#mark the history geek

[mareastrorum]

These are just initial thoughts, and perhaps I’ll learn something that changes my mind on it, but I’m glad to see Critical Role making the leap to their own subscription service with Beacon.

As a lead in: I’m an attorney that has some background in IP law, though it isn’t what I practice currently. I’ve kept in contact with several active practitioners, particularly those that represent small-time creators either in their own independent practice or via nonprofits. I do not have an extensive Rolodex of IP peers, nor do I spend the money to keep up on IP CLEs. I’m just someone who used to know a ton because I did heavy research and work in that space, and that hasn’t been the case for years.

So here’s my thoughts a bit on the IP angle:

The primary reason I’m happy to see this leap is that CR is taking active steps to keep control over its IP. It’s a boring thing to most people, but when I start paying attention to a specific creator (authors, directors, companies, etc.), I tend to be very attentive to how they use their IP. How freely do they license their marks to partner with other creators to make merch? How often do they allow others to make adaptations or derivatives of their copyrights? What is the quality of those products? What is the supply chain like? Are those third parties objectionable in some way? Were the other parties faithful to the original works or marks? Was this a cash grab or an earnest effort to make something worth the price tag?

Honestly, I like how CR run their business. They have a history of tapping fans and fellow small businesses when making new merch or spinoffs. They embrace the culture of fan-made derivative works, both by featuring fanart/cosplay and by sharing their success. Do you know how rare it is for a company to pay fan artists for their already-made and freely posted work and then sell books of it? Let me be clear: CR bought a limited license from each artist so they could print and sell each work in a physical book, then paid the cost of publishing that book with no guarantee that CR would make that money back, let alone profit. I have a copy of the collector’s edition art books: they’re actually very well made and the packaging definitely cost a pretty penny. That’s not a rainmaker idea, that’s genuinely risking financial loss to sell something people could access for free if they wanted to.

The art books aren’t a one-off either. Darrington Press is CR’s separate LLC for tabletop games. (It’s good business practice to split off companies that handle products in different industries.) CR has also made shows based on those games, and the Candela Obscura series has quite a dedicated audience. Everything about Candela belongs to them: the game itself, the rule book, all the art in the book, the web series based on the game, and merch. It’s so successful that they invested in scheduling a live show for Candela later this month. That’s HUGE.

Contrast that with the distribution of Campaign 1 and the first 19 episodes of Campaign 2. CR cannot host those videos themselves; Geek & Sundry still exists and still holds what I presume to be distribution rights (but I don’t have the contract to review). So G&S gets to host those videos on YouTube and reaps the advertising. I can’t speak to whatever share CR gets from that, but considering that CR is locked out of hosting their own copies of those videos, I doubt it’s much, if any, revenue. (If you’re wondering why CR just didn’t buy those rights back, I ask: what incentive does G&S have to sell something that’s making them money for no cost?)

Knowing that background about G&S, I was wary of CR choosing Amazon to host and distribute The Legend of Vox Machina. Originally, TLOVM was not the plan; CR had a kickstarter for an animated special based on C1. It was only because they blew past the goal that CR was able to make an entire season. The reasonable assumption is that choosing Amazon had to have secured CR additional funding for future seasons of the show, which seems evident from how quickly season 2 was announced, Mighty Nein Animated is also going to be a thing, and that season 3 of TLVOM is scheduled for fall 2024. CR had the option of just doing 1 season and keeping it purely in their control, but going with Amazon meant they could animate more of their works. Animation is expensive. I cannot stress enough how doubtful I am that CR would have been able to afford this many episodes and both campaigns if they had not gone this route. As wary as I was in the start, it paid off, and it’s going well—so far. Hopefully CR doesn’t regret that decision if Amazon tries something sleazy. But, as before, we don’t have the contracts and can’t know how secure CR’s position is if any dispute came up.

CR also partnered with Dark Horse Comics to make Vox Machina comics and Might Nein Origins comics. What’s especially surprising is that each of the cast had a hand in writing the MNO comics for their characters, with Matt listed for multiple. That isn’t very common with comic adaptations. Often times, IP owners let comic companies go ham with minimal oversight. Being listed as one of the authors comes with IP rights that have to be negotiated. That means that Dark Horse had to talk with CR about whether that warrants more or less revenue going to which party in exchange for that—or, alternatively, whether the comic gets made at all. That’s a ballsy move. You think people can just demand to write the comics that a publishing company is going to pay to print? Pffft. CR wanted some creative control, and that is a big ask. However, Dark Horse still has the distribution rights, both digitally and for physical copies. You couldn’t buy the comics from CR until they came out with the library edition, a book bound compilation of 4/8 comics. But the publisher is still Dark Horse; CR is just allowed to sell the book directly from their own site as well.

Contrast that with the novels about CR characters. CR partnered with Penguin Random House to publish novels about Vex and Vax (Kith & Kin), Lucien (The Nine Eyes of Lucien), and Laudna (What Doesn’t Break). Liam and Laura were vocal about having some say in K&K, whereas Madeline Roux said in an interview that she had full control over TNEOL. Both of those novels were narrated with CR voices, but narrating a book doesn’t come with IP rights, it just brings in a paycheck. There’s a lot less IP control in there compared to the comics, but this isn’t abnormal for book publishing. To be blunt, I doubt PRH would have agreed to publish the novels if anyone from CR had been a co-author or had heavy oversight over the author or the editing. I don’t think PRH even considered that as an option. Either an author that has already managed to sell X number of copies or nothing. Creative control over a book a huge ask, asks come with reduced revenue, and switching to books from a web series is already a leap. The fact that Laura and Liam had any say is surprising, really.

That was a long meandering tour of what we’ve seen CR do with its IP. The reason I bring up each of these things is that navigating the way to protect an IP in this space is rife with challenges. Different types of IP warrant different strategies because of the cost involved in creating each medium and the challenges placed by industries that have already sprung up around them. Any time that a third party is tapped to create an IP, it’s usually because they already have the funds and resources to create the work, and CR has to negotiate for revenue, creative control, distribution, and—the big one—who gets to be the owner. These are not easy, quick, or fun conversations, and CR is always going to be the smaller company at the table.

Knowing that, I’m not surprised or worried that CR is creating its own independent subscription service with Beacon. It tells me that they’re being careful with their IP whenever they can. A subscription service means they don’t have to trade away distribution rights or give up ad revenue to a third party. They’re in this for a long term investment, and that requires solid income not tied to third parties that can definitely outspend them in litigation in the event of a dispute. A subscription for bonus content is one of many parts in a diverse revenue stream.

(All that said, this isn’t meant to criticize creators that cant afford to do this type of thing. It took 9 years for CR to get to the point where Beacon is financially feasible and a desirable business decision. They have enough ongoing, popular content to warrant paying for a subscription, and they’ve built sufficient trust with their audience that more will be added. That takes time and an awful lot of money.)

As a final note, I take this step as a sign that CR definitely intends to stick around. This isn’t a move people make when they plan on ending the business after the current campaign. I’m glad to see CR is taking steps to secure their foundation and keep making new content.

I’m sure people will chime in on other issues (cost, content exclusivity, etc.), but I hope my perspective gives an idea of why this sort of thing is good for business generally and why it would be good for CR.

[fanhackers]

Fandom/Activism

I interrupt my dive into Abigail DeKosnik’s work to note that as the United States moves deeper into its (apparently endless) election season, we’re seeing a lot of fandom-as-activism starting to emerge, as well as activism-as-fandom. De Kosnik herself was one of the early writers on fandom/activism, writing “Participatory democracy and Hillary Clinton's marginalized fandom” for the very first issue of Transformative Works and Cultures in 2008; more recently, Aja Romano wrote about how Donald Trump’s followers can be seen to be acting like a fandom for Vox: “If you want to understand modern politics, you have to understand modern fandom.” 

TWC hosted an entire guest issue on Transformative Works and Fan Activism, edited by Henry Jenkins and Sangita Shresthova; Jenkins and Shresthova also collaborated on By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism (NYU, 2016) which collects essays on fan activism. Other essays on fandom/activism have been published by TWC with Alex Xanthoudakis’s Mobilizing minions: Fan activism efficacy of Misha Collins fans in "Supernatural" fandom (2020) and  Hannah Carilyn Gunderman’s Fan geographies and engagement between geopolitics of Brexit, Donald Trump, and Doctor Who on social media (2020) being recent examples. Meanwhile, Tanya Cook and Kayle Joseph are the authors of Fandom Acts of Kindness: A Heroic Guide to Activism, Advocacy, and Doing Chaotic Good (Penguin Randomhouse 2023), a guide on how to use fandom and fannish strategies to make a difference. 

Some examples of fandom/activism emerging this U.S. election season include Heroes 4 Harris: Kamala-Con  which is scheduled to happen online today, Sunday September 8, 2024, 1pm PT / 4pm ET: this is billed as “a Comic-Con for Kamala” and “the largest fandom led gathering in support of a presidential candidate in American history.” It will feature: “actors, writers, directors, and super fans of Hollywood's most inspiring heroic fandoms” and promises not just inspiration from some of our favorite stars (Mark Ruffalo, Sean Astin, Rosario Dawson and others - not to mention Henry Jenkins himself) but also breakout groups and training in “fan mobilization.”  

Meanwhile, Lynda Carter (always a Wonder Woman!) is also trying to get out the fan vote for Harris with her group Geeks & Nerds for Harris Walz (@GeekOutTheVote); this is also billed as “a fan activist campaign” and they are planning special online events, the first of which will be an online call on September 24, 2024.  As they describe on their website: “Fandom has never just been about media consumption. Fans are artists, creators, and digital ambassadors. When we share what we love, it radiates around the world. And to paraphrase the Vice President, it’s how we show them who we are. By connecting battle-tested campaign canvassing strategies to the heritage and practices of fan communities, we can encourage fans to get out the vote in key battleground states.”

Donald Trump, aside from being his own fandom with himself as fan in chief, also seems to have had some self-identified fandoms collectively organizing for him over the years - these include Fans of Kanye West, Fans of Race Car Driving, and, strange but true, Fans of the 1980s, who apparently believe that Donald Trump would also be a fan of 80s horror movies, Scritti Politti, and  the soundtrack to Pretty in Pink. (I’m not making that up; it’s on their Twitter.) That said, Mel Stanfill’s newest book Fandom is Ugly (2024) argues that, despite its popular reputation, media fandom is not essentially progressive; that in fact, “reactionary politics and media fandoms go hand in hand.” Stanfill’s book looks at the ways in which fans have organized in conservative, reactionary, or even hateful ways, from Gamergate to the collective abuse and harassment of actors in the latest Star Wars franchise. 

The discipline of fandom studies is now being used to study all different kinds of affiliations and advocacy movements, not just those based around film, tv, sports, or music. Fan studies is now applied to political and social movements. Jenkins is still a powerful voice on the relationship between fan studies and participatory democracy (whether progressive or reactionary): read this 2024 interview with him published in Communication and the Public: “The path from participatory culture to participatory politics: A critical investigation—An interview with Henry Jenkins.”  As Jenkins notes:

Part of the ethos of fandom is to ask questions—from nitpicking to imagining other outcomes, different trajectories for character arcs, and other worlds where the story might occur, all of which is expressed through fan works. I would say that fans are often more critical than the general audience in asking these questions, which makes them somewhat different from many partisans and activists I might know who rarely question their beliefs and ideological commitments. And fans are more tolerant—as an aggregate—of different interpretations than partisans are of different ideological stances. So, you could do worse in grounding a democracy than engaging with fans.

[yall-batman-fanfic]

Meeting the Justice League | Batman/Bruce Wayne x Magician!Reader

Synopsis: Vivian didn’t meet the Justice League until she asked Bruce if she could, and that was after she ran into one while at work. Let’s just say that not all first-time meetings were ideal or good at all. Even if that member is on probation.

Vivian met some of the members of the League before they became the Justice League. She remembered meeting Diana Prince when she was invited by one of her former mentors to the museum they worked in. At that time, Diana was a museum curator. She didn't know she was Wonder Woman at the time and only did when Bruce revealed to her some files he's been keeping about possible threats, starting from Superman, then there was a speedster in Star City, and then Diana Prince, or Wonder Woman, who has been fighting since World War I.

