#like yeah. maybe you should've looked at the data. like at all

[tevatron]

i'm so glad i won't be working with my pi after this month. i think i've reached my limit. i just can't deal with her anymore

[lulunothulu]

“Jealousy, jealousy”

Tyler Owens x Fem!Reader

Summary: Tyler has tried everything to impress you, yet you're still uninterested...at least he thought you weren't until your jealousy gets the best of you, making you cry.

Content: careless (kinda only bc he’s trying to get your attention) Tyler, jealous!Reader, FLUFF

GIF credit to @austinbutlermischief I’m so sorry I couldn’t remember who I found this from 😭

Tyler had made it his mission to make you laugh and fall for him.

He’d tried everything.

He took you on a chase, fireworks and all. Nothing.

He’d tried falling over in front of you, and while it warranted a smirk…still nothing.

Tyler was up to his wits end and his ideas were dwindling.

“Why are you trying so hard?” Kate, your colleague and best friend asks him one night.

Tyler was sitting on the other side of a busy parking lot, watching as you and Javi laughed at something Boone had just said.

“I just want her to laugh, to smile really, at me.” He tells her. “I really like her and I just…I feel like she hates me.”

Kate only nods, lips tight.

If only Tyler knew.

You were obsessed with him. Obsessed might’ve been a strong word, but the feeling was mutual. You wanted to tell him how you felt but because you thought he had a thing for Kate, you never did anything to reveal your true feelings.

———

From across the parking lot, you half listen to Javi as he goes on about some tornado data from today. The only thing you can focus on is Tyler and Kate, sitting on the other side and talking.

Tyler looks like he’s having a great time talking to Kate, small smile and leaning back in a chair. He crosses his arms behind his head, biceps bulging under the sleeves of his flannel.

You frown, what could they be talking about?

———

“Is she looking?” Tyler asks Kate. They’d planned on making you so jealous, you had to come over and talk to him.

Kate glances around, making it look like she’s looking around the parking lot and stopping on you. Your face was twisted in what she knew was jealousy—but to others was a thinking face.

She turns back to Tyler, a wide smile on her face. “Oooh yeah, big time.”

“What should I do now?” He asks.

“I’m gonna squeeze your bicep and you’re just gonna smile at me. That’ll get her on her feet,” she tells him, knowing exactly where to strike in order to get your full attention.

She knew you’d been a fan of said arms, veiny and muscular. She knew this would work.

Tyler lowered his arms, bending them as he placed them on his knees. He didn't like using your best friend to get to you, but he had to do what he could in order to get you to react.

Reckless? Maybe, but he was willing to do whatever it took.

Kate's smile as she touched his bicep and squeezed made his stomach turn. That should've been you touching him.

He turns his gaze to where you were sitting and to his surprise, you were standing up.

"This is it, Kate," he tells her. "I think she's coming over."

But as soon as you wave goodbye to Boone, rest of the Tornado Wranglers, and Javi, you speed walk toward the stairs that lead to your motel room.

Tyler's heart drops straight into his ass when he sees you wipe at your cheeks. He'd hurt you.

"Fuck," he mutters.

Kate removes her hand from his bicep and turns in the direction of his gaze. She sucks in a breath and begins to stand. "I should go talk to her."

"No," Tyler says, standing and stopping her by grabbing her arm. "I'll go. I need to make it right and just straight up tell her how I feel."

Tyler turns in the direction of the stairs, walking a few feet before turning back to Kate.

"What room-"

"204," she responds with a smirk. "Go get her, lover boy."

Tyler smiles to himself as he jogs to the stairs, taking two at a time and trying to think of what he should say.

"Y/N, I didn't mean to..." He starts as he walks to your room. "I'm sorry I.... No..."

Finally, 204.

Tyler takes a deep breath before knocking on your door. He hears shuffling and sniffling before hearing your sweet voice asks, "Who is it?"

"It's Tyler," he responds. He can feel his heart breaking at how small and defeated your voice sounds, small and slightly gravelly from crying.

It was his fault you were crying. If he could kick his own ass he would.

When you open the door, your eyes are rimmed red, tear stains running down your cheeks. He watches as your eyes harden on him, lips in a tight line.

"What do you want?" you ask harshly.

———

You didn't mean to cry. Must've been Kate touching Tyler and a mix of you about to start your period that did it. Either way, you were crying over a man that obviously had feelings for your best friend.

So when you heard a knock coming from your motel door, you were expecting Kate, Javi, or literally anyone else.

You did not expect Tyler, face stricken in sadness, to be standing there.

"What do you want?" you asked harshly. Maybe a bit too harshly because he too looked like he wanted to cry.

"I just wanted to check if you were doing okay," he tells you, deep and southern voice velvety soft. "I saw you wiping your eyes on your way up here."

You were stunned, heart pounding in your chest. Tyler noticed you leaving?

"You saw that?" you ask.

"I did," he tells you with a nod and small but reassuring smile. "I notice everything about you."

"Hmm," you hum.

"Anyway," he continues. "I just wanted to see that you were alright...so, are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Alright?"

The look on his face was expectant. It's like he wanted you to be fine. Why?

Instead of asking, you nod. "Yeah, just hormonal I guess."

Tyler's ears redden at that before he clears his throat.

"I can get you some stuff. Do you want something?" he asks. "Anything at all."

"Anything?" you ask, brow raised and smirk forming on your lips.

"Name it and it's yours," he responds, his signature cocky grin appearing.

I'd like you. "I could go for some pizza."

Tyler smiles at you and you have to fight not to smile back, even though that’s all you wanna do right now.

"I'll be right back," Tyler says, starting to walk away. He walks back to ask, "Any particular toppings?"

You shake your head, another snack popping into your mind. "Can I also get some Twizzlers?"

Tyler turns to walk backwards and say, "Of course, Darlin'."

You quickly close the door, feeling the blush creep up your neck. Holy shit, he's gonna be the death of me.

———

Tyler was gone no more than ten minutes and you could tell he ran to get you the pizza and Twizzlers.

He was a panting mess by the time he knocked on your door again.

“I got the stuff you requested, Darlin’,” he drawls, attempting to catch his breath.

“Thank you,” you say, a small smirk appearing on your lips.

He stands there, waiting for you to say something else, but instead, you just smile sweetly at him.

Tyler’s mind was racing, you were actually smiling at him.

“Okay well,” you start, still smiling. “Bye.”

Before he could react, you close the door on him. His face confused and almost…heartbroken.

You walk to your bed, opening the box of pizza and sighing at the first bite.

That’s when you see the small note he’d taped inside.

I’m sorry if I made you cry. Forgive me?

You carefully rip the note off and close the box. Padding back to the door, you open it, fully expecting to run after Tyler.

Only…he never left.

There he was, standing at your door, puppy dog eyes trained on you.

“You never left,” you point out.

“I couldn’t leave without telling you something,” he starts.

“Tyler—”

“Y/N, just listen,” he interrupts. “I’ve been trying to get your attention, hell even just a smile, from you for the past few weeks. What you saw out there,” he points to the parking lot. “Was me trying the last thing I thought would grab your attention. I never meant to make you cry.”

