#more robotic piddles

[macchitea]

another peebs

[peachnewt]

Midnight Snack - Dogs vs Moths

Necessity is the mother of invention. But being bitter, pissed off, and determined is at least a sibling to invention.

Two weeks after New York's finest rolled out their Robot squad, consisting of ten robotic "dogs", they were used in the suppression of a protest. Originally a peaceful protest until someone yanked a flag out of a protestor's hands and ripped it while shouting expletives. Yelling, pushing, phones capturing the phenomenon of one idiot baiting an already wounded social movement.

Of course the cops came. Of course they set the robotic dogs on the ones holding the signs asking to be heard. There were more protestors than baiters, therefore they were the ones that needed to be "quieted down".

Of course people got hurt.

One woman broke three of her fingers, trying to get her sleeve out of the robot dog's joints, and ended up being dragged 9 yards. One teenage boy suffered a concussion, knocked out when a robot dog ran him over and made him fall onto a curb. And one elderly man, not part of the protest or baiters, just a guy trying to get a bag of apples from one side of the street to the other, tried fending off one of the robot dogs, only for his cane to accidentally strike the cap off the canister for the flamethrower option that the police assured the public "was not operational", and "had safety measures that made what happened a one in a million chance".

The fiery plume had been seen three blocks away. People ran, flattening signs, bodies, and the fallen apples into mush. The old man was still in a burn ward a week later.

Social media threads tried pointing out the countless dangers and damage the dog-shaped robots had done. The press conference given by the police commissioner had called the deployment of the robots a "success against those who would work against law and order".  He neglected to mention that the protestors had a permit for their protest and it had been legal.

Of course outcry against the robot dogs were stifled as hypothetical "good reasons" to use the robot dogs were passed out. Dangerous domestic situation? Use a robot dog instead of cop. Fire in a building? Use a lightweight robot dog to find survivors quicker, making fire and rescue more efficient. Need a guard for a daycare facility against "child predators"? Robot dog; cheaper in the long run, and doesn't have to pass a background check.

Why would a child try to pet the robot dog and get their fingers caught in the joints and seams? That would never happen. It's not a pet, the child should know better.

And yet the police unit with the ten robot dogs had an elementary school submit names for the robotic units. Names like Spot, Basil, Fluffy, Corncob, Piddle, Optimus Prime, Shadow, Terminator, Frankenpup, and Ash.

Of course some people got angry.

And Will was more than angry as he read article after article and social post about the ten robot dogs being hailed as "law enforcement's best friend".

Louis had walked by with another stack of patents and eyed the steaming mug of tea in Will's hand. "Fanboy, any harder and you're going to break that mug."

Will glared at the screen and put down his tea. "Have you seen this?"

"Yes." Louis put half the patents on Will's desk before sitting at his own. "And you should hear what Megan had to say to it."

"Right. She's a former cop. She pissed?"

"She's been going through her contacts to find anyone associated with NYPD or company that made those robotic canines and sold them. She wants to yell at someone so bad.

"How bad?"

"There might be an impromptu combat tutorial later tonight. Make sure you're wearing your cup if you're going to be dumb enough to be the "volunteer" again."

Will hissed and adjusted his hips in the chair. He didn't want to remember the last time he forgot.  "Noted."

Thankfully the "combat tutorial" was cancelled by alarms blaring and Will and Louis running off to find something that someone else found and shouldn't have.

Instead Megan posted an article on the community board of things to do when encountering a robot dog.

1 - Run

or

2 - Smash the hellhound with a long blunt object. Then run.

Three weeks, and another "successful deployment of robotic units" later, a high school robotics team from a small town in Oklahoma submitted their winning design to the patent office. The submission was a formality, for the students, and teacher in charge of the robotics team, had uploaded the schematics to the internet under public domain.

The winning robot was a moth whose hollow body was little bigger than a can of spray paint, and wings over two meters wide. A head with two curly feelers and wide jewel-like eyes, contained a spraying nozzle.  The wing span was necessary due to what it's hollow body would carry.

A can of expanding foam.

They had named it Sky-ju. Probably because naming it Mothra wasn't allowed for copyright reasons.

With the schematics came a video file showing how the robot would flutter off the ground, swoop, hover, and, with the instruction of the person holding the controller, spray the expanding foam on a cardboard cutout shaped suspiciously like a robot dog.

The robot dog was smothered, and the Sky-ju flitted off to spray another day.

Of course Will followed a link to give a charitable donation to the school's club.

A day later someone submitted an altered patent for the moth, but a third of the size, and instead of holding a spray can, it could hold a small bladder full of salty, sticky, pickle juice to aim at the joints of robot dogs. And this one came with a black furry covering for the body that could be removed and cleaned.

It had been named Fluff-ra. And kids were allowed to pet it without fear of their fingers being stuck in joints. As proven by the video posted later that day of kids taking turns with Fluff-ra in a park, squirting down empty soda cans.

There had been a "support me" link. Or course Will bought a Fluff-ra acrylic charm. It would go perfectly with his collection of other nerd-flavored charms he hung on his Christmas tree like ornaments.

Louis, of course sipped his coffee, and shook his head. "You know there could be problems with this getting into the wrongs hands."

Will sighed and signed off the latest patent for a three chambered thermos.  "I know," he admitted.

"What's  to stop someone turning the moths into flamethrowers? Or to give it a can of Axe spray to fumigate someone's house? Or bought by the police and filled with pepper spray?"

"What would have stopped the NYPD from using those dogs against protestors instead of using them for fire and rescue like they promised?" said Will. "I know me buying an acrylic charm doesn't do much in the face of an institution that relies more on brute force than de-escalation. But I need to keep hope somehow."

"I didn't mean to shoot down your hopes and dreams It's just..." Louis finished the last of his coffee. He shouldn't drink another today. Not if he wanted to sleep on time. "It's hard to see them when I've seen a lot of people using things the wrong way for the wrong reasons."

"That's why you have me as your partner," said Will, smiling.

"Hm. Didn't think we would end up in a moral discussion about robot moths and dogs."

"Nearly came close to an argument," said Will.

"Probably," admitted Louis.

"You can make it up to me."

Louis cocked an eyebrow, thinking of all the ways he could "make it up" to Will. "Oh?"

Will grinned, so saucily that it could have been bottled and sold for barbeques. He leaned over and whispered to Louis. "Godzilla verses Mothra movie tonight? The original 1960s version?"

Not what Louis expected. But he would run with it if seeing an old monster flick would make Will happy. "Okay."

"And then maybe afterwards... you could pretend to be one of the moth fairies and me a lost explorer on an island?"

"There are fairies in a Godzilla movie?"

"You'll find out."

Of course he would.

---

You can watch Mothra vs Godzilla free on Tubi, Shout Factor, and Youtube!

[quasi-normalcy]

Watching the X-Men fight the Sentinels as a kid and being like, "God this is stupid, look at how much damage those giant robots are causing to the city just to catch one piddling little mutant teenager who hasn't done anything but damage an arcade cabinet! Like the government would ever sign off on that!"

Anyways, joke's on me, because it turns out that that's *exactly* how state power works and all of the mature, sensible adults in the room should have spent less time reading Richard Hofstadter and more time reading comic books.

[wyvernwyrm]

very sad piddles based on a screenshot I’ve seen somewhere

[Image ID: a small version of a pink robotic puppet called Five Pebbles from Rain World. He is viewed slightly from above while looking up at the viewer. Jis expression is exaggeratedly sad. He wears a simple orange tunic with more saturated orange gradient at the bottom. His white eyes are very big and teary. In his right hand, he holds a green coloured neuron that looks like a tadpole with two thin tails. /.End ID]

[downwithpeople]

system shock remake

game was good, first and foremost.

it looks stellar. it's a proper immersive sim. the environments look great and are full of all kinds of goodies for you to pick up and subsequently vaporise into a scrap cube. my first encounter with this kind of game was bioshock, of course, but it's incredible how bleak the situation at citadel station has become. there were people still trying to get by in rapture (including the splicers!) but in citadel shodan is grinding up the last pockets of free humans by the time you wake up. the audio logs tell the same story again and again: once upon a time, someone was dying alone. it feels almost pointless to weigh in on system shock's story or theming because it's such a classic. you know shodan, you love shodan, everyone does.

i said that the game was clunky in a way that felt good and i'll stand by that for the most part. when you can fight on your terms combat settles into a fun rhythm of finding cover, shooting cyborg, ducking behind cover. you are not always fighting on your terms and sometimes you get bumrushed by a gorilla tiger. unfortunately part of the clunkiness is moving slow as shit in a way that does make things tense but only because of your rank clumsiness rather than any of the other things the game can do to amp up tension.

the boss fights blow. you fight diego twice and the cortex reaver three times. the solution to both enemies is the same: berserk patch, stamina patch, reaction patch if you're feeling nasty, run up and hit 3-4 times with the laser rapier. it doesn't feel very climactic.

