#hollow section application

[dr3amfyr-e]

crybaby - j.v. ( w. 5k )

꒰ in which the boy you see every summer enrolls in the same university as you. again. ꒱ — modern!jacaerys velayron x reader

୨ ⎯ childhood-friends-to-lovers. someone said idiots in love, and yes! modern au. everyone lives au. liberal usage of the em-dash. foul language. pushing the rhaenicent agenda. an incredible amount of yearning and pining. mention of reader's hair. mentions of anxiety. reader has a breakdown in semi-public. subplot where reader is sick. reader is so down bad its crazy. targ-tower cameo! aemond bitter af and for no reason. wrote a bit of dialogue that is so foul but i only realized it after i typed it and its not being taken out. luke is so little brother coded. i directly quote a serial romance novel thats so cringe. part one here. ⎯ ୧

can be read stand-alone, but theres a lot of context in part one !! thank u all for being patient :3

“It's called Applications of Ancient Politics in Modern Literature.”

Looking up from your twelve-page study guide, you meet Jace’s bright gaze where he sits at the foot of your bed, “That sounds… complicated.”

He shrugs, long fingers brushing up through his thick curls, “I need to take it, it's cross-listed for literature and political science so I’ll get credit for both. I think it’ll be interesting, plus if you take it too…” He leans a little closer, grinning in your face. 

“Send it to me,” You reply, highlighting a section in the packet about climate change and its impact on migratory birds in pretty pink ink.

You promise to look it up, to get back to him later, but it's hollow and you know it. He's already given you that pretty smile, flashed his dimples and stared down at you with his dark eyes — your grave has been dug. You will take  Applications of Ancient Politics in Modern Literature and read pages of boring political theory because Jace asked and Jace has you wrapped around his finger.

He shifts on the mattress, lying down on his front and scooting decidedly closer to you. His laptop is open in front of him, eyes trained on the screen through his glasses, perusing the course catalogue for the spring semester. 

“Isn’t it a bit late to pick classes?” You ask, stretching your legs out in front of you, “It's December, next semester is in, like, four weeks.” 

Jace is a perfectionist, a pre-planning freak who has three calendars: a planner that he carries everywhere, a big desk calendar at his apartment for easy access while studying, and his digital calendar. Its colour coded — he has a browser extension that allows him to make events on his Google Calendar any colour. So, it's very unlike Jace, who does his schoolwork the night it's assigned, to pick classes two months after registration opened. 

“I just like to look,” He replies, “This class is Wednesday and Friday, from ten to eleven o’clock. Does that work for you?” 

You nod, because it will work. You’ll rearrange your schedule if need be. It's pathetic, really, how easily he gets you to do things.

It's quiet for a while, Jace scrolling on his computer while you fill in your study packet. 

“When is your last final?” He asks. 

“Next Friday.”

“So you’re leaving Friday?”

“No, my train ticket is for Saturday.”

“Damn, I’m leaving Tuesday,” A lull, “When do you come back.”

“The Sunday before classes start. You?”

“That Friday.”

The conversation continues like that, mindless and short but so very comfortable. It's often like that anymore, with little eye contact and no real attention paid to each other besides the brief words — and, not in the way that feels awkward or tense, but in the way that old married couples chat over morning coffee and the paper. Maybe it's the lifetime of friendship that does it, or that you spend more nights in his apartment than your dorm.

You see each other twice more before the holiday. 

The Monday that exams start you meet at the coffee shop that became yours in the first two weeks of school. The middle table by the bay window is where you always sit, and the barista has Jace’s order memorised — because he gets the same drink every time you come, a caramel macchiato. 

He groans into his hands, ignoring both his coffee and his half of the cheese danish that you’d split, “I feel like I did poorly.”

He’d suffered through days upon days of studying for the political science exam that had plagued him all semester, to be taken today at noon. It was a three-hour exam, mostly multiple choice with two essay questions. You’d been with him through the worst of the studying: in total, forty-seven pages of research papers and scholarly articles printed at the library, and six books varying from fifty to five-hundred pages. He had filled up a plethora of pages in his notebook, and at least three in a word document. There was no study guide, just a list of broad topics. He was facing the consequences of taking a 300-level class in his first semester. 

“Jace, darling,” You reply, reaching out to press a reassuring hand to his arm, “You studied for that test more than I think anyone in the history of this school has studied for anything ever. If you didn’t do well, that's a reflection of the professor, not you.”

He doesn’t seem to want much to do with that rationale, sliding his hands down to rest his chin in them. He's pouting, glasses sliding down his nose as he looks at you through his lashes, “What if I failed?”

“Then… I don’t know,” You reach up to pull one of his hands down to the table, twining your fingers, “Then you failed, and that sucks. But you’re sporting a solid one-hundred in the class now, you could get a fifty on that exam and still end with…” Quick mental math. If the exam is weighted at twenty percent, then, “- a ninety percent.”

“An A-minus,” He whines. 

“Jace,” You chastise sweetly. 

He huffs, his pouty stare turning into a glare with no heat behind it. He wants to whine and mope about exams. What harm does it truly do?

You push his half of the danish towards him, “It's over now. You studied hard, you did your best. There's nothing you can do right now to change your grade. You can’t control it, so there is no point in trying to.”

Jace likes control, he likes to be in control. A psychological idiosyncrasy plaguing many eldest children and children of divorce. The quintessential therapist's advice about what you can control and what you can’t control had been revolutionary for him during one of his bi-weekly appointments — the whole family had them, Rhaenyra and Alicent were big proponents. 

Regurgitating that to him, no matter how much it makes you feel like you’re giving unsolicited advice, always works wonders to ground him when he's disproportionately anxious over something out of his control.

He deposits you at your dorm with a kiss on the cheek that evening.

On the Friday you leave school, Jace drives you to the train station. He packs your bags into the backseat of his hoity-toity hybrid Porsche Panamera and lets you play with his radio all the way there.

You’re an hour early to the station — Jace is early everywhere. He sets his paper copy of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on his lap in the little lobby, slipping his finger into the book where it is dogeared. Yet, he makes no effort to read, his attention solely on you. 

“A month is ages to be apart,” He says, voice soft and thoughtful.

You scoot a little closer, elbows knocking, “It won’t be so bad. We can talk.”

His watch glimmers in the overhead light of the train station when one of his hands settles safely on your knee. Small white face, silver hands and framing, thin black band — it's Gucci, something his mother wore in the nineties. His fingers trace the edge of your skirt, and in the silence begin to smooth down your kneecap to your shin. 

“You must be cold,” He murmurs, thumbing the material of your nylons. 

“I’m alright.”

Your train is called before he can shed his coat and drape it over your lap, as he so desperately wishes to do. 

He hugs you, tightly, before you board. He's so warm, his black jumper is soft against your cheek, and you can smell his cologne where your nose lands in the crook of his neck — patchouli and something earthy and fresh, Brutus Oroto Parisi. 

“God, I’ll miss you.”

One morning, a week into the holiday, a letter shows up. It’s written in the black pen he’s so fond of, and you admire his neat penmanship as you read the detailed account of his holiday celebration. You smell the expensive cologne he wears and recognize Helaena’s handmade stationery. He gives you a sheepish smile over a FaceTime call when you bring it up. 

When you see him on campus again in January, not much has changed. You're both in your respective majors, he lives in the nicest building on campus, and he hates your roommate. She’s taken to referring to him as your boyfriend; you correct her the first two times and then give up. 

Classes are harder with the emotional slump attached to winter. You talk to Jace often, but don’t see much of each other outside of class. And then you get sick. 

Banging. Loud banging. It wakes you up from your fever-and-Doxylamine induced sleep. Per college dorms, your first assumption is that it's your loud-ass fucking neighbor! Again! Having bunk-bed-breaking sex like she does every Thursday night with her ugly ass boyfriend who radiates such a strong odor of weed and computer science that you can get a noseful of him a meter down the hall. Doxylamine tends to make people agitated.

Before you can weakly pound on the cinderblock wall, there's a muffled call of your name. It comes from the hallway, and it's followed by another bang — which you begin to realize is knocking. 

Crawling out of bed, you blearily pad to the door. You don’t have to peer through the peephole to see who it is. The voice is soft, low, and endearingly posh. Clearly, it’s- 

“Jace?” You grumble when you open the door, mind foggy from the cold medicine.

It's early January in London, and the beige cashmere jumper he wears isn’t warm enough — it's a woman’s cut, but it fits him like Loro Piana himself measured the fabric to Jace’s body. The cold weather is visible in the flush of his face, the snowflakes that linger in his hair.

“I’ve been calling you for hours, darling,” He speaks gently, voice heavy with concern. 

You blink at him, not responding with anything more than a little, oh.

His hand finds your upper arm, leaning closer to hone your attention, “You look awful,” He guides the both of you back into your dorm room, “Are you unwell?” 

You nod, “My roommate brought it back from holiday break.”

Jace huffs sharply, mumbling something to himself, no doubt about your roommate. He walks you back towards your bed, gently pushing you to sit.

“Have you been to the clinic?” He asks, one hand coming to cup your cheek.

“Twice.”

His hand slides up, finers gracing your temple to push some stray hair behind your ear, and then landing upon your brow bone, “You’re burning up.”

It's quiet for a few moments, hands retracing back down to cradle your face as he inspects you. He's focused, calculating and planning in his head — it's an energy you’ve seen him embody countless times, assessing the scraped knees, bruised foreheads, and aching tummies of his younger siblings. 

“What time is it?” You ask, after watching him bustle about your room for about thirty minutes. He's such a mother hen: making tea, procuring medication you didn’t know you had, wetting flannels, adjusting your blankets.

“Ten,” He replies, settling into your twin-size bed next to you and pressing a mug of piping hot tea into your waiting hands, “It's peppermint. I wish you kept chamomile, or really anything herbal.”

You disregard his latter comment, resting your head on his shoulder. Soft. As an eighteen-hundred pound jumper should be, “You came here in the dead of night? In the snow?”

He slides his legs under the blankets, sinking down into your pile of pillows and stuffed animals and pulling you closer, “I took the bus part of the way. Plus-” His hand drags across your shoulders, “I needed to see you. You missed class today, and I haven’t heard from you since Monday. I had nearly driven myself to the brink of madness with worry.”

You groan, turning your head to bump your forehead into the jut of his shoulder, “I hadn’t thought about class,” Bump, bump, bump goes your head, “Did I miss anything important?”

He hums, looking down at you, “We had to turn in a paragraph detailing our preliminary ideas for that big Arthashastra comparison essay. Doctor Dunlavey loved your connections to the political system in The Silmarillion.”

What? You lift your head to look up at him, “I didn’t do the assignment.” You had been too sick to think about school-work.

“Well,” He shrugs, lightly enough that it doesn’t disturb you, “Who's to say? He doesn’t have your handwriting memorized, he has hundreds of students.”

You’re quiet for a long moment, “Thank you, Jace.”

He sleeps in your bed that night, insisting that you’re sick enough that someone needs to keep an eye on you. Dressed in a loose pair of your pajamas, he curls around you in the tiny bed. His body spills warmth through both of your sleepwear, and maybe it's the fever or the cold cinderblock of your dorm but there is no physical proximity that quantifies as close enough to him. 

He's gone by the time you wake up, late into the morning. Naught of him but a text.

i had to go to class and i didn’t want to wake you up, sorry

be back later x 

And true to his word, he arrives that evening with a travel mug of lavender chamomile tea and the cough medicine he makes Luke take when he’s sick. It’s so bad that you nearly choke at the taste, but he leaves the bottle and you’re better by the end of the week. 

You’re both more diligent in seeing each other going forwards.

Your phone rings one day in mid-February — a silly picture of Jace in a bright red hat, one of Helaena’s, pops up on your screen, followed by the affectionate nickname he’s saved as in your phone. 

You even get a chance to say hello, his voice immediately bursting through the speaker, “Do you have plans for the third weekend of February?” 

You think through your mental calendar, “I don’t believe so, nothing that takes priority over you at least. Why do you ask?”

You can hear him fiddling with something on the other line, the clicking of a pen echoing from his bedroom to your ear. Every year his family hosts a gala, raising an ungodly amount of money for their charitable cause by selling high-priced tickets. And everyone comes, because the Targaryens are the royalty of the one percent. 

“Come?” He asks, “Please, I think you’ll enjoy it. Plus, it’ll be like a little holiday for us.”

And again — you’re wrapped so tightly around Jace’s finger that you don’t even think before saying yes. You don’t think through many things regarding this, which lands you in a guest bedroom in Rhaenyra and Alicent’s massive London estate.

In truth, it's not a guest bedroom, but rather Daeron’s old room. It is decorated with posters of classical musicians and string instrument charts; vinyls line his bookshelf, alphabetized and all orchestral. Daeron stays with Alicent’s brother in Paris during the academic year, attending a private secondary school with a music-based curriculum. He had been practically a prodigy at the violin. 

The room is sandwiched between Luke and Aemond, directly across the hall from Jace. There are a number of guest rooms in the house, but they’re all the next floor up and Jace had insisted that you stay across the hall from him. It does feel a bit odd to change into your pretty black dress while staring down a battalion of Daeron’s music awards and a very large framed photo of Otto Hightower. 

“I don’t mean to be judgemental, but who keeps a photo like this of their grandfather in their bedroom?” You ask, adjusting the straps of the dress, “I would understand if he was dead, but Otto is… not.”

Jace laughs from where he lounges on the bed, scrolling through something on his phone. After nearly two decades of friendship, there's little that hasn’t been seen and very lax boundaries. He had watched you change innumerable times before, but today his eyes are decidedly diverted onto his phone. 

“Good?” You ask, turning from the mirror, and giving him a spin. 

Jace stares, uncharacteristically quiet. His eyes are trained on you, scanning the dress, mouth closed and brows drawn so slightly you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t know him so well. He's a bit rigid where he’s propped up on the bed, clearly contemplating. 

After an unnerving amount of time, really only five seconds, he speaks, “You look nice.”

It's… odd. Measured and closed off, a complex thought that you don’t have the context from his internal monologue to understand. Did he not like it? Or was he stunned into silence by your sheer, Goddess-like beauty?

“We match,” You offer meekly, gesturing between your dress and his black suit jacket and slacks. A lame comparison. Nearly everyone at these events wore black.

But he smiles nonetheless, a genuine smile that shows off his pretty dimples, “We do.” 

Jacaerys drives to the event, and you’re squished in the too-small backseat of his car, between Lucerys and Aemond. Aegon is in the passenger seat, talking incessantly, and Jace wishes he would shut up so he can think about the silky material of your dress in peace. 

It's a precarious set-up, truly. Jace drives a four-door, but it isn’t meant for six adolescents in formal attire. Aemond is stiff as a rod next to you, pointedly staring out the window and only interacting to bite back at anything Aegon says. Occasionally his bony elbow will bump your side or his knee will knock into yours, and he’ll pull away as if you’re red hot, shooting you a glanced glare. 

The radio is its own battle. Upon entering the car it had connected automatically to Jace’s phone, playing a few seconds of the theory podcast he had been listening to and earning a collective groan. Luke was quick to sync his phone instead, the Ramones brash drums blaring from the speakers. Aegon changed it to chav rap. It ensued like that for the whole car ride — punk rock to rap, volume up and down and up and down. 

The ballroom is glorious. All high domed ceilings and white crown moulding and gold leaf details. There’s a massive chandelier in the centre of the room that drips with perfect crystals. An astonishing world it was that Jacaerys grew up in. Overwhelming 

“Are you alright?” Jace murmurs, hooking his arm into yours as your shoes click against the marble floor. He can sense your unease, feel it in the way your forearm tenses at any particularly fast movement or loud aristocratic laugh. 

“Fine,” You assure, shooting him a smile.

Of course, Jace doesn’t buy it. Your pretty smile doesn’t reach your eyes, it's tighter than normal. He knows things like that — he’ll never admit it, but every one of your microexpressions are programmed into his brain. 

Arm-in-arm the pair of you reach a semi-circle near the bar. Rhaenyra, Corlys, Luke, and Helaena. The boring financial drivel meets your ears from several paces away, and it's mind-numbing up close. 