Tyler shakes his head, rubbing his chin. “I just wanted you to react. Kate said that that would be the best way to get your attention and I just went along with it. Don’t blame her, if anything blame me. I feel so ter-”

You stop him, pressing your hand on his lips. Stepping closer to him and wrapping your arms around his neck.

You didn’t know what you were doing until it was too late.

You kiss his cheek, his scruff prickling your lips.

“Do you want to come inside for some pizza?” You ask. “This really hot pizza man just brought it so it’s still warm.”

Tyler breaks into a smile at you calling him hot.

“Of course.”

Next part

A/N: this was kinda bad BUT I really like this idea so I’m sorry lol 🥹

[deeptrashwitch]

Interview with Profesor Moore (2018)

*Charles is sat behind his desk, waiting for the interviewer to start, trying to get into his "public" persona. Soon the director calls "action!" and everything starts*

Interviewer: Welcome to our segment, today we're here with the renowned internacionalist and professor of Mercy University, Charles Moore *looks at Charles* thank you for accepting this interview, Professor

Charles: It's fine, I'm glad to be here, sweetheart *smiles*

Interviewer: Your books are certanly a thing every respected internacionalist should read, don't you think? Even people outside your field use them as examples

Charles: I'm...proud of it, indeed, I've sacrificed a lot to write them

Interviewer: And today is the 27th anniversary of your book "Red vs Stripes: An identity conflict", isn't it?

Charles: Yes it is, almost thirty years since I first wrote the manuscript in, what in that time was, West Berlin *sighs* how quick the time passes, it feels like that time was just yesterday

Interviewer: Such a long time! There's something you especially remember during your time on West Berlin?

Charles: Many things, mostly how difficult it was to get some trustful and real information. That, of course, without putting the danger of being called an spy by the other side

Interviewer: Then how did you write the book with such corrrect data?

Charles: I met through the years some people that helped me, it was risky, obviously

Interviewer: Friends?

Charles: Most of them no, we were just colleagues and nothing more. We clashed for so many things that it was impossible to get along, we barely tolerated each other *chuckles* I clashed a lot with a man that was...his own kind of person, short-tempered I must say, but capable in a different way than me

Interviewer: He sounds like a rival

Charles: Rival? Oh dear, no *laughs* we hated each other, its just that after so many years I've thought about that days and kinda respect him a bit more

Interviewer: There was someone that you consider a friend?

Charles: Maybe two people, but I'm not sure

Interviewer: How come?

Charles: There was this girl, intelligent, brave and sly, which was very important during those years *smiles slightly* we didn't get along completely, mostly because of me. I was quite the bitter asshole during that time

Interviewer: I can't imagine you like that *giggles*

Charles: Yeah well, there was another man with who I got along pretty well. Quiet, cold maybe, also really intelligent, distrustful of every person around him...like he should've been. Ironically, he was the closest one whom I could call a friend

Interviewer: Maybe can we know their name?

Charles: Unfortunately no, that should stay as a mystery

Interviewer: Oh, what a shame

Charles: It is a ashame, we lost contact after I came back to the US. But the memories are ones I hold dearly

Interviewer: That's adorable, professor

*After the interview*

Park: What a liar you are, Moore *from the door* you? Holding memories dearly? What a joke

Charles: *sighs* Park, what the fuck do you want? I told you all those years ago that I have no shit to do with you or people like you. Are you fucking deaf?

Park: Just wanted to make sure that you didn't say anything you shouldn't *scoffs* but with all the shit you spew, I have nothing to worry about. You fucking hypocrite

Charles: *looking how Park walked away* ...Unlike you, I still a human, maybe a bastard, but human. Goddamned emotionless bitch

*Charles opens a hidden drawer on his desk, where his old notebook, a bullet cap and a picture awaited. He took the picture, smiling slightly when he saw and remembered that time. It was a time when he was fighting with Koa (@islandtarochips OC) while Mason stopped the Captain, as Aleks (@alypink OC) tried to stop him and Bell/Vasili (@welldonekhushi OC) was just watching everything from the background with a smile...and was Hudson who took the photo*

Charles: ...I should've smacked Nakiu with the chair *scoffs with a side smile*

[redrawthecolorlessworld]

First Meet (idfk)

welp! since @starry-dream-moonlight flipped the coin and it landed on heads and I'M heads, i might as well write this~

aliza and i were talking about how aliza (the character not the person) and alex would meet, considering that they're both leaders of their respective groups and all of that. might write him meeting togo next eventually hehe

needless to say, this man is CLEARLY NOT ANTI-SOCIAL. he just. Struggles.

———

The girl standing before him is unfamiliar to Alex Vignetta.

But then again, he should've seen this coming—the whole "sister introduces her friend to you" thing, that is.

"Alrighty! Alex, this is Aliza Saphree. Aliza, this is Alex Vignetta~" Arthesia said in a cheery tone. It made Alex almost feel like his ears were bleeding. He's not really the type to like meeting new people, and now his sister is introducing her friend out of completely nowhere while the friend in question's group is visiting the Void Between Universes.

"Oh. Yeah. Hi, I'm Alex. Arthesia's brother. Also the leader of the Reality Haxxors." Alex forces out, feeling a bead of sweat rolling down his face. It's not like he didn't like Aliza or anything, he just doesn't like talking to other people too much. He's more of an...anti-social than an introvert.

That's in his opinion, though. Arthesia and maybe even Tyler would have different opinions on what he is.

"Uh, hi! I'm Aliza. Aliza Saphree. Leader of the Moonflower Gang. It's nice to meet you!" Aliza said, sounding happy enough to meet Alex, which is odd to him, but then again, it's not everyday your best friend has a sibling they can introduce you to. Alex simply nodded. "Mhm. Likewise." He says, and yet he feels the complete opposite.

Talking to other people is just...not his thing.

"Well then! Since you both are leaders of your respective groups, why not start a good 'ol conversation?" Arthesia offered, and Alex looked at her as if she just offered to kill an entire nation in some universe. "Ugh, Thesia, no. I have important things to do right now. I can't- I don't have time to hold up a conversation right now." He angrily said to his sister, before quickly adding, "Why are you sounding as if you're trying to get me and her together, by the way??"

To that, Aliza looked at Arthesia in confusion. With her brother and her best friend's gaze lingering on her, the girl in pink could only feel taken aback by Alex's question. Quickly, she mimicks the sound of throwing up. "What the fuck?! No, I'm not trying to get you both together in a romantic sense! First of all, you're an adult and she's still a minor. Second of all, I just wanted you to at the very least be friendly with someone!" She defends herself.

Alex raises an eyebrow at her, while Aliza simply chuckles nervously. "Ahaha, no, no, it's fine, Alex. She doesn't have any ill intentions. I just know it." She reassures the man in blue, who only groans in annoyance. Arthesia then quickly whispers something into Alex's ear—something that the Moonflower Gang leader can obviously not hear.

