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aeth-eris · 1 month ago

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★ majors/higher education | signs in the 9th house ★

★ book a reading ★ ★ masterlist 1 ★ ★ masterlist 2 ★

★ aries in the 9th house ★

majors tied to action, leadership, and bold thinking—aries energy thrives in fields that require initiative and innovation. think degrees in law (debate, litigation), sports science (coaching, performance training), or military science (strategy, defense). you might also pursue something competitive like entrepreneurship or pre-med, where you’re constantly challenged to stay ahead. aries’ restless energy makes hands-on, fast-paced majors appealing, so engineering or mechanics could also fit. their love of adventure means international relations or global studies might appeal, especially if you want to explore different cultures or engage in diplomatic work. creative fields like film production or performing arts (theater, dance) might call to you, as aries loves self-expression and commanding attention. expect a major that keeps you moving and doesn��t confine you to routine; aries doesn’t do well in stagnant or overly theoretical environments. you might also gravitate toward activism-based studies, like political science or criminal justice, where you can champion causes and fight for change. your education could take unexpected turns, as aries energy often thrives in challenges and chaos—possibly leading you to switch majors mid-way when something more exciting catches your attention.

★ taurus in the 9th house ★

majors rooted in stability, beauty, and value-driven work. taurus energy is practical yet artistic, so degrees in interior design, architecture, or fine arts (sculpture, painting) align well with their aesthetic sensibilities. you might also find satisfaction in agricultural sciences or environmental studies, connecting with the earth and sustainable practices. taurus’ practical mindset leans toward finance, economics, or business—majors that ensure long-term security and tangible rewards. culinary arts or nutrition could appeal, especially if you enjoy creating or nurturing through food. degrees in real estate or hospitality management might align with taurus’ love of comfort and luxury, allowing you to curate beautiful spaces or experiences for others. taurus in the 9th craves knowledge they can use practically, so hands-on fields with clear career paths are key. psychology or social work might also resonate, especially if you’re drawn to steady, nurturing roles that help others build better lives. you could lean toward something like cultural studies or anthropology if there’s a focus on the sensory aspects of different traditions (food, art, craftsmanship). whatever you choose, it’ll likely be a slow, deliberate decision, as taurus takes their time to find what truly aligns with their values.

★ gemini in the 9th house ★

majors focused on communication, ideas, and variety—gemini thrives in fields that stimulate the mind and offer flexibility. journalism, creative writing, or media studies are strong fits, as gemini excels in storytelling and connecting with others. degrees in education (teaching, curriculum development) might appeal, especially if you’re drawn to sharing knowledge in dynamic environments. gemini’s curiosity could also pull you toward marketing, public relations, or advertising—majors that let you craft messages and explore trends. linguistics, foreign languages, or international studies might resonate, allowing you to learn and communicate across cultures. gemini’s love of tech and information could lead to fields like computer science, digital media, or data analysis. their versatility means you might combine seemingly unrelated interests, like a double major in psychology and graphic design or sociology and creative writing. gemini doesn’t thrive in rigid or overly specialized fields; they need variety, collaboration, and intellectual stimulation. philosophy or political science could also align, especially if you enjoy debating and exploring complex ideas. gemini in the 9th house often means your education will involve constant learning and adapting—expect internships, networking, and possibly changing majors to keep things fresh.

★ cancer in the 9th house ★

majors that center around nurturing, emotional connection, and building safe spaces for others. cancer energy thrives in fields like psychology, counseling, or social work—anything where you can provide care and emotional support. education might also appeal, particularly in early childhood development or special education, as cancer loves nurturing young minds. degrees in nursing, midwifery, or healthcare align with cancer’s caregiving nature, especially if you’re drawn to maternal health or pediatrics. cancer’s connection to home and history could lead to majors like interior design (creating comforting spaces) or history and anthropology, focusing on family lineage or cultural traditions. culinary arts or hospitality management could also resonate, especially if you love bringing people together through food or creating warm, inviting environments. cancer in the 9th might draw you toward majors that focus on healing or personal growth, like alternative medicine, holistic therapy, or even spiritual studies. film and media studies could appeal if you’re interested in storytelling with emotional depth. whatever you choose, it’s likely tied to themes of care, protection, and emotional resonance. you might also feel pulled toward studying abroad in places that feel familiar or tied to ancestral roots, seeking deeper connections with your personal history.

★ leo in the 9th house ★

majors centered around creativity, leadership, and self-expression. leo thrives in fields where they can shine, so performing arts (theater, dance, or music) might be at the top of your list. film studies or directing could appeal if you want to create bold, visual stories that captivate an audience. degrees in business, entrepreneurship, or leadership studies might also resonate, as leo loves being in charge and inspiring others. if you’re drawn to communication, public relations or marketing with a focus on branding and storytelling could fit. leo’s dramatic flair might pull you toward law—especially areas like courtroom litigation where your charisma and presence can shine. education, particularly as a professor or in roles that allow for mentorship, could also appeal, as leo loves to teach and lead. graphic design or fashion might be your calling if you’re drawn to creating visually impactful work. majors involving performance, creativity, or roles where you can stand out will feel most fulfilling. study abroad programs in culturally vibrant or artistic cities might inspire your studies. whatever you choose, it’ll likely be something where your natural talent for commanding attention and creating joy takes center stage.

★ virgo in the 9th house ★

majors grounded in precision, practicality, and service. virgo excels in detail-oriented fields, so degrees in healthcare (nursing, medical technology, public health) or environmental science could be strong fits. you might also thrive in majors like biology, chemistry, or nutrition, especially if you’re drawn to solving real-world problems. virgo’s analytical nature makes them well-suited to data-heavy fields like statistics, economics, or information systems. education is another natural fit, particularly in curriculum design or teaching science and math subjects. virgo’s focus on improvement could lead to degrees in psychology, especially counseling or behavioral analysis, where you help others refine and improve their lives. technical writing, editing, or publishing might appeal if you’re drawn to language and its meticulous application. environmental studies, agricultural science, or urban planning align with virgo’s interest in sustainable systems. virgo in the 9th house often seeks practical applications for higher learning, so your education might focus on how to create order and efficiency in the world. internships or research opportunities are likely to play a key role, as virgo thrives on hands-on experience. you’re also likely to be drawn to majors where you can serve others and create meaningful, measurable change.

★ libra in the 9th house ★

majors tied to beauty, harmony, and interpersonal connection. libra thrives in fields like art history, design, or fashion, where aesthetics and balance play a central role. degrees in law, especially focused on mediation or human rights, align with libra’s natural sense of fairness and justice. if you’re drawn to communication, public relations or marketing might appeal, particularly in industries like luxury goods or entertainment. libra’s love of people and relationships could also pull you toward psychology or sociology, exploring how humans connect and interact. education, especially in arts or humanities, is another natural fit—teaching subjects like literature, philosophy, or visual arts could fulfill your love for beauty and intellectual stimulation. majors like international relations or cultural studies align with libra’s global perspective and interest in diplomacy. libra in the 9th house also points to a strong desire for study abroad experiences, especially in culturally refined cities like paris, florence, or tokyo. you might also be drawn to interior design, event planning, or hospitality management—fields where you create harmonious and beautiful spaces. whatever you choose, it will likely involve collaboration, creativity, and a focus on creating balance in the world around you.

★ scorpio in the 9th house ★

majors steeped in intensity, mystery, and transformation. scorpio’s fascination with the unseen might lead you toward psychology, especially fields like forensic psychology, trauma therapy, or psychoanalysis. criminology, law enforcement, or investigative journalism are also natural fits, as scorpio thrives in uncovering hidden truths. degrees in medicine or research, particularly in areas like oncology, genetics, or pathology, align with scorpio’s need to transform and heal. scorpio’s deep, transformative energy might also pull you toward majors like philosophy, theology, or occult studies, where you explore life’s profound questions. anthropology, archaeology, or history with a focus on ancient civilizations could appeal if you’re drawn to uncovering buried secrets. scorpio’s intensity lends itself to creative fields as well—screenwriting, film directing, or novel writing in genres like horror, thriller, or fantasy might resonate. scorpio in the 9th house might also gravitate toward environmental studies or activism, especially if there’s a focus on regeneration or fighting for underrepresented causes. your educational journey may feel transformative and even karmic, with pivotal experiences that challenge your worldview and deepen your understanding of life’s complexities. you’re drawn to majors that let you explore the depths and create profound change.

★ sagittarius in the 9th house ★

majors focused on exploration, freedom, and the pursuit of knowledge. sagittarius in the 9th house practically screams for degrees in international relations, global studies, or cultural anthropology—anything that allows you to explore different cultures and philosophies. you might also be drawn to majors in philosophy, religious studies, or political science, as sagittarius loves diving into big-picture questions about morality and society. education is another natural fit, particularly higher education, where you could thrive as a professor or academic researcher. travel and adventure are key themes, so tourism management, hospitality, or even adventure filmmaking could appeal if you want to combine movement and creativity. sagittarius’ connection to optimism and growth might also lead you to fields like motivational speaking, public relations, or even sports management. if you’re drawn to physicality, degrees in physical education, sports science, or outdoor recreation could align with your adventurous spirit. study abroad programs or internships in foreign countries might feel essential to your academic journey. whatever you choose, it’ll likely involve expanding your horizons, chasing new experiences, and finding ways to bring a sense of inspiration and adventure to your studies and career.

