#scotty wu

[raurquiz]

#otd #StarTrek    #TheOmegaGlory #kirk #spock #mccoy #bones #uhura #sulu #scotty #primedirective #CaptainTracey #CloudWilliam #Sirah #YangScholar #LtGalloway #Wu #DrCarter #startrek56 @startrekonpplus https://www.instagram.com/p/CpQBHj-uSlX/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[artdecosupernova-writing]

WASTE

sci-fi ▼ cyberpunk ▼ synthwave/neo-80s queer rep ▼ disability ▼ mental illness abuse ▼ addiction/recovery Darkspace Portent Series spin-off ▼ takes place before Thriving: Rebirth

�� Guetry Sympa is a livewire and an adrenaline junkie, a musically talented hero with lawful blindness, so having a government-funded AI implanted in his brain to control most of his bodily systems after nearly dying isn't exactly an easy adjustment to make.

▷ Of course, there's no better way to cope with a hard breakup and recover from a five-month-long coma than by being forced by the Consortium to enlist a team of fellow contract agents for a covert operation...

▷ ...To solve a centuries-old cold case involving the mysterious disappearance of the Milky Way's enigmatic savior.

Playlist: Precious Gems and Reaver Rock

GUETRY DANON SYMPA ▼ French-American ▼ scorpio ▼ human ▼ Earth ▼ a gifted musician and elite member of a special forces task unit working for the Consortium, aided by an AI in his brain that keeps his quality of life ideal after an overdose that left him otherwise brain-dead for five months. wise-cracking smartass unafraid to tear the system apart for what's right.

SUBCUTANEOUS OPERATIONAL and TACTICAL SYSTEM (SCOT) ▼ "Scotty" ▼ artificial intelligence ▼ NodeSource ▼ prototype embedded in Guetry's brain to undo most of the damage from his overdose and keep him functional. added benefits of enhancing his eyesight and aim, providing intel on missions, and overall companionship.

ALECTURA WU ▼ Chinese ▼ aquarius(?) ▼ human ▼ Consortium Node ▼ talented spaceship mechanic and other half of the band Skywaste, co-founded by Guetry when both were in high school. doesn't like going out into the field, will also fight tooth and nail for justice where there is none.

OREN ALTAVIAN ▼ capricorn ▼ human ▼ the Himalaya ▼ self-proclaimed "entrepreneur of seedydom" and known around the Milky Way as the "Kingpin of the Node." slings the hard stuff around the galaxy and gets paid handsomely for it. endlessly charming but willfully manipulative. tends to get his way no matter what, especially at the expense of those around him who think they care for him.

ADAM "MERCURY'' LYONS ▼ scorpio ▼ human ▼ Earth ▼ also an operative for the Consortium with his identical twin sister Quincy "Mars" Lyons. a bit more by the book, but willing to do what's right even if it means risking his job. a fiery complement and challenge for Guetry both personally and professionally. 

TUXTH ▼ Rotangan ▼ Logoryt ▼ a child of a Rotangan and a biracial Rontangan/Morrite, born on the seedy planet of Logoryt. in order to combat the rough upbringing she endured, she makes a name for herself by taking on missions for the Consortium, doing her part to chip away at the Morrite Blue Prince Hyret's goal to completely overrun the Milky Way.

DAZIA FOURTEEN ▼ sagittarius(?) ▼ human ▼ Consortium Node ▼ it's unknown what Dazia's origins are other than her birthplace of the Node, though it's alleged that she's of Hispanic, Slavic, and Middle Eastern descent. used to work for Consortium security until she witnessed corrupt activity within the ranks. tough as nails but all heart.

A soft tone swirling in the waves of dark gray and flashes I couldn't decipher. Purple pulsing light. A haze, more flashing images. White lights, gloves, whirring, thumping, squashing. Hot white stars. Burnt umber pain. Scorching pink fire. Numbness in muted blue. Sparking stings. Another soft tone. A smooth yet mechanical voice right inside both of my ears at once. Hello, Guetry. I am your Subcutaneous Operational and Tactical system. What. You have suffered a great deal of neurological damage and I am going to attempt to repair as much as I can. Your next of kin has given full consent to this procedure. The fuck. I am only a prototype as of yet so I must be transparent...there may be some functions I cannot fully restore, but I will do my best to make sure you are healed well enough to wake up and are able to do the remaining recovery yourself. Is this.

[destinyc1020]

Yeah, Zs publicist seems to follow DM to get on top of whatever bs she posts about Z that requires his intervention like that story claiming that Z was cheating on Tom with JE during S1. That post disappeared in a couple of minutes. Scotty doesn't play around and he has his cease and desist letter ready for DM. Also this may be another reason that DM doesn't like Z because she doesn't play ball sending leaks so that DM would be nice to her. You can easily tell what celebs are on DM good graces and they include abusers Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp. She was awful against Constance Wu when Constance revealed a producer of Fresh Off the Boat had sexually harassed her for years. The producer has the same publicist as Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp

Thanks Anon. Yea, that makes sense. A LOT of celebrities have publicists that follow certain gossip sites/blogs in order to shut down any fabrications, lies, and nonsense with a quickness if needed. Btw, you're saying there were rumors like that on SEASON ONE of Euphoria?? Umm...TZ weren't an outed couple during S1. Did you mean S2?? And if so, DM herself should have known that was LIE rotfl

[gatsbydenver]

[drmikewatts]

IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computational Intelligence, Volume 8, Number 5, October 2024

1)Guest Editorial Special Issue on Resource Sustainable Computational and Artificial Intelligence

Author(s): Joey Tianyi Zhou, Ivor W. Tsang, Yew Soon Ong

Pages: 3196 - 3198

2)Coordinated Cyber Security Enhancement for Grid-Transportation Systems With Social Engagement

Author(s): Pengfei Zhao, Shuangqi Li, Paul Jen-Hwa Hu, Zhidong Cao, Chenghong Gu, Da Xie, Daniel Dajun Zeng

Pages: 3199 - 3213

3)A Lightweight Recurrent Learning Network for Sustainable Compressed Sensing

Author(s): Yu Zhou, Yu Chen, Xiao Zhang, Pan Lai, Lei Huang, Jianmin Jiang

Pages: 3214 - 3227

4)Reservoir Network With Structural Plasticity for Human Activity Recognition

Author(s): Abdullah M. Zyarah, Alaa M. Abdul-Hadi, Dhireesha Kudithipudi

Pages: 3228 - 3238

5)GLR-SEI: Green and Low Resource Specific Emitter Identification Based on Complex Networks and Fisher Pruning

Author(s): Yun Lin, Haoran Zha, Ya Tu, Sicheng Zhang, Wenjun Yan, Congan Xu

Pages: 3239 - 3250

6)An Intelligent Fuzzy System Based on the Optimization of Ecological Agriculture Areas

Author(s): Xiaozeng Xu, Meng Li

Pages: 3251 - 3262

7)Surrogate-Assisted Evolutionary Multi-Objective Optimization of Medium-Scale Problems by Random Grouping and Sparse Gaussian Modeling

