#my tablet keeps restarting itself

[candybunnieholic]

Even though it started off pretty rocky, I still have a lot of fun for my birthday because I went out to eat with my mom earlier since my auntie and little brother was busy but he said that he's going to get me the iPhone 14 so that's really cool.

[genericpuff]

welp, this kinda sucks

I'm currently at odds with the PC that I got a couple months ago, it's started freezing and soft-resetting randomly for seemingly no reason. It would usually be after hours of use that I could chalk up to the memory overloading, but now it's happening as soon as I boot up the frigging thing. And just to make it clear how much I've done on my own to diagnose the problem, our attempts to fix it have included the following:

Limiting startup applications

Running virus / malware scans

Swapping out display monitors

Updating the GPU drivers

Setting a lower overclock profile in the BIOS settings

Swapping out power cables and outlets to check for power surges

So far none of these things have worked and if anything, the issue has just gotten worse in the last two days. Like, it can barely make it to the startup screen sometimes, despite the memory and CPU usage being >20%, there is zero reason it would be the PC overclocking itself just from startup.

(and no, it doesn't even compel me, i'm just annoyed to shit LOL)

So I dropped it off with the guy who built it (he runs an electronics / pawn shop downtown that's very reputable and well-known so it's not like I don't trust him or anything, he's been building PC's for people in the area for years) and it's now in his care for the next day or two while he tries to isolate the problem. Right now the only thing I can imagine being the problem is the power supply or my display monitor, which is my old Huion Kamvas 22 Plus that still works as a monitor, just not a drawing tablet - but if something's still fucking around in the tablet, it could be causing problems through the PC, maybe.

When I dropped it off with the guy, he went and set it up in his office and came out and told me that so far it seemed to be running just fine, when he asked me if I was doing anything specific I told him it was crashing even after startup so I gave him permission to overclock the shit out of it, run 53879205893 browser tabs, run my games, software, anything he needed to do to push it to its limits and see if he could replicate the problem.

I am terrified if it has to do with the motherboard, because that will be an expensive replacement that will also potentially lead to losing files / installations / etc. depending on how big an issue it is. It could also potentially be Windows 11 having a hissy fit especially seeing as how it's freezing up on startup, but doesn't freeze on the BIOS screen when it loads up in safe-mode after hard resets, so something is clearly happening between the hard boot-up and the startup of Windows 11 itself.

Thankfully I do have Google Drive sync support and plenty of external HDD's that I can back my stuff up to, but with the freezing and restarting getting as bad as it's been, I haven't been able to back anything up, and I don't want to risk doing it manually if it'll just freeze and potentially corrupt my files in the process. So I told the guy to call me if he needed to mess with anything concerning the system storage so that, if he could at least keep it running stable in the shop, then I could swing by and get everything I needed synced up safely before he messes around with anything.

It could also very well have something to do with the power supply itself, the house that I occupy the main floor of isn't exactly built with electric optimization in mind, we've had fuses blow on us before just from running the hair dryer at the same time as the TV, so if it's something to do with the PC drawing too much power for the electrical system here to keep up with, either (hopefully) the guy will be able to instruct me on how to lower and manage that power intake through the PC's BIOS (I believe you can but I'm still a massive noob on custom builds and I don't want to go tinkering with it myself) or, idk, maybe I'll have to get my landlord to drop by again with his electrician and check out the fuses to make sure they're all operating properly. I'm not an electrician either, so fuck if I know at this point what could be going on. I feel like it can't be the house itself because everything else is running fine and it's just become a recent issue, but our city's power grid is also not exactly praised for being good at its job, especially not in the winter.

So yeah, I'm a little - well, a lot - stressed right now, but all I can really do at this point is wait. Fortunately, I have my iPad and also remembered that I still have my old PC, so I've hooked it up, at best if the problem repeats itself on this PC then I'll know it has to do with the display monitor, at worst I'll just be stuck working with my clunky old hardware for a couple days, which is annoying, but it'll get the job done. Fortunately I had the newest episode of Rekindled uploaded to the cloud in Clip Studio so I can still download it and work on it, which was my biggest worry when everything started to go belly-up (next to just, like, having a working PC).

Sooooo yeah. It's annoying, but I'm hoping for the best. Send good vibes y'all, I really could use it rn, between this and slow traffic at work and some other personal shit that's been going on, it's been a shitty few days (╥﹏╥)

And yeah, I'll keep y'all updated on if it affects this week's update, it really shouldn't honestly as most of the work left is doable from both my iPad and PC, but obviously at this point anything can happen so if anything has to be postponed or changed to accommodate the current situation, I'll update y'all as soon as I can! Thanks everyone, y'all are the best, wish me luck <3

[timpac-capstone]

Week 5

Started watching "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!" this week, it's a 2020 anime about making anime. I'm only 1/3 through the series and when I started this series I thought this show would be about the process of making an anime from the ground up. While that is true it mainly focuses on the struggles of getting an anime made due to outside forces rather than the actual process itself. An example being that Eizouken are under a time constraint to get their animation finished before the school budget meeting and now they are forced to compromise with where they should cut corners such as some scenes not having color or a different scene made by a computer program. It brings to light the struggles of balancing time constraints, budget, hardware/personal constraints, and compromising between the story of the animators and the needs of the producers. I actually like this plot rather than what I formally thought it was, I definitely am able to connect more to the characters due to me having to meet deadlines for my capstone so I definitely want to watch it all the way through.

This Wednesday the RedShift art club had a presentation night about character design. This was a golden opportunity for me because it gave me a chance to get general information about what goes into designing a character and I got to see what the thought process is for people who are experienced and those not experienced in making characters. I was pleasantly surprised on how informative of a presentation my classmate Janelle made, I definitely went into this thinking it would be half assed and we would be more focused on having fun redesigning characters than trying to learn something useful. The four main principals in character design are Focus, Shape language/Exaggeration, Color Palette, and Silhouette. I also found out that Janelle uses Paint Tool Sight for digital art and Krita for animation.

Finally! I got around to drawing in Krita. So far it definitely feels no different to drawing digitally in Photoshop but that may be because I was only using one brush. Instead of using a tablet to draw in Krita, my roommate let me borrow his touchscreen pen laptop. It had its own set of complications, I had to restart the laptop 6 times because the cursor was bugging out, but I want to say it felt a bit easier to draw. I at least knew the exact direction my line would be going in but I was still having trouble making my drawing exactly how I wanted it to look. It came out fine but I definitely need some more help in terms of how to sketch and layer those sketches and colors.

REFLECTION:

It was nice being able to watch an anime for research purposes, it's like killing two birds with one stone, if I don't get anything out of it well then at least I got it out of my plan-to-watch list. It was also nice to do something that wasn't on my computer and interact with some Stevens students who aren't in my major. It was also a big eye-opener that if I'm really struggling with something I can ask my classmates for help cause they definitely know a lot more than I do. Next week I'm going to hammer out the script for my animation so most likely little to no research is required and I'll just let my brain put what it has been thinking for the past couple of weeks into writing.

[ausilotus]

I swear to god it feels like everything is just trying to fuck me over. I’m in a MAProject and the dead line is this month. My computer decided to completely shit itself and I had to get it repaired. I thought I had to lose everything and restart but I have the computer back and I still have all my files. So yay, I can finally get back on my part right? Well no apparently cuz my tablet pen was off. It was off center, lines didn’t taper, and stabilization wasn’t working. I ended up having to uninstall and reinstall wacom. But I can’t even fucking reinstall the damn thing cuz the site is deciding to shit itself too and have a stupid ass pop up that won’t load at all so I can’t even click on anything. The site works just fine on mobile but my stupid useless fucking time wasting computer just keeps fucking shit up. Nothing I do works. “Allow pop ups” doesn’t work. “Don’t slow pop ups” doesn’t work. It feels like everything is telling me I shouldn’t do the things I want to do. I shouldn’t animate. I shouldn’t work on the projects I want to work on. Cuz fuck me I guess, I don’t deserve to do the things I’ve been wanted to do for fucking years. Since elementary school. I’m not allowed to do shit.

[revolveroshawott2]

Split Necklace 1/30/24

I don't have much to actually talk about, I haven't been working on Split Necklace for a while. At this point I may restart my "design doc," well it's just a paper tablet, but something is bugging me when rereading it. Not really sure what so I may redo it, character names will be the same, but the story outline may be radically different. It's still gonna be SAW but anime, which is still ironic because while I maybe 25 I still have a fear of that puppet from that series. I think I'm gonna rework the character design. Only to make everyone, but Ken, stand out a little more. The reason why I singled Ken out is because I want to attempt the Silent Hill 1 thing they did with Harry. A neutral looking man so the player can fully immerse themselves in. Due to my fear of it, I don't know much about SAW but I would imagine due to some of the stuff victims had to go through, stuff like getting a key on a pendulum before getting slashed by a saw blade, being super glued to a car going high speed, and something called a reverse bear trap, things would be very tense to go through yourself. Before you ask I have friends who are fans of SAW and while it's not completely accurate I got board and decided to look up the plot summaries on Chat GPT. They're kind of stupid, but the basic premise of how badly do you want to live is a neat idea which is why I'm still working on this to some extent, but I'm trying to write outlines for other projects.