★ capricorn in the 9th house ★

majors rooted in structure, ambition, and long-term success. capricorn in the 9th house suggests a preference for fields that offer tangible career paths and clear rewards, such as law, business administration, or economics. you might also excel in architecture, engineering, or urban planning, as capricorn thrives on building systems and structures that last. degrees in political science, public policy, or governance could appeal if you’re drawn to leadership roles and creating societal impact. capricorn’s disciplined energy might also lead you toward accounting, finance, or real estate—fields that align with your pragmatic mindset and interest in material security. academia or teaching might also appeal, especially if you’re focused on rising to leadership positions, like becoming a dean or head of a department. capricorn in the 9th values practicality, so you may prioritize internships, certifications, or degrees with clear professional applications. environmental science or sustainability studies could resonate, especially if you’re drawn to creating lasting change in ecological systems. your educational journey will likely be marked by hard work, steady progress, and a focus on achieving long-term goals, with a major that reflects your ambition and desire for mastery.

★ aquarius in the 9th house ★

majors centered around innovation, social change, and intellectual freedom. aquarius thrives in unconventional fields, so degrees in computer science, information technology, or artificial intelligence are natural fits. if you’re drawn to the social sciences, majors like sociology, political science, or human rights might appeal, especially if there’s a focus on progressive or revolutionary ideas. aquarius’ love of innovation might also lead to engineering, especially aerospace or renewable energy, where you can create futuristic solutions. degrees in environmental studies or urban planning could resonate if you’re interested in designing sustainable communities. aquarius in the 9th house suggests a fascination with global movements and humanitarian efforts, so international relations or global health might align with your vision for creating change. you might also be drawn to fields like psychology or neuroscience, exploring how the mind works and how it shapes behavior. aquarius values intellectual freedom, so you could pursue interdisciplinary studies that allow you to combine multiple interests, like technology and ethics or science and art. your educational journey might involve unconventional paths, like online programs, self-directed learning, or studying abroad in innovative or forward-thinking countries.

★ pisces in the 9th house ★

majors infused with imagination,�� spirituality, and emotional depth. pisces in the 9th house suggests a pull toward fields like creative writing, fine arts, or film studies, where you can channel your dreams into storytelling or visual expression. degrees in psychology or counseling might appeal, especially if you’re drawn to helping others navigate their emotions or uncover deeper truths. pisces’ spiritual energy might also lead you toward religious studies, theology, or even alternative medicine, focusing on healing and connection to the divine. majors in marine biology or environmental sciences might resonate, especially if you feel called to protect and explore the natural world. pisces also thrives in fields like music, dance, or acting, where emotional expression takes center stage. humanitarian studies or social work could be a fit, particularly if you want to help underserved populations or work for global peace. pisces in the 9th house also points to a love for escapism and exploration, so degrees in tourism, hospitality, or cultural studies might align with your wanderlust. your educational journey may feel fluid and intuitive, with shifts in direction driven by inner callings rather than external expectations.

★ book a reading ★ ★ masterlist 1 ★ ★ masterlist 2 ★

#astrology #astrology observations #astrology aspects #astro observations #9th house

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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 months ago

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Monopoly is capitalism's gerrymander

For the rest of May, my bestselling solarpunk utopian novel THE LOST CAUSE (2023) is available as a $2.99, DRM-free ebook!

You don't have to accept the arguments of capitalism's defenders to take those arguments seriously. When Adam Smith railed against rentiers and elevated the profit motive to a means of converting the intrinsic selfishness of the wealthy into an engine of production, he had a point:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/28/cloudalists/#cloud-capital

Smith – like Marx and Engels in Chapter One of The Communist Manifesto – saw competition as a catalyst that could convert selfishness to the public good: a rich person who craves more riches still will treat their customers, suppliers and workers well, not out of the goodness of their heart, but out of fear of their defection to a rival:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/19/make-them-afraid/#fear-is-their-mind-killer

This starting point is imperfect, but it's not wrong. The pre-enshittified internet was run by the same people who later came to enshittify it. They didn't have a change of heart that caused them to wreck the thing they'd worked so hard to build: rather, as they became isolated from the consequences of their enshittificatory impulses, it was easier to yield to them.

Once Google captured its market, its regulators and its workforce, it no longer had to worry about being a good search-engine – it could sacrifice quality for profits, without consequence:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

It could focus on shifting value from its suppliers, its customers and its users to its shareholders:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/15/they-trust-me-dumb-fucks/#ai-search

The thing is, all of this is well understood and predicted by traditional capitalist orthodoxy. It was only after a gnostic cult of conspiratorialists hijacked the practice of antitrust law that capitalists started to view monopolies as compatible with capitalism:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/

The argument goes like this: companies that attain monopolies might be cheating, but because markets are actually pretty excellent arbiters of quality, it's far more likely that if we discover that everyone is buying the same product from the same store, that this is the best store, selling the best products. How perverse would it be to shut down the very best stores and halt the sale of the very best products merely to satisfy some doctrinal reflex against big business!

To understand the problem with this argument, we should consider another doctrinal reflex: conservatives' insistence that governments just can't do anything well or efficiently. There's a low-information version of this that goes, "Governments are where stupid people who can't get private sector jobs go. They're lazy and entitled." (There's a racial dimension to this, since the federal government has historically led the private sector in hiring and promoting Black workers and workers of color more broadly.)

But beyond that racially tinged caricature, there's a more rigorous version of the argument: government officials are unlikely to face consequences for failure. Appointees and government employees – especially in the unionized federal workforce – are insulated from such consequences by overlapping layers of labor protection and deflection of blame.

Elected officials can in theory be fired in the next election, but if they keep their cheating or incompetence below a certain threshold, most of us won't punish them at the polls. Elected officials can further improve their odds of re-election by cheating some of us and sharing the loot with others, through handouts and programs. Elections themselves have a strong incumbency bias, meaning that once a cheater gets elected, they will likely get re-elected, even if their cheating becomes well-known:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gold-bars-featured-bob-menendez-bribery-case-linked-2013-robbery-recor-rcna128006

What's more, electoral redistricting opens the doors to gerrymandering – designing districts to create safe seats where one party always wins. That way, the real election consists of the official choosing the voters, not the voters choosing the official:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REDMAP

Inter-party elections – primaries and other nomination processes – have fundamental weaknesses that mean they're no substitute for well-run, democratic elections:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/30/weak-institutions/

Contrast this with the theory of competitive markets. For capitalism's "moral philosophers," the physics by which greedy desires led to altruistic outcomes was to be found in the swift retribution of markets. A capitalist, exposed to the possibility of worker and customers defecting to their rival, knows that their greed is best served by playing fair.

But just as importantly, capitalists who don't internalize this lesson are put out of business and superceded by better capitalists. The market's invisible hand can pat you on the head – but it can also choke you to death.

This is where monopoly comes in. Even if you accept the consumer welfare theory that says that monopolies are most often the result of excellence, we should still break up monopolies. Even if someone secures an advantage by being great, that greatness will soon regress to the mean. But if the monopolist can extinguish the possibility of competition, they can maintain their power even after they cease deserving it.

In other words, the monopolist is like a politician who wins power – whether through greatness or by deceit – and then gerrymanders their district so that they can do anything and gain re-election. Even the noblest politician, shorn of accountability, will be hard pressed to avoid yielding to temptation.

Capitalism's theory proceeds from the idea that we are driven by our self-interest, and that competition turns self-interest into communal sentiment. Take away the competition, and all that's left is the self-interest.

I think this is broadly true, even though it's not the main reason I oppose monopolies (I oppose monopolies because they corrupt our democracy and pauperize workers). But even if capitalism's ability to turn greed into public benefit isn't the principle that's uppermost in my mind, it's what capitalists claim to believe – and treasure.

I think that most of the right's defense of monopolies stems from cynical, bad-faith rationalizations – but there are people who've absorbed these rationalizations and find them superficially plausible. It's worth developing these critiques, for their sake.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/18/market-discipline/#too-big-to-care

#pluralistic #capitalism #feudalism #too big to care #market discipline #graceful failure modes #gerrymandering #impunity #unaccountability #regulatory capture #monopolies #trustbusting

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commodorez · 1 year ago

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If the Commodore 64 is great, where is the Commodore 65?

It sits in the pile with the rest of history's pre-production computers that never made it. It's been awhile since I went on a Commodore 65 rant...

The successor to the C64 is the C128, arguably the pinnacle of 8-bit computers. It has 3 modes: native C128 mode with 2MHz 8502, backwards compatible C64 mode, and CP/M mode using a 4MHz Z80. Dual video output in 40-column mode with sprites plus a second output in 80-column mode. Feature-rich BASIC, built in ROM monitor, numpad, 128K of RAM, and of course a SID chip. For 1985, it was one of the last hurrahs of 8-bit computing that wasn't meant to be a budget/bargain bin option.

For the Amiga was taking center stage at Commodore -- the 16-bit age is here! And its initial market performance wasn't great, they were having a hard time selling its advanced capabilities. The Amiga platform took time to really build up momentum square in the face of the rising dominance of the IBM PC compatible. And the Amiga lost (don't tell the hardcore Amiga fanboys, they're still in denial).

However, before Commodore went bankrupt in '94, someone planned and designed another successor to the C64. It was supposed to be backwards compatible with C64, while also evolving on that lineage, moving to a CSG 4510 R3 at 3.54MHz (a fancy CMOS 6502 variant based on a subprocessor out of an Amiga serial port card). 128K of RAM (again) supposedly expandable to 1MB, 256X more colors, higher resolution, integrated 3½" floppy not unlike the 1581. Bitplane modes, DAT modes, Blitter modes -- all stuff that at one time was a big deal for rapid graphics operations, but nothing that an Amiga couldn't already do (if you're a C65 expert who isn't mad at me yet, feel free to correct me here).

