#posted @ 3:03 a.m.

[wrylu]

gettin their z's

[usedpidemo]

Update - 3rd year anniversary! (and some future plans, a reflection, etc.)

Hi everyone! π here.

By the time this post is up, it'll be the 13th of May. Three years since I began my writing journey and this Tumblr blog. Three years. Time flies by so fast. I was close to graduating senior high after it was delayed because pandemic, had my graduation in an empty room basically, now I'm hitting my third year of college. Crazy stuff.

With that said, here are the stats + timetable of the blog so far:

First work: Sandwich (Wendy) (published 05/13/21, 4:03 a.m)

Highest note count: Tell your friends (Yujin x Wonyoung) (published 01/14/23, 1274 notes)

Number of works published: 91 fics (1 fic every 12.03 days)

500 followers: June 18, 2021 (36 days)

1000 followers: October 12, 2021 (152 days)

2000 followers: June 18, 2022 (401 days)

3000 followers: November 12, 2022 (548 days)

4000 followers: May 22, 2023 (740 days)

5000 followers: December 18, 2023 (950 days)

Current follower count: 5615 (1 new follower every 5.12 days)

It's been a hectic final month of college, so I apologize for the lack of activity in recent times :< But summer is coming up very soon, so hopefully I'll have all the time in the world to write more till then! I will say, a new fic is on the near horizon, so please be on the lookout!

I would like to take the opportunity to thank every single of you, whether reader, lurker, or a fellow writer for your support! Especially during these lull times, your unwavering support has kept me afloat and has been a motivation in continuing to write. Love you guys as always. Here's to another fruitful year <3

From this point, this part will be an overall reflection and life summary of the previous year, my thoughts on some personal matters, and some ideas I've been contemplating. If you don't wanna read this, you can stop here.

I miss 2023 quite a bit, not gonna lie. I know nostalgia can quickly grow warm and fuzzy, seeing the past through rose tinted lens, but I'll admit that 2024 hasn't been off to the start I envisioned it to be. That year was mostly peak for me, and I could even argue it's my favorite year to live out based on all my experiences. Traveling to new places, finally attending live events, interacting with my K-pop biases, and so on—it really felt like the best was yet to come with how 2023 flowed and transitioned into the new year.

Five months in, and I am struggling. Horribly. Most plans, dreams, and ideas have gone up in smoke, and it's just one devastating gut punch after another. I have a shitty professor in one major that basically made me check out of that class, and I don't know my family will react when I tell them I have to repeat said class because that professor was a dick. My family's been infighting on a daily basis, and I'm mostly collateral damage to them. Not one week can go by without some serious confrontation between them. There was a brief health scare with my mother, but that seems to be a nothing matter; thank God she'll be okay.

All this just makes life so deflating, in all honesty. I get that no life is without struggle, but I genuinely don't know when we'll be in the clear. Not anytime soon, I reckon. In these tough times, there's very little comfort except the past, when everything was pretty all right for the most part. It's been demotivating to write when mom comes forward with another grievance with my sister. It's hard to write when you have a professor who likes to power trip their students into submission. It's hard when you don't know how to admit to your mother that he failed his one class because of said power tripping professor.

But that doesn't mean I will let it eat me alive. I know we've been through some utter lows in the past. And we always get back up. If no one has us, then God does.

Summer break is fast approaching and I want to fix things. Even in my own little way. I know none of what I'm saying has anything to do with writing degenerate stories about hot K-pop idols, but real life circumstances have definitely affected me more than I can brush off. I should be calm, unfazed, undeterred.

After all, some stories are meant to be finished. They just take a more unconventional route. Ask Cody.

With all that being said, I will finish these commissions over the next two months. I'm really sorry to everyone who requested and paid for their stories months and months ago; I genuinely feel bad for not getting these out on time, but I am very mindful of quality control, and I have no one to blame but myself for being a slacker and lazy worker. Despite my feelings, I should remain professional—that's what being a worker means.

A lifestyle overhaul is definitely in my list of things to improve over the summer too. Figuring out how to get writing done, finding ways to alleviate my PokeRogue addiction (GOTY), whilst having a healthy work/life balance and not losing my sanity over it. Or worse, burning out.

And I want to take this opportunity to thank all my friends—peach, caps, majorblinks, chunk, frisky, raf, c.o, levi, sins, iz, ken, v1n, ddeun, notions, kevin, eros, brandon, kaede, svn, frisky, cray, rpg, prael—for putting up with my shit for another year. This life is tough, but you guys make it tolerable. Thank you for letting me air out my grievances even when it wasn't the best time to. I pray that when everything passes, I'm able to repay you all in some shape or form generously.

And to you, dear reader, for making it this far, thank you. Whether you've been with me since day one, or day 1094, as a commenter, reposter, liking, or just passing by/lurking, thank you for giving me a chance. Without you, all of this would have been for nothing. I don't know where I would be now if I didn't take that chance, that leap of faith back in 2021, and it's because of you I am able to keep doing this for the love of the game.

With grace,

Peter / π

[kranagok0]

I remember reading a post or some comment from someone about what season 3 would have been like if Anders hadn't been taken to the fairy island but Johana had.

First we must clarify that Johana would end up on the same island as Anders, meeting Victoria and cooperating together to survive.Anders would now be taking care of Hilda and learning to be a responsible father, and with this understand how hard Johana's life was having to take care of an 'adventurous' girl (I imply that Anders lives the life of an adventurer and therefore that goes where it wants without worries. Well, now Anders will know what it's like to have to take care of another adventurer and try to understand why his daughter does such dangerous things)

*Anders and his daughter would be looking for Johana all over the place. Obviously they wouldn't find her, nor would there be any trace of where she could have gone. Hilda fears the worst, and Anders tries to calm her down by telling her that he may have gotten ahead of Trollberg and that everything is fine. After that, Anders takes Hilda back to Trollberg to wait for her mother.