Aliza watched as Alex's face expression changed from one of annoyance to one of fear, which made her even more concerned as to what Arthesia is whispering into his ear. However, soon after, she then pulls away from him, a rather innocent looking smile on her face as she turned to look at Aliza.

"What...Thesia...what did you whispered to him...?" Aliza asked, concern present in her voice. Arthesia chuckled, before placing a hand on her hip as she answered; "Just told him that if he doesn't act friendly towards you, I'll delete his entire existence with my Vignetta Data Bank." That answer alone made Aliza sigh. "Thesia..."

"Oh well, you both have a nice conversation, alright? Bye for now, I'm gonna go talk to the rest of your friends, Liza." And with that, Arthesia left. Alex groaned, before looking at Aliza with a rather apologetic look on his face—something that is very rare coming from him of all people. "Sorry about my sister. She's...like that sometimes." He apologizes, before quickly mumbling to himself, "And it's annoying." "Haha, it's fine, really. I'm already used to her shenanigans, anyways." Aliza replied, and to that, Alex simply nodded.

After that, awkward silence.

Alex knew this would happen. After all—once again—he's a complete anti-social who can only really get along with people online. But that's fine. He's fine. All he has to do is start up a conversation. Or else Arthesia will probably kick his ass at best or kill him at worst.

But I mean, it's not like she'll consider the second option.

"...Uh...so." Alex started, and that caught Aliza's attention almost immediately. To that, Alex flinched a bit. He genuinely can't do this. But he has to. He needs to. "...What's your group like?" He slowly asks. His heart is practically racing at this rate, and not because he's attracted to this random girl he just met minutes ago, but because he feels like he'll die any second now if he even dares to hold up a conversation.

"Oh, it's...how should I describe it..." Aliza thinks for a bit, before finally coming up with the right word to describe her group. "...Chaotic as heck. Hehe." She finishes, and after hearing that answer, Alex simply chuckles a little bit. "Hah, the Reality Haxxors are filled with a bunch of idiots too. The most idiotic one of them all is Yuta. God, I don't even know why the God of Universes decided to make him one of us."

"Haha, really? What has he done to the point where you think he's the most idiotic one??" Aliza asked, complete intrigued at this rate. It's a miracle that Alex hasn't fumbled at all yet.

And so, a conversation was made, with the two leaders talking about the members of their respective groups.

Needless to say, Arthesia would be happy about this.

[gossipgirloff1]

okay why are you all hating on lando when he and oscar were put into that situation from mclaren?? like it could've all been avoided if the team did their job, so they're the ones to blame, not the drivers. they tainted oscar's rightfully deserved first win, and it was a difficult situation for both drivers that didn't have to happen.

mclaren said they boxed lando to "prevent the lewis + others threat" but if you looked at the times, everyone else was nowhere near during both lando's and oscar's pits. however, mclaren, knowing that lando would come in front. they knew that they'd have to swap positions again when they did that. but they still pitted lando. so when he and oscar came out, lando was leading. this is horrid strategy. mclaren time and time again prove they don't have the mentality to win world championships and that they can't make rational strategy decisions under pressure. they are a reactive team, not proactive, and they'll never win like this.

lando then starts to pull away, but it's not the total villain move everyone is making it seem like. yes, he was trying to prove a point, but when they did switch, they'd be far away from the others in case something else happened. it doesn't seem like lando is going to give up the spot, but why would he? the team carried out the strategy knowing he would come out in front.

so then mclaren resorts to the emotional blackmail and threats to get lando to fix their own mistake. they tell him lies about his tyres to try and gaslight him into slowing down. when lando points out that they should've just pitted oscar, they tell him that it doesn't matter. straight up. and then lando responds with, "i mean, it does. for me maybe." like the fucking audacity mclaren have to pretend like they didn't mess up is laughable. then will pulls out the one that triggers me. he says, "i'm trying to protect you." over and over to lando. that's manipulative. and mclaren basically threaten lando that if he doesn't do this, he won't have the support of the team when they say. "you're going to need to the team."

but the real kicker is that apparently andrea stella was the one telling will to say all this. andrea stella, the man in charge of the team, resorted to emotional blackmail and manipulation. you don't do that, not to your drivers, who have to blindly trust the pit wall, who can't see the data.

lando here is now faced with a tough decision. he's a driver, and he knows that he's being lied to about his tyres, he knows what mclaren are insinuating, and he knows that mclaren fucked up the strategy. but he has a chance to win, a chance to close the gap to max in wdc. every driver is bound to want to win. hell, in multi-21, seb went against team orders and won. "i don't apologize for winning," is what he said, and lando could've done that. but he didn't. of course, mclaren's intimidation played a role, but lando didn't drive off into the sunset and win. he gave the position back. and while he did do some shitty things like throwing the cap, being salty to lewis, and not spraying oscar first, you gotta look at it from the whole. he was forced to give up a win when the mental drama could've been avoided. hell, lando could've maybe even caught to oscar and overtaken him fair and square. but no, he was put in a shitty spot. while his actions weren't right, you have to understand that it's literally right after the race where tension is still high.

all in all, this was wholly mclaren's fault. there was absolutely no need to pit lando first, and even if they argue they wanted to be safe, is a slight risk worth this intra-team clash? is it worth what was said to lando? is it worth tainting oscar's first win? no, it wasn't mclaren need to learn how to make a strategy and think into the future. (sorry this was long) - 🧋

Yeah I agree with you🧋anon

[sylenth-l]

How are you feeling about Lightfall? People seem to be very divided on opinions 🤔 I personally hoped for more answered questions 😔😔

Well… I like the most gameplay/ui changes Bungie made in LF, but I don't like the campaign and almost everything about the story. But the thing is, I knew I won't like it when the first details and the updated logo dropped, so it's nothing new. This whole ✨super secret super city with super people✨ just didn't sound exciting for me from the beginning. I thought it looked extremely off for the Destiny setting, not something I'd personally like to see.

(Super subjective opinion below, with spoilers)

Its core idea is what bothers me the most, I guess... Those people from Neomuna gave 0 shit about the whole Solar system outside of their safe bubble for ages. They were chilling in arcades while hundreds, if not thousands, of people on Earth died from starvation and thirst, not even to mention countless wars. Even the Darkness itself arriving wasn't a good enough reason for them to show up, yet when their own asses got in the slightest danger, they're suddenly our besties and expect us to help them asap. Umm… I think such theme deserves at least some controversy and conflict to happen between the two sides, but no, we became friends in a minute and that was it. 

The way we accrue Strand is a joke, it literally just…… lays there in the middle of a random street…... I highly suspect originally it was supposed to be a part of Witch Queen, it would've fit there insanely better. Here it feels just as flat and random as everything else in this dlc. For me LF felt like a half-baked chunk of a different game. Not necessarily a bad one, just… different. You can cut out everything between the first and the last cutscenes and literally nothing will change. It's the most telling sign of the story being not that good, imo.

Tbh I don't feel like going further into the details and turning this post into a huge rant… I can mention a few things I liked instead!

