you will.” He laughed shakily for a moment. “If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you just say the word, And I promise I’ll do it.” He looked at Logan earnestly. Logan was almost at a loss for what to say. Almost.

“Your gratitude is much appreciated Patton, but you really don’t have to do anything for me. However, I would still like an application for the job opening.” Patton looked at him for what felt like ages before breaking into real, genuine laughter, so much that he almost doubled over. Logan could not for the life of him figure out what was funny. Eventually though, Patton caught his breath.

“I..” he laughed, “comPLETELY forgot that was why you came here. And..and,” he said breathlessly, “I don’t know why that’s so funny, but yes! Yes! You can have an application! Ha ha!” he said as he handed it over the counter to Logan, “here you go kiddo, your application!” He wipes his eyes, barely managing to get the sentence out and Logan couldn’t tell if it was mirth or hysterics, “Make sure...make sure,” he laughed, “you come back tomorrow for your interview.”

Logan took the paper from Patton and was clueless as to how he could help the man. He looked on the verge of a breakdown due to the trauma of the experience. Hoping to distract himself, Logan quickly filled out the application and handed it back to Patton, who seemed finally to have stopped laughing and was instead sniffling in his sleeve. Logan awkwardly patted Patton’s arm in a comforting gesture before sliding him the paper back across the counter.

Logan checked the Doctor Who clock on the wall that read Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Whimy just as the sirens from the police could be heard outside. Upon hearing the sirens, both the hoodie-clad man and the man in the varsity jacket, holding down the miscreant, visibly relaxed. As soon as the police came in and handcuffed the man, the two holding him down rushed to go check on Patton. Logan let out a sigh of relief. At least there would be someone, or two someones, to make sure Patton was in the right emotional state. Feelings were somewhat foreign to Logan, and though trained to identify them, he was not sure how to cope with consoling others, so best leave this in the hands of the other humans, they were feelings professionals after all. He looked at the inside of the café one last time to ensure everything was alright then left before the police could stop and question him. One, he did not want to be publicized, and two, he needed to leave now or else he would be late meeting the landlady to discuss his potential apartment.

The walk to the apartment complex was quiet, and in the setting sun, one could almost forget the events of the day. It had been a long day for Logan. He escaped, took on a new identity, skipped town, arrived in a new one, applied to four jobs, stopped a robbery, and set out to rent an apartment. It was a good thing his battery could last 48 hours or he would be half-way unconscious by now if he were human.

Finally he arrived at the complex and met the landlady. Even getting the cheapest apartment available in the complex, he was only barely able to pay the first month’s rent upfront with the remaining money he had. He really hoped he could secure a job soon. At least he didn’t need to eat.

The landlady, her name was Sandra, gave Logan the keys to his apartment, and he thanked her. He began the climb up the stairs to the fourth floor and looked around when he finally reached the landing. The landing was plain, but clean, and had light brown painted walls and hardwood flooring with a long rug stretching the length of the hallway on top of it. There were four total apartments on this landing and Logan’s was the closest to the stairs. Apartment 4A was also the smallest apartment on the landing, but Logan was intentional about his decision to rent it. It would be impractical for a machine that doesn’t eat to own a kitchen after all.

He inserted the key he was given into the lock and opened the door. The apartment was small as expected, but like everything else so far in the complex, thankfully clean. The walls were the same light brown as the landing, and the floor had dark brown hardwood paneling. The place was unadorned except for a small table and a couple chairs that served as a dining area, and a bit further in, one stiff armchair and a coffee table that sat on top of a worn rug. The single bedroom was in the back and connected to the one bathroom. He sat down his few possessions on the coffee table (the phone, the wallet, the bag of clothes), and walked over to the bedroom. In it was a twin sized bed with some clean sheets folded in a pile on top, a small wooden dresser, and a chair in the corner. Logan felt it was unnecessary to check out the bathroom at this time, all he wanted to do was make the bed and recharge. He pulled out the fitted sheets from the pile and put them over the mattress, then repeated the process with the other sheets. Then he sat on the bed, then glanced around the bedroom. Finally he spotted what he was looking for, an outlet. It was by the window in his room. Darn, luck seemed to have failed him in having one next to the bed. Oh well, he could always move the bed later. For now, he would simply pull up the chair in the corner and sit by the window. Logan pushed the chair into position so at least he’d get a nice view of the street below, then he pulled up his pant leg. Reaching at the spot between the calf and the ankle, Logan pressed down with a slight click before a minute panel swung open on a hinge. Logan felt inside the opening for a bit before pulling out an extension cord. Making sure he didn’t have to adjust his sitting position any further, Logan pulled at the cord and plugged himself in.

