#glad i managed to start the projects i said i would and road map them for next year

[let-me-luve-you]

Accidental Hurtful Words

Tom Holland x sister

Summary: Tom just wants to do a movie on his own but his siblings have other plans. This leads to words being said that he regrets saying and even thinking.

Warnings: Angst, car accident, rude sibling, hurtful words, probably crappy ending

A/N: I’m not from England so I apologize for anything that’s wrong. I also just pulled up a map of Kingston and picked two random roads to put in the story.

MASTERLIST    BUY ME A COFFEE

One month. That is how long your brother, Tom, had off between movies. Sam and Harry had been with him on the last one. He loved his brothers, but he wanted one movie where it was just him. Where he could focus on himself and not constantly have thoughts of “are my brothers okay?” or “Are they bored being here or are they keeping themselves entertained?”

Tom had two weeks left before he went to America to film his next film. He had yet to have the conversation to his brother, Harry, that he didn’t want him to come along this time. He was dreading it because he didn’t want to hurt his feelings. After many pep talks to himself, he finally decided today would be the day that he would tell him.

It was late morning. Tom had just gotten out of bed. He went into the kitchen and fixed himself some tea. He saw Harry pacing outside in the garden on the phone. When Harry hung up, he walked back inside with a big smile on his face.

“Morning Tom.” Harry smiled. “Got some good news.”

“Yeah? What’s that?” Tom said.

“I got a gig on your next movie. They are going to let me help the director.” Harry basically beamed. “They said they got you a house and I can crash in one of the rooms since they are paying. I’ll be flying out with you in a couple weeks.”

“Oh.” Tom said trying to sound excited. “That’s amazing. I’m proud of you man.”

“Oh and I think Y/N had some news or something. She said she was stopping by for lunch.” Harry mention Tom and his little sister.

Y/N is seventeen. She has been trying to get into acting. Just like her big brother. She has always looked up to him. She has always wanted to be just like him. Be just at good at acting as he is, be as kind-hearted, and all around decent human being. It had been your goal since you were 3 years old and he was 10 years old.

“Do you know what she’s wanting to tell us?” Tom asked.

“No idea. I knew she had auditions this week. And I think she had a meeting with her manager yesterday. Maybe she found a part.” Harry said.

Tom nodded and finished his tea. He felt annoyed. He just wanted one project for himself. One project he didn’t have to have any of his family members there. Every project since ‘The Impossible’ he had someone with him.

He got up and put his mug in the sink before going to his room to get ready for the day. About half a hour later, Tom was sitting on the couch scrolling through Instagram. He was trying so hard to relax and get rid of this tense and angry feeling to go away. He heard a knock at the front door before he heard it open and a soft “hello?” followed.

“In here.” Tom yelled. Y/N walked in and smiled at her brother. She ran over and gave him a hug. Over the past week, she had been trying so hard to get a part that she hadn’t seen much of him. “What’s got you in such a good mood? Harry said you had some news?”

“I do. I finally got my first big part in a movie!” You smiled. Tom felt a sense of pride swell in his chest. You had been working so hard to get your first part.

“That’s amazing Y/N/N! I’m so proud of you” Tom said as he wrapped you in a hug and kissed you on your forehead. “What movie is it?”

Y/N smiled shyly. She was nervous to tell him it was his movie. She had heard Tom talking to Harrison before the last one he filmed saying he wanted to go to a movie alone.

“It’s uh..” you stuttered. “It’s Left Drowning.” You kept looking at your hands. You heard Tom sigh. You looked up at him and he had a tired smile on his face.

“That’s great. We’ll get to work together.” Tom smiled as he stood up. “I’m going to go hit the gym. I’ll talk to you later.” Tom kissed the top of your head and walked towards his room.

Hours later, you had texted Tom to see if he wanted to grab dinner with you. You just wanted to make sure he was okay with you going. You didn’t want to upset him by not letting him go work on his movie alone. It had been 30 minutes and Tom still hadn’t text you back. You decided you would drive over to his house.

When you arrived, you knocked and let yourself in. You could hear murmuring in the kitchen and you followed to the sound. When you were just outside the door you heard Tom’s voice.

“Man I know I should be happy, but I really just wanted one movie where I didn’t have family on set. I would be okay with them visiting or something, but staying the whole 3 and a half months. I don’t know. I had it in my head I was going to be alone this time and it’s taking time to adjust.” Tom said on the phone as he leaned on the kitchen counter. You were trying so hard not to make a noise but you also didn’t want to eavesdrop. You were just about to make your presence known when Tom said something that made your heart drop.

“I’m pretty sure she only got the role because I’m her brother. No way she would of gotten this big of a role for her first time if it wasn’t for us being related.” Tom said.

You felt tears start forming and had to get out of there. Someone you loved and trusted just said the thing you were afraid of since you got the part. You were worried others would think that, but you didn’t think your own family would. You turned to run out of the house and accidentally hit a chair. You looked up to see Tom had turned and saw you. He paled noticing you had heard what he said.

“Y/N.” Tom whispered. “Haz, I’ll call you back.” He tried to slowly walk towards you but you ran towards the front door. When you got outside you sprinted to your car and locked yourself in. By the time you got it started, Tom was knocking at the window.

“Y/N/N. Don’t go. Let’s talk this out.” He shouted. You shook your head and put your car in reverse. You drove. You wanted to be as far a way from him as possible. Tom had let Sam borrow his car that afternoon so he took off after you on foot.

You drove a few blocks before you blacked out. Tom slowed as he saw the car run the stop sign. He saw it crash into the drivers side of the car.

“Y/N!” Tom yelled as he sprinted to check on you. He pulled out his phone and dialed 999. “Help! My sister has been in a car accident.”

“Whats the address sir?” The emergency lady asked. Tom looked around to find the intersection.

“At the intersection of Geneva Rd and Grove Lane.” Tom reached your car and saw that you weren’t moving and your eyes were closed. “Hurry she’s not moving. Y/N! Y/N! Can you hear me?” Tom yelled as he tried to open your door.

“Sir, emergency services are on their way. Please try to remain calm. Is anyone else involved?”

“Uh. Yeah the other driver. She uh...” Tom stuttered as he watch the other driver get out of her car. “She’s out of her car moving.” Tom watched as the lady lifted her arm and took a drink out of a bottle. “I think she’s drunk. It looks like she’s drinking alcohol. Please hurry. I can’t get my sister’s door open.”

Finally Tom heard the sirens. They immediately parked and ran over to Tom to see if he is okay.

“I just witnessed it. I’m fine! Please. You have to help her.” Tom said as he started to cry. The situation finally fully hitting him.

“We will do the best we can. Please step aside. We have to pry this door open.” Said the firefighter who was bringing out the jaws of life. 

Tom stepped back to watch as they cut the door off his sister’s car. He had bought that car for her for her sixteenth birthday. She was so proud of that car and took extra care of it. Tom sighed as he watched them put a neck brace on her and put her on a stretcher.

“Do you want to ride with her to the hospital?” The EMT asked.

“Yes. Let me grab her bag from her car.” Tom said as he ran to the car and then to the ambulance. He hopped in the back and immediately grabbed your left hand.

When they arrived at the hospital, they rushed you into a room so a doctor could look over you. You still hadn’t woke up. Tom was stopped and was told he had to stay in the waiting room. He paced for ten minutes before he called his parents and his siblings to tell them what had happened.

When Dom and Nikki arrived, Tom hugged his mother and cried. Saying it was his fault. She hugged him back as Dom went over to the front desk to see if there was an update.

“Okay so in about half a hour we should be able to go back to see her. They are just doing some x-rays and a CT scan. When they finish that we can go to her room and sit with her while we wait on the results. They also said she is now awake and alert.” Dom said walking back to his wife and oldest son.

“Oh that’s great.” Tom said with a sigh feeling so much better knowing she was awake and alert.

By the time Paddy, Sam, and Harry arrived, they were being let into Y/N room.

You were sitting up on the bed with a cast on your left foot and a sling on your right arm. The whole family walked in and gave you hug saying how glad they were that you were okay. Tom stayed back in the corner of the room just watching.

“I’ll be okay guys. Just some scratches and bruises and maybe broken bones, but I’ll be okay.” You smiled at your family.

“Y/N, what happened?” Nikki asked as she sat on the side of your bed.

“I don’t know. I was driving and then nothing.” You told her.

“Knock knock.” A police officer said as he leaned into the doorway. “We have some questions for Y/N and Tom if that’s okay.”

The family looked confused as to why they needed to question Tom but they all stood up and waited outside the room. The police officer left the door open so Harry stood by it so he could hear the conversation.

“Y/N, my name is Officer Johnson. I arrested the woman that hit you for drinking and driving. She was way over the legal limit.” You looked at him shocked. “You were very lucky that this wasn’t worse. Also that your brother here witnessed the accident and was able to call for help immediately. The woman that hit you has done this three other times, but somehow keeps getting released. It is now my personal goal to make sure she stays in so she can’t hurt anyone else.”

“Wow.” You said shocked at the news of what he just said. You looked over at Tom. “You saw it happen?” Tom nodded his head.

“We will keep you updated on if anything changes. You can stop by the station in the next few days to go to your car and get anything out of it that was left behind. Here is my card. Just call me and I will help you arrange getting your stuff.” He smiled at you and then walked out.

“Y/N. I’m so sor...” Tom started to say.

“What does he mean you witnessed the wreck?” Harry asked as he walked in the room. The rest of the family following looking between Harry and Tom.

“I saw the car hit her. I was chasing after her.” Tom said looking down at his shoes.”

“What did you mean it was your fault?” Nikki asked.

“I... I said some things to Harrison. Just to vent. I don’t... I don’t even know why I thought them.” Tom said as he turned to you. “but I am so sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. I.. I just had a rough day and I was venting about everything and you just happened to hear the part about you. Which isn’t true. I don’t think that because you are so much better than me.

“You are going to be way bigger than me and I’ll just be known as Y/N Holland’s older brother. I won’t even be remembered for my movies once you make it. Y/N/N you are incredible and got this role all on your own. I had no idea you were auditioning for this movie. They hired you because you killed it and they want you to be a part of this movie that is going to touch people’s heart.” Tom grabbed your hand and gave it a squeeze.

“It’s okay Tom. I forgive you. I was over there to talk to you about the role. I was going to back out if you didn’t want me to go. I heard you talking Haz about doing a movie without anyone being there with you. Wanting a movie you could just focus on yourself and not worry about anyone else.”

“And that was wrong of me. I think I was just feeling overwhelmed and put the blame on everyone else. I’m sorry for all of this.” Tom leaned over and kissed your forehead. “I promise I will take care of you until you get better. Then I’ll just take care of you because I love you.”

You smiled at your brother and reached up to give him a one armed hug.

“I love you too Tommy.” You kissed his cheek as you left his embrace. You leaned back and looked at your family. “I love all of you.”

[echo-three-one]

Chapter 35

No. As much as I want to, this is not a Taylor Swift reference.

THE ROAD SO FAR

Red

John 'Soap' MacTavish

Site Hotel Bravo, Afghanistan

The plan was simple, infiltrate the area, locate for intel regarding Nero and leave. The darkness of the cave was at their advantage, but despite all that, the area they were situated in was far too crowded.

Green laser pointers scattered everywhere, they danced like party strobes inside the dimly lit tunnel on the way deeper into the base. Loud chatter could be heard as they discussed their tell tales on the different kinds of women they met.

France crouched by Soap's side and whispered.

"John, we lost Ghost. He said he was going to cover our six. Now he's gone." For a second, Soap looked worried but then again, Ghost was capable of handling his business on his own.

“We’ll just rendezvous with him later. For now, we need to focus on our main objective.” He muttered, advancing stealthily as the patrol passed through them. Francine took a while to check on her corners and she advanced farther than Soap, using her adept indoor combat skills into play.

Soap just watched her, marvelling at her swift movement. This was her forte, the initial thing that stunned him back on the O-course. He couldn't help but drop his jaw as her movements left him awestruck.

"Clear." She muttered, causing the Scotsman to shake back to reality as he took one last glance at their six and moved forward.

"This place has a lot of rooms. Should we split up and scan one by one?" Soap asked, looking at Francine. The interaction was serious but they could feel sparks in the air. It was inevitable, but they both dismissed these lingering feelings and proceeded to the mission.

"Okay… but stay on the line. I don't want to lose you again." France muttered shyly as she moved left.

"Aye. Will do." Soap chuckled and moved left.

"Sheesh. Get a room you two… Captain, can they move on a different line?" Gary interrupted over comms. Price just chuckled.

"Glad to hear you're nearby, Roach." Soap replied, entering one of the many rooms.

Leaning close to the wall, he carefully scanned the documents lying on the desk. They consisted of academic research regarding EMP effects on the battlefield and how to repel it's effects.

"No sign of Nero here but a lot about their big project." Soap muttered.

"Copy. I also have the same results. It's just aerodynamic manuals and books about flight." France said on the other line, her tone sounded curious and amused.

"Team, brace yourselves. I'm bringing the party in full swing. Gary! Hit the lever!" Price advised as the alarms started blaring, bringing the whole facility on high alert.

"Price! What was that for?!" Soap asked, covering behind the room.

"Sorry lad, desperate times call for desperate measures, we have to stop the nuke." Price stated and his line cut off, with gunfire being the last thing they heard on their end.

"Price? Alex? Roach? Ghost? Does anyone copy?!" Soap roared over comms. 

"Soap…" a faint British gasp from comms.

"Ghost is that you?! Where are you?!" Soap sounded panicked, lowering his voice after he heard footprints stomped outside his room.

"I'm on the lower floor. Shit… Alexandra… she's here…" Ghost groaned, Soap could hear the pained expression on his voice.

"We're on our way! Hang tight! Don't you dare die on us!" Soap said as he kicked the door open, shooting enemies that were already cornering France.

“I won’t, but make it fast. hehe… I should've just watched your six…” Ghost’s low tone continued over the comms as Soap and France hid by the doors and fired whenever they could. Enemy waves seemed to go on forever and the longer they got stuck there, the longer they got worried about Ghost.

Out of desperation, the duo began cooking grenades, tossing them on spots where enemies gathered, on corners where they hid and on every entryway where swarms would appear.

“Shit. That was my last one.” he muttered as he felt his body lighten. They've consumed most of their ammunition in a single room.

“I guess that was the last of them.” France sighed, wiping sweat off her forehead. 

“Let’s go get Ghost.” Soap ordered and they both made their way down the stairs. The two had no idea about the map layout, but the urgency of the situation led them to where Ghost was. The room was dimly lit, sparks of faulty electronics flew from the roof and the spinning red signal light was the only bright light illuminating the area.

Upon seeing his teammate, Soap quickly stepped forward but paused as soon as Ghost warned him.

“No! There are traps. One got me.” he heaved, slowly raising his head. Maxine immediately inspected the door and disarmed the set trip wire, as they quickly moved by Ghost’s side.

“Ghost, you're going to be okay.” Soap assured, assisting France in applying first aid on his wound. It was a huge burn by the stomach, the explosion deeply injured his skin causing him to bleed out. Crimson red blood glinted off the surface as the red signal momentarily illuminated the floor.

“I used to be careful you know… But as soon as I saw her, I lost all my senses. I had to break her free from that prison.” He breathed, almost struggling, grunting as France applied pressure to the wound.

Soap quickly got up and shot the lock with his pistol, kicking the door open and approached the unconscious redhead lying on the floor. She had a notable few bruises and scars here and there, signs of torture. Soap attempted to wake her up but she didn’t move, he quickly pressed his hands on her neck until he felt a faint pulse. 

“She’s alive.” Soap declared, turning to Ghost and Francine. 

“Haah- Thank God she’s fine.” he groaned as Francine shushed her as he attempted to get up.

“It’d be better if you don’t force yourself for a while.” She suggested.

“We’ll get you two out of here.” Francine said, Ghost just chuckled, coughing in the process.

“Don’t do that!” She scolded. The ground suddenly shuddered causing them to lose balance.

“This is bad. We can’t stay here any longer!” Soap yelled, carrying Alexandra on one shoulder while assisting France on Ghost on his other shoulder.

“Price! We got Alexandra and Ghost and they're injured! Where’s Nikolai?” Soap yelled over comms.

“He won’t be here until after two hours. Shepherd’s making his escape using the river.

Roach! Go grab that boat, we won’t let him get away!” Price’s final transmission was relayed to their ears as the connection turned blank.

He had no idea where Alex and Jack are, but as long as the Nuke hasn’t launched yet, they still have time.

Halfway through the prison cells, Soap and the rest of the team heard footsteps echo from nearby.

“You have got to be bloody kidding me!” he cursed as they picked up the pace and escaped the area.

They hid themselves in the room with the aviation books, barricaded the two unconscious allies while France continued to tend to Ghost’s wound.

“Haaah- You’re getting nowhere with me like this. Just leave us. Like Romeo and Juliet.” Ghost whispered, his tone was serious and both France and Soap didn’t like it.

“No.” France spat as he unslung her rifle and tossed it to Soap, along with her ammo.

“I’m not going to leave anyone behind. Not again.” She declared, eyeing at Soap, someone she once lost on a mission. This prompted Soap to move forward and take a peek outside.

“It’s clear.” he announced, the ground rumbled once more. He went back to assist France, Ghost tugged his rifle.

“I think I can still shoot.” he mutters as Soap gave him the gun without any arguments. And so they moved to the docks, it was going to be a long walk from their location, but they did it anyway. Their formation occupied the whole width of the hallway, meaning any bullet flying toward them would surely hit its mark.

Despite the huge flaw, Ghost managed to make it easier for the group to move forward, despite the room being dark and blinking red, and the fact that Ghost was still injured and continuously losing a lot of blood, he still could target and shoot down enemies.

"Nice shot." Soap praised as they carefully navigated to the outer part of the cave, the raging river coursing below them.

Soap could feel another tug on his rifle as Alexandra started to move.

"Gun. I'll cover your six." She whispered faintly as Soap did his best to give her his gun.

They became a human tank of sorts. With Soap and France as the tires, capable of carrying and navigating their descent to the river, while Alexandra and Ghost were the weapons, shooting incoming hostiles that dared to block their way.

From the distance, Soap and France could see speedboats coursing through the river, following a huge helicopter not too far ahead of them. The trail they left behind was utter chaos. The ground shook as they almost lost their balance, urging them to descend quickly.

Under normal circumstances, Soap would've felt pain, but his adrenaline rush compensated through, making him finish the last step and board on the remaining boat.

The engine hummed as Soap navigated through the river, they carefully followed the path of destruction caused by the two.

Broken speed boats were everywhere, unconscious or dead bodies floated by the water as the grand chase happened. Soap wondered if Price and Roach caught up with Shepherd.

"All these for info on Nero." France frowned, her hands tended to both Ghost and Alexandra.

"There's still a nuke out there. I wonder how Jack and Alex are holding up." Soap glanced at France and muttered. Her short hair blew as she assisted the two, Soap envisioned her as a nurse for a short while, then shook it off immediately after a bump on the river.

"John! Look ahead." France warned as John turned. The place was hugely filled with water and destruction was still everywhere. He coursed the safe path without all the debris and the wreckage.

"What happened here…" Alexandra groaned.

From a distance, the ground shook and smoke bellowed just by the horizon ahead.

"There's a…" Francine whispered.

"Shit! We're headed to a  waterfall!" Soap roared and gripped the controls to shore, luckily they saw it quickly as they settled on the dusty riverbank as the sand blew against the team.

"This is dangerous. Sand might infect their open wounds." Francine said, concerned about the situation of the two injured. 

"I'll help you seek shelter then I'll check on Price." He said, lifting Alexandra and assisting France on carrying Ghost.

They soon found a small cavern like structure that would provide shade from both sun and dust that masked the area. Soap took his rifle from Alexandra, slung it on his body and left.

"John. Be careful." Francine said, her eyes looked very concerned and Soap would do just about anything to protect that kind of look. He didn't want to disappoint.

"I always am." He smiled and turned back, his head hitting the roof of the cave.

"Ack!" he muttered and left, causing France to chuckle. 

A quick peek of the waterfall and Soap saw the plane crash which bellowed black smoke. The rest of the ground was unclear as the sandstorm covered most of the area. There were no signs of movement and Soap carefully crossed the mountain path downward to the crash site. Shepherd didn't make it out. This is the end of the line for him.

Next Chapter : The TEN Kilometer River

Notification Squad my Beloved

@bumblingbee1 @smokeywhalee @samatedeansbroccoli @ricinbach @whimsywispsblog @enderio

[criquette-was-here]

Long Awaited Replies

Hello everyone! It’s been awhile since my last activity here. Stuff’s just got real last few months and I am now experiencing some heavy RLS which makes the future of the whole Feverfew project quite uncertain. I’m very annoyed by the fact I have to move the release date over and over again, but, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to manage to make it this year. But before I post any updates, I need to answer my inbox!

@landgraabsims​ said:

feverfew is absolutely gorgeous!! is it inspired by any real-life places or towns? i live in england and it reminds me of a few in-the-middle-of-nowhere villages i've visited c:

Thanks @landgraabsims​! Yes, Feverfew is based on British countryside aesthetics without any towns or villages in particular. It has a bit of everything, really. It’s a fantasy place after all. But I do use a lot of real life references for making landmarks for it.

Anonymous said:

any idea of the date of release for feverwood? just redownloaded sims 2 and im in loveee

Hey Anon! I’m glad you like it! I really hope to make it happen this year.

Anonymous said:

i would die (or pay) for zagoskin omg it looks like TS3

Oh, thank you, Anon!

@katzengirl​ said:

Hello Criquette! I don't have a challenge or a question or a request. I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate the things you've shared with us! I hope you're having a good day.

Hello Kristina! That is so sweet, thank you ^___^ I hope you’re doing fine too!

Anonymous said:

Hi there, Criquette. Been having fun with your Rural Charm set and the Better Lighting.  Ran into one small problem with the RC. One of the narrow curves picks up the texture from a road section with a crosswalk, so that looks a bit odd (30degree inner?).  And a question - is there a Better Lighting for the Iron Bracket street lamp with the seasons banner?  Thought the iron bracket would work, but it's not. Anywho, Thank You for ALL the work you put into making our hoods look fantastic!

Hey Anon! Thanks! Depending on the road DR you’re using, there can be some  texture issues here and there since Rural Charm is optimised for road texture without any markings (apart from the broken white line). As for the Iron light post with a banner – no. I’ve only made 2 Maxis’ base game lamp posts.

Anonymous said:

It's amazing how this one game embraces so many different types of players. I'm planning to create my very own nh from scratch, and I'd be a liar not to recognize how your game pics inspired me to the task (not to mention your ever impressive work of hood deco cc throughout these years). For all that, as much as I'm just another anon, thank you, sincerely. But that left me wondering: do you also/still play with the other ts2 game modes or they no longer interest you?

Oh, that is so kind, Anon. Thank you! Yes, I do love to actually play the game. I enjoy building/decorating lots as much as live mode. In fact, I often get carried away during playtest sessions and just keep playing in lot mode and that’s why there are lots like ‘The Tower Inn’ or ‘The Moose & Beaver’ or sims like Tilda Phidbach, WHT-FC28 servo and their field lab.

Anonymous said:

Criquette, do you know something about this project? thesims1master tumblr (the idea is to make the game look like the beta version. I ask, because I liked it so much, but I haven't been able to find the person behind it and I'm very curious to see more or download it, as well as his world, which I've been waiting for since last year lol)

Hey Anon! Oh, I don’t think I know anything about this project, no. But it looks rather interesting!

@forever-evenfall​ said:

Hey Criquette! I just downloaded your Lighting Remedy (because I only just realised I needed to change the txt file and not just download it lol) and when I placed your lighting text in the program files, the lighting itself worked, but the terrain itself was flashing red. Do you know what I did wrong? I literally don’t think I can play without the fix lol. I am using UC and I placed it in the Fun With Pets/SP9/TSData/Res/Lights folder. Should I have put it somewhere else?

Hello Eve! I might be wrong, but isn’t it Mansions & Gardens SP that stands for UC? Anyway, flashing red terrain is really weird consequence for just replacing a txt file. Neighborhood terrain doesn’t have any dynamic light. It has a light map instead which comes with Lighting remedy too. If you only just replace the lighting txt file without putting LR light map into your ‘Downloads’ folder, the only issue you should get would by unsynchronized light directions for hood decos and the terrain itself.

Anonymous said:

I'm having a problem: not all the decorations I put in the neighborhood are showing up in simulation mode, even with the fade off and the long-range vision on. I think there is some code that I need to add to the game files to make all the decorations appear. But I can't find how to do this: c Can you help me?

Hello Anon! Basically, there’s only one type of hood deco that isn’t showing up in lot mode and that is neighborhood effects. All the decals, flowers, fields, all the animated stuff (except for texture animation, e.g. Maxis’ marquee sign) is not showing up in lot mode. There’s nothing we can do about it. Yet. If you think that there’s a proper hood deco that isn’t showing up in lot mode, please PM me with some screenshots and we could try to sort it out.

Anonymous said:

Hello--Anon who asked about additional pieces for the Rural Charm set--I see now, thank you for explaining about the floating intersections.  Is there anything you recommend then, to add on to existing roads? Otherwise, thanks for taking the time to explain.

Hello Anon! Oh, you’re most welcome. There is a tedious way to replace a texture on the existing tile of the real road, to make in into intersection so that it would connect better visually with decorative road pieces. But that takes time. What you have to do is to determine the tile you want to edit using technique described in this tutorial and then you have to change the texture name in the corresponding line. The texture names for the intersections (their index name parts) can be found in any road DR beforehand.

@sunradersimblr​ said:

Hi, I'm just wondering if you've ever done hood deco of a highway rest stop like the type we see in the U.S. along interstates and state highways, just a green space, usually, with toilet facilities and a place for a picnic and parking lot? I need one for a story and thought I'd check with you. Thanks for all the great work you share! 