‘I don’t think you can quantify the inherent need for biodegradable fuel in those metrics.’ 

‘Well, I would argue that you can. In such a high output industry you have to calculate the necessity for every pence.’ 

You nod along, putting up a convincing facade of business intellect while Jace adds in expertly to the dull conversation. Helaena, to Rhaenyra’s left, is about as interested as you.

It's only when Otto breaks into the group, and the conversation shifts from the most cost effective biofuel to is shipping on a mass scale a pertinent trade in post-Brexit England that you’re pulled away. Though not by Jace, who has become more engrossed in the conversation than he is in you, but by Luke. 

“You seemed to be drowning,” He smiles up at you, offering his arm. 

You take it gladly, “Thank you for saving me.”

“Don’t worry, I was drowning too.”

Activity on the balcony is scant; one lady sits in a metal chair sipping a glass of champagne, an elderly man stands at the far end of the railing peering at the London cityscape down below. Luke leans his elbows against the rail, propping his head up in one hand. 

“How's college?” He asks, looking up at you.

You hum, leaning down to mimic his posture, “Oh, it's fine. It's a lot of work,” There's a lull in the conversation as the two of you bask in the lack of hustle and bustle, “Have you started thinking about college yet?”

He shrugs noncommittal, picking at the nails of his free hand. He's very quiet for a while, and you allow him that because every life decision feels massive and dire at fifteen. When he does speak, his voice is soft, “Grandfather said that he wanted me to inherit his business after my dad, but now mum is talking about me being her successor.”

“You’d be good at it.”

“Jace doesn’t want to inherit.”

“I know.”

“He wants to be a lawyer, like Alicent. And I don’t blame him, but that puts a lot of pressure on me. Because now it's like I have mum and grandpa expecting me to be great, and I stand in their conversations and I don’t understand half of what they’re saying-”

“Luke,” You softly interject in his rushed rant, running a careful hand down his arm, “No one expects you to be perfect. You’re still a child, you’ve not even taken your A-Levels yet.

He nods solemnly.

“I know that it feels like the weight of your family legacy rests on your shoulders, but if you also defer inheritance it will be just fine. You have, what — like, ten siblings?” He gives a little laugh at your reasoning, “Plus, Laena and Baela, and Rhaena who could take over after your father.”

Luke nods, “I suppose you’re right,” He elbows you gently in the ribs, “You’re pretty wise, you know?”

It's your turn to laugh, nudging him back, “So, what do you want to do after school?”

He traces mindless little stars into the railing, “I’d really like to study music. Some of my friends and I have been playing together, and we’re talking about starting a band.”

“That's really cool, Luke!” You beam.

He smiles sheepishly, “I mean, it's nothing grand yet. We haven’t decided a name, and we’re a bit at odds about a genre.”

“Well,” You smile, “When you lot play, let me know. I’ll be in the front row!”

The calm quiet is broken when the door to the balcony opens, “Luke, darling. Mummy needs you.”

You both turn to see Alicent peering out of the doorway, body still inside the ballroom. Her arm slips around your waist in an endearingly maternal way as the three of you make your way back towards Rhaenyra.

“How are you, lovely?” She asks, rubbing between your shoulder blades. Her pear and saffron perfume, Guidance Amouage, floods your olfactory senses.

“Well!” You reply, leaning into her warm touch, “This is all so wonderful. I’m very glad Jace invited me.”

She smiles back, “Me too.”

Being a guest of the host by extension, you’re required to stay for the duration. So, you watch people dissipate as your energy dwindles. By the end of the night, nearly eleven, your upright position relies heavily on the support of Jace’s arm around your waist as he chats with his grandmother, Rhaenys. Politics, environmentalism, blah blah, drivel, drivel. You might do more to participate if the five hours of nonstop interaction and three glasses of champagne weren’t pulling your body towards the ground, but you settle for little engaged nods. 

The car is less crowded on the way back — much to everyone's chagrin, Aegon called an Uber halfway through the gala. You’re allowed the front seat, and spend most of the ride dozing off to the tune of The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967.

You sleep in Jace’s bed that night, despite your own quarters being directly across the hall.

When Jacaerys realises he’s in love with you, you’re crying in the library stairwell. 

“I’m fucked,” You sob into your hands, shoulders shaking with the force of your misery. 

You had been studying together, preparing for the rest of your midterms when a notification came through your school email with an updated exam grade. 

Sheer terror, cold unyielding panic that starts just below your throat and twists its way down your spine and back into your lower intestine. The grade was a forty-two, which brought your total grade down to a fifty-eight. 

In the least melodramatic way possible you’d shut your laptop and told Jace you were going to the bathroom. But the bathroom was at the back of the room, and you had gone to the hallway — plus, he just knew better.

Gentle footsteps, you see his Sambas first and hear the crack of his knees as he sits next to you on the stair step. 

“You’re not fucked,” He murmurs back, his voice low and soft. One arm comes around your stooped shoulders, the soft fabric of his cardigan brushing the back of your neck, “It's only midterms, angel. This is nothing that you can’t reverse.”

The first thought in your head is easy for perpetual straight-A student Jacaerys to say, the next thought is much more self-pitying. You don't voice either, head falling to your knees.

You aren’t allowed to stay like that for long, firm hands come to your arms and pull you up. From there, they run slowly up and down — from your scapula to your bicep, over and over. And his chest blooms with warmth when you respond well, calming down. He runs his thumb over the soft skin underneath your eyes — first the left eye, and then the right — brushing away tears. 

Jace’s typical form of comfort plays on his lifelong role as eldest sibling; it's usually coddling, while he mothers you and tries to problem solve. This is not that. It's something deeper, more genuinely concerned. He isn’t trying to solve your ailment, he just wants to make you feel better. 

“It's just a grade,” He soothes, “It's just an exam, a midterm. This makes up maybe ten percent of your overall grade, and I know that you do well on everything else,” His head is cocked, looking at you so sweetly, “I bet it only looks this bad because it's mid-semester, your score will go up in a few weeks.”

You nod, squeezing your eyes shut as the last stray tears fall. 

“You’re alright,” He whispers, leaning in to press a soft kiss to the apple of your cheek, “Hm?”

Jace is alone that night, Montblanc pen held in perfect writing posture as he journals — an exercise recommended by his mother. The highlights include:

It was gutting. I just wanted to make it better & I didn’t know how. 

Inappropriate time to kiss her face, I couldn’t think of anything else.

I’m usually so good at comfort and reassurance, I don’t know what's wrong with me. 

Fuck, I’m hopeless. 

Things feel different to me now. Not in a particularly bad sense, just different. Maybe it's the transition from childhood friendship to adult friendship. 

I read that god awful serial romance novel last holiday because grandma left it sitting out – A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kelypas. And I remember this passage like ‘I want you under me. I know you deserve more respect than that.’

I found it, “I want you under me. On your back. / I’m sorry. You deserve more respect than that. But I can’t stop thinking of it. Your arms and legs around me. Your mouth, open for my kisses. I need too much of you. A lifetime of nights spent between your thighs wouldn't be enough. / I want to talk with you forever. I remember every word you’ve ever said to me. / If only I could visit you as a foreigner goes into a new country, learn the language of you, wander past all borders into every private and secret place. I would stay forever. I would become a citizen of you.”

I’ve been thinking of that passage, like it's playing aloud in my head. What does that mean? 

I don’t particularly feel that for her. 

I get some of it, like ‘I want to talk with you forever, I remember every word you say.’ Anything else though, the romantic bits, I don’t. 

Though, the kissing her face was new. It was compulsive almost, like I had to do it. 

Need to call mum. 

“Is it fair to you?” Rhaenyra asks through the phone. It's late, past the time she puts the little kids to bed, but she's never not answered a phone call from one of her children. 

Jace sighs, worrying one of the buttons on his cardigan, “What if it ruins everything?” He asks, “What if I tell her, and she never speaks to me again and then I lose my best friend?”

“But is that fair, Jace?” She reasons, “To go about a lifetime of friendship keeping this massive secret from her? It won’t go away, my love. It will fester and fester and eat at you for as long as you know her.”

He doesn’t have a good reply to that.

“Jacaerys, I spent twenty years pining after my best friend — so long that I had time to marry, have three children, and divorce. I spent years and years suffocating in regret, because I missed my chance to tell her and build a life. I got another chance, which is very rare, and it was no less scary that time. But, I knew that if I didn’t go for it then I would never have the opportunity to live the life I had spent my entire adolescence dreaming of,” Rhaenyra sighs, “My sweet boy, don’t let this slip away because you’re afraid.” 

'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, he thinks. 

When you accompany him home for summer break, hand in hand, it's with a new depth to your relationship. ‘Tis better to have loved.

tags<3 @one-big-fangirl

check out my event ! ཐི༏ཋྀ󠀮

[hoardcloneheadcanons]

Stone & Robotnik's Gaggle of Robot Children P6

Stone needed to find a new way to view Dr. Jeffers, one that allowed him to be polite and gentle.

Think of him as a badnik, they weren’t perfect either when you first worked with them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robotnik is dead, Agent Stone is "captured" by G.U.N. and is still trying to build Metal and complete his boss' legacy.

On his quest to do so Stone gives the gangliest, saddest researcher he can find an actual spine.

It will come with a price, but Dr. Jeffers doesn't need to know that yet.

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Ch 1: The Miserable Start of Kyle Jeffers

Kyle Jeffers liked watching birds, and deer, and dogs, and insects. He disappeared a lot into the woods as a child and his mother was fine with it as long as he returned before sundown.

When he was 8 he wanted to have bird wings and tried to make some for himself out of blankets and plywood before his mom took his jury-rigged construction away from him and herded him into the “animals and biology section” of the local library.

There, he learned that bird bones were hollow, and his were not, and even if he made perfect copies of bird wings for himself, it would not work, because he had the wrong density.

His mom tried to get him interested in paper airplanes after that, but he was so interested in the actual motion of the thing. He didn't want gliders; he wanted something that flapped.

So instead, he tried making a tiny bird toy, one out popsicle sticks, rubber bands glue, and a toy-car engine. And he created something that flapped, but not something that flew.

Frustrated, he switched to creating a copy of the family dog. Flying was hard, but he was certain he could do it perfectly with a dog.

And so with the same materials, he made a thing that walked on four legs. It did not walk like a dog, but it walked. Over the next year he obsessively watched his dog. He studied dog musculature and skeletons from the local library and tooled around with making fake joints with cue-tips and plywood And with each iteration the toy walked a little bit more like a dog. He made floppy ears for it, and a tongue that moved. He considered it finished when his mom looked at it and gave a quizzical but impressed “huh, well I’ll be” at his tiny creation.

And when it was done, he tried to make a deer, then a cat, then a stink bug. He became obsessed with capturing motion in automata. When he remade his bird toy it flew.

He never stopped, he just got better materials, a more intimate understanding of biology, and less adult supervision when he used power tools. He won science fairs, and helped out with parade floats. He was a quiet kid, an odd one, but a nice one. And he never stopped hiking or loving nature. 

He got a bachelor degree in mechanics and life sciences, a masters in veterinary science, and finally a PHD in biomimicry.

He never really got the handle on public speaking. He was so attuned to being quiet in the woods, and calm for animals that speaking up never came naturally. He managed to get past his dissertation because the people on the review board liked him well enough and were certain enough of his research to go lightly on him. They took him out to a bar and drilled him on his dissertation on Pangolin-based body-armor while the alcohol allowed him to bypass his natural nervousness and stutter. They told him he would do well working on academic journals and data collection.

It was a gentlest way to tell him his public speaking still sucked.

It was after college, after his PHD, while he was applying to different research positions, when the incident happened.

Kyle was taking a break from the drudgery of applications by doing what he loved best, and walking in the woods. He was hidden under bushes, with some binoculars, excited to see a red-crested woodpecker or some interesting squirrels, when he witnessed the wrong deer, So named in his head, because it moved wrong. It picked up its legs too high, and the motion was out of order. Deer, in general, lift only one leg off the ground while shifting the weight on their other three. But this one would move its feet in diagonal pairs, more similar to a beetle than a deer. Then he saw two more deer, walking exactly like it.

He thought he’d discovered some new neurological disease, specific to deer, and he followed them. closer, taking pictures. But looking closer, he noticed that the hooves were almost iridescent, and their pupils were round instead of rectangular, and he grew even more excited, suspecting he’d discovered a new species of deer.

Then, one of the three deer opened its mouth impossibly wide, unhinging its jaw at a straight 180 degrees, and from the back of its throat a large insect head popped out.

Kyle was very lucky his fear caused him to freeze instead of scream. He stayed in those bushes, motionless, watching the creatures chitter to eachother, rezip the deer jaws, and walk away.

He called animal control, and the police got them to send a town warning to stay out of the woods, and then sent a research report about the new parasitic species he’d discovered. He did not sleep, and he did not go into the woods again for weeks. The longest he'd ever gone in his life.

Then the town warning stopped, and some nice government agents came to his door and informed him that what he witnessed was an not a new species, but an extra terrestrial scouting mission. They were very proud of him identifying the spies before more could be sent over and they assured him that they had already eliminated the threat.

(That didn't really matter, Kyle would see the fist-sized compound eyes in his dreams for the rest of his life.)

However this was not the kind of species that they wanted the global public knowing about. They were already burying the story and hiding his research paper.

He, as a witness was given three options: Have his memory wiped and possibly lose some of his memories of his doctoral program, be imprisoned, or accept a very strict employment contract.

 They’d seen his body armor research, they thought he had such promise.

Kyle had taken option 3. 

And at first they thought he had potential. He thought had potential. And it seemed like a sweet gig.

They were going to set him up with a job monitoring animals. It wouldn’t be outside, that wouldn’t have enough global coverage. Instead it would be from a series of computers monitoring data recorded by citizen scientists and social media. He could create bots and programs to compile data and scan for abnormalities. They gave new shiny lab, with a bunch of computer monitors for the task.

But that was just supposed to be his back-burner assignment, the thing he did while he was finding his footing. His main job was to come up with new cutting, edge military technology based on the animals he observed. More stuff like his body armor, He was to write up a proposal, submit it to a budgeting committee, and then they’d approve it, he’d get a team, and make cool new shit for them.

The problem is he never got that far.

Every idea and project proposal had been shot down.

Most didn’t even make it past the submission phase. The few that did were killed the moment he got in front of an audience, and they got to see his stutter, and hunched formed, and meandering points.

It didn’t help that the incident itself made him a more nervous person. His stutter was worse.

A year passed, and then another, and another, and then it was five years. And people stopped expecting things from him.

everyday all he had to look forward to was looking at screens, day in and day out, and waiting for the weekend when he could drive off base, to the park reservation two hours away and collapse in the woods.

He couldn’t wait until his thirty-year contract ended.

And it was in that dreaded fifth year of no expectations that he found note slid under his door that said:

Come to Dr. Keller's office tomorrow between the hours of 10 and 12 if you want any of your grant proposals to get approved."

He was sure if this was punishment for bad performance, or an offer of assistance, but either way he was a little insulted that he wasn’t worth the email.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ch. 2 - Predatory, Active Species Need Enrichment

Dr. Keller had always judged people who bought dogs bred to run and run forever, when they knew for a fact that they didn't have the time to take them outside. She'd watched an old work colleague do so and was insanely frustrated when she saw the poor creature vibrate with pent-up energy and bite at its fur.

However, at the current moment she felt like one of them. 

 Stone was restless, every single part of him. There were times when he'd just sit in a chair at the far side of the lab, staring at the opposite wall while his leg jostled or his fingers tapped. Both of which he did completely silently.

He was driving her primary Agents insane. He was always in their space asking for new tasks, and he didn’t make noise when he moved, so he was just suddenly there, frequently startling all three of them.

It felt like they were going in inverse directions. As she slowly recovered from her years of overwork he seemed to be falling apart from stillness. She was certain the cell he was staying in during his office hours was making the situation worse. The best she could do was slide him more reference books and hope he didn’t explode.

The lab was sparkling, and alphabetized, every reference textbook he was handed was filled with neat tiny notes, and people were handed their tools before they asked for them, and the pastries he made kept getting more complex, and he looked a like he was going a little insane.