The problem is that nobody wanted this.

Sure, Apple had released the IIgs in 1986, but that had both the backwards compatibility of an Apple II and a 16-bit 65C816 processor -- not some half-baked 6502 on gas station pills. Plus, by the time the C65 was in heavy development it was 1991. Way too late for the rapidly evolving landscape of the consumer computer market. It would be cancelled later that same year.

I realize that Commodore was also still selling the C64 well into 1994 when they closed up shop, but that was more of a desperation measure to keep cash flowing, even if it was way behind the curve by that point (remember, when the C64 was new it was a powerful, affordable machine for 1982). It was free money on an established product that was cheap to make, whereas the C65 would have been this new and expensive machine to produce and sell that would have been obsolete from the first day it hit store shelves. Never mind the dismal state of Commodore's marketing team post-Tramiel.

Internally, the guy working on the C65 was someone off in the corner who didn't work well with others while 3rd generation Amiga development was underway. The other engineers didn't have much faith in the idea.

The C65 has acquired a hype of "the machine that totally would have saved Commodore, guise!!!!1!11!!!111" -- saved nothing. If you want better what-if's from Commodore, you need to look to the C900 series UNIX machine, or the CLCD. Unlike those machines which only have a handful of surviving examples (like 3 or 4 CLCDs?), the C65 had several hundred, possibly as many as 2000 pre-production units made and sent out to software development houses. However many got out there, no software appears to have surfaced, and only a handful of complete examples of a C65 have entered the hands of collectors. Meaning if you have one, it's probably buggy and you have no software to run on it. Thus, what experience are you recapturing? Vaporware?

The myth of the C65 and what could have been persists nonetheless. I'm aware of 3 modern projects that have tried to take the throne from the Commodore 64, doing many things that sound similar to the Commodore 65.

The Foenix Retro Systems F256K:

The 8-Bit Guy's Commander X16

The MEGA65 (not my picture)

The last of which is an incredibly faithful open-source visual copy of the C65, where as the other projects are one-off's by dedicated individuals (and when referring to the X16, I don't mean David Murray as he's not the one doing the major design work).

I don't mean to belittle the effort people have put forth into such complicated projects, it's just not what I would have built. In 2019, I had the opportunity to meet the 8-Bit Guy and see the early X16 prototype. I didn't really see the appeal, and neither did David see the appeal of my homebrew, the Cactus.

Build your own computer, build a replica computer. I encourage you to build what you want, it can be a rewarding experience. Just remember that the C65 was probably never going to dig Commodore out of the financial hole they had dug for themselves.

#commodore #c65 #commodore 65

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boinkingbattlemechs · 16 days ago

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Panther

The Panther is one of the BattleMechs that is most iconic of the Draconis Combine. The design was originally commissioned in 2739 at the behest of the Star League to provide fire support for other light, fast-moving 'Mech units, with the first models going to the Star League Defense Force to fight bandits along the Periphery border. The original PNT-8Z model underwent a revision after the disastrous Battle of St. John in 2759, when it was revealed that its main weapon, a Tronel large laser, was inefficient in both range and firepower for the immense waste heat generated. Luckily the Panther had also proved itself to be both quite hardy, sporting six and a half tons of armor, and maneuverable, thanks to four Lexington Lifter jump jets in the legs for a total jumping distance of 120 meters, thus an attempt to fix its one deficiency was made by League engineers by replacing the laser with a Lord's Light PPC. The swap in weaponry, along with a superior armor composite, gave the PNT-9R Panther a new lease on life, such that it has seen over three centuries of continuous use since its introduction.

The Draconis Combine inherited Alshain Weapons' Panther factory on New Oslo when the Star League dissolved and quickly put the production line to work building new Panthers for the DCMS. Their first large-scale use by Kurita warriors came during the First Succession War in the battle for Quentin, when the Second Legion of Vega used their Panthers to severely maul the slower, heavier 'Mechs of the Forty-second Avalon Hussars while avoiding return fire. Throughout the Succession Wars, the Combine was the only significant user of the Panther, often pairing it with the Jenner in a deadly combination of speed and firepower; though the other Successor States employed Panthers in smaller numbers, these were either the result of battlefield salvage or older League-era 8Z models. The Panther also proved itself a deadly urban combatant, using its mobility to easily navigate the more restricted space of a city environment and take out heavier opponents from rooftop sniping perches with its main weapon. Lyran MechWarriors eventually took to nicknaming the 'Mech the "Alley Cat" for its propensity to conduct dark alley-way "muggings."

Demand for the Panther continued to increase, forcing Alshain to build a secondary factory on Jarett to keep up. In an ironic twist both factories were eventually lost: New Oslo first transferred ownership to the Free Rasalhague Republic following its creation in 3034, ensuring the Panther soon became a mainstay of the KungsArmé. Then during the invasion of the Clans, both Alshain and New Oslo were swiftly conquered by Clan Ghost Bear and another Free Rasalhague Republic Panther plant on Satalice was also lost to Clan Wolf. While Alshain Weapons crash-built a new line on Tok Do in 3053, they could not maintain their pre-Invasion production levels and focused on spare parts and refit kits instead. Eventually Wakazashi Enterprises bought the production license for the Panther and began rolling out new variants from its New Samarkand factory. These have gone on to serve in every DCMS unit since, including the bloody years of the Jihad.

The Panther's primary weapon is a Lord's Light PPC mounted in the right arm, boasting one of the highest damage outputs of any weapon. Unfortunately the PPC is also one of the most heat intensive, though many officers see it as a good learning opportunity for raw recruits to spend their first years piloting the Panther and gain experience managing its heat curve with thirteen single heat sinks. The PPC is backed up by a reliable Telos Four-Shot SRM-4 launcher mounted in the center torso, supplied by one ton of ammunition in the left torso. This mix of long and short-range weapons allows the Panther to stay at range and inflict damage on its enemies and close in and use the SRM-4 to make the killing blow.

#battletech #mechwarrior #battletech smash or pass #tumblr polls #mecha

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mariacallous · 1 month ago

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Let me start with the following principle: “Energy is the only universal currency: One of its many forms must be transformed to get anything done.” Economies are just intricate systems set up to do those transformations, and all economically significant energy conversions have (often highly undesirable) environmental impacts. Consequently, as far as the biosphere is concerned, the best anthropogenic energy conversions are those that never take place: No emissions of gases (be they greenhouse or acidifying), no generation of solid or liquid wastes, no destruction of ecosystems. The best way to do this has been to convert energies with higher efficiencies: Without their widespread adoption (be it in large diesel- and jet-engines, combined-cycle gas turbines, light-emitting diodes, smelting of steel, or synthesis of ammonia) we would need to convert significantly more primary energy with all attendant environmental impacts.

Conversely, what then could be more wasteful, more undesirable, and more irrational than negating a large share of these conversion gains by wasting them? Yet precisely this keeps on happening—and to indefensibly high degrees—with all final energy uses. Buildings consume about a fifth of all global energy, but because of inadequate wall and ceiling insulation, single-pane windows and poor ventilation, they waste at least between a fifth to a third of it, as compared with well-designed indoor spaces. A typical SUV is now twice as massive as a common pre-SUV vehicle, and it needs at least a third more energy to perform the same task.

The most offensive of these wasteful practices is our food production. The modern food system (from energies embedded in breeding new varieties, synthesizing fertilizers and other agrochemicals, and making field machinery to energy used in harvesting, transporting, processing, storing, retailing, and cooking) claims close to 20 percent of the world’s fuels and primary electricity—and we waste as much as 40 percent of all produced food. Some food waste is inevitable. The prevailing food waste, however, is more than indefensible. It is, in many ways, criminal.

Combating it is difficult for many reasons. First, there are many ways to waste food: from field losses to spoilage in storage, from perishable seasonal surpluses to keeping “perfect” displays in stores, from oversize portions when eating outside of the home to the decline of home cooking.

Second, food now travels very far before reaching consumers: The average distance a typical food item travels is 1,500 to 2,500 miles before being bought.

Third, it remains too cheap in relation to other expenses. Despite recent food-price increases, families now spend only about 11 percent of their disposable income on food (in 1960 it was about 20 percent). Food-away-from-home spending (typically more wasteful than eating at home) is now more than half of that total. And finally, as consumers, we have an excessive food choice available to us: Just consider that the average American supermarket now carries more than 30,000 food products.

Our society is apparently quite content with wasting 40 percent of the nearly 20 percent of all energy it spends on food. In 2025, unfortunately, this shocking level of waste will not receive more attention. In fact, the situation will only get worse. While we keep pouring billions into the quest for energy “solutions”—ranging from new nuclear reactors (even fusion!) to green hydrogen, all of them carrying their own environmental burdens—in 2025, we will continue to fail addressing the huge waste of food that took so much fuel and electricity to produce.