Author(s): Haofeng Wu, Yaochu Jin, Kailai Gao, Jinliang Ding, Ran Cheng

Pages: 3263 - 3278

8)Convolutional Fuzzy Neural Networks With Random Weights for Image Classification

Author(s): Yifan Wang, Hisao Ishibuchi, Witold Pedrycz, Jihua Zhu, Xiangyong Cao, Jun Wang

Pages: 3279 - 3293

9)Adaptive Strategies and its Application in the Mittag-Leffler Synchronization of Delayed Fractional-Order Complex-Valued Reaction-Diffusion Neural Networks

Author(s): G. Narayanan, M. Syed Ali, Rajagopal Karthikeyan, Grienggrai Rajchakit, Sumaya Sanober, Pankaj Kumar

Pages: 3294 - 3307

10)Augmented Intelligence Based COVID-19 Diagnostics and Deep Feature Categorization Based on Federated Learning

Author(s): Syed Thouheed Ahmed, Vinoth Kumar Venkatesan, Mahesh T R, Roopashree S, Muthukumaran Venkatesan

Pages: 3308 - 3315

11)Jointly Optimized Classifiers for Few-Shot Class-Incremental Learning

Author(s): Sichao Fu, Qinmu Peng, Xiaorui Wang, Yang He, Wenhao Qiu, Bin Zou, Duanquan Xu, Xiao-Yuan Jing, Xinge You

Pages: 3316 - 3326

12)State-Observer-Based Adaptive Fuzzy Event-Triggered Formation Control for Nonlinear Multiagent System

Author(s): Shuai Sui, Dongyu Shen, Shaocheng Tong, C. L. Philip Chen

Pages: 3327 - 3338

13)A Novel Projection Neural Network for Sparse Optimization With L1-Minimization Problem

Author(s): Hongsong Wen, Xing He, Tingwen Huang

Pages: 3339 - 3351

14)Hierarchical Relational Inference for Few-Shot Learning in 3D Left Atrial Segmentation

Author(s): Xuejiao Li, Jun Chen, Heye Zhang, Yongwon Cho, Sung Ho Hwang, Zhifan Gao, Guang Yang

Pages: 3352 - 3367

15)Data-Driven Container Marking Detection and Recognition System With an Open Large-Scale Scene Text Dataset

Author(s): Ying Xu, Zhangzhao Liang, Yanyang Liang, Xinru Li, Wenfeng Pan, Jie You, Zhihao Long, Yikui Zhai, Angelo Genovese, Vincenzo Piuri, Fabio Scotti

Pages: 3368 - 3381

16)Physics-Informed Graph Capsule Generative Autoencoder for Probabilistic AC Optimal Power Flow

Author(s): Mohsen Saffari, Mahdi Khodayar, Mohammad E. Khodayar

Pages: 3382 - 3395

17)Effective Single-Step Adversarial Training With Energy-Based Models

Author(s): Keke Tang, Tianrui Lou, Weilong Peng, Nenglun Chen, Yawen Shi, Wenping Wang

Pages: 3396 - 3407

18)MA-MFCNet: Mixed Attention-Based Multi-Scale Feature Calibration Network for Image Dehazing

Author(s): Luqiao Li, Zhihua Chen, Lei Dai, Ran Li, Bin Sheng

Pages: 3408 - 3421

19)Graph Contrastive Learning for Tracking Dynamic Communities in Temporal Networks

Author(s): Yun Ai, Xianghua Xie, Xiaoke Ma

Pages: 3422 - 3435

20)PV-SSD: A Multi-Modal Point Cloud 3D Object Detector Based on Projection Features and Voxel Features

Author(s): Yongxin Shao, Aihong Tan, Zhetao Sun, Enhui Zheng, Tianhong Yan, Peng Liao

Pages: 3436 - 3449

21)Generalized Population-Based Training for Hyperparameter Optimization in Reinforcement Learning

Author(s): Hui Bai, Ran Cheng

Pages: 3450 - 3462

22)Multi-modal Authentication Model for Occluded Faces in a Challenging Environment

Author(s): Dahye Jeong, Eunbeen Choi, Hyeongjin Ahn, Ester Martinez-Martin, Eunil Park, Angel P. del Pobil

Pages: 3463 - 3473

23)A Multitasking-Based Constrained Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm With Forward and Backward Stages

Author(s): Xiaoyu Zhong, Xiangjuan Yao, Kangjia Qiao, Dunwei Gong

Pages: 3474 - 3488

24)A Bi-Search Evolutionary Algorithm for High-Dimensional Bi-Objective Feature Selection

Author(s): Hang Xu, Bing Xue, Mengjie Zhang

Pages: 3489 - 3502

25)Intensive Class Imbalance Learning in Drifting Data Streams

Author(s): Muhammad Usman, Huanhuan Chen

Pages: 3503 - 3517

26)Flow-Shop Scheduling Problem With Batch Processing Machines via Deep Reinforcement Learning for Industrial Internet of Things

Author(s): Zihui Luo, Chengling Jiang, Liang Liu, Xiaolong Zheng, Huadong Ma

Pages: 3518 - 3533

27)Sparse Graph Tensor Learning for Multi-View Spectral Clustering

Author(s): Man-Sheng Chen, Zhi-Yuan Li, Jia-Qi Lin, Chang-Dong Wang, Dong Huang

Pages: 3534 - 3543

28)Alternating-Direction-Method of Multipliers-Based Adaptive Nonnegative Latent Factor Analysis

Author(s): Yurong Zhong, Kechen Liu, Shangce Gao, Xin Luo

Pages: 3544 - 3558

29)Efficient Online Planning and Robust Optimal Control for Nonholonomic Mobile Robot in Unstructured Environments

Author(s): Yingbai Hu, Wei Zhou, Yueyue Liu, Minghao Zeng, Weiping Ding, Shu Li, Guoxin Li, Zheng Li, Alois Knoll

Pages: 3559 - 3575

30)Energy-Efficient and Interpretable Multisensor Human Activity Recognition via Deep Fused Lasso Net

Author(s): Yu Zhou, Jingtao Xie, Xiao Zhang, Wenhui Wu, Sam Kwong

Pages: 3576 - 3588

31)A Novel Dual-Stage Evolutionary Algorithm for Finding Robust Solutions

Author(s): Wei Du, Wenxuan Fang, Chen Liang, Yang Tang, Yaochu Jin

Pages: 3589 - 3602

32)Efficient Processing of Spiking Neural Networks via Task Specialization

Author(s): Muath Abu Lebdeh, Kasim Sinan Yildirim, Davide Brunelli

Pages: 3603 - 3613

33)Multi-Relation Augmentation for Graph Neural Networks

Author(s): Shunxin Xiao, Huibin Lin, Jianwen Wang, Xiaolong Qin, Shiping Wang

Pages: 3614 - 3627

34)Robust Evolving Fuzzy Classifier Integrating Noise Smoothing and Soft Dimension Reduction