So was a little bit more lenient than either Agent Adelaid or Agent Franklin would like when he started asking about Dr. Jefffers.

He’d been in one of his “taskless, staring at a wall states” when she heard.

“Dr. Keller if it wouldn’t bother you too much, I’d like to ask about Lab 707.”

She jumped when he talked, she’d forgotten he was there.

It took her a moment for her brain to click out of the jolt and engage in the conversation.

“Yeah, I got a few minutes, what about it?”

“I am curious as to the reason there is a researcher’s name plate over a door that I was fairly certain was a utility closet last time I was here.”

“Oh- Dr. Jeffers, yeah- Uh.” How did she explain Dr. Jeffers? “A lot of his work is virtual, so he doesn’t need a lot of space, and he’s... new so he gets last pick on lab spaces. He got shuffled there when Dr. Myopic needed more space for his bacteria.”

“Not a great self-advocate?”

“No. “ An understatement. Jeffers gave off the disposition of a startled baby deer. “Honestly, he should have had mentorship upon coming here, but his hiring was sudden, and nobody had the time or space. And he said he was fine, that he needed some time to compose himself.”

“Would you mind if I attempted to help him?”

Keller felt like] she had a glimpse into what must’ve been in Stone’s quiet contemplation, a tiny smirk came to her lips.

“Am I not a dysfunctional enough scientist for you, Agent Stone?”

Behind her, Agent Franklin choked.

Stone's right eye twitched, and the tips of his ears got a little redder.

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy working with you, but I am used to scenarios with a little more- stimulation. This lab seems well and sorted, and his situation seems like more of a challenge. And maybe I’m hoping G.U.N will look a little more kindly on my sentencing if I can get one of their assets in order.” ” She looked to the side mulling it over, “If it were just up to me it would be an automatic yes, but I need to run it through Rockwell if I can get your tracker changed to allow you movement between more than one lab.”

“I'd appreciate that for the future, but It's unnecessary for today, I already asked him to come here tomorrow while you’re out at a progress check-in, but I'd appreciate it for the future, it'll probably make working with him easier."

The lab grew cold for a moment, and Keller’s eyes narrowed, “I’m going to let this go because you look very close to chewing off your own leg but never invite anyone else to my lab without clearing it with me first. Understood?"

He held up his hands defensively “Heard.”

“And don’t let it interrupt any of your tasks. I’m lending you out, not giving you up.”

“Absolutely not, I know who my primary scientist is.”  

__________________________________________________________

Later Agent Franklin pulled Dr. Keller aside.

"I urge you, strongly to wait on that request with Rockwell. Jeffers lab is so out of date that it is one of the few labs without security cameras or Agents. I know you like him, but can you at least wait until we get cameras installed before you let the security-threat move to the security weak-point."

"We're worried about him in a utility closet?"

"Alone? with a possible hostage that can't defend himself? Yes. I can think of three ways to kill Jeffers with computer parts right now."

"Fine. I'll put in a camera installation request first, it wasn't likely Rockwell was going to approve it anyway."

______________________________________________________________

Ch. 3. Venus Fly Traps Smell Like Nectar to Approaching Insects.

Kyle didn’t know what he expected from the scribbled note under the bottom of his door, but the man with a well-ironed suit, standing by a well-cleaned lab table with a dish of neatly-sliced quiche sittion on it was not it.

"Are you Dr. Keller?

" Oh no, she's away at a meeting right now. I’m Agent Stone. I've heard that you've been having trouble getting some of your projects through."

The name Agent Stone sounded familiar, but he couldn't place where, maybe he saw a character with a name like that in a movie?

From the side of the room Kyle Jeffers could see two agents keeping themselves busy working on an experimental engine, close enough to not quite give privacy.

"Do you want a quiche? I'm trying something new, I need more people testing them."

“Um-” the closet Kyle was staying in had one flicking overhead bulb and he usually left it off to prevent seizures. He relied on the light of the screens and a little desk-lamp he found. He was still blinking in the bright, overhead light of Dr. Keller’s sterile and spacious lab. 

“Uh-no on the quiche. Is this a disciplinary meeting?”

“Absolutely not.” The strange agent's smile was warm and Kyle wasn’t prepared to respond to it after not talking to people all day. He thinks he was supposed to move his face muscles to match it? The moment had probably passed, but the agent didn’t seem to mind and he kept going, "I think we’re in positions to help each other. I was wondering if you could do me a favor and gather some of your old proposals so we could review them together. See what we can polish on them.”

“What for?”

“Well- ideally to get them approved.”

“Did someone send you?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

“Well. You seem to be… stalled in your career, and it makes me deeply sad to watch and-”

The agent kicked his foot out from under his desk to reveal a blinking anklet.

“-I’m a little stuck myself, My last employer went AWOL on his contract, I got implicated in the incident and now I'm under house arrest here while still filling out my duties to the Agency. I would like more freedom.”

The agent rubbed his face, he looked visibly frustrated. “Keller’s doing what she can but Director Rockwell still insists on treating me like a threat. I’m hoping if I can help you move forward, they’ll see me as enough of an asset to give me some breathing room. Or if I do this right, you’ll get enough influence to pull some strings for me. So I help you move forward you help me get more freedom. Are we clear?”

“You’re hitching your ride to a hopeless case, but I can agree.”

Agent Stone’s smile seems to flicker, before returning to placid and calm.

“Fantastic! I look forward to working together.”

Stone reached out to shake his hand. 

“And word to the wise? There are already enough people here who will be looking to exploit your insecurities. You don't’ give them a full-flight path to them in self-deprecation.”

………………………………………………………………………………………��…………………

Ch. 4: Baby Cuckoo Birds Pretend to Be the Children of Other Bird Species to Gain Resources

Kyle brought Stone his old reports, and Stone attacked them in red pen, with a viciousness that rivaled his bloodiest target eliminations.

Some of the problems with Kyle’s work seemed so evident and basic to Stone that it made it hard for him to want to snap in front of the young man. He had to scan and reprint the first few just so Dr. Jeffers didn't read his first round of red-inked insults.

“At this point in your career, how do you not understand the basics of the human attention span This is long, meandering and impractical. How are you so uniquely un-adapted to this environment? Who let your hiring go through? They need to be reported. You could have watched other presentations and read other reports and mimicked their style. How is it still this bad?” 

This was unproductive. This wouldn't work if he broke the kid so early, he needed him on his side. These were all words that he needed to be prepared to choke down his throat and shove back into his chest when he talked to Dr. Jeffers.

He needed to find a new way to view this, one that allowed him to be polite and gentle.

Think of him as a badnik, they weren’t perfect either when you first worked with them.

______________________________________________________________

The badniks had always been good at targeting and shooting, but they hadn’t always been good at being subtle.

Robotnik had designed them to be fully shielded; they didn’t need to hide. They could come in, in full force and blast whatever target was there.

But it was easier to eliminate multiple targets if you could take out a few without sending up the alarm.

He’d tried to explain this to Dr. Robotnik, who insisted the drones were fast and plentiful enough to compensate for their lack of stealth and had responded by saying.

“If you think you’re so good at it, show me. I’ve got a bunch of spies who took some proprietary information from me. Fetch it or kill them all. Actually, scratch that. Do both or never correct me on my drones again.”

He then ordered them not to follow their automatic drives, and set them to mimic Stone and follow his orders. He'd have to direct them bit by bit.

Stone remembered shushing the hovering eggs and gently herding them to where the brush was thickest, where the fog covered the area, or where the angle of the sunlight would get in the victim's eyes as they turned around. And then showing them, one small, silenced shot to the back of the head.

“Now you” he mouthed to the one closest to him

They mimicked diligently, and Stone managed to sneak in and get the blueprints before anyone realized that half their men were dead.

Robotnik got his proprietary information back, and he adjusted their programming so Stone remained registered as a head badnik that the others could update from. From that point on the had a combination of their automatic drive and mimicry.

Well I guess as government dogs go you are a nearly-perfect killing machine.

Stone bared his teeth at the compliment ripped from the jaws of the stubborn.

“Thank you, Doctor.”

______________________________________________________________

He let the memory reform his view of the writing, remembering the early badniks bursting through the bushes with reckless abandon, throwing power everywhere instead of focusing on one point.

He thought about it as he continued to mark out the presentations, going word by word.

Perfectly fixable.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...........

Ch. 5. The Stomach Acid of a Vulture has a Comparable PH to Hydrochloric Acid. They Practice Defensive Vomiting.

Kyle had responded to Stone’s summons by giving him all of his past work from the past five years. He was hoping it would delay Stone enough to give him time to figure out how he felt about the man.

It took Stone a day.

“You got through all of them?”

“Yes! I’m a fast reader, and it was engaging although a little-”

(Stone thought of the badniks using full powered blasts on a single victim “that’s noisy, you don’t have to waste your battery on that, one lower powered shot to the neck would do.”)

“-over-eager? Look for instance, this one right here. You had a project based on the corrosive properties of the stomach acid of vultures. And you said you could create a machine that mimicked it perfectly so that you could consistently and cheaply create that stomach acid to use as a rust remover or use as a weapon. Here’s my question- why did you recreate the entire system? Why not just the parts necessary for the corrosion?”

Kyle resisted saying the “Because then it wouldn’t be as cool” part and instead said “Well there’s nuanced variables and I wanted the system to be complete. And that would help us better understand vultures if we could fully mimic them from scratch.

“Right it would. And when you get an established reputation you might be able to ask for that. But this is a military facility, and they’re not going to fund research that’s pure academic curiosity. You have to have a use-case and you have to focus on it. If you pared this project down to just get the parts you’d need for the acid you could cut your budgets and timeline down easily and make it much more acceptable. Did no one tell you this?”

(Hold it back, Stone)

“They told me no one was interested in the digestive system of vultures, and that I was wasting their time. So I switched to other animals that sounded more militaristic.”

Stone had read through the clamps based on alligator jaws that required the entire head.

(Take a deep breath)

“The Agency isn’t always clear with it’s directions. They didn’t want different animals, they wanted a less thorough exploration of them, they wanted evidence that you would have a result on a shorter deadline.”

 But there are additional applications if we fully mapped out their stomachs! They eat bacteria filled meat all the time, there could be disinfecting applications if we research further, not to mention the propulsion capabilities.”

“But do you hear how that’s two additional projects? And it means a longer time for the agency before they get some results back on their investment. You were busy trying to justify why the animals were interesting instead of showing that you could make something based on your study. All of these are salvageable. Every single one. Pick one and cut the budget and timeline down as much as you can.

Pick the shiniest feature you can create, emphasize how it’s cheaper and more effective than what they’re using now, guesstimate a timeline based on similar projects, and then repeat what the shiniest feature is until it’s impossible for the reader to forget This is an easy fix. We’ll go over it when you’re done”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

It hurt Jeffers to adjust his proposals. Even if his hopes had been diminished over the years he had never stopped dreaming of being able to study a creature’s insides and create a perfect simulacrum. And he’d gone into depth each time describing why each part was fascinating.

Cutting it down to a simple focus felt like a baby's first project. It felt like cutting off his own limbs, making the entire thing stunted and small.

Surely, they were looking for more than this?

He looked at his own cramped office, filled with nothing but screens and shelves, and one hanging light-bulb with bad wiring.

Then again maybe not.

At a certain point he got spiteful, started scratching it down to its most basic parts. Until it was nothing but the barest essential practical's.

He could’ve done 5 projects based solely on vultures if it was just like this. It must be more efficient to loop all under one proposal. Surely that isn’t what they wanted?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ch. 6. Sea Turtles and Most Species of Snake, Abandon Their Eggs After Laying Them.

He handed it to Stone a week later.

“This is markedly better.”

“You’re kidding. Please, you have to be kidding. This is barely anything. This is injecting some chemicals into a vat with some microbes and calling it a day.”

“It isn’t. It’s based on knowledge you have in you expertise, but you’re too deeply in it to see it that way. You can make some figures to prove it’s better than our current metal treatment techniques, and how it can be made easily into a weapon. This would actually be good for making a body appear older than it is...” He said the last part as an afterthought, disappearing into some dark part of his mind.

That would haunt Kyle when he wasn’t distressed by the tragedy of lost possibility.

“But all of this technology already exists! And it’s based off of pre-established knowledge. It’s just taking things we already have and mashing it together. There’s so little discovery!”

Stone had his hands steepled in front of him. And Kyle could’ve sworn that he was repressing a smile.

“Well. Yes. Which makes your chance of success more certain for the people giving you funding. Don’t worry, they’ll likely complicate it, once they’ve accepted it.”

“How does that make sense? You just insisted I simplify it.”

“Because it’ll be changes, they ask for instead of the ones you want. They want it to be cheap and fast, but they will also want to add their own interests and addendums. The trick is to negotiate for more money every time they do.”

“No- I- that’s gotta be a special circumstance. They can’t want this. I’m a research scientist, this is technician work.”

Now Dr. Jeffers was certain that Stone was suppressing a laugh.

“You’re in Research and Development, heavy on the development. I’m going to mark out a few formatting errors. Submit it and see what happens. In the meantime, work on a few others, get them to the same level.”

Jeffers turned to leave, still wanting to protest. But assured that he’d be able to shove it in Stone’s face when he got rejected as it always did.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

It was in review.

They were asking him to present it in a week.

Dr. Jeffers felt high.

This was better. It was better than being locked in a closet, just reviewing screens for possible aberrations in animal behavior. There was hope of moving forward.

 But it was a project that he could finish in a couple of months. It wasn’t that exciting. It felt like he was shifting from boring to slightly less boring.

He’d found a dark tunnel out of his hole and now he wanted to know how long the dig would take.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

It was the first time he’d come into Dr. Keller’s lab without a note stuck to his door telling him the time to come in at a specific time. He found Stone, the other Agents, and a woman he didn't recognize, who he assumed was Dr. Keller, in the middle of welding together smaller parts onto the experimental engine he’d seen them work on for the entire time he was coming.

He waited in the corner until Agent Stone walked over to him.

“Jefffers, I didn’t expect you here today. Did your proposal make it through?”

“Yeah-actually, thanks. I didn’t expect it to work.” The reminder that this was intended to move him forward, made him feel guilty and ungrateful about asking the next question, but it was eating at him and he pushed the words out anyway,

“You said I could negotiate for more exciting work once I got more respect? How long do you think that will take?”

“Well- I don't actually know. My last boss was already established by the time I was working for him." Stone waited for a pause in the welding, "Keller?”

She lifted up her welding mask to look at the two. Jeffers shifted to put Stone in between them. The other scientists in the facility still intimidated him a touch.

“How long do you think it took you before you got to the point in your career where you could request a project that had a year’s deadline or more, and had more exploratory features rather than guaranteed ones?”

Keller squinted at Jeffers.

He seemed to be standing up just a little bit straighter, and she's not sure he'd ever asked another scientist a direct question before.

Keller rubbed her teeth with her tongue, thinking.

“You’re comparing apples to oranges there. Technically I got to a point like that the moment I started working for the agency, it’s why I joined. However that was 17 or 18 years into my career. Before that it was a lot of saying yes to whatever project was thrown my way and being part of a team that was under supervision by a more established project lead. A lot of designing the gear shift or break mechanism of the car rather than the entire vehicle. Even now- I get more project requests that someone else thought of, they just give me a lot of creative freedom to solve their problems. They still haven’t approved my mech suit design.”

She wiped the sweat from her head looked at Dr. Jeffers with pity.

“ But I’m not sure if any of that applies to you. I don’t think G.U.N has the established infrastructure to train someone new. I don't know what they were thinking when they hired you. They normally hire scientists established in their careers. I don’t know how your path will go. It could go faster because you’re essentially starting a new department from scratch, and have some freedom to play around or slower because you have no support.”

She watched Jeffers face get paler. She had tried to explain it to him gently but he did need to learn. 

Stone turned to look at Jeffers, “Does that answer your questi- oh you should sit back down, let me get you some water.”

,.............................................................................................................................

17 years.

And he had no mentors when he should have

Stone handed him an open water bottle and he stared at it blankly.