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wheelsgoroundincircles · 1 year ago

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1977 Pontiac Grand Prix

A complete reworking of the front header and bumper highlighted the 1977 Grand Prix, which was the final year for the 1973-vintage bodyshell that was set to be replaced by a downsized GP for 1978. The parking lamps were now positioned between the quad headlamps (same setup as a 1967 or 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass), and the previous year's 'waterfall' grille was replaced by a narrower one that extended into the lower portion of the bumper. Behind the bumper were new reinforcements (mounting panels) made from aluminum rather than steel to reduce weight. In back the taillights were simplified to eliminate the weighty pot metal bezels that created the horizontal stripe effect in 1976. The same three models (J, LJ, and SJ) were carried over with engine revisions. The base Model J got Pontiac's new 135 hp (101 kW) 301 cu in (4.9 L) V8 as standard equipment, which was much too small and underpowered to propel a 4,000-pound car. Optional engines included a 160 hp (119 kW) 350 cu in (5.7 L) V8 or 180 hp (130 kW) 400 cu in (6.6 L); those two engines standard on the LJ and SJ models, respectively. The original thinking on the 301 CID engine was that the weight savings from using a significantly lighter engine would cancel out the horsepower loss from the smaller displacement. This turned out to be a major miscalculation and 301 equipped cars became much less desirable among Grand Prix enthusiasts and collectors in later years. The 301 also had a knocking (pre-ignition) problem that was later determined to be caused by the shape of the combustion chamber.

Each of those engines were Pontiac-built units as in previous years, but offered in 49 of the 50 states. Because Pontiac's own V8 engines could not meet the more stringent California emission standards set for 1977, all Grand Prixs (and other Pontiac models) sold in California were powered by Oldsmobile-built engines including Lansing's 350 cu in (5.7 L) "Rocket V8" for J and LJ, and the 403 cu in (6.6 L) Rocket V8 standard on the SJ and optional on the other two GPs in California. Due to a shortage of Olds 350 engines resulting from record sales of Cutlasses and reduced production of that engine due to a plant conversion to build a Diesel V8 beginning in 1978, a few 1977 Grand Prixs destined for California reportedly came off the line with a Chevrolet-built 350 cu in (5.7 L) V8.

Grand Prix sales increased to an all-time high of over 270,000 units for 1977, the last year for this bodystyle, despite competition from a newly downsized and lower-priced Ford Thunderbird introduced this year and a restyled Mercury Cougar XR-7 whose bodyshell switched to the T-Bird this year from the discontinued Ford Torino/Mercury Montego.

#pontiac grand prix #pontiac #grand prix #car #cars #muscle car #american muscle

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americana-plus · 1 year ago

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On this day, August 12 in 1908 the first Model T completed pre-production at Ford's Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan.

“I will build a car for the great multitude,” Henry Ford once said. “It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”

The automobile revolution for the working class began.

#model t #ford #automobile #detroit #revolution

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edaworks · 10 months ago

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Wasteland Survival Guide: The Institute, Fusion Reactors, and M.I.T.'s Actual Basement

It's that time again. Periodically I make unreasonable longposts about Fallout-related topics (it's a good way to keep track of fic research). Today I'm tackling nuclear fusion, the Institute, and the real-world Massachusetts Institute of Technology's basement.

Yeah, Yeah, M.I.T. is the Institute, We've All Seen - Wait, What Do You Mean, "The Vault Laboratory?"

M.I.T. - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - is a highly exclusive research university with a well-deserved reputation for hosting brilliant minds.

It also got its serial numbers filed off in order to host the in-game Institute. Why? Probably because of all the very real research into robotics, artificial intelligence, and power armor (no really). And because M.I.T. is actually doing now what the Institute tries to do in-game with nuclear fusion.

And, of course, because of the vaults in the basement.

You know what? I'll just start at the top...Read on below.

I'll be focusing on fusion-related research in this post, and comparing in-game Institute work on fusion to what's actually happening over at M.I.T. (We'll get to the Media Laboratory and robotics and AI and the, uhm, power armor stuff in a separate post. Or three.)

all actual M.I.T. researchers/faculty/students and/or nuclear physicists have my sincere apologies, I don't know shit about shit but I'm doing my best

I Didn't Sign Up for a Physics Class, but Okay

Here's the thing about nuclear fusion generators - y'know...the ones powering nearly** the entirety of pre-war in-game America?

Including self-contained, miniaturized reactors (fusion cores, fusion cells, microfusion cells, Corvega engines, assaultron and robobrain power supplies, recharger weapons, G.E.C.K.s, etc.) and full-scale reactors (powering vaults, the Lucky 38, the Prydwen (and Rivet City before Maxson Happened), missile silos, etc.)...?

We don't have them yet.

Of course we have nuclear power generation, what are you talking about?

Yes - but nuclear power plants currently operating use fission reactors! Fusion reactors, though? Well...

For the pre-war in-game universe, even more than for us, that fuel-to-energy ratio would have been absurdly important. Companies rushed to implement fusion for damn near every possible use, but waited until the Resource Wars left them no other choice. "No more (viable) oil reserves? Well, shit. Fusion it is."

Because of this, by October 23, 2077, pre-war Western markets were still somewhat new to adopting miniaturized nuclear fusion reactors.

For instance, Chryslus' first fusion vehicles - intentionally reminiscent of the absolutely wild Ford Nucleon concept car dreamed up in 1957 - came to market in 2070, less than a decade before the nuclear exchange.

As for the other benefits of nuclear fusion...Atom knows the in-game universe could do with less radioactive contamination:

It is no wonder the Institute wants to get the reactor in their basement up, running, and running better than originally designed.

Real-life M.I.T. is no stranger to running fusion reactors - they've been at it since the late '60s - but as it turns out, they are currently also "building a better mousetrap," and if they succeed they will be achieving all the Institute would hope for in clean energy production - without the moral deficit.

If nuclear fusion is so great, why aren't we using this technology yet IRL?

Because - and I cannot stress this enough - we are attempting to levitate bits of the Sun inside a donut to make really hot things boil water* so steam will turn a fan attached to a dynamo to power light bulbs.

*(there are two other ways to generate power using this heat)

Naturally...this comes with some complications.

We know fusion reactors can be the most energy-efficient form of power generation - we just need better reactors. That's where M.I.T. comes in.

The biggest problem right now is efficiency:

TL;DR - as of April 2024, all fusion reactors as a matter of course still consume more power to run than they are able to produce (meaning they do not reach "breakeven"). Many cutting-edge reactors also require tritium (very rare) as well as deuterium (very common) fuel.

We did not even see a fusion reaction that reached "breakeven" for power production until December of 2022. That reaction occurred at the National Ignition Facility in California, and their results just passed peer review in February of this year (2024).

Several in-progress reactors aim to improve on this, including ITER (the combined work of dozens of nations) in France, and SPARC: the new reactor under development by Mass Fusion Commonwealth Fusion Systems and M.I.T.'s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC).

Another big problem with this technology is that it involves plasma.

Plasma, as a particular song reminds us, is what the Sun is made of and The Sun Is Hot. That means plasma carries some very real 'we're-losing-structural-integrity, the-warp-core-is-breaching' risks, and we must jump through all kinds of hoops to work with it.

Why are we shoving the Sun inside a donut, again?

The most well-funded, well-researched way of smashing atoms together involves plasma and magnetic confinement fusion.

This shit is beyond cool. It may also look very familiar:

In-game, the Institute is trying to get what appears to be a spherical tokamak reactor up and running.

Bethesda's choice of reactor was no coincidence: M.I.T. operated the Alcator C-Mod, a spherical tokamak, while Fallout 4 was under development - but that reactor could not achieve "breakeven" IRL, and per Shaun's in-game dialogue, the fictional Alcator C-Mod couldn't either. (Weird given the miniaturized fusion devices everywhere in-universe, but okay, Shaun.)

However, M.I.T. stopped operating that reactor in 2016, a year after Fallout 4's release. SPARC, their planned replacement reactor actually has the sort of power potential we see in-game - and they aim to bring fusion power to market in this decade.

M.I.T., right now, in real life, is doing exactly what you're asked to help the Institute do in-game: build a fusion reactor that surpasses "breakeven."

What the hell is a tokamak and why does it look like half of a Star Trek warp core?

Your typical tokamak reactor is a great big donut-shaped vacuum chamber (the torus), traditionally surrounded by AT LEAST three sets of electromagnets (sometimes many more). M.I.T.'s design for the new SPARC reactor is a bit different, but let's start with the basics.

Why so many magnets?

Because plasma, being Literal Sun Matter, cannot come into contact with the torus containment walls or it will instantly burn through. (This happened in France in 1975. Following initial "well, fuck"s and a couple years' repairs, the logical next step was to publish a paper about it.)

The magnetic fields work to heat the plasma and provide current drive (keep electrons moving in a consistent direction through the plasma and around the torus), while also keeping it from touching anything, preventing a "warp core breach." I'll take a stab at explaining it but the Department of Energy probably does it better.

Meet the magnets:

Toroidal field magnets (blue, above): These enormous D-shaped magnets wrap around and through the torus, conducting an electrical current. This creates a magnetic field that keeps plasma from drifting horizontally into the containment walls.

Central solenoid (green, above): Inside the "donut hole" sits a massive, stacked electromagnet that generates enough electromagnetic force to launch two space shuttles at once. This heats the fuel to about one hundred million degrees Celsius so that it reaches plasma state, and helps "drive" the plasma current around the torus. (Radiofrequency or neutral beam injection heating/drive may be used as well for reactor prototypes aiming for power generation, because current drive from just the solenoid isn’t practical for continuous operation.) The central solenoid also creates another magnetic field called the "poloidal field," which "loops" around the plasma like a collar to prevent it from drifting vertically into the walls. The strongest central solenoid in existence was made for the ITER reactor...by General Atomics.

Outer poloidal field magnets (grey, above): A third set of electromagnets "stacks" up the outside of the torus, and helps maintain and adjust the poloidal field.

Together these three sets of magnets force the plasma to "float" inside the torus, shape it, and provide current drive. The stronger the magnetic field, the higher the reactor's power output.

Okay, and then what?