Said projects are two comics, one is a Super Sentai fan comic I had in mind since high school called V-Ranger. I have the cast, their respected colors, and the villain I just need to write an outline. The other is called My Foreign Boyfriend, about a Japanese woman being in a relationship with an American that moved to Japan. Currently writing that outline, while coming up with chapter ideas. I know exactly how I want it to begin and end just need to fill in the gaps.

To focus on the topic of this post, I'm still gonna keep the Legends of the Hidden Temple names for the chapters. As to why, the biggest reason is because I honestly love that show and the Jester's Court was the 1st thing to come to mind. Not sure why it did, it just happened. As to the other reason, it's kind of like how the crew who made Regular Show did their episodes. From my understanding they had the episode title 1st then just came up with ideas for it that episodes. So looking at all 4 seasons I think I can come up with something good. Thinking about it now, I want the Jester's Court to be the 1st level so I think it's just gonna be one body part to collect. Keep things simple, but right now the biggest thing that I want to work on is the story itself. That's a big focus of it, not to the extent that the gameplay will be trash. Trying to make it survival horror game, there will be an HP meter. Both a bar in the pause screen, and visually. A kin to how Haunting Ground and Resident Evil Revelations displayed HP. Making the screen a bit of a visual mess, but at the moment I will most likely get someone who knows Javascript to get some codes made for things, but at the moment it's unnecessary.

I do apologize for lack of updates, and screen shots in this update. This is low priority for me, and if y'all lost interest I understand. However once I figured out somethings about how I want to proceed development will continue! Hopefully the real world won't get in the way... but that maybe out of my hands, because life sucks. Regardless thanks for reading this update!

[ifixersblog]

5 Tips to Stop Your iPad from Shutting Down Randomly

The Apple iPad may be one of the best tablets in the world, but that doesn’t mean its okay. Rather, one of the most common problems iPad users are struggling with is that the tablet shuts down automatically. This can be one of the most frustrating things, especially when doing really interesting or important things on the iPad.

However, if your iPad shutdown unexpectedly and you don’t know the cause of the problem, try these 5 professional tips to prevent your iPad from shutting down randomly.

Why does my iPad keep shutting down?

There are several possible reasons why your iPad may shut down randomly. For example, the problem may be due to a software bug, memory overflow, or battery drain. Therefore, we provide a viable solution to address each aspect and solve the problem accordingly.

1. Hard Restart iPad

A hard reset may be required if the iPad powers off randomly while charging or playing games. A hard reset is useful if your computer shuts down automatically, or if the battery is draining rapidly due to malicious processes or cellular radiation. Also, there is no adverse effect after a hard reboot. It’s so easy that you can do it yourself by following the guide below.

iPad with Home button: Please hold the Home button and Power button till the Apple logo shows itself.

Other iPad models: Please press and then release the Volume Up button and Volume Down button respectively and fast. Then press the Top button till the Apple logo shows itself.

2. Update Your iPad

Outdated iPadOS will cause many problems. It is not strange that it makes your iPad turn on and off. Therefore, updating the iPad to the latest version of iOS can resolve the “iPad turns off automatically” issue. And you can easily find out the solution if yours is caused by this reason.

Step 1. Head to the Settings app.

Step 2. Choose the General option.

Step 3. Choose the Software Update button.

Step 4. Tap the Download & Install option.

3. Recharge

The problem might also be due to the improper functioning of the battery and related software that could be preventing the iPad from running smoothly. The best way to rule out such a scenario is to drain the battery completely. After it has lost all its charge, here is what you need to do.

Plug the iPad to the mains. Remember to always use an original Apple charger.

See if the device is charging normally. Let it charge completely in one go.

However, if the iPad does not seem to be charging as it should be, there might be some issues with the charging cable or the mains.

Or if you are charging via a USB port on a PC, try a different slot.

Once it has acquired full charge, disconnect and check if it is still restarting automatically.

If the issue persists, you can try the solutions given below.

4. Declutter Your iPad

If your iPad still keeps turning off, declutter the storage. If you haven’t cleaned up the storage for a while, there is a good chance that it would be cluttered. The huge pileup of unnecessary files, app cache, redundant screenshots, and useless videos may have hogged up a ton of storage space. Not just that, even the useless apps may be creating problems and causing the iPad to shut down frequently.

To resolve the issue, navigate to the Settings app on your iPad > General > iPad Storage. Now, iPadOS will show you a breakdown of how the storage has been consumed by each category, like photos, apps, media, and messages. Once you get a clear picture of the storage consumption, remove all the unnecessary files to retrieve plenty of precious space. With uncluttered storage, the iPad might finally get the better of the unexpected rebooting issue.

5. Factory Restore

If everything else fails, it is time to restore your iPad. However, make sure you have taken a backup of your device before factory restoring it to minimize the chances of data loss.

Connect your iPad to the PC or Mac. As before, make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on the PC or Mac (macOS Mojave or earlier). On Mac with macOS Catalina or later, make sure that the latest version of the macOS is running.

Go to iTunes/Finder and select your device.

Click on the Restore iPad option.

Follow on-screen instructions that appear.

When the process is complete, your iPad will be almost as good as new and will ensure there are no software or data corruption issues.

Remember to check if the iPad is functioning properly or if it is still shutting down on its own.

Contact the Pros

If none of the above tricks help fix the random reboot issue on your iPad, it’s likely that the issue is hardware related. And in this scenario, you need to consult an iPad expert as soon as possible.

With several years of expertise under our belt and backed by an experienced team of supertechies, iFixers is a well-known Apple device repair centre. So, contact us to help you fix your iPad perfectly, professionally and affordably.

by ifixers - Apple service center in Bangalore

[alexmarkdt]

Arlo Hub Blinking Orange? Fix It In 5 Minutes.

Arlo is a popular brand that produces a wide range of smart home security cameras and accessories. One of the main components of an Arlo security system is the Arlo hub, which acts as a central point for all the cameras and other devices to connect to the internet and communicate with each other. However, users may sometimes encounter an issue where the Arlo hub starts blinking orange, indicating that there is a problem with the connection or the device itself. This can be a cause for concern, as it may affect the overall functionality of the security system. In this context, it is important to understand the reasons why the Arlo hub is blinking orange and how to troubleshoot the issue to restore its normal operation. Why does my Arlo base keep blinking orange? The Arlo hub blinking orange can indicate a few different issues, including: Connectivity issues The Arlo hub may be having trouble connecting to the internet or may have lost its connection. This could be due to a problem with the Wi-Fi network, an issue with the modem or router, or interference from other devices. Firmware update in progress  The Arlo hub may be in the process of updating its firmware, which can cause it to blink orange. This is a normal and temporary situation, and the hub should resume normal operation once the update is complete. Hardware malfunction In some cases, the orange blinking light could indicate a hardware problem with the hub itself, such as a faulty power supply or other component. To determine the exact reason why the Arlo hub is blinking orange, it is recommended to check the device's manual or contact Arlo's customer support for assistance. How to fix Arlo Hub Blinking Orange? The steps to fix an Arlo hub blinking orange can vary depending on the cause of the issue. Here are some general troubleshooting steps that may help: Check the internet connection Make sure that your Wi-Fi network is working properly and that the Arlo hub is properly connected to the network. You can try restarting your router or modem, and then resetting the Arlo hub to see if that resolves the issue. Update the firmware If the Arlo hub is in the process of updating its firmware, you will need to wait for the update to complete.  To update the firmware of your Arlo hub, follow these steps: - Ensure that your Arlo hub is connected to the internet and that it has a stable connection. - Launch the Arlo app on your smartphone or tablet, and log in to your account. - Tap on the Settings option from the main menu, and then select your Arlo hub from the list of devices. - Scroll down to the Device Info section and select Firmware. - If an update is available, you will see an option to update the firmware. Tap on Update to start the process. - Wait for the update to complete. The Arlo hub may restart during the process. - Once the update is complete, check the firmware version in the Device Info section to verify that the update was successful. Note: It's important to note that during the firmware update process, the Arlo hub may show a blinking orange light or be temporarily unavailable. This is normal and the device should resume normal operation once the update is complete. Also, it's recommended to keep your Arlo hub firmware up to date to ensure that it has the latest features and security patches. Reset the Arlo hub If the issue persists, you can try resetting the Arlo hub to its default settings.  To reset your Arlo hub to its default settings, follow these steps: - Locate the reset button on the back of the Arlo hub. - Press and hold the reset button for 10 seconds. The LED lights on the front of the hub will turn off. - Release the reset button after 10 seconds. - Wait for the Arlo hub to restart. This process may take a few minutes. - Once the Arlo hub has restarted, it will be reset to its default settings. It's important to note that resetting your Arlo hub will remove all of your customized settings, including Wi-Fi network information, device settings, and account information. After resetting the hub, you will need to set it up again as if it were a new device. If you encounter any issues during the setup process, refer to the Arlo user manual or contact Arlo customer support for assistance. Contact Arlo support If none of the above steps resolve the issue, it is recommended to contact Arlo's customer support for further assistance. They can help diagnose the problem and provide specific troubleshooting steps based on your particular situation. FAQ’s 1. Arlo Hub Blinking Red? If your Arlo hub is blinking red, it usually indicates that there is a problem with the internet connection or a network issue. Here are some troubleshooting steps that may help: - Check your internet connection: Make sure your Wi-Fi network is working properly and that your Arlo hub is properly connected to the network. Try restarting your router or modem, and then resetting the Arlo hub to see if that resolves the issue. - Check the network status: Check if there are any network outages or issues in your area that could be affecting your connection. You can contact your internet service provider (ISP) to verify this. - Check the hub's power supply: Ensure that the power adapter for the hub is securely plugged into the device and into a working electrical outlet. You can also try using a different power supply or outlet to see if that makes a difference. - Reset the hub: Try resetting the Arlo hub to its default settings. Press and hold the reset button on the back of the hub for 10 seconds until the LEDs on the front of the hub turn off, and then release the button. The hub will then reboot and should return to normal operation. - Contact Arlo support: If none of the above steps resolve the issue, it is recommended to contact Arlo's customer support for further assistance. They can help diagnose the problem and provide specific troubleshooting steps based on your particular situation. 2. Arlo Hub Blinking Green? If your Arlo hub is blinking green, it indicates that the hub is in the process of connecting to the internet or has successfully connected to the internet but hasn't yet completed the initial setup process. Here are some troubleshooting steps that may help: - Wait for the setup process to complete: If your Arlo hub is still in the initial setup process, the blinking green light should go away once the setup process is complete. This can take several minutes to complete, so be patient. - Check the network connection: Make sure that your Wi-Fi network is working properly and that the Arlo hub is properly connected to the network. You can try restarting your router or modem, and then resetting the Arlo hub to see if that resolves the issue. - Reset the hub: Try resetting the Arlo hub to its default settings. Press and hold the reset button on the back of the hub for 10 seconds until the LEDs on the front of the hub turn off, and then release the button. The hub will then reboot and should return to normal operation. - Contact Arlo support: If none of the above steps resolve the issue, it is recommended to contact Arlo's customer support for further assistance. They can help diagnose the problem and provide specific troubleshooting steps based on your particular situation. Read the full article