the chronic lack of storage is frustrating. the cargo elevator has a piddling lack of space ensuring that you have to just dump the guns you pick up on the ground then go back to that specific floor if you want to play around with them again. it's not exciting, it's not dramatic, it doesn't build tension. it just means that i'm never gonna use the grenade launcher because it takes up space. the cargo elevator should have just been the size of your inventory, who gives a shit. resident evil did this for years then did it again for the remakes.

i have no idea if the set up for the endgame was in the original or not but jesus christ i hate it. the game takes a swan dive around the time you're poking around on the executive floor and you have to do all the groves. i felt like i was soft-locked on my first run because i didn't have enough batteries to do beta, so i started a new game and let me tell you, the groves don't become more fun on the second run. when it was revealed that i had to go to every single node room and copy down the stinking numbers i nearly uninstalled. what a chore. what a hassle!

cyberspace was fun the first few levels then became tedious every successive level, especially the one that would make my game crash (as i was playing a pirated copy that didn't have the patch). if i do another playthrough i'm just turning that shit off. the puzzles were fine.

in general i think i would have preferred more humanoid enemies rather than robots and more of them like the mantis that got up close and personal instead of hanging back looking for angles.

this was, of course, something that would change in system shock 2, so if and when nightdive gets that out it's gonna be a day 1 for me.

[mspattypizazz]

Hi my name is Patty, I go by any pronouns and this is my self shipping blog! My previous blog was miraclepatty which I’m no longer focusing on. That blog was about making imagines but now I want this blog to be more about my F/o’s

I’m gonna try to stay away from selfship discourse because I’m just here to have fun but I will say this now: Proshippers will be blocked on sight and anon hate will be ignored! 

With all that stuff out of the way, here are my F/o’s!: 

Romantic F/o’s: 

Momo 🦩 - Stray Cat Game

Alice Abernathy ☢️ - Resident Evil Movies 

Sado 🃏 - The Hex (aka. Amanda from Inscryption) 

Rio Ortiz 🦋 -Ikemen Prince 

Aaravos �� -The Dragon Prince: Mysteries of Aaravos

Platonic/Familial F/o’s:

Leshy 🌿 - Inscryption 

Eleanor 💋 - FazBear Fright Books

Kyubey/Incubator ✨-Puella Magi Madoka Magica 

Derek Lucks ⚡️-Meta Runner 

Marco 🦾 - Meta Runner 

Sayaka Miki 🌊 -Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Irving 🔼 -The Hex

Poppy 🔹 -Poppy Playtime

F/o Tags (I have no clue how to make cool tags):

Momo  - loser robot man 🦩

Alice Abernathy  - apocalypse in red ☢️

Sado  - error in love 🃏

Rio Ortiz  - blue roses 🦋

Aaravos - star crossed lovers 🔮

Leshy - emotional support cryptid 🌿

Eleanor - femme fatale 💋

Kyubey/Incubator - kitty contractor ✨

Derek Lucks - tired business man ⚡️

Marco  - pro gamer move 🦾

Sayaka Miki  - determined symphony 🌊

Irving - angry blue man 🔼

Poppy  - piddles pediddles 🔹

Feel free to interact if you have the same F/o’s if you’re comfortable! 

I follow from @miraclecereal

[missroserose]

I was literally just talking about this phenomenon to a friend last night—it's not just Twitter, it's capitalism as a whole. The entire system is designed to prod us into doing more, more, more—the oft-lamented algorithmically-driven make-number-go-up aspect of social media isn't some quirk of the system, it's inherent to the system.

Look, I'll be up front for a minute: my husband and I are financially well off. Not 1% or even 10% rich, but straddling the line between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie—he works in tech and makes a solid salary even by 2023 standards, and I supplement our income as an independent massage therapist (and, not to toot my own horn, I'm very good at what I do and charge accordingly.)

A decade ago, this was not the case. We went through a seriously rough patch post-2008 crash: cross-country move for a job at a company that turned out to be unethical and pulled all sorts of illegal shit including wage theft, nobody else in the area hiring once Brian finally got sick of them and quit, snowballing credit card debt from the move (moving out of Alaska is expensive) and car repairs and household expenses and literally just trying to live. (I have an extremely vivid memory of listening to "Livin' On A Prayer" and really feeling the lyrics in a way I never expected to.)

By 2013, we were through the worst of it (thanks to job help from friends and financial help from family), but we still were living on his salary alone. I had reason recently to pull up our old budget spreadsheets from ten years ago, and it really drove home just how close to the wire we were—barely anything saved, regular payments towards debts, a piddling retirement account that we ended up raiding to finance the move to Chicago. By comparison, we now have two incomes, a mortgage on a nice-if-not-new condo, no credit card debt, a healthy-if-still-small-for-our-age 401(k), and a savings account that would've made ten-years-ago-me weep with envy.

And—and here's the thing—on some level, I'm still convinced that it's not enough. Sure we have a healthy emergency fund, but what we should really have is six months' expenses in savings. Sure we go to shows and take vacations and buy things like a 3D printer or robot parts or stripper shoes, but it always comes laced with guilt—we shouldn't really be doing that, not until we have enough to be safe. Sure we're able to pay off our credit cards now, but what if someday we can't? It'll be all our fault for not saving more, not earning more, not doing more.

Because that's capitalism. It's that nasty little voice in the back of our minds, the one that we've all internalized, that says we should all, constantly, be doing more. That it's all on you, that if you're broke or unpopular or whatever-the-fuck metric you're measuring by, it's because you're lazy. Elon Musk is a particularly hilarious example, because he's so often held up as the ideal of someone who's made it—he has more wealth than most of us can literally conceptualize, he owns multiple companies, he's admired as a genius by a big (if perhaps shrinking) chunk of the population. But even he can't escape the need to do more—he has the money and the clout to game the system, but no concurrent understanding of the fact that the system was bullshit to begin with.

This is why I laugh so much when I see people talking about the "unique" effect of algorithm-driven social media, how unnatural and addictive and detrimental it is. All it does is give us numbers—the number of friends we have, the number of likes we get, the number of times people share our content. It gives us hard numbers by which we can quantify (and, more importantly, compare) our social clout, and we've been taught our whole lives that where we're associated with a number, we need to do everything we can to make that number go up.

Algorithmic social media (as practiced by Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, et al) isn't a quirk, it's a mirror. And it's worth spending some time looking into it and thinking hard about how we define enough.

this comment on a vid about elon musk was so good i had to save it

[secret-diary-of-an-fa]

I Think It Might Be Time to Give Up on AHS

Quarantine can be a harsh and unpredictable mistress. One minute it’s stroking your nether-regions with promises of the chance to catch up on all those Netflx series you’ve been meaning to watch, the next it’s pissing in your face because you actually tried to watch them. Or, to put it in a less roundabout way, I recently watched AHS: Apocalypse on Netflix (because Lockdown) and it wasn’t very good. I’d go so far as to describe it as fucking woeful.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re not in the same territory as AHS: Cult which blundered through a lazy, message-mongering plot devoid of both likeable characters and much-needed supernatural elements. That was a torrent of acidic xenomorph urine to the face. In comparison, Apocalypse is an anaemic dripple of bunny piddle. It’s not so much a discordant offence against the eyes and ears as it is a continual, deflationary hum of disappointment.

Things start off very promisingly, with a bunch of middling-to-loathesome survivors of a nuclear war hunkered down in a bunker modelled on the Edwardian era under the aegis of a technophobic, prudish sociopath and a lassie who later turns out to be a literal fucking robot. Then The Man In Charge- a dude named Michael Langdon who’s possessed of otherworldly, nightmarish powers- shows up and starts a selection process by which some- but not all- the survivors will be chosen to go on surviving and ultimately build a new world. After three episodes of this tasty, high-camp nonsense, however, things grind to a screeching halt and we get a seven-epsiode-long prequel explaining how this situation came about and how the witches from Season Three have been planning to undo it all along. Hot tip writers: don’t offer me ‘AHS does Fallout’  only to withdraw at the last minute and blow your load on a rambling, incoherent race-against-time plot that belongs somewhere in the late ‘90s. If I wanted to watch people I barely care about stage a last ditch attempt to save the world from a stupidly implausible threat, I’d rewatch ‘Deep Impact’ or ‘The Core’. At least those had a fucking budget.

And yes, I did say ‘stupidly implausible’. I know what you’re thinking: the spectre of nuclear war is horrifyingly plausible. But AHS isn’t content with bombs dropped because humans are shit. Instead, it turns out Michael Langdon engineered the whole situation because (drum roll please), he’s the anti-christ. That’s right: this is one of those fictions that takes the deeply-held religious beliefs and fears of quite a lot of people and misappropriates them so that it can concoct an excuse for its antagonist poncing around with my haircut and powers that it’s too lazy to explain properly.