He sighed very unnecessarily and gazed out the window at the almost completely set sun through the spaces between buildings and the trees on the apex of the mountainside that created the horizon. The view really was quite beautiful. Logan briefly glanced back at his room. Well, he’d fix it up eventually, but that could wait until he could afford it, for now he was content looking at the sunset.

He didn’t realize how long he’d been staring until the first street lamps came on. He had been people-watching far past dusk and felt odd at having not paid attention if his surroundings for once. He felt even more odd when he looked up. There were thousands of twinkling stars above him, and Logan felt figuratively speechless. He knew about planets and stars and solar systems, and could name most of the major constellations an average person would know, but he had never seen them for himself. He felt that not-bad heat filling his system again as he tried to process what he was experiencing and believed it to be awe. He attempted to recount everything thing he knew about stars before coming to the conclusion that the facts he knew weren’t sufficient, the scientists simply did not care that much about astronomy. That simply wouldn’t do. Something this fascinating deserved to be learned and known about. He was in the middle of reconnecting himself to the internet to learn as many astronomy facts as possible, when he heard footsteps coming up the stairwell.

Logan turned his head in the direction of the hallway, first trying his thermal vision, then his X-Ray, before coming to the conclusion that the walls were simply too thick. So he settled on setting his sound sensitivity incrementally higher until he could hear whoever was there as if he was in the hallway with them. He cued into the middle of a conversation.

“...telling you! I would have fought brave and gallantly. No criminal would have stood a chance!” A booming voice rang out.

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself Sir-stupid-a-lot, you’re a theater kid, not a heavyweight wrestling champion.” A softer, but more cutting voice responded.

“A theater kid who owns a sword!” The voice said aghast.

“A novelty sword, my point still stands.”

“Be nice Virgil, Roman was very brave today! But you two are both my heroes. Did you see the way you held down that guy? And when the police came, you were very cop-erative. Like cooperative? Because they were cops.” There were giggles followed by a snort and a soft groan from each of the other two.

“Yes padre, we get it. But let's not forget how brave you were! Keeping your cool like Mulan staring down the Hun army. That’d be nearly unthinkable in a situation like this! Something like that takes quite a bit of nerve.”

“Yeah Pat, that must’ve been terrifying. Are you still...good?” The softer voice asked tentatively.

“Aw, thank you Virge. I’m mostly fine now, just a bit shaken up. But I never let a case of the jitters get me down! I’ll be okay.”

“Ah, well, after an eventful day, a Prince must have his beauty rest. So I must bid thee farewell, though parting is such sweet sorrow.” The loud voice announced dramatically.

“Yeah, same here Patton, I’m beat. But if you need anything, just come over and ask okay? We’re here for you.”

“Awww, you bet! Goodnight kiddos!”

“‘Night Pat.”

“~Adieu my fine friends, I will see you in the morning.”

Three separate doors clicked shut and Logan returned his hearing sensitivity to normal. He attempted to process what he just heard. Patton, the person he saved today, and possible new coworker, and the two people who helped him restrain the criminal in the café (Roman and Virgil apparently) lived in the same apartment as him. He placed his palm over his face at the irony of the universe. Then he slid his hand down and breathed out through his nose. Well, it looked like Logan had new neighbors.

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woxxn · 4 years

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Gender Critical

Men Don’t Care About Women

If someone asked a group of women to select one of two products to be released, and is under no obligation to buy or use or invest in the product, would she choose one that’s deadly to men or one that is completely useless, but safe?

I know the average woman would choose the useless but safe product.

But what if the roles were reversed? If a group of men were asked to select one of two products to be released, and is under no obligation to buy or use or invest in the product, would he choose one that’s deadly to women or one that is completely useless, but safe?

Men would choose the one that’s deadly to women. What is simply a popular prank show asked a group of women and men to choose one of two products to take to market. Neither product is actually real but the focus group was under the impression that they were real, and the leaders of the focus group are in competition to see who can better sell each product. The products were: waterproof bread made water proof by a (fake) Canadian tree wax that was not fda approved and was later shown to not actually be waterproof OR a pregnancy test that explodes a few seconds after use.... possibly while you are still holding it in your hand and possibly near your genitals if you’re still using it, because there is dynamite attached.

The viewing audience knows it’s a joke and assumes the focus group of 3 women and 2 men will all vote for the waterproof bread.