She remembered coming to the museum and meeting the tall, lean, and beautiful woman. Diana came to greet them that day and showed the collection of statues from the classical era they have restored. After the tour, Vivian went out to have coffee with her to talk more about their works, and they were later joined by Bruce who flew all the way from Gotham to Washington, D.C. to surprise her and join her in the remaining days of her trip in D.C. (Kirk wasn't too happy when Bruce appeared and took his spot beside Vivian in all the dinners and lunches). 

When Vivian introduced Diana to him, there was a pause before he held out his hand to her and introduced himself. She took note of that but said nothing and continued with their lunch. She observed Bruce and Diana the entire time and made a list of things to ask him when they retreat to the hotel room he booked for them both in the same hotel she and her colleagues were staying at – she just have to move out of her current room she shared with a couple of other female professors and join Bruce in the suite floors above the others.

“Wanna tell me who that was?” Vivian asked as soon as she closed the door. “Couldn't be an ex-girlfriend since you kept the act of,” she made a gesture that showed his entire persona, “Billionaire-philanthropist Bruce Wayne who came to see his girlfriend in D.C., all the way from Gotham – which, by the way, is impractical but how couldn't I love you even more?” She kissed his cheek.

Bruce smiled. He then had her back facing him so he could zip down her dress. “Diana Prince. She's a member of the League.”

“Oh – wait, what?” Vivian turned to him. “You don't just drop a bomb like that and act like it's nothing.”

“She's a work friend, Viv.”

“No, George and Catherine who are floors below us sleeping in shared rooms with the others and are eating take outs from McDonald's are work-friends. Leaguers are not just work friends. You get to talk shit about your work friend, not a fellow Leaguer.”

Bruce chuckled. “Trust me, Diana can be rude when she wants to be… and she can call out your shit when needs to be.”

“Exactly, and you can't do that at work. It's either you talk behind their back or you don't,” Vivian jokes. “So, let me guess, Wonder Woman?”

“The one and only.”

“Holy shit! Bruce, I met Wonder Woman and you didn't tell me! I talked about World War I like a total geek in front of the woman who actually fought in it!”

“Don't worry, she just messaged me and said that she finds you interesting and asked if you're up for ice cream sometimes,” Bruce got out his phone that just sent him a notification.

“Do you have any idea how much of a Wonder Woman fan I was growing up?! I had history books, Bruce, history books just so I could read about her. Do you think she'll sign them for me?”

Bruce frowned, more like a pout as he said, “You never let me sign anything.”

“Please, you leave enough marks on my body that it's passable for an autograph,” she made her point when she took off the dress and showed the hickey on her waist.

“You can ask her for one when you both head out for ice cream. I know your plane leaves tomorrow back to Gotham, but maybe we can stay back a bit so you both can have that meet up.”

“It's a date.”

He didn't like that. Not one bit, but Bruce messaged Diana about the plan and gave her the time they could meet.

Changed to her pajamas – which was just her old Gotham University t-shirt and a pair of Batman printed shorts (she got those just to mess with him) – Vivian jumped on their bed and snuggled close to Bruce. 

“I know we agreed to keep League business out of any conversation since what you’re dealing with is really confidential, but since you’re working on this with Alfred… maybe I can have a little peek at that file now? Just so I know who I keep an eye out for.”

“Don't worry, there aren't any historical figures you've encountered lately. And Diana's the only one… but I guess you're right. You're practically behind the Bat Computer when we're on patrol. It's about time I also share some stories from my other work.”

The next day, Vivian went with her colleagues to their last destination before saying goodbye to them as she and Bruce would be staying for an extra day in D.C., this had Catherine tease her about their extra day stay, and a disappointed look with Kirk since they planned to watch another movie on the plane. They met with Diana as soon as her colleagues left and Vivian spoke with her much more relaxed than the last as secrets were no longer in the way.

At the end of their date, Diana said to them both, “Bruce, you should bring Professor Pryor to the Tower sometime. We might need her expertise in some areas, and her skills.”

Bruce frowned. One of the reasons he didn't want the League to know about Vivian was because of her power. Once they learn about her magic, they will always add her as an option to their plans. Magic is one of the things they battle.

“We'll see,” said Bruce.

~*~

It was easy to identify who Superman was when she met Clark Kent in the gala. Before she just went through the files of the Justice League with Bruce, she's heard and has seen Superman in the newspaper a couple of times now and it would either be on a blurry photo or just the bad quality of the newsprint. So, when she saw the profile of the Kryptonian on the BatComputer, Vivian said, “well, gotta give him points with creativity. I mean, when Oli (her brother) removes his glasses and sweeps his hair back, he's unrecognizable.” But after a beat she and Bruce were laughing.

Clark Kent grew up on a farm in Kansas and came to Metropolis and works in the Daily Planet (“Look at that, Superman’s going to work for you,” Vivian commented), and has written pieces that span from investigative journalism, to entertainment and lifestyle, and sports.

As much as Vivian wanted to meet Clark Kent, Vivian can't just go to the Daily Planet to meet him without reason. So, when Bruce mentioned that they were going to have a gala in Wayne Tower to celebrate Wayne Enterprise's acquisition of the Daily Planet, and to welcome the new company under W.E.’s list of companies in its conglomerate, Vivian asked to have Clark Kent to cover the event (since the invitees were only the board members and some chosen employees by the Editor).

When Clark received the news from Perry White, Clark had a feeling this was the work of Bruce. Still, he went to the gala to cover the entire thing, and as he stood there with the other reporters with Jimmy to get photos, Clark braced himself when he heard someone call out, “Bruce Wayne's here!”

Coming out of the sleek black car, Bruce Wayne acknowledged the people around them, he then let out a boy who was around twelve years old, and then, to Clark's surprise, a woman with red hair and wearing a long black dress that made her stand out. She held onto Bruce hand the entire time, while keeping an arm around the boy's shoulder to keep him close.

They passed a couple of reporters who asked a few questions, mostly for Bruce to answer about the acquisition of the Daily Planet, and some asking Vivian about the documentary that she will be part of. It was a documentary about Gotham City, and as one of the renowned researchers and historians of Gotham, she was asked to guest in the whole thing.

When they were about to approach Clark, Bruce whispered something to Vivian's ear and her gaze came to him. Vivian smiled and she approached him with a hand held out.

“Clark Kent, right?” She said.

“Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, Professor Pryor,” said Clark.

“The pleasure is mine, Mr. Kent. I've read your works and it's nice to see a reporter putting their heart into their works. I hope this change will be good for you and the other members of the Planet.”

“Some mixed reactions but people will get used to it,” Clark shrugged. It was when Jimmy nudged him and then asked Vivian for a photo that Clark remembered he was there for work too. After Jimmy took the photo of Vivian with young Dick Grayson, she refused to get a solo photo, Clark guessed, as she kept Dick with her whenever Bruce wasn't there (preoccupied with other reporters and partners). Young Dick Grayson was her safety net in these places, and Clark could hear her heart beating faster than normal, and see the little mannerisms that showed anxiety. The way Dick held her hand showed that the boy knew about it and would stay beside her.

So, instead of asking her something that would get her caught off guard, Clark went off script and asked her something that would get her comfortable in the situation: “We heard that you will be part of a documentary that explains Gotham's origins.   Tell me, Professor, what can you say about this documentary? There’s also word that it would be directed by one of the renowned directors in Gotham.”

Caught off guard with his question, Jimmy nudged Clark again but Clark ignored him. With Lois writing about the merger, Clark was supposed to write a lifestyle piece about Vivian Pryor’s dress, her relationship with Bruce Wayne, and just mention the project she was part of. No deeper dives into the project. This piece was about the only woman that Bruce Wayne was in a long-term relationship. Despite Bruce being in Gotham, his photos in business magazines have women in Metropolis swooning, and when they heard rumors of him in a serious relationship with a university professor, they were left heart broken. And everyone now wanted to know who Vivian Pryor was beyond the author biography and the interviews and documentaries.

This was supposed to be a celebrity scoop! And Vivian Pryor was a rising celebrity.

“Well, I can't say much that won't get me in trouble. But it will give people more insight on Gotham. I know that Gotham has a reputation in other cities, but I hope this documentary would show how rich it is in history, and I think the director will be able to do it. He is a Gothamite afterall, so he'd know what to show.”

“What about you? I read that you didn't really grow up here. What got you so interested in Gotham?”

“Gotham has secrets that are yet to be discovered. And I think that's what draws me to it –” This made Dick scoff and sent her a teasing look, which Vivian pinched him playfully for. “Alright, that and this little kid.” Dick rolled his eyes. “Other than the fact I went to Gotham University. Also, for the record, my mother was actually a Gothamite. She grew up here in Gotham, but she was a free spirit and liked to travel and brought me with her until we settled down in Liverpool.”

“What are you talking about here?” Bruce came to Vivian's side. He glanced at Clark's way but only for a moment as his gaze stayed at Vivian. 

“Just her latest project, Mr. Wayne,” said Clark.

“Well, I'd hate to cut this short but we need to head inside,” Bruce then held out a hand to Clark, “It's nice to finally meet you, Clark Kent. It was Vivian who asked you to cover for tonight's event. She’s a big fan of your works.”

Ah, so she knows, Clark pieced together.

“I'm glad to hear that. We've been trying to get an interview with Professor Pryor but she's got a full calendar for the past few days.”

Vivian glanced at Bruce before she said, “I'm sure we can squeeze you in. I'll send you my free schedules, Mr. Kent. I'll be sure to tell your boss about it too.” After that the unconventional family of three went inside the venue to join the celebrations.

The next day, Clark got an earful from Perry that he didn't get the scoop he was assigned to write, but after a while Perry got a message from Bruce Wayne's secretary about the free schedules of Vivian Pryor so Clark could get a one-on-one with her since their conversation was cut short. Clark wasn't sure if that was on purpose or a coincidence, but that message saved his behind.

After coordinating with Vivian and Bruce’s secretary in their free time, Clark took a ferry ride to get to Gotham. When he got there, Clark was surprised when he saw Bruce Wayne to be at the pier to pick him up.

“Clark,” Bruce greeted with a smirk. Beside him was Dick who begged to go with him to meet Superman face to face.

“Bruce,” Clark shook Bruce’s hand. “Hi Richard,” he held out his hand to the boy.

Dick shook it and said, “Call me Dick. Everyone does.”

“I'll take note of that. So, where's Professor Pryor?”

“Still on campus. I thought I'd let you see her work before the interview, just so the Planet really knows who they're writing about,” Bruce opened the door for Dick before getting in the car.

The ride to Gotham University took a little while, and Clark frowned when they passed the depressing areas in Gotham and then the sudden transition to the “metro” side of the city, which was where Gotham University was. Bruce parked his car beside the car that had a parking spot named for Vivian Pryor, and they were walking through the halls of the university campus where Bruce and Dick were greeted with familiarity.

When they entered a classroom, Clark could hear Vivian's voice in the amphitheater setup of the room. The room was packed with students, colleagues, and some professionals in their field, listening to her special lecture that day on symbols and icons, which was her specialty. 

“Symbols are deeply embedded in our cultures, religions, and histories. They can represent complex concepts and beliefs that vary significantly across different societies. And to interpret these symbols you need to understand their context. Their historical background and the cultural narratives surrounding them. Let's say these,” Vivian pressed the clicker and the slide showed an image of Lady Gotham which the audience represented as justice, while others said “a lie!”. She said nothing and showed another photo. It was of a black mask with a long beak, the answers were: “death”, “death mask”, “Penguin's new face”, and “plague mask”. 

Another photo, this time it was gold mark with a lightning bolt.

“Zeus!”

“Storms!”

“Thor!”

Another photo. A trident.

“Devil's pitchfork.”

Then another. This time it was Superman's symbol.

“Hope!”

“Justice!”

“Alien!”

“Superman!”

Then another. It was the Batman's symbol this time.

“Vengeance!”

“Justice! Real justice!”

“Batman!”

“It's a fucking bat!” A student called out, which earned laughter from the others, and one of the professors to reprimand them.

“Alright. Starting from this,” she showed a photo of the lightning. “You all just got two out of five… not enough to pass this class, if you ask me. Because your answers were objectively correct, but if you zoom out of this photo,” she pressed the clicker and the whole photo appeared. “That is the Flash!” 