Hello Sunrader! That would be really nice addition for the highway set, but I haven’t made it. Thought it’s quite possible to make something similar if you use ‘One side exit piece’ from the motorway set and add some picnic tables, umbrellas and benches using street tables & benches set. There’s also many 4t2 deco conversions for toilets and other small size decos that would help to create a decent resting stop.

@nataliepop​ said:

Hi there Criquette! There's a new game called Townscaper which I think you'd like. The architecture has an English aesthetic and you build cities or towns but it all starts on an ocean. It's in early access, so I hope by the time it officially releases they add boats and piers. Look it up on Steam or Youtube. I saw it via someone who usually does Cities Skylines videos. Btw, have you ever played that? Also, apart from sims what else do you enjoy playing? Anyway, hope you are having a good day!

Hey Natpop! Thanks for a lovely game suggestion! I’ve checked it out and it looks really fun. Can’t say I’d play it though XD All my free time (which I don’t have atm) is reserved for simming hood deco making working on Feverfew ^^

Anonymous said:

hey~ i love all of your stuff, you're so talented (๑♡⌓♡๑) i wanted to ask, do you think you'll ever release feverfew's sc4 map? 

Thank you Anon! That’s very kind. I’m not sure if there’s any point in releasing SC4 map I used for Feverfew because it’s completely differs from the way it looks now. The road layout is different, there’s no canal, no islands on the river, hills are different, etc. It has been heavily terraformed and edited during development process. I’d recommend just to wait till the Feverfew neigborhood release.

Anonymous said:

Hi! Do you have any idea of when Feverfew will be released? :) 

Hey Anon! It will be released this year, hopefully!

Anonymous said:

Hello :D Is it possible to get your linden trees as lot objects in build/garden section? I love them and they beautify my neighborhood but could really use an option to select them on lots too :)

Hello Anon! Yes, that’s possible, though I can’t say if I could make it myself. What I can say though, is that there’s a linden trees redux coming soon. It would make linden trees look better and highly optimised so that it would only take 4,5 Mb instead of 60 Mb without any losses in texture quality and resolution. 

[comicteaparty]

February 29th-March 6th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from February 29th, 2020 to March 6th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What is the thing you’re proudest about regarding your story?

Deo101 [Millennium]

I hope saying "That I'm actually doing it, and that I'm still doing it and loving every minute of it" Is an okay answer ^^ there is a lot that I am very proud of myself for with regards to this comic, but I think I take the most pride in actually sticking with something for this long.

carcarchu

I agree with deo, sticking with it is what i'm most proud of and it's probably one of the hardest things to do

Capitania do Azar

Hah I can't say I'm proud of everything, right?

It's hard to put it in words but I really enjoy the comic making process and I'm proud of what I'm accomplishing with it, both in terms of writing and of art. And I think it's rather visible that I put a ton of effort into it

Spring-heeled Jack

I am proud that I prepped ahead of time because the last two times I tried, I didn't. Both times I got about 10 pages in and quit because I felt overwhelmed. With the story itself, I think I'm proud of my characters. Characters are the easiest part for me (plot and central conflict I always flounder on) but I'm still so pleased with them.(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

For me, it's just getting the work out there. Actually finishing chapters. compared to the first comic story I want to put out, this story I know for sure where its going and gives me a sense of ease? There's some days when I feel i'm slumping along but in the end, I'm pretty happy how it turned out. Pretty much what Deo and carcarchu said lol: my story is long but not super long, but I'm glad I'm still working on it among my other stories I want to share (edited)

Ash🦀

For me, what I'm most proud of is my artist, Katie. We're a collaborative team, I'm just the writer so I don't do much. And she takes my words and just... adds so much life to them. Seeing every page she makes is so amazing. Every time she's growing in her style in leaps and bounds, and seeing her push her lighting, expressions, and unusual panel styles, ugh, it's just so cool seeing her grow. I am so proud of her and what she's done, she's a total rockstar and I love her. I couldn't have done this without her, and every day I'm more grateful to her.

DanitheCarutor

That is a really good question, I don't really show pride in stuff I do usually. I guess the closest to being proud was either when my new comic passed the stopping mark for my old comic, which was discontinued at chapter 3, or when I got chapter 1 rescanned for print recently. The latter was kinda challenging because I rebubbled the whole chapter, and how I rebubbled was a little... awkward, pasting over the old bubbles in photoshop afterward.

Sorry! Apparently the image file was weird.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I actually semi-recently wrote a raving tweet thread relevant to this topic. Basically, for years and years, I did not know what it meant to be proud of your work. I've been happy with my work, both the process and the result. But was "proud of my work" completely synonymous with "happy with my work"? I legit did not know. Even asked a former English teacher friend, who's very good at explaining this sorta things, and I still didn't get it. Then as I made progress through the most recent chapter, I noticed this brand new, strange feeling welling up in me. Yep, you guessed it. For the first time ever after starting this comic, I was proud of what I was making. Not just happy with it, but proud of it. Took me a while to realize, oh, this is proud. Afterward, something happened IRL that temporarily borked my sense of time (one specific week felt like months). So because it felt like it had been months since I made it, I got to experience the last couple pages of the chapter as a reader, not its creator. And I gotta say, thank you past me, you've made something truly heartfelt, and you had every reason to be proud of this. In short: I'm proud of how my comic is an honest reflection of what my heart wants to see, what I want to read. And I'm proud of my most recent chapter being the pinnacle of that. I hope to make more, higher pinnacles down the road, as I continue my way through this story.

spacerocketbunny

I'm proud of how me and @FeatherNotes(Krispy) have shaped our characters and fleshed them out! I'm also super proud of our team dynamic and how if something didn't feel right in the story or art etc., we've always challenged it and come up with something better and stronger! Because we've been so thorough and willing to reconsider, I'm always perfectly comfortable to stand by what we've put out there, even if we've had to go back and fix past mistakes!

Mei

Hoh boy, the thing I'm proudest about in My Husband is a Cultist is the audience interaction. I've been told the comic is funny, and that makes me immensely chuffed, because it means I'm doing something right. I'm always so nervous when putting my work out there with how it's going to be received. That seeing people engage with the story and find it funny and liking the characters... it just warms my heart so much, and it makes me truly feel like I'm on the right path. I'm also pretty proud of the stuff I've written that's not been featured in the comic yet. I look forward to developing those and making them come to life, and I hope people enjoy the grittier parts of this strange comedy as much as I do! And mostly I'm proud that I'm still doing it and haven't given up yet. My lord, I just don't know how it's gonna keep going! but hopefully just onwards and upwards!

eli [a winged tale]

Reading through all of these and I’m so touched. Super proud of you all!

I’m most proud in finally chasing my dreams. Life threw me a bunch of curveballs and creating this comic is a reflection of how I dealt with things and at the same time be thankful for what I have. When I reread my comic I can see mistakes but I also see parts of myself that are genuine. I can’t wait to continue on the story and let the comic be part of my life moving forwards

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

My comic went on so long behind the scenes before I was comfortable enough to share it, so I tend to think of my past self quite differently than my current self. So, I'm very proud of 'past me!' She started the project completely unaware of how long it would last or what it would become - just a few characters and story threads and a whoooole lot of ambition - and my present self has had the pleasure of weaving those threads into a project I'm truly proud of. The comic has brought me so much joy - much of it delayed, like a ticking time bomb - and it's all thanks to my younger self. She wasn't sure of what she was doing - but now I know she made some excellent decisions in the beginning. I'm very grateful she started all of this. It's made my life all the more joyful

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I got a BUFFER. My first non-fancomic died because of work-comittments and lack of buffer, but on Nyx+Nyssa I manage to work ahead. More than anything I am proud of the discipline I developed to allow for that.

FeatheryJustice

I'm proud of almost completing Teasday. I had some long hiatuses but I will finish the story for now. Also proud of where I grown from the beginning of that story to now. The time and effort shows that I did do a lot, which makes me really happy to know.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

I'm proud of a lot of the work that goes into my comic, but what I'm most proud of was this page. I wanted this to be grand and a pivotal moment if what the comic was about. I don't think even a couple years I could've done anything at this scale, but I split the areas into chunks that I completed over the span of two weeks. Always look upon this page fondly.

eli [a winged tale]

That is gorgeous!

Spring-heeled Jack

Impressive!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I can point out four moments in Super Galaxy Knights http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/comics/ that I'm the most proud of - 1. The end of Book 1 Chapter 4. Chapter 4 was intended to be a big "growing the beard" moment for the comic's action setpieces - the first three chapters were more about introducing characters and plot elements than actual action, so I consider chapter 4 to be the first "real" fight of the comic. The way the action was presented in chapter 4 would go on to represent how action would be presented throughout the rest of the comic, and IMO I pulled it off fantastically. 2. The end of Book 1. Kinda self-explanatory, but Book 1 was the first major story arc of the comic - the fact that I managed to pull together a satisfying conclusion, something that I theoretically could have ended the comic on, was super satisfying to me. 3. This page: http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/images/comics/160/30997a1543363807f2141157006.gif . When I wrote in my Book 2 script "they fight for a bit in a big looping animation" back in 2016 I was hoping my animation skills would advance to the point where I could pull it off. And it turns out, they did. 4. Well... today. Ever since starting the comic back on leap day 2016, I knew today would be a big milestone, and I'm proud of myself for sticking with this project long enough to get to this four year mark.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh my god, that looks incredible and I've never seen a page like that before!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I am not very far into my comic, but when I try to think about what I am most proud of in my work, it is definitely all the behind-the-scenes work I have put into the comic. The world-building. The map-making, language developing, culture exploring, building a political structure, writing histories, character work, etc. All this time and energy I devoted to something that wouldn't be seen by others for many years to come. It is only now starting to come to fruition, despite technically having been working on this project since 2014, with the first scripts, the first character designs, and the first paragraphs about the world of Whispers of the Past. All this work that nobody will ever see. I am proud of sticking with it and putting my heart and soul into it despite the lack of return for so long. I have given up my adolescence to this project, and I am giving up the rest of my youth. But when I think about it, there is no worthier recipient. Because without this story, I feel like a large part of my identity would be gone.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Thank you @Eightfish (Puppeteer) ! The storyboarding alone for that animation took a week so I'm glad you like it!

eli [a winged tale]

I totally get you Cronaj! So much goes behind the scenes but that creates the world’s depths and it will resonate with readers! continues dedicating the rest of my life to comics

SL Black

@Cronaj (Whispers of the Past) yes! There is so much prep work involved. I have three full scripts for UO that will never see the light of day (mostly because they are terrible). Comics are such a marathon. All that hard work will be appreciated so much by your readers!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@SL Black Man... That sounds like me. I myself went through at least 3 scripts too. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way about the BTS work

Desnik

I'm proud that I'm putting myself out there with a WIP comic script and learning how to not only write, but collaborate with other writers.

renieplayerone

Im really proud that i started a comic and have stuck with it for a year and just how much ive learned by making it^^

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I'm proud that even after 70 pages I've never missed a scheduled update!(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Awe yeee thats always good to have a streak like that!

eli [a winged tale]

That is #goals!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Agreed!

[mypubliclands]

Eagle Scout Project benefits Greater sage-grouse and partnerships

When it came time to choose his Eagle Scout Service Project last year, 16-year-old Kolton Dahl had a pretty good idea that he wanted to do something related to the Greater sage-grouse.

Now in his junior year at Burns High School, Dahl had worked closely with Andrew Shields - a wildlife biologist at the Roaring Springs Ranch and an Eagle Scout himself - on projects monitoring Greater sage-grouse that call the ranch and neighboring public lands home.

“With Andrew, I went out to the leks early in the morning and saw the habits of sage-grouse and was able to learn more about that, as well as the nesting habits after they leave the lek,” Dahl said, referring to the birds’ mating area.

“He actually got me started thinking about it when we went sage-grouse catching together,” Dahl explained. “That's where you go out at night and spotlight sage-grouse and then you go and catch them with a net, and place a radio collar on them.” Shields, who has a scientific collecting permit with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to conduct this work, “would then use the data he recorded to be able to study the habits of the sage-grouse and determine where their leks were, and learn more about how they affect the ecosystem,” Dahl said.

This hooked Dahl, he admits.

“On the ride out there and back in, we were talking about everything that the BLM was doing for the sage-grouse,” Dahl remembered, “and he knew I had an Eagle Scout project that I needed to do, coming up, and he suggested this one and I kind of just ran with it.”

With Shields’ guidance - and with the cooperation of Autumn Toelle, a rangeland management specialist with the BLM Burns District - Dahl focused his project on installing reflective markers on barbed-wire fences at the BLM’s South Steens Allotment, near the South Loop Road on the south end of Steens Mountain. As he learned, this work would improve wildlife habitat by helping Greater sage-grouse and other animals see and avoid the potentially deadly obstacles.

To low-flying birds like the greater sage-grouse, these fences present collision hazards - especially in the low light of dawn and dusk, and particularly near leks. Occasionally, a walk along a fenceline within a mile of a lek can turn up evidence of a recent sage-grouse strike, often a pile of feathers or even a dead bird.

At first glance, it is hard to imagine how fence markers - palm-sized rectangles of bright plastic, highlighted by a band of reflective tape - can help. They do make a difference, though. A recent study from the University of Idaho led by Bryan S. Stevens supports this, finding an approximate 83% reduction in collision rates at marked fences relative to unmarked fences in high-risk sage-grouse breeding habitats.

“Sage-grouse did not evolve with fences on the landscape, so they may not see the fence until it’s too late,” said Glenn Frederick, sage-grouse biologist for the BLM Oregon and Washington State Office. “Marking the fence is a relatively inexpensive, quick way to reduce sage-grouse mortality and grow the population. This is a great opportunity for public land users to help out,” he explained.

Dahl’s Eagle Scout project also served a broader, national partnership effort.

In 2015, following what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced as “an unprecedented conservation partnership across the western United States that has significantly reduced threats to the greater sage-grouse across 90 percent of the species’ breeding habitat,” the agency determined that protection for the species under the Endangered Species Act was no longer warranted, and they withdrew it from the list of candidate species.

One key element of sustaining this partnership success - and keeping the bird off the list - is an ongoing network of Candidate Conservation Agreements. Simply put, on public lands administered by the BLM, a CCA is an agreement with ranchers that identifies voluntary conservation measures that go above and beyond the BLM requirements for a livestock grazing permit and benefit Greater sage-grouse on livestock grazing allotments.

“This project also fit in the conservation measures of the ranch’s Candidate Conservation Agreement for sage-grouse,” wrote Toelle. Therefore, it helped both the ranch and the BLM meet their agreed-upon steps for sage-grouse conservation, contributing at the local level to a vast national effort.

Dahl’s project also met the requirements of the Boy Scouts of America. According to the BSA, the purpose of the Eagle Scout Service Project is to “plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community.”

The BSA further defines community to include the “community of the world,” so public lands  - those lands owned by the American people and managed on their behalf by agencies such as the BLM - provide a model setting for Eagle Scout projects.

Dahl’s project was a perfect fit.

In conversation, Dahl can summarize his project as “hanging reflectors on barbed wire fences within two miles of sage-grouse leks on BLM land,” but he’s quick to note the significant preparation and behind-the-scenes work that was necessary to pull it off.

“It wasn’t just multiple sessions of one task,” Dahl explained. He invested dozens of hours in planning and coordination before he hung the first fence marker.

“Autumn Toelle at the Burns BLM office was my main point of contact,” Dahl said, and she helped him obtain the necessary maps and identify precisely where the fences should be marked.

She also provided the project’s key ingredient - more than 5,200 of the reflective fence markers.

“The BLM had reflectors on-hand that they donated to me so I could accomplish this project,” Dahl said, and a key task was preparing them for installation. To do so, he recruited a team of volunteers to organize and sort them. “We spent a lot of time counting the reflectors,” he remembered, “you know, dividing them out between which groups would go where.”

Along with marshalling equipment and volunteers, Dahl devoted many hours to visiting the range and walking fence lines with Shields. “We spent time going up and making sure where the fences were, ... and marking what sections needed to be marked,” he said. “We did that, I think, twice before we actually hung the reflectors.”

This pre-marking was an important step. In order to be most effective, the fence markers need to be carefully spaced to ensure maximum coverage and visibility - both horizontally and vertically.

It also gave them an up-close view of the need for a project like Dahl’s.

For the day of fence marker installation, Dahl mobilized additional volunteers, including members of local Boy Scout Troops 441 and 440.

“I had a lot more help than I anticipated,” Dahl said, “and so we were actually able to get the hanging part done in one day. We split off into three groups, because there were three different stretches of fences, and each group took their designated amount of reflectors and did their section of fence.”

Following Dahl’s earlier legwork, the groups installed 5,280 fence markers in a specific pattern over 3 miles of fence line. “We had 3 feet between each reflector, and they were in a W pattern on the top two wires of the barbed wire fence, so the sage-grouse could see them and fly over them, instead of running into the barbed wire fence,” Dahl said.

All together, Dahl estimates that he and his volunteers invested about 180 hours of time into the project. It was time well spent.

This summer, Dahl earned the rank of Eagle Scout at a special Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony. There, he recognized Shields with an Eagle Scout Mentor pin - a special token of recognition for Shields’ guidance and support with the project.

“Kolton’s a great young man and I was excited that he chose to give me the Mentor Pin,” Shields said. “I am glad I was able to be involved and help him achieve his Eagle award.”

Dahl continues to stay in touch with Shields, and is interested in following any successes his project may facilitate.

“Its tough to measure effectiveness,” said Shields.  “I can say it has definitely made the fences more visible, which was the goal, and that the research out there has shown these markers to be effective in reducing collisions between sage-grouse and fences.”

Shields has also used Dahl’s project as an education and outreach tool. “I’ve had several people that have seen the markers on the fences ask what their purpose is,” he said, “and it has provided an opportunity to talk about sage-grouse conservation.”

In fact, Dahl’s work has resonated beyond Harney County - and even Oregon.

Stevens, the lead author of the seminal fence marker study at the University of Idaho, lauded Dahl’s get-up-and-go and emphasized the benefits of the hands-on nature of Dahl’s project.

“I think it’s fantastic, really,” Stevens said. “It shows this person’s initiative but it also allows him and the other people involved - the volunteers involved - to have a direct, tangible connection to the resource management, which a lot of people - just frankly, in today’s world - don’t have. So, I think it’s good on a whole number of levels,” Stevens added.

Although he may not have expected it, Dahl learned about more than the greater sage-grouse and resource management through this project. He also developed skills applicable to many life situations, he said, like “being able to delegate out certain tasks so  I … wasn’t overwhelmed with how much I needed to do. I could find people I trusted and then allow them to do that task their own way and not micromanage it.”

He also experienced, first-hand, the value of working in partnership toward a common goal.

“That was probably the biggest skill I learned,” he said. “Seeing the cooperation between two large groups of people and seeing how it can turn out for the good.”

Before the project, Kolton admits, he “didn’t really have an opinion of public lands.” This project changed his perspective. Now, he says, “I think that when used correctly, they can sure be a benefit to both the environment and to the population.”

“It’s really good to work with good people on both sides of the equation,” he said.

Spoken like a true Eagle Scout.

Story by Greg Shine, BLM blogger. Photos courtesy of Kolton Dahl.

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Time’s Running Out: India

Sorry for the delay on this chapter, there were a lot of things happening these past few weeks! Hopefully things will normalize a bit from now on!

Anyways, on to part 2, where we pat canon condescendingly on the head. Thanks to everyone who took the time to leave a comment on the last chapter, you guys are wonderful and help motivate me to keep this story going!

Summary: The Reds and Blues; and their respective Freelancers, find themselves stranded on a strange planet named Chorus. Secrets, lies, and the unexpected seem to lie around every corner, and there might be even larger threats looming over the horizon.

They’re possibly even less ready for Chorus than Chorus is for them.

Pairings: Lots of friendships, Suckington, Yorkalina, Chex, eventual Yorkimbalina, possible others.

Start

Previous

Ao3

Tex didn’t like Armonia. But then again, she didn’t have the best track record with cities.

It was a well-formed grid of a city, complete with two walls. Turrets and watch towers were visible at regular intervals, showcasing that this was the city of a world at war. The capital city, no less. There were roads and various buildings, the city divided into various quarters. Once, according to the maps Tex had managed to download, the city would have had all sorts of things. Museums and tourist places, residential areas, and the like. There were parks and people lived in houses, not barracks.

Years at war had changed that. No one lived too far from the military bases, as Armonia no longer had a civilian population to speak of. Instead, they crowded into barracks not too far from headquarters, which had once been the capitol building of the city. The parks that Tex had seen had been turned into functional farms to try to grow crops to help supplement the ordinary rations.

Tex gazed upwards, at the open sky. The New Republic had lived in caves for years, avoiding the gaze of the Federal Army and protecting them from aerial attacks.

Armonia had no such defenses. They were vulnerable to the sky. They were a bright, obvious target. The New Republic, by moving here, had sacrificed mobility and the option of guerilla warfare. Tex knew there was an argument to be made for strength in numbers, but she hated the idea of being trapped here. There was a river right to the south, another major weak point that Felix and Locus would be sure to exploit. She’d have to talk to the generals about doubling the patrol there, maybe mining the river…

“Why are you on the roof?” Church’s voice said behind her. Tex didn’t turn around.

“I like roofs,” she said.

Church hesitated, as if he had something he wanted to say, but he decided against it. He sat next to her instead. Tex angled her head slightly to look at him, making sure that he hadn’t fallen apart since she’d seen him last. But he still looked fine, his new armor clean and remarkably intact for everything they’d gone through. And he felt whole as he ever did, another thing to be grateful for. They hadn’t touched him. She’d know if they had, she was sure of that.  

“I’m glad you’re back,” he said.

Tex nodded. After a moment of hesitation, she placed her hand on top of his in a deliberate motion. She saw no need for physical affection beyond that, not here and now. Later, maybe, she’d check him over fully and let him do the same for her. But now, this was enough.

She’d take these quiet moments where she could find them, in the middle of this new war.  

“I need to go,” she said after a moment.  “I want to investigate the docking bay.”

He nodded. She was loathe to remove her hand, but she did, jumping off the roof without care that the fall would injure most people.

Tex was not most people. Her landing was heavy, sure, but there were no witnesses besides Church, and it was faster than the stairs. So what if there were a few small cracks in the concrete that hadn’t been there before? No one would notice.

The docking bay was a bit of a walk from the headquarters, but Tex took it invisibly. It would be faster if she had borrowed a mongoose, but she couldn’t be bothered to do so, not when the trip was so short. People were already running around, moving in supplies from the caches both armies had all over the planet. Tex wanted to inspect some of them. Felix and Locus had known where these caches were, and she wouldn’t put it below them to do something like tampering with the weapons or food that they were going to need to survive.

She was initially pleased to spot a group of mixed cadets; Feds and Rebels both unloading their shipments, before she realized that they were tolerating each other for the sake of gossip.

“I definitely heard that Felix skinned a guy alive,” one of the Feds said, leaning in close, as if afraid she might be overheard. “I know a chick who was stationed in the south, and she swears she found the knife near his body. Orange stripe on the blade, y’know. Like he’s bragging. He wants people to know it’s him” She shook her head. “Locus was creepy and all, but at least I never heard of him torturing people for information.”

One of the rebels scoffed. “That’s a load of bullshit,” he said. “I heard that Locus tortures plenty.”

“Yeah, c’mon,” another rebel added. “The guy’s a fucking machine. He doesn’t care about things like that. I heard he tried to kill Agent Washington even though he was supposed to be with your group.”

Tex felt her mouth tug down in a frown, despite herself. Gossip was normally just irritating, but this was getting under her skin for reasons she didn’t care to examine. Tex ducked behind a pillar to decloak, before stepping out behind them. Normally she wouldn’t have bothered to hide her appearance, but people were jumpy about invisibility because of Locus. Yet another thing for her to hold against him. “You should probably get moving,” she said, keeping her voice deceptively mild. “We’re on a schedule.”

One of the Feds let out a small scream. “Yes, sir, Agent Texas!”

Tex was glad to see that Grif and Simmons were spreading her reputation around.

Seeing Tucker in a hospital bed, surrounded by medical equipment and all-too-still was one of the most difficult sights of Wash’s life. Wash didn’t like to quantify things like this, didn’t like to make lists of the macabre and awful things he’d seen and even done. But there were bandages on Tucker’s stomach stained with blood.

Doctor Grey had assured him and Kai repeatedly that Tucker was fine, but none of that removed the image seared into his mind from Kai’s description of the way that Tucker had crumpled to the ground. He hadn’t been there. He’d been too far away to be of any help, his ribs cracked and bruised from the brutal beating Locus had given him. But Kai had seen it all, seen every second, perched as she was on top of the tower with Carolina and the others. And from the way that she held Tucker’s hand, Wash thought she might have had it worse.

Wash held Tucker’s left hand in his own, running his thumb over his knuckles, his eyes flickering between Tucker and Kai.

The Reds and Blues had taken him in. They had given him a home. But it was Kai and Tucker who had looked at him, broken and screwed up as he was, and wanted him anyways. They were everything Wash wanted, and everything he knew he didn’t deserve, no matter how many times that they told him otherwise. He was lucky, amazingly lucky, that they loved him.

He was never going to let anything like this happen to Tucker again. Bad enough they’d been separated for so long, bad enough having spent every day not knowing if he was alright. But this?

Wash didn’t know how many more times he could take a sight like this before he lost it.  

“How’s he doing?” Tex asked, poking her head in. She looked tired. She’d been running ragged over these past few days, trying to hunt down Felix and Locus. Wash had tried to tell her that she was wasting her time, but then he’d looked at Tucker again, and hadn’t found the words.

“He was awake longer this time,” Kai said quietly.

“Good,” Tex said. There was a dark, dangerous note to her voice that was reminiscent of how she’d sounded under Omega’s influence. “Has Church come to visit?”