[xxx-venomb1tez-xxx]

WHY TF DOES MY TABLET KEEP FREEZING AND RESTARTING ITSELF??? I MIGHT HAVE TO DELETE SOME STUFF AJSKANQKSK FUCK MY LIFE ⁉️

you know what I'll do it tomorrow I'm just going to get high and watch super Mario Logan ( highly recommend watching 💅✨ )

[spacetimewraithwrites-archive]

Find the Word Tag Game

(Double Feature)

(tw: blood, some mild adult stuff)

tagged by: @drabbleitout & @zmlorenz (so good to see your writing again!!) my words: tie, truth, tough, time, trouble, rumor, teeth, rough, throat tagging: @drippingmoon, @ashen-crest, anyone who wants to, and this Depeche Mode/Eurythmics mashup I’ve been in love with since the mid-00s lmao your words: relax, road, run, rest, return, real

tie (Rebirth)—

"Does it matter?" Guetry ignored Alec's cautious gaze. "You're right, though. It's, uh...kinda tied in to how Scotty and I came to be the universe's greatest power couple. Did some fucked shit and almost died. He restarted my brain and here we are."

"He was practically brain dead for five months," Alec said. "It was the worst time of my life."

He turned to her and gave her a quick smooch on the cheek. "Gonna take a lot more than that to keep me down, beautiful."

"That's what I'm afraid of, sometimes."

"Anyway," Guetry said, "Cougar's comin' to our show."

"Thanks!" Alec beamed at Warren, sitting at the drum kit. "That means a lot."

truth (Eternal)—

An address and a time.

That was all Thrive sent to Warren's device, and upon looking up the address, Warren balked at his café table, nearly dropping his comically large cup of coffee. It was listed as a place in the Northern Division, which was known amongst the authority as the "poorer" quadrant of the station, though in truth there were poor cities everywhere. That particular division as a whole simply got the worst of it all.

The fact that it was in the North didn't startle him. The fact that it was a nightclub, specifically a nightclub that was notorious within the lower echelons of the Node for catering to patrons of all walks of life—more often than not, wealthy degenerates and their groupies—and the idea of Thrive being within the walls of such a place, however, did startle him. But he wasn't dumb or even naive with most things, so Warren had no choice but to trust him to know what he was doing.

It took him three hours and two tram changes to reach the specified city, and another twenty minutes to find the exact spot, and when he turned the corner of a run-down convenience store on an intersection rife with homeless individuals, he stopped short, causing the Rotangan walking behind him to nearly collide with him.

Synthesis was built into the middle of a road, and the only way to the other section of the road was through the club; it was a clever ploy to lure customers inside and keep them there. He wondered for a moment if Thrive was caught by that trap, but it seemed unlikely, given the fact that he would've seen the strategy right away, and there would have been no reason for him to be in that division let alone the club in the first place unless he'd planned it.

tough strong (Aurora)—

Warren took a big gulp of his champagne and braced himself for the topic. "Well...it could work. It would just mean less of a chance for support should something go wrong."

"I agree." Thrive tapped a few things onto the screen. "Commander Libra wants to be at the front lines so I can provide early protection for the rest of the armada. I have no qualms with this, personally."

"It's a little worrisome...what if you can't do it? I just mean what if the Emmuli are too strong and you're not able to keep them back long enough to even land on the damn planet?"

Thrive dragged the tip of a finger over the rim of his glass and spread the cold condensation over his lips. "If we can land at all."

Warren frowned. "What's that mean?"

"Look." Thrive pulled up a three-dimensional image of Torris on the screen of the tablet, tilting it upward so Warren could see. "The emissions coming from the planet may not be the Emmuli at all in the sense that we once thought. It may be Torris itself. I'm not entirely sure Torris isn't entirely made of Emmuli."

"Oh, god," Warren breathed, scanning the poorly-rendered image. "It would explain the horrific quality of the footage."

time (Meridian)—

Scot stepped back to let him inside the apartment. "I'm attempting to determine what style of clothes I appreciate more. Could I ask for your assistance?"

"Yeah, I've got a minute."

Over the next while, Scot laid out different items of clothing on his bed, picking Warren's brain for tips and advice. He seemed particularly attached to a purple beanie hat and a blousy see-through black shirt.

"It's hard to differentiate between what I like and what I'm merely accustomed to," Scot said, draping a shimmering emerald jacket over a white crop top across his bedspread. "I think it may take me some time to figure it out, and I'm not used to that."

Warren shrugged, dropping a pair of wide slacks onto the bed. "I've been wearing the same funky bullshit I'd had back in the 2040s. I don't even know what modern style I'd be into."

trouble (Eternal)—

"As I was saying," Guetry said, looping a casual arm around Mercury's shoulders and holding him to his side, "I can request the Ganymede if we want, it's a little more familiar to most of us and we get a complimentary Alectara for our trouble. I, personally, trust no other starship mechanic to get us from point A to point B with minimal engine explosions."

"That's fine," Warren said. "You guys are leaving without me, though."

Guetry frowned, sharp. "What what?"

"I've, uh…" Warren looked at Thrive, who had already made it a bit farther down the passage and met his glance. "...It's been requested that I stay here."

Guetry looked over his shoulder at Thrive and watched him curiously. "Yeah," he said at length. "Good call. You're the Most Important Human Alive and for whatever that means, it's best to keep you out of harm's way."

He turned back to face Warren and shot him a conspiratorial wink.

rumor comment (Aurora)—

"I have a theory about that," Warren said, clearing his throat.

"Well we can't have two of us coming up with the theories in this marriage," Thrive muttered, leaning his hands against the doorway to crane his neck inside and peer around at the storage room, inspecting the long-defunct, alien machinery from afar.

Warren found that comment amusing but couldn't show it. "What if you were the only one here? What if they kept you isolated because of the circumstances surrounding your creation and birth?"

Thrive pulled his top half out of the room and looked down at Warren. He didn't respond at first, his stare jumping over Warren's shoulder to the room at the end of the hall, and the sunken expression on his face told them everything they needed to know about how valid he considered the theory.

teeth (Rebirth)—

"Damn it," Warren said, getting to his feet with some difficulty. "...Ommy's in love with them."

Thrive parted Guetry's wound with his thumb, earning a loud hiss as the others joined them from across the room. "I suspect they may be secret spouses."

"How so?"

"It's against lenayan law for a clairvoyant-empath to warn an individual of future events outside of a reading unless that individual is their spouse."

"That's...a very specific fact that you know."

"Holy white-hot fuck, man," Guetry yelled, gritting his teeth while Thrive gripped his shoulder and dug around the bullet hole with the little finger of his free hand. "Oh...my god...can't this wait?!"

"Not unless you would like to die today," Thrive responded, scooping out a barbed round along with an unhealthy-looking clot that dropped to the floor with a sick, wet slap. "This would have congealed all of your blood within an hour."

Guetry looked from the bullet covered in his fluids to Thrive, who watched him expectantly. "...Okay. Bad times. Thanks."

rough (Aurora)—

He popped a bright yellow berry into his mouth and waved at Thrive through the now-spotless glass. "Mornin'. I'm not here." A honey-like fluid burst from of the skin of the berry, and he made a noise of appreciation.