*After spending the night waiting (and sleeping) on the couch, Anders realizes that Johana is not coming back. Hilda obviously starts to worry, even more than when Twig ran away.We will see the topic of how Hilda and Anders feel about Johana's disappearance in another post that I will do over the course of this weekend, so pay attention (it is both a warning and a threat because I don't know if it suits me or not)

*For a whole week Anders has had to do the things that Johana did in her daily life:*Anders gets up early, earlier than he is used to, just so he can cook something for his daughter to eat (even if it's just a little, worrying about his mother took away most of his appetite). On the first day Anders tried to cook something for his daughter in record time (it was 5 minutes before Hilda's classes were to start and both of them hadn't even fully woken up). In the end everything burned and Anders had to quickly go to a store to buy his daughter lunch. That's when Anders realized that Hilda didn't eat meat (he literally saw her open the sandwich and take out the ham while looking somewhat disgusted).

*Anders was learning to drive the new family car (that car that wouldn't start and seems to be closer to being junk than being a vehicle). They were late consecutively that week, it was a miracle if they arrived 30 minutes after the bell rang.Cleaning clothes should be easy as long as you had a washing machine, that's what Anders thought when he put as many clothes as he could into the washing machine and started it. For obvious reasons, the washing machine overheated because it had exceeded the maximum load and exploded (the family washing machine was also a bit old). Anders had to wash everything by hand (at least what was not destroyed after the explosion) (Hilda got very angry that day with her father for accidentally destroying the sweater that Johana had knitted for Hilda, Anders felt very bad that's why).

*Every day after school, Hilda left school to look for her mother everywhere. The first time Anders came for her after school was a little after 30 minutes when the school had closed. (Yes, it was the same day that the washing machine exploded and Anders arrived in the car while his clothes were still wet from quickly washing all those clothes by hand).And we're just getting started with parenthood.

*Every time Anders brought Hilda home from school they didn't spend much time together. Hilda simply arrived home, changed her clothes, and went outside to look for her mother with Twig and her friends (Alfur had even sent a report to gather information to find out if anyone had seen Johana). At first Anders saw no problem in searching for Johana separately, so they would cover more ground. However, with each passing night, Anders noticed how Hilda came home later and later. It was the last straw when she returned at 03:00 A.M. Anders thought something horrible had happened to his daughter or that someone had kidnapped or tricked her. Anders tried to ask Hilda about where she was and what she was doing... And well, the situation escalated just like when Johana started asking Hilda about her adventures.

*Anders hadn't screamed that loud in years, neither had Hilda (and even though she had argued with her mother a few times, it was strangely new to try to scream louder than her father).

*After the sun rose they both apologized, curiously they both had a nightmare where the other also disappeared like Johana did. Nobody wanted that to happen. They hugged and reconciled (I would add more drama and other ideas, but I would like to know how you would develop this father-daughter situation)Well, these are some of the things I thought about Anders being a single dad.

However, I would like to know what you think. Seriously, I love reading other people's opinions and thoughts regarding all kinds of fanfics, AU's and also their head-canon of the series. I will be reading them all (if they post anything)

[virovoid]

ELIJAH VUE: The Missing 3 Year Old Boy from Wisconsin

[Ongoing Investigation]

Elijah Vue is a 3 year old boy from Twin Rivers, Wisconsin, who seemingly vanished without a trace

Elijah Vue is a 3 year old boy from Wisconsin, who vanished from an apartment in Two Rivers on Feb. 20, where he was staying with his mother's boyfriend, Jesse Vang.

Elijah was last seen at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at an apartment building in the 3900 block of Mishicot Road in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

Elijah’s mother, Katerina Baur, (31) and her boyfriend, Jesse Vang, (39) have been charged with felony child neglect.

Elijah was sent to stay with Vang in Two Rivers by his mother for "disciplinary purposes,” according to Manitowoc County District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre.

Katrina lived in Wisconsin Dells when Elijah went missing and had been traveling back and forth between there and Two Rivers

Investigators said Katrina sent Elijah to stay with her boyfriend, Jesse Vang, in Two Rivers to "learn how to be a man." on February 20th, Vang told police when he woke up from a nap, and the little boy was gone.

Jodi Baur, Elijah’s grandmother, said the last time she spoke to Katrina was March 1, after she had been arrested and charged with child neglect.

"When you did talk to her, is she asking, where's Elijah? Is she still wanting to know where he is?" Reporters asked.

Baur said she thinks getting answers relies on her daughter receiving mental health care.

"Until we get her in touch with what's real and what's not real, we're not going to know," Baur said.

In a recent interview with Katrina, she said the following about Elijah’s disappearance:

"You find yourself driving alone, you're looking in every ditch, you're looking in every lake, you're looking at every, you know, farm field. And it's just you, just the trauma doesn't stop because there's no closure," Baur said. "Please keep looking for him because somebody is going to find something."

A post was made to social media about a $40,000 reward for any information leading to Elijahs whereabouts.

The post reads:

“10,000 from Manitowoc County Crime Stoppers for the arrest and charging of the individual/s responsible for his disappearance, $15,000 for information leading to the location and return of Elijah Vue and/or the arrest and conviction of the individual/s involved in his disappearance, and an additional $15,000 thanks to funds raised by donations set up through the City of Two Rivers.”

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the department by phone at 844-267-6648, through the Manitowoc County Crime Stoppers P3 App, or via email at trpolice@two-rivers.org

As Katrina and Vang remain in jail, Elijah remains missing.