“No,” Wash said. He reached up and pressed his fingers against Tucker’s cheek. “I think he’s… struggling.”

Tex let out a sound that Wash might have described as tired. “He is.” She moved closer to Tucker’s bed, hovering. “We were lucky,” she said. “They didn’t know who he was. They would have…”

“I know,” Wash said. God, he knew all too well the kind of things that might happen to Alpha if people with few enough morals got their hands on him. “But they don’t know. He’s safe.”

“They’ll figure it out if they put together that Epsilon sounds just like him,” Tex said. She stood at the foot of Tucker’s bed and gripped the posts, bowing her head. She was practically shaking with exhaustion or rage or something else entirely that Wash couldn’t place. She hadn’t removed her armor, but Wash knew her eyes were firmly on Tucker’s face. “This was too close,” she said.

“Yes,” Wash agreed.

“I’ve gotten sloppy,” Tex muttered, more to herself than to Wash. Wash looked up, surprised.

“Tex,” he said. “This wasn’t on you.” There were a thousand people Wash would blame before he thought to blame Tex. A part of him, before he’d met Kai and Tucker, had blamed Tex for parts of Freelancer. He was not immune from the competitiveness, from the bitterness that had tainted the rest of the project, and the favoritism that the Director had shown Tex, and the knowledge that the Director had thought that everything he was doing, he was doing for her, grated.

But he knew better now. Tex had been a victim, as much as the rest of them had been.

And she had been the one to take her vengeance on the man who had ruined all their lives, at least, if Sarge had guessed correctly. And Wash had learned long ago not to doubt Sarge’s deductions.

“I should have killed Felix at the cliff,” she said. “Sloppy. Soft.” There was a huff, as if she was taking a deep breath, but that was impossible, because Tex didn’t breathe anymore than Church did. But somewhere in that sound, Wash thought he heard another word, hissed like a curse.

���Human.”

But before Wash could ask Tex any questions, Tucker began to stir again, eyelids fluttering as he started to drift awake. When Wash looked up from Tucker’s face again, Tex was gone, without as much as a shimmer in the air to indicate that she was nearby.

And then Wash was too busy to remember Tex’s musings, occupied as he was with trying to stop Tucker from ripping his stitches as he tried to get out of bed far before Dr. Grey wanted him to.

“Tucker, sit down,” he said. “You’re going to make it worse.”

“Fuck that! I’ve been in here forever, I want to go home!”

“Our quarters’ situation hasn’t been fixed yet,” Wash lied through his teeth. Doyle’s second in command, a man named Fredericks, had already helped finish the paperwork to get the three of them reassigned into shared quarters. Wash had expected that they’d have to share with someone else, or that there would be protests about Kai sharing with two men, but Fredericks had tapped his nose and said that General Doyle had said that everything was okay.

The General of the Army had basically given them the okay to fraternize. And Wash had thought he and Kai had done a good job at keeping things secret while they were with the Federal Army, but it seemed that not only that, but Doyle had known about Tucker too. Wash didn’t know really what he was supposed to do with that, but he intended to make the most of it.

After Kai had threatened to tie Tucker to the bed, and then promised to do that to him when they got their quarters situation straightened out, Tucker finally agreed to lie back down. From the wince he was trying to hide, Wash suspected that he had been hoping for a promise like that all along.

Rolling his eyes exasperatedly, Wash pressed a kiss to Tucker’s knuckles as Grey began to fuss with his IV and painkillers.  

And he didn’t think about how close they had nearly come to losing Tucker.

Kimball’s new office was bigger than three of her bunks back at the New Republic base. It was a strange thing. She’d never had a desk before; the leaders before her had, but she’d never really seen the need. The metal desk of her predecessor had been smelted down for bullets before his plane had been shot down anyways.

Felix had shot him down, she thought, running her hands over the wooden grains of the desk. Killed him for trying to leave the planet. They were trapped here, truly trapped, like rats in a trap.

The familiar burning sensation rose up in her throat but she swallowed it down. There wasn’t time for anything like that. She had too much to do, she couldn’t afford to linger on the way Felix had laughed in the video, and how it compared to every other time she’d heard him laugh.

There was already paperwork accumulating on her desk; Martinez, one of the soldiers who Harris had rescued, had appointed herself Kimball’s assistant, and had been helping her put together the paperwork they’d need to try to calculate the exact state of the New Republic and Federal Armies’ joint supplies.

Slipping into the seat behind the desk, Kimball set to work, internally marveling at the fact she wasn’t crouched over a card table in her bunk. There simply wasn’t enough room at their old base for an office to only be an office, so her private quarters had doubled as hers. But Armonia had rooms to spare, even now with the New Republic squeezing in.

It was hard not to envy the Federal Army for all this space. Logistically, it made things difficult for them she knew. They didn’t have the population to man a city of this size, and defending it was difficult. The city was formed by three rings; the suburbs outside the city wall, the city itself inside the city wall, and then the military area, inside yet another wall. All of the suburbs and the city outside of the inner wall had been abandoned, and were trapped to try to form additional layers of defenses. It was in those defenses where Kimball and her people had been caught when they’d tried to attack Armonia.

There was a knock on the door, and Kimball straightened up.

A tall woman in teal armor walked in, and Kimball wanted to stare. She’d seen photographs of Agent Carolina, but none of them had really done her justice. There was an aura she carried with her, of sheer power and confidence. Her armor was well worn, like all other armor on this planet, but it was still a sight. It was augmented in ways that Kimball could notice, but she had no idea what they were supposed to do. It was clearly the kind of armor that Kimball couldn’t afford to equip her own soldiers with; the kind of armor that people like Felix and Locus wore.

Kimball hadn’t met Carolina, even amongst all the chaos of readjusting. There hadn’t been time. She’d been coordinating with Doyle, writing peace treaties, agreeing to terms of alliances. She’d stopped by the infirmary to check on Tucker, and met the frequently mentioned Washington and Kaikaina in the process, but other than those two, she’d only seen the captains out of the vaunted Reds and Blues. There was too much going on.

“General Kimball?” Agent Carolina said, saluting.

“Just Kimball, please. You must be Agent Carolina,” she said. “Tucker spoke of you often.”

There was the slightest of softening to Carolina at that. “I see.”

“How can I help you?” Kimball said, before realizing there wasn’t a spare chair in her office. Grimacing, she made a note to ask Martinez to try to find one—surely there was a storage room with furniture somewhere in this city.

“I just wanted to let you know that Epsilon has finished decrypting the manifest the Reds took from The Hand of Merope,” Carolina said.

“Yeah, cuz I’m fucking awesome like that,” said a voice that was vaguely familiar to Kimball as a bright blue light shimmered before forming the small armored figure.

Kimball frowned, before placing the voice. “You sound like Private Church,” she said. She still hadn’t met him, but he’d radioed her several times, helping out the Federal Army with their own logistics.

Epsilon paused, and then fidgeted, in an act of sheer, unmistakable humanity. “It’s… complicated,” he said. “But hey! I figured out the identity of this “Control” guy.”

Kimball swallowed. “I—we should get Doyle, he’ll want to be here.” She paused, looking at Epsilon. “Did you—do you know why he wants Chorus?”

“He’s reverse engineering the alien technology he finds on this planet,” Carolina said. “And then he’s selling them.”

It was like the world falling out from under her again. “All this… for money?”

People had died. Their world was savaged. Kimball had sent people to their deaths, had been willing to die, had believed every lie that had come out of Felix’s mouth, and it had all been for profit. Someone, out there, was profiting off the deaths of her people. Maybe they had started it, but there was more to it than that. Someone had paid Felix and Locus to make sure they never made it to the negotiation table. Someone made sure no one could go for help.

All so he could reap the rewards from a planet of the dead.

Carolina placed a hand on Kimball’s arm, warm and comforting. “We’ll make sure they pay for this,” she said, and there was a ferocity in her voice that made Kimball’s knees weak. She tried to remind herself that now was not the time, but it really didn’t help much. There was a presence to Carolina that was almost intoxicating, and Kimball was caught up in it.

There was another knock on the door, and Harris poked his head in. “Hey Kimball, do you have a sec—oh. Carolina.”

Kimball felt her heart leap at the sight of him. She still hadn’t managed to get a hold of him since finding out he was alive. It was odd, but she’d missed him a lot, even though she’d known he was alive and well.

(She refused to let herself think of her reaction to his death.)

“Private Harris,” she said, and she couldn’t quite keep the fondness out of her voice. Glancing at Carolina, she decided to risk some unprofessional behavior, and crossed the room, intending to hug him before she lost her nerve. She wasn’t sure if Harris would be comfortable with that, after all. She placed a hand on his shoulder instead, but she couldn’t help feeling that the gesture was insufficient. “It’s good to see you alive,” she said.

Harris suddenly seemed incredibly uncomfortable. “That’s—that’s what I’m here to talk to you about. Kind of. Not the alive thing. But there’s… there’s something I need to tell you.”

Kimball frowned. “Can it wait? Agent Carolina says Epsilon has cracked the encryption. I was going to call Doyle.”

“That is an incorrect statement,” an unfamiliar voice said, and Kimball leapt back as a green armored hologram, the exact size of Epsilon, appeared in front of her. “Epsilon never was fond of sharing credit.”

“Oh, c’mon Dee, don’t be like that,” Epsilon snapped.

“Dee?” Kimball said. “Another AI?”

“Uh, Kimball, this is Delta,” Harris said, rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s… he’s my partner.”

“It is good to meet you at last, General Kimball,” Delta said, and his voice was distorted, so clearly inhuman compared to Epsilon’s. There was intonation there, she realized, separating him from the voices of normal machines. But she’d never mistake his voice for that of a natural human one.  

“But… I thought only Freelancers were partnered with AI,” Kimball said, numbly staring at the little green avatar. Delta was wearing outdated armor, but was looking at her curiously, as if gauging her reaction.

Harris scuffed his foot on the floor, but met her gaze. He was bracing for something, she realized. He was expecting something bad to happen. The thought chilled her to the core. “That’s the part I need to tell you.” He took a deep breath. “My name isn’t Nick Harris. I’m… I’m Agent New York of Project Freelancer.”

Kimball stared at him, and then looked at Delta. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She said, feeling honestly hurt. He hadn’t trusted her. All this time, she’d thought he was her friend, and he hadn’t trusted her.

After Felix, that cut deeper than it should have.

“I do!” Harris—York?—said quickly, holding up his hands. “But I thought Felix might sell me and Delta out, and—”

“What?” Kimball said, incredulously.

“Pff, some friends you have, York,” Epsilon said, and she turned slightly, remembering that he and Carolina were still in the room, watching all of this. “Can’t trust them not to sell you out.”

Kimball’s head swiveled to Epsilon. “Friends?”

Even through his helmet, Kimball could tell that York was currently trying to kill Epsilon with his gaze. “Felix and I served in the war together,” York said. He was standing straighter, all of a sudden, his hands clasped behind his back. Suddenly, she could see it. A Freelancer. She had been working with a Freelancer this whole time. She felt that when she had time, she’d be able to put things together more coherently. That he’d provided her with some parts of the picture that she’d been missing this whole time. “Alongside Locus.”

Kimball felt her own gaze harden. The taste on her tongue was bitter and fresh. She could recognize it as betrayal now. When had it become such a familiar feeling? “You knew?”

“No!” York said. “I—look, he was a bastard, but you were paying him, so I didn’t think—I didn’t know he’d—”

Kimball had heard plenty.

“Agent York, I think that’s enough for now,” she said, and she was amazed by the steadiness of her own voice. She didn’t feel steady. First Felix, then Harris… what was next? Tucker? Caboose? Was there anyone that she could trust? “You’re dismissed.”

There was a moment when he just looked at her. Then his gaze jumped to Carolina for a moment, almost as if he was expecting her to have something to add, before looking back to Kimball. He nodded once, then saluted her. But it wasn’t the normal, lazy one that usually could make her smile, even on the worst days, but a proper salute, stiff and formal.

And then he left, leaving Kimball alone with the other Freelancer and the other AI.

[passiveincome0]

Nasdaq Leads $20 Million Funding Round for Blockchain Startup Symbiont

Enterprise blockchain startup Symbiont has closed a $20 million Series-B funding round led by Nasdaq Ventures with participation from Galaxy Digital, Citi, Raptor Group and others. The firm, which has kept a fairly low profile the last two years as the cryptocurrency market’s gyrations overshadowed the enterprise sector, previously raised a combined $15.4 million from a seed round in 2014 and Series A in 2017. Symbiont CEO Mark Smith told CoinDesk that the firm doubled its staff last year, and now has more than 60 employees. “We have been very good stewards of capital for the six years we have been in business. I think we have done more with less than anybody out there,” Smith said. “So it was time for us to do a bigger round and adding the Nasdaq as an investor and partner, and Citi as an investor and partner, really solidifies our strategy.” As part of the investment, Nasdaq Financial Framework, a software company owned by the exchange, will integrate Symbiont’s Assembly smart contracts platform to explore new avenues involving tokenization. Smith, a veteran of the early days of financial market matching engines, explained there has been a big movement towards combining blockchain with traditional exchange technology. “Symbiont will give Nasdaq the ability to originate a financial instrument and the smart contract to custody it on a blockchain, to allow trading to occur with their matching engine, to allow surveillance to occur across the network using Nasdaq technology and then to perform settlement on a blockchain,” he said. To be clear, Symbiont is not working with the Nasdaq proper, just the software arm, which sells tech to other exchanges, clearing houses and central securities depositories in about 50 countries. As Smith put it: “We are infrastructure people: dirt under the fingernails, digging the ditches, laying the roads.”

Win some, lose some

Indeed, Symbiont has kept a firm focus on building capital markets infrastructure using a proprietary blockchain and smart contracts architecture. The startup has lasered in on a handful of carefully selected use cases and partners, such as index data management with investment giant Vanguard; making the mortgage market transparent and more efficient with Wall Street legend Lewis Ranieri; and optimizing the syndicated loans market with Ipreo’s Synaps platform. However, not all its partnerships panned out. For instance, Symbiont dedicated a lot of time and effort between 2015 and 2017 helping create a blockchain technology-enabled regulatory environment in the state of Delaware, creating rules for share registry and the ability to create a whole new class of securities. All that work, done free of charge, came to naught for Symbiont when Governor Jack Markell’s term ended, according to Smith. “The new administration came in with less fanfare about the use of the technology and a very conservative approach,” he said. “Instead of moving forward, they took a big step back and decided to defend the incumbents against what they considered disruptive tech, then reached out to IBM and spent over $1 million replicating the exact road map we gave the state.” (The precise amount of the single-bid contract was $738,000, according to the Delaware News Journal.) Another wrench was thrown into the works last August, when Symbiont’s partner on syndicated loans, Ipreo, was acquired by IHS Markit, which has worked with ethereum-based Quorum (developed by JPMorgan) on this use case. Smith could not say too much about this but hinted that Symbiont’s new big-bank investor would go to bat for it on the syndicated loan front. “Certainly with Citi now in our cap table we can see how this is going to move forward,” he said. (Citi was the world’s third-largest underwriter of syndicated loans last year, running $271 billion of transactions, according to Thomson Reuters data.)

Competitive landscape

It’s common these days to view the enterprise blockchain world as consisting of Hyperedger, R3, Digital Asset and enterprise ethereum variants. Symbiont has been around for as long as any of these forks, consortiums or other proprietary solutions, and Smith is never shy about sharing his opinion of them.   “I would argue that we are the only enterprise blockchain solution,” he said. The others, he contended, either aren’t really blockchains or have privacy and security shortcomings or haven’t produced anything beyond ideas. On the subject of corralling together large consortiums, Smith believes innovation always comes from individuals and small teams that are able to iterate quickly and nimbly. “I think what you get in consortiums is just compromise. You end up with average tech, nothing revolutionary – sometimes barely evolutionary. Creating a back office as a service with a shared ledger is not revolutionary. That’s what a consortium will get you,” Smith said. So what does Symbiont have to show for its work? Smith said several of its projects will enter production in 2019, starting with the Vanguard collaboration, which uses corporate action data to manage the asset manager’s passive indices. Syndicated loans and mortgages will follow. As far as the sustained bear market for crypto assets is concerned, Smith said from day one his firm had stayed away from those sorts of “shenanigans.” “We kept our head down and focused on what we always believed would be the marketplace, which is a regulated marketplace,” he said. Of course, he is very sad to hear of people losing their jobs and said it was unfortunate that many people lost a lot of money. But overall, Smith said he is glad to be out of the hype cycle, concluding,    “We are in the trough of disillusionment and I am extremely excited.” Mark Smith image via CoinDesk Consensus archives !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=;t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '239547076708948'); fbq('track', "PageView"); Source link Read the full article

[cryptoquicknews-blog]

New Post has been published here https://is.gd/IrbHic

Nasdaq Leads $20 Million Funding Round for Blockchain Startup Symbiont

This post was originally published here

Enterprise blockchain startup Symbiont has closed a $20 million Series-B funding round led by Nasdaq Ventures with participation from Galaxy Digital, Citi, Raptor Group and others.

The firm, which has kept a fairly low profile the last two years as the cryptocurrency market’s gyrations overshadowed the enterprise sector, previously raised a combined $15.4 million from a seed round in 2014 and Series A in 2017.

Symbiont CEO Mark Smith told CoinDesk that the firm doubled its staff last year, and now has more than 60 employees.

“We have been very good stewards of capital for the six years we have been in business. I think we have done more with less than anybody out there,” Smith said. “So it was time for us to do a bigger round and adding the Nasdaq as an investor and partner, and Citi as an investor and partner, really solidifies our strategy.”

As part of the investment, Nasdaq Financial Framework, a software company owned by the exchange, will integrate Symbiont’s Assembly smart contracts platform to explore new avenues involving tokenization.

Smith, a veteran of the early days of financial market matching engines, explained there has been a big movement towards combining blockchain with traditional exchange technology.

“Symbiont will give Nasdaq the ability to originate a financial instrument and the smart contract to custody it on a blockchain, to allow trading to occur with their matching engine, to allow surveillance to occur across the network using Nasdaq technology and then to perform settlement on a blockchain,” he said.

To be clear, Symbiont is not working with the Nasdaq proper, just the software arm, which sells tech to other exchanges, clearing houses and central securities depositories in about 50 countries.

As Smith put it:

“We are infrastructure people: dirt under the fingernails, digging the ditches, laying the roads.”

Win some, lose some

Indeed, Symbiont has kept a firm focus on building capital markets infrastructure using a proprietary blockchain and smart contracts architecture.

The startup has lasered in on a handful of carefully selected use cases and partners, such as index data management with investment giant Vanguard; making the mortgage market transparent and more efficient with Wall Street legend Lewis Ranieri; and optimizing the syndicated loans market with Ipreo’s Synaps platform.

However, not all its partnerships panned out. For instance, Symbiont dedicated a lot of time and effort between 2015 and 2017 helping create a blockchain technology-enabled regulatory environment in the state of Delaware, creating rules for share registry and the ability to create a whole new class of securities.

All that work, done free of charge, came to naught for Symbiont when Governor Jack Markell’s term ended, according to Smith.

“The new administration came in with less fanfare about the use of the technology and a very conservative approach,” he said. “Instead of moving forward, they took a big step back and decided to defend the incumbents against what they considered disruptive tech, then reached out to IBM and spent over $1 million replicating the exact road map we gave the state.” (The precise amount of the single-bid contract was $738,000, according to the Delaware News Journal.)

Another wrench was thrown into the works last August, when Symbiont’s partner on syndicated loans, Ipreo, was acquired by IHS Markit, which has worked with ethereum-based Quorum (developed by JPMorgan) on this use case.

Smith could not say too much about this but hinted that Symbiont’s new big-bank investor would go to bat for it on the syndicated loan front. “Certainly with Citi now in our cap table we can see how this is going to move forward,” he said.

Competitive landscape

It’s common these days to view the enterprise blockchain world as consisting of Hyperedger, R3, Digital Asset and enterprise ethereum variants. Symbiont has been around for as long as any of these forks, consortiums or other proprietary solutions, and Smith is never shy about sharing his opinion of them.  

“I would argue that we are the only enterprise blockchain solution,” he said. The others, he contended, either aren’t really blockchains or have privacy and security shortcomings or haven’t produced anything beyond ideas.

On the subject of corralling together large consortiums, Smith believes innovation always comes from individuals and small teams that are able to iterate quickly and nimbly.

“I think what you get in consortiums is just compromise. You end up with average tech, nothing revolutionary – sometimes barely evolutionary. Creating a back office as a service with a shared ledger is not revolutionary. That’s what a consortium will get you,” Smith said.

So what does Symbiont have to show for its work? Smith said several of its projects will enter production in 2019, starting with the Vanguard collaboration, which uses corporate action data to manage the asset manager’s passive indices. Syndicated loans and mortgages will follow.

As far as the sustained bear market for crypto assets is concerned, Smith said from day one his firm had stayed away from those sorts of “shenanigans.”

“We kept our head down and focused on what we always believed would be the marketplace, which is a regulated marketplace,” he said.

Of course, he is very sad to hear of people losing their jobs and said it was unfortunate that many people lost a lot of money. But overall, Smith said he is glad to be out of the hype cycle, concluding,   

“We are in the trough of disillusionment and I am extremely excited.”

Mark Smith image via CoinDesk Consensus archives

#crypto #cryptocurrency #btc #xrp #litecoin #altcoin #money #currency #finance #news #alts #hodl #coindesk #cointelegraph #dollar #bitcoin View the website

New Post has been published here https://is.gd/IrbHic

[padfootdidit]

on the road to you (pt.1)

It’s here! The first chapter of my Jellicoe Road AU :) I’ve really enjoyed writing this and so I hope you guys all like it. It’s based on Melina Marchetta’s ‘Jellicoe Road’, which is one of my favourite books. (It’s okay if you haven’t read it the book, it’s still possible to follow the fic.) Atm I’m hoping there’ll be 6 chapters in total, though I can’t promise a regular posting schedule. If you have any questions/thoughts/etc just shoot me a message <3

Thank you so much to Jess (@theodoornott) and Linds (@snapslikethis) for betaing this and thank you to Caroline and Ellie (@jiilys and @alrightpotter) for loving the idea and cheering me on :) 

Also I know it’s sort of cheating but I’d like to give this first chapter as a belated birthday present to the ever beautiful Ria (@gxldentrio), whose smile makes the world a better place.

Word count; 4,778 & Rating: G (some swearing)

Read it on AO3!

Prologue

My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die. I counted. It happened on the Jellicoe Road. The prettiest road I’ve ever seen, where trees made breezy canopies like a tunnel to Shangri-la…

We were going to where my parents had met, so many years ago. They wanted to show me what loved looked like, because they weren’t sure I would ever see it for myself. That’s when the other car hit us and everything changed. My mother only took twenty seconds to die and, once she had, I heard her voice immediately. She was in the other car, not quite crying, but almost. She asked me to crawl through, said she couldn’t move and that her sister needed help. Lily, she said she was called, and her sister was Petunia, except she wasn’t Petunia anymore because she’d stopped breathing. I took Lily’s hand and we counted to hundred and thirty two and then a boy named Sirius came along on his bike and saved both of us.

People asked me later why I thought we’d been spared and, although I couldn’t say it out loud, I thought it was because someone knew we had to, to save each other.

CHAPTER ONE

Twenty Two Years Later

I’m dragged out of bed at one in the morning and led downstairs by the seniors. Girls and boys who will be gone tomorrow and won’t have to suffer through another summer of war. They tell me to be quiet, as if I’m about to yell out to our house father that I’m being kidnapped, and push me first through the bike shed door. My eyes take a second to adjust to the torch light and by the time I can check who’s in the room, the meeting has begun.

“We leave tomorrow and pass the baton on to you. You’ve all been trained and now it’s time to use that training to win the war, ” the leader of Darling house says solemnly.

“All the leaders have chosen who shall be in charge,” the-one-in-charge-right-now says. And then all the house leaders look at me, and I see Hermione’s shoulders visible drop. Everyone, myself included, had thought it would be her. Ron had said they wouldn’t choose someone with such temperamental people skills and I wish I had listened. If I had, I might have been prepared. As it happens, I’m not and my house leader has to nudge me forward.

“You aren’t the obvious choice, Harry,” he says, and all I can think is no kidding. “But you know this place better than any of us and we trust you.” The one-in-charge-no-longer hands me The Purple Book, we watch the seniors leave, and then all eyes turn to me.

“Plans, Potter?” Draco spits. I know he’s probably going to be more of a pain in my arse than the Cadets.

“Granger is my Deputy.” Not exactly awe-inspiring first words, but I need to set up my authority and back up quickly.

Hermione crosses her arms. “Thank you.” She doesn’t sound very thankful.

“We need the Prayer Tree.” Cho Chang says, and my stomach drops a bit.

“We don’t need the Prayer Tree, you just want it because of -”

“Draco, shut up.” I interrupt before he can finish his sentence. He’s already done the damage though, and Hermione shuffles over to put her arm around Cho.

Hermione glares at Draco. “I say we try for the Prayer Tree.”

“It’s not top priority,” I point out. “If we need anything, it’s the paths to town.”

“Jock can’t handle an extra five miles?” Draco’s insults have never been particularly refined and so it’s easy to ignore him.

“We’ll draw up a game plan tomorrow. Let’s go to bed.” I hold the door open for the girls and ensure I’m at least a metre away from Draco for the walk back to the houses. Hermione hugs Cho, wishes me good night and vanishes into Lachlan house. Draco slinks off silently. Being the ever noble gentleman, I make sure Cho makes the extra 50 yards to her house okay before turning back to my own.

I hope I’ll be able to make it up to my room without anyone seeing me, but everyone is waiting up for me. Neville reaches me first.

“So? Who is it?” He asks, all the others waiting just as eagerly for my answer.