And it was, it was the photo of Barry in his Flash costume and smiling at the camera.

“And, this one…” the trident photo zoomed out and showed Arthur as Aquaman. “Poor Aquaman. Don't let him hear you call that a fork.”

The students laughed and groaned at the answer.

“And you got the last two correct though,” Vivian showed the photos of the Batman and Superman from their front page photo when the Justice League were featured. “Now that we’ve finished the classics, we're moving to more modern symbols that are built today. The new earthshakers and gods that guard the skies and land and oceans. For extra credit on those who want, I want a paper next week that is an analysis on what the Justice League symbolizes. You can take it culturally, historically, or even use newspapers for your sources. What I want is to see how you analyze these symbols beyond the – as Mr. Sanches said in our last lecture – beyond the bling.”

The lecture ended after that and the audiences were leaving the place, giving Bruce and Dick the space to come down to meet her with Clark. Dick was the first to greet her, and Vivian welcomed him in her arms. 

“Hey, you didn't fall asleep!” Vivian rested her chin on his head as he sat on her desk.

“I never slept in your lectures!”

Laughing at him, Vivian turned to Bruce to greet him with a kiss.

“You were wonderful,” he told her.

“Thanks. And Clark, wonderful to see you here!”

“Hello, Professor Pryor.”

“Please, Vivian's fine. And maybe we should head to a more comfortable place to talk?” Vivian said as she nodded at the direction of the students that linger in the classroom to get the latest scoop. “Wayne Manor isn't that far.”

“Of course.”

“And Alfred made lunch too,” said Bruce.

~*~

“So, Bruce finally told you about the Justice League,” Clark said as he drank his tea. 

Sitting in the sitting room in Wayne Manor, Clark was finally able to remove the mask and greeted Vivian as himself – as both Clark and Superman. And in return, Vivian showed him her secret too – rather, the entire Wayne Manor’s secret. Her magical abilities. When she first showed it, Clark nearly had a heart attack when the pot of tea flew to his side and asked if he needed a refill, at first he thought it was Alfred asked but then the butler came out of the kitchen with more biscuits and pastries. Then he saw the floating tea pot and jumped in fright.

“For a moment I thought the place was haunted,” said Clark when he saw the floating pots and china.

“Ms. Vivian likes to play her part in the upkeep of the manor by conjuring the dead to help out,” Alfred joked.

After that was put aside, and Dick getting an autograph from Superman, Clark went to work by stating how thankful he was that they called just in time when Perry was about to tell him off for not doing the piece.

Vivian sighed when she learned what the piece Daily Planet wanted and shrugged at Bruce's way, saying, “it's what the people want. Let's get on with it. I trust Clark with telling the story as truthfully as the people want it to be.”

After what he saw in that lecture and finally meeting Vivian that was beyond the papers and the spotlight of the paparazzi because she was dating Bruce Wayne, Clark promised to do the best he could. So, he went to work, starting with Vivian's background, then her work, and how she met Bruce. His question was really just a fluff piece for people to get a glimpse of the life of a woman dating a billionaire, as Perry told him to. 

But that wasn't what Bruce and Vivian saw when the copy of the Daily Planet came to their door, brought by Alfred.

The article that Clark wrote did mention Vivian's relationship with Bruce but it focused on women in her field and how she is now a rising name in the male-dominated workplace, which was what he saw in her lecture. 

“Vivian Pryor is inspiring young women to take the field as more and more female students are applying for symbology and iconography majors in universities. Beyond that, she has been passionately supporting the Wayne Foundation to bring education for all children in Gotham and is helping in improving and setting up schools in the city… proving that it doesn't take a mask or superpowers to be a hero…” Dick finished reading aloud the last paragraph. “Congratulations, Viv!”

Vivian turned to Bruce and said to him, “How about we take a trip to the Planet so I can thank Clark for this? Maybe set a date with Lois too?”

“No need, he's already in the back garden,” Bruce got up as his phone got a notification of the new arrival.

Coming to the back, Vivian saw Clark landing on the green grass with Lois Lane just coming down from his arms.

“We came as soon as we heard,” said Clark, grinning.

Lois went to Vivian first and greeted her with a firm shake. “Clark went all out in this one, he even battled Perry to divert it from a fluff piece on lifestyle to the business section. Hi, I'm Lois. Lois Lane.”

“Vivian Pryor – and thank you so much! It's so nice to finally meet you! I've read your works and the one that won the Pulitzer!”

Before Vivian can go to Clark and thank him for the wonderful piece he wrote, Lois was already dragging her inside the manor to talk as they were the “only two people who would get what it feels like to date someone who wears their underwear outside”. 

Bruce went to Clark and invited him inside the manor as well, as they entered the home where they saw Vivian and Lois happily chatting away, Alfred serving drinks, and Dick sneaking to get an extra cookie, he turned to Clark and said, “thank you. This article means a lot to us both. For the past few weeks Vivian's been hunted by the media and it's been bothering her for a while now.”

“No problem, Bruce. Besides, I never really liked writing those kinds of things. It was nice seeing her work… and that's why you brought me to her lecture, didn't you?”

“I'm sure you would have written something even without the lecture,” Bruce smirked.

~*~

Vivian didn't meet the Flash nor Green Lantern in their civilian identity. It was one of those days where Batman had an early start in the morning, rather was running over time as the caped crusader. Vivian woke up with Bruce missing in their bed, which disappointed her, but she did get a call from him while he was in a chase with some criminals across Gotham. Though she appreciated the thought, Vivian told him to focus on the road before he crashes and she and Alfred had to make up another story on how Bruce Wayne got into an accident.

On her drive to work, just right after she dropped off Dick at school, the chase that Batman was in led to the road Vivian was driving at. And it wasn't just any car chase.

“Shit!” Vivian saw the large truck ramming through the traffic, and before she could even get out of the car, Vivian found herself standing on the pavement with her personal items with her, and a really, really bad headache.

“Sorry ‘bout that!” Flash said and handed her a cup of coffee from a nearby shop. “Just like how Batman said you liked it, and –” in a blink of an eye he had a takeout in hand “-- forgot the pastry.”

“Thanks, Barry,” Vivian said, still shocked with all of this. “And what about the big ass… oh, Hal's here.”

The Green Lantern has arrived and had the truck in mid-air with his materialized crane. Batman parked his motorcycle by the pavement where Vivian and Flash were and was glaring at the sight of Hal. 

“I guess he came uninvited?” Vivian said. While Batman welcomes help, only when he asks, but isn't too happy when someone comes into his city uninvited. 

“You're welcome, Spooky!” Hal called out.

Flash chuckled and shrugged. “Gotta go!”

“Thanks, Flash,” Batman told the speedster, but the Flash was gone but Vivian guessed he heard it in his comms. Batman then turned to her and asked, “are you alright?”

“I am. And thanks for the…” she raised the cup of coffee and the pastry. “But I am sorry about the car, though.” She whispered as she saw the car they bought for her daily commute to work now crushed after the truck ran over it earlier. Thank god she didn't leave anything in that car and had everything in her bag, ready to tuck and roll.

“It's just a car. What matters is you're safe.”

“Yeah, see you around, I guess. Thanks for saving the day again, Batman.”

It was awkward not to kiss him goodbye or anything.

Later that day, on campus, Bruce visited her to see how she was, acting as if he wasn't there to see her after the Flash saved her ass from getting crushed by a truck. He came with a take out from her favorite restaurant and keys for a car. It was his silver Audi, one of the few cars that were not too flashy in his collection. 

“We can head out to look for a new car for you,” said Bruce as he showed her the car in the parking lot which got a couple of students and staff do a double take at the sight of the fancy car. “Or you can just use this.”

“And have this crushed in Gotham's traffic?” Vivian raised a brow at him. “I'd rather not.”

Bruce sighed, “I guess we're going to the showrooms later.”

“How about a second hand car?”

“Vivian.”

“Bruce.”

They held their strong and stubborn gaze. Until Vivian sighed and said, “I’m paying for the new car, you already gave your share the first time.”

“Because I want to.”

Vivian unlocked the car and opened the back door for him to enter. When he got in, Vivian followed and started the engine with the key's remote engine feature. There, hidden in the heavy tint, Vivian reached for him and kissed him deeply. Bruce was about to pull her to his lap but with how cramped the car was he couldn't and he sighed.

“Yeah, I guess your car had more leg room,” Bruce commented.

Vivian laughed and brought him another kiss. “Thanks for bringing this over. But how are you going back to work? And did you even get to sleep before coming here?”

“I took a nap. And don’t worry, Alfred's coming to pick me up. I'll be staying at home today. He forbade me from working today and only allowed me to head out to bring you the car.”

“Good. I'll see you later.”

“Also,” Bruce sighed again and took out his phone and read the message. “Barry said that – and I quote – should totally have a double date or a triple date with Superman. P.S. Hal says your girlfriend's hot.” He hummed in displeasure when he read the last part.

“That's your call, now go home.”

“Alfred's not here yet, and it will take a while before he arrives.”

“Bruce, we're on campus.”

“I'll try not to shake the car too much –”

PING!

Another message, and it was from Hal. Bruce read it aloud, “Hal's wondering if you have a sister and it could be a double-double date.” He scoffed. “Yeah, Olivia would give him the time of day. I'd like to see her scare him off with the training she's got in the army.”

~*~

Vivian met Victor Stone before he became Cyborg. She remembered Victor as one of the students that Gotham University wanted to offer an athlete scholarship as the young man showed potential in American Football. She would usually hear Victor Stone's name whenever there's a game and the professors in the breakroom would surround Justin's laptop that played the life feed of the match. Though she didn't know much about American Football, she knew that Victor Stone had a chance to go pro with all the praises given from the announcers and from the professors in the room hoping Gotham University gives a good offer to the young athlete.

Because of his popularity, Gotham University invited him for a tour in the campus even before college application season started. Victor Stone was huge, that was the first thing she thought when she saw the boy, and really nice because she tripped on her own heels while walking – it broke in the middle of the day – the boy left the tour he was getting just to help her out. It was embarrassing when he carried her to the nurse's clinic because of the sprain.

When she met him again as the Leaguer Cyborg, Vivian was shocked to see how he was now. What shocked her even more was when he remembered her. 

“You're Professor Vivian Pryor from GU, not sure if you remember but I carried you to the nurse's office to get checked after you tripped and sprained your ankle,” said Cyborg. “I guess this is the last thing you expected from me, huh?”

“I'm surprised but I’m glad that you're here,” Vivian shook his robotic hand. “It means Batman has someone watching his back. You're a good kid, Victor, and I still get embarrassed whenever the others would bring up the time a touring student had to carry me to the nurse's office.”

“All good, Professor. No longer wearing heels?”

“I still do, but I switch them out in the middle of the day now.”

She remained good friends with Victor Stone since then and, though unfair, depended on him for Batman's safety and return.

~*~

Vivian met J'onn a couple of times. The Martian was a man of few words and whenever the would meet it would be brief as he had duties in the Tower. But there was a time when she encountered his mind reading abilities when he suddenly told her, “Unfortunately, Professor Pryor, Martians are not accustomed to heat nor are we war-crazed beings, just like how our planet was named after the Roman god of war, Mars.”

“So, you can read minds, at least the movies got that right. But noted on the other bits,” Vivian said. “And because of that, I'll be reading about blocking mind readers again. Excuse me.”

~*~

Zatanna joined the Justice League much later and when the League was already an established organization. She brought magic into their arsenal. But Vivian met Zatanna even before she was a Leaguer too. It was during one of her shows in Gotham, Bruce took her to one of the shows and they got access to the back where she got to meet Zatanna and learn more about Bruce's training under her father, and something new about him too.

“You guys dated?” Vivian said.

“You never told her?” Zatanna raised a brow at Bruce.

“It was brief,” Bruce told her.

Vivian raised a brow at him. “I told you about John, Bruce.”

“John. Not John Constantine?” Zatanna asked her.

“The one and fucking only,” Vivian said. “You?”

“Based on that reaction, things didn't go so well then. And yeah, I did.”

And based on that Vivian could see that Zatanna still had feelings for John Constantine. 