Author(s): Edwin Lughofer, Igor Škrjanc

Pages: 3628 - 3642

35)Co-Occurrence Relationship Driven Hierarchical Attention Network for Brain CT Report Generation

Author(s): Xiaodan Zhang, Shixin Dou, Junzhong Ji, Ying Liu, Zheng Wang

Pages: 3643 - 3653

36)Adversarial Examples Detection With Bayesian Neural Network

Author(s): Yao Li, Tongyi Tang, Cho-Jui Hsieh, Thomas C. M. Lee

Pages: 3654 - 3664

37)From Concept to Instance: Hierarchical Reinforced Knowledge Graph Reasoning

Author(s): Cheng Yan, Feng Zhao, Yudong Zhang

Pages: 3665 - 3677

38)FedSG: A Personalized Subgraph Federated Learning Framework on Multiple Non-IID Graphs

Author(s): Yingcheng Wang, Songtao Guo, Dewen Qiao, Guiyan Liu, Mingyan Li

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39)PATReId: Pose Apprise Transformer Network for Vehicle Re-Identification

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Author(s): Heli Sun, Ruirui Xue, Tingting Hu, Tengfei Pan, Liang He, Yuan Rao, Zhi Wang, Yingxue Wang, Yuan Chen, Hui He

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Author(s): Shudong Li, Danna Lu, Qing Li, Xiaobo Wu, Shumei Li, Zhen Wang

Pages: 3716 - 3725

[kingdogg75]

#kingdogg #doggsworld #𝕎𝕌-𝕋𝔸ℕ𝔾 ℂ𝕃𝔸ℕ #👐🏾 #🇪🇨 #🐝 Suuuu🐝 #wutangclan #wutangforever #wutangisforthechildren #wutangkillabees #wutangclanart #wutangclanaintnothingtofuckwith #wutang4eva #wutangkillabeez #wuecuador #wuquito #methodman #rza #inspectahdeck #odb #ghostfacekillah #ugod #raekwon #cappadonna #mastakilla #mathematics #gza

[blsm-m]

Rory McIlroy will face off against Patrick Cantlay on Sunday as the two try to catch Bryson DeChambeau in the final round of the 124th U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. McIlroy is due to play alongside Cantlay at 7.10pm BST, the first time the pair have been paired together since their heated argument with Cantlay's caddie, Joe LaCava, at the Ryder Cup in Rome last September. Northern Irishman McIlroy felt LaCava went too far in celebrating after Cantlay made a long putt on the 18th green and an argument ensued after McIlroy was restrained in the car park by teammate Shane Lowry. For a more accessible video player, use Chrome browser An infuriated Rory McIlroy confronted the US team's caddie in the car park after his round following an alleged "incident" on the 18th hole. "Yeah, it should be great," Cantlay said of facing McIlroy after shooting 70 in the third round. "I'm in a great position. This is a challenging golf course. If I can make a few birdies I can put myself all the way up. I'm really happy with how I played today and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."Sky Sports will show live extended coverage of all the final round action on Sky Sports Golf from 2pm on Sunday, with DeChambeau leading by three strokes on the final day and playing in the final group alongside Mathieu Pabon at 7.21pm BST. For a more accessible video player, use Chrome browser Bryson DeChambeau shot a 3-under 67 in the third round at Pinehurst on the second hole of the U.S. Open. Sunday Tea TimeAll times are BST, US unless otherwise stated, (x) indicates amateur 1230 SH Kim (Korea), Gunnar Breun (x) 1241 Matt Fitzpatrick (England), Jackson Suber1252 Brandon Wu, Austin Eckroth1303 Francesco Molinari (Italy), Ben Coles For a more accessible video player, use Chrome browser Francesco Molinari slid into the weekend with a hole-in-one on the final hole of the second round. 1314 Dean Burmester (RSA), Ryan Fox (NZL)1325 Sepp Straka (Germany), Martin Kaymer (Germany)1336 Grayson Sig, Cameron Young1347 Nico Echavarria (Colonel), Brendon Todd US Open Golf Live Sunday, June 16th, 6:30pm 1358 Justin Lower, Sam Bennett1409 Adam Scott (Australia), Brian Campbell1425 Matt Kuchar, Frankie Capan III1436 Adam Svenson (Canada), Harris English1447 Jordan Spieth, Kim Si-woo (Korea)1458 Max Glaserman, Sahith Teegala1509 Daniel Berger, Keegan Bradley1520 Scottie Scheffler, Tom McKibbin (NIrl) For a more accessible video player, use Chrome browser We take a closer look at Scottie Scheffler's performance in the third round of the US Open and explain why it's not a good performance for the world number one ranked player. 1531 Brooks Koepka, Tim Widing (Sweden)1542 Nikolaj Hoygard

(Den), Emiliano Grillo (Argentina)1553 Isaiah Salinda, Christian Bezuidenhout (Russia)1604 Cameron Smith (Australia), Wyndham Clark1615 JT Poston, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)1631 Shane Lowry (Ireland), Zac Blair For a more accessible video player, use Chrome browser Shane Lowry recorded consecutive birdies with a sensational hole-out from a bunker during the third round of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. 1642 Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk1653 Denny McCarthy, Ming Woo Lee (Australia)1704 Neil Shipley (x), Luke Clanton (x)1715 Sam Burns, Stefan Jäger (Germany)1726 Brian Harman, Mark Hubbard1737 David Puig (Spanish), Thomas Detry (Belgian)1748 Akshay Bhatia, Russell Henry1759 Davis Thompson, Xander Schauffele1810 Sergio Garcia (Spain), Taylor Pendris (Canada) US Open Golf Live Sunday, June 16th, 6:30pm 1826 Aaron Lai (English), Tom Kim (Korean)1837 Corey Connors (Canada), Collin Morikawa1848 Tony Finau, Tyrrell Hatton (English)1859 Ludwig Aberg, Hideki Matsuyama (Japan)1910 Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy (NIrl)1921 Mathieu Pavone (France), Bryson DeChambeau Monte Rosa This content is provided by Monte Rosamay use cookies and other technologies. To view this content you must allow the use of cookies. You can change your settings and enable cookies using the button below. Monte Rosa You can choose to allow cookies once or never. You can change your settings at any time. Privacy options. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify that you agreed. Monte Rosa Cookies. Please allow them using the button below to view this content Monte Rosa A cookie for this session only. Enable cookies Allow cookies only once Who will be the winner of the third men's major tournament this year? The US Open will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. The live broadcast of the final round will start on Sunday at 2pm on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the U.S. Open and more on NOW.

[fannationdaily]

Jimmy from wu management and str8up entertainment followed you on insta hun that's huge!

That's Jimmy Scotty's manager he's the best he also follows me on Twitter/X lol he's the best. 🤗

[freudianslumber]

Tiger Man

Summary: The year was 1941, bandmates and secret lovers Scotty Moore and Elvis Presley got caught red handed by Scotty’s fiancée, and this led to the young men being thrusted headlong into the China-Burma-India theater of World War II as members of the first American Volunteer Group (The Flying Tigers).