Lisus approached Thrive and took his hands in his own. "So, obhelians can manipulate physics, correct?"

"Yes."

"And we already know you can create fire using stone or an adequately rough surface, and electricity using a flow of running water. Can you conjure water out of thin air yet?"

"Not since I was younger," Thrive said. He watched with curiosity as Lisus examined his palms. "I haven't needed to in hundreds of years. I normally will use bodies of water around me to my advantage."

"I think we should work on that today, then," Lisus smiled and stood back. "There's water everywhere in the universe. Well...almost."

throat (Meridian)—

He closed the door behind him, the stress of the day dropping onto his shoulders, and he approached Thrive, sighing heavily before he reached him. He cracked his knuckles and gestured to the floor. "Your Majesty."

Thrive carefully sank to his knees, peering up at Warren. His anticipation darkened his eyes.

Warren moved to a drawer in the corner of the room and pulled out a length of velvet rope. "I told Thoeala that we're okay after you almost killed me. That's true, isn't it?"

"Yes," Thrive said.

"I like to think so, too. In fact, I think we're closer than we've ever been. Off," he added, waving to the top of Thrive's outfit. "It's amazing that in circumstances where loss can more often break two people apart...we've weathered it like champs. I kinda love us for that."

Thrive pulled his top over his head and discarded it as Warren walked to him again, holding the long rope between his fingers. He clasped his hands behind his back and Warren went to work, winding the rope around his wrists, his torso, his throat, rigging the binding expertly to create a beautiful pattern across Thrive's chest and abdomen. That particular rope work had been arrayed so that if he tried to move his arms in any way, it would pull tighter around his neck.

"Stand up," Warren muttered.

Thrive did as he was told, looking down at Warren, his chest straining against the ropes with every breath he took.

Warren eyed him for a moment. "...God, you're beautiful. I am a little tired tonight, though."

"That won't be a problem," Thrive said darkly.

[btswishes]

Love me for who I am now

Bucky x Reader ( Chapter 2 )

Previous / Next

Summary: You apply for the Stark internship and end up getting it, so now you have 5 months to make a good impression to continue working with the Avengers.

A/N: Continuing my little experiment here with chapter2, a bit more filler for the story. Sorry for any mistakes made, hope you enjoy it even a tiny bit.

Word count:  2,903

Warmings: fights, harsh language, not part of the original MCU

Y/N- Your name 

Y/L/N- Your Last Name

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

   The suitcase made a slight thumping sound, when you laid it down on the floor next to your desk. Wasting no time books found their new home on the empty shelves, notebooks fell asleep in the dark drawers. Pens, pencils, markers and all your stationary soon followed suit and found their own little space to rest.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.” the silence in the room finally got overthrown by the voice of its new owner, asking for some help in the matters unfolding 

Yes Miss Y/N

“Would you put a timer for 5min from now please?” still focused onto your stuff, finding them a visible but safe from damage storage. Nothing could destroy as well as time and dust did.

Timer set for 5 minutes from now.

“Thank you.” The only thing left to do now was to get the clothes in the closet and move the tech to the lab. Hopefully Dr. Banner wouldn’t mind waiting a bit more, not like he seemed to but who knows, Hulk lived inside him after all. You didn’t want to take a chance and play with his limits. The closet was hidden inside the wall, stealthy I must say. Toothpaste and toothbrush, essentials and cosmetics. All was done, now.

      Ding Ding Ding.  

Timer is going off  Miss. Shall I turn it off or restart it?

“Thank you F.R.I.D.A.Y. You can turn it off. “

  Your laptop and small bag were safely nestled under your arm, making your way outside the room.  For a moment you thought you got lost, but the orange tint of the sun’s rays soon pulled your attention in the right direction. Around the corner your nose caught the smell of caramel. Your head hesitantly protruded behind the pillar, as you called out to the man holding 2 cups in his hands firmly.

“Oh.” He jumped a bit, reaching out offering one of the mugs “ I hope you like it, we don’t have much selection when it comes to tea here. Coffee addicts you know.” he laughed out

“It is ok. Thank you very much.” Your leg levered and you swung onto the bar chair like it was nothing, taking a sip from the hot drink. You felt it warm you up slowly as it went down, melting away a bit of your anxiety. Once again your sight was captivated by the view. No one knows how much time passed since you got lost in the sunset, but it was nice. You could barely hear the bustling city from the 134th floor. It was only you, the sun and the room. Quiet almost like a safe serene space.

“Beautiful isn’t it.” Bruce shook you out of your little mind palace

“Mm? Ah, yes. Very much so. “ you puffed out some air with your smile, eyes forming little crescent moons “I feel like a cat, my attention keeps drifting to the glass unintentionally.”

“I understand you. I keep doing that myself and I have lived in the compound for quite some time now. “ the conversation was lighthearted, easily drifting over the main reason for your arrival “One would think I would be used to it by now.”

“Mr Stark made this place so calm. Big yet homey.” Your head scanned the area, words intriguing the doctor “ In a way it contrasts the inner state of most of the Avengers.” realized what just came out of your lips, your body stiffened. Oh man, way to ruin it - you thought to yourself “I am so sorry.” The mug clanked under the table, sending a vibration to his palm, as you bowed “I spoke out of place.”

“I think you might be on to something.” Your neck pulled your head up, a few strands of hair falling down next to your soft cheek. Bruce was still looking at the setting sun with a soft smile, his jaw exposing the beard to the light, coloring it a deep fiery yellow hue. There was something nostalgic in his dark eyes. “Most of us here have some sort of troubled past- lets sugar coat it a bit. This whole building, on the levels we use., is like a constant Zen state. It calms us down unintentionally. How do I say this...” He turned towards his coffee, laughing out almost silently.

“Maybe it offers you the peace you couldn’t have on the inside, masking the pain from past trauma. A way to indirectly cope with all that had happened, offering a haven to heal the past.” Bruce was listening to you, taking in your way of thinking and how right you were about something that had always been in front of his eyes ,but he had never noticed it before. Such a young girl, so much pain in her manner. He couldn’t bring himself to ask you about the weight inside your voice. It felt too close for him to do so. He had just met you after all, it is not like he could just straight up ask you about all your deepest and darkest secrets, that you might be hiding underneath your mature façade.

“Well, enough about our depressing past.” He pushed off the table “Lets get you situated in your new place.”Dr. Banner began walking in the direction of the lab, turning towards you from time to time. He was make sure you were close by and not lost somewhere in this maze of halls, corridors and who knows what else Tony could have hidden in these walls, for some unsuspecting person to stumble upon.

“I am sadly not familiar with your work like Tony is. He told me about you literally a few hours before you arrived, so you would have to excuse me for that.” You nodded with a smile, accepting the apology he didn’t even need to speak of 

“The lab is pretty big.” He unlocked the door and turned the lights on. It was exactly as he said and nothing like you had expected. The color pattern was the same tints, maybe a bit of blue mixed in as well, a dash of red. The tables and tech inside were state-of-the-art, high-quality and very well kept. Some weren’t even yet released or known to the public. Talking year 3054 up in here.

“This will be your desk, right next to me.”Bruce plopped onto his chair and waved at you “Hi, Hi.”

  He gestured for you to get yourself as comfortable as possible, which you almost couldn’t wait to do. Your fingers gently ran over the material getting familiar with it. Just with one look you already knew where everything was going to go, like it knew it’s own home. You had a tech bay, where you could check how systems worked, if they didn’t and building anything. It was amazing, just an arm’s length distance was possibility and creation itself. Excitement boiled inside you, eyes wide. Reaching inside the bag, you pulled out your work computer, your project tablet and made sure they were all connected to the internet and matched the Stark system interface. As soon as you saw the company logo you were all set up.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.” the silence danced hand in hand with your voice

Yes Miss. Would you like a run down on the desk functions?

“Yes please.” In a matter of minutes you realized that this wasn’t just some random fancy desk ,but a whole machine of its own. Interactive hologram functions, building station and program 3D design. It had it all. Bruce was shocked how easy you worked with F.R.I.D.A.Y. , naturally taking a lead and informing yourself at 100% capacity about what you will be working with. For a second Tony flashed before his eyes.

“What made you apply here?” he cut your investigation “I don’t mean to be rude but I saw some of your pre-university work.”

“No problem. I was mostly out of the country for a very long time, maybe most of my life. When I came back the Avengers were something I loved watching on the news.” The praise went over Bruce’s head unnoticed “ There was something nostalgic when I looked at you guys. Mr. Stark’s tech, the way everyone fought with ease, I don’t know how to explain it. I craved that in my life, almost like a forgotten world I was striving to immerse myself back into. “ a gentle crook of the neck and a smile eased Bruce from the question

“Well you made it here, so congratulations.” loud joyous clapping followed his words” I think I am talking for all of us, we will love having you around. So-” His face became serious, glasses finding the bridge of his nose onto his face, eyes sharp “Would you like to start with your job here miss intern?” he winked playfully waiting to see your reaction. Like a mirror ,you pulled your hair away from your face, rolled up your sleeves and flashed back the same look of determination. “Introduce me to your train of thought and your projects.”