____________________________________________

TWIN RIVERS POLICE DEPARTMENT:

844-267-6648

trpolice@two-rivers.org

____________________________________________

SOURCE(S):https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/19/wisconsin-toddler-elijah-vue-missing/73032668007/#

[xunandran]

Tease Tidbit Tuesday

Just a little bit from my Sci-Fi themed AU buddie fic tentatively titled 'Eddie and E.V.An.' Buck's a prototype android that is helping Eddie deal with being a single parent and a probationary firefighter. I haven't posted any of it yet, but I'm hoping to start getting some up soon! Enjoy and let me know if you'd like to be updated.

“Buck?” Eddie squinted at the clock on his end table. 3:17 a.m. Even in the darkness, he could see the android sitting on the side of the bed, facing the window. He sat up and reached for the lamp. “What are you doing in here?”  “You were exhibiting signs of a nightmare. I was attempting to soothe. Studies suggest soothing words can calm nightmares.” Eddie rubbed the back of his neck. “I-I don’t remember anything.” “The first alerting event occurred at 1:02 a.m. The perceived nightmare event was observed to run from 1:03 a.m. to 1:08 a.m. Rapid eye movements and involuntary muscle spasms decreased by 53 percent and 86 percent respectively beginning at 1:09 a.m.” Buck’s voice was quiet. “It’s past 3 a.m. though. If I had a nightmare at 1, why are you still here?” “You asked me to stay, Eddie.” Eddie didn’t remember that either. 

“That upsets you.” The android stood from the bed and walked toward the door. As with everything it did, its movements were precise, clinical. “What are you talking about? I’m not upset.” “Your breathing increased in volume by three decibels and your heart rate increased in speed and intensity.”   “Buck. Look at me.” The android complied, turning to face the bed. Eddie couldn’t help but smirk. In the warm lamplight, it almost looked petulant, its blue eyes cast in the shadows of its strong brow. Its head cocked as it did when it was processing inputs. “I’m not upset. I promise.” “Ocular movement patterns suggest that you are telling the truth.” “My words should be telling you that I’m telling the truth!” This was ridiculous. He was defending himself to what? An upgraded Alexa? A mobile Siri? Eddie pressed his palms to his face and groaned.   “I understand.” the android’s voice was clear and unaffected. “Would you like me to remove this task from my routines?” Eddie stared into those unmoving blue eyes, shaded like deep waters. With a swallow and a purse of his lips, he shook his head and moved to switch off the light. “That’s not necessary, Buck. Good night.”  “Good night, Eddie.” Buck quietly exited the room and pulled the door closed behind him. Eddie tucked himself back under his covers, plumped his pillow, and watched the LCD digits tick from 3:20 a.m. all the way to 5:45 a.m.

[best-bot-tournament-2023]

FULL BRACKET DETAILS - Round 1

Thanks so much for your patience while I finalised this breakdown. My real life is busier than you might expect and doesn't leave me as much time as I'd like to devote to this.

The challengers you'll see facing off against each other in ROUND ONE are as follows:

1) Alphonze (Just Roll With It) VS P03 (Inscription)

2) Baymax (Big Hero 6) VS Marvin (The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)

3) Bender (Futurama) VS BMO (Adventure Time)

4) Emily (She Ra and the Princesses of Power) VS S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

5) BOYD (Ducktales) VS Calculester (Monster Prom)

6) GLaDOS (Portal) VS Mettaton (Undertale)

7) Haiku Bot (Tumblr) VS Data (Star Trek)

8) Wheatley (Portal 2) VS Robecca Steam (Monster High)

9) Jenny / XJ-9 (My Life as a Teenage Robot) VS Hera (Wolf 359)

10) Fresh Cut Grass (Critical Role) VS Connor (Detroit: Become Human)

11) Zane (Lego Ninjago) VS WALL-E (WALL-E)

12) K1-B0 (Danganropa) VS C-3PO (Star Wars)

13) The Iron Giant (The Iron Giant) VS Queen (Deltarune)

14) Tik-Tok (The Oz series) VS Robot Jones (Whatever Happened To Robot Jones)

15) Raymond (OK K.O!) VS Rabbit (Steam Powered Giraffe)

16) Clank (Ratchet & Clark) VS Porn Bots (Tumblr)

17) A.M (I have no mouth and I must scream) VS WX-78 (Don’t Starve

18) One-One (Infinity Train) VS Sweet Cap’n Cakes (Deltarune)

19) Rodney Copperbottom (Robots) VS Gir (Invader Zim)

20) EVE (WALL-E) VS R2-D2 (Star Wars)

21) Rosie the Robot (The Jetsons) VS Mephone 4 (Inanimate Insanity)

22) Astro Boy (Astro Boy) VS Elle Eedee (Monster High)

23) Googleplier (Markiplier) VS Norm (Phineas and Ferb)

24) EDI (Mass Effect) VS Kryton (Red Dwarf)

25) T.O.M (Toonami) VS Edgar (Electric Dreams)

26) V1 (Ultra kill) VS Karen (Spongebob Squarepants)

27) Penny (RWBY) VS Laputian Robots (Castle in the Sky)

28) Sundry Sidney (Dimension 20: A Starstruck Odyssey) VS The Spine (Steam Powered Giraffe)

29) Metal Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog) VS Starscream (Transformers)

30) Momo (Stray) VS Curiosity Mars Rover (NASA)

31) Ribbot (Animal Crossing) VS Frobo (Amphibia)

32) Yes Man (Fallout: New Vegas) VS Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid)

Thanks to everyone who helped narrow down this list by voting in the preliminary polls.

If all goes to plan I'll start posting the polls for the first round on SATURDAY 18/03/23.

START YOUR PROPAGANDA NOW!

Send me an ask/submission, tag me in your posts (@best-bot-tournament-2023) or tag your posts with #bestbotpropaganda for me to find and reblog!

[caramellody]

OOPS! IT’S A TURTLES DANGANRONPA AU

This is a bit of a long one, and is. more rambly about rules n stuff??? so I'm sorry in advance it's PROBABLY going to be a very boring post. I caved after talking about the au sometime before like. VERY briefly so here I am now with a slightly more detailed explanation of the au…before ACTUALLY talking about the au

1- Names

writing [year][turtle] for everyone in the AU itself isn’t something that would naturally happen, so as expected, there are nicknames!