“Is he still a total asshole?” Vivian asked.

Zatanna groaned and said, “so much! You have no idea!” Zatanna waved her hand and got them some seats and a couple of drinks. Leaving Bruce to stand at the corner while they chatted. “He's so – I could kill him.”

“Fall in line.”

“What did he do to get you to want to kill him?” Zatanna smirked.

“He tried to trap a demon into my body and kill it easily with the Spear of Destiny.”

“Fucking asshole.”

“You got no idea,” Vivian clinked glasses with her and took a drank the wine. “This is really weird, I know that we just dated each other's exes but I'm starting to like you.”

“Same here. And don't worry about Bruce and me, it was just – as he said – brief. He's more of a really good friend now. Does he still have the tendency to brood and smolder?”

“Brood and smolder?”

“Yeah, back then he would have this look and just –” Zatanna mimicked Bruce's face which had them laughing. “-- he's so dramatic.”

“Now that you mentioned it, yeah, he still does. And John, what's his latest?”

“The last he's gotten himself into some shit with a demon or a witch. Nothing new. Same old John, I guess.”

“Same old John fucking Constantine.”

Bruce stood there for a while as the two women spoke like old friends and not someone who just met moments ago. He had to excuse himself to get a drink but was stuck there when they started asking him questions that were too awkward to answer. Especially when it was his ex and his current girlfriend asking. But who was he to say no to an interesting invitation that involved them three, especially if it was Vivian and Zatanna who suggested it?

~*~

John Constantine is not an official member of the Justice League, but he does some jobs for them when it deals with the dark arts. The first time Vivian saw him again after so long, was at the Watchtower where Batman was reluctant to recruit her for a job to consult about the dark arts. But really, it was John who requested the appearance of Vivian Pryor – the only witch he knew who could perform the specific magic to do the job – unknowing she was already married to Bruce Wayne that time.

When Bruce brought her to the Watchtower, he didn't tell her who asked for her there, so when she saw John in the room with the other concerned Leaguers on the mission… all hell broke loose.

“Long time no see, Vee!” John sarcastically said. “I would have gotten you myself but someone put a spell to keep me from finding you – FUCK!”

Vivian punched him across the face.

Many winced as they heard the impact.

In the background, Batman turned to Robin, who was Jason at the time, and said, “You were supposed to restrain her.”

The thirteen-year-old boy turned to him with an incredulous look. “What was I supposed to do?”

“How about calming her down?”

Just as Superman or Wonder Woman was going to intervene, Vivian snapped at their direction and said, “stay out of this!” Then grabbed John by the collar of his coat and gave him a headbut. 

“When I said I never wanted to see you again Constantine, I meant ever. Hence the spell,” Vivian hissed at him.

John spat out the blood from his mouth and said, “Still angry I see.” He turned to Batman. “Where did you find her and how the bloody hell did you convince her to come here?”

“At our home. And I asked her to come with me.”

“But he didn't mention that it was for John fucking Constantine,” she glared at her husband.

“Hold on!” John shifted his gaze between her and the Batman. “You married Batman?! Are you serious right now?! What the fuck, Vivian?”

“It's none of your business!”

“You do know how to pick them, don't you, love?” John laughed. 

Batman didn't like the little pet name John used for her.

“Shut the fuck up, John.”

“Listen, love, it's done. Let's just forget about what happened that night.”

“Not that simple.”

It was time for Bruce to stop this. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Batman gave her a look that said they'll talk about this later and Vivian had to reluctantly let go of John. Letting him fall on the ground.

“Ow! She did that on purpose! Don't you have a time-out for that behavior or something?” John said.

“Stop whining,” Vivian went to Jason's side and had him under her arm. Jason lets her hold him to calm her, and while she does, he raises a middle finger at John.

“Did you see that?! Oi, Bats, your kid's –”

“Let's get to the matter at hand,” Batman pressed on. “We've called for the best magic users on earth to join us on this mission.” He showed the profiles of Zatanna, John, and Vivian on the screen and footage of their magical abilities. Zatanna with her true power, John with his dark arts, and Vivian with the golden flames and the ability to attract and repel anything in her path.

“Hold on, are you using hand symbols there?” John pointed at the video of Vivian casting the large flame from her hand while holding her ring and middle finger forward and pressed on the pad of her thumb. “What are you? A witch on training wheels?”

Vivian did a hand sign and John's cigarette was suddenly frozen in ice.

Batman sighed and only watched the exchange. Zatanna came to his side and said, “Yeah, working with our current partners who happen to be exes isn't going so well.”

“I should have told her before I brought her here. Maybe given her time to cool off,” Bruce said.

“You don't say? I don't blame her though, John has a talent to piss anyone he comes across.”

“I don't blame her either… I brought Robin to keep her calm but he's just enabling her,” Bruce muttered as he watched Jason raising the middle finger at Constantine.

[iwoulddothingstothisman]

For the First Time I Feel

"Dude, you're fucked," Sam said right after Dean asked which fabric softener he thought Cas would like better.

"Shut the fuck up." Dean snapped back and put back the vanilla one, settling on petrichor and cinnamon.

"I don't even know if he has the same sense of smell the people do."

"I'm pretty sure he does, mainly because he said I smelt like grease the other day, he didn't even hug me!" Dean exclaimed.

"Oh no, the horror. I'm sure that means he doesn't love you anymore."

"Piss off."

Dean stalked away from Sam, leaving him in the laundry aisle. He had planned on leaving the store after that until he saw the baking aisle. How long had it been since he baked himself a pie instead of getting shitty store bought or half cold pie from dodgy service stations. With a sharp turn he went down the aisle until he found the pre-made pie shells, because he loves pie but not enough to make the shell from scratch. Next was the produce aisle, he grabbed a half dozen green apples, then a sheet of puff pastry followed by travel sized packs of cinnamon, vanilla essence and brown sugar.

Eventually Sam found him while he was lined up at the checkout waiting to cash out with a shopping basket that was 20 bucks dearer than planned. Sam simply raised an eyebrow when he saw the contents of the basket.

"What, I figured it was time I made a pie myself again. It always tastes better when you make it ya'self." Dean defended.

"If you say so." Sam agreed with a sceptical frown.

Dean was cursing up a storm in the shitty motel kitchen, he forgot to buy flour so the pastry was sticking to everything, the motel peeler was as sharp as a marble, eventually it got to the point where he asked (pleaded) for Sam to peel the last three apples for him then the shell didn't want to unstick from the plastic it was wrapped in which Dean eventually cut off. The only thing that seemed to be going right was making the syrup-eques mixture he had simmering away in a pot that was half full with water, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla that he was going to soften the apples in once he finally got them cut up then pour it all in the pie shell. (Please know this isn't a recipe this is just how I would assume it's done and am appropriating my apple crumble skills, if someone wants to try this please let me know how it goes.) Once he finally got the pastry strips crossed over the pie and then got the bastard in the oven he had decided he was never doing this again.

"I'm tellin' ya, Sammy, if I ever say I want to do this again I want you to laugh at me."

He set the oven timer for 45 minutes, then cleaned the mess he'd made of the kitchen and went for his shower, in an attempt to get the everything off him.

By the time he had finished and was walking out, his towel draped over his head, covering his still wet hair, the pie was done and Cas and Sam were sitting at the table chatting about art history of all things.

"Good god, I'm gone for 20 minutes and you two join the geek squad," Dean teased while glancing over to the stove top where the pie was resting.

"Says the guy that can recite Return of the Jedi right along with Mark Hamill," Sam said, rocking back in his chair.

"Shut up." He mumbled while shuffling over to press a kiss to the crown of Cas' head before checking out the pie.

"It went off just before you came out." Sam said.

Dean grabbed three plates and forks and a shitty knife from around the kitchen before cutting three slices of pie and passing one each to Sam and Cas before sitting down on the opposite side of the table.

Sam muttered his thanks before digging in and Dean was halfway through the slice when Cas spoke up.

"Dean… you do realise I don't need to eat, nor can I taste most things." He said squinting at Dean.

"I know." Dean barely looked up from his plate before replying.

"Then why did you give me some?"

"Because it would've felt weird just getting some for Sammy and I, plus maybe you might be able to taste this." Dean gave him a small smile and a shrug. This apparently was enough convincing for Cas because he dug in right after.

At first Cas couldn't taste anything, just feel the weight of the pie in his mouth and as it travelled do his throat. After another two bites however something changed. Some little part of his brain told him it was sweet. He didn't know how he knew that, he just did.

"I- I can taste it." He said in equal parts shock and delight.

"Wait seriously?" Dean perked up.

"Yes, it's sweet, right?" Cas asked.

"Yeah, it is." Dean said with a massive grin while walking over to stand next to Cas. He hesitated for a second before engulfing him in a tight hug.

All Sam could do was watch his brother's dumb boyfriend hold onto his dumber brother, he knew that things would go wrong and the happiness wouldn't last but while it did he was content to watch them relish in it. 

Is this heinously late? Yes.

Do I care? Not really.

I am going to be finishing this, it's probably just gonna take a while.

[wolven91]

Drifting - Part 11

“I am not one for politics. They make my scales itch.” Bemoaned Zeet as he walked ahead of Qik and Casper. His mobile platform moved and wandered without input from him as he stood upon it, grimacing at the two larger creatures. They had just left the boardroom where Casper had potentially just signed his body away if this went wrong. 

“I would have thought we would have got more usable data from you by informing you and letting you just *work* with us.” The blue geckin continued, musing out aloud. Casper couldn’t help but grin widely, pleased by the geckin’s seemingly honest distaste for the situation. 

Zeet was an engineer. A nerd. A geek, through and through. He cared about the machines he designed and made. The plots and schemes of others mattered little to him as long as they didn’t cross his wants and desires to improve on his designs. The geckin made an odd croaking throat noise. Casper spoke up.

“Let them work themselves into an early shed then, me and you are going to make a mech that’ll go down in history.” The young man offered, hoping to caress the geckin’s ego.

Qik grinned as well as he did when he blatantly hit his mark perfectly. 

“You think?! Oh! Oh ho ho ho! Just think! First ‘no drift’ pilot in one of *my* machines making headlines. But we need you to succeed. Fame goes both ways, ah?” Zeet pointed out, before adopting a focused look, crossing his arms and touching a finger to his mouth. The two far larger creatures shared a glance as both of them felt themselves disappear to the geckin’s perspective. 

“You’ll need survivability…” Zeet mumbled to him. “Heavy is always best for survivability, but it means taking the hits. Your agility shouldn’t be slept on. Light is just as good, if you don’t get hit.” The geckin snapped his head around to Casper.

“You stopped getting hit all the time?” The tiny creature demanded.

“What do you mean ‘all the time’? She got me *once*!” Casper shot back, thrusting a thumb sideways at Qik who remained silent, although her strut became more pronounced as they discussed her ‘perfect’ kill shot.

Zeet merely grinned at Casper and he was reminded that a grin from a geckin was *not* the same as a human grinning. Zeet was admonishing the human, not sharing in a joke.

“Once was enough. If we capitalise on your speed, you will be light, but weak; you will not survive errant hits! Anything above superficial damage could disable your points or even your whole rig if it’s a bad hit!” The geckin hissed. 

“I was showboating.” Admitted Casper. “I let my guard down. My fault. I won’t jeopardise your work again.” The human spoke seriously and with respect at the older engineer who squinted at him as the walking platform approached a door that slid aside without hesitation. The geckin waved a hand, dismissing the thought, seemingly satisfied with Casper’s devoted tone.

The group entered a room that was quite obviously Zeet’s workshop. Ignoring that it looked down on a hanger bay with a skeleton of a rig hanging in the centre, as Casper looked around the room, he learnt of Zeet’s personality. Messy, but devoted.

Mech and rig designs covered an entire wall which was dominated as a workboard. Pens, stylises and measuring tools were scattered everywhere. A large 3D printer squatted in one corner and was covered in tiny, intricate models of various shapes and sizes. Some were of arms and legs of disembodied mechs, and others were tiny replicas of the whole thing.

“Huh… I think you’d get along with some of us humans.” Casper mentioned, crouching to observe the intricate details of one particular model. It was beautifully designed all the way down to sleek lines showing where the various bolts would connect armour plates together.