“I work mainly with the structure and characteristics of vibranium. At first, I was focused on making prosthetics that pack a punch the same way the Iron Man suits worked and Sergeant Barnes’s arm- of course on a smaller scale. But then my mind started drifting towards the process before amputation, which was for a certain percent of people the healing factor. Maybe inside strength as well. ”

“As in incorporating it into medical technology?” this sounded too simple of an idea coming for someone Tony chose, yet Bruce kept listening. He was judging the book by its cover way too soon.

“Not exactly. Vibranium has a metal crystal structure that possesses ‘memory’ the same way other metals remember being indented even after getting fixed or straightened eventually. My theory has a few parts before I reach the main plan. Going on an atomic level, even deeper to its base structure, I change the connections between the atoms. They have the same functions as in keeping the shape, but missing that molding memory.”

“You are saying you can mold the bonds, selecting freely what function to remove?” Bruce pushed back off his chair, letting the idea enter his ear and stay there, feeding the interest on his face.

“I am not saying I can.” he was listening more and more with each passing minute “I am saying I did it. I am in the final stages of my project.” Your hands pulled out a flat disk of vibranium  “F.R.I.D.A.Y. would you do a double scan before and after I bend this?”

Affirmatively Miss. Scan done. Shall I offer a hologram?

“Please do.” Right between your two bodies you could now see the basics of the metal “ See how the bonds are thicker? I noticed, metal bonds just have to keep  the shape of the crystal structure. Not only did I make vibranium stronger than it originally was, but now if I bend-it.” Your voice strained in pair with your muscles, as you folded and unfolded the sheet. The second scan showed no memory intake not even deformed the shapes “I call this metal healing.”

“That...that is amazing, not even a crease to be noticed! But where are you going with this?” Bruce rubbed his face, still shook from what you just showed him

“It might sound stupid, but this isn’t even my main idea. You see, if we look at matter as one and the same, things start to add up. Everything on a molecular level has no difference. Bonds, and atom-placement dictate what the object will be, look like and how it works- properties if you wish. I looked at vibranium and human flesh as different parts of one thing, which lead me to believe enhancing people could be done without super soldier serums.”

“That is… truly amazing, but won’t the testing period be a sadistic thing. We are not HYDRA thankfully.” As great as this was Bruce had a point here “Human experiments are not a politic the Avengers will ever lean upon. As fellow humans nonetheless.”

“I am not planning to make another Winter Soldier. I already have control over vibranium on levels outside and inside hyperspace.” You pulled out a bottle of metallic looking dust. The top unscrewed easy and you spilled the contents like heavy silvery snow all over the floor. “If I take quarks from the human body and use them to make 1 proton from the atomic nucleus, I can theoretically program it to answer to the human body using the unbroken rule of our system.”

  Bruce blinked a few times understanding exactly where you were reaching “All work in favor of the body.” He said out loud, glasses sliding off his skin

“Exactly. If they get programmed correctly the metal will work for the body, under the command of the main system- the nerves and brain. Post that success I would be able to inject them with a liquid medium directly into the bloodstream. As they make their way to all parts of the body, they will get acquainted with the cells. I want to change them so they will be susceptible to hormones as well. Basically I want to make a metal compound that reacts like organic matter. It would be able, upon will, to pile around bones, create fibers, strengthening muscles ecc. Some could even carry other substances with them, or isolate toxic ones. Now their size and ability for diapedesis is still questionable. So far I can move them at a certain extend.” You swung your hand and the dust lifted off the floor cleanly in one swoop 

“That is amazing!” Bruce pitched his voice after seeing the floating cloud “Are you using some kind of device ?”

“No, this dust was modeled after me, I am the only guinea pig so no one was harmed in the making. I have to say though, it was quite painful till I got it right.” You laughed out uneasy, scratching your arm  

“ I could only imagine, taking your own tissue for this. What else could it do?”

“Well. I know that Mr. Stark isn’t into weapons anymore, so I pitched him the enhancing technique only. The dust’s only function right now sadly is shaping.” Your fingers danced as the vibranium cloud formed Captain America’s shield, before turning into a sword. “As long as I have enough information of structure, function and the way the object works I can make it.” Your footsteps were confidant and strong.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. the window if you please.”

Certainly Miss

   The clicking sound of the metal around the glass flung the object open. Your hand reached outside and pointed towards the sky. “My uncle had a deep interest in weapons so naturally I learned as well by listening to him.” The dust wrapped around your hand and formed a Heckler Koch pistols. With the pull of the trigger you shot into the air, making Bruce jump from the sound.

“I am sorry about that, I should have warned you.” You giggled stepping in

“That is a completely functional firearm. His breath normalized as his body took him right up to you, running his hands over the gun “ This is, something I can’t even imagine.” Eyes scanning every inch of it looking like a perfect mold “How does it look so solid? Smooth, no trace of it even being made from any smaller particle. ”

“Oh that, intra-atomic pressure. Kind of like gravity times 100 or more. If I pitched this to Mr.Stark I think the selling point would have been…”your fingers gently pulled the weapon out of Dr.Banner’s hand as the vibranium flew from the outside to the magazine “ It doesn’t run out of ammo since I call it back at anytime AND once in the body I can infest it.”

“It could travel through the blood stream and form clumps in certain organs!” he gasped

“I could have gone a bit more sadistic with this one, but I will stop talking now.” You laughed out sending your project back to its jar, securely tightened up. 

“How far is your limit? I mean is there a distance at which you can’t sense the partials, any mental fatigue or physical? You are amazing! This is something out of this world truly, no wonder Tony accepted your application. I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything closely resembling…wow.” He kept praising you each time his mouth opened

“Banner.” Light and confident footsteps accompanied the familiar playboy voice inside the lab

Welcome back Sir

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. medical bay on standby please.”

As you wish Sir

“I would appreciate it if you stepped back from my new intern and helped out a bit. We have injured coming in stat.” Tony waved his hand and Bruce pulled away from you, cleaning the couch on his side “You too miss intern. No slacking off just because it’s your first day. Treat it as orientation.”

“Yes Mr. Stark.” Panic rose up inside you again as you tried to follow what Dr. Banner was doing. Injured? Were the rest of the Avengers on a mission this whole time? It didn’t matter, you were mobilized as well and for a second it felt kind of cool, like you were also an agent fighting crime. The grunts and groans pulled you back to Earth as Captain America’s large frame stepped inside.  

[owlpip]

hey sorry to bother you but i wanted to ask what you use to draw digitally? i’m looking to get a drawing tablet but i don’t know where to start and i’ve seen you draw on live and i have no idea what kind of tablet you’re using, thank u in advance if u choose to respond <33 ily

hi! absolutely no problem at all, I love these kinds of questions. this is pretty lengthy as I am unnecessarily verbose when it comes to answering questions like these...

I use a 2016 Wacom MobileStudio Pro 13 and I love it! it took me nearly a year of research, comparing tablets, searching where to purchase, and saving up for me to decide on the MobileStudio and, after two and a half years of using it  nearly every day, I have certainly discovered some pros and cons to it. I’ll list those for you after which I’ll list what I looked for in a tablet while I was searching.

pros:

- I don’t need a computer. the driver is built into the tablet itself so it’s technically considered a computer. this means I don’t need to attach it to a computer for it to function like you would a graphic tablet or a computer drawing tablet.

- carrying it around is relatively easy. because of the point above, travelling with it is pretty easy due to the fact that I don’t have to lug around a computer with it as well. which means I can also use it in small spaces or while I’m travelling like on a bus, airplane, car, etc. plus, the mobilestudio I bought is 13 inches long, so it fits in most computer sized bags. 

- display/screen. the display is beautiful. the colors are vibrant and crisp. the pen pressure is super amazing and since that was one of the most important things I was looking for in a tablet, I couldn’t be happier with it. 

- the pen. the pen that comes with the tablet is fantastic. you don’t need to charge it like you do with the Apple Pen which, in my mind, sounds like hell. the pen also comes with interchangeable nibs: felt and plastic. the felt nibs are god’s gift to artists... i love them. they make you feel like you’re drawing on paper and they can’t scratch your screen like the plastic ones are capable of if you use them too much. also, if you flip the pen like you would a pencil, it has an eraser that also uses pen pressure like the nib side!

- buttons. both the pen and the tablet come with built-in customizable buttons called ExpressKeys. the pen has two and the 13 inch tablet has six. 16 inch tablet has more. these buttons are easily programable to specific keystrokes (ctrl-z to undo, ctrl-alt-z to redo, etc) or clicks (right click, double click) which are helpful with it comes to specific commonly used commands in art programs. my pen’s buttons are set to ‘b’ for brushes -- so I can easily switch back to the brush I’m using -- and ‘i’ for the eyedropper tool -- so I can get specific colors from my illustrations. my tablets ones are set to paste, copy, deselect, undo, transform, and redo. there is also a remote with 17 extra buttons you can buy (which my dad got me for christmas in 2019, can you tell he’s the art supportive parent? i love him). I don’t use the remote often due to the fact that I haven’t configured all the buttons in a way I like but I’ve set a few of them to new layer, undo, redo, and increase and decrease brush size. there’s also the radial menu but I don’t use it.