There’s a weird subplot about Michael being helped to power by warlocks because they’re discriminated against by witches and reckon he can net them the upper hand. AHS: Apocalypse doesn’t actually have the balls to commit to its own gender-inverted struggle-for-equality plotline though, so within a couple of episodes, the warlocks are reduced to caricatures of sexist, chauvinist ass-hats so that nobody has to question or feel bad about the witches’ own particular brand of bastardry. Now, all gender-flipping in fiction is stupid, so there’s an argument to be made that backing out of that plotline was emminently sensible. However, the reality is it shouldn’t have been raised in the first place, since it turns the END OF THE FUCKING WORLD into a tawdry, boring battle of the sexes. The seemingly all-encompassing stakes are reduced the squalid realm of half-baked, poorly-understood television gender politics and it becomes impossible to care what happens to anyone, even the witches.

Speaking of the witches... weren’t these characters nuanced, suprisingly likeable portraits of realistic people with hopes and dreams and faults and failings back in AHS: Coven? ‘Cause I seem to remember liking them in that, but this time round they’re flattened, poorly-scripted and kinda self-righteous.

Here’s a tip, writers: when you bad guy’s literally the anti-Christ, it’s important that your good guys don’t come off as even bigger tools. It’s jarring and weird to be watching a show about scrappy anti-heroes fighting the embodiment of evil and not care if they live or fucking die. The stakes alone should put one firmly on their side, because we all understand that The Fate Of The World trumps any personal dislikes or ambivalence. You have to be writing really fucking badly to make your audience actively not give a shit. And while we’re on the subject, Michael shouldn’t come off as cool-as-fuck half the time and lost-and-weepy-and-damaged (and therefore sympathetic) the rest of the time. If you’re going to say he’s the anti-Christ, make him as terrifying and unrelatable as that title implies. If you’re going to pilfer actual religious beliefs for your camp, silly horror TV series, at least commit to them. I know Good Omens got away with this shit, but the reason that Good Omens got away with this shit ws because a) it was substantially more lighthearted in tone and handled its material with an impish creative dexterity and b) was clearly offering a whimsical hypothetical deconstruction of theological ideas, not a grandiose staging of them in a fictional space. There’s a huge difference.

So that’s AHS: Apocalypse. Simultaneously anaemic and offensively dumb. I remember how AHS: Freak Show managed to make a sinister, narcisistic freakshow owner loveable, a murderous, deformed clown charming and a tantrumming rich kid genuinely menacing in service of its gloriously convoluted plot. Did the writers from back then just die in a freak orgy-related accident or something? ‘Cause if so, it’s definitely time to get off the bus that is AHS before it crashes into a pond.

[overwatch-imagines-hub]

The Ladies With a Medic S/O:

Anon said: “I loved "the boys with a medic SO" could we get girls with medic SO too please? You're great :)”

Well you’re great too so thank you! vwv Sorry if this is a bit awkwardly written, by the way; I really had to think about the ladies’ perspectives, and towards the end my think tank was a little drained and I kept losing my train of thought. <’D I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

Read “The Boys With a Medic S/O:” here!