“After yourself, I would very much like to meet more humans. I suspect if I could get my claws into one that had a history in mech design, fictional or not, we might share ideas…” Zeet offered before clapping his hands and holding them out in front of him, pointing his claws at Casper, drawing attention to himself.

“*But!* We need to design you a machine that will put us both in the history books and… *Not* leave you at the hands of the XixTech corpo-nation.” Declared Zeet, Casper nodding along until his brain caught up to the sentence.

“Wait… ‘Corpo-Nation’?” He asked, standing up again.

“Mm, they represent the eastern continental landmass on Bok. Our homeworld. They are their government representatives.” Explained Zeet matter-of-factly. Casper merely blinked, once again reminded this was not kansas. 

“Jesus… Yeah, let's not get dropped into that mess.” The young man agreed, already feeling his head spin. Qik settled herself, leaning against a wall, arms crossed as was her usual stance. Casper sat against the window frame with his back to the hanger below.

“So!” Zeet began. “Torso, Head, Arms, Legs and a Spinal mount. These are your rig’s modifiable options.” Zeet explained, turning to open a large cabinet where he produced three glasses. One tiny, the other two perfectly sized for Casper and Qik. The human glanced at the bottle of dark liquid, then to Qik who touched a long finger against her lips. She didn’t want him to ruin this. 

Zeet poured three healthy portions before taking a sip and giving a satisfied sigh, then continuing. 

“I already know what I’m doing for your chest, you don’t get a vote there.” He explained, swiping his hand through the air. Qik cleared her throat as she leaned in to pick up a spare glass.

“What’s your idea?” She asked calmly, seemingly trusting his good sense. 

“Maximum output. Heavier as an option, more so than an ultralight, but I think the way he modifies his output, it’ll be worth it.” Zeet explained, swirling the glass.

“I modify my output? What do you mean?” Casper asked, frowning somewhat. This apparently was an odd question. 

“Wha- My boy… You… It’s not a conscious decision? To pulse your power generation?” Zeet asked, seemingly very confused. Casper pulled a face and shrugged before reaching over and picking up the third and final glass. Taking a sip, it was like paint stripper with a smokey burn afterwards.

“Your power generation is not efficient, or it shouldn’t be! Your reactors ‘pulse’ instead of giving out a steady or constant amount. We thought it was a fault at first until the second and third time it happened. Every rig you hop in, it pulses.” Zeet explained shrugging his arms in defeated confusion, nearly, but not quite spilling his drink.

“Is it dangerous?” Qik asked, narrowing her eyes, but sipping at her own glass, it looked comically small in her hands. Zeet shook his head, sipping at his drink, a tiny red tongue dabbing at the murky liquid. 

“I don’t think so, although it was far, far faster when you took that hit.” The geckin conceded, pointing a finger over the rim of his glass. 

“Was it like a heartbeat?” Asked Casper, following a hunch. Zeet shook his head again, the corners of his mouth pulling up as if Casper had asked the same question as him.

“No. We thought so too, but it was too slow.” The geckin dismissed, looking into his glass with a contemplative frown. Unconvinced, Casper waited a second, considering what it could have been before getting an idea. Without speaking, Casper knocked his knuckles against the wall he was leaning on. Thump thump. Pause. Thump thump. Pause. The reaction was immediate, the engineer's feet jumping up in unison and briefly leaving the walking platform he stood upon as he pointed and did briefly spill his drink this time. . 

“Yes! That! That’s it! Two pulses and a pause. We racked our brains trying to figure that out!”

Casper merely smiled knowingly, closing his eyes and opening them again before speaking, pleased to have an answer for the older geckin.

“That’s *my* heartbeat Zeet.” Tapping his chest with his glass. ”Bigger heart, slower rhythm.” The young man explained. The tiny geckin stood there, motionless for a time. Before closing his eyes and placing his own drink down on the table.

“Your heartbeat. *Your*! Heartbeat. Argh! Rocks in my brain! Terminal rocks!” Zeet exclaimed, causing both Casper and Qik to grin as an apparent mystery was solved for him. The poor geek looked genuinely annoyed as he glared at the ceiling.

“So it’s not an issue?” Asked Qik.

“Huh! Hardly. It means he doesn’t run hot, but has access to power when he needs it. Works well with the rest of my plans.”

“Go on, you’ve ideas, I’m listening.” Casper said, grimacing as he slugged another mouthful of the drink down. It seemed to burn less with the third gulp. 

“Chest we go for power. Your spine mount, I suggest an advanced booster. It does mean you’re more vulnerable. One hit to your back and you’ve lost your main defence; not being where they fired at.” The geckin suggested, shrugging with the admission. 

“I mean if we’re engaging at range, I can move out of the way of the rounds, right?” Casper offered, looking to Qik for confirmation. She pulled a face and shook her head, her ears flopping with the movement. 

“Two problems with that; unreliable reactions and no one uses slug rounds anymore.” She explained. Casper frowned, specifically remembering a fairly solid round tearing through his chest not less than 24 hours ago. 

“What do you mean? The geckins do?” He pointed out, rudely pointing at Zeet who could care less as he tilted his head back, finishing off his own glass. He spoke next, pulling Casper’s attention. 

“We’re an exception, not a rule. The ursidains also use solid projectiles, but only when they’re firing a heavy hitter. Energy weapons are the name of the game these days. Most see solid projectiles as ‘old’, in the sense of ‘museum piece’ old.” Zeet offered honestly. 

Casper thought that was strange, solid projectiles were reliable, but this wasn’t his world. This was a galaxy in a vastly different period of their history than Earth was. He shook his head to clear his mind. 

“Okay fine, keep mobile. What about arms and legs? What about weapons?” He pressed, almost looking forward to hearing what toys Zeet was offering. 

“Legs wise, again, I’d go for speed. Extra vents for additional jet exhausts. Rather than running, you’ll end up ‘skating’ around the enemy. Good luck keeping up with you. You’ll need it too.” Zeet offered.

“Are the enemies quick?” Casper asked. 

“Fairly. Spider-Technicals.” Qik responded. 

“What are they?”

“Heavy armour, focused laser beam for their main cannon. Prolonged targeting will thermal shock the armour that gets hit, burrowing through whatever it's shooting at. The tanks are mobile, capable of keeping line of sight on their target and climbing up and around buildings to do so. The intention is to have a small army of them and they just overwhelm any target that approaches.” The lopel explained, polishing off her own glass and gesturing with her hands, as if she were spreading a model army out in front of her.

“So keep circling them?” Casper suggested.

“And they’ll have to track you. We keep you light and mobile, they focus on you…” Qik went on, trailing off to allow Casper to finish the thought. 

“...And you take them out while their back is turned.” The young man concluded, nodding at the idea. He could be bait, he didn’t even have to fight. Just wave his arms in the air and keep their attention. 

“He’s a fast learner.” Zeet pointed out, nodding to Casper but looking to Qik. She merely grinned and returned to her ‘arms crossed’ posture, smugness radiating off her.

“Thanks to his teacher.” 

Zeet was less than sure. 

“Mm. Sure.” He blinked slowly and turned his head back to the huma before opening them again. “Arms wise, we have options.“

“I did consider a plasma thrower, but it's heavy and drains a lot of power during charge up. Good against another mech, less so for tanks. We have similar options like sniper beams, but same thing. Line of sight and you’d need to be still.”

“So what would you suggest?”

“If we are going with this plan, we should actually keep you lightly armed. How do you feel about a solid sword?”

“Solid? But what about my lightsaber!”

“No, too draining. If we’re keeping you as fast as we intend, we need you using 100% of your reactor’s output. A solid sword, atomised edge, you’ll still be dangerous. Lightweight metal, no drain on your resources, there's no downsides besides no range. But that's not an issue this time.”

“Atomised edge?” Casper asked, just checking for clarification. Zeet nodded and hastened to explain before moving on. 

“An edge a few atoms thick. Blunts faster, but realistically, this is a blitz, you’re not going to be out there long enough to need to worry about that.”

“What could I cut through?”

“Anything with enough force behind your swing. Do *not* touch the edge with any part of yourself.” The geckin demanded with a serious tone and an accusing finger. Casper held his hands up in mock surrender. 

“Yes sir.”

Zeet merely nodded. Qik remained quietly thinking as she scratched her own chin.

“So, speed, speed, speed?” Casper summarised.

“Quite so. Qik, I trust you will just select your weapons as normal?” Zeet asked, turning to the lopel as he sat himself in a chair. The merc merely nodded and lay her palm up as if presenting her idea.

“I’m going for a swarm missile rig. If it’s just technicals, I don’t need anything else.” She explained with a carless shrug. 

“Swarm missile?” Casper prodded. 

“Line of sight lock on, you fire the swarm and they fire up into the air before raining down on the tanks. Doesn’t matter if they’re crawling on or around buildings. They’ll punch through their armour. The downside is I need to see them to lock on, which sucks when LOS works both ways.” Qik went on, but then leaned forward to emphasize her words. . 

“Buuut…” She drawled. 

“But if they’re looking at me, that doesn’t matter.” Casper replied, grinning back at the lopel. She held his gaze a moment longer than needed before straightening and giving him her approval. 

“Attaboy.”

Casper considered his options, and turned back to Zeet. 

“So a sword? Nothing else?” He asked. 

Zeet, his hands on his head, turned the chair to face the larger human. 

“Did you have something else in mind?”

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

[umi-adxhira]

TWTPTFLOB HIGHSCHOOL AU

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm from England, so we have secondary school, not high school. But let's just pretend that everyone listed below is 16-18

I. ROXANNA AGRICHE

The BIGGEST English Literature geek there is. The teacher says, "Next week we're learning Shakespeare's Macbeth" and she pulls up to class reading the entirety of Macbeth in a book she bought with annotations and shit

Has like two or three close friends she hangs around everyday in the library, occasionally she'll go to see Jeremy at break

I can see her playing a sport, maybe volleyball, because she wants to expand her CV or whatever Americans call it and sports would be a good one for extracurricular (she watched Haikyuu once)

I see her as that one girl who girlifies every page in her exercise book. Like she'll put "🩷✨️WWI✨️🩷" as her title to look coquette

On the student council if there is one, deputy head maybe. Deputy Head Girl if there isn't a council

II. JEREMY AGRICHE

In his academic flop era (same) if he opens a book for three seconds, you best believe he's gonna take a two hour break

Likes Biology but physically cannot get a good grade in it after that he just gave up

Has one friend that he bullies (affectionately) and will sometimes go to Roxana if his friend isn't in school or got held back by his teacher for not doing the homework

Shoves Dion's shoulders with his own whenever they pass each other in the corridors to make everyone know that they have beef (they don't he just doesn't like him)

Had a crush on a girl who liked Geography, so he actually revised it for the upcoming test to impress her (she didn't know who he was) and got upset that she didn't fall into his arms hopelessly in love

III. DION AGRICHE

Doesn't revise for shit but actually gets good grades. They're not the best but they're in the 70-85% range so he's honestly fine. Will put in some effort for the actual exams and whatnot

On the basketball team. He's tall and strong so he's honestly great for it. He has a natural talent but practices late into the night so he doesn't have to go home

Likes gacha games. Not in a weird way he likes playing the storyline and reading the lore. Also getting characters he likes.