Given sufficient heat and drive/stability, the plasma fuel mixture undergoes fusion.

Neutrons released during fusion have plenty of kinetic energy (the kind of energy a kickball has midair before it hits you in the face), but no electric charge.

Since magnetic fields only affect negatively or positively charged particles, neutrons completely ignore the fields, sailing straight through and slamming into a "blanket" of metal coating the donut's insides. Neutrons passing into the 'blanket" lose their kinetic energy, which is converted to heat and absorbed by the "blanket." (ITER's "blanket" involves a lot of beryllium, which...behaves a bit differently IRL than it does in-game.)

Heat captured by the "blanket" is then used to generate power. For instance, a water cooling system can bleed heat from the "blanket," regulating temperature and creating superheated highly-pressurized steam to run turbine generators.

I notice you described a "typical" tokamak above -what's the atypical option?

Check out SPARC.

Its huge design departure is that it uses new high-temperature superconducing magnets (most existing types have to be cooled to vacuum-of-space temperatures using something like a liquid helium system to achieve superconductivity, which is a huge power drain) to create a monstrous magnetic field - and its size is tiny in comparison to its projected power output.

Neat. So why did you refer to plasma as a problem?

Well...between the heat and the neutrons, the "blanket," the "first wall" and all plasma-facing surfaces inside the torus take one hell of a beating:

"Neutron degradation of wall surfaces-" "Energy is released in the form of the kinetic energy of the reaction products-" In practical terms, that just means countless neutrons are doing THIS:

...but to the containment wall and other surfaces inside the torus, instead of to Batshuayi's face. And so:

Basically, this stuff breaks fast enough - and the only materials that don't break quickly are rare enough - to create a real barrier to commercial use.

And THIS is one of the problems they're working on solving in M.I.T.'s basement.

Now we can talk about the Vault. FINALLY.

M.I.T. is home to the Center for Science and Technology with Accelerators and Radiation (CSTAR). CSTAR's splash page announces:

Linear plasma devices? You mean like -

No, not like plasma rifles. Instead of weapons, we're talking about tools being used to solve the "plasma fucking destroys everything it touches" problem.

How does CSTAR do this? They've got CLASS. ...No, really:

This field is called plasma-surface interaction science, and if you want a really long but very informative read on how CSTAR's work helps move it forward, check this out. It involves the DIONISOS Linear Plasma Device - a "let's shoot it with plasma and see what happens" tool.

CSTAR also works to better undertstand how materials handle radiation damage, and how they behave after becoming irradiated.

And to handle this sort of work, one needs a...

The Vault Laboratory for Nuclear Science "combines high-intensity particle sources, precision particle detection, and a heavily shielded experimental area to create a facility for nuclear research in high-radiation environments." It contains, among other things:

the DT Neutron Generator, which is used in a variety of experiments, including radiation detector development (pretty damned important) and characterization, fast neutron imaging, and material activation (stuff becoming radioactive).

the DANTE Tandem Accelerator, which was "originally designed to produce high neutron yields for use in cancer therapy research."

And that is what's actually going on in M.I.T.'s basement: truth is cooler than fiction.

The takeaways:

Yes, M.I.T. really is building a revolutionary fusion reactor with parts from Mass Fusion Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

Yes, there really is a secure underground facility where incredibly advanced research related to nuclear fusion, radiation detection, irradiated materials, and degradation of materials due to radiation exposure takes place.

Yes, I really would spend eight hours researching nuclear physics instead of doing more dishes. Shoutout to @twosides--samecoin for tolerating my absurd hyperfocus on researching this.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk on what M.I.T. is really doing in its basement.

Tune in next time for M.I.T.'s Media Laboratory, and how it is related to real-world power armor, plus: the relationship between Langley, P.A.M.'s IRL cousin, and Vault 101.

** (Fallout is wildly inconsistent re: how widespread fusion is in-game and when it was developed. I mean we're talking a two-decade spread of inconsistency! And somehow the technology - first available to the military - was then miniaturized and made available to the general public before becoming widespread for commercial power generation? And somehow we both do and don't have impossible cold fusion in game? It's a mess. I reject this reality and replace it with a fish, hence this post. Also, I hate fission batteries. don't talk to me about fission batteries, "fission batteries" are small fission reactors but they are definitely not "battery sized" - the "fission batteries" in-universe are so miniaturized that they are more likely another kind of atomic battery like a radioisotope thermoelectric generator and those are subject to a law of diminishing returns as the fuel decays/not producing a reasonably useful power output after over 200 years due to the isotopes normally used/can be VERY dangerous if the shielding is breached or removed, and - you know what, that's also a whole different post.)

#actual insanity #fallout #fallout 4 #why am I like this #nuclear fusion #physics #institute #fallout institute #the institute #worldbuilding #meta #oneifbyland #wasteland survival guide

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fatehbaz · 11 months ago

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[T]he political philosophy underlying Westphalian, modern sovereignty [...], foundations of the modern state, [...] [was at least partially formed] in relation to plantations. [...] [P]lantations [are] [...] laboratories to bring together environmental and labor dimensions [...], through racialized and coerced labor. [...] [T]he planters and managers who engineered the ordering and disciplining of these [...] [ecological] worlds also sustained [...] [p]lantations [by] [...] disciplining (and policing the boundaries of) humans and “nature” [...]. The durability and extensibility of plantations, as the central locus of antiblack violence and death, have been tracked most especially in the contemporary United States’ prison archipelago and segregated urban areas [...], [including] “skewed life chances, limited access to health [...], premature death, incarceration [...]”. [...]

Relations of dependence between planters and their laborers, sustained by a moral tie that indefinitely indebts the laborers to their master, are the main mechanisms reproducing the plantation system long after the abolition of slavery, and even after the cessation of monocrop cultivation.

The estate hierarchy survives in post-plantation subjectivities, being a major blueprint of socialization into work for generations and up to the present. [...] [Contemporary labor still involves] the policing of [...] activities, mobility and access to citizenship [...].

---

[There is] persistence - until the 1970s in most Caribbean and Indian-Ocean plantation societies, and even until today in Indian tea plantations [...] - of a system of remuneration based on subsistence wages [...]. Plantations have been viewed as displaying sovereign-like features of control and violence monopoly over land and subjects, through force as much as ideology [...]. [W]itness the plethora of references to “plantocracies” [...] ([...] sometimes re-christened “saccharocracies” in the Cuban and wider Caribbean context [...] [or] “sovereign sugar” in Hawai’i). [...]

[T]race the genealogy of contemporary sovereign institutions of terror, discipline and segregation starting from early modern plantation systems - just as genealogies of labor management and the broader organization of production [...] have been traced [...] linking different features of plantations to later economic enterprises, such as factories [...] or diamond mines [...] [,] chartered companies, free ports, dependencies, trusteeships - understood as "quasi-sovereign" forms [...].

---

[I]n fact, the relationships and arrangements obtaining in the space of the plantation may be analogous to, mirrors or pre-figurations of, or substitutes for the power and grip of the modern state as the locus of legitimate sovereignty. [...] [T]he paternalistic and violent relations obtaining in the heyday of different plantations (in the United States and Brazil [...]) appear as the building block and the mirror of national-imperial sovereignties. [...]

[I]n the eighteenth-century [United States] context [...], the founding fathers of the nascent liberal democracy were at the same time prominent planters [...]. Planters’ preoccupations with their reputation, as a mirror of their overseers’ alleged skills and moral virtue, can thus be read as a metonymy or index of their alleged qualities as state leaders. Across public and private management, paternalism in this context appears as a core feature of statehood [...]. Similarly, [...] in the nineteenth century plantations were the foundation of the newly independent Brazilian empire. [...] [I]n the case of Hawai’i [...], the mid-nineteenth-century institution of fee-title property and contract labor, facilitated by the concomitant establishment of common-law courts (later administered by the planter elite), paved the way to the establishment of sugar plantations on the archipelago [...].

---

[T]he control of movement, foundational to modern sovereign claims, has in the plantation one of its original experimental grounds: [...] the demand for plantation labor in the wake of slavery abolition in the British colonies (1834) occasion[ed] the birth of the indenture system as the origin of sovereign control on mobility, pointing to the colonial genealogy of the modern state [...].

The regulation of slaves’ mobility also represented a laboratory for the generalization of [refugee, immigrant, labor] migration regulation in subsequent epochs [up to and including today] [...] [subjugating] generally racialized and criminalized subjects [...]. [P]lantations appear as a sovereign-making machine, a workshop in (or against) which tools of both domination and resistance are forged [...].

---

All text above by: Irene Peano, Marta Macedo, and Colette Le Petitcorps. "Introduction: Viewing Plantations at the Intersection of Political Ecologies and Multiple Space-Times". Global Plantations in the Modern World: Sovereignties, Ecologies, Afterlives (edited by Petitcrops, Macedo, and Peano). Published 2023. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for criticism, teaching, commentary purposes.]

#abolition #ecology #multispecies #landscape #imperial #indigenous #colonial #tidalectics #archipelagic thinking #plantations #ecologies #carceral geography #caribbean #indigenous pedagogies #black methodologies #debt and debt colonies

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louisupdates · 1 year ago

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The Habit He Can’t Break 4/4

IQ 123 | Gordon Masson | 9.11.2023

If I Could Fly

With the production traveling to Australia, in early 2024, before shifting to Latin America, Andy Lovell at Freight Minds is gearing up to become involved with Tomlinson once again.

“We did the Central and South America dates on the tour last year, and onto Mexico,” says Lovell. “It was very challenging back then as we were still coming back from Covid, and various systems and infrastructure were in pieces. But it all went well in the end, as we kept an eye on things and worked on it every day to make sure we had solutions to everything that was thrown our way.”