“I should’ve had my memory wiped. It would’ve taken me a year to relearn anything I lost, and then I could’ve taken a research position. They told me I was made for academic journals and obscure research when I did my dissertation. I wasn’t made for development. I’ve spent years wondering what I’ve been doing wrong and it turns out I was acting like I had a different job that the one I actually had.”

He was a circular peg trying to fit into a triangular hole and no one had told him.

“It’s not going to help you to focus on the past at this point. It’s time to focus on what’s left. When’s your presentation?”

“Next thursday.”

“Let’s focus on getting that in order. We can arrange some time for you and I to go over some practice questions, figure out how to fix your presentation style.”

Jeffers nodded, he was still staring into blank space, locked into the void.

(Stone remembered fixing the wiring of a badnik as it struggled to contract and expand it’s main optical aperture. It sparked under his gloved hands.

“I’m sorry my darling, we didn’t know they had armor piercing bullets. I’m going to get this fixed up and then your Dad’s going to figure out how to reinforce your shell, ok?”

He said it in Arabic, hoping no one would hear the softness with which he spoke to the badniks. As far as he knew, no one had, Robotnik had certainly never brought it up.)

He sighed

“Look if you really need exploration to function, you can send an email. To Director Granite of Warehouse F. I’ll see if I can get his contact info.”

“Warehouse F?”

“Yeah, F for failure- and that’s the politer phrase. It’s where all the decommissioned projects go. Ones that ran out of money or never accomplished their target goals. Things they don’t know what to do with. It’s just junk that they have no idea what to do with but hide for proprietary reasons. They’re overly ambitious puzzles that more experienced researchers failed to solve. Ask for one of them. It’ll give you something to explore while you wait for something bigger. It might even help you get more approval if a department head sees you showing initiative. I wouldn’t let it distract you from your primary work, but if you need something to puzzle through, it’s there.”

And suddenly, Jeffers felt like there was a small lamp in a long tunnel.

“Yeah, yeah I can do that.”

One main anxiety down, one to go.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Something bugged at Keller, and she brought it up Stone once she knew Kyle had left the room.

“Stone, answer me something.”

“Hm?”

“I only remember G.U.N. having one scientist with a biomimicry degree. So, be honest, Was Robotnik supposed to be the one to train Jeffers?”

Stone shrugged.

Internally, he may have remembered a ‘request for trainee form’ sliding across his desk around the time. Most of those requests, along with ‘additional agent requests’ slid off his desk and into the trash too fast for him to recall.

“It’s possible, but Jeffers came in around the Montana incident. At which the Agency cut ties with both of us.”

“So they hired him with the idea that there’d be someone to train him, and then couldn’t admit they’d messed up when there wasn’t.”

“Likely. It’s probably for the best. He wouldn’t have survived Dr. Robotnik.”

She thought of the way the kid hid behind Stone from her and gave a morbid chuckle.

“No, he wouldn’t.”

Her faced screwed up in irritation, and then rage.

"Jeffers has a degree in mechanics, right? Biomimicry in chemistry and mechanics?"

"Yes."

"Goddam it I was requesting extra-personal for years and he was right down the hall. I could have trained him. It would have solved two problems in one go."

She sighed and then fiddled with her blow torch.

"Excuse me for a minute while I set something small on fire."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ch. 7: Striped Hyenas are Born Blind and Helpless. They Do Not Develop Bone Crushing Jaw Strength Until They Are 3 Years Old.

Kyle sent the email to director Granite. It felt weird how many additional channels there were to get work and prove yourself. 

Nobody had told him anything except the basics, They expected so much out of him that he hadn’t been given guidance and then they let him fail.

Thank god for Stone.

He’d had to have a desperate criminal give him the option.

..........................................................................................................................

The next thing Stone told Dr. Jeffers to do, was make the most dumbed-down version of his presentations he could, and then write up a script for it.

Something basic that he felt like he could recite even if he was drowning.

He then requested that Jeffers present it to him, in the hallway while Stone stood in the doorway of Kellers lab.

When Jeffers brought up how hideously awkward that would feel with anyone being able to walk by. Stone claimed “That's the point, if you can present it in an inherently awkward way now, it'll make it easier for you to do it in front of a crowd later.”

It also gave them a modicum of privacy from Keller and her agents, who seemed to be calming down after several of Kyle's visits.

The process was simple.

Kyle would present for 15 minutes or until he broke. Then they would go over breathing techniques, or some way to refocus him and they'd do it again. It was easy. He was starting to get comfortable with Stone, and even if he was nervous, he could say it all if he was going slow and staring at the wall. He eventually got to the point where he could say it without. Stuttering. He knew all the words, it was easy.

He thought after that, that Stone would extend the time. He didn't.

Instead he started asking questions. The first few were soft balls, ones that just, allowed him to expand on a point that he knew the answer to. Then they got hard, questions he hadn't thought of. But then they got more annoying. More condescending. He'd ask him to repeat parts he'd already said, Ask him minute details that just didn't matter.

And Dr. Jeffers was tired of saying the same thing over and over and over again in an exposed hallway, holding print outs of his slides and he starting snap at him.

"That's a stupid an irrelevant question?! Yeah, it could dissolve a hinge if you got a few hours to spend on your B & E but may I suggest a screwdriver?"

"Good response. Good diction and energy, no stutter. Work on the anger. Learn to say the first part in your head. You can take a minute."

"I can't just tell them their question is stupid?"

"You? No. Keller? Maybe, but you don't have the reputation, established respect, or pile of blackmail for it. You'll get shot."

"Metaphorically?"

"Depends on who you insult."

____________________________________________________________

The worst session, by far, was when Stone stopped asking quesions.

Jeffers kept waiting for them to come, but instead Stone looked restless and bored and was looking the other way to check in on Keller's lab and then would switch to looking at his watch.

Kyle's vision started to flatten, and his heart rate picked up, and he couldn't form the next word of his sentence. It kept coming out wrong. And his chest hurt.

He knew it, this still wasn't going to work. It was all going to turn out the same for him, and when they kicked him out, the compound eyes would be waiting.

Stone stopped the timer, “Jeffers I'm going to need you to list three things in the room for me.”

“WE'RE IN A HALLWAY.”

“In the hallway then”

“Your stupid overly shiny shoes, the overhead lights that are giving me a headache and Dr. Kellers's name tag on the door.”

He felt his heartbeat go down as he was forced to pay attention to his surroundings.

“Now do you want to tell me what happened there?"

“They're not going to care. We're going to do all this and they're still not going to care. You can't even care. I mean- I know when it's you, it's an act to make a point, to help me practice but it won't be when I get up there.”

“... that's not necessarily true. A lot of them have the training I have. And breaking down someone's self esteem before negotiating with them, is part of that.”

Suddenly Jeffers wasnt struggling to breathe. He was momentarily distracted by anger.

“Say psyche right now.”

“ If they did accept your project, then they would be negotiating with you for how many details they can add without you adjusting the budget, hoping you'll do unrecorded hours to compensate. And that's easier if you're already... pliable. You're also just in a room filled with people used to being in charge.”

“I've not even able to show them what I have that's valuable because I'm so terrified that it sends me into stuttering fits. I can't even get to the negotiating table.”

“They find that an acceptable loss. They look down on weakness and a lack of presentation skills is that.”

“But- if that's true - they’re doing it so much that I can’t even show them what I have is useful, they’re destroying me before I even get to the negotiating table.”

“They are under the impression that, that is an acceptable loss. In their minds if you’re too weak to do a presentation, then your science isn’t worth looking at.”

“But my science is good. I was a good researcher before this. I was before they got me here and shoved me in a closet. They forgot to give me resources. I just suck at presenting. That doesn’t make my science faulty just because they can’t listen through a stutter.”

Jeffers felt like he was flailing as he said it. But it also sounded true. He was a good researcher. He was dedicated and had the most rigorous studies and was the best at keeping notes and finding sources, and diagnosing the errors in machines and identifying behavior patterns. He was good at this, and he felt like that fact had been beaten out of him.

There was a slight quirk to the corner of Stone's lips, so small. Repressed.

“I know. I didn’t say they were all that bright. They waste useful resources all the time. It’s what happens with a lot of money and a lack of oversight.

Something shifted in the register of Stone's shifted as he said it. The unmistakable tone of condescension as he talked about their employers.

Something in Jeffers’s brain was breaking. The thought that people might be intentionally tripping him up, intentionally getting in his way was infuriating. He’d been stuck in a closet for years, for a dick measuring contest.

“Dr. Jeffers?”

Kyle looked up.

"Are you ready to keep going?"

He half shook himself out of his rage trance.

"Yeah- yeah let's do this."

……………………………………………………...........................................................

Dr. Jeffers, had a new problem.

He could now say, the entire presentation fully, entirely without stutter, with confidence, with his full chest.

The thought of a room filled with idiots, who had actively screwed him over, and had coaxed him into an employment contract they weren't prepared for was- oddly relaxing? It was easier now that all the respect was gone.

He just couldn't say respond to questions anymore without at least one insult slipping out. Stone noticed, and they'd stopped and restarted on a different day, but the anger was still there, trying desperately to bubble out of his throat.

“Well yes, this project would be easy to scale up. You basically just need a larger vat. And I'd be happy to shove you in once you get one, so we could estimate the size and capacity."

It probably didn't help that Stone just thought it was funny. He had put in an effort to look disappointed on the beginning of the second day, but Jeffers caught Stone's shoulder's shaking in his peripheral when he thought Jeffers had his back turned.

"Are you still laughing at me?

He was audibly snickering now that he knew Jeffers was looking.

"I swear I used to be better at hiding this, I think I'm out of practice."

Stone looked exasperated and fond.

“This is really going to be a problem for you isn’t it? You’ve gotten a taste for it and you can’t stop.”

“It’s easier not to be scared when I’m angry.”

Strone considered, and then looked to the side at what Keller and her agents were doing and noticed that They were working with a large loud buzz saw and had hearing protection on.

“Look, I have a solution, but it's going to require you to ask a limited number of questions."

"Oh, actual super spy shit?"

"Yes. I'm going to find the guest list for your presentation. Then I'm going to find the person with the least amount of social status amongst their peers. Someone they won't mind being mocked, and I will give you a name. If you find them and confirm their name, you can rip into them once. Do you understand? It’s not my favorite solution, but I believe a controlled detonation is better than an unpredictable blast.”

Dr. Jeffers cocked his head to side. That sounded...practiced.

"Did you have to do this for your last boss?"

“Oh- him? Yes. Though he had the authority to have a few more names on his list.”

If Stone’s expression had been fond before, it could now melt sugar-cookies with its level of warmth as he looked into the past, into a memory that- based on the expression- must've been hazy and pink and filled with flowers.

“I used to get him a list of everyone in the room, maybe discounting one or two major sponsors, numbered in order from “least problematic to insult” to “most destructive to insult” and on a good day he’d only go through three or four and on a bad day I'd be lucky if there was three or four left. But he always went in order, every time. He had them memorized. Some of those lists had more than two hundred people on them. I think he was showing off. But that was just for meetings and conferences. Couldn’t do anything about him in the field though, then it was just whomever was closest.”

The loud buzz-saw Keller and her Agents were using sounded off and ripped him from the happy memory and the expression vanished.

“-and it was completely destructive to his reputation, and you should not mimic it."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Jeffers learned that Stone very much liked his old boss. And that he wasn’t supposed to, which meant he was probably a traitor.

Jeffers did not feel loyal enough to G.U.N. to care.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Ch. 8: The Death's-Head Hawkmoth Can Mimic the Presentation and Smell of Bee Well Enough to Enter a Hive Without Harm.

Keller went to Jeffers Budget-hearing presentation as a walk-in. She had the time now.

She didn't feel the need to add anything, she was just there with her chai latte, observing.

Agent Franklin was still on her case about not trusting Stone, and she figured she'd keep tabs on his latest project to see how it was going, to see if he was actually helping Dr. Jeffers out or doing something secret behind their backs while using the kid as the justification.

If all went well, She was planning on bugging Rockwell about updating Jeffers lab to their current security standards and lengthening Stone's leash.

Based on everything she saw, yeah, he was.

Jeffers had maybe tripped-up word here and there, but the presentation was, well-timed, clear, engaging to follow. Which was a vast improvement over the last time she saw his presentation, which inspired in her second-hand embarrassment, and a desire to nap.

She wondered how many presentations Stone had helped Robotnik with- all of them? Stone seemed to be an adept communicator; it wouldn't surprise her.

That would make it hard for him to avoid learning technical skills though, being so close to the project proposal. A more paranoid voice in her head said.

She shrugged it off. Theory was different application. You could know what direction to turn a wrench and still hold it wrong. He'd probably take to it though if given half a chance.

Her musings were interrupted by a reedy voice asking if he knew the itemized pricing on the titration equipment.

Jeffers rattled off a rough estimation, at which point the voice asked if it was a fully researched budget or if he was just guessing.

She glanced over to the speaker. Ugh- Feldspar, one of the accountants who took a little too much pleasure in her job. She'd be at this for the next 20 minutes.

Keller glanced down at her phone screen. It was 11:57. Dang it she was hoping to have enough time to have lunch outside today, rather than ordering in and eating it in her lab.

Jeffers froze, for several long beats, Keller was worried that he'd lost whatever nerve he'd carefully built up. Then he squinted, reading a name-tag.

"Harmony Feldspar, right?"

(A memory itched at Keller, Dr. Robotnik on stage, crouched, squinting at a nametag before saying "So do you not have five braincells to clack together or are you deaf? Because I need an explanation for why you didn't hear me the first six times.")

"So do you have tunnel vision, or are you actually capable of seeing the other people around you? Because I cannot think of a drier topic than what every spoon and syringe costs. And as much as I want to watch everybody's head slowly drop to the table or try to claw the walls to escape as you satisfy your curiosity, then maybe we don't go down this line?"

Feldspar was squirming.

"This is unprofessional behavior- and it's perfectly reasonable way to gauge you research techniques."

"My entire presentation was a perfectly reasonable way to gauge my research techniques. Tell you what. I'll answer any question you have if you stand up here with me, look at your colleagues and tell them you don't care about their time. Ok Harmony?"

The kid wasn't blinking, and he was vibrating with rage.

Harmony Feldspar clicked her teeth shut.

"Any other questions?" No one spoke.

"Great! Presentation over, everyone get-out and have a nice day."

Oh.

Oh that was too familiar.

Maybe Keller could wait on asking Rockwell to extend Stone's leash. At least until she did a little extra digging.

...........................................................................................................................

Dr. Jeffers manages to act cold, calm and collected, all the way to his office, at which point, he closed the door and let his bones turn to soup as he collapsed on the floor.

The main accounting officer? That was the name Stone had given him?

His brain was flipping back and forth between blacking out and reviewing all the words he'd said to see just how much of an asshole he'd been.

He'd felt giddy, he felt sick. He felt like he'd finally succeeded for the first time in a while, and he was wondering the cost. He'd felt confident when he'd been speaking, but he'd also had the anger waiting to pop.

He'd memorized the seating chart because he'd been eager for it. Then when it happened it took everything in him to hold his cool and not apologize when the woman looked flabbergasted and afraid.

She was just doing her job.

"Part of her job was breaking you down." A voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Stone's said. "She had her teeth bared just as much as you did and she wouldn't have given you half the consideration you're giving now."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it feels good."

He needed normalcy.

He logged on to the computer to do his normal, standard job of reviewing global animal behavior.

One email notification popped up, then two.

He skimmed through them.

Glad to see your presentation skills have improved. Excited to work with you. Can we meet to discuss details at lunch tomorrow?

He made a face.

"This place is weirdly fucked up."

............................................................................................................................

The next morning, Dr. Jeffers opened his office to see a white, spherical, object taking about 30% of his office floor. It had, what appeared to be a large powered off-eye, and not much else. He couldn't see any buttons or switches to turn it on or activate it, just slats where it could theoretically open up.

On top was placed one, yellow sticky note.

“Check Your E-mail, Director Granite."

"Oh, yeah Warehouse F" he thought, "I'd almost forgotten about that"

He did, staring at the unidentified object the entire time.

The email read as follows:

Hey kid, saw your presentation yesterday. Glad to see some initiative and some guts out of you finally. I got project tailor-designed for you.