1987 Turtles:

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo

2003 Turtles:

Leo, Don, Raph, Mike

2012 Turtles:

Lee, Dee, Ralph, Mikey

Rise Turtles:

Leon, Donnie, Michael, Raphie

Other things to note: these are the names in order to identify them, especially if there are multiple of them. if there's only one of them left, then any nickname is fair game. narration will still refer to them as the assigned names above

For this post and any post talking about them OUTSIDE of the narrative, however, I will just be referring to them by year to make it easier to understand, just remember that in-universe that’s not how they’re referring to each other.

2- Memories

This gets mentioned later but I’ll put it here for easy reference, for the most part, in general, the turtles forgot everything surrounding their capture

1987 Turtles' memories are post 2012 Crossover episodes. They know of the 03 and 12 turtles, and due to Donatello’s portal ray, they can travel between dimensions. Being post-crossover episodes also means they are post-red sky seasons. (GRANTED Im still going through the 87 show rn since it's like. the last of the animated ones i have to go through, so this might change over time, but overall, i dont think so?)

The 2003 Turtle's memories are post Turtles Forever and are aware of the 87 turtles.

The 2012 turtles' memories are post-season 5. They are also aware of the 87 turtles.

The Rise Turtles' memories are post-Season 2. Due to a lack of knowledge in multiversal iterations, they know nothing about it at this point. 

3-Collar Mechanism

Every turtle in the Killing game has a collar on their neck. These all have numerous functions:

They emit a faint noise that suppresses any superhuman powers (Most notably the Rise turtle's Mystic powers, but this also applies to slightly nerfing EVERYONE’s superhuman strength. They’re all still very much capable and superhuman fighters, but they’ve all been severely downgraded as a result)

There’s a fuse that will set off an explosion destroying the collar and the user as well.

There's a shock collar function that will emit a shock of varying degrees, from a faint shock to a massive surge that can knock them out but never outright kill the user

It also serves as an inhibitor for the turtle's memories, at least in the simulation. When the collar gets removed, their memories begin to return at a slow, but sudden and unexpected pace.

A pulse detector for Monokuma, as he can be aware of everyone's status and whether they’re alive or not throughout the game, the pulse detector isn't tied to code, it’s tied to the collar of the user

Collar removal is typically foolproof, as there is an automatic trigger that will explode if removed without careful thought

4- T-Handbook Rules

These are the set rules when the turtles first get their Turtle Handbooks (T-Handbooks) at the start of the game

Rule #1: Subjects must live in the bunker for the foreseeable future.

Rule #2: Once a murder takes place, all surviving subjects must participate in a class trial.

Rule #3: If the blackened is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

Rule #4: If the blackened is not exposed, all remaining subjects will be executed.

Rule #5: If the blackened survives the class trial, they will graduate and re-enter the outside world.

Rule #6:The killing game and class trials will continue until only two surviving subjects remain’

Rule #7: "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. The dining hall and auditorium are off-limits at night.

Rule #8: Violence toward Monokuma, the headmaster, is strictly prohibited.

Rule #9: Monokuma will never directly commit a murder.

Rule #10: Your T-Handbooks are very important items. Please do not damage them.

Rule #11: The "Body Discovery Announcement" will play when three or more subjects discover a body.

Rule #12: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore the campus at your discretion.

Rule #13: Subjects who violate these rules will be immediately executed through the mono-collars

Rule #14: If two different murders by different murderers occur at the same time, only the one whose victim was found first will be the blackened.

Rule #15: Further, there may be new additions to the rules according to the convenience of the headmaster.

[butchkaramazov]

A Shade Darker Than Red: Chapter 8

this is a repost because tumblr, being a jerk as always, decided to delete the former post. if you like this one, you could maybe check out the entire series using the masterlist i'll post in a few minutes.

A week passed by. Paro was eerily quiet when she was with me, and I thought of what I had said that day. Had I really, truly ruined all my chances of saving even our friendship?

A million thoughts rushed through my head as I turned restlessly in bed, staring at the ceiling.

The ceiling of our bedroom was painted with blue fluorescent stickers shaped like stars. Papa had done that. I had asked Maa to take them off if they bothered her, but we never did.

Beside me, Maa tossed in her sleep. They say if you think of someone, they can’t fall asleep. Could she hear my thoughts?

I had nothing to distract myself with. No phone, no book—nothing. Just me, my thoughts and the stars on the ceiling.

A sudden, vivid memory flashed in my mind. We were six. A year had passed since my meeting with Paro. We were running around like hooligans in the park while our mothers talked about work, pados-wali aunties and whatnot. I still remember what Paro was wearing: a frilly, white frock with Minnie Mouse sewn onto its sleeves. The sky was red and so was our laughter, until Paro bent down and ripped a flower right off its stem. “For you,” she had said, clumsily tucking the flower behind my ear. When she touched my earlobe, the flower was white. When she let go, it was red.

Another memory. We were nine. She sat with me on the bed while I rambled on about my latest hyperfixation: dragons. She listened to every single detail I had mentioned and, by the end of the afternoon, showed me a drawing of a wyvern.

Twelve. I was reading The Priory of the Orange Tree, sitting on the windowsill. I took a sip from my milk tea, letting out a contented hum. I wasn’t on the windowsill anymore. I was Ead, pressing a kiss to Sabran’s brow. Sabran was someone who looked uncannily similar to Paro.

An annoying ding! from my phone forced me back to reality. I heard Maa’s grunts and snores: the coast was clear. 

I climbed off the bed, taking care not to put extra weight anywhere that would make the mattress creak. I walked towards the desk and picked up the phone.