Chapter 6. Fleeing from Danger

Pairing:  Scotty Moore/Elvis Presley (m/m), Elvis Presley/Wen Ying (m/f)

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: gunshot wounds, character death

Elvis was pacing inside the family waiting room of the surgery floor as Wen Ying tried to calm her sister’s sobbing.  After it seemed like ages, Dr. Wu came in the door with an interpreter.  The grey-haired physician gestured for Elvis and Wen Ying to come to a corner of the room and leave the youngest one out of their conversation. 

Once sufficiently away from the child, Dr. Wu looked somber as he spoke in a low volume: “Mr. Yang barely made it through surgery to remove the bullets from his lungs.  He was shot three times in the back, one went through his right shoulder, but the other two ricocheted through his internal organs.”  Wen Ying gasped at that disclosure while the interpreter conveyed the same information to Elvis.  “Does he still stand a chance?” Wen Ying bit her lips and looked toward Dr. Wu with pleading eyes.  The elderly physician shook his head a little and sighed: “Wen Ying, I’ve known you for a few years now.  Headmaster Yang and I became friends as soon as he moved from the east 5 years ago.  So you can believe me when I say we’ve tried our best, used the best surgeon, but his internal damage was too severe.  We are counteracting the blood loss with large quantity transfusion right now, but I’m afraid it would only be a matter of time…”  Wen Ying’s slim figure seemed like it had taken a physical hit, with her back bending slightly over and large drops of tears falling from her eyes.  Elvis did not know what else to do so he pulled Wen Ying into his arms and squeezed her tightly as tears started to circle his own eyes: “Can we see him now?”

As Elvis and the two sisters quietly entered the recovery ward, they could see Mr. Yang lying in bed with a face mask, looking white as a sheet.  A couple of units of blood were hanging and infusing, but apparently they were just too little too late.  His entire chest and upper abdomen area were bandaged up with several surgical drains sticking out and a few hundred cc of bloody drainage in the bag.  “Daddy.” Wen Ying put her left hand over that of her father which felt cool and clammy.  The wounded headmaster opened his eyes then and the first thing he saw was the tall American standing over him with teary eyes, “Elvis!  I’m sorry I couldn’t find your squadron, the first day I went to Baoshan, I heard they had moved east to Kunming again.”  Mr. Yang had to remove the oxygen facemask when he spoke and place it back between sentences to catch his breaths, but surprisingly he was still capable of communicating this way.  “Oh Mr. Yang.  I wish you never went to Baoshan at all!  I’m so sorry…”  Elvis’ nose became runny from all the tears he was swallowing. 

“Don’t be sorry, Elvis.” Mr. Yang replied, looking strangely calm, then continued with his recollection: “I sensed something was wrong as there was a strong presence of the Nationalist troops in Baoshan.  Before I could find a way to leave, the Japanese troops began their waves of attack.  They took over the city by day 4 and started to murder all men who they felt might be or become soldiers.  I hid during the day and tried to escape after nightfall along with other civilians, but the Japanese chased after us and shot a lot of us in the back.” 

After a few minutes of rest and replenishing oxygen, Mr. Yang went back to addressing Elvis: “I know I can’t make it this time.  I thought I could keep the family safe and together by hiding in this small border town, I was wrong.  We Chinese had an old saying ‘there are no eggs left intact under an overturned nest’.  Our country has been under invasion for years, how can I dream of self-preservation?”  He started coughing as the excessive talking might have irritated his injured lungs.

Elvis offered his hand and Mr. Yang grabbed a hold of it.  “Elvis, I know you need to go to Kunming to find your flying unit.  Lushui is only about 180 kilometers from Baoshan, the Japanese could occupy this city in a very short time.  Will you honor the last wish of this dying man, and take my daughters with you to Kunming so they can get away from the Japanese devils?”

Without hesitance, the young American answered in the affirmative: “Mr. Yang, you have helped me so much I only wish I could repay you.  In the name of my Mama, I promise you I will do everything in my power to keep Wen Ying and Wen Fang away from harm and get them to Kunming!”

A tear of relief trickled down from the dying man’s eye, he turned to his two daughters then.  “Xiao Ying and Xiao Fang, your father can’t stay and look after you anymore.  I judged Xiao Ai here to be honorable and trustworthy, I know you are fond of him too although you have not known each other for too long.  I had made him promise me to take you to Kunming and to safety.  Do you all agree?”   The siblings wept audibly as they concurred with their father, who then placed their dainty hands into the palm of the tall American in a symbolic gesture.

Knowing that he had won the race against time to get out all that he wanted to say, Mr. Yang fell into a coma soon afterwards exhausted but satisfied.  His vital signs became unstable a few hours later and the inevitable came to be just before midnight.  A deep sadness overcame Elvis as he regarded the newly orphaned pair who was dealt such a cruel hand early in life.  But there was hardly any time for proper grieving or reflection due to the war that was still raging.  The funeral and burial had to be rushed and abbreviated as evacuation started in Lushui City within days. 

While the civilian dwellers were trying to flee, the city had an influx of Nationalist troops which had retreated from the frontlines.  Most of the soldiers seemed either wounded or exhausted, further hampered by outdated and insufficient weapons.  It would be unrealistic to expect an infantry in such poor shape to be putting much resistance if the Japanese made a serious attempt to take over the city.  With this in mind, Elvis knew time was running out for the three of them to leave for Kunming. 

The most straightforward route to safety was by train, fortunately the railway was still operating up until now.  Elvis and the Yang sisters lined up for hours and finally got their hands on 3 overpriced train tickets, further depleting their limited funds.  The girls understood this was not time to feel sentimental about leaving their home for good, they packed up overnight without fuss and boarded the eastbound train with Elvis first thing in the morning. 

As the train slowly pulled out of the Lushui station, Wen Ying closed her copy of “Legends of Greek Mythology” to rest her eyes.  Naturally she glanced over at Elvis who sat next to her in the same seating compartment, and Wen Fang one seat over, who took the window seat but had fallen asleep and slumped against the American.  Elvis looked a little different now due to his hair being dyed black.  It was Wen Ying’s idea to do this as a simple form of disguise just so the pilot would not be spotted easily from a mile away.  It had the unintentional side-effect of bring out the young man’s sapphire eyes even more due to contrast.  But when he was seated and looking down like now, the raven hair almost succeeded in making him pass for an Asian lad.  Wen Fang felt vindicated as she thought to herself.  They had been hiding Elvis’ striking eyes behind a pair of sunglasses, which was currently left on the little counter in front of them as the pilot was busy annotating a book.