Lovell continues, “Things on this tour kick in early next year for us. Historically, Australian services were quite reliable, as we could use any number of airlines. But post-pandemic, the number of long-haul flights still aren’t as frequent as they were. As a result, the production is being reverse engineered with the budget being worked out before we can see what we can afford to take as freight, and then we try to plan accordingly.”

“Similarly, in Central and South America there are still just a fraction of the flights operating, compared to pre-Covid, so that makes it very challenging. If there aren’t the flights to handle the gear, then you have to start looking at chartering aircraft, or alter your schedule, and that can become very expensive, very fast.”

With everyone working on the artist’s behalf to make sure the tour remains on track, being able to call on such experienced production experts is paying off on a daily basis.

Sherwood notes, “There are a few back-to-back shows over long distances that occasionally mean we don’t arrive at the next venue until 11 AM, rather than 6 AM. But we’ve never failed anywhere to open the doors on time, so we know we’re capable of getting things done, even if we have a late start at mid-day.”

Such dilemmas are not lost on agent Rowland. “It’s not so much the routing, it’s more like the timings, because Louis does have two support acts, so the shows start at 7 o’clock, and then when we’re done, we need to load out to get to the next show in good time for loading in the next morning and soundchecks, etc.”

Nevertheless, Sherwood admits that he loves the trickier venues and schedules. “Because I’m a dinosaur, I relish anything that makes things difficult or awkward for us on the production side of things,” he says. “I think everyone on the crew looks forward to challenges in finding the solutions to problems.”

Common People

Having amassed millions of fans through his association with One Direction, Tomlinson very much has a ‘pay it forward’ attitude to music and is building a reputation as a champion for emerging talent, wherever he performs.

“He’s a great advocate for alternative music,” says manager Vines. “Louis realizes he’s in an incredibly privileged position in terms of what he can create in terms of awareness. He loves alternative music and indie music, and he understands how hard it is for that music to be heard. But we have this amazing platform where we can put these bands in front of these audiences as a showcase that allows them to build these authentic new audiences. It’s a huge part of his love of music, wanting to help younger bands.”

Rowland agrees. “He took an act called Andrew Cushin - a very new artist – on the road in America with him as a support, and he’s doing the same for Europe. Louis is a fan and is championing his career.”

Indeed, Tomlinson’s A&R skills have knock-on effects for his agent, too. “He asked me to confirm the Australian band Pacific Avenue as support for his Australian tour last year. The music was great, and they didn’t have an agent, so now I’m representing them,” says Rowland.

Perfect Now

As the European tour speeds towards its conclusion, agent Rowland is enjoying every minute of it.

“It’s incredible – they’ve really stepped things up,” she says, fresh from seeing the show in Athens and Paris. “They’ve got six hanging LED screens on the stage, and the whole production just looks polished and professional.”

And Rowland is especially excited about next year’s Latin America dates, which will deliver her first stadium shows as an agent.

“The return to Latin America is going to be huge – Louis is playing arenas and stadiums in South America and Mexico 15 shows across 11 countries,” she says.

Vines is similarly enthused. Harking back to the Covid situation, when the show would go on sale, sell out, be postponed, and then re-scheduled in a bigger venue, Vines says, “For example, in Chile, originally the show was scheduled at a 5,000-cap, half-capacity arena in Santiago. And what we ended up doing with three nights at 10,000-cap in that same venue.”

Vines contends that Tomlinson’s work ethic is outstanding. “He loves his fans, and he loves performing for them, it’s as simple as that,” he says. “He just loves being on the road and seeing how the songs connect live. In fact, the second album was very much written with the tour and live shows in mind – ‘This song could work live,’ ‘This one will open the set,’ ‘This is the one we can do for the encore.’”

Fearless

Another element to Tomlinson’s psyche has been his decision to visit places off the usual tour circuit.

“Louis has a real desire to perform to fans in markets that are often overlooked,” says Rowland.

Manager Vines explains that while the Covid-delayed first tour allowed them to upgrade venues pretty much everywhere, “On this tour, we are a bit more competent on venue sizes, but we still speculate a little bit in different territories. In Europe, for example, we’ve gone into the Baltics in a number of different places to test the markets there, while in America, we’re looking at A and B markets, but also tertiary market as well – we go to places where people just don’t tour in America, just to see what the reaction is. That was something that very much interested Louis - to play in front of people who don’t normally have gigs in their town. So there’s been a lot of experimentation on the tour in terms of where we go and what room to play.”

That concept is something that Vines has employed before. “I manage a band called Hurts, who were pretty much overlooked by the British radio system, and we have spent 15 years building a business outside of the UK. And that was built on going to play at those places where people didn’t normally go. They built to multiple arena level in Russia, for instance.”

“If you can build fanbases in lots of different places, you have festivals that you can play every summer, as well as touring those places. It allows you to have more consistency over a number of years, by having more opportunities.”

Such a strategy found a convert in Tomlinson. Vines tells IQ, “Louis also is extremely fan-focused in everything that he does. He comes at it from a perspective of ‘I want to take the show to them,’ meaning he’s always more willing to take the risky option to try something out.”

And the result? “It’s a combination,” concludes Vines. “There have been a couple of places where we now understand why tours don’t go there. But there are more places where it’s worked incredibly well. For example, we enjoyed incredibly good sales in Budapest. And overall, it’s allowing us to get a clearer idea, globally, of where the demand is, which will help us when we go into the next tour cycle.”

1/4, 2/4, 3/4

#louis press #iq magazine #louis tomlinson #9.11.2023

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silly-boio · 10 months ago

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[1/7]

Gonna be getting a roommate for my first year of Uni soon and gosh I really really want em to be queer. Practically I think it'll be a lot easier than getting an engineering/finance bro, because I'm sure they'd be fine to room with, a queer roommate I can be friends with is 1000x better. Plus, yk, queer people tend to be a lot more sexually liberated...

It's the trope. Winters are cold asf here, so yk we might just have to cuddle for warmth, even with the heat. And even after we're warmed up, we might just keep snuggling.

I'd go feral feeling him get comfy on my chest. I mean obviously not all right away, but if he felt safe with me when we cuddled I'd be STOLEN. It would be a slippery slope right down to the tropes continuing.

Where we might have gotten some privacy to change in the past, we might just change in front of each other. Talking about sex and smut more openly. Eventually to the point where we're like "ya know, we're really pent up, you can just jerk off while I'm in the room if you want".

After that it's just a jerking off at the same time, we look over at each other.

"D-Do wanna..."

"Yea..."

Then he slides over to my bed, red in the face, sits down next to me. Leans up against me, like when we cuddle, except now he's actively pumping in front of me. We're jerking off together, blatantly ogling the other person, till he can't take it any more and just straddles my lap, pumping out dicks together. Our pre mixing together and lubing is up till we're humping our dicks together.

This just builds and builds until we make a frankly enormous mess between the two of us. Creaming all over each other's dicks. Him falling on top of me into the crook of my neck, panting and throbbing out the last of his orgasm.

Then the cutest aftercare ever. Lots of kissing and giggles ensue. Paper towels we stole from the cafeteria to clean up the product of weeks of uncut sexual tension. And, of course, snuggling until the both of us had to go to classes.

Anyway, what was I talking about, roommates? Yea, I need me a cute twink roommate so we can have the hottest gay sex that dorm room has ever seen.

#gay nsft #gay mlm #queer nsft #smut

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lowqualitygarbage · 8 months ago

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In a setting where technology has basically been hit with a reset button, the battle between new visual and old audio media isn’t really much of a fight.

Instead, Alastor and Vox represent two different approaches to life in the post-war Wasteland:

Alastor grew up in a very remote, rustic homestead in the swamps of the deep south. Self-sufficiency was paramount to survival - you couldn’t rely on purchasing pre-packaged food or medicine from traders, so you had to forage, hunt, or grow your own. Without easy access to new supplies, you needed to be able to repair and maintain your own clothes, shelter, and equipment. This, amusingly, makes him much more tech savvy than his canon incarnation. He’s still somewhat of a Luddite, though, with a disdain for robotics, power armor, laser and plasma weaponry, and even Pip-Boys and terminals. Give him some old radio equipment to tinker with and a proper projectile rifle over that fiddly nonsense any day. He has a whole library of almanacs, both pre-war and newer hand-written ones by Wastelanders, and his more normal talk segments often come with tips and instructions for repair and survival, encouraging independence.

Vox grew up in the ruins of Pentagram City, and began running with local organized crime at a young age, until an Overlord took him under their wing (that is, until Vox could gather allies and stage a hostile takeover of his mentor’s territory). He sees the value in consumerism and convenience products, peddling quick fixes and new distractions to the people of the Wasteland to build up his empire. He adores the latest, greatest shiny examples of Progress, being an adept programmer and wielding a decent understanding of mechanical engineering, despite most of his products being stolen inventions or re-engineered pre-war tech.