WhatsApp: You have 3 messages.

It was Paro. I checked the time: 3:49 a.m. Paro was a morning person, what was she doing staying up all night?

Paro<3:

hi renu are you awake?

—00:27

do you wanna hang out on the roof like we used to? 

—02:01

its ok if you dont wanna. go back to sleep you have a big day tmrw. actually, if ur awake rn i’ll kill you

—03:48

Oh, Paro.

I glanced at Maa, slowly increasing the fan’s regulator. Please don’t wake up soon.

I walked out of the room and closed the door. Thank goodness I’d oiled its hinges last week. 

The main door was locked—opening it meant creating a ruckus. “Shit,” I muttered under my breath. No wait, actually not shit. This meant I’d have to take the old way around. 

Jeez, fourteen-year-old me was fun.

I opened the door to the balcony and hoisted myself up on its railing. It was an easy jump. I tumbled onto the grass, praying that a grasshopper wouldn’t find its new home in my ear. The grass was wet and the air smelled of petrichor. 

I stood up, smoothening my pyjamas. Staying out late at night was a risky thing, especially in our neighbourhood. Plenty of TicTac-shaped pills here and there, and men on the prowl. I didn’t give a damn. I was eighteen and probably feeling some feelings I wasn’t supposed to be feeling. (That’s a lot of ‘feeling’s, I know.) What could possibly hurt me?

A lot of things, I realised, as I walked up to Paro’s house. Like that mad dog Rathode had warned me about. The creepy guy who keeps children in his basement (just a speculation, but when Madhu speculated about something, it was most probably right). An overspeeding motorcycle that could crash into me any minute. My own mother, with her pots and pans, once she realised I was gone.

Oh well, the damage was done. I found myself opening the gate on instinct, as if I knew Paro’s house better than I did my own.

I stepped into their garden, careful not to trample on any beetles—and made my way to the window of the woman who lived below Paro’s flat. Madame Fosco, I called her, in everything but her looks.

The tin shade Madame Fosco had installed last year was probably on its deathbed by now. Rust had made its edges creaky, but Fosco was deaf, anyway. I grabbed onto it and hoisted myself up, finding myself staring right at Paro’s face, our faces a millimetre away from each other’s. She screamed.

I screamed.

My foot slipped and I fell off the tin shade, tumbling onto the grass once again. At this point, I would be surprised if a grasshopper hadn’t found its home in my ear.

“For Whitman’s sake, hush,” I whisper-shouted, if that’s a thing. If it wasn’t, it probably is by now.

Paro peered out of the window, her mouth forming a perfect ‘o’. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed. 

I shook my head (in case a grasshopper had organised a nice family dinner in my hair) and climbed onto the tin shaft once again, pulling myself onto Paro’s windowsill.

“Come in,” she whispered, switching the lights on. 

I felt comfortable squatting on her windowsill like a failed Spiderman and grumbled as I walked into her bedroom.

Paro switched her phone’s torchlight off. “I’m gonna kill you.”

“What?” I stared at her retreating figure. “What did I do?”

“Why are you still awake?” she snapped. I followed her to the door.

“Why are you still awake and staring out of your window like Oscar fucking Wilde?” I snapped back.

Paro flipped me off while trying her hardest to pull the gates across the door. Sweat shone on her forehead, her eyes illuminated in the moonlight.

“Hold on, let me help,” I offered, gently grabbing her wrist. Paro grumbled, stepping aside.

I pushed the gate back and pulled it in again, keeping the screw in with my thumb. It glided into the opening on the other side, miraculously not making a single noise.

I turned towards Paro. She was staring at my arms.

“What?” I asked her, incredulously. One moment she said she wanted to kill me, and the next she looked at me like I was something she couldn’t quite wrap her head around.

“N-Nothing,” she gasped. My heart fluttered. Dammit, these butterflies in my stomach had turned into fucking bats at this point.

Paro walked up the stairs while I followed her footsteps in the dark. “Just like the old times, huh?” I heard her say.

I grinned. “Just like the old times.”

Paro opened the door to the roof, the tensed line in her jaw glinting in a sliver of moonlight. God, she was as beautiful as ever.

“Come in,” she said, her words echoing in the marble walls.

I followed her to the railings, leaning against the cool surface. A light breeze rippled through, making her hair fly for a brief second. Dear God, she was poetry herself.

“Where are Auntie and Uncle?” I asked, trying to break the silence.

A light breeze caressed my cheeks. “They won’t be back before tomorrow. Business trip,” Paro explained, edging closer to me.

“Oh.” I was suddenly aware of the pen still tucked behind my ear.

Silence.

“So we’re—we’re all alone, then?” I asked her, hoping she wouldn’t hear the slight quaver in my voice.

Paro nodded. “We are.”

Silence, again.

She leaned against the railing. “You’re going away in three weeks.”

I nodded, not quite knowing what to say.

“I asked you a question.” Her voice was cold and harsh, harsher than I deserved. 

“That was a statement,” I snapped. “And don’t use your fucking CEO voice with me.”

Paro frowned. “I’m not.”

“You are.” I glared at her. “And you know it.”

She stared at me, scrutinising my every feature. “I’m sorry,” she finally said, letting out a sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s just been—you’ll be gone—and—”

“I know, it’s okay,” I heard myself murmur, edging closer towards her.

“I—I’ve got that Poe book with me,” she said. “Do you want it now or at the graduation party?”

“Now,” I said, without thinking. “The party will be too loud. And too crowded,” I added as an afterthought.

Paro bit her lip so hard I was scared it would bleed. “Alright,” she nodded. “I’ll get it.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

I watched her retreat into the shadows, taking the white along with her. The night was a pool of blood, again.