Curious, Wen Ying asked: “What’s that book, Xiao Ai ?”  Elvis turned to her: “It’s a book of inspirational verses called ‘Poems that Touch the Hearts’.”  He showed Wen Ying the cover of the volume.  “Mr. Yang gifted it to me after he found out about my Mama.  He said an American friend of his had given it to him when Mrs. Yang passed away.  It’s a great book, reading it brings me solace.”

“Yes, reading can make us feel better.”  Wen Ying agreed, “or we can look at old pictures”.  She then took out her simple gold chain necklace and opened the heart-shaped locket, revealing a small photo inside.  Elvis was immediately struck by the elegant portrait of a young Chinese intellectual couple, whose facial features clearly combined to form those of Wen Ying.  Despite his youth, Mr. Yang already looked quite distinguished in a pair of small circular eyeglasses, formal suit and bow tie.  Sitting next to him was a very noble looking Mrs. Yang adorned by the mandarin collar of her perfectly fitting traditional Qipao dress.  “My goodness, your parents were such a handsome and scholarly couple!”  Elvis exclaimed in awe.  Wen Ying sighed quietly: “yes, a lot of people were jealous of them.  I wish I had more of their pictures.”  She left out the part about “now that they are both gone”, trying to keep the mood light this time.  “How about you, Xiao Ai?  Do you carry pictures of family?”  The young woman asked as she closed the locket. 

“Yes, I have one from when I was two years old,” the pilot from Memphis did not hesitate to share, “l stood between my parents, they were both in their early 20s.   I was wearing a hat and had a peanut in my mouth.”  He then apologized, “but I can’t show it to you.  I had to leave it in the barracks because we are not allowed to bring personal items like that into combat.” 

Speaking of this, Elvis’ face felt slightly warm from guilt and shame as he knew he had already broken the rule by sneaking a piece of jewelry into his little waterproof pouch in the sleeve of his flight jacket.  It was a silver chain necklace with a clover shaped pendant.  It looked nothing special but meant a lot to Elvis because there was a small lock of hair hidden in the locket behind it.  Scotty thought it was a silly idea to keep each other’s hair, but Elvis was the sentimental kind, so he treasured this memento and even smuggled it onto the battlefield.  Currently the necklace was sitting snugly in his small wallet in his shirt pocket close to the heart.  It was his little secret, but it made him feel calm and settled to have a small piece of Scotty with him at all times.  It had been almost a month since they parted, was Scotty still mourning and pining for him or did he put everything behind him and move on with his life?

“That’s not fair,” Wen Ying’s comment brought his mind back from missing Scotty: “we all want to keep something from the ones we love.  I imagine your parents must be good looking.”  The young lady thought to herself:  I wonder what kind of parents could raise a son so pretty yet brave.  She forced herself to look straight at Elvis’ eyes for more than a few seconds at a time, it was so difficult because it felt like staring at the sun.  She could no longer kid herself, the affection and attachment she had developed for the American were more than love for a friend or even a brother.  She did not know what gave her the courage, but she suddenly unleashed the question that had been on her mind for a while: “Xiao Ai, do you have a girlfriend?”

Wen Ying’s face immediately turned red after she shocked herself with the forwardness.  Elvis started stuttering from how flustered he was: “No, y-y-yes!  I m-mean I do have someone I love.”  He could see the hope in Wen Ying’s eyes get replaced by a flash of disappointment.  He felt terrible for apparently crushing her hopes but knew it would be worse to mislead the lady.  Miss Yang swallowed the bitter taste of rejection, feeling embarrassed: “I’m happy for you.  Really.  You are a good and kind man; you should get out of war and stay alive for her.”  Her eyes moved down quickly from his face to her own hands.  Elvis felt compelled to console Wen Ying, being a sensitive soul, he knew what it was like to have feelings hurt: “Thanks, Xiao Ying, you are so sweet.  You have a lovely family, and I can see your parents have passed on many great qualities to you.  The war will be over one day, and the future will be bright.  I know some lucky guy will ask for your hand one fine day and bring you the happiness you deserve.”

Before Wen Ying could reply, a sudden strong jolt could be felt by all the passengers as the train screeched to a stop.   Wen Fang woke up from the shake and asked: “what, what happened?”  Nobody seemed to know as the entire coach car became filled with anxious and restless people coming up with their own guesses and theories.  The mood turned into absolute panic when a few shots broke out from close by, and a passenger from the car ahead showed up yelling: “The Japanese is taking over the train, everyone run now if you want to live!!” 

Everyone jumped out of their seats then, urgent shouts, desperate screams and babies’ cries engulfed the cramped space.  The aisle was full of people pushing and squeezing against each other, hoping to escape the train before too late.  However, there was hardly any real movement within the coach car because the exit was locked and required the train conductor to open it.  With many demanding for the conductor, the poor fellow finally appeared, but instead of opening up the exit to let passengers out, he had a rifle pointed to his back and was followed by a team of Japanese soldiers. 

The Japanese army officer who seemed to be in charge quieted the whole place with several pistol shots fired at the ceiling.  Then he announced through a Chinese translator: “I am Lieutenant Kobayashi of the Japanese Imperial Army, we have taken control of this section of the railroad, including this train.  We will open the door, but everyone here must follow the orders, exit the train slowly and in perfect order.  Anyone who disrupts this operation will be shot immediately!” 

Elvis looked out the window, the entire length of the train had now been lined with Japanese foot soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets.  He touched the bottom of his pants; he could feel the Colt pistol he had hidden in the right boot.  He needed to wait for the perfect opportunity to spring a surprise attack on the Japanese and give the girls the best chance to escape.  Elvis knew he probably wouldn’t survive this, but it would be necessary and worth it to save the Yang sisters and fulfill his promise to their father.  After he made up his mind about this, the young American whispered to the distraught girls next to him: “Don’t worry, I will get you out.  When it’s time, just do what I say and run as fast as you can away from here.  Remember, Kunming is to the southeast.” 

[raurquiz]

#otd #StarTrek #TheOmegaGlory #kirk #spock #mccoy #bones #uhura #sulu #scotty #primedirective #CaptainTracey #CloudWilliam #Sirah #YangScholar #LtGalloway #Wu #DrCarter #startrek57 @TrekMovie @TrekCore @StarTrek @StarTrekOnPPlus @WilliamShatner

[artdecosupernova-writing]

Character Intro ▼ Guetry Danon Sympa

Species: Human (French father, French-American mother) Place of Birth: Texas, Earth Date of Birth: November 5th, 2235 Height: 6'3" Age at First Appearance: 37

Appears In: Darkspace Portent/WASTE

Theme Song: "Run" by Bring Me The Horizon

The Clarity maxed out, top speed, and I don't think the wheels made contact with the ground anymore. I knew I'd get to the coordinates before the landing party, but my heart still hammered relentlessly in my bony chest, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't frown away the worst migraine I've ever had in my life. My visor flashed at me, warning in panicked urgency that if my front wheel collided with an errant pebble scattered in my path, I'd fly high enough to clear a low-rise building and my cranium would meet the ground and there would be nothing of it left except for the memories of it and the occasional person I'd once known going, "Wait, didn't Guetry once have a head there or something? Looks more like brain soup, kinda gross." And that was fine. When the landing party touched down and realized what had been waiting for them, what I'd willingly waltzed them into, I'd wish my skull had been obliterated anyway.