“It’s me.” I hold up a hand. “Go to bed, we’ll talk tomorrow.” The juniors groan, but I can tell they’re excited because I have to go down twice in the night to tell them to shut up. Neville is almost as bad, except he picks up that I want to be left alone by my third yawn and says goodnight.

I get into bed and turn the light off, rolling onto my side so I can look out of the window. Down by the river I can see Lupin’s house, the attic window lit up. I want to go tell him, ask him for help, but he’ll just tell me off for being up and out so late, so I roll away and go to sleep.

The next morning I have to face my house and the teachers. Somehow, I survive the formal head of house ceremony without punching Draco in the face. His voice is audible the whole time as he whispers to his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. I don’t have to pay attention to know he’s trying to convince everyone around him that I’m too mentally unstable for the job. Running away from school with one of the enemy will give you that reputation. Only I know the whole story though, so I just ignore him as Dumbledore congratulates me on becoming a house leader and Lupin winks at me from the teacher’s table.

Afterwards, the leaders gather in the bike shed and spend an hour wasting time arguing over what should be our aim to get back. Cho quietly fights for the Prayer Tree whilst Draco comes up with anything other than what I suggest. Eventually, I break.

“Right. As productive as this is, I think we should check all the boundaries. Draco and Cho, go back to the houses so the teachers don’t get suspicious. Hermione, with me.” I pick up the map and The Purple Book and get out before I can be questioned. Hermione catches up with me by the first bike trail and well fall into step.

“So, are we good?” I ask once we’ve been walking in silence for five minutes.

“You made me Deputy. We’re alright.” She smiles, and I’m glad we haven’t lost several years of friendship over the senior’s choice. “You heard who’s the new Townie leader?”

“There were rumours about it being one of the Patils.”

“Well, according to Luna Lovegood, it’s Ron.”

“Ron Weasley?”

She smiles, her expression sort of nostalgic. “The one and only.”

“The meetings will be fun. The Weasleys are always easy going.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Hermione says as we come to a stop by the closest boundary to the Cadet camp.

“What? Why?”

“Ginny is head of the Cadets.” Hermione looks at me, waiting for a reaction.

It takes all my strength not to give her the satisfaction, but my voice is calm when I reply, “How?”

“Well, she’s one of their best.”

“But they’re brother and sister.” I turn to look at the currently non-existent Cadet camp. “Can that work?”

“She spends most of her time in Sydney, the only difference between her and the other Cadets is that she’s here every holiday.” Hermione, as usual, is right. Being the only girl in her family, Ginny Weasley had taken it upon herself, at the tender age of eleven, to apply to one of the best schools in the country, without telling her parents. Molly and Arthur Weasley had only found out about it when they received the acceptance letter. Then, a year later, Ginny had managed to persuade the school to allow girls on to their all male Cadet programme. No one had been sure if she did it so she could see her family more often, or if she had a genuine interest in joining the army. Even when we’d spent three days together on the run, I hadn’t been able to figure it out.

“Do you think Ron knows yet?” I ask, still refusing to look at her because I’m not sure I look nonchalant enough.

“Judging by the fact he hasn’t given up the leadership, no, I don’t think he does know.” She smirks to herself and we continue walking.

“At least it will be an interesting first meeting then.”

They meet James and Peter exactly a year after the accident. Sirius has kept them alive, his sharpness and his energy the only thing to stop them from trying to join their families. Every day he was there, giving Lily piggy back rides and teaching Remus poker. Whenever Lily started to cry because the memory of Petunia was wilting in her mind, Sirius was there. If Remus couldn’t smile because all he could remember was his father hating him instead of loving him, Sirius was there. He was a beacon for both of them and they were his haven. That year, the best school in the country decided they could improve so set up a six week summer education project for the year eights to year eleven as part of the Cadet programme. They would set up camp during September and leave at the end of October. Sirius couldn’t wait. He was excited for the war games.

Peter noticed the broken flowers first, but James saw the girl. She was watching them from the other side of the road, an angel.

“Look.” Peter nudged James and pointed to the flowers the Cadets in front of them had trodden on. There were four poppies and one other flower James couldn’t identify. They were meant to be there, the circle of stones around them suggesting a purpose. He couldn’t be sure that the girl looked sad because the flowers were destroyed, yet both he and Peter jogged around the stones and agreed to come back the next day.

All of them were there then. Remus holding Lily’s hand and Sirius wearing the same expression a guard dog wore when there was an intruder. James recognised the girl from yesterday and waved tentatively.

“You’re doing it wrong.” Sirius called across.

“Want to help?” James replied.

“We’re sorry.” Peter added, looking at James reproachfully.

“It always happens.” Remus dismissed the apology, checked if the road was clear and then crossed, leading the girl too. Sirius followed disdainfully.

“They have to be here though.” Lily said softly as she knelt beside Peter and showed him how the seed should be planted.

“We only have poppies.” James told her, wanting her to speak to him. ‘“I wasn’t sure -”

“Petunia. She was - it was a Petunia.” She pulled a seed from her pocket and held her palm out flat so he could see.

They don’t introduce themselves until the flowers are planted, forgetting they don’t know each other for a moment whilst their hands are all buried in the soil together.

At the same time the next day, the boys returned and the trio were there, waiting. It’s the same until the Cadets leave. Sirius was always last to cross, and James and Peter have to earn the smile on his face. It took them three weeks to see his energy and by that time they know Remus and Lily. The two are like parts of a circuit which need Sirius, their switch, their current, to turn them on and make them come to life. In their tent at night, James and Peter wondered if they would ever be part of that circuit.

The next year they looked for a sign as the Cadet bus pulled onto the Jellicoe road. A sign that their friends hadn’t forgotten them, moved on, let the lights go out. And they get one.

Lily, Remus and Sirius came out of the forest, chasing the buses on their bikes until Lily tired and skidded to a halt. Sirius kept up for the longest, pointing to the tree that stood above all the others so Peter and James would know where to meet them. As Sirius turned to bike back to the others, James leant across to whisper in Peter’s ear.

“Let’s never lose them.”

It was James and Sirius’ idea to play war. The two were always trying to one up the other with their shooting skills, James never having used a loaded gun unless under supervision but having had vigorous hours of routine training, whereas Sirius had grown up with bullets in his kitchen drawers and had taught himself. They were both tall and skinny, agile beyond any of the others’ capabilities, so the only real competition was between them. Except when it came to sprinting. Lily would seem to have finished the race before either of the black-headed boys got off the mark, something Sirius had grown accustomed to but James could never quite seem to let go.

“You can be the messenger.” He said to her when they were all sitting down by the river, Sirius paddling and trying to find stones to fit in his catapult.. Peter and Remus were playing cards, vaguely listening to the plan.

“I don’t want to be the messenger. I want to be the general.” Lily sounded indignant, which was how she usually sounded whenever James underestimated her. She liked to make out that it was a regular occurrence, when really it was only the occasional slip up.

“You can’t be the general. You’ll have to be a general.” Sirius said, crouching to inspect the river bed.

“How many generals are there?” Peter asked, grinning smugly as he won the hand.

“Three.” James said.

“One for each region. The town,”

“- the school, -”

“- and the Cadets.” Sirius finished. Finishing each other’s sentences was a new habit and Lily rolled her eyes.  “You and Remus will lead the school, Peter and I will lead the Cadets and Sirius will lead the townies. If they can comprehend the basic rules of warfare that is.”

Quick as a flash, Sirius had his catapult loaded and James groaned as a pebble smashed into his shin. “You little shit!” They were lost for a moment as James launched himself up and charged at Sirius who, ever the quick thinker, shot off another catapult and then dived into the river, disappearing. He and Lily had been practicing holding their breaths and so James stood on the bank, watching the water. The record was three minutes so far.

“How are we going to persuade everyone else?” Remus had given in to Peter’s superior skills and joined James on the bank.

“They’re all bored out their minds. At least we are.” Peter said, shuffling the cards.

“I’m ready to throw myself into the river and never come up.” Lily agreed, rolling onto her back and looking up at the sky. “Running away is a lot less hassle than starting a war.”

“No ravishing in running away.” James said, looking over his shoulder and taking the opportunity whilst Lily’s eyes were shut to stare at her bare legs.

“You’re a perv.” Remus said and knocked James’ shoulder.

“Was he looking at me again?” Lily asked innocently, leaning up on her elbows to look at James.

“No.” James says at the same time Remus and Peter both say “Yes.” Lily grins.

Sirius surfaces then, clothes and hair plastered to his body, twenty metres down from where he went under. He gives James the middle finger and swims to shore, James waiting for him to reach the group before tackling him to the ground and sitting on his chest. They tussled for a moment and then collapsed next to each other, shit eating grins on their faces.

“Do you think you can explain the rest of this game to us now?” Remus asked dryly.

“It’s not a game.”

“It’s war.” They said, and sat up. It took them another ten minutes to actually begin to explain the game because James pulled a purple book from his back pocket and Remus, Lily and Peter spend eight minutes tearing into the two of them for writing rules. Finally, everyone agreed to shut up and Sirius and James began. By the end of the explanation of the game, and the then fifty six rules, it actually sounded appealing. As Peter has said, everyone was bored out of their minds so it probably wouldn’t even be difficult to persuade all the other townies, students and Cadets to join in.

“Which one of you will lead the school?” Sirius asked.

“Lily.” Remus said, without even consulting her. She didn't seem to mind. “All the house leaders will be on the board of war, and there will be one supreme leader.”

“James will lead the Cadets and I’ll be his Deputy.” Peter added.

“And I shall rule the townies!” Sirius punched a victorious fist into the air and Lily nudged him so he fell onto his side.

“Loser.”

“Is what you’ll be when I win.” He retorted.

“We’ll have to make a map. People won’t be able to just remember the boundaries.” Remus said.

“We’ll draw a map.”

“Three maps. One for each.”

“And then -”

“We go to war”. They all grinned at each other and, at that moment, no one would have guessed any of them had ever known sadness.

We spend the week before the Cadets arrive reminding the juniors of the boundaries and battling over what we should try and trade for first. Cho resolutely campaigns for the Prayer Tree as our first priority, Draco continues to be a dick about everything, and Hermione remains both peace keeper and my only ally in the push for the paths to town. Ron has apparently been grounded by his mother, so we can’t set up a meeting with the townies and it’s becoming increasingly obvious how weak we actually are. None of the seniors had hinted at anything, just left it to us to sort out their mess.

The paths were lost four years ago, the Prayer Tree last year and, although we owned the waterways and all of the land actually belonging to the school legally, we were pretty isolated. The townies and Cadets could move around with ease since the Townies gained the paths and the Cadets got the bike trails. Even one of those would cut the walk to town down to ten minutes for us. Most of the other territories we had were useless because we couldn’t access them without trespassing on someone else’s land or because it didn’t give us any advantage.

“Except for the Club House.” Lupin says once I’ve finished complaining to him.

I frown. “The Townies have the Club House.”

“But you own the moat.” He circles the tiny waterway, symbolised by a thin blue line, on the map which technically means the Club House is on an island.

“There’s a bridge. We don’t own the bridge.”

“Who does?” He asks, taking a sip of his lemonade and then leaning back in his chair. I saw him last week but he looks older already. No one’s sure exactly how old Lupin is and I’ve just always figured he’s in his early thirties, even though he looks like he survived a war.

“No one.”

“Get rid of the bridge.” He looks smug. “Then you have a bargaining chip.”

I pause, look at the map, back at him and then back to the map again. “Are you suggesting destruction of property?”

“Your parents would have approved.” Immediately he realises what he’s said and looks away, the self hatred visible on his face. This happens sometimes. He slips up and breaks whatever promise he broke to whoever he made it about keeping me as much in the dark as he can about my parents.

It makes me hate him, just a little bit. They were my parents and all I know is that my mother left me at the 7-11 on Jellicoe Road when I was 11 and never came back for me. Add that to running away and my reputation looks even worse. Lupin knows them, or knew them, and I’m pretty sure he’s the only link I’ll ever have to them. He picked me up fifteen minutes after my mother drove away and I’ve lived with him since, at the house at the end of the Jellicoe School property, by the river. I can’t remember much before I came here, just a patchwork of different wallpapers, a slither of light under a door and, the pièce de résistance of my memories: being swung between two giants, my feet barely grazing the floor, flying.

I take the map from the table and tuck it into my pocket. “Guess that ends today’s session then.”

“You don’t have to go.” Lupin starts as I stand up and move towards the door. “I -”

“Forget it. I’ve got a war to win anyway.” I force a smile and slam the door behind me, knowing he won’t follow. He never does. I stand on the veranda for a second, trying to stop my hands from shaking. They don’t stop so I make to go before noticing the table. It’s an old lawn table, two green plastic chairs tucked neatly in beneath it. On top of it is the manuscript, held down by two paperweights even though there’s no wind. It looks thicker than last time.

Lupin has been writing it for as long as I can remember. It’s never in order and I only sneak reads when I’m alone in the house but I feel more connected to the characters in there then my own parents, sometimes they seem even realer than Hermione and Neville. I push away the thought of snagging a few pages and start a jog up to the houses, trying to clear my mind. It doesn’t work and when one of the year eights attempts to ask me for homework help, I just ignore him and climb the stairs to my room.

I pay for ignoring the kid the next day when Neville confronts me, nervously, about it. We’re serving the juniors and I’m embarrassed that they can hear him reprimanding me. Luckily, he’s cut short because one of Cho’s girls bursts into the hall and skids to a halt next to me.

She bends over and clutches her knees. “Cadets. Here. Meeting. Decided.” She pants, accepting a glass of water one of my year nines hands her. Everyone who hears looks to me expectantly. Flitwick, our house father, is watching from the dessert station and I know I’ll have to come up with an excuse for the girl’s interruption.

“What are the details?” I ask, snapping the serving gloves off my hands and guiding her away from the eavesdropping juniors.

“Cadets arrived ten minutes ago and Ron sent a messenger, Ernie Macmillan, saying he wants a meeting tonight.”

“Where’s Macmillan now?”

“Being watched by two of our year tens. They’re on the girls rugby team.” She says, almost defensively.

“Right. Tell him we agree to the meeting. Eleven o’clock on neutral territory.” I cast around for somewhere neutral with a building we’d be able to break into. “The Barn. And then go tell all the other house leaders I want to see them in the bike shed after lunch. You got that?”

She hands me the glass, nods and then runs out, dodging clamouring juniors who want to know what’s going on. I join Neville again and whisper the news to him, raising an eyebrow at any kid who lingers too long. Once everyone’s been served we gulp our own lunches down, make a lame excuse to Flitwick about the girl asking us to join some of the other houses on a bushwalk, hand over responsibility of the kids to him and head towards the bike shed.

Cho’s already there and when Hermione and Draco have arrived, we get to business straight away. “This is it. I’m going to take Hermione and Neville and -”

“Why them?” Draco interrupts.

“Hermione is my Deputy, plus she knows Ron and Neville is back up.” I say assertively. Draco looks Neville up and down and then scoffs. Neville blushes, Hermione rolls her eyes and it’s all very not focused. “Anyway. I have a plan.” I tell them what I’ve come up with, shout down Hermione’s objections and Draco’s alternative suggestions, thank Cho for her support and then end the meeting because I want to get on with the plan as quickly as possible. By the time all the juniors are in bed, the plan has been carried out and I lie in bed staring at my clock, wishing time would move faster.

We’re the second ones to arrive at the Barn and I’m grateful that we beat the Cadets. Ron greets me with a handshake and an awkward slap on the back because that’s what acquaintances who are now opposing leaders do apparently. Hermione refuses to look him in the eye and I make a mental note to find out why. He introduces us to his Deputy, Seamus, and we chat for awhile about how shit being at school is. Then the Cadets arrive.

Ginny comes in first and Ron’s draw drops, proving Hermione right, and now I’m the one refusing to meet a Weasley’s eye. Not that she looks at me particularly, just spares a nod and a glance in my direction before taking the last seat at the trestle table.

“What the fuck?” Ron finally manages to spit out.

“You kiss our mother with that mouth?” Ginny asks, tipping the chair back casually. I’d forgotten what she sounded like and I press my heel into my shin until it hurts so I don’t get distracted. I’d forgotten what she looked like too. Sort of. Far prettier than any girl at school. Except pretty didn’t really begin to cover it.

“What the fuck?” Ron repeats and the two girls behind Ginny snigger. Maybe there’s something in Sydney’s water because they too are incredibly pretty. “How are you leader?”

“I’m the best there is.” She answers, probably having expected a reaction similar to this.

“And no one told me?” Ron whips around to look accusingly at Seamus.

Seamus holds his hands up in surrender. “I had no clue. They kept it pretty quiet.”

“Didn’t want to give you any sort of advantage now, did we?” Ginny says, sickly sweet. I press my heel harder into my shin. “Now we’re all acquainted…” her eyes flash imperceptibly to me, “should we try to fight this war?”

The first war council ended with nineteen new rules in what has come to be known as The Purple Book and a very rough draft of a map. It had been discovered that none of them were very good artists, aside from James who bragged so much about it Sirius stole the pencil from him and snapped it, that they’d have to get one of the Jellicoe School’s art students to do it.

All in all, it hadn’t been a great success. Peter blamed Sirius and James for arguing too much, James blamed Sirius for being too much of a prat, Sirius blamed Lily for being too greedy with territory, Lily blamed Peter and Remus for being too pedantic about rules, and Remus blamed Lily and James for distracting each other too much. So much so in fact, that rule number 63 was ‘there can be no cavorting between enemy leaders’.

They held a war council every night for a week until the map had been finalised, everyone else had been brought on board and there were two hundred and six rules in The Purple Book.

The War officially started during the last week of the Cadets stay and it only took a day for there to be a broken arm, thirty new rules, and a capturing of territory by the Townies. Sirius, as it transpired, was an excellent strategist and it took James the rest of the week to capture the territory back. On the last day of the Cadets stay, they called the ceasefire until next year and said goodbye to James and Peter. Just like they did they did every year, Lily, Remus and Sirius followed the buses on their bikes for as long as they could and waved furiously until they vanished off the Jellicoe Road.

When the buses came back the next year, The Purple Book had 558 rules in it.

[driftwork]

in the rain, difference of couples (3)...

The morning began with blue skies and fair weather cloud, she woke early and thought he was coming home today. She went into the office around ten AM in time for a quick espresso and  meetings, discussions of a two new projects, presented by programme managers and a brief  third meeting with the head of security.  Afterwards she sat on the sofa outside her office and chatted to her PA...

It started to rain in  the the late afternoon.  She was glad she had taken the afternoon off and had ended up working at home,  because the rain was so heavy that after an hour the roads were running with water and the gutters were turbulent streams running down hill. What had seemed like solid bodies, really slow moving fluids, had transformed into fast moving liquids. Water was beginning to cascade into the flower beds in front of the house, the drainage systems  (were) fighting a losing battle against the flow of water/rain. She ate crisps, some fruit and drank tea and waited. (She had long thought  that they had not waited for external forces before deviating from their previous path(s). Deviation had occurred spontaneously,  with no cause and no end, two singularities colliding in a hotel (she smiled at the thought) is the clinamen that would cause her to be standing in the porch many years later looking at the rain and waiting for him to return. An accidental meeting, a week spent together and so years later she was standing here watching the rain, waiting. )

  She hadn't gone to the airport to meet him this time. Earlier in the week on Tuesday morning She had dropped him off at terminal 5 and he'd said that he would take  a taxi home from the terminal taxi rank, rather than have her waste time waiting in the airport for his inevitably delayed flight. She always worried when he was away and she was unable to protect him,  just as he knew that he had to go away on these work trips to protect her, them [...] Rain drops falling through the atmosphere, deviating from their trajectory a little, swerving, just so much as you might call a change of motion. This, she knew were (the) drops falling in space who collided out of need, necessity and desire, me and him,  I and him, fluxions falling together. I am desperate to protect him and them and he is equally desperate to protect us.

The children were back from school now. She stood by the window listening to the familiar noises of the house, dominated at this time by her eldest daughter playing japanese pop upstairs whilst doing her homework, she could hear her younger one playing some  computer game in the library. Even if his flight was on time the earliest he could arrive would be in a few hours time. She felt uncertain and restless and  really didn't understand why. She had a pile of discarded sentences and phrases that she had thought of over the past few days to explain  what had happened, what she was going to start doing. She imagined that he would want some form of explanation, but had none to give. She had never been very good at explaining her actions,  things just happened and even now she never really understood the events. The movement of bodies, events was she thought a liquid model...

An hour or so later,  having made the children something to eat, stir fry with pieces of salmon in mild goju flavored sauce, with thin egg noodles,  she was back in front of the window.  It was still raining, possibly harder than before, it was a real gale now with high winds. Everything was black with rain, cascading down in the light from the LED street lamp, occasionally raindrops merged with other raindrops causing them to become solid and heavy,  whilst other drops split and the separate drops headed in different directions, still cascading through the light from the street lamp  or striking the window. The cars were driving slowly in the rain, The few pedestrians were leaning into the wind to maintain an upright stance.

Her younger daughter wanted pudding, an extra dessert. She gave her some chocolate mousse, hearing this the older daughter emerged from in front of the TV, laughing she gave her some to.  The TV was full of news about the storm, they had given the storm a woman's name, which all the presenters had adopted. Why do they anthropomorphize the weather, she wondered. The south coast was flooding  due to the very high tides, a tsunami running up the channel eastwards. The power was off on some of the coastal towns. Flooding was already happening  in some places to the south. The journalists who were reporting on the events all had heavy waterproofs on and were speaking into specially shielded microphones, still they appeared to be very happy, only getting serious when they spoke about the costs of the damage and the personal injuries.

She looked up the flight details on the net,  she could see that the flight had been delayed by an hour but was now enroute to london. He phoned up as she  was reading this explaining that they were about to take off to fly to london. He told her that he was looking forward to getting home and that he'd grabbed a sandwich to eat whilst waiting to take off.  See you later he said I'll hang up first he said. She realised she hadn’t mentioned what had happened. It was pitch black now, the branches of the tall cherry tree bouncing up and down, back and forth between the house and the street light. There were no cars or people outside now. She had originally thought they might eat together when he got back but it was going to be to late now so that she decided to eat something. She didn't know what to make and  regretted not eating with the kids now. She found some udon noodles, put some water on to cook them and chopped up a part of a red pepper, a similar amount of yellow pepper and some green leaf things,  a handful of king size prawns. a mushroom or two and prepared some sauce with red miso paste. cooked, fried in sesame oil ... She sat and ate at the table chatting with her daughters who came into the room to inspect the food she was eating.  They tried a prawn or two coated in the sauce, taking them from her bowl.

They asked if their japanese aunt was coming to visit over the weekend? I think they are travelling here on the same plane as your dad. Do you have any homework to finish?  No already done it, tomorrow is jeans friday her older daughter said. Is that why I had to wash them all, so you could choose? Yes... And its crisps friday. Her younger daughter said with glee.   Are we going to the dojo tomorrow after school ? Yes, I thought I might stay to watch. After she has eaten she is in the library checking messages from work when Jimmy Ruffin begins to sing "What becomes of a broken heart " - she dances and and becomes aware that her daughter is watching her dance from the doorway.  ("Not exactly mum dancing..." she thinks as her mother flows back into an upright position, and laughs) It was getting late and she she sent them up to prepare for bed.... It was as always a slow and civilized process. Ending with taking a glass of water to her younger childs bedroom and tucking her into bed, chatting about school again, she was asleep ten minutes later. The older child went to bed around 9.30 and she left her reading upstairs. A sign on the door saying no entry in English and Japanese.

Sometime later there was a message on her phone.  The flight had just landed and he would be back in an hour or so, Because they were so late they were being hurried through passport control and customs. And outside  the same rain is there again the perfect representation of declineation, like the drops of rain.  She thought that Heraclitus was wrong to say 'No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.'  For its always the same rain and always the same man. There we have it.

She turned on the TV.  A woman was standing in front of a map explaining where the storm front had come from and the direction it was heading, out across the north sea towards mainland europe. The worst was almost over but there would be high winds and some rain for the rest of the night and the next day. She ignored the rest of the news and comment and turned the TV off. Made a cup of white tea and read a couple of essays on Hegel before going upstairs to go to bed. She fell asleep on the bed the book open beside her, the sidelights still on, Her silk pajama jacket was open exposing the part of the dragon tattoo that ran beneath her breasts and curled round onto her back. She woke to the sound of the taxi, car pulling up in front of the house. She knew it was him, she went downstairs, past her daughters rooms, downstairs to the front door where he was fumbling with his keys and opened the front foor.  He just stood there,  his grey suitcase next to him. she stepped towards him. Put her arms around him and kissed him. A sudden gust of cold wind  blew some rain drops onto them. "Ï am so tired he said..." he said. She pulled him into the house like a flow of liquid, a stream, a cataract, a horizontal gesture of relief and shut the door behind them.

Would you like something to drink ? She asked him. And some thing to eat, he said, the food was terrible on the flight. She made some white tea and gave him some suchi rolls from the fridge.  He told her about the delays, how they'd stayed on the runways in Geneva and in london for ages. waiting for the window in spacetime to clear for them. Nobody knew what was going on, he said.  I was thinking we would be stuck in Geneva all night. At least I had some decent clothes to relax in. She asked if it was raining in Geneva... No he said, down the hill is becoming flooded and some parts of the motorway are beginning to flow with surface water. He told her that the Japanese police were on the flight, an american (businessman ? perhaps not)  had been trying to talk to him until Sik emerged from first class and said hello, suggesting they have a drink as there were some empty spaces. The american looked a little worried. I wondered why... I drank water and juice. Your sister was asleep on the couch looking like royalty. She is royalty. She is  coming round on saturday night. She said.  What does that make Sik? He wondered. In Europe he’s the praetorian boyfriend, i don't know about back there. They drank some vodka, and went upstairs to bed, taking his suitcase upstairs.