I hummed. Did she know about the history of ‘OK’? Probably not. I’d tell her. Not knowing things I wouldn’t be able to tell her before we drifted apart wasn’t a good idea. At least she’d be able to tell her children that their Renu Auntie had told her about the history of ‘OK’. Maybe she’d sigh and think of me, again. Words were a certain but clumsy way into a person’s mind. 

Papa had told me that. Maybe that’s why I can’t stop thinking of him.

Did Paro know about Jinnah? That Netaji might’ve actually been alive? Did she know that birds came from lizard-hipped dinosaurs? There was so much I had to tell her before I vanished from her mind.

It was pathetic. Scrambling onto every crumb of unrelated information I could find, just to hang onto her thoughts, stay on in her mind for a little while longer.

“I’m back,” Paro said, stepping into the moonlight.

She looked like Aphrodite, the goddess of love born from love itself, in all her glory—clutching a book of Edgar Allan Poe, the letters of which shone in the lamplight or moonlight, that I do not know.

“For you,” she said, handing me the book.

“It’s beautiful,” I gasped as I ran my fingers along the edge of its spine. It was a leatherbound book, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe written in shiny gold lettering. I opened the first page.

To Renu, it said. Keep me in your mind, always. From, Paro.

I chuckled, flipping through the pages. “Of course I’ll keep you in my mind, Paro,” I laughed. “What a silly thought!”

Paro looked at me, hope faintly glimmering in her eyes. “You will?” Her voice had softened down to a murmur.

I looked at her incredulously. “Well, duh, Paro, I can’t just forget my best friend of thirteen years now, can I?”

Paro’s lower lip trembled. “You promise?”

I smiled. “Always.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

A comfortable silence followed and as we looked at the stars, I knew we were both smiling.

[kiscon]

The con after the con (post report and news!)

First of all, con attendees please check your Conline email for the Post-Con report!

Secondly,

Dear K/S friends,

Greetings! The KiScon newsletter is back – and will resume its monthly frequency to bring you all our announcements (events, fic fests, KiScon 2023 progress reports, and more news from the world of K/S) directly into your inbox.

1. KiScon 2022 – A short recap:

We made it through con farr and enjoyed every minute of it! It was an amazing and immersive weekend filled with many wonderful discussions and presentations, plot bunnies roaming freely, and the delights of fanworks shared among us.

We might not have been all together in a hotel for three days, but despite the virtual format and our dispersion throughout locations and timezones the con still defined a time and place for us, a happy bubble, and everything else around it, in that so-called real life out there, was not allowed to intrude much.

A detailed post-con report (pdf file) has been sent out by email to all registered members a few days ago; it includes a bunch of goodies to prolong the squee: the complete playlist of our vid shows, the Round Robin fic, fic recs, and links to several panel notes and presentations, as well as other important download links (e.g. for the con bag items) and info where you can find KiScon year-round. If you were registered for KiScon 2022, but have not received this email, please make sure to check the (fannish) email you used to register for KiScon, check your spam folder, and get in touch with us.

We've also contacted all winners of our competitions and all buyers and sellers from the auction.

Thank you to everyone who helped at KiScon 2022 in any way: thank you to all of our amazing volunteers and panelists, authors, artists, and vidders; thank you to all who created for and donated to the goodie bags; thank you to all who took part in the auction as buyer or seller, and especially to those who donated their proceeds to support KiScon or to charity; thank you to T’Uhura, Easy (MrsAtoz), and Herself_nyc aka NancyKay who sponsored the KiScon 2022 scholarships; and thank you to all who attended and made the con so much memorable fun. You’re the best! 

2. KiScon 2023:

As already announced in the Closing Ceremony, KiScon will return for the weekend 3–5 Nov, 2023. Registration will open in January 2023. Stay tuned for the announcement! 

This con will again be an online convention, but we are already working on a hybrid (in-person & online) format for 2024, and we are in negotiations with a hotel.

3. Upcoming Events:

Apart from these K/S-filled con weekends we will continue to host events (e.g. Pub Nights, but also competitions and fests) year-round. Our "KiScord" (KiScon Discord server) will stay open and active. There can never be enough K/S in one’s life. 

Starting this week, there will be an online event every Saturday, with alternating Pub Nights and Viewing Parties.

Pub Night – The Afterglow

Aaand the Pub Nights are back! But we'll use Zoom instead of the Discord chat, for better audio and video quality.

Saturday, 26 Nov 2022 11:00 a.m. PST 01:00 p.m. CST 02:00 p.m. EST 07:00 p.m. GMT/UTC 20:00 CET

Cinema of Squee – TOS Viewing Party

Saturday, 3 Dec 2022 01:00 p.m. PST 03:00 p.m. CST 04:00 p.m. EST 09:00 p.m. GMT/UTC 22:00 CET

We are going to watch the two pilots: "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (restored, unaired pilot version). This takes place on Zoom, much like our ST V viewing party at the end of KiScon. 

4. K/S Advent Calendar:

The official deadline for K/S Advent Calendar submissions is in the past (with the exception of a few individual deadline extensions), and it enabled the mods to gather enough works to draw up the schedule for the gradual reveal throughout December. However, you can still submit works (fic, art, vids, podfic, even photos of crafted 3D-objects) to the collection until the end of the year, both as fill for a prompt and as extra work (for an explanation how adding a fanwork to a collection works, please see the FAQs and Rules section on the AO3 collection profile). 

If there are works coming in very late in December, they will be revealed at the end of K/S Advent, as a kind of New Years Eve firework. Works coming in sooner will be added to the daily reveals. In any case, the collection will be closed to adding new works on 31 Dec, 2022, 11:59 a.m. UTC!