▷ Guetry's close with his father, Kyron, and three younger sisters—Genni, Kyllan, and Kelly—but has been estranged from his mother Gisella since he was about thirteen due to her substance abuse and horrific treatment of the girls.

▷ As well as being in a band—Skywaste (stylized as S|<YWASTE)—that he started in high school with his best friend Alec Wu, he's a contract agent for the Consortium, taking on missions considered too dangerous or complex for the military.

▷ His tumultuous, intimate relationship with Gisella's dealer, Oren Altavian, gets him addicted as well, and his battle with reaver rock spans several years until it almost takes his life.

▷ After accidentally overdosing, Guetry is outfitted with a Subcutaneous Operational and Tactical System AI—SCOT, or Scotty—that helps repair his brain and keeps him able to function. Without Scotty, his quality of life is significantly lower.

[finnflynn]

holy shit hi!!!!

1- how were you first introduced?

I WAS 12 AND I WENT TO A LIBRARY AND SAW A REALLY NICE COMIC CALLED POWER MAN AND IRON FIS AND I WAS LIKE OOOOOOOOO.

power man and iron fist #6 to #9 was the first iron fist content i ever came across. the artstyle was catered to me and even though now i feel like that run didnt have the best moments of danny... i still give it full credit for the reason why this obsession started.

after that i read all the iron fist comics on pirating sites, watched the ultimate spiderman series and the netflix series. but yeah i always come back to pmif #6 to be reminded of when i was younger and didnt know what i was getting into.

2- whats your favourite comic and/or adaptation?

DEFINITELY DAVID AJA, MATT FRACTION AND ED BRUBAKER's IMMORTAL IRON FIST.

like are you kidding???? the seven (or eight) heavenly cities, the seven champions, the history of kun lun, the previous iron fists, orson randall and wendell rand and like so many more??????? yo????????

immortal iron fist is my favourite run by far. my other favourites are ultimate spiderman's danny rand, the power man and iron fist runs (both old and new), the 2017 run and the phantom limb (?) run.

3- who is/are your favourite character(s)?

i have like a bunch, but my main ones from the iron fist comics are pei, the thunderer, wu ao shi, bei bang wen, orson randall and tigers beautiful daughter.

previous iron fists are literally on a league of their own, like obv danny is my favourite but they all tell their own stories and have their own arcs and ughhh i could go on forever.

4- what do you enjoy most about iron fist? what made you a fan?

ever since i picked up that first power man and iron fist comic, i was attracted to his costume (the loud yellow), his sadness that he covered up with humour, this loneliness he brought everywhere like 😭😭.

danny rand as a character is so intriguing to me. especially him being white yet growing up in fantasy china. im mixed race, half chinese, and something about being both yet never being enough of one is soooo real.

the potential this show has to be like a spiderverse animated movie is CRAZY TO ME.

5- anything else youd like to share!

the first merch i ever bought was an iron fist sticker (pretty sure was drawn by scottie young).

also WHO THE FUCK DECIDED TO BREAKUP DANNY AND MISTY LIKE WHYYYY. THEIR CHILD LUCY NAMED AFTER LUKE IS GAY MARRIED WITH DANIELLE???? YOO

i love luke and danny's friendship so much that ive had a dream where luke says "i love you so much, man" to danny on stage at like some convention 😭.

that is all, and sadly i dont interact with many other iron fist enthusiasts so i have no one to tag 😔. THANKS FOR TAGGING ME. <3<3

Iron Fist's 50th Anniversary: A Fan Survey

Hello!

I've been running this blog for six (whoa...) years now and have been blogging about Iron Fist in general for longer than that. Throughout this time, I have been fortunate to get to know some wonderful fellow fans of the character. On the occasion of this amazing IF milestone, I thought it would be a fun opportunity to reach out directly to the fandom on Tumblr and get to know everyone a little bit better. With this in mind, I've put together a short series of questions, which anyone and everyone is welcome to answer in a reblog/reply to this post. You can answer all of the questions or just one, in as much detail as you'd like. No pressure, no stress, and no deadline; I'd like to see how long and far this circulates.

I would love to know:

How were you first introduced to Iron Fist?

What is your favorite Iron Fist comic and/or adaptation?

Who is/are your favorite character(s)?

What do you enjoy most about Iron Fist? What made you a fan?

Anything else you'd like to share!

Please tag anyone you think might enjoy answering this. Alternately, I'd appreciate if you would consider reblogging this, so that it can get to as many people as possible.

Thank you, and enjoy!

[indyground]

ROAD 2 INDY FEST TOUR - JULY 2017

Indyground remains one of the last great grassroots efforts from the Midwest staying true to ushering new talent into the millennial age of Hip Hop. Following his recent Picture Perfect Broken Home release, IGE artist and founder Steddy P, is no stranger to the road and this time he's bringing the festival steez to the stage accompanied by Sensei Party creators Dom Chronicles & Scotty Wu.

Artwork & Design by HiiFreq & Kendu

Photography by Storm Fritz

07.05.17 - Chicago, IL @ SubT Lounge (HelloHipHop) 07.07.17 - Sioux City, IA @ Marty’s Tap 07.12.17 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge 07.13.17 - Fort Collins, CO @ Colorado Room 07.14.17 - Wichita, KS @ Barleycorn's 07.15.17 - Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note (IGE Big Free) 07.21.17 - Milwaukee, WI @ Riverwest Public House 07.22.17 - Madison, WI @ The Wisco 07.27.17 - St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill 07.28.17 - Topeka, KS @ Boobie Trap 07.29.17 - Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge 

Featuring special guests on select dates. Tickets and RSVP info TBA in the following weeks, stay tuned!

+

MUSIC VIDEOS YOU MUST WATCH  Steddy P - Perfect (Hustle) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-mj4_3r9n4 Dom Chronicles - Use Your Imagination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZwJS169AI8 Scotty Wu - Keiko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7oechrif-4

[a-dead-mouse]

U-God - Venom - 2018

[spacetimewraithwrites-archive]

Four F Friday...#2 🤦🏽‍♂️

(Fight, Flee, Fluff, & F*ck)

(Do Not Read Unless You Are 18 Years Or Older etc.)

(Further tw: violence, blood, drug/addiction mention)

Your first surprise is that this is back, at least once.

...Your second is that it’s a mildly AU Guetry/Scotty piece.

(ps if this is your introduction to WASTE no it’s not ❤)

(pps this is lengthy. good christ. you’ve been warned.)

Guetry tilted his beat guitar against his hip and glanced upward at the rafters of the empty auditorium, satisfied when the chord he’d played a second ago poured through the speakers and lingered in the air without technical difficulty. Tingling erupted from his temple and spread to his wrist, his skin chilling where his tattoo sleeve gently strobed with purple light.