If I have to choose between games I know and played, probably HSR or Reverse: 1999. He likes HSR a lot but not the unnecessary fan service. And likes Reverse: 1999 because it has little fanservice

Probably has a fan club like Teruhashi from Saiki K but with women and the occasional men that he genuinely has no idea exists

IV. GRISELDA AGRICHE

Biggest History nerd ever. Someone pulls out a mildly incorrect fact and she's like "erm akshually 🤓👆"

Revises day and night for exams and gets the best marks. Will NOT help a student if they're not dedicated and just want a good grade (I hate these people)

Plays chess a lot. Challenges her siblings to matches regularly and almost never loses

Like I said before in another headcanon she likes collecting stuff. Probably figurines or stuff from anime. I can see her liking Tsukasa from Dr Stone because he's a manly man and sweet

Has a friend group of four or five. They come over almost every week to revise and just chat and gossip

V. CASSIS PEDELIAN

Best student out there ngl. Not a teacher’s pet, has good grades, is respectful, helps other students, the whole package

Many of his female peers ask him for his haircare routine because his hair looks shiny and soft (he just uses shampoo) and he makes up random stuff so they won't be jealous of his perfect hair

Is a good singer. Is probably in a band with two or three people. He's like backup vocals and plays guitar

Sports, probably... also volleyball ngl. He also watched Haikyuu and he thinks he can totally become the next Ushiwaka (he's not) but then steps back a bit and becomes the libero

Hangs out with the people in his band, the girl in the group has a crush on him that literally everyone knows except for him which is honestly a feat in itself

VI. SYLVIA PEDELIAN

Is actually deep into brainrot but no one would guess. Unironically says "that's so skibidi" in her head whenever someone says something

She has some weird obsession with her brother like god forbid someone brings up music she'll be like "oh my brother is in a band he's so cool! I'm his number one fan and I listen to all of his songs" and she talks on and on about him it gets a bit creepy

Very popular in school, has a big friend group but people are only around because they want to be associated with her because she's so pretty

Has a crush on Jeremy but literally no one could tell. Also has a fanclub like Teruhashi but it's more known than Dion's

She's literally the most perfect pretty girl. Has good grades, good at sports, overly kind and friendly, but some people behind the scenes talk shit about her behind her back because they think she's faking it

©️umi-adxhira [20/10/2024]

[sunbearsophia]

Sorry again for how few and far in-between my Tumblr posts are, guys! I'll try and be more frequent with them!

It hit me a while back that for all I talk about my Next-Gen on Twitter, I hardly ever talk about my fan kids here on Tumblr! So, I decided to throw together a ref sheet for my main girl, Emmy, to get started on that and introduce her to y'all!

---

Her full name is Emilia Luna-Ophelia Barrabas-Darling, but almost everyone calls her Emmy for short. She was named after her late grandmother on Eduardo's side, although Laurel was actually the one who suggested it when she was born. (Eduardo absolutely cried when she suggested it, not that he wasn't already sobbing lol.) Her middle names were each chosen by one of her parents. (Luna for Eduardo, Ophelia for Laurel bc her mummy's a Shakespeare geek and we love her for it aaaaa.)

Probably 21 in the reference, definitely college-aged!

Working in retail currently to pay the bills, but saving up to attend art school when she gets the chance, wants to work as a background artist in animation.

Is generally a really friendly and outgoing person, extremely open with her personality, interests and affection, much like her mom. KNOWN for her hugs that could throw out someone's back, just generally really kind and chill, basically a big ol' puppy lady. She's also pretty stubborn and abrasive, however, and does have a temper on her, however. Aside from just generally getting grumpy when she's tired, exhausted or frustrated, she is just as willing to throw some HANDS when someone's pissed er off, just like her old man.

A pretty artsy-fartsy kinda gal, but not so much a snob about art, more like she'll happily ramble about art techniques and history when the subject is brought up. Also has a love for dancing, sports and Shakespeare.

Is extremely close with her family, she adores her Mummy Laurel and is a MASSIVE Daddy's Girl for Eduardo, she never misses the chance to see and spend time with them, and always wants to make them proud. (Her dad was her inspiration to start drawing when she was little, and always thinks of Eduardo and Laurel both as her heroes.) Also loves her little brother Leonardo, and is very protective of him, mess with him you mess with HER. >:(

Also loves her Uncle Mark and Uncle Jon with all her heart, they basically were third and fourth parents to her ever since she was a baby and she knows she can always go to them for anything. Very close to her other uncles, too, but out of all of them, she's closest to Jon and Mark. Also loves her Grandmado, and misses her terribly as an adult.

Has ADHD and dyslexia, so she often uses word processors and audio books to help with the latter and tends to plan and schedule her days in advance and stick heavily with routines to avoid losing focus with the former. Still has her struggles but knows she's supported and loved by those around her and is too stubborn to let them win.

Loves avocados, just like her dad. It was one of her first words, and to this day, her and her dad have a designated day all for eating avocados all throughout. (HC BY THE AWESOME @tamaraskabr ITS SO WHOLESOME I LOVE IT QwQ) Other than that, she loves basically anything mint chocolate, she's a simple woman lol.

---

All the tidbits I've got for now! Plan to follow up the post with some sketches of her other outfits I've worked on! For now, hope this gives some insight on who she is so I can share more art of her on here with context!

she's my goober daughter and i love her sm lol

[xzerosparrowx]

The Meeting of the Fellowship

Written for the @corrodedcoffinfest

Dividers by @saradika-graphics

Day #2 - Prompt: In the Beginning | Word Count: 768 | Rating: T | CW: Fat shaming and bullying. | POV: Gareth | Tags: How the fellowship met, Corroded Coffin in middle school, Eddie's first day at Hawkins, Tommy Hagan is a bully.

Hawkins Middle School. A veritable zoo where the Jocks, Geeks, Stoners, Punks, Brains, and Goths all converge for some good ol’ American education, all of them sniping and gnashing at one another when they cross paths. Gareth, Jeff, Doug, and Zach walk through the school invisible, within these halls they are no one and belong to no clique; each of them too quiet and too average to have anyone notice their existence. 

“Hey fatty!” a voice yells over the chatter. Gareth watches Zach tense his shoulders, hunching his body in an attempt to make himself look small. Before realising that Tommy Hagan and the rest of the Hawkins basketball team have surrounded their little group, a pack of hyenas circling the wounded. 

“You get that history assignment done, like I asked?” Tommy says, holding out his hand expectantly towards Zach, the others in the group snicker when Zach opens up his binder and pulls out three crisp pages of a carefully written essay. 

Tommy snatches them, flipping through the pages as he casually reads it over, checking on Zach’s work as if he knows what he is even reading about. His brow furrows and angrily points at the page in front of him “what the hell! Despot isn’t a real word!”  There is loud bark of laughter somewhere off to the side, temporarily stunning Tommy and his pack of half-witted shitheads for a moment before all their heads turn to the source of the sound.

A boy is standing by the lockers, lanky and rough-looking, swimming in a blue sweater that is marked by tiny moth holes and a black beanie on top of his head. Gareth watches him in fascination and horror as Tommy stalks his way over, the boy shutting his locker with a loud clang, books clutched in his arms, seemingly unaware of the Goliath behind him. He finally turns around and to Gareth’s surprise the boy looks bored when he faces Tommy, as if the presence of the jock is not the worst thing he has ever encountered. 

“You wanna say something, freak?” Tommy dares, a finger pointedly jabbing the boy’s chest.

Gareth watches the boy narrow his eyes at the finger, hands curling by his sides, a tightly wound coil ready for a fight before the boy suddenly breaks into a wicked grin, body suddenly relaxing.

“If you want to know what a word means, maybe you shouldn’t have shit for brains,” the boy says sincerely as if he is giving genuine advice, a chorus of ‘ooooh’ and snickers fill the hallway and Gareth cannot help but smile as the mysterious boy gives a small wink towards him and his little group. 

The boy’s face catches Tommy’s mean right hook with a loud smack, the sudden burst of violence seems to slow down time as the boy straightens up, spits out a glob of blood and rubs the bright red mark already blooming on his face before pouncing on Tommy in a burst of speed that catches everyone by surprise. It is a blur of action at that point, David and Goliath exchanging fists. Gareth, Zach, Jeff and Doug fighting off the rest of the jocks in an attempt to stop them dogpiling the boy, and there is no way in hell they will win this fight but Gareth cannot help but feel like he’s finally part of something.

They are shoved in the cramped, dark confines of the Janitor’s closet for their trouble, Tommy and the jocks laughing loudly when they slam the door close on them. Gareth pulls the cord for the overhanging bulb, revealing them all tightly packed together with the mystery boy, lips swollen and bleeding, the black beanie sitting skewed on his head revealing an outgrowing buzzcut. 

“Thanks for that, really,” Gareth says, the rest of the group nodding eagerly in agreement, “I’m Gareth.” 

“Jeff.”

“Zach.”

“Doug.”

“Eddie,” the boy replies with a smile, holding out his hand awkwardly towards Gareth and Jeff, hands criss-crossed against his chest. They shake hands seriously like businessmen in an important meeting until they are bursting with laughter, Eddie cackling loudly that makes all of them laugh harder. 

A few moments later, as they start to calm down, Eddie looks at them with large excited brown eyes “you guys want to be in a band?” 

Zach, Jeff and Doug all exchange glances with Gareth, and he can see the same glimmer of excitement and joy on their faces that he knows he is reflecting back at them. He turns to Eddie, the boy grinning as if he already knows the answer. 

“Sure!”

[jameswebb-discoveries]

🎉 Happy Leap Year! 🎉

Get ready to leap into the excitement because February 29th, 2024 marks a day that only graces our calendars once every four years!

From the ancient origins of leap years to quirky traditions around the globe, check out 100 Mind-Blowing Facts about Leap Year. Whether you're a history buff, a science geek, or just love a good trivia session, there's something here to pique your interest.

Read 100 Mind-Blowing Facts about Leap Year to dive into the fascinating world of timekeeping and celestial phenomena!

Let's make this Leap Year one to remember! 🚀🎈 #LeapYear2024 #Celebrate #TimeTravel #FunFacts

[real-total-drama-takes]

top 10 reasons why i think julia should be a pre-merge boot next season

⚠️warning: some may find the following content disturbing. julia fans' discretion is advised

it'd piss off her fans

she's overused her potential and hogged a lot of unnecessary screentime. her schtick as a villain is extremely overpraised especially when the main twist in ep 6 that marked her first significant accomplishment didnt even make sense. you're telling me that somehow, from hearing someone say one single word, she went through all the possibilities (including overhearing a confessional from the outside) and concluded that someone was downloading the confessionals?? despite no one knowing about mk's geek persona in addition to it never having been accomplished in the history of the show before? really? they could've at least had more interesting buildup to that twist, and have julia's "clues" actually have substance because otherwise the writing was very flimsy

she's not that complex of a character canonically. it may be difficult to hear but it's objectively true

it'd piss off her fans

her villain persona is just straight up being a bully about things that arent related to the game at all. it's laughable that people call her heather 2.0 when heather certainly had a personality past being an asshole and nothing else. "but we need more mean women in media!" julia fans also hate MK and millie for that exact reason! be consistent about it.

the pre-merge boot order this season was nasty. every single pre-merge boot had potential, even more so than julia (whose personality could immediately be guessed the moment her design was released. whoop-de-doo!)... i'd like more time for dynamic characters next season and not static ones.

julia's twist was very predictable. her entire character is predictable. she's the character everyone thinks they relate to while in reality they're more of a millie. but who's surprised that people prefer the skinny white tiktok girl over the most realistically written character in the show

with all her canon screentime in the show, she's developed very little. i think it's unfair to have her be a screen hog a second season in a row when she already had her time to shine and hardly did anything unique with it. we finally get the most diverse cast this show has seen and yet everyone wants more of the most boring type of character we've already seen in 700 other shows

seriously i don't get why people think she's all that. just step outside for a moment and you'll find an entire sea of people who are exactly like her, in both appearance and personality. calling her the best villain in the history of td is ridiculous and laughable and even mal was more entertaining for me to watch. at least he was funny

it'd piss off her fans

thanks for watching! please hit that like button and subscribe for more aaawesome content💯🔥💪

.

[rabbitcruiser]

Pi Day

Pi Day is on March 14, and any day that combines fun, education, and pie is a day worth celebrating! Pi, also known by the Greek letter “π,” is a constant value used in math that represents the ratio of a circumference of a circle to its diameter, which is just about 3.14….15…9265359… (and so on). Not only that, but the fourteenth of March is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, so all together it’s nothing short of a mathematician’s delight.

When is Pi Day 2024?

The beautiful constant pi (π) is celebrated by mathematicians around the world on National Pi Day on March 14.

History of Pi Day

To learn about pi, we need to go back a few thousand years and learn about this elusive number. The value of pi was first calculated by Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC), one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world.

However, it was first baptized with the Greek letter as its name when William Oughtred called it as such in his works dating back to 1647, later embraced by the scientific community when Leonhard Euler used the symbol in 1737.

But how did Pi Day end up in a country-wide phenomenon? For that, we need to travel to the Exploratorium in 1988 San Francisco, where it was thought up by physicist Larry Shaw.