We used to have a different scientist on staff who was interested in biomimicry and weapons, but he went absolutely insane and died and now nobody's been able to activate any of his drones. I figured your specialties aligning you might have additional insight. We’ve sent some files on what’s been tried so far. Whatever you do, don't try prying them open, they explode.

The guy went by Dr. Ivo Robotnik. I think G.U.N. got ahold of his old assistant, you might want to try asking him some questions.

Don’t get too distracted by this, we still need you on potential alien monitoring. Tell us if you find anything.

-Director Granite.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

[undertalerebirth]

July-June Dev log. We're really going places! (This Dev Log has been delayed since July. We are sorry it took so long)!

Hey! Were back! We have a lot some stuff to get through so lets get started!

A New Face?

Yep! Let me introduce you to a new UTBB character; Princess(?) Emily Emerald!

Emerald is a spider monster that you will be familied with in the demo and through out the story. She lives in the Ruined sewers with the rest of her sibling, maybe you'll even get to meet a few of them

(Artwork made by @hollowgears )

Progress!

[ Coding ]

As of writing this, our custom base UT engine is almost complete! We only need to work on a few thing regarding the battle & overworld system. After that we will start implementing some changes such as adding out reworked magic system and a few new special changes.

Then we'll get to work on rooms, tilesets, and backgrounds!

[ Music ]

We've been releasing a few tracks on our game page and YouTube! You should go check them out when you have the time. Our composers work hard on every OST they make and we hope you enjoy listening to them just has much as the team! * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOzEMaAb1zE * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxgr3R6DAsI

We only have a small amount of OSTs at the moment, but were trying to chip away at at it step by step! We don't want to overwhelm anybody here since most of the team have their own projects they have to work on as well.

[ Writing ]

As of now the demo as been fully written out! With the addition to new team members and the director reaching out to different writers in and out of the community, the game has under go some major rewrites which were heavily needed. The rest of the game has been perfectly outlined and I'm currently halfway through the Geno/No Mercy script for the Snowden section. However, writing for the rest of the Ruins after the demo on pacifist and neutral runs is still a work in progress

The plan is to work on neutral scripts after Pacifist and Geno scripts are done. Just to make things a little easier on the teams main writer (Skill issue we know lol). Also, I am glad to say that all of UTBBs main cast as been fully made! Yes we still need to work on their section/area script but like I said before, those have been neatly outlined.

Meet Our New Team Members!

MUSIC COMPOSERS

JeffTheCowfish72

@MrMrMilesP 

Epic

ARTIST/SPRITERS

@DaWikzz 

@Destroyer120 

@swidev 

@SeaForest 

Kamiko Torayama

YaS

Hollow

CODERS

NamuFrames

@Kaidojet 

Gravenews

Were still looking for more Team members! It's not too late to sign up.We're currently looking for:

Coder's (Game maker Studio)

Music Composers

Promotional Artist (1 more position is open)

Concept Artist (For environments/areas)

Battle sprite artist (Pixel Art)

Character designers (Visual)

Tile set/background artist (Pixel Art)

Application form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWdY5EmbQMYm4Tz4VXtEa6DmpgYowlamMc_zuWNMM2CcHtTw/viewform

Gamepage & Social Changes;

We've updated the gamepage a bit more. We've added a features, Mechanics, and a special thanks!

We felt like the special thanks was long over due. These projects helped inspire UTBB and it's only fair that they get the credit they deserve.

[Cancelled] Undertale: The Otherground by poody_blue  

Undertale Kindred Spirits (Fangame) by PurrSum  

DELTARUNE: Broken Destiny (Fangame) by CrystalZeroChaos  

Undertale: True Genocide (Fangame) by souptaels  

Undertinge (Fangame) by TeamTinge  

@blinddetermination (Interactive Comic) by @hyakki--yagyo

Thank you Poody_blue, PurrSum  (+ The entire UTKS Crew), Starlightshore, CrystalZeroChaos, TeamTinge , souptaels , @hyakki--yagyo, and everyone in the Othertale/Otherrune Community. You are the people who helped inspire this project and I can't wait for you all to see what we've been planning.

Make sure to go check these projects and their creators out! These are the very projects & people that inspired Undertale: Brave Beginnings in the first place so it would be amazing if you went over there and showed them some love and support!

Social Change

As you may have noticed, UTBB has been freely promoting other projects and as been collaborating with other creators. While we are still participating in these collabs we have decided to take a step back in promoting other creators/project. In all honesty, that wasn't supposed to happen. You see, out director is really proud of the following he and this project has gained, and thought that he was "popular" enough to promote lesser known projects or projects just starting out in development. And as you can see he's been promoting a lot of projects. More so it's starting to feel like that's all he's doing publicly and fears that it may be a bit to much.

So with that being said, we will be taking a step back from the promotion of other projects after this dev log. However! We will leave a list (now) of projects that Reed planned to promote but never had the time until now and won't be put up in promotion ever again (unless super big news comes out like the demo/full release or it being cancelled).

Undertale Brave Faith by TeamDarkLegend  

Undertale: Bold & Benevolent by Team Papya and the_fluffernutter  

Undertale Ivy's Justice by TeamUTIJustice 

UNDERSWAP: ECHOED by _pancakez 

Undertale ICEBOUND by LucanaDLL  & __b 

Undertale ALTERATION by Pixel-Icon15 

We know most of these projects are already popular but Team beginnings still wanted to show their support!

What To Expect Next Time?

As you can see, the game page has been getting a few tweaks as of late. We've updated the description and more promotion art should be coming soon! We will also no longer be giving monthly dev logs (Not like we did before lol) and will only post when we have more content to show.

The End. . . ?

No, no no!!! The end of the Dev log, not the project! Thank you all for taking the time to read through this. I hope you have a wonderful day/nigh/afternoon wherever you are! I guess this is the end of the dev log. See you all later!

[quirkwizard]

Could this Quirk exist or be possible (I based it off The Knight from Hollow Knight): Darknail is an emitter-type Quirk that allows the user to summon a long, grey, nail-like sword made from a durable yet lightweight mineral-ore material. Featuring an exaggerated diamond-shaped lower cross-section, the Nailsword is perfectly balanced for high-speed, agile combat. The user can fight at peak mobility without being weighed down by their weapon. Darknail’s core ability lies in its unique energy mechanic: when the user lands a physical strike with the Nailsword, the kinetic energy generated is instantly converted into a powerful force called Void Energy.

This energy can be stored and released through a variety of offensive techniques, allowing the user to adapt fluidly in battle. For instance, Void Tremor where the user stabs the nail into the ground and makes dark shockwaves, or Shade Saber, which allows the user to make a v shaped blade extension of void behind them before striking (similar to the Dreamnail). Those are only a few examples of what the user can do, but if they can't hit their opponent, they cant get their energy and they will be slightly crippled in combat. Although the user has a natural firm grip between the nail and their hand if its knocked out they will have to retrieve or resummon it which takes some energy so it gives their opponents an opportunity to attack.

Hey, Remember me the nailsword guy? Could it be possible for you to try seeing if my quirk is possible to make (sorry for bothering you earlier my bad) maybe the sword could be a really lengthy yet lightweight sword (or a heavy one to have a challenge) that the user can gain kinetic energy that is transferred into the sword for stronger attacks (it starts of basic and gains power as they fight , but the user needs to keep up and keep on fighting or they'll be drained, tweak it if you'd like..

I think there is something here, but it needs some work. I'm not sure about the user summoning it to them. That doesn't line up with any of the applications of the Quirk. Unless you mean the user another version of it? The bigger part of it is that I'm not sure about the user getting energy from hitting things. I do think it could work for a Quirk, but not this particular one. The user already has a natural disadvantage because their Quirk is a weapon they make. Something they have no knowledge of using, meaning they will likely need to train in order to apply it, and something that can be removed from them. It also requires them to get in close to build up their real attacks. Unless the energy produced is particularly strong, I don't think that requiring them to build up their power is really needed. I'd just have it be something that the sword naturally generates from itself. Maybe it could become exaggerated when it hits something or violently moves, giving an excuse to do all those flashy attacks. The downsides could be based more on the user actually learning how to use the sword and the energy it makes. Maybe one about the sword needing to recharge itself briefly after the bigger attacks.

[heart-full-of-lust]

The Thesis

Dr. Lila Voss’s office smelled of ambition and ethically sourced espresso. Tenured feminist sociologist. Author of *Patriarchy’s Puppeteers: Gaslighting in the Digital Age*. Speaker at three international conferences this year alone. Her walls were a mosaic of accolades, her laptop a fortress of case studies on male manipulators—incels, cult leaders, pickup artists.  

She didn’t flinch when the email arrived.  

*Subject: Case Study #2271 – “The Handler”*  

Attached: A Vice article about a hypnosis podcaster targeting “disillusioned wives.” Comments section littered with *“He changed my life”* and *“I’m finally *free*”* from women whose selfies showed hollow eyes and too-red lips.  

Lila snorted. *Another dime-a-dozen narcissist.* She skimmed his tactics: embedded commands in ASMR tracks, TikToks synced to binaural beats, a $500/month Discord for “obedience modules.”  

“Amateur,” she muttered, highlighting a transcript.  

*“You’ll crave strangers’ hands… not because you’re *easy*, pet. Because you’re *enlightened*.”*  

She drafted her rebuttal in her head already: *This isn’t liberation—it’s lateral oppression. Women trading one cage for another.*  

---  

**Day 1 of “Research”**  

Lila clicked his latest video. *For science*, she told herself.  

The man had no face—just a voice like burnt honey and hands too elegant to be real. He spoke about “untapped potential” and “shattering mediocrity.”  

*“You’re not *dirty* for wanting more… You’re *divine*.”*  

She rolled her eyes. *Basic neuro-linguistic programming. Preys on insecurity.*  

But then:  

*“Breathe in… and as you exhale, imagine your *pride* as a chain. Heavy. Rusted. *Useless*.”*  

Her pen froze.  

*Why did my chest tighten?*  

---  

**Day 7**  

Lila awoke at 3 AM, thighs welded together. Dreams she couldn’t—*wouldn’t*—name.  

She opened his Discord. “Phase 4: Eternal Collar Protocol” glowed onscreen.  

*Hypotheticals*, she reasoned. *I need to understand the pathology.*  

A user named @RebornBitch93 posted: *“Did my first gloryhole today!!! He said I’m a *natural* 😇”*  

Lila’s critique died in her throat.  

Her hand drifted south.  

---  

**Day 14**  

The department chair raised eyebrows at her revised syllabus.  

“*Erotic Surrender as Counter-Hegemonic Praxis*? This seems… unlike you.”  

Lila smiled, shark-like. “The Handler’s followers believe degradation empowers them. I’ll prove it’s faux agency—women confusing *submission* with *autonomy*.”  

Her voice didn’t shake. Her skin did.  

---  

**Day 21**  

The video titled *“For Academic Use Only”* lived in a password-protected folder.  

In it, Lila sits cross-legged, hair in a frayed bun, reading his triggers aloud:  

*“Hearing a cash register = clitoral throbbing.”*  

A beat.  

*“The word ‘please’ = gag reflex disabled.”*  

She clicked *play*.  

Five seconds in, her head lolled.  

*“No,”* she slurred to empty air. *“I’m… immunun…ne…”*  

---  

**Day 30**  

Her lecture hall seats 300. Today: standing room only.  

“We must reject,” she declared, back straight, “the capitalist-patriarchal notion that *desire* equals *freedom*.”  

A student coughed. *“Please elaborate, Dr. Voss?”*  

Lila’s breath hitched.  

*Click* went the cash register in her mind.  

Her blouse was unbuttoned to her navel before she reached the podium’s edge.  

---  

**Epilogue**  

@RebornBitch93’s latest post trends on X:  

*“Met my mentor today!!! She says every feminist theory has a *practical application* 😍”*  

The photo shows Lila, red lips glazed, kneeling beside a faceless man’s Oxfords. Her locket—a tiny microphone—gleams.  

Caption: *“Case Study #2271: CONCLUDED.”*  

Her old books collect dust.  

His audio courses? Required reading.

[everrainrp]

speaking of thornrush, will the lore page be updated in time for the application period? if not, is there any additional information you could give us to chew on? (i'm interested in history, clan dynamics, significant territory features, how religion/spirituality play a part in their lives) thank you!

Hello!

Yes, the goal is to have each of the lore pages updated before and in time for each of the openings!

For extra information:

Clan History

After the Clan was founded by Russetthorn, they set to work quickly to make the thick underbrush of their home navigatable to themselves, and how to properly live in the environment. Eventually, the idea was brought up to have dens within the massive redwood trees that composed a good chunk of the old growth forest of their home, leaving the ground below to be converted into mazes of thicket tunnels, burrows, and shelters. (as above, so below!). Russetthorn presented her vow to the Clans at the first gathering, stating that as long as Thornrush Clan remains true to their core values, they will always help another Clan in need and never seek to exploit another Clan the way that their predecessors exploited them. And they have remained true to this value and tenet presented by their founder up to the current days, however, increased frustrations not only come from Torrentfall feeling as though the Clan is meddling, but within the Clan as well. All of the aid that they have given other Clans in history, what will happen if they are felled and need help themselves? If they spend so much time helping one another, they cannot focus on their own Clan and kin, and over the last few generations this has been increasingly more common as a frustration.

Significant territory features! Of course there is the tunnels that are marked with Paws Cant and upkept by the Clan while remaining hidden from the rest of the world. The underbrush of the territory has been formatted into a sort of maze, the brambles and thorns guiding and leading trespassers astray and away from their shelters and camps. Their hidden camps might even rival Mistshroud's in that regard.

A large, dry riverbed within a steep ravine known as "Histories Steps" feature large footsteps embedded in long dried mud, from creatures that no longer walk this earth. A pair of extraordinarily large antlers can be found at the start of where the river used to run, further marking this site as genuinely historical, and perhaps even blessed by their pantheon.

"Timber Fall" is an area within the territory composed of many large fallen trees that have hollowed out over time. A great deal of mushrooms and lichens can be found here growing on the long decaying wood. Some of the wood here has even become petrified over time, some with interesting patterns as minerals solidified within it!

"Sap & Honey Heights" is a section of the forest composed more of maple trees and trees that bleed heavy saps. Wildflowers grow greatly here, and the buzz of large bees nests can be found in the heights of the trees. The sap gathered here is used in crafting, as well as setting insects within amber, and the bees nests are harvested for honey and pollen, both useful herbs for medics to have in stock.

As for their pantheon and spirituality, they follow Thornmaw, a great boar resembling a hellpig who signifies the hunt. Thornmaw teaches the importance of honor and glory of the hunt, and the hunting grounds of the afterlife are his. Every prey item must be used in full, and hunting when not needed is wasteful. Silverhowl, a massive direwolf, symbolizes the ideas of pack unity and loyalty, that the strength of the Clan is in one another, never alone. She resides within the hunting grounds at greater heights, and hearing the howls of wolves at night bolsters the moral of the Clan. Bravehart, a massive paleolithic deer, symbolizes leadership and the willingness to sacrifice and fight for your greatness. They show that not everything that one does must be for the thrill of the hunt and for glory, but for the greater good of your herd and that one must be willing to sacrifice greatly for their wellbeing. Bravehart shows to lead by example and remain stalwart in the face of adversity.

This pantheon developed over time with the Clans exposure to the historical and paleolithic fossils and remains that are found around their territory, these great creatures having once roamed the earth. And if they could roam and leave their mark permanently before moving to the beyond, so could the Clan. Thornmaw was the first to reveal himself to the Clan, the leader at the time, Wrenstar, struggling to lead her Clan through hunger and drought. In delirium and after passing through the arch in which all leadership rites take place now, she found herself in a strange place, unknown to her. It is here that Thornmaw led her further beyond the territory, to a prey rich area. When awakening, she found herself outside of the territory, the scent of prey filling her senses. Silverhowl presented herself to the Apothecary at the time, Possumtooth, and how to unite the Clan into a greater pack once more after a divide threatened to split them. She showed her how to value camaraderie, that divided they will fall, but together they will stand forever. Her ghostly and wispy figure led Possumtooth to the source of the dissent, her massive shadow passing along rock faces and through the trees. And finally, Bravehart presented themself during a time of uncertain leadership and the Clan being led astray. Appearing to Boastar, Bravehart led him to the herd that they lead and protect. Boastar witnessed the cycle of life and death, giving and taking, and the greatness of sacrifice for the Clan.