“Okay,” he murmured into the microphone in front of him. His voice carried across the space, still low from the weight of “Carbon Dated Monsters”—a pulsing, sensual song that had a reputation of causing dank and dirty feelings throughout Skywaste listeners. “Folks, this next number is a cover of a classic little ditty from the 1950s, a pair of guys from New Jersey—I think one of ‘em was from Ireland, actually—”

Alec scoffed, sitting at her drum kit behind him. “Could you imagine?”

When Guetry blinked, his vision clouded around the edges, the same calming violet from his tattoo. Scotty was getting impatient. “Oh, I could. Could you?”

He turned, waggling his eyebrows at Alec over his shoulder.

“Let’s take five,” she said after a convincing gagging sound. “You’re getting punchy.”

“I’m gonna need at minimum...four hours.”

“Four? You’re not seeing that shady augment person again, are you?”

“You know the law, babe.” Guetry turned off the wireless connection to the guitar and made his way to its case, which he’d settled haphazardly off of stage left. He settled the instrument inside and crouched to clamp the case shut. “Technically speaking, it’s not sex work if they’re not real.”

Alec sighed and packed up her sticks. “Living, breathing sex workers need the money. Support them like the rest of us.”

The idea of Alectura Wu participating in something like that was so beyond the norm that Guetry laughed aloud. “Like you wouldn’t be all over the practice if Parys gave you the okay.”

“If she gave me the okay, I’d divorce her immediately because that would clearly not actually be her.”

“Shit, I’m not even married to her and I would, too,” Guetry muttered, hopping off the stage and grabbing his long coat from a seat in the front row. He fished for his comm device from his coat pocket before sliding into the garment. He peeked at the notifications, then unlocked the device. “Five texts from Warren...there’s a surprise. The man’s in love with me. Scotty, put me through to Snap, would you?”

“Of course,” Scotty said in his head. The screen of the comm device flashed, indicating an outgoing call.

Alec hung around the stage as Guetry began his departure. “Sure, Warren’s in love with you.”

He raised a middle finger, not breaking his stride.

—

Snap didn’t answer the call until Guetry was already halfway to the tram station. “What’s up, slut?”

Guetry eyed Node residents as he passed them, one hand in his coat pocket while the other gripped the comm device close to his face. He hoped he wouldn’t be recognized behind his high collar, shrinking inward somewhat to avoid detection. “You got any openings? Got a break in rehearsal and I’m just about launched.”

“Yeah, my two afternoon cancelled. Come have at your depravity.”

“Have you ever met Alec? I feel like you guys would get along very well.”

“What’s it gonna be this time?”

Guetry blinked through another purple fog. “Same old.”

“Huh. I might sit in on this one, actually. Been kinda curious about how these things go.”

“Look, I’d be the first to tell you that augment can be quite the spectator sport.” He sidestepped a pack of silhou teenagers sprinting down the walkway against the majority flow of foot traffic. “...But not this. This one’s mine and mine alone.”

“Must be real gnarly, then. Think it might be more lucrative to squawk to the press about all this.”

Guetry rattled off something quick and French.

There was a pause on Snap’s end. “...You hope I sit on a lit match and my asshole burns?”

“Going through a tunnel, krrsh.” Guetry disconnected the call manually and exhaled, amused, stepping into the tram station. “‘Course the fucker knows French.”

—

The trip took, in total, about an hour. The most inconvenient part about getting to the seedier end of the Consortium Node’s Northern Division was all the car changes he had to do. He still didn’t feel comfortable the farther into the division he traveled, even though he could handle himself as far as self-defense went.

Snap’s base of operations was the basement of a tattoo shop. As deep into the heart of disenfranchisement as their neighborhood was, the shop was the cleanest on the space station as far as sterilization and practice went.

Guetry entered the shop to the sound of a lone machine buzzing away into someone’s back in a far corner. “Sweet Lollie.”

The artist paused to look up, and she grinned at him. “Afternoon, dickhead,” she said, her thick voice and Glaswegian brogue filling the room. Her client had fallen dead asleep in her chair, earbuds firmly in their ears. “Finally gonna let me get at the other side of that beautiful neck of yours?”

“Only if you ask really nicely,” Guetry said. “And choke me out a little as you’re doing it.”

“Oh, I would’ve done that part anyway.”

Guetry, sufficiently flattered, let out a velvety chuckle. “I’m actually here for Snap.”

Sweet Lollie nodded, wiping down a section of her client’s tattoo. “Aye, they’re here. Go on down.”

The basement, which could be reached by way of a chilled staircase in the back room, was lit sapphire blue by two lone bulbs hanging from an unfinished ceiling. Guetry shrank a bit more within his coat as he descended, the usual dread seeping into his shoulders the closer he got to the computer terminal sitting in the middle of the room.

“Yo,” Snap said from behind the monitor. They poked their head around the transparent screen, a shock of choppy red hair appearing black under the blue light. “Augment room’s all set up for you. Need your adapter?”

“Yeah.” Guetry accepted the cable extended to him, then looked at it. He hesitated. “It’s okay that I do this, right?”

Snap dropped onto their seat and shrugged. “I mean...you’re not hurting anyone.”

Twirling the cable between his fingers, Guetry frowned. “...I’m not so sure that I’m not.” He jumped when Snap slammed a fist on the keyboard in front of them and resumed their previous task as if nothing happened.

“No one’s forcing you to do it, bro,” they said. “If you wanna walk, it’s your business.”

Guetry shot a furtive look at the door to the augment room. He reached up and pressed on his temple, ejecting his port and wiping the resulting blood away with his hand. “Guess I’ll figure it out later.”

The augment room was cramped and dark, but that was conducive to the intense, immersive experience that would take place within. Soundproof and completely inaccessible to anyone outside once activated, the only way anyone would be able to get Guetry out from that point forward would be for Snap to override the lock.

An armchair adorned with all kinds of tech sat on the other side of the room, and on it rested a wide VR set that wrapped around into a headpiece with nodes attached. Guetry stared at it for a few seconds, clenching his fists within the pockets of his coat. The guilt almost consumed him, then, thinking about what he’d initially gone there to do. The bond he could potentially ruin if anyone found out.

“Would you like to try something different?” Scotty asked, breaking the numbing silence. “I have a scenario in mind that could be more cathartic for you, specifically.”

Guetry shrugged out of his coat and took the headset, hooking the adapter cable up to the port sticking out of his temple. He plugged the other end into the headset. “Yeah, what is it...?”

“Do you trust me?”

Guetry couldn’t help but smile, reclining the chair and placing the headset on his face and head. He attached the remaining tech in their proper places and fully relaxed in the chair. “More than I trust myself.”

“Very good.”

The augment booted up immediately. Guetry found himself in a crowded bar, straining to pick out one consistent sound over the din of bodies around him. All shapes and sizes, all Consortium species, milling about and oblivious to him or whatever he was doing there.