Shaw linked March 14 with the first digits of pi (3.14) in order to organize a special day to bond the Exploratorium staff together, where he offered fruit pies and tea to everyone starting at 1:59 pm, the following three digits of the value. A few years later, after Larry’s daughter, Sara, remarked that the special date was also the birthday of Albert Einstein, they started celebrating the life of the world-famous scientist.

Pi Day became an annual Exploratorium tradition that still goes on today, and it didn’t take long for the idea to grow exponentially, hitting a peak on March 12, 2009, when the U.S Congress declared it a national holiday.

Now, celebrated by math geeks all around the circumference of the world, Pi Day became a pop culture phenomenon, with several places partaking in the activities, antics, observations and all the pie eating they can.

Pi Day timeline

March 14, 1988

The Inception

Larry Shaw celebrates Pi Day for the first time.

March 12, 2009

It’s Official

The U.S Congress declared March 14 National Pi Day.

March 14, 2015

Super Pi Day

The first ten digits of pi were achieved on 9:26:53 a.m. (3/14/15/92653)

August 19, 2017

Legacy That Lives

Larry Shaw passes away as Pi Day leaves its mark on pop culture.

Traditions of the day

Pi Day gives math enthusiasts the opportunity to celebrate their love for numbers and the enigma that is the infinite pi.

Since 1988, the day has been celebrated at the San Francisco Exploratorium. The first celebration was organized by Larry Shaw, who worked as a physicist at the center. The staff participated by marching around the exploratorium and consuming fruit pies. This tradition has lived on since. Math lovers talk about math, host get-togethers, and have pi recital competitions. In schools, teachers arrange scavenger hunts, pie bake sales, and even Pi Day workouts to stimulate more interest in learning and practicing mathematics. Those folks who work in food marketing also love to get involved, so keep your eyes peeled for some discounts, deals, and freebies on pies, it’s going to be an extra tasty day. 

By the Numbers

14th – of March is also Albert Einstein’s birthday

31.4 million – the world record held by Emma Haruka Iwao for calculating the most accurate value of pi.

4 – the number of months it took Emma Haruka Iwao to calculate the most accurate value of pi.

70,000 – the number of decimal places of pi memorized by Rajveer Meena in 2015.

10 – the number of hours it took Rajveer Meena to make the world record.

3.125 – the original number used for pi by the Babylonians.

22.4 trillion – the number of digits calculated by Swiss scientist Peter Trueb, using a computer.

24 – the number of hard drives on the computer used by Peter Trueb for calculating pi.

700,000 – the number of years it will take to recite the 22 trillion digits of pi.

15,000 – the number of digits of pi memorized by Mark Umile in the U.S.

Pi Day FAQs

Why is pi important?

Pi is very important for calculations in math, engineering, construction, physics and space exploration. Many often consider pi the most important number in all of mathematics.

Which pie should I bake for Pi Day?

Any you’d like. We do not play favorites when pie is concerned. Pies are really simple to make and can be made with several sweet or savory fillings. Apple Pie, Chicken Pot Pie, Pizza pie, be our guest!

Are there any places that give Pi Day deals?

Check restaurants, supermarkets and bakeries over on the Internet for special Pi Day deals. Places like Whole Foods, Boston Market and several pizza chains across the country have special day-long sales.

Pi Day Activities

Enjoy pie of course: Pi is a homophone of pie: the 2 words are pronounced similarly, but are spelled differently and mean different things. Celebrate Pi Day by eating lots of pie! Pizza, cherry, apple, you name it!

Throw a potluck party: Everyone loves to show off their family pie recipe. Make it a potluck and everyone will be inclined to bring their favorite pie to Pi Day, whether it's a pizza pie, a pot pie, a savory pie, or a sweet pie. Make a playlist that features songs like "I Like Pie, I Like Cake" and "American Pie.”

Try making a new pie: Ever tried to make a pie before? Now's your chance to bake your very own. Not into the sweet stuff? Don't worry, there are various savory pie recipes out there so that everyone can enjoy the warm buttery flakiness that comes with a fresh baked pie.

5 Facts About Pi

People compete in memorizing it: Rajveer Meena has the record for memorizing the most decimal places of pi at 70,000.

It’s used as stress tests for computers: Computing pi is a kind of “digital cardiogram” for computers.

A Givenchy men’s cologne is named pi: So you can smell like pi too if you are the intellectual and visionary kind.

It has other names: Pi can also be named “Archimedes’ constant,” or “Ludolph’s number.

It has been used by heroes: Spock foils the evil computer by having it calculate pi’s value in Star Trek’s episode “Wolf in the Fold”

Why We Love Pi Day

Pi is infinitely cool: Pi (π) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter — and amazingly for all circles of any size, pi will always be the same. Pi is an "irrational number," meaning its exact value is completely unknown. Scientists have calculated billions of digits starting with 3.14159265358979323…, but no recognizable pattern ever emerges. We could continue on and on until infinity and we'd still have no idea what digit might emerge next.

Pi sounds like pie: If you are a nerd that likes pies this holiday is pretty much the best combination of the most interesting things in life: pie and mathematics. And of course that means that in order to celebrate abstract mathematical items that are somewhat irrational the obvious solution is to incorporate pie into the holiday.

Pi links mathematics to the real world: Maybe when you were in math class, you stared off into space wondering why on earth 'logs' or 'proofs' mattered so much. Pi is the answer, well at least, one of the things that links math back to real world uses. Because pi is linked to circles it is also linked to cycles, things like calculating waves, ebb and flow, the oceans tides, electromagnetic waves and much more. In addition, many natural world phenomena can also be calculated with pi — like the shape of rivers, the disc of the sun, the spiral of DNA and even the pupil of an eye.

Source

[mrxcreepypastamadness]

For: @toxic-and-the-gang

Mario's Madness V2 muses!

Content Cosmos

1st Muse (New):

Super Bad Mario

Aliases:

• Mario

• Super Bad Mario

Relatives:

• Luigi (brother)

Occupation: Plumber

Age: 25

Birthday: October 11

Status: Alive

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Height: 155 cm (5'1")

Eye Color: Black

Hair Color: Brown

Created by:

• Nintendo (Original Mario)

• Pastek (series)

Voiced by:

• Charles Martinet (Voice clips)

Appears in:

• Super Bad Mario (Series)

• Friday Night Funkin' (As a Mod)

Debut: Super Bad Mario (Series)

About: Super Bad Mario is a version of Mario hails from the series of the same name by Pastek where he appears physically in varying fail videos, appearing responsible for doing said fails alongside some other Mario characters. He is the, opponent of the song "Bad Day".

2nd Muse (New):

Luigi's Day Out Mario

Aliases:

• Mario

• LDO Mario

• Loser (Daisy)

• Sweetie (His mother)

Relatives:

• Luigi (brother)

• Mother

• Presumably dead father (mentioned)

Relationships:

• Daisy ("friend")

• Waluigi ("friend")

• Cody (hates)

Status: Alive

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Eye Color: Blue

Hair Color: Brown

Created by:

• Nintendo (Original Mario)

• Hotdiggedydemon (video)

Voiced by: Max Gilardi

Appears in:

• LUIGI'S DAY OUT

• Friday Night Funkin' (As a mod)

Debut: LUIGI'S DAY OUT

About: Luigi's Day Out Mario is one of main characters of the 2014 YouTube animation Luigi's Day Out, by hotdiggedydemon. In the video, Mario is a rebellious teenager who is forced by his mother to take his brother, Luigi, to "save Peach from Bowser". However, instead decides to trick Luigi into dying in various ways for his own amusement. He is the opponent of the song "Day Out."

3rd Muse (New):

Luigi's Day Out Luigi

Aliases:

• Luigi

• LDO Luigi

• Fucking dork (Mario)

• Scrote (Mario)

• Dumbass geek (Mario)

• Baby (Mario)

• Annoying idiot brother (Mario)

• Little Scrote (Mario)

• Kid (Daisy)

• Big boy (Daisy)

• Sensitive boy (His mother)

• Daisy's Bitch

Relatives:

• Mario (abusive brother)

• Mother

• Presumably dead father (mentioned)

Relationships:

• Daisy (her bitch)

• Waluigi ("friend")

Age: 35

Status: Alive

Gender: Male

Eye Color: Blue

Hair color: Brown

Created by:

• Nintendo (Original Luigi)

• hotdiggedydemon (video)

Voiced by: Max Gilardi

Appears in:

• LUIGI'S DAY OUT

• Friday Night Funkin' (As a Mod)

Debut: LUIGI'S DAY OUT

About: Luigi's Day Out Luigi is the other main character of Luigi's Day Out. In the video, Luigi is a mentally challenged 35-year old manchild whose mother forces Mario to take him on his "quest", However, Mario decides to trick Luigi into dying in various ways for his own amusement; eventually leading to Luigi tripping him down the stairs as vengeance. He's then taken on a wild drug trip by Daisy and Waluigi, ending in Daisy fucking him in a club and marking him as her bitch. He is the secondary playable character of the song "Day Out".

Gallery:

Luigi's Day Out Luigi (Sad)

4th Muse (Current):

Secret History Mario

Aliases:

• Mario

• Secret Histories Mario

• SH Mario

Relatives:

• Luigi (Brother, Gaurd)

Relationships:

• Bowser (Hates)

• Princess Peach (Used)

• Sonic (Hates/Victim/Rival)

Affiliation: Nintendo

Occupation:

• Dictator

• Seen as plumber/hero to public

Status: Alive

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Eye Color: Yellow

Hair Color: Brown

Created by:

• Nintendo (Original Mario)

• Mashed

Voiced by: Blake Swift

Appears in:

• Secret History of Super Mario Bros

• Secret History of Harry Potter (Cameo)

• Friday Night Funkin' (As a Mod)

Debut: Secret History of Super Mario Bros

About: Secret History Mario is a version of Mario originating from the Mashed video Secret History of Super Mario Bros. He is a cold-hearted dictator who rules the Mushroom Kingdom with an iron fist, having killed hundreds of innocents, enslaved thousands, paved over the natural lands and ruined countless people's lives...of course, Nintendo's PR covers this all up. He is the opponent in the song "Dictator".

5th Muse (Current):

Racist Mario

Aliases:

• Mario Mario (Canon)

• Racist Mario (dubbed Name)

Relatives:

• Luigi (brother, attempted victim)

Relationships:

• Princess Peach (Abused lover)

• Sonic (Enemy, victim)

• Knuckles (victim)

• Anikin Skywalker (Victim)

• Donkey Kong (Victim)

• Yoshi (Victim)

• Sackboy (Victim)

• Toad (Victim)

• Crash Bandicoot (Enemy, Victim)

• Kratos (Enemy, Murderer)

• Marco Antonio (Friend)

Affiliation: Nintendo/Flashgitz

Status:

• Deceased (killed by Kratos in video)

• Alive (Mod)

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Eye Color: Light Blue

Hair Color: Brown

Created by:

• Nintendo (Original Mario)

• Flashgitz (Racist Mario)

Voiced by:

• Alex Walker Smith

• Charles Martinet (chromatic)

Appears in:

• Racist Mario

• Friday Night Funkin' (As a Mod)

Debut: Racist Mario

About: Racist Mario is the titular villain of the 2014 YouTube animation, Racist Mario, by Flashgitz, In the video, he has grown sick of non-Nintendo characters appearing in Mario Kart, and tries to murder them (and eventually everybody else) out of irrational hatred comparable to racism. He is the opponent of the freeplay song "Race Traitors".

6th Muse (New):

Devil Mario

Relatives:

• Luigi (brother, victim)

Relationships:

• Princess Peach (victim)

• Countless Toads (victim)

Gender: Male

Created by: D-SuN

Voiced by: D-Mac

About: Devil Mario is the antagonist of the Power Star flash series. In which he is possessed by Boos leading him to become hungry for power, Mario will stop at nothing to get the Power Stars, even if it means taking a bunch of lives along the way. He is the opponent in "No Hope".

Gallery:

Devil Mario (Powered Up)

[dove-da-birb]

Meet Eden Ziskind

The Picrew used was TOON ME! &lt;<A>> by @/hellosunnycore.