5. Where to find KiScon information & announcements: Official website KiScon Discord server Tumblr blog Twitter Conline Facebook Group Dreamwidth YouTube Past newsletters: KiScon Announcement(February 2022) Progress Report #1(March 2022) Progress Report #2(May 2022) Progress Report #3(June 2022) Progress Report #4(July 2022) Progress Report #5incl. Program Survey (September 2022) Progress Report #6(October 1st, 2022) Progress Report #7(October 11th, 2022) Progress Report #8(October 16th, 2022) Progress Report #9(Nov 2nd, 2022) Yours in K/S,

T’Lara

[sa7abnews]

Family of Texas A&ampM student found dead after picking up Uber Eats order suspects foul play

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/09/family-of-texas-aampm-student-found-dead-after-picking-up-uber-eats-order-suspects-foul-play/

Family of Texas A&ampM student found dead after picking up Uber Eats order suspects foul play

The family of Texas college student Caleb Harris, who vanished from his apartment complex in the early morning hours of a Monday in March before his remains were located in a 40-foot-deep well in June, is still seeking answers.The 21-year-old Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi student was last seen picking up an Uber Eats order outside his off-campus apartment complex called The Cottages, which advertises housing for A&M students, according to the Corpus Christi Police Department.The Nueces County Medical Examiner confirmed to Fox News Digital that although an extensive autopsy on Harris has been completed, his cause and manner of death remain undetermined.Randy Harris, Caleb’s father, told Fox News Digital that his family is meeting with law enforcement on Friday.HUMAN REMAINS FOUND NEAR MISSING TEXAS STUDENT CALEB HARRIS’ APARTMENT: POLICEHarris told My San Antonio that his family “fully believe this is a homicide and not an accident.”Caleb had been in contact with friends and family over Snapchat between about 2 a.m. and 2:45 a.m., just before he left to pick up his Uber Eats order and vanished with his phone.Police have ruled out the Uber Eats delivery driver as a suspect in the case. Caleb’s wallet and keys were left behind when he went to pick up the food, according to his parents.”He kind of vanished. There’s no evidence of wrongdoing, but there’s no evidence at all. And so it’s a matter of looking at every inch, everything we could possibly think of,” Randy previously told Fox News Digital. “It is a mystery.”MISSING TEXAS COLLEGE STUDENT CALEB HARRIS DISAPPEARED AFTER ORDERING UBER EATS: ‘IT’S A MYSTERY’Randy said his son was “preparing for the next afternoon.””He had ordered from a convenience store his lunch for the next day, which is very normal. … He’s a creature of habit, so it was very normal for him to do that,” Randy previously said.At 3:03 a.m., Caleb sent another Snapchat to a friend showing “a small bridge over a drainage ditch on the 1900 block of Ennis Joslin, within a few hundred feet of the entrance to his apartment complex.”That’s when his phone pinged for the last time at a nearby cellphone tower.Later in the day on March 4, Harris’ roommates noticed the 21-year-old’s food order placed outside their door, as instructed, but he was nowhere to be found, according to the Corpus Christi Police Department.MISSING TEXAS COLLEGE STUDENT CALEB HARRIS’ FAMILY BELIEVES ‘SOMEBODY KNOWS SOMETHING’”It’s a parent’s worst nightmare,” Caleb’s mother, Becky Harris, told Fox News Digital in March.Without conclusive autopsy results, the family is still working to determine exactly what happened to their beloved son in March.”It’s 2024, and the odds of somebody disappearing without a trace, without anybody knowing anything, are slim to none. We just feel like the word hasn’t got out to enough people, and we do believe somebody knows something,” family spokesperson Tony Mathis previously told “FOX & Friends.”Anyone with information about Harris’ disappearance or death is asked to contact the Corpus Christi Police Department at 361-886-2840 or 361-886-2600. Tipsters can also contact university police at 361-825-4444.

[truck-fump]

Five things to know before <b>Trump</b> and Biden touch down in Los Angeles

New Post has been published on https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.dailynews.com/2024/06/03/five-things-to-know-before-trump-and-biden-touch-down-in-los-angeles/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGjUzM2UwMTY5ZmFhZTIwMGQ6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AOvVaw1vwh3UPomzIL-G_yMiBWsS

Five things to know before Trump and Biden touch down in Los Angeles

| UPDATED: June 3, 2024 at 11:40 a.m.. Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are heading to Southern California for big- …

[botanyone]

Do orchid seeds fare better in freezers than we thought?

Do orchid seeds fare better in freezers than we thought? https://ift.tt/VHPvKSr Conventional wisdom holds that orchid seeds do not fare well in conventional cool, dry storage conditions used by seed banks. But a new study published in Annals of Botany challenges this long-held assumption, finding that seeds from some orchid species maintain viability for decades under such conditions.  Researchers at the Universidad del Oeste Paulista in Brazil explored how physiological, biochemical and structural traits influence seed longevity in eight species of Cattleya orchids. They collected seeds from these orchids and carefully desiccated them to around 3% moisture content before placing them in cold storage at -18°C for over 10 years.  Cattleya orchids. Image: Canva. Periodically over this time, the researchers conducted germination tests, viability staining and metabolic profiling on the stored seeds to evaluate their storage lifespan. Surprisingly, after more than a decade of dry, cold storage, seeds from all species remained able to germinate, contradicting the idea that orchid seeds are inherently short-lived under these conditions.  Using statistical models, the team projected typical storage lifespans, or “P50y”, of approximately 30 years for seeds of six of the Cattleya species. Even more unexpectedly, the predicted lifespans for seeds of two other Cattleya species were much longer – possibly even centuries of cold storage viability.  The seed longevity parameters determined here for eight species of Cattleya indicate that the seeds are not short-lived and these species are not likely to be exceptional… Such longevity achieved here for Cattleya seeds may reflect the optimisation of steps in post-harvest handling. Francisqueti et al. 2024 Looking deeper, the research team found clues to explain the variation in storage longevity between species. Analyzing seed morphology, they discovered the three species with seeds exhibiting the longest storage lifespan had significantly smaller airspaces surrounding the embryos – only 9-11% of total seed volume, compared to larger airspaces in others.  This structural trait likely allows for more even desiccation and better protection of the embryo during storage, the researchers suggested. Additional post-storage rehydration techniques, such as brief room temperature exposure or treatment with 10% sucrose solution, significantly boosted germination rates – especially in seeds with the smallest embryos.  Metabolite profiling via gas chromatography showed that seeds from all eight species contained high levels of linoleic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid associated with desiccation tolerance. Thermal analysis identified a peak in differential scanning calorimetry readings that correlated with storage longevity potential.  Taken together, these results challenge conventional beliefs about orchid seed storage. When properly desiccated, even orchid seeds demonstrate a tolerance to desiccation that enables long-term survival under conventional gene bank storage conditions.  Morphological and compositional traits provide clues to identify species with seeds best suited for long-term preservation. With nearly 900,000 known orchid species globally, many endangered, the findings offer hope that exhaustive orchid seed banking could help safeguard genetic resources for decades to come.  READ THE ARTICLE  Francisqueti A.M., Rubio Marin R., Marangoni Hengling M., Hosomi S.T., Pritchard H.W., Castilho Custódio C. and Barbosa Machado-Neto N. (2024) ‘Orchid seeds are not always short lived in a conventional seed bank!‘, Annals of Botany.  Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae021 The post Do orchid seeds fare better in freezers than we thought? appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ June 03, 2024 at 10:28AM