These three and their appearances forever marked and changed the way Thornrush Clan operated both in the physical and spiritual realm. A great deal was learned from their pantheon, and they are extremely highly regarded.

[ralofofriverwoods]

Made some character descriptions!! For all of my Skyrim characters, minus zuft’zahr’s siblings and my other werewolf :3

There’s a lot more under the read more thing but I don’t wanna fully clog people’s dash up, so the Dragonborn characters are the only visible ones for now

Farlian Seven - Khajiit(Cathay), dragonborn. Farlian has white fur with black stripes reminiscent of a white tiger, and has yellow eyes. She uses heavy armor, favoring blades armor and ebony, and she uses the dragon priest mask Nahkriin. She has two golden hoop earrings on each ear. Casual clothes include a turtleneck and a long skirt with varying patterns and styles, the most common being an animated blue starry shirt and an orange cloudy sky dress. || Farlian uses an ebony mace and the daedric artifact ‘spellbreaker’, a boon from Peryite. She also utilizes some destruction magic and some restoration. || She is affiliated with almost every Skyrim faction, including; the companions, the college of winterhold, the thieves guild, the dark brotherhood, the bards college, etc.

Virthik Fjovur - nord, dragonborn. Virthik has pale pinkish skin, blue dragon like eyes, and blonde hair with a braid near the front. He has two horns reminiscent of a dragon’s, the right one broken close to the scalp. At around the middle of the forearm his hands transition from white to a scale like grey, and become a little tougher. His fingers end in slightly sharpened claws growing out of the bone of the hand. He also has rather noticeable eye bags, regardless of how much sleep he gets. He wears carved Nordic armor with no helmet when in battle. When relaxing he wears a cozy blue knit sweater, a very fluffy scarf of sorts, and fur lined cargo pants. His dragon form is a dark grey with a lighter grey highlight, and dark blue horns/joint scales.[gore until the dark red text stops] The stomach, throat, and chest of the dragon are hollowed out excluding the bones, lungs, and heart, and it is missing the usual scales and muscles that cover it up. The jawbone is also missing scales and muscles. Despite the lack of proper muscles he can still fly, eat, and breathe just fine. || Virthik uses a specially enchanted and crafted ebony sword named “ “, as well as minimal restoration magic and a wide variety of shouts. || He is affiliated with the companions, the thieves guild, the rebuilt helgen, and a few others. He is also a follower of ikalis matrix, mentioned in the section labeled gods.

Zuft’zahr Satanni - Khajiit(Cathay), dragonborn. He has mostly brown fur with black stripes. His chin, belly, and underside of his tail/inner ears are a red to tan gradient. He has a daedric reminiscent symbol on his forehead that is seemingly natural in origin. His hair is black, and He uses dragon scale armor for most open combat, but otherwise uses a mix of thieves guild and dark brotherhood armor. No matter what he he wears an orange knit scarf with red accents, however. When not out for business he wears a sweater under a nice warm coat with many pockets, and either some sweat pants or an ankle length dress. || He primarily uses the blade of woe or chillrend, but has a battleaxe as a backup weapon as well. He uses quite a lot of illusion and alteration magic as well. Zuft'zahr also owns a small enchanted pocket watch which can rewind time. He uses this to attempt for the best possible scenario in every applicable situation. || He is affiliated with the dark brotherhood, the thieves guild, the blades, the college of winterhold, and the bards college.

Ka’rah Seven - Khajiit(Suthay-raht). Ka’rah has the same fur colors as her sister, but has bluish purple eyes with bright purple veins. Her markings are much flowy and curly than farlian’s. She has a large magic scar on the left side of her face. Her hair is braided and tied together down her back, and she has “facial hair” which is puffy and flows down a few inches past her collar bone. She wears a cape, heavy duty half skirt, and a loose green shirt most of the time, but also has a ritual outfit with many skulls and whatnot. Her casual outfit is a formal skintight shirt with lace making it a turtleneck, and flowy open sleeved arms. Her pants are heavy duty with a few decorative holes at the top of the leg. She also wears a manacle that functions as a detect magic and block magic charm. She also has a talking skull named torbar, which can either be worn or carried. || She wields a staff made of bone and leather, with insets of amethyst and a large purple orb that appears to be an unknown magical gem, possibly a soul gem. This is used to focus on many spells at once, and also lets her command her skeleton army with minimal shouting. || She is affiliated very loosely with the thieves guild and the dark brotherhood, for a steady supply of corpses and gemstones to use in spellcasting, but otherwise avoids most upstanding organizations. She is a “professional Necromancer warlord”, in other words, a necromancer that just really likes showing off.

Donein Seedmire - Bosmer. Donenin has slightly desaturated yellow skin with many scars and marks. His hair is a plain dark ish brown, as are his eyes. He always looks like he has cried recently, and is a little more flushed than a Bosmer would usually be. He wears a simple green shirt with an orange scarf, as well as some plain brown pants and quality(if a little worn) leather boots. He noticeably does not possess any sort of antler or horn. His teeth are incredibly sharp, and grow back in when they either fall out or are removed. || Donenin favors the bow, and has a specially made one crafted from particularly bendable bits of cartilage, and has little garnets studded around the handle. It also sports special ebony fittings. He also carries a small, rough ebony dagger with similar garnet fittings and a bone handle. || He is not affiliated with any of the bigger organizations of skyrim, but he goes around and helps out in smaller towns like rorikstead and karthwasten. He worships kynareth and mara.

Sifaris Denhan - snow elf, vampire. Sifaris has very pale skin, and exceedingly short hair. He has a tail reminiscent of a rat’s, as well as slightly clawed hands. His eyes are a slightly harsh yellow with a red rim and black scleras, as well as a pupil reminiscent of a cat’s. He has faded red tattoos on his back(which appear more pink than red), which curl around his torso to just under his top surgery scars. He wears a black turtleneck, as well as bits of homemade chaurus armor. He has thick, padded pants and heavy duty chaurus boots and gauntlets. He also has a hood with goggles and a mask, to make sure nobody knows he's a vampire. Also it looks good. He prefers to wear hoodies and other baggy clothes when not on a job. || He usually uses a double sided greatsword, but also has been seen using alteration, and occasionally a dual set of daggers. He specifically does not use any vampire abilities in battle, because honestly he doesn't know where that blood has been. || He was affiliated with the snow elves of the forgotten vale, but now he mostly just does mercenary work. He is married to citrine. He is a vampire that is tied to sanguine, not molag bal.

Citrine - altmer, werewolf. Citrine has healthy, sunny yellow skin with a few scars and sunburns at all times. He has silver eyes, clawed hands, and very light, fluffy blonde hair. Not quite platinum blonde, but very close. Occasionally he may have certain wolfish characteristics such as a tail or claws. || Citrine usually wears a classic monk outfit, with as few buttons as possible, and no shoes or footwraps. He wears the ring of Hircine infrequently, essentially just when he's in highly populated areas. He doesn't mind randomly wolfing out, says it gives life a little more spice. || He occasionally uses brass knuckles, but otherwise sticks completely to unarmed strikes and werewolf attacks. He wields some restoration magic as well, but mostly studies whatever he can that would help out sifaris in a pinch, as he has very fast natural regeneration. || He is as dedicated to sif as the tide is to the moon. He also somewhat follows Hircine, but more in the way that an employee likes their nice ish boss (Don't call when I'm off the clock cos I prolly won't answer). He is also a fan of dibella+sanguine’s teachings, but doesn't actively follow either of them. And of course he is married to sif.

Imerae Semalion - Falmer(the in game enemy kind). Imerae also has pale pale skin, though it is much rougher than Sif’s. She has many little scrapes just about everywhere. She also has a tail similar to sif’s, but it acts more as a prehensile tail than a cat tail. She has white hair grouped into two braided pigtails. She wears the usual thieves guild getup, minus the shoes. The only difference is that it’s all a pinkish hue, as is everything she wears ever. She usually doesn’t wear much other than her thieves guild attire, but she doesn’t mind baggy short sleeve shirts. || she uses a mix of daggers and bows, and favors stealth bow techniques, with the use of detect life and undead. || she’s obviously connected to the thieves guild, but she’s also semi related to the bard’s college and the college of winterhold. She appreciates nocturnal and boethia’s thing, though she doesn’t really follow follow any one deity.

Beynir Pale-sky - Nord. Beynir is very close to your typical Nord, and ironically extremely close to the looks of the preset for a Nord in the base game. He just has stubble instead of full mutton chops, and his hair is a little curlier. He wears the usual whiterun guard outfit, but with long yellow sleeves under the Chain mail. He also has brown eyes. || he uses the standard one handed sword+shield combo, but also has trained a little bit in unarmed combat. Just in case!! || he of course is affiliated with the whiterun guard, and a little bit of the thieves guild and companions.

Lurks-in-Darkness - argonian/saxhleel. LD has mostly black scales, with dark red accents and muddy chartreuse scales along the spine+top of the head. She has shiny red feathers that end with a tick of black on her head/neck and tail. Her tongue and inner mouth is black, and has a bite similar to that of a Komodo dragon. Her eyes are a shiny blood red with very thin, sharp pupils, and she has 3 chartreuse mini horns on each side of her head. She wears many daedric related suits of armor, her favorite being a modified suit of Daedric mail with a sickly green glow and red details. She wears a casual yellow long sleeve shirt under a blacksmith’s apron, with durable leather pants and leather foot wraps. She does not actually have boobs as one may assume, she actually just hides any contraband/stolen goods she finds in a pocket in her shirt :). Taking advantage of peoples stupidity 25/8 baby! || she wields both a Daedric greatsword or an orcish hammer, as well as almost all of the offensive schools of magic, excluding some illusion and most restoration. She also owns quite a few Daedric artifacts, and can wield most all of them at least semi effectively. || she is of course affiliated with quite a few of the Daedric princes, as well as limited interaction with their respective organizations, though she also has interactions with the college of winterhold quite often. This is to get access to the Atronach forge and the Daedric gauntlet.

Sara dellum - Dunmer . Sara has grayish skin, with white and red face paint and orange-red hair in the style of dreads, tucked back in a ponytail. He wears a mix of morag tong styled gear and specially crafted bonemold, designed for peak stealth. He also has little bits of skin where a keratin like structure acts as ‘scales’ on places like the bicep, outer thigh, and stomach. This is the same color as his skin. || Sara wields dual daggers exclusively, but also knows rudimentary hand to hand combat. He has a special coin that, when incorporated with other coins, can tell him whether or not any are illegitimate. || he was affiliated with the morag tong, but has since moved on to be a lone contractor. He has occasionally run into the dark brotherhood, and visits the thieves guild often in the dark corners, for those looking to strike a quick deal for a little cheaper than the larger groups. He has also been seen skulking around in raven rock and tel mythrin.

Mako Lograk - orsimer. Mako has rough green skin with a tinge of yellow, and is quite hairy. In addition to a lot of body hair, he has mustard yellow scales speckled around his cheeks, chest, shoulders, stomach, and forearms. Essentially everywhere there is hair. His hair is dark brown, and the hair on his head is curly, while his body hair is more reminiscent of a wild hogs’, being thick and wiry, and relatively straight. He wears no shirt, but his pants are a soft and warm wool, and his boots are a waterproof leather insulated with bits of animal pelts and fur. He wears a harness for his axe to be idly carried, and lugs around a large bag meant to preserve any alchemical ingredients he may come across. || he uses a large axe to do most fighting, but also owns multiple sets of different scissors to harvest various plants and whatnot with. || he is not affiliated with any major groups, but just about every alchemist in Skyrim knows him as an extremely reliable source of ingredients for potions, and a little bit of gossip from the other alchemists.

Alriac Vilri - maomer. Alriac has pale blue skin that seems slightly transparent and shiny, and large web shaped ears. His eyes have a low blue glow, and his hair is dark ish blue with almost white streaks. He has webbed hands and feet, and his fingers end in a hard and sharp point. When on land he wears a loose, flowy button up shirt at least halfway unbuttoned, a slightly weathered teal dress, and quite honestly the worst looking boots you’ve ever seen, with mold starting to grow on the sides and at least one hole in the seams or from pure wear and tear on the leather. He also has a pearl bracelet and a silver necklace, inlaid with sapphire. When in the water he simply wears his jewelry. His mermaid tail is a shimmery silver with sapphire blue stripes near the waist, and he has gills in between his ribs. || he does not frequently fight, but when he does he prefers ice based destruction magic or alteration. Otherwise he uses sharp, shark like teeth, as well as claws to hook into prey or foe, to rip and tear.

Ithvozal Raogarn - Dwemer. Ithvozal has dark ish yellow skin meant to withstand pressure and heat. They have brown frizzy hair which they pull back into a low ponytail, and bright blue eyes. Their body is paralyzed from the waist down, and as such they use a wheelchair designed for maximum mobility and effectiveness. Some functions of this mobility device include: a built in crossbow, the ability to curl up into a ball and speed around with Ithvozal inside, interface and control of many dwarven constructs, heating and cooling, and many more small functions. || they mainly utilize a specialized hand crossbow and the weapons on their chair. They keep a notebook and pen with them at all times, to mark down what may need to be repaired or removed, as well as to plan out what they’ll build next. They also carry a wide range of tools for impromptu repairs. || ithvozal follows no gods. They are also the only one in their large cave system other than their non Dwemer friends.

Bivelle rivera - dunmer. She has pinkish grey skin with red and black face paint around the eyes. She has small dragonfly like wings, the membranes of which are a dark shimmery black-blue color, reminiscent of stained glass. She also has a small dragonfly like ‘tail’. She is wearing a red and black corset with shiny silver filigree and buckles, soft red and yellow striped pants, black boots with yellow accentwork, and a short red half skirt. Under the corset there is a flowy black blouse. || She wields a wavy dagger, as well as a variety of embalming tools and torture tools. She uses mainly necromantic magic when she is casting, but also has been seen using illusion magic when needed. || She is not affiliated with any large organizations, but has started a small cult that sows discord throughout solstheim and windhelm, and really any place they see fit. She is good acquaintances with Sara, and helps score clients whenever possible.

And that’s all the Skyrim lovelies!

[welchplasticmanufacturing]

A Beginner’s Guide to Plastic Manufacturing Techniques and Technologies

Plastic manufacturing is a foundational part of modern industry, contributing to countless products we use daily from packaging and furniture to automotive parts and electronics. For beginners looking to understand how plastic products are made, it’s essential to get familiar with the various techniques and technologies that drive this vast and evolving industry.

This guide provides an overview of the most commonly used plastic manufacturing methods, how they work, and the technologies behind them.

Injection Molding

Injection molding is one of the most widely used techniques in plastic manufacturing. It involves melting plastic pellets and injecting the molten material into a metal mold under high pressure. Once the plastic cools and solidifies, the mold opens to release the finished part.

Common Applications: Bottle caps, containers, automotive parts, and electronic housings.

Advantages: High production speed, repeatable precision, and low scrap rates.

Technologies Used: CNC-machined molds, hydraulic or electric presses, and automated robotics for part removal.

Blow Molding

Blow molding is used to create hollow plastic products. In this process, a heated plastic tube (called a parison) is placed into a mold and then inflated with air, forcing the plastic to conform to the mold’s shape.

Common Applications: Bottles, drums, and fuel tanks.

Advantages: Efficient for mass production of uniform hollow items.

Technologies Used: Extrusion blow molding machines, injection blow molding systems, and air compressors.

Extrusion

Plastic extrusion involves melting plastic resin and forcing it through a die to create continuous shapes like pipes, sheets, or films. The extruded plastic is then cooled and cut to the desired length.

Common Applications: Plastic pipes, tubing, window frames, and packaging film.

Advantages: High-volume production, consistent cross-sections, and cost-effectiveness.

Technologies Used: Extruders, cooling systems, and precision dies.