- accessories. you can purchase a lot of cool things through Wacom’s website for your tablet! I’ve had to use this when I lost my charger but there are certainly more interesting things there than a charger. 

- made for artists. this tablet -- unlike the iPad, other tablets, or certain touchscreen computers -- was made by a company specifically making tablets for artists.

cons:

- expensive. I saved up money for a tablet for quite a bit and my dad promised to match whatever I saved up in order to purchase whatever tablet I chose but in the end he surprised me for my bday with the tablet fully purchased. I believe he bought it secondhand or refurbished which is a bit cheaper, but I’m not entirely certain! either way, it comes up to about 2,000 USD depending on where and how you purchase it. 

- sometimes the pen stops working :( what I mean by this is randomly the tablet will stop recognizing the pen so I have to use my finger in order to fix it. while most people restart the whole tablet I don’t recommend doing this. there’s a much easier way! just go to ‘Services’ and restart the ‘Wacom GSensor Service’ or the ‘Wacom Professional Service’ and it’s all fixed! it’s just annoying :(

- display/screen 2.0. this is probably my most hated thing about this tablet. though, it’s not something completely unique to this specific one. the colors on my tablet don’t match the colors on other computers or phones. they tend to be brighter, warmer, and more contrasted on my tablet so when I send an illustration to my phone the colors are completely different.

- weight. while the mobilestudio is certainly lighter than most it’s not light. I don’t really care that much about this as it’s not crazy heavy but when I was lugging it back and forth to school everyday the weight was noticeable.

my number one recommendation to do when researching tablet is to watch videos of artists comparing and review tablets they’ve used and to write a pro and con list of the ones you’re interested in. also for which videos you watch, I recommend actual artists, artists that you think make art similar to the kind you want to make or art that you admire, and to watch both sponsored and unsponsored videos. 

as for what to research, keep these things in mind: 

- what are you planning on using this tablet for? (professional commissions, complicated art, sketches, art but also for school/work , etc)? 

- what specific things are you looking for? (pen pressure, light weight, durable, etc.) (for instance when I was researching, I wanted a tablet made specifically for art that didn’t need a computer to work, could run Clip Studio, had amazing pen pressure, and was relatively light weight and could be carried around.)

- where are you going to use this tablet? what size tablet would fit comfortably there? 

- what art program are you wanting/going to use?

- how much storage do you need?

- how of a physical canvas are you used to working on and do you want to go bigger or smaller?

- are you going to be traveling with it often? if so are you going to use it while travelling?

- do you want to use it with or without a computer? 

- what is your budget? how much are the specific things you’re looking for worth to you? what are you willing to compromise on?

I haven’t done any research into what is currently available so I can’t tell you what on the market I would choose today but I have heard great things about the iPad Pro. that would definitely be one of the top ones I would look into if I was searching for a tablet now that it has Clip Studio Paint.

there are probably a million things I could’ve added that I’ll remember hours from now so if you have any more questions or you want me to go into further detail about something, please let me know! I can also go through all the tablets and/or art programs I have used for digital art if that is something you are interested in :-)

[fantasticstoryteller]

New Amsterdam Chapter 90

Peter ignored Dr. Stacey’s grumbles about how this project was nowhere near ready for human testing as he threw himself into getting everything as ready as possible. It hadn’t occurred to him, back when he first started helping her with the organic matrix, that it could potentially be used to replace actual organs. If this was viable, if it worked—it would revolutionize the medical industry. It could save Harry.

First though, they had to make it work. It had to be stable enough to hold its form, even when the structure itself was moving. It  had to be able to move—there was no use in making a heart that couldn't beat. Then they had to figure out how to do all of that and make it work outside of the solution that they’d made and in the artificial plasma solution, to mimic blood.

“Peter, can I borrow you for a moment?” Peter looked up from his formulaic calculations to see Dr. Banner in the entryway to the lab.

Dr. Stacey glared at him. “He’s my assistant today!” she growled.

Dr. Banner held up both hands. “I’m not tying to steal your assistant,” he said as placating as possible, “I just need to show him something.”

“All right.”

Peter carefully marked his spot in the equations and made his way to Dr. Banner’s lab across the hall. “What is it?” he asked nervously.

Dr. Banner tapped his tablet and a display appeared on his screen. It was—Harry’s artificial heart? “I was examining your young friend, and yes—Pepper did explain the situation to me, when I found something interesting.”

“What is it?” asked Peter.

“The heart is perfectly functional. It doesn’t need a code to keep working,” Dr. Banner said calmly. He highlighted several tiny—protuberances? What were those for? A normal heart didn’t have those. “These,” Dr. Banner said in a vaguely grim voice, “are ports. They release neuroreceptors. Specifically, they release glutamate.”

Peter was no slouch when it came to his anatomical studies. “Isn’t that?” he asked.

“A chemical related to pain, yes. It would appear that what Osborn has been doing isn’t restarting a failing device, but rather shutting off those ports.” Dr. Banner shook his head. “I would just recommend blocking the ports, but that would be an exercise in futility. The device is manufacturing the chemical with each beat of the heart, and blocking the ports may very well cause a clog that could destroy the integrity of the device.” He sighed and pushed up his glasses. Much like Peter, he used his wrist to do so. “I’ll have to talk to Tony about it,” he said. “Mechanics are not my area of expertise.”

Peter nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Banner,” he said sincerely.

The doctor looked up with a soft smile. His curls were sticking up everywhere. “Do you know,” he asked, “how many people know about my work with gamma radiation?” At Peter’s confused look he continued, “Not very many. Not even Tony is entirely certain what I do or what that means. And yet, the first time I met you as part of the supportive lab assistant group, you asked me a question about that very research.”

Peter shifted as he remembered the incident in question. Dr. Banner had gone to the supply lab for—something, Peter couldn't remember what—and Dr. Chambers had introduced him, which prompted the question. Then, after Dr. Banner had left, Dr. Chambers spent the next fifteen minutes explaining that assistants were not supposed to talk when high names were in the lab. He’d threatened to dock the already minuscule pay and Peter had never forgotten.

“Do not worry Peter,” Dr. Banner said with gentle firmness as he turned back to his tablet. “We’ll do everything we can to save your friend.”

“Thank you,” Peter said again—and then fled, back to Dr. Stacey’s lab. Dr. Stacey didn’t drop any indication that she remembered her first meeting with Peter with surprising fondness. She probably didn’t, considering that the first time they’d met she’d gotten covered in glitter slime that exploded.

Time flew as the two of them worked, trying theory after theory, solution after solution, and nothing was working. When Peter had to call it a day and leave (he didn’t want Norman to guess that he knew where Harry was or that he was no longer under the older man’s control) the organic matrix was still breaking down under movement.

“We’ll figure it out,” Dr. Stacey said grimly as he left. Peter could do nothing but nod.

He looked up at the sky as he started walking and realized that he needed to become Spiderman. The city might not need him, not with Deadpool looking after it, but he needed the city. More importantly, he needed to do something that felt productive. He ducked into one of the blind spots of Stark Industries’s artificial intelligence and swiftly changed.

[goldenpoison]

new beginnings and starting over || chapter two

read it on Ao3 || prev. ~ next

Adrien messed up. That part was obvious. Why wouldn’t it be when he was dangling off of the Eiffel Tower. All because a goddamn akuma got way over themselves and thought they could seize all of the power or something like that. In the akuma’s mind, to do that, he had to threaten Ladybug by throwing newly returned Paris’ heartthrob off of a tower for everyone to watch, naturally. He really should’ve taken the car instead of walking.

He looks over to Ladybug across the opposite side of the tower. Confidence and wit was still oozing off of her. You can see it in her stance: her puffed up chest, her raised chin, and even in her slightly furrowed brows. Although, as time does to everything and everyone, it wasn’t the same Ladybug Adrien knew. Her outfit has changed, that was the most obvious part. It was more streamlined and mature. There were solid shapes of black at the sides of her hips that meets near bellow her belly and ends at the middle of her thighs, quite resembling a pair of shorts. Her hair wasn’t in those iconic pigtails anymore. It was in a low braid, and it was longer too. There were more changes in her, changes that are deeper and goes way beyond her physical appearance. Changes that he couldn’t quite point out, but he’s sure it’s there, hiding behind her fierce gaze.

But unfortunately, he didn’t have time to dwell on that. Not when the akuma’s starting to loosen his grip of his wrists. Any looser, and he’d fall and be squashed like a pancake. Though he was sure cats always land on their feet, with this high of a fall, he definitely did not want to test it. Even he did, he can’t. He was sure the moment he transformed, the people would fear him, even if he’ll don the black suit. Besides, it’ll most likely shock Ladybug and cause the rift between them to widen even more.

The wind blew the hair out of his face, yet the only thing he saw were blurs of color as he fell. His breakfast— if you could even call a single slice of toasted bread and latte that— rode up to his esophagus, his heart wanting to break out his ribcage, and his brain out of his skull. If he had thought he had a head-splitting headache when he woke up, now he’s sure one-hit Hephaestus himself did the honor of hitting it with an axe and proceeded to chop it up a couple more times and put it in a grinder for extra measure. He could barely hear the screams of someone as the wind becomes deafening to his ears. All he could do is think about all the regrets and mistakes in his life: siding with his father, spending his last weeks of being Chat as Chat Blanc, hurting her. His tears couldn’t even get past his eyes because he’d already cried too much of it.