LF had a bunch of excellent cutscenes, those I really enjoyed. The first and the last one ofc, the one with the Witness and Calus, Osiris and Rohan having a good talk, and the moment Caiatl appeared to fight alongside us was really cool. Witness, Osiris and Caiatl in general were the best things in LF for me, I guess. The idea of people living in a virtual space is also VERY interesting and I think Bungie should've gone all the way with it and said Neomuni had a virtual only society this whole time. What if the whole planet itself was modified to be just a huge server, containing data of all people living there? A few "Cloud Striders" could've been the only physical shells they had available for ages, and people could've taken turns in being uploaded into those fully cybernetic bodies, or maybe even several at once (let's say an engineer + a scientist + a warrior), to do the maintence and make sure the servers run as intended. That would've explained their total ignore of everything outside their own planet - they've truly surpassed all other species in the system to the point of not being able to interact with them properly due to the almost total disconnect from the physical world.

Also I get what you say about many unanswered questions. I personally wouldn't have mind it, if the story itself was more exciting/interesting, but sadly for me it wasn't, so the new terms and concepts being thrown around all the time felt irritating and confusing more than intriguing. But since the story campaign has a huge TBC written all over it, we have to just wait and see how it ends.

It's the first dlc i didn't like that much, so yeah… weird feelings. I just hope the next one is better.

[ohthehypocrisy]

Is Bigger Better for Pokemon Unite?

So, a while ago, the official Pokemon Unite Twitter revealed that Magikarp would be joining Pokemon Unite (and Gyarados by proxy). Now, that's all well and good, but there's a bit of an issue concerning how things are shaping up size-wise for viable Unite Licenses.

What exactly do I mean by that? Here, look at this.

8 feet, 2 inches, or 2.5 meters. That's pretty big, but what does it mean? These are the average sizes for Mamoswine, according to the PokeDex. Mamoswine is playable in Pokemon Unite, and yet it's pretty big on the height scale, about as big as an SUV.

Now, why is this important? Well, if you look at these numbers here...

...you'll see that these are the average sizes for Gyarados according to the PokeDex. Yeah, Gyarados is more than double the size of Mamoswine.

Now, size is a bit controversial when it comes to the veracity of PokeDex and what it tells us about pokemon, and it's why I call these numbers 'averages' instead of concrete data, as each pokemon are different, even among the same species. Even so, Gyarados would normally be too big to fit into anything, but the devs of Pokemon Unite seem to have found a way to make the fish dragon work.

Now, obviously Gyarados' Dex size only measures the pokemon from head to tail, but even if it were coiled up, it would still take up quite a bit of space on the battlefield, especially when compared to other shrimps like Pikachu and Mimikyu.

But that's the thing, there has yet to be a concrete size limit for pokemon in Pokemon Unite. Mamoswine was the largest playable Pokemon in the game thus far, and Gyarados will blow it out of the water, quite literally, when it is released into the game officially. That's all well and good for fans of the menacing water monster, but what does it mean for the rest of us who have a special fondness for other giant pokemon?

There's more to Pokemon Unite than just the battling, and I'm not talking about things like customization or special events. You have the Favorite Pokemon function, which prioritizes that pokemon in the Character Select Screen right before a battle. It's a handy function, but it also makes the pokemon stand beside you in the main game screen and in the Results Screen.

It certainly makes you feel closer to your pokemon when you clutch a win, but there'll certainly be a problem when bigger and bigger pokemon start being considered for the game.

So, let's get the opinion of the players themselves. Do you think size is gonna be an issue later down the line, or are you impartial to the viability of a pokemon, despite their size? Let your thoughts be heard on the poll below.

If you have any thoughts on the matter, I encourage you to share. This is relevant if you have a favorite pokemon that's on the large side, like an Ultra Beast or a Legendary. And even if you don't, I'd like to hear your opinions on this whole size debacle. I would certainly consider previously unviable pokemon for Unite that had to be excluded due to their size.

Except for this one, maybe.

[i-write-hurt-not-comfort]

no brain space for nice things so how about. an opportunity to ramble about pharmacology. i’m listening

hello and thank you! nothing particular comes to mind as of late so i thought i'd talk about my dissertation that i did in my third year.

the title was "The importance of dose: a systematic review of gabapentin and amitriptyline doses used in pre-clinical chronic pain models and their clinical relevance" and i scored 72 on it in the end. maybe that doesn't sound that high to international students but at universities in the UK, anything over 70 is a first which is the highest grade you can get. so 72 vs 92 would still be the same grade, hence i was happy with a 72. it may be just barely over 70, but it's a first.

it's a shame my other units were a bit shit and overall i only got 65. which is a 2:1 (second highest grade) but i wasn't happy :(

anyway i'll put this under the cut because it'll probably be long.

i guess i gotta make this kinda simple to explain but basically, when we're making new drugs to treat chronic pain, which is what we (i mean my project partner, supervisor and i) chose to focus on, we have to use animal models to test whether they work. unfortunately there's not many rodent models of chronic neuropathic pain which translate to humans effectively, which is why having translatable behavioural tests of pain is really important!!

some of these include hot plate test, tail flick test, hargreeves test etc. all of these basically test how long it takes for a rodent to respond to painful stimuli (thermal or mechanical usually). if a drug targeting pain is effective, the time to respond to this pain will increase, and that's kind of how we measure if drugs work.

so amitriptyline and gabapentin are two drugs used to treat chronic pain. they're both widely used in humans and because of that, they're used as comparison drugs when we're tested novel compounds. let's say we have compound X (i'll use this as a hypothetical novel drug throughout this post), we test it in a rodent and also test amitriptyline or gabapentin, and then we compare how well they work. if drug X works as well as GBP or AMT, then we can assume it might work well in humans too. below is how GBP and AMT work, if you wanna know.

this all seems kind of simple, right? just use the dose of AMT and GBP we use in humans which is adapted to rodents' metabolism (in milligrams per kilogram of weight, or mg/kg), right?

that'd be great if that's what happens, but it's not! why? good question! the process behind this review was screening a large number of papers and extracting the doses used and comparing them to what should have been used according to this paper. the process of deciding what papers to screen looked like this.

we extracted the following data from a total of 314 papers for GBP and 93 papers for AMT. yeah, it took a REALLY long time.

the other stuff beyond dose was also analysed to gauge the general quality of pre-clinical studies, but that gets really technical and i won't go into that today. long story short, a lot of these studies are slacking in quality parameters such as randomisation and blinding.

based on preliminary research, we thought that the majority of studies would be using doses MUCH higher than the translatable dose. here's the table for the doses which should've been used.

mice and rats are smaller, hence their metabolism is faster, so they need higher doses. the doses which should be used in animal models is the starting dose because y'know, that's what we start with in humans. so, we collated the mass of data and made two stunning lil graphs.

it's... pretty fascinating, right? the majority of pre-clinical studies are using comparative doses of AMT and GBP which are WAAAAY off what we use in humans. we also did tests into effect size (won't show the forest plots here because they're complicated) and found that these animal studies were extracting much larger effect sizes than what we see in humans. that means that the doses being really high DOES influence the data we get in animals, and it's making it harder to translate those results to humans.

you might think, "well, that's fine. big doses mean big responses, so that makes sense", and you'd be correct, but for the wrong reasons, and this is where the really juicy pharmacology comes in.

it's very rare that drugs have only one target. well, i'm not sure that ever happens. that's why most drugs have side effects at higher doses (or even at therapeutic doses). in the diagram higher up of the mechanism of action of AMT and GBP, you can see that both of them have off-target effects (in red).

a core pharmacology concept is that as drug concentration increases, the occupancy at receptors also increases. so with higher doses comes increased engagement of the receptors which we don't want to stimulate. and this can have an impact on some responses, even in pain studies!

for example, AMT can have up to 100% occupancy at histamine 1 receptors (H1) at higher doses. histamine antagonism causes sedation, therefore animal studies with 10 times the required dose of AMT may be measuring responses associated with sedation rather than analgesia. if AMT is being used in a comparative pre-clinical for say, drug X, then drug X's effects are being held against responses which really have nothing to do with humans in the clinic.