#Vault 666 #fallout au #hazbin au #hazbin hotel au #Vox hazbin hotel #hazbin vox #alastor #Hazbin Hotel Alastor #Alastor Hazbin #Vox does still have a media empire though - it's just print media and movies instead of tv and streaming #working TVs are rare in the Wasteland and it isn't cost-efficient to make holotapes for home viewing or broadcasting #so he makes movies and maintains theaters #including adult theaters where his collaborative projects with Valentino play #There is also a VoxTech radio station but it's mostly whatever popular music played between various ads for his products #alastor being essentially an anarchist troll amongst his 'co-workers' who need the Wastelanders to depend on them for survival

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roanofarcc · 7 months ago

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PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER FORTY NINE → EYES CLOSED, HEAD FIRST, CAN’T LOSE

summary: steve harrington x oc | on ao3

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. || masterlist || ocs moodboard

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

a/n: words cannot express my love for erica sinclair...

previous chapter ← → next chapter

They had absolutely no idea where they were going. The only thing Sunshine knew was that they certainly were heading straight into trouble with no other way out. Her neck hurt from how she slept slumped against Steve’s shoulder for only a couple of hours, and everyone else seemed to have just as uncomfortable slumber as herself. They had little to nothing on them. Dustin’s backpack had a couple of snacks, a few dollars, his walkie-talkie, and his tape recorder. Sunshine had no idea what Erica had in her backpack, but she doubted the younger girl had packed any survival items or weapons, considering she was ten and only planned to haggle ice cream out of Steve and Robin before going to her friends for a sleepover. None of them were prepared for whatever awaited them at the end of the hallway, if there even was an end.

“You have to admit, as a feat of engineering alone this is impressive,” Dustin said, breaking the silence that had befallen the group a couple of minutes into their journey.

“What are you talking about? It’s a total fire hazard,” Steve said. “There’s no stairs, no exit, just an elevator that drops you halfway to hell.”

Erica shot them an unamused look over her shoulder. “They’re commies. If you don’t pay people, they’ll cut concerns.”

“To be fair to our Russian comrades, I don’t think this tunnel was designed for walking.” Robin jumped into the conversation, picking at her nails as she kept her gaze forward at the expanse of the hall. Sunshine knew a nervous habit when she saw one. Robin hadn’t stopped picking at her nails since last night. They were red and looked on the urge of bleeding. Of course she was nervous, Sunshine thought, none of them signed up for this part of their ‘mission.’ And Robin, up until that moment, had lived a fairly normal life, free of life or death situations. Now she was stuck with three people who had encountered enough life-or-death situations for all five of them twice over.

“Think about it,” Robin continued, rambling quickly. “They developed the perfect system for transporting that cargo. It all comes into the mall like any old delivery, they load it up onto those trucks, and nobody’s the wiser.” It was smart. The mall was the last place anyone would suspect any suspicious activity due to the constant crowd it drew in.

“You think they built this whole mall so that they could transport that green poison?” asked Steve.

“I don’t think it’s poison,” Sunshine replied. She didn’t know what the green goo was, but it had to be something more important than poison. Whatever it was, was bad if it warranted such secretive transportation and heavy guard.

Dustin nodded in agreement with Sunshine. “Yeah, I seriously doubt it's something that boring.” Steve scoffed but kept his lips pressed into a thin line. “It’s gotta be more valuable, like promethium or something.” The only person who knew what Dustin was talking about was Robin, who hummed in response.

“Promethium?” Steve quirked a brow, waiting for an explanation.

“It's what Victor Stone’s dad used to build Cyborg’s bionic and cybernetic components,” explained Robin, clearing absolutely nothing up.

“You’re all so nerdy it's making me physically ill.” Erica placed a hand over her stomach and doubled over, pretending like she was going to be sick on her shoes. It made Sunshine smile, even in their disastrous situation.

Sunshine hadn’t been around Erica much, not enough to get to know the girl, but she had heard Lucas complain about his little sister a million times over. She was spunky and amusing, and a little different than her brother but they looked too alike to mistake them as anything other than siblings. There was a signature Sinclair-determined glint that Sunshine saw in Erica’s eyes after she successfully crawled through the vent that she had seen mirrored in Lucas’s eyes a couple of times. They also resemble spitting images of their parents, sharing the same nose and shape eyes. Sunshine only wished she had the chance to get to know Erica under any kind of different circumstances.

“No, no, no,” Steve protested. “Do not lump me in with them. I am not a nerd.”

“Why so sensitive Harrington?” asked Robin, teasingly. “Afraid of losing cool points to a child?”

“No,” he scoffed. “I’m just saying that I don’t know jackshit about Prometheus.”

“Promethium,” Dustin quickly corrected. “Prometheus is a Greek mythological figure, but whatever. All I’m saying is, whatever that stuff is, it’s probably being used to make something or power something.”

“Like a nuclear weapon,” Robin wondered aloud. Sunshine bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, holding back worry that crawled up her throat. She did not want to believe they were heading towards any kind of weapon. The naive side of her brain wanted to believe that they’d stumble upon a door or a lost keycard and walk right out of the place as if they had never even been there in the first place. But the realistic half of her brain knew they would encounter some kind of trouble one way or another, and she needed to be ready for a fight.

“Great, so we may be walking toward a nuclear weapon.” Steve huffed.

Robin stopped picking her nails and furrowed her brows, falling into what looked like deep thought. “I don’t get it, though. If they are building something, why here? Why Hawkins? At the very best we’re a toilet stop on your way to Disneyland.”

Sunshine, Steve, and Dustin faltered at Robin’s words, lingering just behind Robin and Erica as they continued wondering why anyone would do anything in Hawkins. They had no idea what had already happened in the town; the place was a nightmare hiding in plain sight; a little boring town that was home to slayed monsters and runaway experiments. There were only two reasons why anyone would be interested in Hawkins, and they went hand-in-hand. They’d only be interested if they knew what lurked beside them in another world not too unlike their own, and the place that opened the bridge between the two worlds.

“Maybe you were right,” Dustin said, looking guiltily at Sunshine.

“You think they might know about…” Steve trailed off because he didn’t need to finish his sentence for Sunshine and Dustin to know exactly what he was getting at.

Sunshine felt her gut twist tighter into a knot. “They could.” She couldn’t imagine what would happen if anyone at all discovered the truth about the Upside Down, Russian or not. She didn’t know what they meant for them once they reached the end of the hall, or the world half a mile up.

“So, it’s connected?”

“Maybe,” she said. “The Lab, the Upside Down. One always leads back to the other and they both started here.” And it was supposed to be over. The Lab was shut down completely and El closed the Gate. It was supposed to be behind them. They seemed to be the only people who knew the ramifications of toying with something unstable as human experiments and other dimensions, and they had been the only ones to face the repercussions of the aftermaths.

“I’m sorry,” Robin’s voice rang out as she and Erica turned around to look at the three of them. “Is there something you guys would like to share with the class?” None of them said anything, and luckily, they didn’t have to because Dustin’s walkie muttered from inside his backpack.

Robin held the walkie close to her ear and repeated the words in English. “A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly.” Dustin’s eyes widened and brightened. “Wherever that broadcast is coming from, it’s close. And if there’s one thing we know about that signal…”

“It can reach the surface!” Dustin gasped. With their small sliver of hope, they hurried down the hall as quickly as their feet could carry them. Sunshine wasn’t sure how long they ran, but eventually, they saw the end of the hall as it emptied out into a larger space. As it grew closer, voices grew louder. Sunshine managed to get to the front of the group, leading them without any idea of what they were heading into.

A pair of people came into view with their backs to the group. They beelined behind a cluster of crates stacked high that shielded them from their view. Sunshine carefully peeked around the edge of the crate and waited until the pair disappeared around the corner. Once they were out of their sight for a minute or so, they quickly followed them, ducking and weaving to stay as hidden as they could until they came upon a sight she wasn’t sure any of them were expecting.

The place was swarmed with Russians in military uniforms, speaking in their native tongue with guns slung over their shoulders. Others were dressed in familiar lab coats and held clipboards to their chests. A hand grabbed her arm as she gawked at the buzzing scene, pulling her down with the rest of the group behind another stack of crates.

Being trapped inside the elevator was one thing, but the underground Russian base was a whole other predicament that exceeded whatever Sunshine had expected. They were five kids now trapped with dozens of foreign military officers and what looked like doctors and or scientists.

“I saw it,” Erica suddenly whispered, squished between Steve and Robin. “The comms room, I saw it.”

“Are you sure?” Dustin asked.

“Positive. The door was open for just a second, but I saw a bunch of lights and machines and shit in there.”

Dustin looked unsure. “That could be a hundred different things.”

“I’ll take those odds,” Robin said, looking between Sunshine and Steve like she was waiting for their input.

“Me too,” agreed Sunshine. They couldn’t stay in their current spot without a certain risk of being caught. If they made it to the comms room, there was a chance they could reach someone on the surface who could help them or get help.

Steve looked back and forth across the distance between them and the room, probably weighing their options before he came to a similar conclusion to Sunshine. “All right,” he agreed too. “We’re going to move fast and stay low.”

Following Steve’s lead, they managed, by some miracle, to make it across the base and up a couple of steps to what Erica thought was the comms room. The door was on the verge of closing, as two people exited it and turned the opposite way of the group, and Steve grabbed a hold of it before it shut, holding it open so everyone could pile inside. The second Sunshine entered, she was greeted with an alarming sight; the room was still preoccupied.

At the sound of their labored breathing and footsteps, the man seated at a desk turned around, staring at the group with as much confusion as they held looking at him. His arm moved downwards; his fingers inched toward his belt where a gun was holstered. She instantly shoved Erica and Dustin behind her and moved to do the same to Robin, but the girl bravely stepped forward. She started to recite broken Russian to the man, repeating the code, but he either didn’t understand or didn’t care. He spoke words that none of them knew and made a more obvious attempt to grab his gun.