The scream came from none other than Ladybug herself. Her eyes, on the contrary, are welling up with tears. After what seemed to be the final battle between them and Hawkmoth, and after he left, the akumas has lowered in frequency and in fatality. In the three years following, she never once encountered an akuma that seriously threatened a human’s life.

Naturally, it had made balancing her lives as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, fashion student, aspiring fashion designer, part-time baker, and as Ladybug, the coveted hero of Paris, much more easier. Unfortunately, because of the ease, having another person’s life in your hands has became heavier and made the pressure much bigger.

But she’s not going to let a single tear escape. Not when she still has something to say about it. In a quick flash, she used her lucky charm, a fish hook, to hook open the shield-looking front metal piece of the akuma’s suit which caused it to malfunction and reveal the black butterfly. Wrapping her yo-yo around the metal tentacles holding him up, sliding under, then wrapping them to the tower itself, she races down to try and catch Adrien, tripping the akuma while doing so. The moment her finger grazed his, then her hand grabbing his own, Ladybug’s tear mischievously slipped out. Slowly, she brings them down until Adrien’s feet touched the ground.

Adrien waited for his demise, but it never came. Instead of death’s empty ghoulish eyes, he was met with his own lifeline’s bluebell ones. Here he is once again after what felt like a century of waiting to see her and look her in the eyes once more. All the years of regret started coming back. All the sleepless nights he spent dwelling on the memories of golden roads not taken and the pain of hurting his Lady, and by extension his own soul. All of them enough to restart his once dried tear ducts. Before he could say anything, Ladybug flew up again and purified the akuma.

The seconds after she says the iconic “bye-bye little akuma” felt empty. What once was moments of relief and joy and life, was replaced with a few seconds void of any warm emotion. He should’ve been up there with her, bumping their fists and saying “pound it” after she uses her powers of creation to restore the damage made. Even when the cluster of ladybugs flew by him, he just felt lonely and not energized like before. Had she really lived three years of fighting akumas with this emptiness? If before he related fighting akumas to fencing, an enjoyable necessity, he’d say it’s more similar to doing a cleaning your room after a week now.

Ladybug finally set foot on the ground next to Adrien. She was a whole head and three more inches shorter than him, he noticed. As opposed to before when he can freely rest his chin on top of her head. Not that he did, but he could if Ladybug would allow it. It seems that he changed too.

“Are you okay?” she asked, worry and concern coating every inch of her voice.

“Yeah. Thanks to you,” he said. He shifted his weight on his right foot then his left then right again. “What about you, are you okay?”

Ladybug did not expect that. Out of all the years of doing what she does, she doesn’t think anyone has ever asked if she was okay after. The only person who ever did is gone from her life now. “Oh, um, I’m good, thanks.”

She pursed her lips and her eyes wandered to anywhere but the boy in front of her. Thankfully, she was saved by his phone’s notification sound. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he looked at it and turned his head to look until it settled on a black car with a rather large man standing in front of it

Looking to Ladybug again in hopes of remembering every feature of her face. He looks at her eyes that seemed to have darkened over time. He notices her more pronounced freckles. He notices that her cheekbones are the tiniest bit less round and a little bit more defined along with her jaw. Yet all these changes seemed to do is make Adrien’s heart beat faster.

He looks back at the car then back to her. “Looks like my ride is waiting for me. Thank you, really,” he said before basically speed walking to the car to escape her lingering gaze.

Adrien takes his remaining sweet time of five minutes to just think mindlessly. That is, until he heard a small “psst” coming from the pocket of his shearling-lined leather jacket. Without a single second to waste, Plagg came out of his hiding spot and did what he does best: tease him. “So, you finally get to see her again, huh?”

Adrien just gave him a look. The partition between the front seat and the back was rolled up anyways so Gorilla couldn’t really see what he was doing, but he told Plagg to quiet to his voice just in case.

“She’s so different now. More independent too, it seemed. She doesn’t need me anymore. Not that she ever did.” Adrien’s voice was hushed and turned into a whisper when he said the last part.

Seeing the deep frown on his face and his furrowed brows, Plagg didn’t exactly know what to say, so he just hugged Adrien in the way a small creature like him could. Adrien released a deep sigh and held Plagg in his hands, staying like that for the remainder of the car ride.

When they reached the doors of his former house, he really couldn’t call it a home anymore, Plagg took his place inside his jacket and Adrien tried his best to look as presentable as he could. He looked at his shoelaces, then remembering that he slipped on his black loafers that morning. He adjusted his jacket a couple more times, pulled it down, then the sleeves, then pulled the collar up delicately.

Walking towards the front doors and inside the house, he comes to agree to everyone else. Going back to a place you were once familiar with, no matter how big it was, it will feel so small to you. Unlike the girl in the red and black suit earlier, the mansion is still as cold as ever. Perhaps a tiny bit colder, if such a thing is possible.

Nathalie, his father’s assistant even after all these years, came up to him. “I heard what happened with the akuma earlier, are you alright?” Nathalie, although distant, still acted as sort of a mother to Adrien. She may not be the warmest person he knows, but she was still there to keep track on him and worry about him. It was Nathalie too who had held his crying body that one night years ago. It was her who supported his decision to end his time as Chat Blanc. Adrien was sure that if it wasn’t for Nathalie, Adrien would be completely cut off of his father’s will, finances, and maybe disowned at most.

“I’m alright, Nathalie. Didn’t even get a scratch,” he said and smiled at her. “It’s great to see you again.”

“You too Adrien. Now,” he could tell she’s switching gears to her extremely professional assistant mode with the way she straightens her back, raises her chin, moves her glasses higher, and looks down at her tablet. “Your father has been waiting for a few minutes now, and it’s best not to keep him waiting any longer.”

She opened the door to let him in. His father didn’t even bother for pleasantries. “I sent Gorilla to come get you this morning, and you refused, now look where you ended up.” Adrien wanted to retaliate and point out that it was his akuma but he held his tongue. He wanted to say to his face that the reason why he wanted to walk was so he could procrastinate on seeing him and talking to him.

“I wanted to enjoy the early morning breeze,” he replied, straight-faced. His father only glared at him with his steely grey eyes. The wrinkles around it hasn’t changed much, which is to be expected from an man who is known for having a permanent frown glued to his face.

“Tomorrow there will be a board meeting to further discuss the happenings of the nearing Paris Fashion Week and as the successor of this company you are expected to show. Be on your best behavior and listen. This will be your first official meeting. This will set the expectations of you and let the heads acquire a clear impression of you as a leader. During the nine days of fashion week, you’ll still walk the runway, do photoshoots, and be present as a fit model, with the addition of corporate tasks. At the very end of fashion week, there will be a masquerade ball held to raise money for orphanages. Nathalie will provide you with a flexible paradigm of your schedule. That will be all.”

All of those things he said without stuttering and without the expected welcoming tone from a father to his son. He said it like a stereotypical emotionless and unsympathetic boss talking to his employees, which in a way he is. Adrien doesn’t think that his father had even once mentioned his name while he was gone. Collecting his calm, Adrien did not utter a single word when inconspicuously storming out of the room.

[mikaa-mina]

At Garden’s Edge- ch8: A Day in the Life of a Newt(on Pulsifer)

The lights are too bright, and Newt can’t quite hear what the lady in front of him is saying over the cacophony of beeps. His head also feels quite.... strange. He’s pretty sure that it’s not supposed to feel like it’s floating half a foot above his neck while also feeling like it’s stuffed full of cotton.

Some of the beeping suddenly stops, making it so much quieter in the ER, and Newt can finally understand what the nurse is asking. He tells her he thinks he’s fine, only he managed to hit something in the middle of the road with his bike and that sent him sailing towards the curb, which his bike tire hit at the wrong angle, and that quite firmly ejected him from his seat. And actually, he’s not at all quite sure how he got here, or why he’s here.

The nurse comes closer before he realizes she’s holding a tablet to enter his information in. By the time he realizes, it’s too late.

There’s a sound much like a mosquito hitting a trap lamp with a bright Bzzt! and then tablet goes dark in her hands. Newt grimaces.

It snowballs from there.

She shushes his apologies and uses the flip hospital phone that they use now instead of chargers/beepers to call the nurse station and request a backup one. It, accordingly, powers off halfway through her phone call. She shakes it with a frown and grumbles about the board of offices being cheap with their equipment, turns a sunny smile on him, and brightly says “well, I’ll just take down the basics and get your vitals while we wait. Do you have records here?”

“Uh. Maybe?” probably, “Which hospital is this?”

“The Brugmansia Hospital.”

“Oh! Yeah. I was born here. Uh. I changed my name though. Still Pulsifer for the last name though, figure there’s probably not too many of them around,” he laughs nervously, overly conscious of how awkward he is and how unable he is to do anything about it.

She still smiles, ever professional, and jots down his information. “First name?”