Tip Jar

~~~

Ana Amari

Loves having a medic s/o

She, and more importantly her teammates, get into trouble much too often

So it’s nice to have someone to call at 3 am with anything from “I burned my finger making tea, come kiss it and make it better” to “Angela’s at the base and Jack just broke a hip trying to jumping from one rooftop to another”

“No, listen, I swear it’s his hip, okay?”

“It’s definitely not his leg or getting shot in the arm, it’s the whole hip.”

“He’s old, he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Cue Soldier’s irritated hollering in the background while you snicker and force yourself out of bed

You both know she’s capable of dealing with most of the stuff she calls you about on her own, but “It’s easier with a professional around!”

AKA, every single injury of any caliber is a reason to see and/or smooch each other, so it’s fine

She loves to make cheesy and/or flirty medic jokes

Several medicinal pet names as well

You tease her about her age and health to about the same caliber as she teases Jack about the same things

However, instead of grumbling, she usually turns the teasing back or makes some flirty joke about how you’re welcome to give her a full body exam to make sure her health checks out

She also likes to walk into the med bay unannounced simply to come see you

You’ll be in the middle of a teammate’s checkup and she’ll waltz in, say she was looking for a band-aid, grab one, and then wait outside for you to finish

Ashe

Low-key grateful you’re a medic

With her line of work and mainly being surrounded by fighter robots, she appreciates having a medic around

Now, of course B.O.B. has basic medical skills and she could smooch him too, but it just wouldn’t be the same

For whatever reason, she quite likes making that tease

Anyway, she thinks you being a medic is great and, for the most part, is respectful about it

Makes the occasional medical joke and/or pickup line

Probably didn’t tell you her profession at first because she thought you were too good a person to get involved with her lifestyle

To be completely honest, she probably doesn’t often call you for medic-related things regardless

Whether or not you’re willing to doesn’t mean she wants you to get involved

Has you on call when she knows she’s going on a dangerous heist or other mission though

Doesn’t want to worry you but at the same time knows you’re skilled and trustworthy

Brigitte

Thinks it’s really cool that you’re a medic

Would love to learn some stuff from you

She basic medical skills and knowledge, but having more could never hurt

Plus she loves to learn new useful stuff

So if you’re up for it, she’d love to have you mentor her a bit

Probably treats you like any other medic on the field though

If you’re not the closest one to call, she needs someone with more skill, and/or it’s not an emergency that concerns you (AKA, she’s not the one hurt) then you won’t be the one she calls

Always lets you know when she gets hurt, though, so you can worry over her and nurse her back to health

Low-key loves when you worry over even her slightest injury

Kiss! Her! Scratch! Better!

Super respectful of your work and doesn’t like to interrupt you

However, she has accidentally hurt herself once or twice while blacksmithing, and has ended up waiting for you to finish whatever you’re doing to help her out

D.Va

Also thinks it’s really cool that you’re a medic

You’re smart and skilled and she’s gonna rant and fawn about it forever

Loves to brag about you to people

Likes to hang around you while you do work--not even bothering, just hanging off to the side and watching you--and loves to listen to you talk about it

Seriously, she could listen to you talk about your job, about the tiniest and simplest tasks, for hours

Probably picks up a thing or two from listening and watching so much

She’ll be on the field and someone will get hurt and she’ll just start spewing instructions

Afterwards it’ll take her a second to realize what she did and she’ll be like “Wait, what? Cool!”

Then chirps about it to you later

“Baaaaaabe, I talked about some of your stuff today! Perks of having a medic partner, huh?”

You’re the first person she thinks to call in most serious positions

She knows you can get pretty busy, though, so she also has a backup plan

CoughMercyCough

Mei

Doesn’t think a whole lot of it other than she appreciates another smart/nerdy mind to talk to

Y’all just talk at each each other, her about science and you about your own practices

Some things overlap, so that’s fun

Both of you picking up bits of the other person’s knowledge from talking about such things so often

Essentially nerding out about smart things together

Often calls you with medical questions when she comes up with them or finds herself in a situation where she may need the information

More often than not these questions result in a concerned you asking if she’s currently in the situation she’s describing

More often than not she says no

Roughly 30% she means it

Mercy

Appreciates the fact that she’s dating someone who understands what she’s going through most of the time

It’s nice to not have to explain everything in micro-details

Both of you being cute but also professional at work

Like you both focus on getting work done and are serious when needed

But also your desks face each other, you share each other’s work and food during lunch/break, and there’s a no PDA rule but y’all smooch and hold pinkies anyway and no one’s really mad about it because aww

Flirting in medical terms

Teasing in medical professional

The occasional medic pun

If one of you gets done with work before the other, you wait for the other to get done

You’ll wait for hours if you have to

Either piddling around or helping the other get their work done faster if you can

Going home together and just fuckin’ crashing

One of you flops on the couch while the other goes and heats up leftovers or orders food

Sitting together watching bad late-night/early-morning TV (depending on the time you get home) while ranting about your days

Angela complains about McCree a l o t

But also very lovingly talks about Fareeha and Ana, and teasingly talks about Jack

Either dragging each other to bed and holding each other up the entire time or falling asleep right there on the couch

Your days off are sparse and don’t line up very often, but when they do, it’s great

They’re either lazy days or date days and they’re always very soft and chill

Moira

Appreciates the like minds but otherwise doesn’t think much of it

When she realizes she likes you, she becomes a little iffy about letting you know about her experiments

If you’re up for it, she’ll probably ask for your input on them

Both to make said experiments a little more humane but also just to be around you more

The two of you don’t get to see each other very often but it’s always nice when you do

Moira’s not much of a PDA person but the only time she smiles (legitimately smiles, not a smirk or sneer) is when you walk into the room

It’s both sweet and terrifying to many of the other Talon members

At work, lunches and the occasional break are mainly the only times the two of you get to see each other

Stopping each other in the hall to talk until someone eventually comes and drags one of you away

Popping in each other’s offices for work things but also just to talk much longer than you’re supposed to stop and talk

Home life is very scattered

Again, neither of you get to see each other too often because Moira often stays at work much later than you can stay up and you often leave for work earlier in the morning

However, the two of you make it work

If you fall asleep on the couch waiting, you’ll wake up in bed snuggled by your girlfriend

You leave good morning notes and make Moira’s favorite coffee before leaving so she doesn’t have to rush her morning as much

Leaving notes for each other in general

Doing almost all of the chores and other at-home tasks together just to catch up and enjoy each other’s company

Days off are cleaning days, but, if you have multiple in a row, the two of you will alternate between cleaning days and chill days

Moira loves to take you out on days off, whether it be to lunch, to shop, to just walk around down, etc

Pharah

She thinks so highly of your work

Like she loves that you’re a doctor

Loves to be by your side off and on the field

She’s kind of become your designated guardian during missions at this point

You being there doesn’t distract her from her own work, but when you have to stop to help and heal teammates she makes a point to be nearby just in case someone tries to attack you

One of her casual pet names for you is Doc

She loves to talk with you about work

She herself has always been passionate about saving and protecting people, so she loves that you share those values

Asks you medical questions pretty often, both when she’s in a situation and not sure what she should do and just when the questions pop into her head

She’s had a decent amount of medical training herself but she picks up quite a bit more knowledge from you

Always pops in when she knows you have free time to make sure things are going well and you’re not overworking yourself or getting overwhelmed

Being a medic comes with its bloody business and she wants to make sure that doesn’t take too much of a toll on you

She stops by especially frequently when you get extremely busy (such as after a particularly difficult mission) or have to work overtime

Brings you snacks and drinks and makes sure you take your breaks

If she’s done with her own work, she’ll probably wait around the compound for you to get done

Always tries to get you relax and de-stress after work, whether that means going out for a cozy late night dinner, going to a funny movie, taking a hot bath, or straight-up flopping onto the couch and laying thre for several hours

Sombra

Before she actually got to know you and the two of you started dating, she probably thought you were kind of a pretentious prick

Similar to her current feelings about Moira

She has a thing against professionals in the medical, scientific, and law fields

Just authority figures in general

Don’t ask her why

Anyway

Doesn’t mind having a medic around considering the situations her teammates get into

Tries to convince you not to worry about herself, though

She’s not usually on the field anyway, and, when she is, she can handle herself

She just really doesn’t want you to be worrying about her

Upgrades all your gear, both your equipment in the med bay and what you wear on the field

Not gonna be having outdated equipment and pieces that might fritz out on her watch

Symmetra

Thinks very highly of your work

She just really appreciates what you do

Tries to make sure you don’t overwork yourself

Ironically, as much as she tries, she’s terrible at doing so for herself

When she notices you getting the slightest bit of tired, she does all in her power to make sure you’ll take a break

Beware

She’s a master negotiator and usually gets what she wants

Both of you just generally moderating each other so neither of you burn out

Sending each other messages at work checking up on each other

You’re both pretty busy but Symmetra’s schedule is usually more flexible

She has that power, being a higher up and all

She likes to pick you up and take you out of the compound during your lunches and breaks

Symmetra just waltzing in the med bay in a gorgeous suit to pick you up for lunch hoob o y

The lady’s quite health-oriented, so she tries to get you out of your hole as often as she can, especially considering some of the darker work you have to attend to

Tracer

Loooooves her smart medic s/o