Name; Eden Ziskind

Other names; Ed, Deedee

Birthday; December 26 (Capricorn)

Age; 17

Height; 168 cm

Dominant hand; Left

Gender; Agender

Pronouns; They/Them

Sexuality; Demi-sexual

Romantic Orientation; Polyromantic

Hobbies; Scrapbooking

Pet Peeve; Arrogant people

Favourite Food; Shakshuka

Least Favourite Food; Wasabi

Talent; Making Rube Goldberg machines

Languages; English, Hebrew, Greek

MBTI; ISTP

Other; Depression, dyscalculia, allergic to dogs

Best Subject; History of Magic

Club; Equestrain

Secondary Dorm; Savanaclaw (if they had magic)

Friends; Kalim, Jamil, Idia

Other Information~

The "Yuu" for Diasomnia's chapter.

Eden is the last "Yuu" to enter into TWST. They just raise their eyebrows at the situation and continue with their business; sure, this might as well happen, why not? Kalim adopted them as his friend and that's how they befriended Jamil; they like cooking together. They get to geek out with Idia and built a giant Rube Goldberg machine because they were bored.

Eden's family is German-Greek and Jewish, and they live in Birmingham, England. They're the only child, but grew up with a lot of cousins; thinks Cheka is adorable and pinches his cheeks whenever he's around. When they get upset the Birmingham accent comes out in full force.

They are persistent, and usually don't know when to give up; so they would have been sorted into Savanaclaw. They butt heads with Leona, but they do respect Ruggie, and helps him out with odd jobs. Unfortunately, they sneeze whenever they're around Jack due to their allergies, but they take this world's version of Clariten to resolve that issue.

They love building Rube Goldberg machines, and is currently plotting with basically the entire school to prank Crowley. But another one of their hobbies is scrapbooking; they deal with a bit of time blindness, so it helps them keep track of everything they've done with friends. Also keeps a secret scrapbook filled with all of their friends embarrassing moments, but also when they thought their friends were being sweet or cute.

A lot of their clothes are thrifted, as they don't see a point in buying something brand name if they can get basically the same thing but for a fraction of the cost. A favourite piece that they thrifted is a yellow corduroy jacket with a flower pattern embroidered into it; they did fight off a Birmingham grandmother, but they regret nothing. They do have a few beauty marks on their face, neck, and hands. Has a gap tooth smile.

Trein is their favourite professor, and they have several scrapbook pages of him and Lucius; he reminds them of their grandfather. They decided to create a robot, to show Idia that they were paying attention to his rambles... and then the robot grew sentience. They call themself B.E.N.

...

...

Due to all of the dimension hijinks, Yusra, Prem, Imani, Avis, Seok, and Rayen get sucked back into TWST again. And this time, it looks like there is truly no way home. Now all of the "Yuus" live together in Ramshackle. What shenanigans will they get into?

[viceroywrites]

my venture bros oc

(created on picsart - art by @hunblooms on twt bc i have no artistic skill whatsoever)

name: lydia (goes by lyd)

pronouns: she/her

age: 28

sexuality: bisexual

appearance details: 5'3, wears glasses, mole underneath her right eye, wears a brace on her knee most of the time due to her injury (she can walk without it but not for long periods of time).

backstory:

currently works for the guild under the department, WDC (weapons development center)

helps design and build weaponry for villains with an ema level 1-6 (levels 7-10 are handled by a separate warehouse that can produce weapons of mass destruction) - had a degree in engineering which helped her land this job

was a henchman under dr. phineas phage for some time before a serious knee injury led to her taking a behind the scenes role in the guild

close with watch and ward as they'll bug her when they're bored at the guild strategic operations headquarters (they jokingly have tried to sign her up for the BTC every year which leads to her chasing them around with whatever weapon she's tinkering with)

how she meets gary:

they end up meeting when gary is helping the monarch with the big villain program to boost his ema

gary is told by watch and ward to pick up st. cloud's lightning rifle and cloud bombs from her as she just finished upgrading it to a level 6 per dr. mrs. the monarch's request

(in actuality, watch and ward typically hand off weaponry but they decided to play a bit of match maker after hearing lydia complain about being on dating apps for the 100th time)

he comes into her workshop which catches her off guard as normally she doesn't expect anyone to swing by.

the two end up engaging in small talk, talking about their experiences as henchmen and gary smiling as she goes on a passionate tangent about working with weaponry, sharing that she only thought stuff like this existed in the marvel comics she would read growing up.

before gary leaves with the weaponry, thanking her, he ends up spotting a replica lightsaber that she has hanging in her workshop and geek out together about star wars.

what starts as a nerdy friendship quickly grows as they start hanging outside of the guild more often (mostly because gary was running out of excuses of why he needed to swing by the GSO when sheila clearly was not there)

gary shows her his ideas for his mark-v henchman suit as him and the monarch are starting to arch again and she's fully invested, helping him create this suit that has only existed in his dreams.

after she finishes the prototype and shows it to gary, he pulls her into a tight hug... which then turns into a kiss... and the rest is history.

[luxxfashion]

Gucci bags are always stylish, top 5 models look particularly modern.

The esteemed House of Gucci, which began as a luxury luggage brand after founder Guccio Gucci’s brief stint as a bellhop, has become one of the most recognizable and covetable brands in history. Gucci bags have adorned the wrists of some of the most powerful women in history, including Princess Diana, Jackie Onassis, and Grace Kelly, etching a permanent mark on the culture and making each Gucci bag a small piece of fashion history.

Under the helm of former Creative Director Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s heritage styles evolved from grown-up and sexy (a direction emblematic of the Tom Ford era) to Geek Chic–inspired. During his tenure, Michele reintroduced classic silhouettes like the Jackie and created new ones like the Dionysus, which quickly garnered a cult following. Everything released under Michele’s direction was tied to a long history of winning designs, so it was a surprise to many when he left the Italian fashion house in late 2022. While there’s no telling what buzzy items new Creative Director Sabato De Sarno will become notorious for, a few timeless Gucci bags will remain favorites for years to come. 

Keep scrolling to read more about the storied House of Gucci, fun facts about each of the six bag styles, and of course, the most coveted styles currently on the market

1. Gucci Jackie

Crafted from naturally tanned leather without the use of chemicals, the Jackie bag only gets more lived in and supple with time. The latest iteration of the style adds a practical, modern second shoulder strap to use as a crossbody. This beautiful bag can also be customized with your initials in gold.

Fun fact: Originally, this bag was named the “Fifties Constance” and was only renamed “Jackie” after Jacqueline Kennedy used it to block paparazzi from taking photos of her. Almost 80 years later, this style is still as timeless as ever and reminiscent of the contemporary American style that has influenced so many designers.  

Harry Styles has worn the Jackie bag, ushering in a new gender-fluid era that is so Gucci.

Up to 88% OFF, price now 349 USD

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2. Gucci Diana

The Diana bag was named after the beloved Princess Diana, who could be found wearing the style everywhere, from the gym to school drop-offs to formal events. Michele reintroduced the classic ’90s bag in 2021 on what would have been Princess Diana’s 60th birthday, reinforcing that everything he made for the house during his tenure was imbued with meaning and dedication to the heritage of the brand. Since then, it’s been spotted on everyone from the always-glam J.Lo to the aspirationally bohemian Sienna Miller.

Fun fact: The bamboo handle was originally created in 1947 out of necessity due to a trade embargo during World War II. Due to a resulting leather shortage, Gucci artisans experimented with several different materials, including wicker, raffia, and bamboo, which they eventually discovered could be bent into a handle with heat and sealed into place using a now-patented burnishing process. The removable neon rubber bands placed over the handles in the 2021 version of the Diana bag are a nod to the bands originally used to keep the handles in their bent shape.

Up to 88% off, price 349 USD

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3. Gucci Horsebit 1955

The horse-bit hardware is just as iconic as Gucci’s signature GG logo and has a registered trademark from the U.S. Patent Office to prove it. The double ring and bar design was birthed after Aldo Gucci (played by Al Pacino in House of Gucci) noticed an increasing interest among the equestrian elite due to lore around his father’s original job as an alleged saddlemaker. Aldo leaned into the tale, weaving equestrian references into the fabric of Gucci, including the horse-bit clasp. 

Why we love it: While monogrammed prints deserve a special seat in fashion history, there is something so elegant about a non-logo design that is just as identifiable. The Horsebit bag exudes a quiet confidence that we could use more of in this world.

Up to 88% off, price 339 USD

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4. Gucci Dionysus

The Dionysus bag was first revealed to the world to much fanfare at one of Michele’s first runway shows in 2015. The Greek god of pleasure and revelry, Dionysus (also known as Bacchus), is embodied in the bag’s clasp, which depicts his fabled chariot flanked by a double-headed tiger. But for all of this bag’s whimsical ethos, it has an equal amount of practicality. This architecturally mindful bag was engineered with accordion pockets that expand to maximize storage space, and it features a convertible chain strap that can be worn over the shoulder or as a crossbody.

Why we love it: The Dionysus bag harkens back to a time in Greco-Roman history marked by intellectual advancement and artistic development.

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5. Gucci Ophidia

Back in 2018, the introduction of the Ophidia bag placed vintage Gucci in the forefront. Michele combined the Italian house’s most classic design elements to create an entirely new bag. What makes the Ophidia new is the GG logo, which was previously reserved for the GG Marmont collection. These vintage-style bags hold a spot in Gucci’s fast rise to prominence, which makes them a trend-proof style with lasting power. Your future kids will thank you.

Why we love it: The Ophidia bag comes in several modern shapes, from spheres to half-moons.

Up to 88% OFF , Price 339 USD

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[julie-su]

Hypothetical time (yep, it's another one of these)

You've been asked to make a sequel to one of your favourite movies. What movie you following up?

(I'd personally go with 1991's The Little Engine That Could, maybe do like a Christmas or Halloween special or something)

OOOH. See, this one is an extra-toughie, because the last movie I pined for a sequel to, was... Wreck-it Ralph. (Weird, they never made a sequel to that movie? Nono, no, don't correct me.)

Actually.. Could I make my own sequel to Wreck-it Ralph? The original was a 30-something year production and love-letter to the history of videogames; I think that I'd like to continue that trend. I always wanted to have more time to explore the insides of the games, and maybe get some more deep-cut favourites in there. I would LOVE another hour-thirty romp through refference after refference, whilst we explore some new narrative. Half of what made the first one so great, was just the sheer novelty and enjoyment of 'oh my god! It's Q*bert! It's Tapper! They're in Pacman! Sonic is at the party!' -- It's the same reason that, say, the Smash Bros series is so much fun - it's just an excuse to put a bunch of known characters, from semi-obscure to household-name, and let you geek out about that! Maybe discover some new characters.

I don't want to spend a LOT of time talking about why I didn't like Wralph Breaks the Internet... But I will say, it felt like they missed the mark entirely on why the references in the first film were charming - because every reference in WBTI is just... It feels gross. "eBay! Amirite! YouTube! You know what youtube is!" -- What emotion is this supposed to elicit? This isn't the same at all as when King Candy inputs the Konami Code on a NES controller.... You're not pulling from my knowledge base, you're just showing me product placement. This isn't like how they had the concept art Sub-Zero standing in the halls, this is just... Sad. Like, I KNOW Capcom crossovers are dime-a-dozen, but there's still nothing quite as exciting as 'IS THAT CAMMY IN THE BACKGROUND? OF MY BIG-SCREEN CINEMA FLICK?' -- And then you get to explain to your unassuming friends why Cammy is great.

Maybe it's a story about... The cabinets being bought as a lot, and being moved to a large F2P Arcade, with a tonne of other cabinets? A sort of 'moving to the big city' movie, except the 'big city' is a two-floor F2P passion project, and now the Sugar Rush cabinet is neighbour to pop'n music, and they've got Jubeat and MaiMai, and IS THAT REIMU and it's all so very much to take in -- Litwak's hadn't really seen a new cabinet, so now they're also having to comprehend all of these... Like... 2018 cabinets, and, and, and... It's sort of a story about changes and moving on, like... Accepting that the world is changing so rapidly, and finding your place in that world. I think if you gave it 5-10 years, that sort of story would stick well with the people who watched it as a teen or kid in 2012.

IT COULD BE SO GOOD.