AMT has a lot more off-target effects than GBP, whereas GBP is quite specific. we proposed that this is why GBP studies don't have to use as relatively high doses compared to AMT, because off-target effects aren't required to observe measurable analgesic responses.

there's a lot more gritty technicalities, nuances and even ethical considerations behind this study we conducted. it was 6k words in total, so this is a really brief overview. but if you were interested in what i spent months and months working on, here it is.

[darkacademicfrom2021]

The Dark Team (part 6)

<<Previous part Masterlist   Next part>>

Join the taglist in here (Taglist: @lucywrites02, @louieboo87)

“What did you fuck up?”, you heard Loki’s sharp whisper through the earbud, while you frantically searched through papers and papers and some more papers.

“I didn’t fuck up. I have the guy. I have information”, cleared Bucky. “Hey, DON’T MOVE”, he shouted at the kidnapped, cocking his gun. He cleared his throat before talking again. “Good and bad news”.

“Must be Christmas”, you said.

“No, Christmas is when you only have good news”, said Bucky.

“Not in my family. Generally, there was only bad news and food. Food was the good news”.

“I love how professional and focused on the mission you two are. Stark would be so proud”.

“Wait, I’m invested now. Tell me more about your family, y/n”.

“For the Norns, I don’t have much time. The information, Barnes”. You could hear Loki's footsteps resonate. According to plan, he should've been walking through a hall full of burocrats, so he was right; he did not have much time.

“Okay, so, I know who has the stick”.

“Good”.

“He’s dead”.

“Not so good”.

“Not really, no”.

“What do we do now?”.

An alarm on the building had set off and every door locked down, with a man on a speaker announcing the disappearance of an important object followed by an awfully accurate description of the three of you.

“We run, that’s what we do now”.

You didn’t have to say more. Bucky threw himself off the window before it finished closing. You looked around desperately, trying to find a way to free yourself from that office. Two security guards entered the room screaming for you to get on the floor, and instead you made an unstable wall with the desk and chairs, avoiding getting shot and giving you enough time to figure out some sort of weapon to take them down.

The watch was already used, the knives were useless if they had guns, you didn’t have a gun yourself (silly you), and the parachute was apparently not working anymore, so you couldn’t jump off the window like your teammates. Damn.

“By any chance”, you whispered through your microphone “could you tele…”, but Loki gave you no time to finish the sentence and teleported himself to the office, still in the shape of a security guard.

“My dearest friend”, he said to one of the shooters, opening his arms welcomingly, “how’s the family?”.

“What the fuck, Robert?” asked angrily one of the real guards. “How did you…”.

Loki kicked off his gun and touched his head with a halo of green lights, making him fall unconscious to the floor. He looked up and down at the second security guard and formed half a smile.

“And what about your wife? Is she well?”.

“You ain’t Robert, ain’t ya?”.

“Mmh, nah”.

You grabbed the second security guard from behind and made him trip, immobilizing his arms and legs, and held his own gun to his head. Loki watched you amused, and then transformed back into himself.

“Oh, there you are”, you greeted him. “Did Buck say anything about the walking dead?”.

“The… what?”.

“The man with the stick. If he’s dead, who activated the alarm? Someone has to have it”.

“He didn’t say anything else. Can’t you track it down?”.

“If I could, why would we have done all of this for?”.

“Point made”.

“I need to get back to our room, take some things off the checklist before going all in for a new plan”.

“Alri…”, he started saying, but his gaze fell back on the immobilized guard you were holding down. “What are you planning on doing with him? He saw our faces”.

“If you let me live I won’t talk about this at all”, he pleaded, face squished against the floor. “I have kids, please”.

“He’s lying, he has no kids”, he said with a neutral face, and you looked at him trying to tell him to communicate telepathically. Surprisingly, he understood. “What?”.

“I’m not killing him, what do we do?”.

“Just kill him, what’s all the fuss about?”. You looked at him horrorized and he rolled his eyes “alright, just threaten him enough”.

You let him go, still pointing the gun at him, and gestured to the door so he could leave. When he reached for the door knob, you shot twice at the wall, mere inches from his head, and he froze in place.

“Talk and I’ll find you”, you threatened.

“I won't say a word, I promise”.

You looked at Loki and he nodded, letting you know the man was telling the truth. You kept your eyes fixed on him while he ran away, terrified. Must be new, you thought. Loki grabbed your waist.

“What the Hell are you doing?”, you pushed him away.

“Teleporting us, as you asked”.

“You have to grab me to do that?”.

“I don’t have to. It’s so you get stability”.

“Oh. Give me a big bear hug, then. No, better, let’s cuddle” you spat with sarcasm. He sighed annoyed, massaging his temples.

“Fine. I’m not even touching you”.

As he teleported both of you, you felt your whole body tear its own cells apart and dissolve, and then regenerate them. Your head spinned like it never has, and something hit your head; but you weren’t sure if it was the floor, a wall or the roof, for your sense directions were nowhere to be found. You took a few seconds to compose yourself before opening your eyes once everything stopped moving. When you finally managed to realize where your head even was, your eyes met with Loki’s, who was holding back a smirk with his arms crossed.

“Reconsidering that cuddle next time, are you?”.

“That was… hilarious. Such a shame I missed the previous part to give me context, though”, said Bucky from the counter of the hotel room, munching on some chips. “Look, the tiny fridge had these. You were right, they’re actually great”.

“Yeah. Grab whatever, they’re on Stark’s”, you said, still with your head a bit fuzzed. Loki offered his hand to help you get up but you did it yourself. He sighed.

“How do you fit your clothes with that huge ego of yours?”.

“I don’t, I walk around naked”, you answered, opening the nearest laptop and starting to work on the checklist.

That night was like the last one. Dark, silent and with your head full on the work. Bucky was barely snoring, and Loki was sitting on his bed reading a book. Every once in a while you glanced up your work to look at how painfully beautiful he was. You hated every thought about it, of course, but you couldn’t deny his sight grew on you a bit. He was an asshole, of course. A parasite on your head. An inconvenience. A distraction, sometimes. But the warm light of the bed lamp and the shadows it formed on half of his face enhanced his features, almost like a sculpture, a piece of art.