[nathank77]

3/29/24

6:03 a.m

I wrote a lot tonight about a lot of things, if you're here I hope you'll read it all.

Anyways I wanted to say something:

If you're here Elise, if you read every word I wrote, if you watch my videos to see me smile and laugh and check in on me. If you posted about me on Instagram multiple times to communicate with me, which tbh I believe you have done all of this.

I believe you've curated things on fb to tell me a story but who knows. Yet if you did- at least the things in that first paragraph, you are my soulmate.

I know you'd call me for a few minutes every night, I know you'd video chat with me semi regularly. I know you'd sing with me, I know you'd dance with me. I know you'd act silly with me. I know you'd be the one. I know you'd take dance lessons with me. I know we would laugh nonstop. I know we clicked on a whole other level when we were able to talk.

My perception of true love/soulmates is someone who completes you as much as a person can complete another person. I don't expect if we ever ended up together. Everything would be perfect. I know It'd be at some compatibility level like a 90% maybe even more but it would never be 100% not with anyone. Even soulmates. There would be incompatibilities, but they wouldnt be huge. And both people would try their hardest to work together to fulfill the percentage that is missing.

Either way I'll always believe you are my soulmate. That doesn't mean I'm your soulmate. Your husband prob is. Yet I remember the cave man rules thing. I remember how he controlled you. And I mean tbh I couldn't be happy in a relationship like that, you didn't seem happy. I just didn't feel I could make a comment about your life.... idk how you could be happy with cave man rules.

Maybe you worked it out. Maybe he changed. Maybe you agree with him after some hard conversations.... idk.

Idk, anything all i know is if you read every word I wrote, watch my videos and posted about me. And then with everything that happened feb-june. I know you're the one for me.

Maybe I'm just not the one for you.

[worldtimenews]

Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore: Vehicles fall in water

Early Tuesday morning, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore suffered a collapse following a collision with a sizable ship. As captured in footage, the Maryland Transportation Authority has confirmed that all traffic is being rerouted, though it remains uncertain if there were any injuries resulting from the incident. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a social media post around 3:00 a.m. that he was en route to the incident at the bridge. Emergency personnel are on the scene, and efforts are underway.............................Read more https://worldtimenews123456.blogspot.com/2024/03/vehicles-slide-into-water-when-francis.html

[butchmoesyzlak]

Hello guys,today i will be talking about a new blog change. I will be writing more in this blog kinda like a diary! I noticed i have been reblogging more and writing less so here we have it folks! Alex will not treat this blog like a reblog dump haha! Now let’s post a diary entry real quick..

04/03/2024,15:47

I woke up at around 09:20 A.M and my mum was next to me,she said that she had to go to work and she has left me home with my dad for 3 hours! It was insanely fun,i talked to my awesome best friends and my amazing boyfriend and called some parents,made milk for my dad,watched tv and guess what..THE SIMPSONS WERE PLAYING!! it’s my favourite show! I got really excited hehe..I’d say this day is quite productive,i did some oc doodles and i will go do some other productive activities later! Cya,hope you liked this entry buddies!

-Alex/otto🎸

[mixamorphosis]

Blog post and linked up tracklist [HERE]

Tracklist

01. Reinbert de Leeuw - Gymnopedie No. 3 (Philips) 02. Arovane & Hior Chronik - Stars Collide (A Strangely Isolated Place) 03. Commodity Place - Clouds Inside Me (Pocket Panther Records) 04. Fovea Hex - Piano Fields 1 (Headphone Dust) 05. Massimo Amato - 4 A.M (Affordable Inner Space) 06. Scrimshire - A Place For Everything (Wah Wah 45's) 07. Parks - Black Day, Silver Sea (Stray Theories Mix) (A Strangely Isolated Place) 08. Jonny Nash & Suzanne Kraft - See Yourself Out Of The Way (Melody As Truth) 09. Seahawks - Didn't Know I Was Lost (Ocean Moon) 10. Hampshire & Foat - The Solar Winds (and Cadenza) (Athens Of The North) 11. Mark-Almond - Monday Bluesong (Harvest) 12. Chet Baker - The Wind (DOL) 13. Sue Barker - Lover Man (Hot Casa Records) 14. Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Old Melody (Séance Centre) 15. Man Parrish - Water Sports (Eskimo Recordings) 16. Vangelis Katsoulis - If Not Now, When? (Utopia Records) 17. The Cinematic Orchestra - Time & Space (Ninja Tune)

Download available via [Hearthis]