She finds it super cool that you’re a medic, and is also super proud of you for doing what she considers the hardest part of the job

“All I have to do is run around and shoot things! You have to heal people! And do paperwork!”

She just

Fawns over you a lil bit

Just a little

Not a lot at all

Loves to listen to you talk about work, even though there’s quite a bit she doesn’t totally understand about it

Likes to listen to you rant about the more difficult parts of work as well; it’s good to get that stuff out there rather than tuck it away inside

She’s just a really good listener, honestly

Whenever you come home from a more difficult day at work, she’s prepared to go into comfort mode

Your favorite takeout? Ordered. A hot shower? Prepared. Fluffy pajamas? Sitting out, ready to be worn. Your favorite movies? Rented. Lena’s ears? Ready to listen.

She’s always still asleep by the time you have leave for work, but she’s always somehow awake whenever you get home, whether that be at 7 pm or 3 am

Even on missions, she’ll find out when you get home and make sure to call you and ask about your day

Widowmaker

Doesn’t think a whole lot of you being a medic, to be completely honest

As a lady of her apathetic nature, it’s a neither impressive nor boring detail

She thinks reasonably well of your profession and field, as they are the people saving lives, but that’s about it

She sometimes forgets how gruesome and dark the work can become, however, until you come home one day so emotionally drained from telling a family one of their members will never be coming home

Amelia’s just so used to the rough and gore herself that she doesn’t realize the toll it takes on others until she sees it

Although she’s not the best when it comes to emotional care and she’s a little spacey when it comes to remembering such things, she does her best to help you not become overwhelmed

She doesn’t normally visit you unprompted at work, but if she sees you in the halls or on one of your breaks or something, she’ll come chat

Zarya

She thinks very highly of people who do the more delicate and thoughtful work as opposed to someone just being out in the field

So she’s pretty impressed with you

Despite being the professional lady she is, that facade immediately cracks when the two of you start dating

She doesn’t let such a thing keep her from doing the important stuff, of course

However

She totally does steal you any chance she gets, either on your breaks or hers, to go be mushy

Smooching, giggle, holding hands, all that

If the two of you bump into each other in the hall, she’s tugging you somewhere more secluded to A) ask about your day B) smooch you a lot

If you’re at a meeting together, she’ll sit by you and hold your hand and play with your fingers under the table

Always takes you out to lunch if you both have time

Again, she’s still a very professional lady

She’s just

Also a sap now

If she’s on a mission, she makes sure to call you a couple times a day to make sure you’re doing alright and not overworking yourself

TherewasanotherthingIwasgoingtoputaboutherbeingonamissionbutIjustforgotitson e v e r m i n d

When you’re both on the same mission, she becomes your bodyguard of sorts

[buzzdixonwriter]

Writing Report July 19, 2020

Another example of how this writer’s mind works, but first…

The last couple of months have played havoc on my writing schedule.  The pandemic was bad enough but last month there were family related matters and this month I had a long awaited minor medical procedure (don’t worry; I’m fine, it’s healing nicely, and I’m in no pain) followed by ongoing home improvements.

I’m really just piddling out the words these days.

Hopefully, once the home improvement is finished, I can get back up to speed again.

(And it’s not like I was completely useless during that time; I did go through a number of notes and references on another long planned project, winnowing them down by about 7,000 items, so progress of sorts is being made even if the word count isn’t piling up.)

But I do find time to write some fictoids (up to 108 now) and create the mashups I do with old photos and advertisements.

A month or so back I stumbled across the above image online.  It’s from Forbidden Planet, one of the all time best sci-fi films, and shows the scene where Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) demonstrates Robby the Robot is incapable of harming humans even when given a direct order to do so.

The still reminded me of the breakfast scene in Pulp Fiction, so in just a few minutes I whipped up the above mashup, giving Robby the lines Samuel L. Jackson said in the Tarantino film.

It went up on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Vero late Friday night and early Sunday I commented on my Facebook page “Y'know, I did this as a joke, but the more I look at it, the more I think a Forbidden Planet / Pulp Fiction mash-up could work...” and suddenly =click!= the gears were in motion.

Robby could take the Jules Winnfield (Jackson) role, of course, but Morbius is wrong for Vince Vega (John Travolta).  Morbius would have to be Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) so that would make Altaira (Anne Francis) Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) and…and…and…

In 43 minutes I had 476 words done, casting the Forbidden Planet characters into the relationships of Pulp Fiction (well, to be honest, I ended up dragging in a few characters from other movies as well; there isn’t a perfect one-to-one correlation all the way through).

Not bad for a hour of time wasting on a Saturday afternoon, but the idea Just Would Not Let Me Go.  

For the rest of the day new idea after new idea popped into my head, and I jotted them all down dutifully and now I’m 2,225 words in on the basic idea and I have the general story arc broken down and know the broad strokes of how it has to play out.

I’m not going to start right away, not yet, because I’m going to need to do some specific research on a couple of scientific disciplines and while I know I need a specific type of mcguffin device, I also need two keys for said device, one the right key, and one the wrong key (no suggestions, please; I know what the parameters of the story require and I just have to puzzle it out on my own).

And in the process the idea has sprouted wings and taken flight, becoming its own idea, not just a simplistic parody mashing up two movies.  The characters and their universe are going to be a lot different from their templates

So anyway, that’s how this writer’s mind works, and telling you this has added another 611 to my July word total.

Ka-ching!

  © Buzz Dixon 

[emma-what-son]

‘The Circle’: 5 Reasons Why Tom Hanks and Emma Watson’s Movie Bombed

I don’t think I ever posted this article.

Indiewire May 2017: Sometimes, big stars aren't the best casting choices. Here's why the latest film from James Ponsoldt was disliked by critics and audiences alike.

Nobody sets out to make a bad movie. So why did cautionary tech thriller “The Circle” — adapted by lauded writer-director James Ponsoldt (“The Spectacular Now,” “The End of the Tour”) and beloved novelist Dave Eggers from his own 2013 bestseller — earn such negative reviews (43 on Metacritic, 17 on Rotten Tomatoes) and bomb at the box office ($9.3 million in 3,163 theaters)?

The movie went wrong in five significant ways.

1. The movie was foreign financed.

“The Circle” was developed by A-list ex-DreamWorks producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald’s Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation, which raised financing from Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ and foreign sales company FilmNation on the power of Tom Hanks, who was the first star on board via his Playtone banner.

In order to raise an $18-million budget, globally bankable star Emma Watson was cast in a central leading role that demanded she be in every scene. Veering in tone from satiric comedy to naturalistic drama, “The Circle” follows wide-eyed Mae Holland’s swift rise within a burgeoning Silicon Valley tech company (imagine Facebook and Google combined; the campus resembles Apple’s new headquarters). The film is told from her perspective, and required a far more charismatic actress. We lose sympathy for Mae as the narrative omits vital connective tissue that might explain just how and why she becomes a willing tool of The Circle.

Watson was a key member of the ensembles in the blockbuster Harry Potter series and worldwide musical smash “Beauty and the Beast,” which solidified her global stardom. While she sagged in non-crucial roles in “My Week with Marilyn” and “The Bling Ring,” she was well cast in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Clearly, Watson can shine with the right director, but “The Circle” required too much of her. With Ponsoldt’s prior actresses Mary Elizabeth Winstead or Shailene Woodley in the role, the movie might have turned out much better — even on a smaller budget.

Hanks does not help matters in an overinflated supporting role as the amiably villainous co-founder of The Circle. He’s too big for the room; his familiar stardom is distracting. And charismatic John Boyega is wasted as a mysterious Circle co-founder. We want more of him every time he comes on screen, but he just fades back into the shadows.

2. “The Circle” is a feathered fish.

The movie is neither the sort of smart and edgy indie that A24 could market, nor a glossily entertaining commercial studio vehicle. It doesn’t appeal directly to younger Watson fans or older Hanks fans. “The Circle” therefore satisfies neither critics nor mainstream audiences. It’s what industry insiders like to call a ‘tweener.

3. EuropaCorp and STX Entertainment partnered on a too-familiar movie.

Luc Besson’s French distribution company EuropaCorp picked up “The Circle” for $8 million and partnered with STX for the North American release. They spent serious marketing dollars chasing after the hard-to-reach 17-to-35 demo, but the movie looked too familiar. Back in 1995, even “The Net” starring Sandra Bullock did a better job of painting a paranoid techno-future where everyone is watched. So did Peter Weir’s “The Truman Show” in 1998 — and most effectively of all, the hit Channel 4 series “Black Mirror.”

As our own Eric Kohn pointed out in his review:

Recent years have seen a proliferation of deep-dive narratives on the information age, from the psychological thriller territory of ‘Mr. Robot’ to the parodic extremes of ‘Silicon Valley. Ponsoldt’s project is stuck in between those two extremes. On the one hand, it’s an Orwellian drama about surveillance society; at the same time, it’s a sincere workplace drama about young adulthood that shoehorns in some techno-babble for the sake of deepening its potential.

4. Dave Eggers is box-office poison.

As a novelist, Eggers has delivered such bestsellers as “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” “Zeitoun,” and “A Hologram for the King,” which also was turned into a movie starring Hanks that earned mild reviews and poor box office ($7.7 million domestic). His brand of ironic, self-referential satire works better on the page, where the writer can control the tone.

As a Hollywood screenwriter, Eggers adapted Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic “Where the Wild Things Are” for Spike Jonze, a well-reviewed but expensive ($115 million) 2009 Warner Bros. box office dud ($99 million worldwide). He and his wife Vendela Vida also wrote 2009 family comedy “Away We Go,” directed by Sam Mendes and starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, which also earned mild reviews and piddling box office ($10 million worldwide). Gus Van Sant’s 2012 drama “Promised Land,” starring Krasinski and Matt Damon and based on Eggers’ story, fared no better on Metacritic or at the box office ($9.3 million worldwide).