While you thought of that you checked on his expressions, making sure he wasn’t listening to your highly embarrassing thoughts.

After a few hours, Bucky had already woken up and you were still spread on the floor, surrounded by the files and laptops from before. The light conversation had caught half the attention of the God, who was still reading peacefully. He seemed so calm you wondered what kept him up anyways.

“You think he still has it on him?”, asked Bucky, changing his shirt.

“I think it’s a possibility. I’m tracking his body down. Should be in the morgue by now, maybe they haven’t taken off his clothes yet. But if not, the security cameras would have recorded who took it from the body”.

“Groovy”.

"Oh my God, James".

"What?".

"What does groovy even mean?".

"You know... it's like saying cool beans".

"Coo... alright".

After a while, you collected all the data you needed for tomorrow. You were so exhausted your eyes were getting dry and blurry. Loki was still reading in that same place, not even fazed by the amount of hours that had happened. You got up to clean the dishes from the last meal, and he lifted his gaze up from the book.

“Wait”, he stopped you. With a wrist movement, the dishes got as clean as they could get and arranged on the shelf. You chuckled.

“I wish I had that ability”.

“Are you going to sleep now?”.

“A few hours”.

“Sleep here”, he said from his bed. You looked at Bucky’s; he fell asleep back again.

“You haven’t slept yet. I don’t want to occupy your bed”.

“I won’t, don’t worry”, you nodded, kind of worried he might pass out of tiredness in the middle of the mission. Why the hell was he not sleeping? “If it doesn’t bother you, I’d rather finish this book on here too”.

“I think there’s enough space”.

He moved and gave you space for half of the tiny bed, and you laid by his side with your arms crossed and a leg on top of the other. He went back to his book, and even though he was sitting and your sight couldn’t reach the pages, you were sure it was in Old Norse.

“What are you reading?”.

He didn’t answer right away. Doubtfully as in to share it with you or not, he then proceeded.

“Hamlet. It’s a translation in Old Norse from an author I adore. I’d say it’s an even better version than Shakespeare’s”.

You felt yourself about to smile. You tried not to, but you probably did. That was your favourite piece of literature of all times. You wondered how could that have gotten to Asgardian hands, and why would he (certainly a Midgardian hater) want to read Earth’s literature. You were so curious in that version. Was it really that good, that would be better than Shakespeare himself? Sadly, you didn’t even know how to say hello in that language.

“Do you like it so far?”.

“I’m re-reading it. Brings good memories”, he said with a subtle smile he had hoped you wouldn’t notice. But you did. Something in your chest warmed up a bit and you shook it off. No, no. Not feelings. Don’t confuse your physical attraction, don’t feed your touch starved soul. No. You had to repeat to yourself a couple of times. You were just very, very tired.

“Brings good memories to me too. I love this book”. You figured it was alright to open up a little. The situation was relaxed enough. He wasn’t snarky or avoidant. He looked… melancholic. Sad, even. Like a facet of himself he didn’t allow everyone to see.

You connected with that. Maybe you could even relate to him in some way. For years, you had a feeling of something not adding up quite right. A longing for something you couldn’t exactly pin up. Melancholy for a blank space.

But there you were, barely knew him for three days yet felt close enough. Not too much. Just a feeling. Just the traces of something that maybe happened in another life. But in this one, you would get the mission done and leave. So don’t get attached, you ordered yourself.

“It’s a really good version”.

“Wish I could read it but I don’t know Old Norse”, you said slower than you intended. Loki chuckled at your tiredness. Maybe you could push your curiosity a little further. What was the damage? That he could just say ‘piss off’ or something like that? “What good memories does it bring to you?”.

He sighed and muttered almost to himself “I used to read it to my beloved”.

You almost gasped, surprised he actually answered you. You didn’t ask for more. It was already a lot he had just trusted you with. He told you he had a beloved. You didn’t even know he had a lover, but of course he had. He was nearly a thousand years old; why wouldn’t he? Did he lose that lover, in past tense?

Curiosity grew bigger on you, but fear pushed you aback. But the questions floated around in your head as a lullaby. Your head started to weigh a little more on the pillow and everything happened slightly slower. Loki closed the book and left it resting on his lap. He whispered “I feel you have questions”, and you denied it with your head. Your eyelids fell heavier than before.

“I’m mmnmnnhnm”, you managed to sort of say before getting knocked down by sleep. You heard his laughter, but nothing more after that.

[echo-three-one]

Whatever It Takes

Sequel to A Forgotted Memory

Somewhere out there

Beneath the pale moonlight

Someone's thinking of me

And loving me tonight…

Chapter 14 to another story made by Ray (echo-three-one) Comments and Reviews appreciated! I hope you enjoy! Love you all ❤️

Previous Chapter : Alex and Augustus

Meet Me Halfway

John "Soap" MacTavish

Task Force 141

Location Unknown

18 hours ago

He thought he was dead. He thought they were going to kill him. He wished they would, just to end the suffering. But he also wished they wouldn't. He had greater plans, he still wanted to enjoy his life. And it looked like Nero granted half his wish, while depriving him of the other half. He's going to live the rest of his years in hell.

He couldn't stop thinking about that song, he lay flat on the ground, feeling weak, powerless and defeated.

If I lay here… Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

He couldn't feel a thing but he knew he was being transported somewhere. Red flashes filled his eyes as he slowly slipped away from the conscious world.

~

2 Seconds.

A single drop of water plopped on the cold floor where he laid every 2 seconds. It was getting annoying, but he thanked it for actually waking him up.

Soap struggled to get up and forced himself to do so, grunting in pain as the muscles and bones of his body reacted to his sudden movements. Enduring all the pain, he gasped and got up, moving to the direction of the only ray of light from a crack in the ceiling.

He limped but he had hope, exhaling with excitement as the light got closer every step he took. Then clang! He hit his head on an iron bar. He's in a prison cell, deep underground.

"Shite." he cursed, dropping his knees on the ground, his energy already ran out and he felt thirsty.

"That's freshwater dripping down there." An unknown voice emerged from the darkness, Soap wanted to believe he's hallucinating, but an old figure emerged from the shadows. His hair mostly greyed out and it was long enough that Soap believed he'd been here for far too long.

"The name's Jack. And I suggest you rehydrate. I've been here long enough that you could trust that it's safe." he suggested. His tone was strict but helpful and Soap knew he's trustworthy. They're both prisoners and as the saying goes: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

"So… uh Jake. What brings you to this dark and gloomy place?" Soap asked, his voice was barely audible but he was heading straight to the dripping freshwater.

"Turns out our friend Nero doesn't want me dead yet. He couldn't pry any information from me. I'm CIA, literally trained half my life to keep information away. He should've just killed me when he got the chance." He replied.

"So, that means he's going to get something out of you too…" he added, Soap looked worried, he didn't undergo some torture training and hes afraid of what Nero wants from him.