Before Sunshine had a chance to ignite the light in her palms, Steve let out a yell and charged straight for the soldier without the slightest hesitation. The man stumbled, taken by surprise just before Steve crashed into him, knocking both of them against the desk. The soldier shoved Steve off with a grunt and swung his fist, but Steve dodged it just before he delivered his own punch into the man’s gut. The soldier roared in anger and pain. He grabbed Steve by the collar of his work uniform and shoved him back into the desk. Steve’s back met it with what sounded like a painful thud. Sunshine readied to intervene, but Steve grabbed a hold of the phone that sat on the desk and swung it hard, bringing it down against the man’s face. The hit was enough to send the soldier down, smacking his head against the corner of the desk and knocking him out cold.

They stood in stunned silence, flickering their stares between the passed-out soldier and a breathless Steve.

Dustin pushed out from behind Sunshine’s outstretched hands and smiled in disbelief. “Dude, you did it! You won a fight!”

A small smirk formed on Steve’s lips. He wiped a couple of beads of sweat from his face and leaned back against the desk. Sunshine stepped forward, looking Steve over for any injuries. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he breathed out, looking rather happy with himself.

Dustin ripped the keycard from the Russian’s belt and held it between his fingers triumphantly. “Now we’ve got a way out of here.” Erica and Dustin quickly began to bicker over their next best course of action, while Steve tried to mediate. Sunshine had noticed Robin slipping away, entranced by a staircase just to the side of the room they were in. An odd glow painted the staircase and Robin approached it with curiosity. Sunshine followed her, in case any more trouble waited at the top, but they were only met with another closed door that held a small window that allowed bright blue light to pour through and spill onto the stairs.

The glow was more than unnatural. It caused goosebumps to rise on Sunshine’s arms and the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. She and Robin exchanged a look before she called down to the others. “Guys! There’s something up here!”

☀☀☀

Steve should have kept a list of every perceptive-shattering thing he had witnessed in his short lifetime so far. Monsters with endless rows of jagged teeth, his childhood best friend returning to him in the very woods she was lost in ten years prior, possession, superpowers, and the list went on and on. And Steve knew about the Gate, the portal-like thing that was a doorway into another freaking dimension- an evil one at that. But seeing it in person, the gigantic rip in the fabric of their universe, was something he couldn’t process, let alone the fact that he was seeing it inside an underground Russian military base that had set up operation underneath the mall he had been working at all summer. It was unreal, impossible even.

But through two glass panels, they all saw it just past a large control room. A bright beam of blue light was shot through the gaping wound of their world, and the Gate pulsed to life. Steve’s mind couldn’t think of anything other than the fact that it was bad; really, really, really bad.

“This cannot be happening again,” Sunshine mumbled, stumbling back from the glass with her head in her hands. She wore a similar expression to Steve and Dustin, something filled with a mix of panic and worry as they processed the implications of what the Russians had done, what they could have potentially released.

“I don’t understand,” Robin said. “You’ve seen this before?” To her and Erica, Hawkins was as normal as any old town in America, but it was anything but that.

“Not exactly,” Steve replied.

“Then what, exactly?”

Dustin took off down the stairs and everyone followed suit. “All you need to know is that this is bad. I’m talking end of the human race as we know it kind of bad.”

“And if the Gate has already been opened, it’s safe to assume that something’s already come out it,” Sunshine added.

Great, Steve thought, more monsters. He was getting really sick and tired of monsters.

“Yeah, and we know who they’ll go after.” Dustin looked over his shoulder at Sunshine as fear for all of his friends up on the surface flashed across his boyish face. They needed to get the hell out of there, and fast, to warn the others if they didn’t already know.

When they reached the comms room again, Erica stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide. “Um, Steve? Where’s your friend?” She pointed to the spot on the floor where the soldier had just been lying, but the man was nowhere to be seen. And as if on cue, an alarm began to blare throughout the base, alerting an entire army that something was wrong; they were what was wrong, and they all stuck out like five sore thumbs.

Cursing under his breath, Steve cracked the door they entered through and peered outside. A series of soldiers stood not far and in the middle of the group was the man Steve had knocked out. His eyes darted to the cracked door, pointing and yelling in Russian as Steve slammed the door shut.

“We’ve gotta go!” he yelled as heavy footsteps approached the door, and without wasting another second, they took off and headed back up the stairs. Bathed in blue light, Dustin shoved the door to the control room open, despite it being full of people. They looked a little less threatening in that they weren’t soldiers but rather some kind of Russian scientists or doctors that decided to fuck up Hawkins even more than it already was. But the soldiers were close behind them, and Steve knew they needed to hurry. He spotted another door on the opposite side of the room and ushered the group towards it.

The door led out onto a platform that sat smack dab in front of the Gate. The drill-like contraption that was being used to keep the Gate open was so loud that it rattled Steve’s bones. It spun quickly, shooting the beam of blue light into the fleshy rip on the wall.

They were in the worst possible place in the entire lab, standing beside a high-powered weapon that opened something that they had no business messing with. Steve gripped the railing tightly and scanned the area for another quick escape route. Soldiers flooded out of the same door they had left from and rushed toward them just as Steve spotted a ladder a couple of feet away. He led the way, climbing down first to make sure no one was waiting for them at the bottom before he started to help the others down.

One by one they scrambled down the ladder, ending with Sunshine, who Erica reattached herself to once her feet hit the ground. Steve was even more horrifying aware that they dragged a ten-year-old into the base. If they made it out of there, Mrs. Sinclair was going to have his head, that was for sure.

They sprinted away from the Gate but were met with another group of soldiers that ran towards them from down a hall. Steve braced himself before he slammed up against a stack of empty barrels that were lined up against the wall, sending them crashing down and obstructing the soldiers' path just slightly, buying the group just enough time to put some distance between them and the men.

Robin shoved open the first door they came to, which they were lucky enough to find empty. There was nothing inside besides a ventilation system and a couple of mundane-looking control panels. Once they all piled inside, Steve slammed the door shut and pressed his back against it just as fists pounded on the other side. They were grossly outnumbered. Both Sunshine and Robin joined him at the door, trying to prevent the soldiers from entering while Dustin and Erica removed the grate to the vent in the floor that was wide enough for a body to squeeze through.

Dustin looked expectantly over at the teens as he said, “Come on, let's go!” But none of them moved, they couldn’t. The second any one of them took their weight off the door, the soldiers would enter. There was no way in hell was going to let Dustin and Erica be caught; that was completely out of the question.

“Just get out of here!” Steve said through gritted teeth, trying to keep his hold on the door as more bodies on the other side beat against it.

Dustin shook his head. “Come on, you guys! Now! We have to go!”

Sunshine managed to meet Dustin’s panicked gaze with a soft one like she wasn’t talking to some smart-ass but rather a terrified kid who found himself in yet another terrifying situation. “Dustin, you need to leave. Take Erica and go get us help, okay?” She tried to hold her voice steady, but Steve heard worry slip through its cracks.

“N-No! Guys-”

“Dustin, please go!” she pleaded. “I will keep them safe; I promise, I’ll keep them safe. But you have to go and warn the others. Tell Hopper we need help. He’ll know what to do. We will be okay.”

Dustin hesitated, but by the look on his face, he put his faith in Sunshine. He and Erica climbed down into the vent and disappeared from their view. It was just the three of them left, holding the door as it started to slip from their grasp and crack open. It didn’t take much longer for the people on the other side to overpower the three of them. The force of the soldiers entering knocked Steve and Robin off of their feet, but Sunshine managed to keep herself upright.

There was a look in her narrowed eyes that Steve recognized almost immediately, knowing what she was about to do. His mouth went dry and any words he wanted to yell left him in a panic. He didn’t even have time to call out her name before more soldiers flooded into the room with their weapons raised. And like a strike of a match, light bloomed to light in Sunshine’s hands, freaking out the soldiers and distracting them just enough for her to attack first. She outstretched her arms as quick flashes of light filled the room, stinging Steve’s eyes. He looked away for only a second, listening to the sound of screams and guns clattering against the concrete floor. Some of the men fell alongside their guns, clutching their hands to their eyes as their faces contorted in pain.

But there were far too many of them. Steve and Robin were utterly useless, watching from the ground. At the sound of their comrades' screams, more men filed into the room and drastically outnumbered Sunshine in the confined place. Too many bodies moved in a sea of uniforms and Sunshine’s fighting became frantic and uncoordinated as she tried to aim away from Steve and Robin. He knew she didn’t want to hurt them, but she couldn’t do that and fight the soldiers.

Before he knew what was happening, the butt of a gun was slammed down hard against the back of Sunshine’s head. Even in the commotion, he heard the sick ‘crack’ of her skull, met with a scream that tore through Robin’s lips.

Sunshine hit the ground at his feet, but just out of his reach.

Steve’s heart leaped into his throat along with a strangled gasp. He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t have his bat or a single thing to fight with.

Two soldiers reached down and roughly grabbed Sunshine by the arms, hauling her limp figure upwards. Steve found his voice as a gut-wrenching fear drenched him from head to toe. “Let go of her!” he screamed, trying to reach her through the mess of soldiers who all pointed their weapons at him. He didn’t care; all of his focus was on Sunshine as she was dragged away. “Don’t touch her!” Before he could scramble back to his feet, another soldier raised his weapon and brought it down against his head. Black dots swarmed his vision as Robin screamed again. He mumbled Sunshine’s name before the world around him grew dark, and then vanished.

Tagged (lmk if you'd like to be added :) ) @sattlersquarry , @leptitlu , @drunkengodsofslaughter

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x oc #steve harrington x original character #stranger things oc #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things 3 #robin buckley #dustin henderson #erica sinclair #project sunshine

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