5. Expectations were high for writer-director James Ponsoldt.

Having delivered well-reviewed indie features his first four times at bat — “Off the Black,”  “Smashed,” “The Spectacular Now” and “The End of the Tour” — Ponsoldt was on a roll. Critics expected more from “The Circle,” and meted out harsh disapproval. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, for one, awarded the film one star out of four: “‘The Circle’ feels dull, dated and ripped from yesterday’s headlines. It flatlines while you’re watching it.”

Next up: Ponsoldt is writing “Wild City,” an original idea for Disney that could give him an even bigger budget. Let’s hope he regains his once-sure footing.

[gotmeringinghellsbells]

Hey there! Is there anyway you could write a Shiro x Adam Curtis story where Curtis has given his place to Adam on the atlas so he can be with Shiro and it’s the last night the three of them have to spend together before shiro and Adam leave for space? Thank you so much!!

Turning Things Around

Fandom: Voltron Legendary Defender

Characters: Adam, Curtis, Takakshi Shirogane

A/N: I got way to into this. Be warned, this is rather long. 

Description: The Atlas is returning to space again for coalition propaganda five years after peace was brought to the universe. However, the Garrison only sees it fit to send needed workers on the mission, which means as few as possible. Such a decree causes slight issues within the Shriogane household. 

_

The last few months had been stressful to say the least. The Atlas and Voltrn were heading back to space for a few shows and chekups in the name of peace and the coalition. As such, it was decided that no more than the required number of Garrison employees to operate the ship could attend. There was no point in sending more than a few workers, voltron, and Shiro. 

However, with such a rule established, Adam would be left behind while not just one, but both his husbands left for space. Space used to be a thing of beauty, of wonder, of dreams….. But since Kerberos, since Voltron, since…. Everything that happened with his childhood sweetheart, Adam couldn’t let him go, not alone. 

It caused a few fights already and so much tension. Both men were suffering and Curtis could see that. If he and Pidge trained Adam for the few programs he didn’t quite know for the Atlas…. He could probably work alongside Shiro in the bridge; In Curtis’s spot. It got the fights to stop when the arrangement was made, but it added whispers and secrets to the Shirogane household. 

As much as the youngest trusted his loves and the militant strength that both machines had… he was anxious. He was going to be left alone for hopefully only two months, but he’d have very limited contact with the two. It was bothering him, a lot. Normally, the happy, talkative, sweet heart that Curtis was would lighten both his husbands’ day after a long day of work, but lately… Curtis would just come home, give a few kisses, take his dog, and walk up to the shared bedroom. 

Conversations were cut in half, smiles were rarer and rarer to see, purple was gathering under the eyes, ad who knew how long it had been since Adam or Shiro had seen Curtis take Spice outside. Sure, they had piddle pads, but that’s not the point. 

Curtis was suffering so Adam and Shiro wouldn’t. There was something wrong and tey both knew it. Sure, it had been about five years since the war ended, but all three had been impacted by it… which Adam and Shiro often forgot. Though Curtis wasn’t up-close and personal with death as his loves had, he was still impacted through his own turama. It wasn’t right… and Adam was having second thoughts. “He should go.” 

Shiro looked up from the book before him, slightly shocked. The smell of fall lingered in the kitchen as Adam lit one of Curtis’s candles, allowing the scent of cider to intertwin with the cool, November night air. “What?” The crickets chirped loudly as the sink shut off, the tallest drying his hands. “It should be Curtis up there, not me.” Just because he was married to Shiro didn’t mean he automatically had the right to go. If he went, he’d need someone to cover for him for those months of absence. 

Backing out would just leave him home for those months or having to wait a while before getting back to work do to rescheduling as they already had a replacement lined up to teach his lessons. The hero tilted his head a bit. He still didn’t understand what the fuss was about! “Adam, it’s only two months. You could boh stay home, I won’t b away that long.” 

Placing the book down, Shiro moved to comfort his husband, only to be nearly shrugged off. “Takashi, whenever any of you go to space… it’s longer than the expected time….. And it’s never from planning. Something or someone always manages to throw you off course.” Shiro gave up on therapy after his first month of peace, it seemed pointless. He had Adam, and to him that’s all he needed when his PTSD surfaced. 

He loved his husbands equally, he really did! But… Adam was his home. He had been since they were fourteen, his body just seemed to respond better to the older or something like that. He wasn’t sure but… regardless…. Adam took the therapy. He didn’t want to talk about it to anyone but Colleen though, but he’d taken up painting…. A lot of painting. 

Scare after scare from Shiro’s chronic illness, thinking his main family was dead (Shiro and Keith), going to war with them, Keith going back to space for a while, Shiro’s PTSD and the horror tales he told Adam….. It was a lot. They could probably use from marital counseling at this point too, as there were a lot of barriers present between each one. 

Curtis was willing to share his feelings, to actually speak when he was upset. He felt so safe with these two, not like his biological family environment. Each had gone through their own abuse overtime and Curtis was the only one to actually talk about it when the time was… needed or to really try to resolve things. 

Adam and Shiro would just go to war and whoever caved first caved first. But Curtis had taken it upon himself to make sure both were happy, though he himself had become miserable. He already felt out of place in his new family, but refused to leave because… it felt silly too. Sure, he hadn't seen, done, or felt anything the other two had… well not the exact same. He came from an abusive home, he had his own turama!

But he just didn’t feel he could really fit into their family. He’d shared this the only time he’d gotten drunk, to which Keith and him both just kind of bantered about it until they passed out, but that was a few years ago. Adam could never get him to talk about it and Shiro, Shiro just wanted to hug him. It was an instinct thing since the war ended. It started with Adam and just kind of worked its way up. 

It was a pleasant change, probably why Adam wasn’t pushing his husband away still. “Adam, nothing is going to happen.” It was pointless to reassure that, both knew it. When Shiro started to feel shoulder’s shake, he panicked slightly. Turning Adam, he pulled him into a tighter hug. “Why do you think we’re both upset Takashi? We’re afraid to lose you, to be alone without answers. I can’t do that again…. I can’t.” 

He was trying to hold back his sobs, but it was pointless. “Adam, please, nothing is going to happen.” He wanted to make a joke or make him smile… just… something. “Hey,” he cooed softly. He tipped the soft chin up slightly to look into the other’s eyes. Cupping the scarred cheek, Shiro wiped away the tears fro the functioning eye lovingly. 

“You really think anyone is going to stop us from getting off course, especially now that Allura’s a new mom and is leaving her kingdom under Coran? I wouldn’t be surprised if she obliterated any challenging ship in sight.” Right, other’s had a it a bit worse, huh. Adam ignored the joke and leaned into the comforting touch, pushing the robotic hand back against his other cheek. 

“No, huh? Alright, well, your just pushing me to take drastic measures here, aren’t you?” Why couldn’t his husband be a grown up and not a man child sometimes? Adam sighed softly. “Maybe save that for after checking on Curtis.” It wasn’t so much a suggestion as a demand. The smaller smirked a bit before pulling Adam close. His robotic hand moved to scratch behind the hypersensitive ear, earning a squeak and weakening knees. “Or it’s also motivation to get going?”

“Nhhahahaha! A-All right!” The other shoved at him before moving away quickly. An idea suddenly hit him. It was clear even now that Shiro didn’t like to talk about things… like at all. Common interests, people’s days, normal stuff was fine but negative possibilities, the past, absolutely not. He hated it and would change and dodge the topic, never asking anyone else about their past. 

Though, maybe he was like that before Kerberos given that Keith opened up to him without him asking. He seemed a bit shocked and off put when telling Adam that night. Regardless, it didn’t matter at the moment. Each man had their own dynamic in the family, had their own quirks. But they also had their own ranks and strings they could pull. 

“You think you could call Coran and Iverson and see if they could change the top of the food chain’s mind?” Shiro looked to the clock, they had maybe thirteen hours until the “mission”. He sighed with a shrug. “I’ll see what I can do. I take it your going to have a more,” he was cut off by a nod. Dragging a hand down his scruff ending face, he nodded. “Yeah but… I can’t promise anything. They’re still mad you and Curtis swapped.”

Adam shrugged. “And? Your a paladin of Voltron, Takashi. Last time you pulled that card it got all three of us legally bound.” Ah yes, the reality of things. The former paladin sighed before walking off. “Uh huh, I’ll see what I can do.” The taller rolled his eyes before heading up the stairs. Curtis really hadn't left the room lately. He wasn’t sure where else he’d be so might as well check there first. 

Sure enough, in bed were two lumps. The haze from the humidifier cast over them, mixing with the lights from the television. Was he asleep…. While watching “The Unnatural”? Adam frowned before walking over and lightly touching his husband’s forehead. No fever, that was good. As he pulled his hand away, brown eyes opened. “Hm?” 

Oh, maybe he’d been simply resting his eyes? “Sorry, were you sleeping?” A head popped out from under the covers. A happy dog made a noise before both paws came out, hitting his daddy in the face. Curtis snorted with a small smile. “No, I’m awake.” A whine came from Spice as he demanded attention from his other dad. 

Adam turned on the light before turning off the television so he could keep Curtis’s attention. “It’s our last night,” the professor started. It probably wasn’t the best way to but… might as well get to the point. Curtis nodded. “I know.” The bags under his eyes had gotten worse and more colorful. “You should go.” It was probably too late to switch things up now but you know what, these three had been through a lot! To only be able to choose one partner to go with was unfair to almost a moral degree!

“What?” Curtis rubbed his eyes a bit, watching as Spice freed himself to attack Adam as he climbed into Shiro’s spot on the bed. “I know how it feels and I’d never want to push that on someone else Curtis. I’m sorry.” The professor pulled the bigger dog into his chest, making him lay down as he received scratches and lovings. 

“Adam, what’s done is done. I want you to go. You’ve been through this before and… it’s not fair. Your family is all going and it’s only right. I saw how you were when Keith decided to go back to space, I know how your anxiety is. Please, it’s not a big deal. I’m sorry I haven’t been… myself lately.”