But since I am writing this post it is obvious that the group did not vote that way, at least none of the men did. The men began questioning the waterproof bread (and yes, spoke over all of the woman who were already speaking) to figure out why they should vote for the bread. All of the focus group members found the waterproof bread to be useless, but all of the men voted they don’t want a useless product and would rather the exploding pregnancy test be sent to market.

Fortunately there were more women in this focus group who had the brains to vote for safety opposed to uselessness and fortunately these were not real products. Yes, this is one example but it’s evidence of a much larger issue.

Men do not care about women. A man would rather a woman die or become serious injured than simply say “I’ll never use this waterproof bread, but if I have to choose the bread over the e x p l o d i n g pregnancy test, by all means, I choose the bread”.

The men voted this way because they themselves will never use a pregnancy test and to them both were useless, but somehow the pregnancy test was either more useless or funny to them.

This is the male brain and male socialization. When transwomen believe they should be able to speak on behalf of all women because they somehow have a greater understanding of womanhood than Women do I have to stand up and say No, transwomanhood does not encompass Womanhood.

#terfs please interact #terfs please touch #terf #terfs do interact #op is a terf #gender critical

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scifigeneration · 5 years

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How nine days underwater helps scientists understand what life on a Moon base will be like

by Csilla Ari D`Agostino

Csilla Ari D`Agostino and her teammate carry out experiments outside their undersea habitat. NASA

As NASA prepares to return to the Moon in the next couple of years and possibly even establish bases, it needs a better understanding of how the human body performs in such an inhospitable habitat.

To that end, two astronauts, two researchers (including me) and two technicians participated in a program called NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation (NEEMO) in which we descended 62 feet below the ocean’s surface this past June, to spend nine days living in a tiny capsule that mimics what life might be like in the tight quarters of a Moon base.

I am a neuroscientist, and our team`s research during this mission focused on assessing how humans react to the high-stress, extreme environment while having a heavy workload. Taken together, these experiments should establish a baseline for how the human body functions in extreme environments. These data should help NASA find ways that astronauts and aquanauts can improve physical and mental performance, while protecting the brain, in both genders during future undersea and deep space exploration missions.

Csilla Ari D`Agostino performing some cognitive tests on the waterproof iPad in front of the Aquarius habitat. Csilla Ari D\`Agostino, CC BY-SA

Laboratory under the sea

So how did I, a neuroscientist specializing in manta ray brains and behavior and diving physiology, become a crew member for NASA’s NEEMO 23 mission? In 2017 I coordinated research projects and was a support diver for a NEEMO project. As NASA prepared for the next mission, it needed to find a nonastronaut crew member with a strong dive background, operational experience from field work and relevant academic background. It turned out that I was a good fit. A couple months after NEEMO 22, to my surprise, NASA invited me to join the NEEMO 23 crew.

The NEEMO mission takes place at the Aquarius Reef Base, located 62 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It is the world’s only undersea research station that replicates space mission conditions, including the opportunity to experience weightlessness. NASA has been sending teams of “aquanauts” on the NEEMO undersea expeditions to Aquarius Reef Base since 2001, to train astronauts, test space devices and study the physical and psychological toll of living and working in extreme environments.

During NEEMO 23, my crew mates were Samantha Cristoforetti, who holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight of a European astronaut; Jessica Watkins, NASA astronaut candidate; and Shirley Pomponi, a marine biologist. Two male habitat technicians, Mark Hulsbeck and Tom Horn, were also part of the expedition.

Csilla Ari D`Agostino is performing the first ever underwater electron microscopy experiment inside the Aquarius habitat. Csilla Ari D`Agostino, CC BY-SA

My goal during our mission was to understand psychological changes in crew members in this high-stress environment. For nine days the six of us were isolated from the rest of the world, in a confined space, as we made time-sensitive decisions that had serious consequences.

Our team constantly grappled with technical difficulties and a large workload. We also experienced physical exhaustion that might have affected our performance. Just like space missions, there was no opportunity to return to the surface, and our mistakes or equipment failure could have been fatal.

Underwater science

I studied how stress, team dynamics and workload affected performance. I also explored how strength, dexterity and sensory functions change while living and working in Aquarius. For my research we collected data on our cognitive performance – reaction time, short-term memory, decision-making and risk tolerance – inside the habitat and during extravehicular activities. The purpose of the extravehicular activities is to simulate spacewalks for up to five hours a day.