“Oh! Right. Sorry. It’s Newton now. Newton Pulsifer.”

“Thank you Newton, now I’m just going to take your vitals now.”

“Oh- I, uh, don’t really think-”

It’s too late, she’s come up to take his temperature with their new wireless, laser thermometer and it promptly errors out. It continues to error out no matter how many times she restarts it. The heavy seed of dread in Newt’s stomach grows larger. This is exactly why he tries not to go to places like this.

“I’m sorry. Uh, do you happen to have something maybe not, uh, electrical?”

She gives him a funny look for that and he shrinks back.

“Well. Let me get your blood pressure and o2 readings.”

Newt looks dubiously at the machine setup she wheels over to him. Miraculously, it goes okay when she wraps the cuff around his upper arm, and even when it starts. Everything avalanches when she puts the wireless o2 reader on him. Immediately everything in his room fritzes out, the lights even flickering before coming back, but all of the machines are still down or in the emergency boot up system restart.

“Oh bugger,” he sighs under his breath, quietly enough that the nurse fretting over all the technology can’t hear how resigned and unsurprised he is.

The avalanche continues when a nearby nurse ducks in and his tablet powers itself off. The smartwatch he’s wearing starts having three different alarms go off on it, and then there’s some shouts of alarm from outside Newt’s room that he’s really not sure that he wants to know what they’re about.

There are four people in his room now, in varying states of bewilderment and frustration, trying to figure out why everything’s malfunctioning in his room while also trying to get it back up and working. No one’s listening to Newt when he tries to explain that if he could just leave, it’d get better, but then, he’s mostly used to being ignored at this point.

More and more people trickle into the room, Newt spots the tech support guy he wished to be, frowning and scratching his head as he looks at everything. And then he looks at Newt.

A quick mumble about using the loo and Newt escapes out of the room, IV still attached to the weird metal stand and his arm but at least they’re not electronically powered. Just good engineering and reliable gravity.

He figures if he can put enough distance between him, and the rest of all that technology crammed into one small spot, that everything will boot back up just fine. And if not, Newt could write out exactly how to fix it.

So he heads to the loo, because now that he’s made the excuse, he figures he might as well try and also he’s betting on there being a whole lot less fancy technology in there. If only he could actually find said loo. Or any loo, really.

He’s waylaid by a small girl about ten minutes into his wandering of the halls.

“Oh. Hullo there.”

The girl is missing three teeth, has brown hair, and is looking at Newt as if he’s the newest attraction in the city zoo. Under her stare, Newt almost feels like one.

“Wut’er you doing?”

“Er... looking for the loo.”

She looks at him, looks in the direction he was heading in, looks back at him and matter-of-fact-ly says, “you’re going the wrong way.”

He blinks at her, which she takes as permission for her to reach up and grab his hand and start pulling him in the other direction. Bewildered, he followed.

And thus began a brand new game called “Lead the Newt” which had a revolving cast of characters, all under the age of twelve, each insisting they knew where the loo was, and each hiding him from sight any time an adult employee came near.

This scavenger hunt of a game ended at, not a loo (which made Newt extremely grateful he didn’t actually need one), but at a recreational sort of room. There was an old tv in one corner, an open treasure chest filled with costumes and toys, and a few bookshelves. The floor was spongy beneath Newt’s feat and looking down left him staring at brightly colored interlocking foam mat puzzle pieces.

For some reason, all of the co-conspirators find him funny, and really the only tech he might fry in here is a rather old tv that looks like it’s been outdated so many times it can’t recall if it’s outdated or retro at this point, so all in all... This is probably the safest room for Newt to be in. And certainly more interesting than the loo.

And that’s how he finds himself, an hour later, dressed in a paper hat of some kind (its supposed to be a jester’s hat) leaning against his iv pole, making elaborate gestures with his free hand, and telling terrible terrible jokes to a kid in a paper crown and to the amusement of the other kids around him. It’s most certainly a bizarre scene, but no one has commented on it as of yet and due entirely for the fact that the secondary game they’re all playing is ‘Hide the Newt’ any time an adult wanders by. Closets, corners, and blankets have all been heavily featured by now in this game.

So Newt can hardly be blamed for jumping near out of his skin when, after telling a particularly bad punny joke, he hears an adult’s laughter. So he jumps, jerks, and tries to turn to face the voice all in one motion and ends up somehow practically hogtieing himself in his iv cord and going down.

He ended up in a heap of limbs, metal pole, and iv cord wrapped all around him, and his glasses hanging half off his face. “Oh bugger...”

There was a snickering above him from the adult voice and the children alternating between giggles at his fall and joyful cries of “Crow Crow!”, “Mister Crow!”, and “Miss Crow!”. As Newt struggled to untangle himself, with the help of a few kids who both made things worse and better in turns, the other children began pleading with the Crow? Crow?? to pleeeeease let them keep Newt.

The stranger is crouching down to the kid’s level by the time Newt gets mostly upright, and they look a lot like they’re trying very hard not to laugh. “Now. However did you magpies manage to steal a whole person?”

Laughter sounds and they’re throwing themselves at the redhead and the two bags they set down. As the majority are immediately distracted by the prospect of sweets and the passing out of them, the stranger turns to Newt and raises an eyebrow high above dark sunglasses and says, “well? How’d they manage to kidnap you?”

Before Newt can respond the kids answer with excuses that pile over one another ranging from “he just wandered in!” to the actually mostly truthful “he was lost so we were showing him around!”.

“Oh really now?” they seem to be biting back laughter as they continue, “he was lost so you decided to help him by keeping him here?”

Some of the kids looked abashed while others look outright proud of themselves and to Newt’s surprise the stranger threw back their head with a short bark of a laugh before grinning as if proud of them.

Just in case he was reading the situation wrong, he’d done that with people more than a few times, Newt tried pushing through his embarrassment and awkwardness with an “It’s, uh, alright. Really. It’s been kind of fun, actually.”

“Ah. Yeah, they really grow on you.” The Crow glanced at the kids with a mischievous look, “like a fungus.”

Groans and laughter sounded before all of a sudden a shushing and pointing as an adult was seen wandering their way. Before Newt could blink they had him hidden out of sight shoved in a closet between some coats, puppets, and something slightly sticky that he had no intention of exploring further.

He could hear the somewhat muffled conversation of the kids pleading with The Crow to keep their secret before a new adult voice joined the conversation. The voices dropped away a bit, except for the nervous kids right in front of the closet attempting to whisper between each other, before he can’t make anything out at all. He waits, nervousness beginning to creep in because just how long was he supposed to stay in the closet? Actually, about that, he’d really had enough of closets and hiding in them. Terribly stifling and awful and much better really to be out of them.

Eventually there’s the sound of foot falls coming closer and closer to the closet and for a moment Newt’s heart picks up, certain that he’s about to be found and get in trouble. Then the doors are opened and it’s the red headed stranger who jokes, “ready to come out of the closet?”

And Newt’s still full of nervousness and it expresses itself by making him immediately blurt out “already did that once really. Was sort of hoping to not have to do it again.”

There’s a pause where the red head stares at him and the realization that he’s said that out loud crashes over Newt who flushes hotly. “Oh gods, I said that out loud...” and then The Crow tilts their head back and laughs.

“Been there, done that!” They agree with a grin and reach in to pull Newt out. “C’mon, ‘parently they’ve been running a missing patient code for half an hour looking for you.”

Newt relaxed fractionally, “you figured all that out from the nurse in five minutes?”

“Nah. Heard about it when I snuck in through one of the back windows. ‘s right beside one of the break rooms.”

“Oh, okay, that makes- wait. Did you say window?”

But they were already talking to the kids, “Alright you mischievous little magpies, you had your fun but we need to get him back now.” A chorus of “awwwws” and “but!!but!!”s sounded off but The Crow continued on, “if he’s here, he probably needs some help to get better, and I’m sure once he’s feeling better he’ll come say hi again.” Here they glanced over at at Newt expectantly, so Newt nodded since it seemed expected, and then they continued, “alright, so say bye to...”

“Newt.”

The Crow stilled, tilted their head to the side and asked disbelievingly, “really?” as if they didn’t also have the name of an animal.

“Yeah.”

“Alright magpies, tell Newt bye.”

There’s goodbyes and promises to come back and right as they’re leaving the first girl that had caught Newt comes up to The Crow and, in a whisper so very loud she might as well be talking, says “you hafta be nice to him!”

“Oh do I now?”

She nodded furiously, “he doesn’t ree-lize his jokes are reeeeally bad!”

The Crow seemed to choke on something before spluttering into a laughter the kid shushed them for.

“Sorry, sorry,” they managed, fighting back their grin and not looking sorry in the least as they chanced a quick glance at Newt.

The girl frowned, “you’re not sorry at all!”

“I am, I am!”

She looked unimpressed but when bribed with an extra pastry she let it, and them, go.

They’re on their way back to the nurse’s station (Newt didn’t even know what room they put him in) when he breaks the silence to ask, “is your name really Crow?”

“To the kids, yes. You can call me Crowley.”

“Oh. Nice to meet you Crowley. Did you really come in through a window?”

Crowley grinned at him, “trade secret.”