"Look kid, I know you're worried. That's why we won't let that happen. Okay? I have a plan." Jake patted Soap's shoulder, it still hurts from all the stomping and the tossing around but he knew he didn't mean it.

"So… CIA. Guess you crossed paths with Alex." Soap asked, his low accent echoed across the dark cage.

"Yeah. Alex. He was like my son, trained him and assisted him all throughout his CIA Career."

"He kinda disobeyed orders by joining the good side which looked bad in the eyes of the higher ups." Soap reported.

"Hm… It's very unusual of him to not follow orders, unless he believes it's for a better cause." Jack supplied to which Soap nodded, agreeing Jack's assumption.

"It was a good cause. Sacrificed himself for the greater good. Miraculously made it out, but lost his leg in the process." Soap continued, updating the old man about his protege, he's actually glad he did as he could feel the man's mood rising from grumpy prisoner to someone a little less grumpy.

"He had good morals, that kid. He could go far with that attitude… I just hoped that falling in love would not be his downfall… just like what happened to me…" he muttered. Soap didn't make out the last sentence so he assumed it was his own thoughts leaking out of his head. He didn't bother asking again.

The iron doors opened and a new patch of light opened. Jack looked at Soap with determination and nodded.

"Looks like it's showtime, sharkbait." Soap nodded noting the Finding Nemo reference at these trying times.

Jack was right. They had a practice of how to handle prisoners for interrogation. A few stomps, handcuffs, sack on the head and push you if you don't cooperate. Soap had to go through the whole thing, and as far as he knows, Jack must have gotten the key.

He limped his way to the interrogation room, buying enough time for Jack to blindly find the keyhole from the cell. He tried fighting back but the taser sticks were already giving him a bad time.

Just as Jack described, the interrogation room consisted of a dentist chair and a television, his captors were beside him preparing orders from Nero on the screen.

Soap squirmed his way out of the chair, trying to be convincing that he had no idea what's going on.

"Stop squirming! Tell us where the girl is… or I'll take a wild guess and destroy your base instead." Nero yelled. His voice was low, like it ran through a voice changer.

"Sod off…" Soap spat and squirmed again, receiving a shock from the taser. He groaned as tendrils of electricity ran through his body shaking him almost unconscious.

"Lower the voltage or he won't respond! Dumbasses! We need something from him!" Nero yelled at his henchmen.

"So… MacTavish��22nd Parachute Regiment, S.A.S., Now Task Force 141… Skilled in combat, Sniper and Demolitions… You know a proper brainwash would help me get the code from you right?" he mused.

"FOUR!" Soap roared from the top of his lungs, panting after he yelled.

"Four? What the fuck are you talking about?" Nero asked, looking confused. Addition to that, the ground shook and made everyone else in the room wonder.

"What's going on?" Nero asked.

"What? we're under attack? By who? How?" Soap's ears could hear the distress from their leader and from the looks of it, 141 already found him making it easier for him and Jack to get out of this hell hole.

"Augustus is gone? They're going to pay! Okay boys kill this man now. We have to send them a message!" Nero yelled angrily and the tv turned to static.

Meet me Halfway

Francine "France" Winters

Task Force 141

Task Force 141 Base - Briefing Room

"We're being pressured to capture Nero. With our base compromised, the Board would now decide for our force's future. Simon Riley is now researching Augustus' burner phone, if we're lucky enough, it could lead us to our next clue." Shepherd calmly informed the force about the status. He looked in distress but he had to keep pushing forward, to end this warfare.

"Some of Nero's forces are already in New York. It turns out he could command the brainwashed civilians to deploy EMP blasts but recon noticed that he could only command a few at a time. This means without the IP address, he is still powerless and trying hard." Shepherd added.

"I want you all to always be ready for an all out attack on Nero. Let's prove to the board that we're the best one for the job." He muttered and dismissed everyone. France decided to stay in the briefing room and let the quiet consume her thoughts.

"You okay?" A reassuring hand held her shoulder. She knew it was Gary and tears started to fall from her eyes.

"I… I can't stop worrying about him, Roach." She croaked and gave Roach a very pained stare. She actually missed John's presence even after being together for a short while, she felt that they shared a lot of common things together, the strive to become better, the response to danger even off duty and the determination to achieve a goal. Those were her traits that he also had, these same traits that made him like her despite his cocky first impression.

"Let's help out Ghost track that son of a bitch Nero down. And maybe it'll lead us to him." Roach assured them as they both stood up and went to Research.

"How… how can you still be so sure that he's okay?" she sobbed.

"The dogtags." Ghost interjected while typing furiously on the computer.

"If Soap was dead, he should've shown us his tag. That would cripple some of our Force's focus and would lead to his success in invading and capturing Samantha." Ghost continued, he made sense and France almost smiled with the two's support. Instead, she just breathed out and helped Ghost.

"So, have you traced each source?" France asked Ghost as she also started furiously typing codes and strings of data input.

"Yes, they're really sneaky with the encryption, but I keep on getting pings at one location before it spreads in different places." he explained.

"The nearest signal tower. Every packet almost goes through there. You see that?" France pointed at the screen.

"Yeah I do. Let's start tracing that source." Ghost muttered and the map already pinged the tower's location.

"Bingo." they both whispered and cheered, hugging each other as a sign of success. France felt Ghost's tight hug and felt something off about the guy, then he actually removes half of his mask and pouts his cheek close to hers.

"I…. uh… I'm sorry" Ghost shyly said as France pushed him away and felt awkward at the situation. Gary just stood there in shock as Price entered the room.

"What's the news?" he asked, looking at the three.

"We found him, Sir." Ghost cleared his throat and put back his mask.

"Well, bloody hell. Let's go then!" he said as they all ran towards the exit and prepared themselves. France didn't have the time to think about the events earlier as she was still worried about Soap's safety. She hopes that whatever lies in that place would give her an answer.

~

"FIRE!" Captain Price yelled as snipers quickly shot the guards surrounding the icy fortress. The gulag housed people that the world didn't want but couldn't kill, and she hoped that John MacTavish was on that list.

Danger close explosions crippled both attacking and defending forces as Price roared at Shepherd to be careful. France gulped as she saw a very open field that they're dropping in on and knew for a fact that she's very open and weak at these positions.

Her mind raced, looking at every angle. Tangos were everywhere carrying different kinds of weapons. With minimal angles to hide on, the force, led by Roach aggressively advanced to the Gulag, dodging heavy fire, grenades and RPG Rockets. As soon as they found the tunnel leading deep into the Gulag, France already felt comfortable. This was her playing zone and no one's going to stop her from getting into Nero.

The way in was almost clear, no enemies were against them but instead they ran further into the Gulag. Something was off.

Gunfire was heard deep into the Gulag and as soon as the team reached the control room, Ghost already did his magic. Opening gates, looking at the cameras and defending their six. The masked man helped them further advance into the Gulag.

"Nero's not here…" Ghost said.

"How so?" Price angrily muttered.

"He never set foot in this place. He only uses a television to communicate."

"Bloody hell. Now what?"

" I see two heat signatures behind that wall."