Csilla Ari D`Agostino gearing up for the extravehicular activities, before entering the water from the habitat. Csilla Ari D\`Agostino, CC BY-SA

At night, I also used a remotely operated vehicle as part of my National Geographic Open Explorer project to monitor the seafloor to find sponge spawning events (when sponges release sperm and eggs so my crew mate could attempt in situ fertilization), collect plankton samples and detect biofluorescent marine organisms that emit light around the habitat.

Our team also focused on sleep quality, changes in inflammation markers in the blood, heart rate, the microbes inside our bodies – also known as the microbiome – and body composition. By the end of the day we quickly fell asleep. We did not even notice that we were underwater.

We also tested a portable scanning electron microscope for the first time underwater, tracking augmented reality devices, simulating a lunar landing and testing a space exercise machine and a lunar evacuation system to transport unconscious astronauts.

For me, the most challenging aspect of this mission was taking stairs with the heavy gear entering the water: The heavy (32 pounds) helmet put a lot of pressure on our neck and back muscles in addition to the 50-60 pounds of dive gear plus 20 pounds of extra weight to simulate the conditions that would be experienced on the Moon.

Difficult moments

The crew in their bunk room going through decompression with a specialized oxygen breathing protocol before returning to the surface. Csilla Ari D\`Agostino, CC BY-SA

The most difficult and memorable moment of this mission occurred when, after some malfunctioning equipment was fixed at the last minute, I was able to finish the experiments during my extravehicular activities shift, crazily collecting samples and performing tests that the team needed. I later heard that my productivity earned me a lot of cheering and jumping around on land at the mission control, which made me really happy.

During our mission we had to adapt quickly to new situations. And we were constantly in problem-solving mode, addressing issues alone, with the help of teammates or with the surface support.

Probably the most dangerous part of the mission was the last 17 hours. We had to go through a strict decompression protocol to remove the nitrogen that accumulated in our bodies while breathing air under high pressure. They slowly reduced the pressure inside the habitat, which created the risk of water entering the habitat; and we were breathing pure oxygen for an hour, which increased the chance of getting seizures from central nervous system oxygen toxicity. Fortunately, we all returned safely.

Now there are a lot of data waiting to be analyzed in the following months. I hope that our team’s effort will improve the safety and efficiency of future space and underwater missions.

About The Author:

Csilla Ari D`Agostino is a Research Assistant Professor of Psychology, at the University of South Florida

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

#science #psychology #NASA #space exploration

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sonicringbond · 2 years

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Sonic Ring bond - Episode of Amnesia Island II 09

~EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND II 09~

★Fortunetelling.

To many it is a pseudo-science, rooted in coincidence and self-delusion. For others it can dictate every aspect of their daily lives and even the entirety of their lives. For Rosy, fortune telling was at once a fun hobby but also a way to connect with her desires and pursuits. The gods were out there, so she believed, and through her cards and other fortunetelling tools she could connect with them and learn what they had in store for her. Today though, she just wanted to know where to meet a friend alone.

Gentle breeze blown curtains Sunlight entering with wind Moss, lichen, and mushrooms adorning walls of brick and clay Wooden dresser and bed on wooden floor Lush blue quilt A deck of cards suddenly laid out in a line atop

“Hee-hee~♥” Rosy laughed as she spread out her cards, face down on Tempest’s bed. “It feels weird coming in here now that Tempest is awake. I wonder how long it’s been now since he woke up. Hee-hee, it seems so weird to even think about when he washed up here. It’s just like he’s always been here.

“…

“So why is he growing so distant?” her cheerful demeanor fading, Rosy pondered aloud about the change in what had become her daily life. She suspected that she knew the answer, but…

“Ooh~! If only I had been able to say something when he got romantic and told me that he likes me! I can’t believe how embarrassed I got!

“Hmph!” Rosy loudly harrumphed as she pulled a card from the left side of the spread before her. “Well today I get past Mote and corner him to set things straight!”

Laying the card she drew face up in front of her, Rosy pouted as she weighed all of the possible meanings it could have on its own. It was not enough information, and she drew several more cards, laying them down to fashion a pattern and reveal significantly more information to those who knew how to interpret it. Her pout deepened with concentration as she studied her handiwork, but she was far from upset as the rapid acceleration of her wagging tail attested to.

“Yay~!” the pink hedgehog cheered as she jumped to her feet from where she knelt beside Tempest’s bed. “If I hurry, I can corner him today and set him straight! Sonic and I are destined lovers, so he’ll just have to accept being friends!”