The younger jumped a bit when a hand lightly touched his arm. Adam quickly pulled away before the other gave a sign that he could place the hand back. Doing so, he let out a sigh. “It’s hard to find the right words, I know…. But…. we love you. We don’t want you to be miserable.” The other sighed before rubbing Adam’s hand. “And Shiro’s PTSD? I can’t do anything about that. 

“We both know I’m not that useful when it comes to that…. Stuff.” He sighed. “Your closer, and I know that. I understand I can’t be that close with either of you in comparison and… I shouldn’t compare… but unconsciously he knows your his home, your his protection. Your much closer with the paladins than I am and are better at rationalizing with Shiro when it comes to making certain choices, same with Allura. Your a co-captian and you can keep Keith in check. I can't do any of that Adam.

“I sit there and I do as I’m told. I don’t really voice my opinion as it’s not my place.” Adam looked shocked. He didn’t realize… even five years into them… that Curtis still felt so… alienated? Foreign? No, like, he didn’t belong. Moving Spice to the side, the older moved in closer. “Curtis?” The other sighed before laying his head back. 

“Adam, I know my place in it all. I shouldn't word it like this but to visualize I rank under you. That’s not a bad thing, and that’s something I’m okay with. I’m part of this family, but I’m newer. You’ve had more of an impact than you realize. Keith would rather be with you than his mom, he listens to you and Shiro!

“He calls you when he’s upset or comes to see you when he’s having a hard time. Lance does the same, Hunk and Allura too. Your like… almost a,” Adam cut him off. “Just because I’m married to the ‘space daddy’,” he warned. It lightened the mood slightly as it earned a smile from both of them and a giggle form Curtis. “Space and Earth dads, it works.” 

Was that so? Hands found the younger’s sides, earning a scream of surprise from the other. “Whahahit, thahaht tickles!” No, no, no, no! Curtis covers his face as he tried to roll onto either side… at the same time. As he rocked back and forth, Adam let out a small laugh of his own before stopping to climb on the other’s waist. “No, no, no! Adhahahadam!” Awww! Adam was laughing softly at the sight. Curtis looked so mature and grown up, yet he was more of a man child than their Takashi. 

“But you laughing Curtis, isn’t that what you want? Don’t you want to be tickled by me, huh? Saying such negative things about yourself comes with punishment and you know it.” Adam raised a hand, no… a claw. It honestly was like watching Keith or Shiro at this point with how “trained” Curtis was to this action. He spazzed more, practically crying from joy. “No, no, no!” God, the professor loved him so much!

He leaned down and pried one of the protective hands away so that he could kiss the soft blush on the sun kissed skin. Curtis was just so beautiful! “I’m not ticklish,” he squealed out in anticipation, almost feeling fingers move closer to his ribs. His arms were dancing back and forth, trying to sheild his face and ribs at the same time. “Your not, huh? Could have fooled me.”  He was met with a few odd noises, whines, and shrieks before the door opened to reveal a rather shocked Shiro. His face dropped as he rolled his eyes. Should have known. 

“Hehehelp,” the youngest cried out softly as fingers came closer to his ribs again. Honestly, the majority of the time for tickling Curtis was just hovering over him. Shiro moved towards the end of the bed, poking at the socked feet that had burrowed their way out from the covers. “S-Shahahairo!” Both husbands smiled at the sight before Shiro started his point of entrance. “So, talked to Iverson,” he started before moving to sit on both ankles. 

“Oh? Any luck,” Adam asked just wanting to get to the point. He lightly traced over the clothed chest, earning squeals and snorts. “Ahahahre yahahaou thahahwo sheheherious?!” Of course they’d just have a casual conversation while… oi. “Nhahhahahaht the thahahoes! S-Shahahiro plehehehase!” Both were hardly touching the hypersensitive bean. 

“Well, yeah. I guess they had to reconfigure a few things and we were supposed to get word of it. Basically… it’s kind of like a free for all now. They had Curtis and you both under the list, and Spice and Coffee too. I guess Coran just decided everything without telling us.” Well, that was good news. “Wait, how?” Adam stopped, giving Curtis a bit of a break while Shiro kept poking at him. 

“I don’t know. I guess Allura is bringing the twins and Lotor? Or Romelle or… someone? He sounded stressed and was kind of just skipping around with sentences. I guess the new head has kind of… got him going crazy.” None of the three had met the new head of commands yet. “Huh,” was all Adam could say before letting up on the poor man. He turned his attack on Shiro, pulling him off Curtis and kind of just laying on him. 

“They just put the list out tonight so…. Yeah he’s stressed,” Shiro grunted as he quickly rolled him and Adam over to change spots. Damn his stupid strength! Adam struggled against him, wanting to wipe that stupid, sleepy smirk off his face. “Like someone else I know.” The struggle was mostly up as Shiro lifted Adam’s arms over head. 

“I think we eased Curtis a bit, now… I think it’s your turn.” A new voice was quick to chime in. “Honestly, your all work and now play,” Curtis cooed tiredly as he crawled over to him. “Don’t you dare,” Adam laughed. He was so tired at this point. It was closing in on midnight now, all three were feeling the effects of the night. But…. rather than just tickling one husband again, Shiro had an idea. He lifted one of Curtis’s arms, quickly tickling under it as the other hand went after Adam’s ear. 

“Sthahahaop it! Shiro,” Curtis squealed as he rolled over. He kept trying to roll away from the robotic hand, but it was no use. “It tickles, it tickles!” Shiro snorted as he watched him continuously roll away. “Curtis, what are you doing?” He stopped in fear of the other falling off the bed. The hand started to stroke the short, dark locks, earling soft mewls and whines.

Adam, meanwhile, was squealing and shrieking softly as he tried to enjoy the relaxing feeling. He was blushing deeply, more so when Shiro decided to start smothering him in kisses. “Nnnnmm hahahahahaha! K-Kashi!” Arms wrapped around Shiro’s neck as the offending fingers moved down to the professor’s back, supporting him as the smothering continued. 

“There’s that smile,” Shiro cooed softly, earning a whine from the taller. “S-Shut up you dork.” Alright. Shiro shrugged before blowing a raspberry into his neck. The professor’s eyes widened before he let out a soft squeal. “Sthahahaop thahaht!” More fingers found their way against the most serious of the three. Curtis sleepily snuggled closer to them, fingers scratching at Adam’s ribs softly. 

His smile was soft and loving, cracking a bit as the robotic hand lightly scratched under his chin. “Heheheh…. Shirooo.” Curtis stopped as he hid into the two. He was so sleepy and it was… so precious. Shiro smiled lovingly before letting up on them both. However, Adam wasn’t about to let the shortest get away with such a crime with out some kind of consequence. 

He eased him in slowly, starting with a soft kiss which slowly turned a bit more heated. Making his way on top of the touch loving veteran, he straddled his waist lovingly. Looking over, the professor rolled his eyes softly, fighting back a smile. Curtis was down for the count and god did he look adorable. But if he was in a dead sleep, nothing was waking him…. Which meant Adam could be as ruthless as he wanted. Lovingly of course, of course! He wasn’t a bully, or was he?

Gray eyes widened before Shiro turned his head and covered his mouth quickly. He glared up at the older who smirked menacingly down at him. “What’s wrong ‘Kashi, can’t handle some of your own medicine?” Adam leaned down like a cat as he moved the robotic hand away from the shorter’s mouth. 

“Your evil,” the younger laughed softly. Shiro wouldn’t deny that there was something fun about the child-like suspense; But feeling Adam’s loving touch almost made it easier to enjoy. A loud shriek echoed off the bedroom walls as hands dug into the thicker thighs. Tickling turned to wrestling, which ended back in kissing. 

Finally laying down to rest for the night, a realization hit the hero. Sandwiched by two men he loved so dearly. Being used as a pillow, using the other as a body pillow….. He could never go to space without them. They made him feel so safe, so loved, so secure and warm. He let out a soft sigh, smiling as he closed his eyes. Space would be alright.

[eudaemaniacal]

i am reading a book about the offshore fashion supply chain, the deaths of workers in textile sweatshops and about sustainability and im just like... ah. hmm. hmm. (i nearly never read nonfiction so im... glad??... i picked it up?? i guess) like i already knew all of this. all clothes are handmade. that is how it works. robots do not do these things, a person has to. but it’s more like... fuck i knew this already but now i am more uncomfortable with it than ever. something about the numbers?? realizing “””fast fashion””” and the death of the american textile industry is a relatively recent thing and basically reagan’s fault? (another thing that’s reagan’s fault!!!)

i guess i am going to stick to reuse and sewing from now on which L B R i was already doing, except for the stuff i can’t manage just yet (I.E. bras.) i know there’s still people picking the fibers and spinning the yarn and weaving the fabric and unless i like go buy fabric exclusively from alabama chanin or the piddling few american mills i am not really opting out of anything. but. something about emphasizing what i vaguely knew has just... uhhhh, made the case for me.

anyway the last third of the book is sort of fawning over luxury brands getting involved in high tech fiber production for which i do not care but hey did you know they can LITERALLY GROW LEATHER AND SILK IN A VAT???? using genetically modified yeasts to produce PROTEINS during FERMENTATION that either get squished and tanned or put through a solvent and then spun into yarn??? fucking what!!!!!!! i want to see the leather vat!!! take me to the leather vat!!!!!!!!! i want to meet the yeasts!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[snappedsky]

Borderlands: Skies the Bodyguard 1

Skies meets Professor Nakayama. Previous! Next!

Chapter 9

           One day I was just chilling in the lobby, stretched out on a couch. Wilhelm was standing nearby and we had spent most of the day swapping merc stories when the elevator door opened. I sat up as Blake walked in with the sweatiest nerd I had ever seen. He was smiling feverishly as he followed Blake, carrying some sort of suitcase.

           Wilhelm groaned with blatant disgust and turned away. I quickly stood up and cut off the two before they could exit the lobby.

           “Hold up,” I said, “who’s this guy?”

           “This is-,” Blake started to reply before the new guy cut him off.          

           “Wow! You’re Skies the Bodyguard,” he squealed and stepped way too close. “Your prosthetics are legendary. Designed by Handsome Jack himself. Can I-can I see them? Can I examine them?”

           I pulled my robot arm out of his reach. “Touch me and I’ll shove your hand down your throat.”

           His smile wavered but not by much as he stepped back, clutching his case with both hands.

           Blake sighed. “This is Professor Nakayama. He has a meeting with Handsome Jack today. I’m escorting him.”

           “I didn’t hear of any meeting,” I stated.