Roach quickly planted a c4 breach and as soon as it exploded Francine pounced at the closest person, raising her fist and looking at its eyes to see the punch go through.

Blue eyes. Those shades of blue. France stopped his fist as tears started to well from her eyes, dropping some on his bare chest.

"John…" she whimpered and smiled.

"Fra.." she didn't let him finish, she kissed him. She didn't care what everyone else thought. The gunfire and explosions suddenly felt nothing to her. She didn't care how John's lips tasted, all she cared about was that he's alive and she's on his arms.

Extraction quickly followed as Shepherd's forces already did a lot of damage on the old fortress. They barely got out just in time for the building's inevitable collapse but they're safe.

Next Chapter : Secret Alliances

Notification Squad my beloved

@samatedeansbroccoli @enderio @smokeywhalee @beemybee @whimsywispsblog @ricinbach

[abbuniverses]

Sanguine had taken an hour-long bike ride that morning, stopping beside an abandoned train car in the middle of the woods. It felt so weird to see snow drift to the forest floor instead of being suspended in time like it had been the last time she came here.

She leaves her bike propped up beside a nearby train car, and follows the tracks to the caboose, the same one she and the others were stuck in for almost a week, reliving the same day. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she makes her way to the door of the train car with careful, even steps. Sanguine held her brea--

"I know you're there, Gwen."

"Fuck!"

San steps in front of the doorway with a sigh of relief and slight disappointment. "I should've known that would happen," she muttered to herself.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came back to forgive you," San replied with a tiny smile.

Leslie didn't respond beyond giving Sanguine a weird look.

The smile fades. "I don't know, I just..." San speaks with small, timid gestures, which, frankly, was very unlike her. "Even though you're kind of an asshole, and you know that you're an asshole, I still feel like... like you still have some good in you, y'know? So I thought, maybe if you came along with me and Mari a-and..." She doesn't finish. Leslie wasn't even facing her, anyways.

"You call me an asshole and expect me to join you?"

"Well am I wrong?"

Leslie resumes her silent treatment. San decides the emotional route isn't going to work; as genuine as it is, she can't find the right words for something that sappy.

"Okay, look. You do your research shit, right? It's why you tried to keep us here in the first place, to help you hijack some experiments. Well New North is literally Mahou Central, and you can get all sorts of data there! Besides," she adds, "Miskatonic University is there, and it has a whole damn building dedicated to this kinda thing! So... if you don't want to do it for me, then there's that."

Leslie remains quiet for a second, creating a tense silence between the two among the sunlit ice on the windows that cast faint patterns onto the floor. She then stands up, grabbing her bag. "Okay. I'll go."

"Yes!" San is suddenly ecstatic. "I knew you'd come around, Leslie!"

"I'm not 'coming around', Gwen, I'm just going for notes," Leslie interrupts. "That's it."

"...yeah. Sorry. Thanks anyways."

"Whatever. I'll meet you at Miskatonic." And with that, Leslie disappears in a flash of blue light.

San gets out of the caboose and takes a second scenic bike ride back home.

[of-science-and-stars]

"Hey, where do you go every, like, 28 days?"

Griffin jolted in surprise as I leaned over into his cubicle.

"O-oh, uh. Nowhere in particular... Why?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Dude, it's always on the full moon. I've noticed."

He huffed out a quick breath, fiddling nervously with his shirt collar. I knew the next thing he was going to say.

"Uh... I figure you've already guessed. Just... you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay?" Then he leaned in close, and barely louder than the hissing of air from the A/C, he whispered, "I'm a werewolf."

I tsk'ed. "That's not it."

Griffin's face flushed far paler than normal. "W-what makes you say that?"

"If you were a werewolf, I'd know. I can always smell a were-whatever. Fish, bird, wooly mammoth—though I don't know how anyone would manage that one—doesn't matter. You're not a werewolf.

"Shit, you've got me all figured out, huh." A few beads of sweat had already formed on his brow; now I had him on the ropes.

"Yeah." I smiled wryly. "So go on, spill."

His eyes glimmered with the spark of a sudden idea. I could practically see the lightbulb above his head.

"Not unless you tell me what your deal is first. How can you smell a werewolf?"

The hair on the back of my neck prickled up as I heard a familiar pattern of footsteps coming closer.

"Tell you what. Let's discuss this over lunch. Bossman's coming our way."

His eyes went wide, and he nodded curtly. Good. I always liked someone who could catch my drift.

Half past noon, Griffin found me in my usual spot up on the roof. Technically, no one was allowed up there, but it's not like anyone cared, anyway. He slumped down a foot or so away from me, getting out a plastic container of refrigerated pasta. I was midway through a reheated chicken sandwich.

"Sooo," I started, my mouth still half-full. "What's up with you?"

"Nuh-uh. You first."

Ah, right down to business. My kind of person. Maybe I should've chatted him up sooner, made friends with him.

I threw on a smirk. "I like your style."

"Go on," Griffin urged, "I've heard you're pretty slippery, but I'm not going to let you steer us off topic on this one."

"Fine, fine. Half-were. Got the all the senses with none of the wolf, so to speak."

He looked surprised. "Huh. I was expecting... Not that."

I gave him a light shove on the shoulder. "Aight, I fessed up, now it's your turn. What do you get up to every full moon?"

A red tint came to his cheeks. "I- um... Do I really have to tell you?"

"Do you really have to ask that?"

"...Right. Well."

A pregnant pause lingered in the air. Then:

"Stargazing," he coughed.

"Stargazing?"

"Well... Not just that. I can only see xem every full moon, and-" He winced. "Aw, I promised xem I wouldn't tell anyone..."

"Wait, who?"

Griffin sighed. "Well... I guess it's too late to turn back now. My, uh... My partner."

Oooh, now this was far more interesting than a werewolf! I nodded, imploring him to continue.

"My partner. The... uh. The alien. Xey only get to come planetside once every lunar cycle, when xey collect some data. And so I go see xem when xey do." Griffin's face was bright rose, and a hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Alright, that passes the test," I said, taking a hunk out of my sandwich.

"Test? For what?"

Swallow. "The test for the coolest story I've heard in a long time. And trust me, with how many supernatural folk we've got here, I hear a lot of those."

Griffin chuckled. "Thanks. Hey, how about you tag along to meet xem next time I go? I think xey could use another friend. The next full moon falls on a weekend, if you're interested."

I hand him my phone, already open to the contacts page. "Text me where to meet you, dude. That sounds awesome."

He tapped his number into mine, then put my number into his. "You got it!"

A bell from a nearby clock tower struck one. Damn, had to get back to work soon.

"Welp, that's my cue to leave. See you round, Griffin."

I stood up, brushed off my clothes, and headed off towards the stairs with a wave.

He returned the gesture.

And as I trekked back to our floor, I felt a buzzing in my pocket. It was a text from him, of course. Two things were attached: an address, and the words "Meet me by moonrise."

Every 28 days like clockwork your coworker takes a day off, even in the middle of the week. You notice that it always coincides with the full moon. This is interesting because they don’t smell unusual, and you can smell were-kin a mile away.