She lay on the bed in her silk pyjamas, the buttons beginning to fall open again.  Watching him produce three boxes from his luggage he began talking off his clothes, I told you the buttons were too small on those pyjamas when you bought them... Doesn't matter as only you ever see me in them.  She could feel the fear and concern vanishing probably with the buttons opening she thought.... She told him she was very pleased he was back, and whispered that she loved him  in his ear. He laughed. Happy to be in bed at home.  He was asleep almost immediately after turning off the light. She decided she'd talk to him in the morning about the changes she wanted to make in her life, their lives and  lay in the dark listening to the silence of the house for a few minutes  listening for intruders before falling asleep and dreaming of killing people. Not waiting.

(Whilst the others around them were governed by the  principles of inertia and bodies, the singularities did not wait for external forces before under going a deviation from their path(s). )

[mikemortgage]

California races to predict which town could be next to burn

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Impoverished towns in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Rustic Gold Rush cities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. High-dollar resort communities on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Ritzy Los Angeles County suburbs.

They all could be the next Paradise.

A McClatchy analysis reveals more than 350,000 Californians live in towns and cities that exist almost entirely within “very high fire hazard severity zones” — Cal Fire’s designation for places highly vulnerable to devastating wildfires. These designations have proven eerily predictive about some of the state’s most destructive wildfires in recent years, including the Camp Fire, the worst in state history.

Nearly all of Paradise is colored in bright red on Cal Fire’s map — practically the entire town was at severe risk before the Camp Fire raged through last November, burning the majority of homes in its path and killing 85 people.

Malibu, where the Woolsey Fire burned more than 400 homes last year, also falls within very high hazard zones. As does the small Lake County town of Cobb, much of which was destroyed by the Valley Fire in 2015.

“There’s a lot of Paradises out there,” said Max Moritz, a fire specialist at UC Santa Barbara.

All told, more than 2.7 million Californians live in very high fire hazard severity zones, from trailers off quiet dirt roads in the forest to mansions in the state’s largest cities, according to the analysis, which is based on 2010 block-level census data. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says its maps show places where wildfires are likely to be extreme due to factors including vegetation and topography.

The maps aren’t perfect in their ability to forecast where a fire will be destructive. For instance, the Coffey Park neighbourhood of Santa Rosa isn’t in a very high hazard zone, but powerful winds pushed the Tubbs Fire into that part of the city, largely levelling the neighbourhood in October 2017.

Coffey Park was built “with zero consideration for fire,” said Chris Dicus, a forestry and fire expert at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “Fire was in the mountains — there was no consideration that fire would cross (Highway) 101.”

Cal Fire is making new fire hazard maps — ready in a year or so — that will incorporate regional wind patterns and other climate factors. In the meantime, experts say the current maps, created about a decade ago, still provide an important guide to predict where wildfires could do the most damage, in the same way floodplain maps highlight areas that could be hit hardest during severe storms.

The at-risk communities identified by McClatchy also should serve as a starting point for prioritizing how California should spend money on retrofits and other fire-safety programs, Moritz said.

California’s state-of-the-art building codes help protect homes from wildfire in the most vulnerable areas, experts say. But the codes only apply to new construction. A bill introduced by Assemblyman Jim Wood would provide cash to help Californians retrofit older homes.

“This will go a long way toward these different municipalities (in showing) that they deserve funding,” Moritz said.

McClatchy identified more than 75 towns and cities with populations over 1,000 where, like Paradise, at least 90 per cent of residents live within the Cal Fire “very high fire hazard severity zones.”

Here are snapshots of 10, and the unique challenges they face:

——

Shingletown: a miniature Paradise

Population (2010) — 2,283 ‘ In Very High fire Hazard Severity Zone — 2,283

Shingletown is less than one-tenth the size of Paradise but probably carries just as much risk.

Like Paradise, the unincorporated community sits atop a ridge, and is covered in tall trees and thick brush — ingredients for a major wildfire. Shingletown was originally named Shingle Camp, for the workers who cut roofing slats from timber to supply miners during the Gold Rush era.

“We grow trees like nobody’s business up here,” said Tom Twist, a member of the Shingletown Fire Safe Council, a volunteer organization. Twist, who’s lived in the community off and on since the 1970s, said that when the weather is warm he’ll walk his property, pulling up seedlings in an almost futile effort to eliminate potential fuels.

“I’ll pull 20 or 30 seedlings a day out of the ground,” he said. “It’s almost like when I walk over there, there’s 20 or 30. When I walk back, there’s another 20 or 30.”

Just like Paradise, escaping the ridge in a fast-moving fire wouldn’t be easy; Shingletown’s main drag is winding, narrow Highway 44. And, like in Paradise, the presence of an older population would make evacuation more difficult; Shingletown’s median age is 61, according to census figures.

It’s little wonder that when Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered Cal Fire to develop a list of urgent fire-safety projects, a plan to trim 1,124 acres of vegetation along Highway 44 came up as the top priority out of 35 projects around the state.

Locals say they’re glad the state is paying attention to a problem they know too well. The community had to evacuate when the Ponderosa Fire, started by a lightning strike, hit in 2012. The fire burned 27,676 acres — 43 square miles — and torched 52 homes in the vicinity.

“We’re intimately aware of the dangers up here,” Twist said.

——

Nevada City: picturesque and risky

Population (2010) — 3,068 ‘ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,064

Since the Camp Fire, Vicky Guyette has looked at the one-acre patch of untrimmed brush behind her mother’s Victorian-era home in Nevada City as more than just an unattractive nuisance.

Now, the brush is ominous — an ignition source that could torch the home built in 1859 that her family has lived in for five generations.

The same anxiety also applies to the cedars, pines and brush covering the hills around this foothill city of about 3,100 people, many of whom live or work in wooden buildings dating back to the the Gold Rush era.

“It’s very scary, especially since it’s such a cute little town I’ve been living in my whole life,” Guyette said recently as she walked down the city’s historic Broad Street, which looks like it fell out of a photo from a museum exhibit.

City officials agree that the wooded draws, steep hillsides, narrow residential streets, ancient homes and thick urban tree canopy that define the character of the city also make it particularly at risk if a fire burns through.

“Nevada City’s single largest risk for human life and financial loss is fire,” Nevada City’s hazard mitigation plan reads.

In recent decades, the city also has had some near misses with fire, including one major close call.

In 1988, heavy winds pushed the 49er Fire through 52 square miles of western Nevada County, burning 312 buildings and dozens of cars.

“At the time it was considered an anomalous event,” said Billy Spearing of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County. “It was not the normal for them then.”

With such fires becoming the new normal, Cal Fire is planning to cut a 1,802 acre fire break in southwest Nevada County in terrain that hasn’t burned in a century, helping protect both Nevada City and the adjacent community of Grass Valley, home to more than 12,000.

Nevada City also embarked on an online “Goat Fund Me” campaign to raise $25,000 to hire farmers to use their goats to eat dense brush in more than 450 acres of city-owned greenbelt.

The goats recently chewed a swath through Pioneer Park near Margaret Rodda’s Victorian home, which sits on a steep draw above a creek. But she’s still worried.

“All it takes is a drunk with a cigarette,” she said.

The goats inspired Guyette. She said she might spend the $500 to put a herder’s goats to work on the thorny thicket of blackberries behind her mother’s house.

“We need to get rid of them,” she said.

—-

Colfax: Fire is on everyone’s minds

Population (2010) — 1,963 ‘ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone –1,963

On his first full day in office, Newsom visited the Cal Fire station in Colfax to announce new initiatives on wildfire safety. As he spoke to reporters, surrounded by first responders, he was standing in a city that could burn any summer.

“The people who live here have a true understanding,” said Colfax City Manager Wes Heathcock. “It’s always on the back of people’s minds, especially with the most recent fires, the Camp Fire. We have a similar makeup here.”

At night in the summer, Aimee Costa, who lives on a hill above the elementary school, sometimes keeps her window open, the better to hear ominous sounds.

“You’re laying in bed . listening for that lick, that smack, that pop sound,” Costa said, describing the sound flames would make if they were chewing pine needles, brush and leaves.

A former supply hub for gold mining camps, Colfax sits a few miles from the edge of the Tahoe National Forest in the lower-elevation Sierra. It straddles Interstate 80 and serves as the last major stop between the Sacramento metropolitan area and the Lake Tahoe region. Horses graze beside deer on large ranchettes in the rugged brushy canyons along the outskirts of the city.

The terrain poses a major fire risk.

In July 2015, the Lowell Fire erupted near Colfax and chewed up thousands of acres along the north side of the freeway, forcing evacuations in adjacent Nevada County. In the years since, Heathcock said the city has been working with state officials on “fuelbreak” projects, including a spot near the high school and elementary school, which has been eyed as an evacuation site.

Gene Mapa, who lived in Paradise and escaped the Camp Fire with some family photographs — and nothing else — has relocated to Colfax, where he already owned a second home. But he knows he hasn’t escaped the fire risk; his property just outside the city limits would be threatened by a windy firestorm like the one that engulfed Paradise.

“With that wind, there would be no stopping it anywhere,” Mapa said.

—-

Kings Beach: Tourists seek fun, bring fire danger

Population (2010) — 3,796 ‘ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone –3,796

Situated on the pristine north shore of Lake Tahoe, Kings Beach is one of the most heavily visited vacation spots in Northern California.

That’s a big part of the problem.

Because so much of the population comes and goes, it becomes harder to get people to treat wildfire risk with the respect it deserves, said Erin Holland, a spokeswoman for the North Tahoe Fire Protection District. One of the district’s six stations is in Kings Beach.

“It is definitely a challenge because we have so many homes that are vacation homes,” she said. “It’s really a challenge to educate those visitors . They want to have a camp fire.”

Tahoe’s vulnerability to major fires was brought home dramatically in recent years. The Angora Fire in 2007, while it was confined to the south shore area, left physical and emotional scars on the entire basin after burning through 3,100 acres.

Holland said getting the region’s property owners and visitors to observe “defensible space” regulations is particularly difficult. Those rules call for clearing brush 100 feet around buildings and include stricter rules regarding vegetation immediately adjacent to structures.

Violators can be subject to citations, but “the goal is to really educate people, to get people complying,” Holland said. “We go the education route rather than the citation route.”

—-

Pollock Pines: Do the transplants get it?

Population (2010) — 6,877 ‘ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 6,533

Just off Highway 50, a few miles from the tourist haven of Apple Hill, Pollock Pines lures transplants from coastal California, mainly retirees drawn to the lovely stands of trees in the foothill community at the edge of the Eldorado National Forest.

Heather Campbell only wishes the newbies had a better understanding of what all that timber represents.

Campbell, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee who’s lived in Pollock Pines since the 1990s, is the head of the Pollock Pines-Camino Fire Safe Council, a volunteer group.

In the past few years her organization has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly from the state’s “cap and trade” carbon trading program, to trim vegetation on the ridgeline south of Highway 50.

That’s all well and good, she said, but more needs to be done. And the people of Pollock Pines, including the newcomers, have to realize what’s at stake.

“Here, everybody allows all the saplings and brush to grow and they don’t weed it out,” she said. “All these roads are incredibly dangerous, when it’s so easy to take out pruners. Take out your pruners!”

She said memories are still vivid of the Sand Fire in 2014. That fire burned 4,200 acres and 20 homes and came dangerously close to forcing a major evacuation in Pollock Pines and surrounding communities.

“They were going to evacuate 9,000 people,” she said. “They were predicting the fire to go to 27,000 acres, instead of the 4,000 they stopped it at.”

—-

Arnold: Trees are falling in Big Trees country

Population (2010) — 3,843 ‘ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,843

In the community that serves as gateway to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, residents didn’t always applaud when officials began mapping plans to thin dense stands of trees to reduce fire risk.

“Arnold resisted this for a long time because people love their trees,” said Steve Wilensky, a former Calaveras County supervisor who works with nonprofits to improve fire safety in the Sierra.

After years of protests, Arnold’s residents got a major wake-up call in 2015. The Butte Fire, caused by power lines, took out 549 homes in nearby communities. Two people died.

“If the weather hadn’t changed, they’d be gone,” Wilensky said of Arnold. “You’ve got a real parallel with Paradise in some ways . It’s a place that is really highly threatened.”

Arnold sits on a ridge, surrounded by a dense forest of drought- and beetle-killed trees. Powerful wind gusts can funnel fire up rugged brushy canyons.

A key difference between Paradise and Arnold is that as many as 45 per cent of the dwellings are vacation homes, which can sometimes make it a challenge to get out-of-town homeowners to do brush clearing, local officials said.

Wilensky said momentum to reduce fire risk has built since the Butte Fire. More than $15 million in state and federal funds have gone to thinning dangerous overgrowth in the region, Wilensky said.

One project includes using bulldozer lines that were cut during the Butte Fire to expand a fire break that stretches to town.

“Arnold is the anchor end of this project,” Wilensky said.

—-

Wofford Heights: Apathy in a danger zone?

Population (2010) — 2,201 ‘ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 2,147

The same powerful desert gusts that attract wind surfers to Kern County’s Lake Isabella make the lakeside community of Wofford Heights particularly at risk for wildfire. So does the adjacent Sequoia National Forest, which has been plagued by drought and tree-killing beetles.

Yet some feel that the region isn’t doing nearly enough to combat the threat.

“We could do a hell of a lot more than we’re doing,” said Judy Hyatt, who lived in the area for 15 years and served as president of the region’s fire safe council. The volunteer group disbanded in recent years from what she and others described as a lack of interest.

In 2016, the Lake Isabella region suffered through the Erskine and Cedar fires, which burned more than 77,000 acres and more than 300 structures. An elderly couple was killed when they were trapped by the Erskine Fire.

According to census figures, the median age of those living in Wofford Heights is 62, and many live in places with poor escape routes.

“Some of those mobiles up there, honest to God, I think they’ve dropped them out of the sky,” Hyatt said. “The roads are so narrow, and it really just presents an obstacle and the only way to really get to it is by air. That is when people start to die.”

Hyatt said the loss of the non-profit Kern River Fire Safe Council she once headed doesn’t bode well for the community. She said the council organized wood-chipping drives to encourage residents to remove wood debris and sought grants for fuel breaks and other thinning projects.

She said too many locals have grown complacent.

“Fire prevention is a nebulous thing,” she said. “It’s hard to quantify, until there’s a damned fire that takes out everything.”

—-

La Canada Flintridge: Is aggressive fire prevention enough?

Population (2010) — 20,048 ‘ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 20,048

Carol Settles and her family evacuated their home in La Canada Flintridge during the Station Fire in 2009. But she isn’t terribly worried about a repeat performance — even though her home is on a dead-end street below a brushy hillside of the Angeles National Forest. Large electrical transmission lines run along the wooded draw behind her home.

“We’ve never seen a spark,” Settles said, referring to the power lines. “We’ve never seen any of that.”

Best-known as home to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the outskirts of Pasadena, the upper middle-class city has an aggressive fire-prevention program. The Los Angeles County fire department checks properties in Settles’ area once a year to make sure vegetation has been cleared and hazardous landscaping hasn’t been planted.

Fines can be issued for non-compliance. Recently, one of Settles’ neighbours had to saw off the top of a pine tree because it was too close to a transmission tower, she said.

Los Angeles County’s assistant fire chief, J. Lopez, said La Canada Flintridge has embraced rigorous fire-safety standards, which include annual landscaping inspections and stringent fire-safe building codes, even for large home remodels. Lopez said La Canada Flintridge also chose to place the entire city inside a high fire hazard zone, going beyond the recommendation of Cal Fire. That decision translates into citywide enforcement of its fire-resilient building codes.

“That’s a very progressive way to look at it,” Lopez said.

But since 2008, on average only about a dozen new homes have been built in La Canada Flintridge each year, meaning most of the housing stock was built before the rigorous fire standards were in place.

The city’s hazard mitigation plan notes many of those older homes still have “combustible roofing, open eaves, combustible siding,” and they’re on “steep, narrow, poorly signed” roads that make evacuations dangerous.

Thomas Caswell, who’s lived for four decades on a hilly, narrow, dead-end street not far from city hall, said he knows the greenbelt behind his house where he watches possums, birds and other wildlife also makes the community vulnerable to fire. It’s why he says he didn’t mind paying when the city told him he needed to hire a tree service to remove dying trees in his front yard.

Still, he knows such efforts probably wouldn’t do much good if the Santa Ana winds pushed a fire into the city. Fire officials said that La Canada Flintridge could have burned in the Station Fire if the Santa Ana winds hadn’t stopped blowing. The fire burned 89 homes in outlying communities and 160,577 acres of forested lands, the largest fire by land mass in Los Angeles County history.

“Once it comes down the hill,” Caswell said, “nobody is going to be safe.”

—-

Rancho Palos Verdes: Few fears in an affluent suburb

Population (2010) — 41,803 ‘ In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 40,550

Rancho Palos Verdes holds a dubious honour: It’s the most populated city in California to have 90 per cent or more of its population living within a “very high fire hazard severity zone.” But few residents seem to think their suburb is in the same league as Malibu, where hundreds of homes burned last fall just up the Los Angeles County coastline.

“It’s not like living in Malibu, definitely,” said Gregory Lash as he strolled through a public access walkway in the Trump National Golf Club with his wife, Vivian, on the way to an oceanside park where a pod of dolphins and whales were breaching.

He added, moments later: “Hope that’s not naive.”

City officials say it’s not.

“This being a coastal community, we don’t get the type of brush and that kind of fire behaviour that you might get in somewhere like Paradise,” said Scott Hale, an assistant fire chief for Los Angeles County. The county leads firefighting efforts on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, whose four affluent communities all fall inside a high fire severity zone.

Locals point out that over the years, the firefighters at the five stations on the peninsula have quickly knocked down the relatively small fires that popped up.

Still, Rancho Palos Verdes’ hazard mitigation plan lists wildfire as a bigger threat to the city than earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides. Powerful winds that blow from the coast could funnel a fire up the greenbelts that cut through the peninsula’s neighbourhoods, many of which have opulent homes perched above canyons.

Much of that open space has been preserved by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, which manages more than 1,600 acres of land in and around the city. Residents such as Lash love the 42 miles of trails on conservancy lands, but all that undeveloped acreage could ignite, said Gabriella Yap, deputy city manager.

“You’re trying to preserve that, but it also comes with fire risk,” Yap said.

The city’s staff supports Southern California Edison’s plans to trim vegetation from under the lines that run through some of the open space to reduce fire threats, but the land conservancy is bristling at the loss of native habitats.

“The environmental impact of that is really significant,” said Adrienne Mohan, the conservancy’s executive director.

—-

Harbison Canyon: Will it burn a third time?

Population (2010) — 3,841 ‘ In Very High Hazard Fire Severity Zone — 3,841

Every 30 years or so, a massive fire blows through Harbison Canyon, 30 miles northeast of San Diego.

The 1970 Laguna Fire destroyed much of the unincorporated town that sits inside the canyon and shares its name. Harbison Canyon was rebuilt again after the Cedar Fire burned through in 2003, destroying 287 of the 388 homes.

Rick Halsey of the Chaparral Institute said the canyon is a painful example of how development has been allowed to continue practically unchecked for decades into some of California’s most fire-prone places.

“You want to create a geographical hotspot for fire, you couldn’t put it in a better place,” said Halsey, whose environmentalist organization was founded to fight calls for clearing hundreds of square miles of wild lands following the Cedar Fire. “It’s like a bowling alley for the Santa Ana winds.”

That sort of talk makes longtime resident Mary Manning cringe.

She worries that focusing on the canyon’s fire risk creates the impression that the community she loves can’t be saved from the next catastrophe. She said her community could be made more safe if state and local officials would invest in infrastructure and fire prevention that matched the rates of development she’s seen over the years. For instance, the side streets in Harbison Canyon are narrow. Some, like Manning’s, remain unpaved despite decades of building.

“There were five houses, now there are 35,” she said of the street she’s lived on since 1975.

Manning notes it was only two years ago that the local fire station became staffed 24 hours a day — 14 years after the Cedar Fire. Inside the station, Dave Nissen, the Cal Fire official who oversees firefighting in the area, said there are a number of challenges to fighting a fire in the canyon, including the narrow roads and houses stacked close together.

Nissen said firefighters reduce the risks by inspecting lots every year to make sure they’re not overgrown. On that front, Harbison Canyon’s residents don’t seem to need too much prodding, judging from the roar of chain saws and weed trimmers echoing through the canyon on a recent spring weekday afternoon.

—-

Associated Press data reporter Angeliki Kastanis contributed to this article.

from Financial Post http://bit.ly/2uXaExh via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[click2watch]

Nasdaq Leads $20 Million Funding Round for Blockchain Startup Symbiont

Enterprise blockchain startup Symbiont has closed a $20 million Series-B funding round led by Nasdaq Ventures with participation from Galaxy Digital, Citi, Raptor Group and others.

The firm, which has kept a fairly low profile the last two years as the cryptocurrency market’s gyrations overshadowed the enterprise sector, previously raised a combined $15.4 million from a seed round in 2014 and Series A in 2017.

Symbiont CEO Mark Smith told CoinDesk that the firm doubled its staff last year, and now has more than 60 employees.

“We have been very good stewards of capital for the six years we have been in business. I think we have done more with less than anybody out there,” Smith said. “So it was time for us to do a bigger round and adding the Nasdaq as an investor and partner, and Citi as an investor and partner, really solidifies our strategy.”

As part of the investment, Nasdaq Financial Framework, a software company owned by the exchange, will integrate Symbiont’s Assembly smart contracts platform to explore new avenues involving tokenization.

Smith, a veteran of the early days of financial market matching engines, explained there has been a big movement towards combining blockchain with traditional exchange technology.

“Symbiont will give Nasdaq the ability to originate a financial instrument and the smart contract to custody it on a blockchain, to allow trading to occur with their matching engine, to allow surveillance to occur across the network using Nasdaq technology and then to perform settlement on a blockchain,” he said.

To be clear, Symbiont is not working with the Nasdaq proper, just the software arm, which sells tech to other exchanges, clearing houses and central securities depositories in about 50 countries.

As Smith put it:

“We are infrastructure people: dirt under the fingernails, digging the ditches, laying the roads.”

Win some, lose some

Indeed, Symbiont has kept a firm focus on building capital markets infrastructure using a proprietary blockchain and smart contracts architecture.

The startup has lasered in on a handful of carefully selected use cases and partners, such as index data management with investment giant Vanguard; making the mortgage market transparent and more efficient with Wall Street legend Lewis Ranieri; and optimizing the syndicated loans market with Ipreo’s Synaps platform.

However, not all its partnerships panned out. For instance, Symbiont dedicated a lot of time and effort between 2015 and 2017 helping create a blockchain technology-enabled regulatory environment in the state of Delaware, creating rules for share registry and the ability to create a whole new class of securities.

All that work, done free of charge, came to naught for Symbiont when Governor Jack Markell’s term ended, according to Smith.

“The new administration came in with less fanfare about the use of the technology and a very conservative approach,” he said. “Instead of moving forward, they took a big step back and decided to defend the incumbents against what they considered disruptive tech, then reached out to IBM and spent over $1 million replicating the exact road map we gave the state.” (The precise amount of the single-bid contract was $738,000, according to the Delaware News Journal.)

Another wrench was thrown into the works last August, when Symbiont’s partner on syndicated loans, Ipreo, was acquired by IHS Markit, which has worked with ethereum-based Quorum (developed by JPMorgan) on this use case.

Smith could not say too much about this but hinted that Symbiont’s new big-bank investor would go to bat for it on the syndicated loan front. “Certainly with Citi now in our cap table we can see how this is going to move forward,” he said.

Competitive landscape

It’s common these days to view the enterprise blockchain world as consisting of Hyperedger, R3, Digital Asset and enterprise ethereum variants. Symbiont has been around for as long as any of these forks, consortiums or other proprietary solutions, and Smith is never shy about sharing his opinion of them.  

“I would argue that we are the only enterprise blockchain solution,” he said. The others, he contended, either aren’t really blockchains or have privacy and security shortcomings or haven’t produced anything beyond ideas.

On the subject of corralling together large consortiums, Smith believes innovation always comes from individuals and small teams that are able to iterate quickly and nimbly.

“I think what you get in consortiums is just compromise. You end up with average tech, nothing revolutionary – sometimes barely evolutionary. Creating a back office as a service with a shared ledger is not revolutionary. That’s what a consortium will get you,” Smith said.

So what does Symbiont have to show for its work? Smith said several of its projects will enter production in 2019, starting with the Vanguard collaboration, which uses corporate action data to manage the asset manager’s passive indices. Syndicated loans and mortgages will follow.

As far as the sustained bear market for crypto assets is concerned, Smith said from day one his firm had stayed away from those sorts of “shenanigans.”

“We kept our head down and focused on what we always believed would be the marketplace, which is a regulated marketplace,” he said.

Of course, he is very sad to hear of people losing their jobs and said it was unfortunate that many people lost a lot of money. But overall, Smith said he is glad to be out of the hype cycle, concluding,   

“We are in the trough of disillusionment and I am extremely excited.”