Thermoforming

Thermoforming involves heating a plastic sheet until it's soft, then stretching it over a mold and vacuuming or pressing it into shape. Once cooled, the formed part is trimmed.

Common Applications: Clamshell packaging, trays, disposable cups, and automotive panels.

Advantages: Ideal for large parts with lower tooling costs.

Technologies Used: Vacuum formers, pressure formers, and CNC trimming machines.

Rotational Molding (Rotomolding)

In rotational molding, powdered plastic is placed inside a mold, which is then heated and rotated on multiple axes. The plastic melts and coats the interior of the mold evenly. After cooling, the mold opens to release the part.

Common Applications: Large hollow items like storage tanks, playground equipment, and traffic cones.

Advantages: Uniform wall thickness, low-cost tooling, and minimal material waste.

Technologies Used: Rotational molding ovens, cooling chambers, and biaxial rotation systems.

3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing)

3D printing is a newer method that creates plastic products layer by layer from digital designs. It’s especially useful for prototyping and custom parts.

Common Applications: Prototypes, medical models, small production runs, and customized components.

Advantages: Design flexibility, low setup cost, and rapid prototyping.

Technologies Used: Fused deposition modeling (FDM), stereolithography (SLA), and selective laser sintering (SLS).

Key Considerations When Choosing a Technique

When selecting a manufacturing method, businesses must consider several factors:

Volume Requirements: Injection molding suits high-volume runs, while 3D printing is best for small batches or prototypes.

Part Complexity: Detailed or intricate shapes may require specific molding or printing techniques.

Material Type: Some methods work better with certain plastics (e.g., thermoplastics vs. thermosets).

Tooling Costs: Processes like injection molding have high upfront tooling costs, while methods like thermoforming and 3D printing have lower barriers to entry.

Understanding the different plastic manufacturing techniques and technologies is the first step toward navigating this essential industry. Each method offers unique benefits, and the right choice depends on the desired product, budget, and production goals.

As sustainability and innovation continue to drive change, new materials and advanced technologies are being integrated into traditional plastic manufacturing. For beginners, staying informed about these evolving practices can open doors to better product design, efficiency, and business opportunities in a rapidly growing global market.

[abhi322]

Explore Kamdhenu Pipes for Durable Construction Needs

Kamdhenu Pipes are engineered for reliability, strength, and long-term performance in various construction and industrial applications. Whether it’s MS Round Pipes, Square Hollow Sections (SHS), or Rectangular Hollow Sections (RHS), Kamdhenu offers a versatile range of steel pipes that ensure structural stability and corrosion resistance. These pipes are ideal for buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and fabrication purposes. Manufactured with strict quality standards and modern technology, Kamdhenu Pipes support sustainable construction with unmatched durability. For projects that demand precision and strength, trust Kamdhenu’s proven expertise in steel pipe solutions.

[hellasummerhqs]

hello!! english is my second language so i am sorry if i sound stupid but i am confused in the application with former camper / former counselor section. is this asking me if they used to go to this camp or if they used to be a counselor before current time? what if they are neither and are starting out as a new counselor?

howdy! never ever apologize — we're here to answer all of your queries, my dearie. english isn't the admin team's first language either, so we'll hold hands + go through this together. ready for takeoff? okay, here we go! in order for the cheeky plot to do its thing, all muses must be: former campers, former counselors, or both ... meaning this isn't anyone's first time at hollow's river. it's completely possible for your character to be starting out as a counselor, yes — but that would entail making them a past camper. did i make any sense? pls shake me around if i didn't.

[sydneymetal]

How Do RHS Tubes Enhance Strength and Design in Construction?

RHS tubes (Rectangular Hollow Sections) are widely used in construction and engineering for their superior strength, durability, and sleek appearance. These hollow steel tubes offer excellent load-bearing capacity while being lightweight, making them ideal for frameworks, supports, and structural applications. Their uniform shape allows for easy welding and fabrication, providing architects and engineers with versatile design options. Modern manufacturing techniques have also improved corrosion resistance and finish quality.

[kruegercoldfinished]

Why Steel Square Bars Are Essential in Modern Construction Projects

In the ever-evolving world of construction, the materials used to build modern structures must meet increasingly demanding standards of strength, versatility, and efficiency. Among the wide range of metal products available to architects and engineers today, one component stands out for its exceptional balance of performance and practicality: the steel square bar.

The Backbone of Structural Integrity

At the heart of any successful construction project is a robust structural framework. Whether building high-rises, bridges, factories, or residential developments, stability is non-negotiable. Steel square bars, with their solid cross-sectional design and uniform shape, contribute significantly to structural integrity. Unlike hollow sections or tubes, their solid form resists bending, warping, and torsion under pressure—an essential quality for foundational frameworks and load-bearing applications.

Their clean, angular profile makes them particularly suitable for connections and joints where precision and flush fitting are critical. This reduces gaps, minimizes material waste, and increases overall load distribution across the structure. The result? Buildings that are safer, stronger, and longer-lasting.

Versatility in Application

One of the key reasons behind the growing use of square bars in modern construction is their incredible versatility. These bars are used across a variety of construction components—from base plates and brackets to handrails, gates, and ornamental structures. Their form makes them easy to machine, drill, cut, or weld, allowing contractors and designers greater flexibility during fabrication.

Beyond structural uses, square bars are also employed in architectural elements where aesthetics matter as much as function. Their sharp, clean edges provide a sleek, industrial look that blends seamlessly into contemporary design languages. Whether exposed or hidden within frameworks, their presence adds both form and function to the final build.

Durability That Withstands the Elements

In outdoor and industrial environments, materials are constantly exposed to harsh elements—rain, sun, chemicals, and temperature fluctuations. Steel square bars are favored not only for their strength but also for their durability in adverse conditions. When treated or coated appropriately (e.g., with galvanization or powder coating), these bars can resist corrosion and maintain performance for decades with minimal maintenance.

This longevity makes them a cost-effective solution over the long term. Structures built with reliable steel components experience fewer failures, require less frequent repairs, and maintain their integrity well into the future.

Streamlining the Construction Process

Another advantage of using steel square bars in construction lies in how they support faster and more efficient project execution. Due to their consistent dimensions and predictable properties, they integrate easily into prefabricated systems and modular construction techniques. This reduces the complexity of on-site fabrication, accelerates assembly times, and ultimately helps keep projects on schedule.

From a logistics standpoint, square bars are also easier to store, stack, and transport compared to irregularly shaped components. Their uniformity allows for better space management at construction sites and warehouses, which contributes to an overall more organized workflow.

Sustainability and Recycling Benefits

Sustainability is no longer a luxury in construction—it’s a mandate. Steel, by its nature, is one of the most recyclable materials on the planet. Steel square bars, once removed from older structures or surplus stock, can be melted down and reused without losing strength or quality. This aligns perfectly with modern green building practices and environmental certifications such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

Additionally, using high-quality steel components can reduce a building’s carbon footprint by extending its life span and minimizing the need for replacement materials over time.

Supporting Innovation in Design

With modern construction increasingly leaning toward innovative design—whether through irregular geometries, adaptive reuse, or hybrid structures—materials must be able to support creativity without compromising safety. Steel square bars offer the predictability and workability that engineers and architects require to push boundaries confidently.

From cantilevered designs to integrated solar panel frames, these steel components adapt readily to unconventional ideas, making them not just a standard material, but a driver of forward-thinking design.

The Krueger Advantage

When quality matters—and in construction, it always does—working with a trusted supplier is essential. Krueger, a leading name in precision metal solutions, provides premium-grade steel square bars engineered for the highest standards in construction and industrial applications. With state-of-the-art manufacturing processes and stringent quality controls, Krueger ensures that every steel bar delivers consistent performance, durability, and dimensional accuracy.

Whether you're sourcing for a large infrastructure project or a bespoke architectural installation, Krueger’s steel solutions are designed to meet the unique demands of your job, on time and to spec. Their commitment to innovation, sustainability, and customer service has made them a preferred partner for builders and fabricators across industries.

Conclusion

As construction projects become more complex and demanding, the materials used must rise to the challenge. Steel square bars, with their unmatched strength, versatility, and durability, have become an indispensable component in modern construction. From simplifying logistics to enabling architectural creativity, they embody the qualities needed to build the future. With suppliers like Krueger leading the way in precision steel products, the industry is better equipped than ever to meet the demands of tomorrow’s infrastructure.

[anucoolsteel]

How to Choose the Right Steel for Your Construction Project

In the construction industry, the choice of materials plays a vital role in ensuring any structure's strength, longevity, and safety. Steel, one of the most commonly used materials, must be selected carefully. Whether you're building residential towers, commercial spaces, or industrial facilities, choosing the right type of steel is crucial.

For companies operating in and around Pune including zones like Bhosari, Chakan, Rajgurunagar, Talegoan, Ranjangaon, Pirangut, Hadapsar, and Pimpri Chinchwad (PCMC)—understanding the essentials of steel selection can help optimise both performance and cost. As a leading stockist and supplier of steel, Anucool Industrial Aids Pvt. Ltd. helps you easily make informed decisions.

✅ 1. Understand the Requirements of Your Project

Every construction project has specific demands. A residential building requires different steel grades compared to a heavy industrial plant. The load-bearing needs, environmental exposure, and structural design influence the type of steel you should use.

Typical steel applications in construction:

TMT Bars – Ideal for reinforcement in concrete structures

MS Plates – Used in structural frameworks and base plates

Structural Steel Sections – Suitable for beams, columns, and supports

Hot Rolled & Cold Rolled Sheets – For roofing, panels, and aesthetic finishes

Anucool, one of the top steel suppliers in Pune, provides expert support in selecting the right material based on your structural drawings and usage plans.

✅ 2. Know the Steel Grades and Standards

Steel comes in various grades, each suited for specific applications. Indian construction standards typically require IS-marked products that comply with BIS norms.

Some commonly used grades include:

Fe 500 and Fe 550 TMT Bars for high tensile strength

IS 2062 E250 MS Plates for general fabrication

IS 4923/IS 1161 Structural Hollow Sections for architectural and load-bearing elements

Choosing the right grade ensures durability and compliance. Reputed steel dealers and traders like Anucool ensure you receive certified material with complete documentation.

✅ 3. Choose a Trusted Supplier for Quality Assurance

While steel might appear the same on the surface, its internal strength and manufacturing quality vary significantly. Hence, sourcing from a reliable steel stockist or provider ensures that safety and lifespan are not compromised.

What to look for in a supplier:

ISO-certified operations and product traceability

Availability of test certificates (TCs)

Timely deliveries and responsive service

Anucool Industrial Aids Pvt. Ltd. provides consistent quality and timely service to clients across Pune's industrial regions, from Chakan and Hadapsar to Ranjangaon and Pirangut.

✅ 4. Consider the Environmental and Structural Conditions

The steel used in coastal or high-humidity zones must be corrosion-resistant. Tensile strength and flexibility are critical in earthquake-prone or high-wind areas.

When choosing steel for your construction project, evaluate the following:

Weather and exposure to the elements

Load-bearing requirements

Soil conditions and seismic zone classification

Anucool assists clients in Rajgurunagar, Talegoan, and PCMC with selecting materials that match their regional environmental needs and engineering requirements.

✅ 5. Look for Value, Not Just Cost

While pricing is a significant consideration, low-cost steel can often result in higher long-term expenses due to quality issues or project delays. The best choice balances cost, quality, and service.

Anucool offers:

Competitive pricing with volume-based flexibility

Bulk supply options for contractors and builders

Custom cut-to-size services for efficiency and minimal wastage

With a wide range of steel products and service coverage throughout Pune and industrial suburbs, Anucool is the preferred steel retailer and dealer for many large-scale builders and contractors.

🏗️ Final Thoughts

Choosing the right steel isn't just about product selection—it's about finding the right partner who understands your project's needs. At Anucool Industrial Aids Pvt. Ltd., clients benefit from industry experience, material quality, and professional support.

Serving the construction community across Bhosari, Chakan, Talegoan, Hadapsar, and Pimpri Chinchwad, Anucool has earned its place as a top steel supplier in Pune, trusted by builders, architects, and engineers alike.

🔗 Explore a wide range of steel products now at: https://anucool.co.in

📞 Get in touch for expert guidance and bulk supply support.

[absolute-rotary-encoders]

Understanding the Role of Hollow Shaft Rotary Encoders in Modern Robotics

Introduction to Rotary Encoders in Robotics

Rotary encoders are fundamental components in robotic systems, serving as critical feedback devices that measure the rotation, position, and direction of motor shafts. These sensors translate mechanical motion into electrical signals, which control systems then interpret to ensure precise movement. Among the various types of rotary encoders, hollow shaft rotary encoders have emerged as a key player due to their compact design, ease of integration, and high reliability. As robotics continues to permeate sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and consumer electronics, understanding the specific contributions of hollow shaft rotary encoders becomes vital. Their importance lies not only in their functional capabilities but also in how they influence design flexibility and performance optimization in robotic applications. By integrating seamlessly into existing architectures, these encoders reduce mechanical complexity while improving feedback accuracy. This comprehensive examination will explore how these components are revolutionizing modern robotics, from their design advantages to their roles in various robotic subsystems.

Evolution of Rotary Encoders and Robotic Needs

The development of rotary encoders parallels the evolution of robotics itself. Early robotic systems relied on open-loop controls, often leading to inaccuracies and inefficiencies. As the demand for precision and repeatability grew, rotary encoders became indispensable. Initially, these sensors were bulky and susceptible to environmental interference. Over time, however, innovations in materials, signal processing, and miniaturization led to more robust and compact designs. Hollow shaft rotary encoders, in particular, emerged as a response to the need for space-saving yet highly accurate feedback devices. Robotics has evolved from simple pick-and-place machines to complex, autonomous entities requiring precise coordination across multiple axes. This shift necessitated encoders capable of delivering consistent, high-resolution feedback without contributing to design bulk. In mobile robots, surgical devices, and industrial arms, space is a premium commodity. Hollow shaft encoders allow engineers to route cables or mechanical shafts through the encoder's center, optimizing spatial configuration and reducing wear on moving parts. This evolution marks a significant turning point in the interplay between sensor technology and robotic capability.

Anatomy of a Hollow Shaft Rotary Encoder

At its core, a hollow shaft rotary encoder consists of a rotor, stator, and signal processing circuitry housed in a compact unit. What distinguishes it from other encoder types is the central hollow section through which a shaft or cabling can pass. This seemingly simple design offers substantial advantages. The rotor attaches directly to the rotating shaft, while the stator remains fixed to the structure. As the shaft turns, the encoder senses the angular displacement and transmits corresponding electrical signals. These signals may be digital or analog, depending on the encoder type and application. Typically, hollow shaft encoders utilize optical, magnetic, or capacitive technologies to detect movement. Optical encoders, for instance, use a light source and a photo-detector array to interpret interruptions in a coded disc. This method provides high-resolution data, essential for robotic operations requiring micrometer-level precision. Additionally, many hollow shaft encoders incorporate features like integrated bearings, multi-turn tracking, and error correction protocols, ensuring they maintain accuracy even under high-speed or high-vibration conditions.

Integration in Robotic Joint Systems

One of the primary applications of hollow shaft rotary encoders in robotics is within joint systems. Whether in humanoid robots or articulated industrial arms, joint movement must be monitored and controlled with utmost precision. Hollow shaft encoders facilitate this by being mounted directly onto the joint actuators, enabling real-time position feedback. Their hollow design allows power and data cables to pass through the joint axis, reducing external cabling and potential points of failure. This configuration not only enhances the mechanical efficiency of the joint but also simplifies maintenance and design. In collaborative robots, or cobots, where safety and fluid motion are paramount, these encoders help ensure smooth articulation and responsive behavior. They support closed-loop control systems that adjust motor output dynamically based on encoder feedback. This loop is crucial for tasks like pick-and-place operations, precision welding, or surgical manipulations, where even millimeter-level deviations can compromise functionality or safety. By offering a balance of compactness, accuracy, and reliability, hollow shaft rotary encoders are central to robotic articulation systems.