           “They’re every few weeks,” Nakayama said proudly.

           I glared at him before looking at Blake. “Sorry, Blake. Jack said I have to check with him before letting anyone into his office.”

           He sighed impatiently but stopped arguing. I called Jack on my built-in ECHO comm.

           “Hey, Jack. Blake says this greasy weirdo called Nakayama has a meeting with you?” I questioned.

           Jack scoffed with disgust. “Ugh, yeah I forgot. Go ahead, see them in.”            “Alright, follow me,” I grunted.

           “I don’t need to be here,” Blake said and turned away. “I’ll leave it to you.”            I shrugged and led the far too giddy scientist to Jack’s office. Along the way I could feel his eyes watching my every move. It still makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.

           As soon as I got into Jack’s office, I hustled behind his desk to keep myself from twisting Nakayama’s pencil neck. His smile only widened when he saw Jack, who looked annoyed and apathetic.

           “Sir, are you ready for your memory transfer?” Nakayama asked as he approached the desk.

           “Yeah, yeah. Just hurry it up,” Jack ordered and leaned back in his chair. “I’m busy.”            “Of course, sir,” he nodded and opened his case.

           “Memory transfer?” I questioned.

           “I am working on a very top secret project for Handsome Jack,” Nakayama gloated. I tried to get a peek of what was in the case, but he quickly turned it away from me. “It involves his fantastic memories but nobody but I know about it-.”

           “It’s an AI,” Jack stated plainly.

           Nakayama sputtered while I looked at Jack with surprise. “An AI?” I questioned.

           “Yeah. An AI designed to be me,” he explained, “the idea is to use it if I ever die; make me immortal, you know? So every few weeks Nakayama copies my memories and transfers them into the AI’s code.”

           “Is it finished?” I asked.

           “Yes,” Nakayama stated proudly, “it was created in Handsome Jack’s magnificent image.”

           “This is just to keep it up to date,” Jack added, “in case we ever do need to use it. I like to be prepared for everything, you know.”

           Nakayama finished fiddling with whatever was in his case then pulls out two small suction cups attached to wires. His grin widens as he approaches Jack.

           “Wa-wa-wait!” Jack orders, “let Skies do it.”

           “Uh b-bu-but, sir,” Nakayama stammered, “sh-she wouldn’t know how to place them.”

           “Then tell her, moron,” he barked. Nakayama flinched back like he’d be smacked. He deflated as he handed the wires to me.

           “Place each one on his temples,” he muttered.

           “That’s not difficult,” I grunted. Jack leaned back in his chair as I stuck each suction cup onto the sides of his head.

           “I didn’t want his sweaty hands touching me again,” he groaned, “he seems to enjoy it way too much. This is top secret so it couldn’t be helped before.”

           After both cords were attached, I peeked over Nakayama’s shoulder to get a look into his case. Inside was a small, built-in computer with far too many Handsome Jack stickers and pictures. As Nakayama typed away on the keyboard all that came up on screen were lines and codes so I quickly got bored.

           “By the way, ‘Namayaka’,” Jack said. Nakayama perked up, blissfully ignoring the fact that Jack didn’t even say his name right. “How goes the robot?”

           “Ah uh the prototype is done,” Nakayama replied hesitantly, “but-.”

           “Why didn’t you say so?” Jack snapped, “hurry up with the memory transfer. I wanna see it.”

           “Ah b-but, sir, it hasn’t been tested yet and-.”

           “Then I wanna watch the test.”

           “Ugh, y-yes, sir.”

           “Robot?” I questioned.

           Jack grinned at me. “This one I’m actually excited about. It’s so awesome.”

           I cocked my eyebrow, intrigued. After the transfer was finished, I removed the wires from Jack’s head- per his orders- and Nakayama closed his case. The three of us left the office together. Nakayama looked like a happy puppy having Jack walk beside him. I was kind of nervous he might piddle on the floor.

           “Watch the office, Wilhelm,” Jack ordered as we went into the elevator.

           We walked to Research and Development and came up to a sealed door with a keypad. Nakayama punched in a code and led us through.

           It was a large lab with tons of computers and tools. In the middle of the room was a medical table and lying on it was a yellow robot body.

           “OoOohohoho,” Jack chortled excitedly, rubbing his hands together. I looked at it questionably, not sure what the big deal was.

           “Well, what are you waiting for?” Jack asked impatiently, looking at Nakayama. “Start the test.”

           “Ah, yes, sir,” Nakayama said quickly and started typing on one of the computers.

           “So, what is it?” I asked, pointing at the robot. “I mean I assume it’s more than just a robot.”            

           “Ooh, you’ll see,” Jack said, grinning wolfishly.

           The table suddenly started moving along a track, the robot still on it. It disappeared through a hole in the wall, which opened up to a large window. On the other side was an empty metal room. Jack and I got closer while Nakayama continued typing on the computer.

           A hole on the other side of the testing room opened up and another table slid in, this one with a human man strapped on it. He was naked with his back facing out. One of the computers in the lab displayed moving, jagged lines that represented the man’s vitals.

           Medical devices dropped down from the ceiling in the testing room, attached to metal arms. The man started wiggling and screaming but the glass was sound proof so we couldn’t hear him.

           Five scalpels suddenly sliced into the man, down both of his arms, his legs, and his back. Immediately, two robot arms removed all of his organs and bones and then literally shoved the robot body into his skin. Finally five laser sutures sewed the skin back up.      

           The restraints on the man’s body let go and he fell flat onto the floor. His vitals on the screen had flat lined.

             Jack and I immediately cracked up.

           “You-you were right,” I chuckled, “that was awesome.”          “Yeah,” Jack snickered, wiping the corner of his eye. “Now how do we make them…not die?”

           “That’s the problem, sir,” Nakayama said skittishly. “I-I’ve ran the numbers many times and-and it’s just not possible to…put a robotic endoskeleton into a human body. They-they can’t survive.”

           “Well, find a way,” Jack ordered, “I want this to work. It’s a way better idea than your AI.”

           Nakayama deflated and stared at the floor.

           “Make a new one and make it work,” he demanded as we started heading out. “Oh and send that one to my office. But, you know, clean it up first.”            I followed Jack back to his office, feeling chipper. Working for him did have its interesting moments.

[nintendroid]

Yars Revenge isn’t just an Atari 2600 game. It’s a tribute to a tragic space love story set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe. *Spoilers ahead*

Lieutenant Yar was the Security Chief on the USS Enterprise. Being she was in charge of security, she often got beamed down to planets to deal with hostile situations. 

In the episode “Skin of Evil”  Lt. Yar was apart of an away team sent down to desolate planet “Vagra ll” to investigate a distress call from a shuttle returning from a conference. 

While on the planet, they encounter a sludge-monster named “Armus” who wants to hurt people for fun...pretty much. 

Armus displays it’s power by killing Lt. Yar in one whack. The crew eventually pick up their stranded crewmembers and leave Armus behind and buzz off to the next adventure but not before giving Lt. Yar a proper funeral on the holodeck. 

Lt. Yar’s death has somewhat of an “emotional” impact on Lieutenant Commander Data. I say somewhat because Data is an android, incapable of emotions. While Data can’t possibly be “emotional” about her death, he is..erm disappointed that she is gone? Explaining robot emotions are tough.

The reason for his fondness of her, is because they were “intimate” in an earlier episode where everyone on the Enterprise gets some weird space-virus that makes everyone drunk and she banged Data because she needed a “gentle” touch. 

Yeah.

Data carries around a holographic picture of Lt. Yar from here on, as shown in the episode “The Measure of a Man”. He explains that he keeps the picture because Yar was special to him due to the intimacy they shared. 

So it’s established that while Data can’t actually “love”, he loved Lieutenant Yar. Furthering Data’s character progression of understanding and becoming more human. 

Howard Scott Warshaw, a young game designer at Atari is doing some work around the Atari offices late one night, when he accidentally programs a technological wormhole that allows him to see ten years into the future (Star Trek: TNG began airing in 1987) 

Fascinated by Star Trek TNG, He marathons the first three seasons in secret and gets emotionally invested in Lt. Yar and Lt. Comm. Data’s love story. 

Atari gets mad at Mr. Warshaw for piddling around the offices so they give him an ultimatum: Either he gets off his ass and makes a successful video game, or he can go work at Chuck E. Cheese. 

HSW dug into his heart and decided to make Yars’ (or more appropriately Yar’s) Revenge. He had to alter the material to keep from pissing off the suits at Paramount over ripping off their Star Trek trademark, and to keep people from finding out about his technological wormhole that allows access to future television. 

He made up some bull about bugs in space but deep down HSW’s vision of Yar’s Revenge was a playable fanfiction, where Data goes rogue, takes off in a shuttlecraft away from the enterprise and goes back to Vagra ll to blow up the planet that housed the foul bastard that took the only thing that made Data feel truly human. In tribute to his lost love, he named the shuttlecraft “Yar’s Revenge”. 

Just use your imagination here, you can totally see it. 

Yar’s Revenge went on to be the best selling Atari 2600 game, making Howard Scott Warshaw a rockstar in the world of video games. He went on to design the famous Atari flop “E.T” and left the business shortly after. Being content with the pile of money he made from Yar’s Revenge, he now spends his free time at home, watching his inter-dimensional T.V eager to tell the world about the reboot of “Perfect Strangers” coming out in 2049.

[waywcrdmemes]

💕

Send 💕 and my muse will use The Love Calculator to see how compatible they are. || accepting !!

“I gotta say, that’s pretty HIGH considering that you’re a stranger.” But, hey...she looks reptilian-like. Is she one of those personified dragons that Vali’s read about in Earth books? She certainly pulls off the look well enough on the off-chance that she isn’t.

( and a couple more! )

“Well well, now isn’t this a surprise? Then again, we do have to pick up where our Valentine’s Day session left off, now don’t we, BUNNY?”

“Impossible...how is it so high?” The knight is not sure why the piddling robot seems so keen on giving her and the servant such a high rating. It makes no sense whatsoever. Unless she’s going to be roped into another week-long marriage, like with that idiotic demon knight? No, that can’t be...

“Gh. Whatever the case, I highly doubt this sort of arrangement would work between us. We’re nowhere near lovers, not even acquaintances. I must DECLINE the implications this machination is spewing forth.”