Mark Smith image via CoinDesk Consensus archives

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Kyle Woodward’s final blog post from Southern Africa. My visa issue finally got resolved, albeit with quite a lot of effort and frustration on my part. Unfortunately they couldn't swap my business visa for a tourist visa while in the country and the only way to fix it was to leave the country and come back in. Luckily Zimbabwe is just a 10 minutes drive to the border. It also just happens that the Zambia/Zimbabwe border is right at Victoria Falls. The border bridge is a tourist attraction, where people zip-line across the gorge and bungee jump off the bridge. Walking across the bridge with Victoria Falls as a backdrop was an unexpexted and surreal moment, and i made sure to take my time walking across both ways. It was a much needed stress reliever. The Falls are so close to you as you walk toward the Zimbabwe border post that the mist creates a perpetual light rain. Having not seen or felt rain in 2 months I was very confused at first. Since i got my necessary tasks done on Friday, I decided to go see the Falls properly all day on Saturday. I was going to be a tourist for a day, so exciting! On Saturday I had a relaxing morning and got a shuttle to the Victoria Falls Park entrance. I met another friend from the same hostel, and we hiked all the trails together. The Knife's Edge trail leads you out on a narrow peice of land thats been carved away by the Falls over time. It's the closest you can get to the Falls, and when you get out onto the edge you are completely soaked in a matter of seconds. Its like walking into a category 1 hurricane: the force of the water falling into the gorge creates a powerful uplift of air that shoots the trailing mist straight back to the top of the gorge, creating a barrage of wind and rain. There is no escape, and we willingly walked out to meet it in our bare feet and cheap ponchos. It is one of the best 20 bucks ive ever spent, and somehow my passport didn't even get wet. On our way down a separate trail to the bottom of the gorge, we were ambushed by a massive male baboon. We learned quite quickly that its not wise to carry food or drinks out in the open in this park because of these guys. We dropped our bottles of soda in order to avoid being mauled. It was actually terrifying in the moment but we laughed about it later. It was pretty funny watching this baboon open our soda bottles, dump out a ton of orange Fanta and sit there slurping it off the ground. On Sunday I went to the bus station at noon to catch my bus back to Sesheke, only to find out that the 12:00 bus i had purchased a seat on had left at 10:30 just because it got there early. It was another lesson in how things work out here: Disorder and unreliable public services create enough inevitable inconveniences in day to day life that society has adapted in order to provide quick and easy solutions. One of the bus company managers immediately took my money back from the attendant and drove me in his own car to the outskirts of town where a bunch of vans wait all day to give rides at the same or cheaper rate. He paid the van driver my bus money, I hopped in, and within a half hour we were on the way to Sesheke. We even got there right around the same time my bus would have. I met up with Michael and one of our enumerators in the afternoon and we drove back up to Sioma District for the night. The next day we drove the 1.5 hour journey into the bush to Makande. The drive seems to take forever as we creep along through a narrow sandy track, dodging trees and trying not to get stuck. Even with a 4wd truck it's not easy to get to by any means, yet people live here the same way as those right on the tar road in Lusu, Kaale, and Kalobolelwa. It's a remarkable thing seeing these communities operate with little to no outside aid. The idea that one can create and maintain their entire livelihood from the surrounding natural resources is so foreign to me, as I presume it is for many other 'Westerners'. Your health (ability to perform manual labor) and work ethic (determination to do so) hold greatest weight in village life. Lin, Michael, and I split our enumerators into teams of 2 for the first day of household surveys, then the second day Lin and I finished the rest of the surveys and did reference samples while Michael worked on resource area mapping. It went by so quick that I found myself scrambling on the last day to take a few pictures to remember this experience by. My pictures are mediocre at best, but Im pretty sure I won't ever forget this. Our last night camping in Makande was so fun. We ended the month of work talking, joking, singing, and dancing around our campfire, trading ideas, experiences, and standing on common ground. We also chased this weird goat around that kept walking into our camp. It was the funniest thing ever. No matter how far we chased it away from our camp, it would eventually wander back and stand there just staring at us. If they make another Disney movie based in Africa (shout out Lion King), this goat needs to be the typecast dumb animal comic relief character. The long weekend was spent back in our home sweet home, Sesheke. Michael needed to finish resource area mapping in Lusu, and Lin and i decided to collect more reference samples in Kalobolelwa, so we decided to set up at our usual campground in town. We took one of our enumerators along who wants to study environmental science, and he absorbed all the vegetation and GPS stuff like a sponge. It was a really fun day just walking around, seeing different landscapes, and talking about plants. Since we were officially done with the Zambia field season by the end of that day, we got to be lazy the next day in Sesheke. We walked around the market, bought some food and gifts, learned how to play Zambian rules Checkers, and had a good dinner in town. This past Sunday turned out to be a really special day, and may turn out to be one of the most important for future research pursuits in Zambia. Henry from DNPW allowed us to come along with him into Sioma-Ngwezi NP, where they are working on re-introducing wildlife the next 4 years. They created a fenced-in 100 hectare enclosure for the animals which they use to acclimate them before releasing them into the park. They had about 180 impala and 32 buffalo that they transported there a few weeks ago, and we got to come along on their weekly check up. We got to stand in their pickup truck bed as we patrolled inside the fence perimeter, trying to spot and count all the buffalo and impala. Michael and I came up with another research idea pretty organically as we chatted about the wildlife re-introduction process and the ways they currently monitor wildlife numbers in the park. The folks at DNPW and WWF sound quite keen to begin some research collaboration this coming year with us, and I'm glad Michael and I prioritized time to build those relationships. On Monday we said goodbye to Lin as she headed back to Botswana, then Michael and I drove to Livingstone. Having been in Livingstone last weekend, I already knew what it was like, so it was really great seeing Michael be totally blown away by all the city people, restaurants, shops, and 2 story buildings. We had fun wandering around, getting lost, and eating a ton of really good food. We have a special place in our hearts for Sesheke, but it is by no means a city. The fact that Sesheke ever felt like a city to us speaks to how much time we have spent in remote areas of rural Zambia. We felt like the Zambian village children this time, amazed to see so many white people in one place. I'm writing this on my flight back home and reflecting on all of the new and unique experiences I've had these past two months: flying drones in the Chobe river floodplain in Botswana, digging ourselves out of the sand more times than i can count, being immersed in village life and the language, playing sports with village children in Kapau and Makande, crossing international borders on my own, learning to drive stick in Zambia, and many others. They've all offered an opportunity to learn, challenge my own paradigms, and grow into a more worldly and introspective person. Southern Africa has given me so much, and I am eager to give back in any way an academic researcher can. I am so grateful to Dr. Pricope and all of the KAZAVA collaborators for supporting me and allowing me into their network. Michael gets a special shout out; we started out as two unacquainted grad students working on the same project, but by experiencing all the challenges and joys of a productive field season, we became both an unstoppable duo and great friends. I'm excited to pursue some of the research ideas we have developed in Zambia together. Lastly, for anyone who has not yet stepped foot on the African continent, this is my 5 star recommendation. It turns out Africa is huge and offers so much to the new traveller: the diverse cultures, the wildlife, and spectacular landscapes. I've only seen small parts of 3 countries, but I'm obsessed now. Africa will be high on my list for travelling the rest of my life, and I will do everything I can to get family and friends to experience it as well. Kyle Woodward.

[cebeavers]

Carowinds 2010

July 24, 2010 CoasterStock

I’ve been to Carowinds already a bunch this year. Not that I’m complaining, but with CoasterStock coming, and me having not spent a full day there, I really didn’t know if I’d want to be at the park from before opening to after close, especially since I’m not a morning person. 

I slept a bit later than I’d intended, and I missed my exit because I wasn’t paying attention, so I got to the park later than I meant to, but it wasn’t a big deal. The only morning ERT I wanted was on Afterburn. When I got to the park, that’s where I headed first (Well, 2nd, I had to make a potty stop). Rode in the 2nd row and the ride was really good. Once I got off I headed out to find Gator and Jill. I ran into them close to Afterburn, so we went back for 2 rides in the front. The ride is so different front to back. It rides very intense (but not really rough) in the back, and I can’t take much of it. This early, and this hot, I wanted nothing to do with the back. But I can power ride in the front all day.

We walked over to the Flyers. Can’t remember if they rode that or not, but I knew I wasn’t going to be in the mood for spinning with it this early and this hot out. Once we made it to Intimidator, though, we got in line to wait for the park to open. We were on about the 3rd train of the day, near the front, and the ride was great as usual. 

We headed over to Boo Blasters and did that next since they were having the tournament. I sucked with my score of 450, but whatever. I’m glad the mist was on. Is it me, or did the ride open with just a set of eyes and a mouth projected into the mist? I seem to recall that and not Boocifer, which is there now. Glad they got that back to working; it really does make a difference in the ride. 

So next we went over to Thunder Road. My last ride on the blue train was pretty rough, so I wasn’t looking forward to it. Jill and I sat in the very front with minimal wait. We asked to race, but the guy running the silver side didn’t race. The ride wasn’t quite as bad as my July 4th visit, but it was jackhammering in all of the non-refurbished sections. We headed over to the silver side and got the ops to race it. Rode in the front with Bill and the ride was actually very good. 

Next we headed over towards Ricochet, with a stop for water first. Bill decided he wanted to do Goldrusher, and since I hadn’t ridden it in quite a while, I got on with them. Boy, are those trains uncomfortable. However, the ride was actually the best ride I’ve ever had on Goldrusher. It seems really fast and fun. We got in line for Ricochet, which was about a 10 minute wait. Good ride, not overly braked. I still freak out on wild mice. I thought we were going to eat at the picnic area in the back near Afterburn, so we headed there, and I was wrong. We ran into some other geeks after looking at a map, and led them to the right pavilion. The lunch ‘mix-up’ or whatever of hot dogs and chicken was fine. I was hungry and really didn’t care what was to eat. I know that there were some vegetarian issues that cropped up, so I’m sure that the park will be able to fix that next year. 

Lunch was fine; listening to the guy from B&M answer questions was interesting. Jill & Bill left to go nap at their hotel after he finished. I’d planned to head into Charlotte to wander around, but it was too hot. After Jerry Helms got up and started to talk, I heard him say he’d worked at Star Trek The Experience in Vegas, so once he was finished and I had gotten more to drink in my new Intimidator cup, I asked him about it and told him how much I enjoyed it. 

He got there in 2005 when it was still under Paramount and took over as General Manager with the intent of turning the property around. I must say, it was a great experience when we went. He asked if I got to do the backstage tour, but it didn’t start until after we went. He said it really took off, and mentioned that he felt that if the last Trek movie had came out earlier as they intended, that he thinks people would have been more willing to re-up the contract. 

I visited twice under his leadership, and I have to say, he ran the place great. He mentioned how they upped the food quality, and we did eat there on my 2nd visit, and were highly impressed by the food (and I was there with a chef, who heaped praise upon our lunch). Plus the staff at Quark’s were very happy and loved working there, so I’d say that Mr. Helms must have been quite popular. I’m personally glad he’s at Carowinds. He did mention that Intimidator wasn’t intended to go where it is in the park, but he lobbied to put it up front. Definitely the best decision, and what better billboard for the park that a huge red coaster facing the highway? 

After lunch I went to my car to get my swimming trunks. Paid for a locker (man I wish I’d have gotten one in Boomerang Bay!) and changed clothes, then headed to the newer wave pool. I spent about 3 hours between wave pools; the kinds play area, and even took a turn on the lazy river. The older wave pool was actually too warm, so I headed back to the newer one. I hadn’t been to the water park since 1998 here. I think they need a couple of newer slides, but otherwise it’s very nice. 

I left the park around 3:30 and headed over to Plaza Fiesta. I hadn’t been since they changed it over. I hung out there for a while and enjoyed being indoors. Then I sat in my car and tried to nap for about 30 minutes, but as soon as I fell asleep, thunder started rolling in and woke me up. I ended up going over to the park and heading in to dinner. 

I must say, dinner was very good. The chicken and prime rib was much better than I’d expected. Nice job Carowinds staff! I had done the construction tour for ACE so I opted out of the backstage Intimidator tour. Jill, Bill, and I instead went over to ride some more. We hit up Gr8 Skate, they rode the flyers again, and we planned on riding Woodstock Express, but the line was long. Instead we headed over to Hurler, but because of lightening in the area, we stood in the station for a while to see if it cleared up. It didn’t, so we headed to the theater for Snoopy Rocks on Ice, which was a decent show. Jill & Bill headed out to ride, and I ran to the restroom before heading back for Q&A and Park Jeopardy. Both were fun and informative and we got to watch the 3 videos, 1 that the staff made, and the other 2 that were in the contest. Once it was time for ERT on Intimidator, we all headed over and waited for the park to clear and for them to get the ride ready. And get it ready they did. ERT was great, they had the 2nd trim basically off (I think at one point I felt it hit slightly), and much airtime was to be had. The crew was riding, the marketing team was there, everyone was having fun, all three trains were running, and it was just a lot of fun. Plus did I mention the ride was just really incredible? I like that they had a sign on one of the maintenance boxes as you leave the station showing that the 2nd trim was turned off. Nice touch. CoasterStock, aside from the heat, was great. I really enjoyed it and after hearing that the park has plans to expand and really become a resort destination in the coming years, I really have confidence that Carowinds will grow and that they have a good foundation for a great management team. Everyone was a class act all day and went out of their way to make 120 coaster geeks happy, and I didn’t hear any major complaints, outside of the heat. Still not sure why they had the heat on all day in July.

[psychicdan]

Chapter IX: Discontent with Samurai Jack's continued resistance and the concerns he is inflicting, Magnus sends a samurai of his own. Jack and his company arrive in a port called Haulwater City. The artificial island proves to be a trap however, as Jack must now face Inquisitor Hiroto, and the Cyber Troopers surrounding the city.

Samurai Jack: Renegade Samurai

Rating M for graphic depictions, language, violence and suggestive themes.

Warning:

The following is a work of fanfiction and is not intentionally connected to real world places, events, or people, nor intended to copy others’ work. Samurai Jack is the work of Genndy Tartakovsky, his team and affiliated studios and companies. This is solely fanfiction for fun and not profit.

Chapter IX: Ghost of the Samurai

           Evening fell over the Capital city of Nova Sanctum, the brilliant city lights taking up the sun’s place to glorify the Magnus Protectorate’s achievements. Most lit and prominent was the steel geometrically designed Citadel, bathed in the display lights so all could fathom its aesthetics and authority.

           Despite the change of hours, the man sitting in the throne room of the Citadel wasn’t going to get a good night rest. The Lord Protector, Magnus, sat with his head on his hands, troubled. “Do you have any idea where that resistance movement is?” he asked. “No, Lord Protector, he and all his remaining forces seemed to have abandoned the Highlands area. We know they chartered a ship, but we’ve lost them. They could already be on the main continent, for all we know.” Xander reported. “Damn that Scottish bastard. As if I didn’t have enough problems already, he keeps stabbing me in the back. No doubt the renegades gave him and his cohorts inspiration.”.

It became clearer with each passing day, with each interconnected report of dissidence and violence. Samurai Jack needed to be put down, must and will be put down. Already, the reports put his renegade group at four, and that was just from sightings. How many others were sympathetic to him, how many would join him in his acts of public terror? A dozen, a hundred, a thousand?!

If he continued to defy and evade the Protectorate’s justice, people would become uneasy, questioning, afraid. The firm, unshaking security they established would shatter like glass. Magnus remembered the Near End War, when all these societal securities were pipe dreams and things like slaughter and devastation were the norm. No, I will not let this Samurai bastard start it all over again. He will die., Magnus thought.

“Xander, do we have an Inquisitor ready to intercept the Samurai immediately? These problems will only worsen the longer he’s alive.” Magnus said. “Actually, that’s connected to some good news, Lord Protector. Inquisitor Hiroto has just returned from his homeland, ready to explain how his mission over there went. He waits outside the throne room for an audience with you.”, “That is good news, bring him then.” Magnus said, finally smiling.

The steel doors slid open with a motion from Xander, and in strode their guest. He was clad in feudal eastern traditional armor, composed of cloth and modern metals. Despite the traditional aspects, it was Protectorate grey and black, and the Protectorate’s insignia was the crest on his armor. He carried at his side a daishō, a large and short sword set that represented his rank and deserved respect.  As he strode in, he removed his helmet, revealing the face of a man in mid 20s, of similar ethnicity to Jack, and his black hair tied behind him.

The traditional warrior bowed to the Lord Protector on hands and knees, humbling himself. “Inquisitor Samurai Hiroto, I trust the mission in Japan I gave you went well?” Magnus asked. “Yes, my Lord Protector. It took time, but all the Yakuza clans in opposition to you have been crushed, and their leaders made examples of. As you instructed, clans of our own make and allegiance have been placed to oversee criminal activity. Japan’s underworld is now under your dominion.” the Protectorate Samurai said, still bowing.

Magnus smiled, glad to finally have progress these past few weeks. Try as he might, criminal activity in every cultural region somehow managed in the face of his laws. Rather than chase them further into the shadows, he decided to instead place pseudo criminal factions that would be his eyes and ears there, as well as his force. The criminal element would fall under his authority and they would have no idea.

“Rise, Inquisitor. I am sorry to ask this of you, but I already have a new mission for you that must be completed.”. Hiroto stood at attention, not troubled at all from being requested by the Lord Protector for a new task.

“During your mission, a dangerous renegade has arisen, armed and skilled enough to confront and evade our forces as well as best two of your fellow Inquisitors. He made one of our own defect to his destructive cause, and two more citizens are reportedly aiding and abetting him as well. In response to his crimes, the public is reportedly uneasy, and other insurgent forces may be preparing for uprisings. I need you to nip this in the bud before it gets any further out of hand.”.

“He reportedly goes by the name “Jack”, and the defector with him is Ashi, formerly from the Special Assassination Force. The others we don’t know much of, but are likely unimportant. But this part will be… difficult for you to understand. He is a samurai.” Magnus informed Hiroto.

Hiroto looked at Magnus questioningly. “I-I beg your forgiveness Lord Protector, but that can’t be possible. Only a handful of samurai of the new age, including myself, were permitted and trained by your graceful will. He must be a disrespectful imposter.”.

“You are correct, but also wrong. He is not a samurai of your reborn ways and generation, but he is no fake either. He is one of the original samurai of your homeland’s history.” Magnus told Hiroto.

“P-pardon, Lord Protector?” Hiroto asked, bewildered. How was that possible, when the original line of samurai had discontinued and died long ago? Only recently had his homeland worked to restore a new line, so how was an original samurai present?

Magnus sighed, knowing Hiroto would need an explanation. “During the course of my life mission, I had used my authority and means of time travel to arrive in the time of your ancestors. I had retrieved what I set out for, but I had angered a Samurai prince from then. Given how little historical information is present about him, his impact on the timeline is inconsequential. I bested him, but he followed me here, to our own time. Now he is defying our law and order, and I’ve been forced to label him a renegade for his actions. He is a heinous criminal, and must be brought down. I trust these details will not deter you. Do you understand?”.

           Hiroto looked at his Lord Protector, steeled determination in his eyes. “Yes, Lord Protector. You need not worry, this Samurai’s origins will not cloud my judgement, for your will is clear to me and is my mission. I will strike down the Renegade Samurai, I will not fail you.” Hiroto stated.

“Then go, “Ghost of the Samurai”. Go, and restore order.” Magnus stated with an affirming smile. Hiroto bowed his head, then turned to the massive automated doorway, putting on his helmet as he strode out. He clutched his blade as the doors closed behind, ready to carry the will of his lord, Magnus.

…

           As evening began to hit, the ocean could be seen gently rolling waves against the beach. It was no luxury beach, but was a rather pleasant coastal beach. However the weather was not optimal for swimming. What broke up the humble scenery was a road from the light grass and beach into a bridge that ran across this ocean.

           Driving up the road towards the beach came the Odyssey, stopping at the crossroads at the beach. “Oh great, thought I smelled the reek of the ocean. Can we leave before we smell like fish and seaweed?” Cassius said in dismay. Anything to do with the unpleasantries of the ocean disagreed with him.

           “Oh, come on Cass. Sure, the smell takes getting used to, but look at it. Wind brushing your face, gentle waters, comfy sand, I always wanted to go to the beach. And just look at that horizon, I-wait, is that a city? Agalia said.

           Her weren’t deceiving her. The bridge before them extended and curved towards an artificial island city. It boasted the same geometric buildings and aesthetics as the other Protectorate cities, but by the looks of all the ports and warehouses at the fringes, it looked like a port city. The lights began to illuminate the city, showing it was lively thanks to business as the lights danced on the waters.

           “That is most peculiar. Why build a city on water and not on land?” Jack asked. “Um, Jack, I think that’s why. Probably why the city’s even here.” Ashi said as she pointed to the left road. In that direction was the curved stretch of the beach. Or, they would have seen that, if it wasn’t for all the washed-up war wreckage there. Tanks, planes, warships, all of it amassed into a scrap yard. The area was enclosed by the Magnus Protectorate, construction vehicles and personnel working away at the sight. No wonder people weren’t swimming at the beach.

           “Damn it, another war cleanup project. Guess a lot of old war crap would wash up on the beach. Still, how did we miss that? Map says we go that way, but there are too many bucket heads there. Should we take another detour?” Cassius asked.

           Jack furrowed his eyes in dismayed thought, considering the situation. The path to Nova Sanctum would go somewhat smoother if it wasn’t for all the increasing military presence. They’ve had to take five long detours already to avoid direct contact with heavily fortified bases. It was that, or go in for a frontal assault every time. That would be a good way to get killed, so Jack decided that taking the path with least resistance was a sound approach.

           But here was another road block, and finding a path around it seemed difficult. But when he looked at the city, he noticed that a second bridge ran and curved from it, leading to the opposite end of the beach, past the Protectorate area. Looks like a path was already built around the wreckage to ease transport there.

           “There, that island city has a bridge we can use to get there.” Jack pointed out. Cassius looked to the city and then to the highway sign above the bridge. “City Area 3D23: Haulwater City. That second name is a bit on the nose, huh? I gotta wonder if they just slap on random numbers and letters for these cities though. Anyway, I guess it’s a quick route, but are you sure? Troops could box us in there.” Cassius surmised.

           “The city does not seem heavily fortified or alert. If we remain discrete, we should avoid intervention.” Jack stated. He knew that while avoiding unnecessary or fruitless conflicts was best, there were times he couldn’t run. It was obvious that the closer they got to Nova Sanctum, the more the Cyber Troopers would appear. They were going to have to fight more of them to get there, and now they would have to risk conflict to proceed.

           “I guess you have a point. Doesn’t look so bad, and we could find something worse if we try another route. Alright, let’s go for it Jack.” Cassius said with a shrug. Jack started the Odyssey back down the road again and over the bridge. The car curved with the bridge, as the group could now see the whole beach side. It looked disturbing, seeing a mass of twisted encompass most of the stretch of sand.

           “Man, and I was kind of excited. Wonder what this place was like before.” Agalia lamented. “It may yet see beauty again, given their labors.” Jack said for positive thought. If nothing else, the people of this time proved strong, coming back from the brink and restoring what was lost. When the work here was done, he imagined the city would benefit from a view of the cleared beach.

           Still, that was then, and this was now. It was best they just quickly get through the city and be on their way. As everyone turned away from the beach, Ashi suddenly became alarmed and looked over the side. “Ashi, what’s wrong?” Jack said concerned. “I…no, it’s nothing. Just thought I saw something back at the bridge end, but it’s not there. Let’s keep moving.” Ashi said. Jack was still bothered by that, but he supposed it did no good to worry if it was nothing.

           Soon, they reached the bridge end and arrived in the city. It was quite busy, with shipping containers and personnel all about, though it looked like they were finishing up for the day. Stores lined the streets, some professional and in buildings, others humble stands. Since this was near the ocean, there was no shortage of fish stands either.

           “Best hair stylist right here, to give you that new edge!”, “We’ve got the latest and most advance electronics right here at unbelievable prices!”, “Fish, fresh fish caught from the ocean, come get it here!”. “Kind of shameless to put the market right at the city entrance. Oh god, that smell!” Cassius said as the odors of a fish stand they drove by wafted towards him.

           Agalia chuckled at that, then stopped when she felt something drip. Soon, the dripping increased, as the people and stands took notice, closing up shop and either pulling out umbrellas or running for cover from the incoming rain. “Uh, Jack, can you press that button?” Agalia instructed. “Oh, uh, yes, just a moment.”.

           Jack did as he was told, a bit unfamiliar with technology still, even after 50 years in the other timeline. When he pressed the button, windows and a roof came up to provide them cover, the Odyssey’s “convertible” function at work. Jack was a bit startled, but found this convenient for keeping dry. Technology just kept surprising him, even the most mundane kind.

           Cassius was muttering something to Agalia, then he turned to Jack. “Hey Jack, we’re going to get out and resupply for a bit. I’m heading to the black market for some ammo and Agalia wants get stuff to get the car and weapons in shape.”. Jack was a bit surprised, but wasn’t troubled.

           “That is fine. If you do not mind, why don’t we accompany you?”. “Uh, no. Sorry chief, but you and the lady who would kill me in my sleep are on the Protectorate’s most wanted. We can’t have you just walking the streets. What you can do is drive around and see if you can find us a place to eat and maybe a disguise or something. Pick us up in an hour, okay?”. Jack nodded, acknowledging Cassius’s concerns while trying to calm down Ashi’s murderous demeanor for that rude comment.

…

           During the hour interval, Jack and Ashi did as instructed, browsing stores for disguise clothing as well as search for a place to eat. They found a few things that seemed well enough that they bought, but Jack wasn’t comfortable discarding his gi, saying he would prefer only using disguise if critical. Then realization hit him when he saw a certain crafting material in one of the stores. As for a meal, they found a place they knew was satisfactory, and no Cyber Troopers either.

           During all their shopping and driving though, Ashi was constantly tensed up, like she felt that they shouldn’t be there. But when she looked around, nothing dangerous was around. She relaxed after each time, telling Jack it was nothing. Maybe the past few weeks of being on the run had kept her tense the whole time. But even when her mind told her there was nothing, her instinct told her that something was wrong before going quiet.

           In any case, they returned to the market where Cassius told them to pick them up. He and Agalia loaded up the trunk with carefully concealed items, to avoid suspicion, then arrived in the car with a small bag. They were a bit wet though, thanks to the downpour. “Good thing I have this coat, ‘cause umbrellas were not helpful out there. So, you found a place for a bite?” Cassius asked. “Yes, the eatery seems most pleasant and not far off. Ready?” asked Jack. “You know it. I’m starved.” Agalia said with anticipation.

           They drove through the rainy streets and further into the city. After only ten minutes, they parked in front of their destination that was between several buildings. “Ooh, a Bartakovsky’s! You’ve got good taste Jack. It’s been too long since I came to one of these. They even serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Alright, I’m in, let’s go.” Cassius said pleasantly.