Enhancing Mobility in Autonomous Robots

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) require robust sensory systems to navigate complex environments accurately. Hollow shaft rotary encoders play an essential role in this context by providing reliable feedback on wheel or track rotation. Unlike incremental encoders that only track changes in position, absolute feedback systems offer the advantage of positional memory. This becomes crucial in navigation, where knowing the robot's exact orientation at any given time determines path planning and obstacle avoidance efficacy. In differential drive systems, for instance, encoders mounted on each wheel shaft measure relative speeds and directions, allowing for accurate steering and speed control. The compact nature of hollow shaft encoders is especially beneficial in mobile platforms, where every millimeter of space impacts battery size, payload capacity, or sensor load. Their integration also enhances durability since fewer external mechanical parts mean less exposure to dust, moisture, or mechanical wear. This synergy of design efficiency and functional robustness makes hollow shaft encoders indispensable in robotic mobility subsystems.

Role in Precision Tasks and Fine Manipulation

Modern robotics increasingly involves tasks requiring fine motor control, such as electronic assembly, 3D printing, and medical interventions. In these scenarios, the encoder’s resolution and responsiveness directly impact task accuracy. Hollow shaft rotary encoders contribute significantly by enabling micro-adjustments based on real-time positional data. In robotic arms used for electronic manufacturing, for instance, components must be placed with sub-millimeter accuracy. The encoder's feedback ensures that the tool tip follows the programmed path without deviation. Similarly, in 3D printing, layer consistency and nozzle positioning depend heavily on precise rotary feedback. Medical robotics, particularly in minimally invasive surgery, represents another frontier where precision is non-negotiable. Here, hollow shaft encoders are used in tool actuation systems, allowing surgeons to perform complex procedures remotely with high confidence in the robot's positional accuracy. The encoders’ inherent design also aids in sterilization and integration within tight surgical tool assemblies. Thus, their role extends from mechanical feedback to enabling new capabilities in high-precision robotic tasks.

Environmental Robustness and Industrial Viability

Robotic systems often operate in harsh environments—factories, outdoor settings, or hazardous locations. Devices integrated into such systems must exhibit resilience to temperature fluctuations, vibrations, dust, and moisture. Hollow shaft rotary encoders are increasingly engineered with these challenges in mind. Manufacturers offer variants with IP-rated enclosures, corrosion-resistant materials, and sealed optical systems. This robustness allows them to function reliably in automotive assembly lines, mining robots, or agricultural drones. In temperature-controlled warehouse automation, for example, encoders must perform consistently despite frequent exposure to cold or variable humidity levels. The absence of exposed cables and the encoder’s enclosed design minimize contamination risks and mechanical wear. These features contribute to lower maintenance demands and longer operational lifespans, which are critical in high-throughput industrial settings. Moreover, their compatibility with various communication protocols—such as EtherCAT, CANopen, and SSI—ensures that they can be integrated into diverse control architectures without extensive modification. This adaptability further cements their place in modern industrial robotics.

Supporting Safety and Redundancy Mechanisms

Safety is a fundamental concern in robotics, particularly in collaborative or human-facing environments. Encoders play a vital role in ensuring operational safety by providing accurate position feedback for motion verification and error detection. Hollow shaft rotary encoders are especially suited for redundant systems, where multiple sensors verify each other's outputs. This redundancy ensures that if one sensor fails, the system can continue operating safely or shut down in a controlled manner. In safety-rated robotic arms, encoders are often employed in tandem with other sensors to monitor limits and ensure compliance with predefined safety envelopes. Their high resolution and low latency make them ideal for such critical feedback loops. Additionally, their compact form factor allows for integration into secondary safety circuits without adding bulk. The feedback from these encoders also enables soft-limit programming, which prevents actuators from moving beyond safe zones. In service robots or exoskeletons, where human safety is paramount, this encoder-driven feedback becomes essential for real-time decision-making and reactive control.

Future Outlook: Smart Integration and Predictive Maintenance

As robotics evolves towards greater autonomy and intelligence, the role of feedback devices like hollow shaft rotary encoders is also transforming. Modern encoders are increasingly being equipped with smart features such as self-diagnostics, condition monitoring, and real-time data streaming. These capabilities feed into predictive maintenance systems, helping operators detect wear or misalignment before it causes failure. For example, by monitoring signal consistency or rotational anomalies, the encoder can alert the system to potential mechanical issues. This proactive approach reduces downtime and extends the life of robotic assets. Furthermore, as artificial intelligence becomes integral to robotics, encoder data can be used to train machine learning models for movement optimization and adaptive control. Smart encoders also support advanced communication standards that facilitate seamless integration into IoT-enabled infrastructures. This trend indicates a shift from passive sensing to active data contribution, where encoders not only report motion but also enhance system intelligence. Such evolution positions hollow shaft rotary encoders as foundational components in next-generation robotic ecosystems.

Precision Engineering Meets Practical Application

The intersection of precision engineering and practical robotic application is where hollow shaft rotary encoders demonstrate their full potential. As manufacturing tolerances tighten and robotic roles diversify, the demand for encoders that can deliver high-resolution feedback in compact, rugged packages continues to grow. These devices are not only vital for motion tracking but also contribute to reducing system complexity, enhancing safety, and enabling adaptive control. Their utility spans industries and use-cases, from autonomous warehouse robots to robotic-assisted surgery. As designers push the boundaries of what robots can achieve, they increasingly turn to encoders that offer a balance of size, accuracy, and integration flexibility. Among these, the hollow shaft rotary encoder stands out for its ability to combine mechanical elegance with technical performance. Its role in facilitating the compact, precise, and reliable movement is central to the continued advancement of robotics.

Enhancing Control Through Advanced Feedback Systems

In many robotic systems, especially those with complex kinematics, advanced feedback is necessary to synchronize multiple actuators. Here, the absolute rotary encoder proves instrumental. By providing unique position values that do not require recalibration after power loss, these encoders enhance system reliability and responsiveness. This becomes particularly valuable in automated systems that must resume operation immediately after interruptions. Their use simplifies control algorithms and reduces computational overhead, which in turn allows for more fluid and responsive robotic behavior. From industrial automation lines to mobile robotic platforms, absolute encoders bring consistency and predictability, even under dynamic load changes or complex trajectories. When integrated with real-time control loops, they enable smoother transitions, better torque management, and reduced mechanical stress. These benefits contribute to more agile and longer-lasting robotic systems.

Meeting Modern Demands with Cutting-Edge Solutions

The robotic landscape is shifting rapidly, driven by needs for flexibility, scalability, and intelligence. In this context, the absolute position encoder emerges as a critical component, especially in scenarios where exact positioning is non-negotiable. Whether it’s aligning robotic cameras, controlling prosthetic limbs, or managing the angular position of robotic grippers, these encoders deliver the granularity required for high-precision tasks. They also facilitate seamless feedback for AI-driven decisions, particularly in adaptive robotics that interact with unpredictable environments. The encoder's ability to provide exact position data without drift ensures consistent performance across repetitive tasks. In emerging sectors like robotics-as-a-service or modular robotics, where plug-and-play compatibility is essential, these encoders ensure that new modules or replacements can integrate smoothly and function reliably. As expectations for precision, speed, and autonomy grow, so too does the importance of dependable, high-performance feedback systems like the absolute position encoder.

[marklocators]

Why Concrete Scanning Is Non-Negotiable for Modern Construction Projects

Construction projects, whether small residential builds or large-scale commercial developments, start with one fundamental requirement: knowledge. Knowing what lies beneath the surface is essential to ensuring safety, avoiding unnecessary costs, and preventing schedule delays. One of the most critical tools in the builder’s toolkit today is concrete scanning—a non-invasive method that reveals the unseen elements hidden within and beneath concrete slabs.

At On The Mark Locators, we’ve seen first-hand how this process helps prevent disasters and ensures a smooth construction journey. This blog dives into the importance of concrete scanning and why no construction site should proceed without it.

What Is Concrete Scanning? Understanding the Basics

Concrete scanning is the process of using specialized equipment—most commonly Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)—to detect embedded objects within concrete structures before cutting, coring, or drilling. It’s like giving your slab a high-resolution X-ray.

How It Works:

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) emits electromagnetic waves into the concrete.

When these waves hit embedded materials (like rebar, conduits, or post-tension cables), they bounce back to a receiver.

The resulting data is interpreted to map the location and depth of these hidden elements.

Applications of Concrete Scanning:

Before coring or drilling for HVAC, plumbing, or electrical systems

Renovation and remodeling projects

Structural assessments and retrofits

Installation of heavy equipment or anchors

Why Skipping Concrete Scanning Can Be a Costly Mistake

Imagine drilling into a slab and hitting a live electrical conduit or severing a post-tension cable. These accidents don’t just cause physical damage—they can be life-threatening and legally compromising.

Here’s what’s at stake if you skip scanning:

Safety Risks:

Damaging live electrical conduits can lead to electrocution or fire.

Cutting post-tension cables can cause violent recoil, risking injury or death.

Breaching water pipes or gas lines can create hazardous environments.

Costly Repairs:

Emergency repairs often cost more than preventative scans.

Replacing damaged structural elements can delay projects for weeks.

Liability for injuries can run into millions in insurance claims or lawsuits.

Project Delays:

Hitting unknown objects leads to stop-work orders.

Redesigns and repairs extend timelines and drain budgets.

Construction may be halted while permits or inspections are reissued.

At On The Mark Locators, we’ve helped clients avoid all these issues by scanning before a single hole is drilled.

What Can Be Detected with Concrete Scanning Technology?

Concrete might look solid and uniform, but it often hides a complex network of components. Here’s what concrete scanning can identify:

Rebar and Reinforcement Mesh:

Essential for structural integrity

Knowing rebar layout helps avoid weakening the structure during cutting

Post-Tension Cables:

High-tension cables used in commercial slabs

Severing one is dangerous and extremely costly

Electrical Conduits and Pipes:

Avoid live wires and underground utilities

Prevent water or gas leaks and electrical hazards

Voids and Anomalies:

Detect honeycombing, hollow sections, or delaminations in the concrete

Fiber Optics and Telecom Lines:

Critical for commercial buildings with IT infrastructure

These insights allow contractors, engineers, and site managers to work with confidence and accuracy.

How Concrete Scanning Enhances Project Efficiency and Compliance

Beyond safety and damage prevention, concrete scanning brings measurable benefits to construction efficiency and legal compliance.

Speed Up Decision-Making:

Quick, accurate scans help teams decide where and how to drill

Eliminates guesswork and speeds up pre-construction assessments

Ensure Compliance with Codes and Regulations:

Many building codes require verification of embedded objects

OSHA regulations support non-destructive testing methods for safety

Scans provide documented proof of due diligence

Reduce Insurance Premiums and Legal Exposure:

Insurance companies favor risk mitigation through scanning

Legal claims are easier to defend when scans were conducted

Improve Site Coordination:

Scanning results can be shared across teams (engineers, electricians, contractors)

Avoid overlapping tasks or conflicting installations

In short, concrete scanning improves productivity and helps you deliver results faster and with greater peace of mind.

Why You Should Trust Professionals Like On The Mark Locators

When it comes to scanning, experience matters. At On The Mark Locators, we specialize in providing fast, accurate, and comprehensive concrete scanning services tailored to each project’s needs.

What Sets Us Apart:

 Certified and Trained Technicians:

Our experts are trained to read radar data correctly, minimizing false positives or missed targets.

 Advanced GPR Technology:

We invest in the latest scanning equipment to ensure the highest resolution and reliability.

 Detailed Reporting:

We don’t just scan—we deliver clear maps and data so you can make informed decisions.

 Customer-Centric Approach:

We understand that every project is unique. That’s why we offer customized scanning solutions for:

General contractors

Electricians

Engineers

Plumbers

Facility managers

Our mission is to provide accurate insights before disruption occurs, saving you time, money, and headaches.

Conclusion

What you don’t know can hurt you. That’s why concrete scanning is more than just a precaution—it’s an essential step for modern projects. Whether you’re installing new systems, remodeling a structure, or laying out a foundation, scanning ensures you know exactly what lies beneath.

At On The Mark Locators, we believe in building with confidence. Our scanning services deliver the information you need to work smart, stay safe, and avoid setbacks.

Contact Us:

Address - 1080 S Chapel St. Suite 201 Newark, DE 19702

Email - info@onthemarklocators.com

Phone - 888-272-6065

Website - On The Mark Locators

Blog - Why Concrete Scanning Is Non-Negotiable for Modern Construction Projects

[manufacturing-hub]

MS Square Pipe Dimensions, Weight & Application Guide

Introduction

Mild Steel (MS) square pipes are highly valued for their uniform shape, strength, and adaptability across a variety of industries. Whether you're in construction, fabrication, or machinery design, understanding MS square pipe dimensions, weight, and usage is critical for cost planning and engineering precision.

In this post, Udhhyog, a leading MS pipe supplier, provides a practical guide to MS square pipe specifications, standard weights, and industrial applications in India for 2025.

What is MS Square Pipe?

An MS Square Pipe is a hollow structural section (HSS) made from mild steel, shaped in a square cross-section. These pipes are known for:

Uniform thickness and strength on all four sides

Clean, aesthetic lines for architectural uses

Easy welding and machining

Availability in custom lengths and sizes

Standard MS Square Pipe Dimensions (mm)

Here’s a list of common square pipe sizes available in India:Width x Width (mm)Thickness (mm)Length (Standard)20 x 201.2 – 2.06 – 7 meters25 x 251.2 – 2.56 – 7 meters40 x 401.6 – 3.06 – 7 meters50 x 502.0 – 4.06 – 7 meters75 x 752.5 – 5.06 – 7 meters100 x 1003.0 – 6.06 – 7 meters

📏 Custom sizes can be cut or ordered in bulk from Udhhyog.

MS Square Pipe Weight Chart (per meter)

Size (mm)Thickness (mm)Approx. Weight (kg/m)25 x 251.20.8840 x 402.02.3750 x 502.53.6175 x 753.06.67100 x 1004.010.70

Formula used for approximate weight: Weight = 0.0000785 × (A + B – 2T) × T × Length (in mm)

📊 Always consult with your supplier for actual weight tolerance.

Top Applications of MS Square Pipe

MS Square Pipes are versatile and are used in various sectors. Here's a breakdown of their common applications:

🏗 1. Construction & Infrastructure

Used in columns, roofing structures, and load-bearing frames

Preferred for neat finishing and structural symmetry

🛋 2. Furniture Manufacturing

Perfect for steel chairs, tables, racks, and industrial office furniture

Sleek square profile offers modern design appeal

🚪 3. Gates & Railings

Used in decorative gates, safety railings, and grill frames

Easy to fabricate and powder coat

🏢 4. Modular Structures

Utilized in prefabricated warehouses, industrial sheds, kiosks, and cabins

Provides lightweight yet solid support

🔩 5. Machinery & Engineering

Used as base structures for machines and conveyors

Supports structural loads in moving parts

🌾 6. Agricultural Frames

Supports greenhouse structures, fencing, and irrigation frameworks

Long life in coated format

MS Square Pipe Price in India (2025 Estimate)

Size (mm)Thickness (mm)Price per Kg (₹)Price per Meter (₹)25 x 251.5₹60 – ₹65₹55 – ₹7540 x 402.0₹62 – ₹70₹90 – ₹11050 x 502.5₹65 – ₹72₹120 – ₹150100 x 1004.0₹68 – ₹75₹180 – ₹220

📞 Contact Udhhyog for bulk pricing or direct delivery options.

Why Choose MS Square Pipes from Udhhyog?

Udhhyog provides ISI-certified MS square pipes with quality assurance, perfect sizing, and fast dispatch across India. We cater to:

Builders & architects

Fabricators & furniture makers

Warehouse & industrial setups

With custom thickness, surface finish, and cutting services, Udhhyog is the preferred supplier for thousands of clients nationwide.

FAQs

❓ What is the standard length of MS square pipes?

Usually 6 or 7 meters. Custom cutting is available.

❓ Are MS square pipes rustproof?

They are not naturally rustproof but can be galvanized or coated for protection.

❓ Can square pipes be used for heavy loads?

Yes, especially if you choose higher thickness like 3mm and above.

❓ Is MS square pipe better than round pipe for structures?

Square pipes offer better corner support and aesthetics in frame-based structures.