Smiling at the thoughts of restoring the friendship she felt Tempest’s love confession may have stolen, Rosy was unprepared for the sudden gust of wind that blew into the room and scattered her cards.

“Hey!”

A complaint on her lips, Rosy scrambled to collect her cards, but froze as she found the last few all laid face up. Following them with her eyes in the order she would have collected them she could not ignore what she read. “A disaster…”

For a long moment Rosy stood still and stared at the cards on the floor of Tempest’s room, and then harrumphed loudly. “I don’t know what this disaster could be, but that makes it all the more important to set things right with Tempest. Hee-hee~♥ Maybe our restored friendship could even give us the power to stop it!”

Pleased with her own optimistic thoughts, Rosy quickly gathered up the rest of her cards and returned them to the waterproof case she kept them in. Once safe inside, they disappeared within a shoulder puff of her leotard, and she was ready to take her next action.

Soon Rosy was deep within the mountain of clothes and other textiles that filled her room. Making herself comfortable within a small burrow inside the mountain, Rosy set the wooden cased AM/FM radio that normally resided on the kitchen island of Nana’s home down before her. Turning one of the knobs on its face the sound of radio chatter filled her room.

“There we go. That should serve as at least a momentary distraction for Mote,” Rosy smiled proudly. “She may be tiny, but she never gets in here easily so I should be able to trick her into thinking I fell asleep for at least a little bit.”

Placing her hands on her hips, Rosy closed her eyes and smiled as she nodded her head sure of her plan’s chance of success. Then she made to crawl out of her hidden burrow and was brought to a stop.

/What can I say…,/ a voice that anyone who knew of the most famous hedgehog in the world could recognize instantly. For Rosy though it was jarring in a way she could not explain as she looked back at the radio and listened to the voice that normally brought her comfort. /…I have my own reasons for trying to figure out the Sky Ring’s mystery, but it’s definitely been a great adventure so far. I’ve probably put way more miles on my plane then I ever have in a single adventure though. Heh!/

“Sonic…”

A longing swelled up in Rosy’s heart and her tail drooped as she listened to Sonic glibly avoiding actually answering any of the questions presented to him by the reporter.

“Every single interview you get caught in it’s the same,” Rosy sighed. “What are you up to and why are you avoiding talking about it?”

A cat like smile came to Rosy’s face and she covered her mouth with a hand to stifle a laugh. “If you only knew your girlfriend has picked up an unexpected suitor. Hee-hee~♥ Are you jealous Sonic?”

/Have I made any friends on this adventure?/ Sonic’s voice asked in confusion. /I’ve definitely met some interesting characters at least. The Sky Ring has a lot of people’s curiosities piqued. Though if it’s a race to unravel its mysteries I won’t lose!/

/It’s not really a foot race…,/ the voice of the interviewing reporter commented sounding obviously exasperated at Sonic’s dismissal of their most recent question.

“You should be racing here to me you dummy,” Rosy pouted. “What’s so great about the Sky Ring anyway?”

Even as Rosy asked her question it was as though a light bulb went off above her head. “Oh! Wait! Tempest’s arm reminds me of it so maybe we’ll bump into each other sooner than I think!

“Just you wait Sonic! Destined lovers will always find a way to be together! Even if their rivals end up unexpectedly helping them. Tee-hee~♥”

Rosy’s spirits lifted, her wagging tail making it clear for all to see, she returned to escaping the burrow in the mountain of textiles that stole her room from her.

/…There are a few friends of mine that I’m hoping to bump into on this little adventure,/ Sonic’s voice continued on the radio as Rosy made to leave Nana’s via the kitchen stairwell to the hilltop.

/Oh really? Anyone we might know?/

/Maybe the fox kid who helped me stop Eggman’s last scheme,/ Sonic offered the identity of one of the friends he sought. /The other two I kind of doubt. One’s a myth and the other…/

Sonic the Hedgehog knew full well that the entirety of the world had somehow forgotten the existence of Amy Rose. Yet he still searched for her as his adventure to unravel the mystery of the Sky Ring was for that very purpose. He knew nothing of her whereabouts or her amnesia. Though to see her still believing them to be destined lovers and finding adventure through her fortune telling would have drawn a laugh from him. She was still the same kind and playful girl he knew, even as another tried to steal her heart regardless of what her fortunes spoke of.★

EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND II 09 - END

-----

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#sonic the hedgehog #sonic au #sonic ring bond #sonic fan fiction #amy rose #au amy #ring bond amy #rosy the rascal

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