           They trudged through the rain and opened the door as it chimed. They all walked in, dripping a bit from outside’s rain. They stopped, as everyone turned to look at them. They all seemed surprised, like they didn’t know what to say.

           “Oh jeez, did we already blow our cover? We better…Jack, what the hell are you and Ashi wearing?” Cassius asked. “I am sorry, is there an issue with our concealment?” Jack asked as he lifted his hat a bit to look at Cassius. Yes, he was wearing his preferred straw hat, with Ashi following suit. The straw was the crafting material Jack bought earlier, which he had crafted into the hats. Back in his time it was the norm, but here, he stood out of place even more with it. It was worse for Ashi, who was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans.            “Hmmm, now let me think, YES! What the hell is that?! I’m not trying to offend or anything, but does this look like basket hat fashion craze season?! Are you trying to start a trend or something?! Seriously, how is this blending in?! Just, take those off, you’re embarrassing us. Wait until we get out of the city or something, or everyone will point fingers at us and take pictures. Then the Protectorate would find us by social media.”.

           Jack and Ashi took off the hats, dismayed. Honestly, they both thought the hats looked both nice and discrete, though maybe it didn’t fit in with everything here. “The hell, that doesn’t even do much as a disguise. Ugh, let’s just get a table already.” Cassius groaned. He swore Jack’s naivety was going to get him killed one day. The group of four got a table a sat down looking at the menus.

           It seemed that Jack looked forward to the sushi again, but Ashi pointed out another cuisine related to his culture. “Hm, takoyaki. I have never heard of it, perhaps it is something after my time. Very well, I would like to order a side of this takoyaki with some sushi and green tea, thank you.”, “Same here, thank you.” Jack and Ashi said, placing orders to the waitress.

           “Alright, how about you two?” the waitress asked Cassius and Agalia. “Hm, I’ll have a Symbionic burger with a side of Power Puff fries and some soda, thanks.” Agalia requested. “Hm, excuse me, do you have the Bopeye’s Special yet?” Cassius asked. “Sorry sir, the proprietor had to let that one go. Legal issues or whatever, he wasn’t happy about it.” the waitress informed him. “Damn it, this day just got ruined! Ugh, I guess I’ll have a Dexter’s Secret Surprise, thanks.”.

           The waitress finished jotting down the orders and walked away. As they waited, a fisherman sat at a table nearby with his back turned, eating his meal by his lonesome. For some reason, Ashi eyed him suspiciously, but decided to drop it.

           “Hey, how come you two brought that bag?” Ashi asked. Cassius and Agalia realized they still carried that shopping bag and remembered why they got it in the first place. “Yeah, when I saw the market, I remembered an issue I discussed with Agalia. Unlike the two of us, you guys don’t have any way to talk over distances, huh?”.

           “Well, no, but is that an issue? Wait, are you two able to do that?” Jack asked bewildered. Cassius and Agalia sighed simultaneously. “Seriously, I lived out in the boonies and even I had one. Everyone has one.” Agalia lamented for the pair. “Here, join the rest of the planet already.” Cassius said as he finished unpacking and handed the items to Jack and Ashi.

           The objects they stared dumbfounded at were smartphones. The one Jack received was a grayish white, while Ashi’s was dark green. “Oh, this is, uh, one of those “phones”. Yes, uh, most fascinating.” Jack said with a cramped smile. “Oh, uh, how thoughtful. You two shouldn’t have.” Ashi said with an uncomfortable smile. Then they looked at each other, expressing a silent conversation with their expressions.

           It was too obvious for Cassius and Agalia to figure out what they were thinking. How do you make these things work?!, Ashi silently pleaded. I do not know!, Jack expressed. “You cannot be serious.” Cassius said as he shook his head down and held it in his hand for support. Who in this day and age did not know how to use a digital device?!

           “Ugh, this day just gets better and better. Okay, just listen to us, press that button to turn it on and…” Cassius and Agalia did their best to help Jack and Ashi maneuver around their new experience with digital devices, but it proved to be…frustrating.

           “What are all of these things here?” Ashi asked. “Those are apps, services or games you can download.” Agalia explained. “Download?” Ashi asked. “Here, I’ll show you.” said Agalia. Cassius was barely holding it together with Jack. “Ugh, look, you don’t need something to write with. Just press where the text goes and a keyboard comes up. Press the letters and you can type words.”, “Oh, uh, yes, seems simple enough.” Jack replied. If only that were so. Jack had the same fierce battle stare he had when facing Aku right now as he tried to type “Hello”.

           “Alright, now we set up contact info. I got a discrete service provider, but try not to use your real names, okay? So, what are you going with Ashi?” Cassius asked. “Olivia, it’s kind of to remember a good person I met.” Ashi said, looking back on the time she met the ravers who were nice enough to give her a night of fun dancing. She laughed later when she saw Jack’s martial arts, knowing the dance was modelled off them.

           “Alright, you Jack?”, “Like, Brent Worthington, dude.” Jack said in a weird tone out of character. “Aahh, what the hell was that?! Whatever, just don’t do it again, ever.” Cassius said, shivering from that persona that was the opposite of the stoic Samurai Jack. Ashi giggled, remembering the humorous story Jack told of when he lost his memory and became a surfer like servant, only for the Scotsman to help him out of that mess. Agalia looked clueless and dumbfounded about the joke.

           Jack sighed, disappointed only Ashi picked up on the joke. But at least that name was more acceptable than his Dome of Doom name “Two Sandals, the Treacherous”. Once the tow of them registered, it was on to exchanging numbers. “Okay, so we can either type the numbers in manually or use scan. Since this guy has a hard time typing “hello”, we’ll go with the sensor.” Cassius instructed.

           The four exchanged phone contacts as such, bringing phones together as data was sent. Jack and Ashi looked amazed, staring in wonder at the new information. To the service provider and strangers they would call, ID would register them as “Olivia and Brent”, but Cassius and Agalia marked them by their actual names in their phones.

           “Hey Jack, let’s give this a try!”, “Very well.” Jack and Ashi said with excitement. Ashi clicked Jack’s contact button, and ringing came up. Jack struggled to press the answer button and finally succeeded. “Um, hey Jack, can you hear me?”, “Y-yes, I can hear you.” Jack said back to Ashi over the phone.

           “Whoo, alright! Now, can you write one of those “text” thingies?” Ashi asked. Jack looked startled, but nodded as he fumbled over the onscreen buttons. Finally, Ashi’s phone vibrated, causing her to fumble in surprise and barely catch the phone in time. She struggled to open the text message, and it read “hElLO asHi”. She giggled at the bad text, even though she would have done the same. “HEllO JaCk” she texted back. They both giggled at their shared ineptitude with digital devices.

           “Ugh, kill me now. I’ve seen old people catch on faster than this, better too.” Cassius grumbled. “Ah come on, it’s kind of adorable. If anything, they really belong together like that.” Agalia said with a cramped smile. She did like Jack and Ashi’s relationship, but she did think sharing a lack of talent with technology was a weird thing to bond over.

           “Here’s your food.” the waitress said as she came with four dishes. “Okay, tech lecture over, food now!” Cassius said as he dove into his food. The others followed suit. Jack was pleasantly surprised with the takoyaki, which had octopus meat in it. He only wished his home had come up with this sooner. Just as they were finished eating and Jack had handed over credits as pay, the TV flashed to new programming.

           “Good evening, citizens of the Magnus Protectorate. This is your Lord Protector, Magnus, here to address all of you on standing matters.” the very stern and familiar man on the TV said. Jack turned at the same voice that still lingered in his memory, and his face turned grim and fierce as he recognized the figure all too well. “Magnus.” he muttered bitterly.

           “In the past few weeks, I understand your growing concerns. I’m sure you have all heard the reports of the Renegade Samurai known as Jack and his accomplices. Likewise, some are concerned he is a significant terrorist threat, and that his actions have caused a recent rise in insurgent activity. I am here speaking to you to lay those concerns to rest.”.

“Yes, the Samurai is dangerous, but he will not remain a threat, and neither he nor any of these other dissidents will harm any of you so long as I am Lord Protector. All I ask of you is to place your trust in me and the Protectorate our society is based on, and all will be well. He is dangerous because he threatens the principles our securities and society are based on, and that is why I ask you not to follow the mad fools who follow him. Worry not, they are few and weak compared to the Protectorate army that protects you all, and certainly nothing compared to me.”.

“That is why, as I speak, my loyal Inquisitors hunt for the Renegade Samurai and others of his cloth now. It has taken time, but soon they will face justice and answer for their serious actions. The only danger here then is your own fear and questioning, and so I ask you all to not be afraid, for we are here for your own good, ready to defend you at all costs.”.

“Oh, one last address. I speak to Samurai Jack now, who I know is watching. I understand your feelings for personal vengeance, but the crimes you have done to achieve it far outweigh whatever justice you may see in it. Whether you see it or not, you are a criminal in this world, and to everyone here, evil.”.

“That is why I will not hesitate to put you down. Not for myself, as you are acting now, but for all these people, people who worry some Samurai will kill them. No place will be safe for you from me and the Inquisitors. Certainly not Haulwater City. Well, that’s all for now, and thank you, citizens of the Magnus Protectorate.”.

The Protectorate broadcast ended there, leaving Jack, Ashi, Cassius, and Agalia all stiff. Cassius was the first to recover, followed by the rest. “Sh-shit, he knows! H-how does he know?!”. Everyone looked around frightened, and then realization dawned on Ashi. She ran back to the table, where the fisherman was.

The fisherman noticed rather quickly, running away, but Ashi was faster, tackling him down. “Ashi, what are you…”, Jack fumbled out in shock before getting even more shocked when the fisherman pulled out a gun. Ashi reacted in time though, slashing it in half before she held the knife to his neck.

“Who are you, and why were you following us?” Ashi said with a lethal tone. Jack and the others didn’t stop her, as they now assented that this no ordinary fisherman. “All I’ve got to say is that the lot of you are under arrest.” the fisherman said undeterred.

“Damn it, he must be a Protectorate spy! We’ve gotta get out of here before the 1st Class Inquisitor shows up!” Cassius cursed in slight fear. “He’s already here in the city. Give up now.” the spy said before getting punched out of consciousness by Ashi.

“I don’t think he was bluffing. I’ve felt like we were being watched since we entered the city, but every time I looked, they must have hidden in time.” Ashi said. She cursed herself for not picking up on the stealth methods of the Protectorate’s spies.

“Ah shit! We have to leave now, before they put the city on lockdown! Assuming they haven’t already.” Cassius instructed. “I am sorry, please forgive us for causing such violence.” Jack said, bowing to the frightened customers and staff before running out with the others.

“FREEZE! Hands in the air!”. The group of four stopped, and slowly raised their hands. Before them was a line of Cyber Troopers, guns at the ready. With that preparation, Jack knew that at least some of their own group would be gunned down before they drew their weapons. But a look from Cassius told him not to drop his guard yet.

“Of course, officer. Just let me get this out of my sleeve and, oops.” Cassius said nonchalantly as something slipped from his sleeve as he lifted his arms. Whatever fell from his arm made a pin sound as it did so, but the Troopers didn’t see or hear it fall because of the downpour of rain they stood in. Not until it rolled to them.

“Huh, GAH!”, BOOM! The item was a now-exploded grenade, killing a number of the soldiers and leaving the rest scattered. Now was the chance. Jack unsheathed his sword and the rest followed suit. The Cyber Troopers recovered as they charged, sending bullets their way.

But they were too close to be stopped now, as Jack and the others sliced and hammered the Troops as they evaded or blocked their aim. Jack closed in on the last one. That Cyber Trooper fired, but Jack gracefully blocked each one as he advanced. Then a clicking sound, as the soldier realized in fear that his magazine was empty. He didn’t even have time to draw his sidearm as Jack slashed into his side, cutting halfway through his chest.

The last soldier fell dead, blood mixing in the street side rain. “We must leave now. More will come.” Jack said as he directed towards the Odyssey. “Oh gee, thanks Samurai Obvious!” Cassius mocked as they all got into the car. Jack started the ignition. As soon as they unparked, he hit the throttle.

The Odyssey rocketed through the streets, side walkers startled at the speeding vehicle. Jack maneuvered through the traffic while maintaining speed, barely avoiding cars that he rushed by. Jack would apologize to each person that honked their horns angrily at him, but they needed to be gone now.

Suddenly the crowd of cars parted to the sides. Jack didn’t know what that meant, but he had suspicions. “Samurai Jack, pull over now! You are under arrest by the Magnus Protectorate!” a booming speaker said behind them. Three Protectorate vehicles with flashing siren lights pursued not far behind. What differentiated them from normal police cars were the mounted machine guns and the armed soldiers that emerged from the car tops.

“Damn it, it’s the police! And all that really means is local soldiers! Damn, I hate the military police.” Cassius cursed. That was kind of the norm, where a militarized regime government that ran the world would just use soldiers as law enforcement.

The police cars sent a volley of bullets at the car. The glass was bullet proof, but a number of dents were left as well as a few holes. Jack outpaced the bullets, but the Odyssey, while tough, couldn’t keep taking that punishment. “Note to self, install rear weapons if I live.” Agalia muttered.

Jack knew they were in no position to retaliate, so he looked at the passing streets for anything to dodge their pursuers. It was then he saw his answer in the shipping yard. “Hold on!” he shouted, driving the car off the street and into the port area.

After making sure no civilians were hurt, Jack looked back, confirming the military police were still on their tail. Ahead was the shipping area, where masses of metal like shipping containers were still being moved by the late-night staff. Now it was simply who was a better driver, him, or the Cyber Troopers.

He slammed though the gate and into the yard. Jack throttled and dodged his way through the cargo, the Cyber Troopers firing. That was hard now though since Jack had ample cover and kept turning. But Jack knew that wasn’t enough.

The up-front one was close on his tail, and Jack knew what risk he had to take. A wall of shipping containers was up ahead, and he just shot straight. Hold, hold, hold…NOW! Jack sharply turned left, barely managing at the last second to avoid the wall. It was even more difficult because of the water-covered concrete. But that also helped. The sharp turn sent water splashing at the lead as they raced towards Jack, blinding them for a second. They frantically tried to turn at the last minute, only for the police car to explode as it collided with the wall.

Jack looked behind, seeing the other two in pursuit. He saw his next high-risk venture with some slanted cargo near a water dock. At the other side of the dock was ground. It could be just driven around, but that was not his intention. “No…” Cassius said as he realized the goal. Yes indeed, as Jack drove over the slant at top speed, ejecting himself in the air, with one car following right behind. That Trooper must have been gutsy too.

Time seemed slowed for a second as the cars arched in the air, no one knowing how it would end. Finally, time sped up as everyone felt the rush of gravity. Agalia screamed in both fear and adrenaline as they finally landed, the car just barely hitting land and skidding to the side. The other car wasn’t fortunate, splashing into the ocean and sinking down. The submerged idiots tried to swim out of the car and to the surface, but their interlinked Cyber Armor was too heavy for that and couldn’t be taken off in time. So, they drowned for their lunacy.

“I don’t know who was crazier, you or them!” Cassius screamed. “Heads up, Jack. One more.”Ashi said as they drove on. Behind them was the last police car, the driver sane enough not to do that stunt. Jack sped on, but they were running out of shipping yard. He saw one last thing though. Ahead was the exit, but in front of that was a ship and magnetic crane lift. The crane was lifting a massive shipping container, larger than the others. It was going to lower before dropping, but Jack had another idea.

“Ashi, fire at the crane when I say so.” Jack said. The dashboard brought up the targeting for the Odyssey’s missile launcher. “On it.” Ashi said, understanding the plan. “On what, I…oh please no. You cannot be serious about this?!” Cassius screamed as he realized the next suicide stunt.

Ashi locked the cross hairs as the missile aligned, the shipping container nearly above them. “Now!” Jack ordered. Ashi complied, firing the missile. The magnet attached to the crane blew to pieces, allowing gravity to pull the shipping container down to the ground at high velocity. For a moment, the Odyssey and the police car were both caught in the falling shadow.

BOOM! The shipping container fell and the sound of crushed and exploding metal resounded. Out of the smoke and fire came only one vehicle. “WHOO! Let’s do that again!” Agalia said, drunk on the adrenaline. “Ugh, no more.” Cassius said, having a hangover from said adrenaline.

Jack crashed the car though the closed exit and back on to the street. He did not lessen up, as they were still in danger as long as they were in the city. They were in the right direction though, as they were more than halfway to the other side of the city. Now if only they could make it without any more trouble…

FLASH! A searchlight shined down on them, coming from an airborne vehicle that propelled though the sky. The vehicle’s machine guns at the sides and underneath pointed at them, directed by the hostile soldiers inside.

“Uh, Jack, they have a chopper.” Agalia said with her enthusiasm lost. Bullets came down like the rain around them, striking the ground and landing hits on the Odyssey. Jack became startled as a downward bullet tore through the roof and nearly hit him. His expression tightened as he struggled up a plan. He was just outpacing it now, but that would only buy minutes, and he couldn’t use the same strategies as before when they could easily evade and pursue in the air.

Then he saw it. A traffic tunnel, leading underground beneath masses of buildings. Jack turned and headed straight for the tunnel. The chopper fired frantically, attempting to stop him, but to no avail.

The tunnel was sizable, tiled and lit by orange lights, and there seemed to be no traffic. “Weird, where are the other drivers?” Agalia asked. Jack spoke, a bit exasperated. “I do not know, but hopefully we are safe. We just need to drive through and make it out of…”, “BLOCKADE!” Ashi shouted.

Jack barely stopped the Odyssey in time, the car screeching to halt. In front of them was a set up barrier with bright lights. In front of and behind the barrier were Cyber Troopers. But what was most foreboding was the armored silhouette figure standing at the front. He hadn’t even been deterred at all by the speeding car that threatened to crash.

“Samurai Jack, I wish to speak with you. So long as you do not run, my men will not harm you or your allies. I swear it.” the figure spoke. Jack was suspicious, but there did not seem to be undue malice in the figure’s voice. Retreat was not sound, as the firing line could still do serious damage, and by now there was probably another line at the other end of the tunnel.

Jack silently nodded to the rest of them. While they were uncomfortable with the decision, they understood the reasoning. Gripping their weapons, they slowly got out of the car and cautiously walked to the figure. Finally, the shadow over him faded and his appearance became clear. Jack became slack jawed at who he saw.

He could not be hallucinating, before him was a samurai. At least, that was the judgement by appearance. While it was modelled in Magnus Protectorate aesthetics, he wore the traditional armor and cloth of a samurai warrior. He even carried a daishō, a traditional long and short sword set, at his side.

Jack knew that very well, his own father carried such a daishō. In the customs of his people, while one sword was commonly used for martial practice, the other represented aspects like rank and honor, typically carried by upper class warriors. Whoever held these carried respect. While of course Jack’s Emperor father often carried his daishō, Jack himself did not hold up the custom in order to practice and maintain humility.

He had been an exile for so long, both in his studies and in his travels, and so, while he was respectful of his noble title, he never indulged in it for pleasure. In fact, he had enjoyed being among average peers and friends, and preferred humble labor and lifestyles. That was why, even when regaining his royal title, he remained the same humble and kind Samurai he had always been.

Returning to the present moment, Jack was joyed to meet another honorable samurai warrior, who, by the appearance of his face, likely descended from the same roots as him. But then he stopped himself, remembering that in this time, everything was different, and that this samurai warrior bore the Magnus Protectorate insignia. This warrior had every deserved respect from Jack, but he was without doubt an enemy.

The warrior stepped forward and removed his helmet, bowing his head. “Domo, I am Inquisitor Samurai Hiroto, of the Magnus Protectorate.”. Jack did not lessen his guard, but bowed for due curtesy. “Domo, the people of this land refer to me as Samurai Jack.”.

They lifted their heads, looking at each other with narrowed eyes. “Forgive the approach, but while it is not difficult to find you, finding an opportunity to speak with such a travelled man is…challenging. I am afraid this was necessary so to arrange a talk.”.

“A talk? Funny way to ask for it, sending spies to stalk us and having your troops trying to arrest and shoot us. Hell, those guys are still ready to fi…!” Agalia shouted angrily before Jack lifted his hand to stop her.

Hiroto similarly gave a hand signal, and his Cyber Troopers, with puzzled gestures, stood down. “As I stated, catching a moment with you is not easy, so certain measures were necessary.  I apologize for such dishonorable hostilities before our meeting.”.

Jack knew what that meant. While the Inquisitor was not proud to have attacked before speaking, he would still have engaged them in combat after such a talk, simply preferring if they had met peacefully before engaging in strife.

“I understand your reasons, but that leaves the question. Why have you gone through such means to talk to me, and what of?” Jack asked. “As I have introduced, I am Hiroto, both Inquisitor and samurai. The Lord Protector informed me of your history, that you are a samurai of the original line.”. “Original?” Jack asked.

Hiroto sighed, troubled by the history he would need to explain. “Yes, honorable samurai of past. I know you come from the time of my ancestors, when the samurai still held prominence. One day, a ruler had attempted to change our ways, open ourselves to other people and lower our necessities for fighting.”.

“A number of the feudal lords who served under him were not content with such change, and so defied him. Samurai fought samurai, and the people of the land became divided. Our land divided into states, each seeking to have their customs as dominant. In such bloodied conflict, the samurai became dishonored, and people viewed them less as symbols of honor, and simply as soldiers of war.”

“This did not happen immediately. Long after this war period, our people still held the samurai with esteem, but they changed. They slowly became more and more as tools of conflict as our people progressed. The foolish ruler’s teachings still remained, and finally convinced our people to open ourselves to outsiders. Little did he know back then, that was what ended the samurai. Not a war, but simply progress.”.

“The militaries of the rest of the world were different, more professional. We needed to advance. Our armies changed, or ways changed, so we could fight like them. Soon, the samurai lost all importance, until finally, they discontinued, and ended as simple history.”.

Jack was disheartened by this. How could his people just…abandon such a long time and honorable tradition? Why did the samurai become an instrument of war, instead of remaining the symbol of proud honor and principles? Why did people hate the teachings of this ruler? It was not as horrible as having his people torn down to vagrants by Aku, but the changes to his people by time were hard for Jack to accept. The samurai, they were…gone.

“Our new beginning starts not only after the end of the original samurai, but after the new world’s beginning. Our Lord Protector, Magnus, had saved what was left of the world from the fires of the Near End War, including our people. To rebuild our culture and society, we sought out our traditional ways for strength, to persevere in such adversity. The Lord Protector’s new government aided us, and we were beginning to recover.”.

“Though we still share many modern aspects as the rest of the world, we remember and value our ancestors as always. But to help maintain strength and identity after the war, one of the old ways we sought strength from was the samurai. Strong, noble, honorable. Much effort was given to bring such a warrior way back from oblivion, and some do not consider us true samurai. But we devoted ourselves to the ways they left behind, and the Lord Protector approved and tested our combat mettle himself. I am of the second generation of the new line.”.

“Now, I stand before you, Samurai of the past. I understand you have your reasons, but I also have mine. Even with your purpose, you have defied the honorable Lord Protector, and threaten what he has built and what it means to us all. I serve such a noble and honorable cause as one of his Inquisitors. His will is my mission. And his will is that you be eliminated.”.

“As such, I give you a choice now. Cease your cause and defiance and come with us in peace, and the Lord Protector can decide your honorable fate. He may even consider letting you return home.”. Jack, though he appreciated Hiroto’s sincere offer, wasn’t willing to accept that choice. “The other?” he posed as a question, but was practically a statement.

“If you choose to continue your path, I understand you do so for honor. To maintain our honor then, one of us must fall. If you so choose, then I, Inquisitor Samurai Hiroto, challenge you, Samurai Jack, to a battle to the death.”.

Jack was startled by that second option. He expected Hiroto to threaten that he and his forces would immediately kill Jack and his friends, as everyone else from the Magnus Protectorate had. He wondered if this was a trick, but if Hiroto meant to kill them in deceit, he had the opportunity the whole time he was talking. If this was a duel of honor and death sent as a formal challenge, then Jack could not back down. He would respect both his and Hiroto’s honor.

“I accept your challenge.” Jack decided. “Very well. We will meet in the shadow of the rain over the ocean, towards the horizon you desire. That is your destination, no? Your friends may come as spectators, but will not be allowed to aid, and neither of us will use firearms. In return, my Troops will not come, and if you defeat me, the way will be clear for you.”.

Jack bowed in affirmation, understanding and appreciating the conditions. This would be a fair fight between samurai warriors, with the outcome decided by skill and fate. “Move out, we are leaving.” Hiroto commanded to his forces.

“I-Inquisitor, you can’t be serious. This man is a renegade, why are you letting him…” said a Trooper before Hiroto interrupted him with a sword near the neck. “That is an order. Understood?”. “Understood.” replied all the soldiers. Hiroto sheathed his sword, and all the soldiers, especially the one that was threatened, moved out as he commanded, with Hiroto at the lead.

“You’re taking the challenge?” Ashi asked. “I must. He came to me formally and honorably, even offering choice. I must respond in kind.” Jack said. “So, what was that whole “shadow in the rain” bit about?” Agalia asked. “Our destination, the bridge.” Jack responded.

…

           The Odyssey drove to the edge of the bridge, lying at the city limits. Aside from the neon lights of the port city behind, only the street lights of the bridge illuminated the rainy night. There were some exceptions though. By now, the rainstorm became violent enough to generate thunder and lightning.

           Jack and the others stepped out and walked out onto the bridge. FLASH! In one of the brilliant lightning flashes stood Hiroto. He had awaited them on the bridge, alone, as he said he would. “Wait here.” Jack said. They all complied, but didn’t like the idea. Ashi in particular wanted to speak out against this deathmatch, but as foolish as she thought it was, she knew she couldn’t stop Jack, having come to know his code of honor. All she could do was have confidence in him.

           Jack stood before Hiroto. The two shared a silent, fierce stare, the calm before battle. Slowly, but simultaneously, they each drew their katana. They continued to just stare each other down, waiting for that one moment.

           FLASH! Within that lightning strike, they charged at each other, the sparks between their swords replacing the dying flash from before. Jack slashed again, horizontally, vertically, to the sides and front. But Hiroto seemed to just as able a swordsman, blocking each strike with grace and precision rather than blunt force.

           Hiroto struck back with a number of precise strikes of his own. Just as Hiroto countered him, Jack similarly met each strike gracefully. Jack timed a counter to one strike, forcing Hiroto back.

           As they put distance between each other, Jack assessed what transpired. Hiroto was merely gauging Jack as Jack gauged him. He could tell Hiroto judged him as a dangerous opponent, and Jack felt the same about him. One of them was not walking away from this, that much was certain.

           FLASH! The fight continued, as they charged with lethal attacks. The attacks became much more furious, as Jack dodged and parried this time. He attacked to the side, forcing Hroto to brace his left side with his armored arm and gauntlet. The sword cut through the armor and into flesh, blood spilling. Hiroto struck back, and Jack only evaded enough to avoid lethal harm.

           But the slash cut into his front and flesh, tearing up the front of his gi and damaging his chest guard, leaving a bleeding cut that spilled on to the rainy ground. It was not lethal, but the pain seared across Jack as he panted to maintain his guard.

           The same was for Hiroto, as his left arm bled and was limp at his side. It was not so serious as to kill him or immobilize him, but his pain was as relatable as Jack’s. Even so, both of them did not show weakness then.

           FLASH! A third clash now, this time more defensive as they both took care of their wounded areas to not be exploited. Jack kept going for Hiroto’s left side, but the Protectorate samurai anticipated this, blocking a number of those strikes, until he finally dodged.

           As Jack was left open by the attack, Hiroto struck towards Jack’s head in a clean stroke. Jack saw the sword coming for him, just managing to arch his neck and back enough to avoid it. It was so close though, Jack saw his own face in the blade’s steel. Jack stood up, but soon realized the sword did strike something, as his topknot’s pin broke in half and his long hair flowed down.

           Jack narrowed his eyes, realizing how close that came to a fatal strike. He thrust for Hiroto’s left side again. The enemy samurai met each strike, but became surprised as Jack turned his sword from Hiroto’s and went for his head. A feint!

           Hiroto realized the danger within the split second the sacred sword came for him. Like Jack, he backed up enough just barely to avoid a strike, but it came so close that it was between his eyes. Hiroto backed away and looked at Jack, only to realize it was a hit as his helmet came apart from a crack in the front.

           “You fight well, samurai. It is honestly a shame that you are a renegade enemy. Before this continues, I would hear of your lord’s orders and your true name, so as to understand my enemy better.” Hiroto stated across. Jack, though not lessening his guard, was puzzled by that question.

           “My lord’s orders? By what do you mean?” Jack asked. “A samurai answers and acts on behalf of the will of their lord, and no other. I answer to and serve the Lord Protector. Who commands you to oppose him?”. Jack realized that most samurai do chose to serve a lord for their service, acting as their sword.

           “I apologize, but it is not that simple. Though I serve my father, the Emperor, and my people, my actions are my own decisions. While I quest for my father and people, it was I who chose to fight Magnus.”.

           Hiroto looked startled by this. “You…do not answer to a lord?”, “Not at present, no.”. “It was your own choice to fight the Lord Protector?”, “Yes.”. “Do you simply wander about on this quest of your own will?”, “That is true, I wander this world of my own chosen purpose.” Jack finished answering. Hiroto looked like he was struggling to process something, then realized it.

           “I see. Then I believe the Lord Protector has mistakenly labelled you. You are not Samurai. You are rōnin. Wandering, without given purpose.”. Jack was startled by that designation. While not necessarily dishonorable, being rōnin was not something to be proud of either. Where Jack came from, they lost all meanings of title and prestige, and simply wandered for new purpose. They were samurai who lost everything.

           “W-well, I suppose that is applicable. My family gave me the title after training, but I did not serve one particular lord except my father, no.”. Jack answered, troubled that Hiroto’s accusation held some truth. “Your name, then.” Hiroto said with cold demand. “I am simply called Samurai Jack. I have not used my name very often, as it bears little consequence in what I do. I do not let it control my actions and purpose.” Jack said humbly. “A nameless samurai prince? Then…no, it cannot be.” Hiroto said shocked.

           Hiroto’s expression suddenly turned violent, all signs of due curtesy vanished. “You, you are the one. The nameless samurai, the foolish ruler, who brought the samurai to war.” Hiroto said with clear anger. “Wh-what?” Jack asked.

           “Maybe you have not done such yet, honorless rōnin, but you are the ruler who left his own name forgotten and left behind a torn legacy. Some wonder if you did the right thing, but I decided that everything you did brought shame to the samurai. We are meant to be unflinching, unyielding, unfailing. Who else could bring them disgrace but one who falsely labels themselves as one? You are even worse than some disrespectful imposter.”.

           Jack was stunned by this accusation. He was the ruler that caused a civil war in his own homeland? He was blamed by some for the eventual decline of the samurai? Jack wanted to refute these charges, that he only sought peace and cared for his homeland.

           “I would never desire bloodshed amongst my own people! You must be mistaken!” Jack stated. “You must be him, the ruler so rarely used his true name that it was long forgotten, and he called himself a samurai without answering or responding to a lord. Perhaps you have no malice, but your ignorance and naivety are just as damning, whether there or in this time.”

           “I’ve seen the reports, your actions. You have terrorized citizens, openly attacked soldiers doing their duty, and even released war criminals that inflicted fatalities. I thought you were acting on behalf of some code of honor, doing as commanded, but it turns out it was just the misguided whims of a rōnin.”

           “I have made mistakes, but only to do what I see is right.” Jack said with some trouble. “What you see is right?! You have broken the safe guarding laws of the people, and you call that right?! The people entrusted our honorable Lord Protector, Magnus, to see this world right.”.

           “This world is far from right! I have seen people suffer in squalor, imprisoned in the earth, drafted into his armies! There is no honor in such a man!” Jack shouted, unbelieving of how Hiroto supported such a tyrant.

           “No honor?! How dare you speak of the Lord Protector as such?! Were you there during the war? Could you have saved people from the wanton destruction? There were no heroes then except him. Everything he does now, he does to heal this world and prevent the return of it’s evil. I concede, not all of it is good. Some decisions are hard, but must be done for all.”

“The people you see suffer do so of their volition. If he was without mercy, the Lord Protector would slaughter them, but gives them the chance to repent and be part of his vision for the world. But that vision requires sacrifice, decisiveness, and resolve. He is our savior and ruler for those qualities, not because of the light heartedness you boast of. If it were not for him, we would not be here.”.

“So what do you know? What do you know is required to make this world right? What do you know of our struggles and decisions? What do you know of our pain, and what we must do? We do not do these things because we want to, but because we must. Lord Protector Magnus realizes that, and for that, I follow him. I am a samurai, and I will do what he asks, even if they are called sins, because sometimes there is no other choice. I do this, because I know it is what is necessary, that he and his will are necessary.”.

“And so, as a samurai and Inquisitor of the Magnus Protectorate, and by the will of my Lord Protector, I will use all my ability and the power he has given me to bring you down, sinful rōnin. The time for words is over, now fight!”

Hiroto suddenly lunged at Jack, as Jack now struggled against both blade and thought. Was Hiroto simply that fanatical, or were Magnus’s laws actually just? He had no time to give these thoughts time though, as he fended off Hiroto’s bloodthirsty strikes. He no longer saw Jack as a respectful opponent, but as a villain to be cut down.

Power flashed around Hiroto for a second, but nothing seemed to change. But Jack noticed the pavement beneath Hiroto’s feet was cracked. Whatever power Magnus had given him, he had chosen to use it now.

Hiroto brought down his sword, and Jack suddenly felt he had to dodge immediately. Good thing he did, as the pavement was now smashed where he was. Jack would have been crushed, by a katana of all things.

Just as Jack wondered what that was, Hiroto lunged forward. Jack dodged completely now, not even risking to parry. He noted though that it was easier to dodge Hiroto’s movements now. For some reason, they looked heavy and slower. They were near the bridge edge, and Jack ducked as Hiroto sent a horizon slash his way. Behind him, the street light post flickered dark as it was cut clean through.

How is he gaining so much strength? Is he increasing force? No, his movements have slowed, it is something different. Jack thought such, and decided if it slowed him, he should take advantage. He slashed for Hiroto’s left side again, but this time Hiroto didn’t even try to dodge. The reason became clear as Jack’s sword stopped with a clang. He could hardly even scratch the armor, let alone leave a cut.

Hiroto made his move, sending another downward slash. Jack barely rolled and jumped out of the way as a chunk of the bridge fell apart. Hiroto became a bit alarmed, as the place he was standing threatened to give way. Then, it stopped, and Hiroto jumped back, his movements at regular speed again.

“It seems force alone won’t bring you down. But you will know why I am called the Ghost of the Samurai. Die rōnin.” Hiroto said coldly. Suddenly, Hiroto began to fade till he was transparent, as though he were a ghost. Jack was startled, as this was very different to what he did before. Did Hiroto somehow have two powers?

Hiroto, in a movement that almost hovered, rushed towards Jack. Jack made for blocking and slashing motion, but his blade harmlessly passed though the ghostly samurai. Then, Jack felt it, as he barely blocked the enemy sword in time, but the edge still imbedded to his left side as blood stemmed from the wound.

Hiroto was solid for that moment, then returned to his ghostly form. He backed away only to strike again. Jack tried to fend as best he could, but each attack still left cuts as Hiroto could now get close and in his blind spots, Jack only being able to parry or block at the last second. Worst part was that every counterattack of Jack’s was fruitless, as Hiroto became intangible immediately after an attack.

Before, he was heavy and tough as iron, now he moves like the winds, and my blade passes though him as such. To change from as thick as rock to thin as air, how…? Then Jack realized with that comparison and analogy. Density! Hiroto was altering his own density! That was why early he was so heavy as to crack the bridge and make crushing force movements with a katana, and how he was intangible now. That was also why his attacks became solid, as he would need to be to attack Jack.

Jack realized the moment of when to strike Hiroto, but achieving it would be critical. He calmed his mind and focused his other senses. The glare of the street lights, the sound of the thunder, the rain falling down on Jack and the bridge. He felt it all at once, everything painting a picture. He could sense everything, including a presence that was almost not there.

It was him. Despite how light it was, Jack could feel it, every movement now making real as if he was solid. Jack waited and waited, as the ghostly presence approached. He waited for that moment for the presence to change. The ephemeral blade came closer to Jack. Closer, closer, closer…Now! After the presence changed, in real time, two swords slashed, and blood spilled.

Hiroto, now solid, paused, his sword still hanging over Jack’s head. He looked down to where the numb pain was. It was a deep slash across his chest, cutting beneath the armor and into flesh. Cutting into one end of the tear was Jack’s sword, running red with Hiroto’s blood.

“Damn…rōnin…” Hiroto gasped out with little breath as he collapsed backwards. He fell into the crevasse he caused early, and the sound of splashing water came as the ocean water below turned red.

Jack stood there, somber from the exchange of both words and swords. A damn rōnin. Jack had been cursed numerous times, but this time he couldn’t just brush it off. It was a curse that condemned him as unjust, that he was wrong. More than that, the rōnin part told him that he doing such without real purpose or justification. Was he still a samurai without those?

What about Hiroto’s high esteem of Magnus? Could Jack really call it indoctrination, or were these really matters he did have no understanding of? If the world really did choose Magnus, as Hiroto said, did that make him just? Were the ones who suffered taking punishment as justified consequence?

Jack cursed himself. Everything seemed so clear before, now he wondered who was doing harm. He could only be sure of what he had done, and what he had done was strike down another samurai. He offered silence to the fallen warrior as he walked back to the car, his friends following.

“Um, Jack, are you okay?” Ashi asked. Jack sighed, not sure of to answer. “I… just need to clear my thoughts.” Jack said somberly as he drove the Odyssey into the rainy night.

…

           Magnus strode through the Citadel corridors, anxious to get where he absolutely needed to be. He wasn’t going to settle for just a report from Xander, he needed to see this now. Right now, he was briskly striding through the medical section of the Citadel, which had services outclassing any hospital on Earth. It was under the jurisdiction of the Science Operations Division, and not far from the medical area were places like Research and Development, or R&D.

           But he was here to see someone in the emergency room, he had the authority. It had been three days since Hiroto and his spies told him they had cornered Samurai Jack in Haulwater City. A day later, Xander told him Hiroto’s soldiers had found him in the ocean in the previous night. They got him into care immediately, but his injuries were apparently serious. For that reason, he was transferred to the Citadel for better treatment.

           The doctors noticed him and became frantic and wordless as to what to say, then noticed where he is headed. “L-Lord Protector, you can’t go in there! There’s a patient in critical condition!” the staff said desperately, but he ignored them.

           A nurse came by, looking for him. “Lord Protector, if it’s the Inquisitor you’re looking for, he’s been transferred to intensive care. Please follow me.” she said. Magnus followed as instructed, till he arrived at the room.

           Despite it not being the emergency room, the patient was receiving a lot of care from the doctors. One of them looked up, and turned away to speak to Magnus. “Lord Protector, we had him transferred here moments ago. His life is not in immediate danger, but…”. Magnus didn’t bother looking at the doctor. Instead, he was somewhat distraught as he looked at the patient.

           Inside a glass chamber of suspension fluid was Hiroto. Numerous tubes and machines were going in and out of him, and Magnus saw why. Numerous bandages and stitches were across his chest. but the area was still thick with held blood.

           Magnus felt pained at the sight. It reminded him too much of seeing soldiers under his command dying from ghastly wounds in the war. Some didn’t die, but became crippled, and would live with that loss for the rest of their days. The ones who got the worst luck would die of their wounds or severe shock trauma if they weren’t given euthanasia.

           This wasn’t the worst he had seen, but it was a damn miracle Hiroto was still alive. “But what, doctor? Just tell me, don’t sugarcoat it.” Magnus said, still looking at the container. “He’s lucky his soldiers found him when they did, but whatever happened tore through several of his vitals. We can only keep him alive now with life support. Worst still is that the injury sent him into shock, and now he’s paralyzed. Counting that and the severe tissue and organ damage, he will never be able to serve again. I’m not even sure if he’ll ever be able to leave.”.

           “Now, now, let’s not jump to conclusions.” said voice coming through the doors. Magnus narrowed his eyes. “Consul Britta, if you’re looking for project approvals, make an appointment. I’m busy.”. Before Magnus was the middle-aged woman Britta, Consul of the Science Operations Division. Everything of scientific development and maintenance, such as the inception of the enhancements for Cyber Troopers, came from her.

           “Oh, it’s not like that. Well, maybe a bit. See, I’ve got an idea to help your Inquisitor here. I think you remember my Extensive Cyber Format design, yes?” she asked. “Oh yes, that Frankenstein’s monster fever dream that I shot down. Why are bringing that up again?” Magnus said tiredly.

           Only a few years ago, Britta came to him with a design to further enhance the cyber implants of his troops. That’s what he expected anyway, but what she brought to the table was too outrageous. Until now, the circuitry enhancements in the Cyber Troopers were limited to just that, enhancements. Cerebral hookups, motor assist coordinators, linkups from the nervous system into Cyber Armor, anything that assisted humans as soldiers. There was also training data and targeting assist to help new troops do things like aim better, but a certain Samurai made that look redundant lately.

           Basically, all that was put into them made them stronger, faster, more tactical, and gave a few digital and technological advancements, but they were still human. That was something Magnus was keen on, that his soldiers didn’t turn into machines. Because of the war, he was sore about robot soldiers.

           But Britta’s designs threatened everything about that. She proposed things like replacing whole muscle mass with metal and circuits, grafting on weapons, and other things that was basically surgically altering the troops into robots with flesh parts. They were technically cyborgs, but Magnus couldn’t call them humans, given how much they would lose in the process. He couldn’t imagine the soldiers or public agreeing to it either.

           “Look, I did what you said, I actually sat in the corner and thought it through. Guess what, I decided it did seem screwed up, so I changed up the designs. They will be more “human”, okay? In fact, I reworked the whole thing for people like Hiroto here.” she said “Explain.” Magnus demanded.

           “With people like the Renegade Samurai around, a lot of troops get taken out in the line of duty. Not all are killed, but do get so hurt they get crippled for life. So, what if this gave them a second chance? We just replace what’s lost and they can be better active soldiers than before. A full cyber format, just like that.”.

           “So, you want me to permit you to do a full cyber format on Hiroto? Turn him into some robot man?” Magnus said irritated. Britta shrugged, saying “You heard the good doctor, he might stay here his whole life otherwise, right? Relax, I won’t do anything to his brain. He’ll be like an Inquisitor Samurai 2.0! But I have to do the whole thing, with that wound and the full paralysis and all. So, do you approve my design? You only have to sign.” she said with a grin.

           Magnus looked again at Hiroto. He remembered when he met Hiroto when he was still a young adult, around 20 or so. The fledgling samurai was so flustered as he bowed to the Lord Protector, Magnus nearly laughed. When Magnus tested him, he was going a bit light, but the novice still got a hit in before Magnus knocked him out cold. With that, Magnus oversaw his Inquisitor training to 1st Class, and the rest was history.

           Now, here was one of his model officers, paralyzed and wounded to the point that he needed technology to live no matter what. Damn him, damn that Samurai Jack! No one does this to my people. Not without paying for it. Magnus was saddened, pained, and angry at the same time. Saddened for Hiroto, whose life of honorable service would take a horrific turn, pained at the decision he would need to make, and angry at the Samurai who pressed this choice on him.

           Magnus looked back at Britta and sighed. “Very well. Give me updates and let me know when he’s conscious. Keep him as human as possible. You have permission to use the same operation for similar cases, but if anything goes wrong, you are responsible. No casualties or abominations.”. With that, Magnus signed the form, looking back at the fallen samurai. This is not over, Samurai Jack. But it will be, by my hand if needed, for those you’ve wronged.

…

           In a dark, partially lit room, various people were walking about, carrying firearms or melee weapons, eating rations, or discussing plans. At the center was a large, silhouetted man. His distinct features couldn’t be seen, but he was large for a man, and a machine gun for a leg could be made out. He was looking over reports when a tall, strong looking woman approach.

           “Here, the news says he been in Haulwater three days ago. Cause a real ruckus with an Inquisitor and them bucketheads. But Dad, are you sure this is the guy? It not be the drinks talkin’? said the woman in Scottish accent.

           The man looked down at the newspaper, showing Samurai Jack from when he confronted Hiroto, with photos of the car chaise and publicly released details of the incident. The man smiled through his thick grey beard.

           “Aye, he be the one. Don’ know what he be doin’ here, but I remember him. Well, what we be waitin’ for? Let’s go find ole Jack!”.

Author Notes: These Chapters get longer and longer, huh? What can I say? I like telling whole stories and hate having too many cliffhangers. At some point, it just gets annoying when it cuts before something satisfying. Canged Novas Sanctum to Nova Sanctum because Nova is a more applicable word.

So yeah, one of the last spiritually troubling things for Jack I wanted to set up before the Arc 1 Finale was have him fight another samurai. But what was narratively troubling was trying to come up with something compelling that antagonized Hiroto and made Jack feel guilty. Part of me isn’t so sure I succeeded either, but I did my best, whatever that’s worth. I did have to do rudimentary research, meaning Google searches. If you think I’m bad for cultural appropriation, I apologize, and I’m sorry I can’t be more accurate or faithful. One thing I don’t like to do is perpetrate bad stereotypes.

           Still, I based Hiroto on the archetypal account of samurai following a lord or master and doing whatever they command, even if it’s terrible. It’s this way between Hiroto and Magnus, he believes Magnus is just and following him will lead to the best prosperity. I wrote this to not appear as just fanaticism, but to show Jack that some people do see Magnus as good, and that fighting him will make Jack look horrible to many.

           But aside from Jack being an enemy of Magnus, I had to come up with reasons for someone reasonably good like Hiroto to hate Jack. One was realizing that Jack is more a rōnin than an actual samurai, making him look like a disgrace to Hiroto.

           But when I did a quick read up on samurai from said Google searches, I saw stuff like the warring states period and the 1800s period where the samurai sort of faded out with modernization. So, I thought I’d come up with a small fiction story where Jack is involved. I admit, I wish I thought up better, and it’s really wordy, but I can only do so much.

           There were parts I liked writing though. The Bartakovsky’s, a Genndy joke from earlier, was really fun, especially calling out all the cartons and movies he was involved with, not strictly made though. I pointed out the Popeye movie as Bopeye, because I know that bummed him out. I really liked the smartphone bit, some of us still have a hard time with them, so imagine Jack and Ashi having a romantic moment trying to figure them out. Loved thinking up the car chase too, always wanted to do a car chase scene or two.

           Lastly, you all know who that was in the beginning and end. Yeah, he’s back, he remembers Jack, and he has a significant backstory in the new future. Best of all, you will see him reunite with Jack in the three-part arc finale next chapter. Hope you love it, but I need my rest before I start.

[passiveincome0]

Nasdaq Leads $20 Million Funding Round for Blockchain Startup Symbiont

Enterprise blockchain startup Symbiont has closed a $20 million Series-B funding round led by Nasdaq Ventures with participation from Galaxy Digital, Citi, Raptor Group and others. The firm, which has kept a fairly low profile the last two years as the cryptocurrency market’s gyrations overshadowed the enterprise sector, previously raised a combined $15.4 million from a seed round in 2014 and Series A in 2017. Symbiont CEO Mark Smith told CoinDesk that the firm doubled its staff last year, and now has more than 60 employees. “We have been very good stewards of capital for the six years we have been in business. I think we have done more with less than anybody out there,” Smith said. “So it was time for us to do a bigger round and adding the Nasdaq as an investor and partner, and Citi as an investor and partner, really solidifies our strategy.” As part of the investment, Nasdaq Financial Framework, a software company owned by the exchange, will integrate Symbiont’s Assembly smart contracts platform to explore new avenues involving tokenization. Smith, a veteran of the early days of financial market matching engines, explained there has been a big movement towards combining blockchain with traditional exchange technology. “Symbiont will give Nasdaq the ability to originate a financial instrument and the smart contract to custody it on a blockchain, to allow trading to occur with their matching engine, to allow surveillance to occur across the network using Nasdaq technology and then to perform settlement on a blockchain,” he said. To be clear, Symbiont is not working with the Nasdaq proper, just the software arm, which sells tech to other exchanges, clearing houses and central securities depositories in about 50 countries. As Smith put it: “We are infrastructure people: dirt under the fingernails, digging the ditches, laying the roads.”

Win some, lose some

Indeed, Symbiont has kept a firm focus on building capital markets infrastructure using a proprietary blockchain and smart contracts architecture. The startup has lasered in on a handful of carefully selected use cases and partners, such as index data management with investment giant Vanguard; making the mortgage market transparent and more efficient with Wall Street legend Lewis Ranieri; and optimizing the syndicated loans market with Ipreo’s Synaps platform. However, not all its partnerships panned out. For instance, Symbiont dedicated a lot of time and effort between 2015 and 2017 helping create a blockchain technology-enabled regulatory environment in the state of Delaware, creating rules for share registry and the ability to create a whole new class of securities. All that work, done free of charge, came to naught for Symbiont when Governor Jack Markell’s term ended, according to Smith. “The new administration came in with less fanfare about the use of the technology and a very conservative approach,” he said. “Instead of moving forward, they took a big step back and decided to defend the incumbents against what they considered disruptive tech, then reached out to IBM and spent over $1 million replicating the exact road map we gave the state.” (The precise amount of the single-bid contract was $738,000, according to the Delaware News Journal.) Another wrench was thrown into the works last August, when Symbiont’s partner on syndicated loans, Ipreo, was acquired by IHS Markit, which has worked with ethereum-based Quorum (developed by JPMorgan) on this use case. Smith could not say too much about this but hinted that Symbiont’s new big-bank investor would go to bat for it on the syndicated loan front. “Certainly with Citi now in our cap table we can see how this is going to move forward,” he said. (Citi was the world’s third-largest underwriter of syndicated loans last year, running $271 billion of transactions, according to Thomson Reuters data.)

Competitive landscape

It’s common these days to view the enterprise blockchain world as consisting of Hyperedger, R3, Digital Asset and enterprise ethereum variants. Symbiont has been around for as long as any of these forks, consortiums or other proprietary solutions, and Smith is never shy about sharing his opinion of them.   “I would argue that we are the only enterprise blockchain solution,” he said. The others, he contended, either aren’t really blockchains or have privacy and security shortcomings or haven’t produced anything beyond ideas. On the subject of corralling together large consortiums, Smith believes innovation always comes from individuals and small teams that are able to iterate quickly and nimbly. “I think what you get in consortiums is just compromise. You end up with average tech, nothing revolutionary – sometimes barely evolutionary. Creating a back office as a service with a shared ledger is not revolutionary. That’s what a consortium will get you,” Smith said. So what does Symbiont have to show for its work? Smith said several of its projects will enter production in 2019, starting with the Vanguard collaboration, which uses corporate action data to manage the asset manager’s passive indices. Syndicated loans and mortgages will follow. As far as the sustained bear market for crypto assets is concerned, Smith said from day one his firm had stayed away from those sorts of “shenanigans.” “We kept our head down and focused on what we always believed would be the marketplace, which is a regulated marketplace,” he said. Of course, he is very sad to hear of people losing their jobs and said it was unfortunate that many people lost a lot of money. But overall, Smith said he is glad to be out of the hype cycle, concluding,    “We are in the trough of disillusionment and I am extremely excited.” Mark Smith image via CoinDesk Consensus archives !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=;t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '239547076708948'); fbq('track', "PageView"); Source link Read the full article