He turned to his right, where a seat had just opened up at the counter. He could smell the sugary drinks and bitter liquor, the airy fruit of vapor floating around. He ran his hands over the bar, the vinyl squeaking beneath his fingertips.

A Rotangan bartender sat a glass of gin in front of him.

Recoiling, Guetry shook his head and leaned forward. “Ah, no thanks. I can’t stomach gin anymore.”

The next voice came from his direct left. “Since when?”

He swiveled hard, coming face-to-face with Oren Altavian sitting beside him. If Guetry had been a cat, he’d have an arched back and fur standing straight on end. “Oh, god. Not you. Anyone but you.”

A flash of smug crossed Oren’s face, then it was replaced by an exaggerated pout and he picked up the glass in front of Guetry. “Now, now. You’re going to hurt my feelings.”

“Scotty, how is this cathartic? I would rather have deep-throated a chainsaw than see this son of two bitches again.”

Before he could get a response, Oren turned to him, daintily sipping the gin. “Who’s Scotty? That your latest rebound?”

Guetry fought the urge to bolt, attempting unsuccessfully to plan out an exit. “Will saying yes cause you to spontaneously combust? If yes, then yes. Six thousand times.”

“I’m not doing anything to anybody, garçon. I’m just minding my own business.” Oren pinned him with a deep stare. “You look good.”

“It’s this new self-care regimen I follow called Staying Three Light-Years Away from You at All Times. You should try it.”

Oren laughed. “That’s good.”

Shuddering, Guetry turned up the collar of his coat. “Please don’t.”

“Hey, if you wanna get away from me so bad, you know where the doors are.” Oren touched the bottom rim of the glass to Guetry’s arm. “Something tells me there’s a little part of you that wants to stay. Maybe it’s all the times you jingled miserably across the floor back to me.”

Guetry looked sharply at Oren’s fingers making their way over to him.

“I mean it, though, you look good. And I get why you keep leaving. I’m an asshole. It’s who I am, though.” Oren set the glass down and slipped his hand into the sleeve of Guetry’s coat, brushing the tips of his fingers up his arm. “...I also get why you keep coming back. Right? The part of you that will always belong to me no matter how far from me you’ve moved on. The fact that I was your first real love, your first real thing.”

Guetry dragged his stare up to Oren’s face.

“...Truth is, I’ve missed you.” Oren took a deep breath, as if the weight of the galaxy had dropped onto his shoulders with abundant melodrama. “I...think maybe, if you let it...we can work this out. I just mean...I’d like to try to change. For you.”

Guetry watched him for a second. Then he cocked his fist and bashed it into Oren’s face.

Oren let out a howl, and the noise of the bar stopped on a dime. Patrons turned to the commotion, but some avoided acknowledging it altogether.

Snatching a fistful of Oren’s hair, Guetry dragged him off the barstool and onto the floor, parting the crowd as he did so. “Think you can change for me? Want me to help you out a little bit, baby?” He snatched the glass of gin and dumped it onto Oren, satisfied at the screech he let loose due to the alcohol running over his busted nose. Then, Guetry smashed the glass against the side of Oren’s head, causing a few people to scream. He didn’t hear them. “Maybe change your clothes first, huh, limp dick?”

He vaguely caught someone telling him to let go, but he ignored them.

“I’ve been four years clean no thanks to you,” Guetry spat at Oren, perversely delighting in the blood streaming from his face. “Every time I get close enough to relapse, I think of you, and I get sick enough to chase that urge away for months. So maybe you have done me some good after all.”

Oren blindsided him by throwing his weight up and into him, pinning him to the bar and swinging at him. Guetry blocked in time but couldn’t avoid the knee to the stomach, and he doubled over, giving Oren the opening he needed to grab him by the throat and bend him back into the counter.

“You’re fucking the wrong asshole, you stupid junkie,” Oren hissed. “I’m what makes this fucking station run. You think those ‘Sort delegates don’t know me by name? You think I don’t have senators sucking pipes using the shit I sling? Do you know who I am?”

Though he currently couldn’t breathe and his rage coursed through him faster and hotter than lightning, Guetry smiled. “Now...this...I missed.”

CRACK!

Guetry blinked—suddenly he could breathe again. He gasped and hacked as Oren dropped to the floor, dead weight, and a man stood behind him holding a cane that had clearly been used to put Oren down.

The man, pale blond with a modest smattering of freckles across his nose, gently handed the cane back to the woman standing next to him. “Thank you,” he said. He held a hand out to Guetry, who was still nursing his throat and taking full advantage of his albeit briefly halted ability to breathe. “It would be best to leave now.”

Guetry nodded, taking the stranger’s hand and hurrying with him out of the bar just as the siren of the security car sounded in the distance. They jogged through alleys, squeezed through crowds and stopped in a maintenance tunnel once they were sure they could no longer hear the incoming trouble.

Doubling over again, Guetry took a second to refocus. “Right,” he panted. “Okay. Okay...I’m...so sorry you got roped into this.”

“There’s no need to apologize. I was happy to do it.”

Guetry paused, the voice finally registering as familiar. He looked up at the man and squinted. “...Do I know you?”

The man smiled warmly, but the way he stood was stiff, yet somehow lifeless at the same time. “Intimately.”

Slowly straightening his spine, Guetry looked down at the man’s eyes. He hadn’t imagined it—they were purple. A lavender-grayish shade that would’ve been undetectable to anyone in passing. The breath with which he’d just been reunited left him again, and his stomach flopped ungracefully. The next word he said was quiet, reverent.

“...Scotty?”

“Yes.” Scotty’s smile widened, and his expression made way for excitement. “I’ve constructed a virtual body, you could say. Going by your preferences, or what physically attracts you the most out of the data I could observe. What do you think?”

Guetry’s head reeled. He backed into the wall, taking in all of what he could see. The soft face, the light brown eyelashes, the petal pink lips. “Yeah…yeah, it’s…wow.”

“Are you alright?” Scotty became visibly concerned. “That was quite the confrontation.”

Guetry’s stomach and throat were still sore, but he became distracted by something before he could voice it. “Wait…you curated this scenario.”

Scotty's face—a concept strange and bizarre—fell slightly. “The intention was for me to act somewhat as a knight in shining armor of sorts. I was caught up so deeply in my part that I didn't consider how it would affect you. Please accept my apologies.”

Guetry's heart remained lodged in his throat but his pulse slowed to its normal level. He planted his hands on his hips. “That was all before you,” he said. “You couldn’t have known the full extent of his shit. He’d never gotten physical before, but damn...I gotta say, I wish I could’ve done all that in reality.”

“Still…I’d like to make sure you’re alright. Injuries may not be real in an augment, but the pain is. It would be the least I could do. To show you that…” Scotty crossed his arms suddenly, as if remembering then that he could do exactly that. “To show you that you deserve someone to look after you. It’s what I had originally set out to do.”

“How you gonna do that, darling?”

The emotion behind Scotty’s eyes shifted at that, and his cheeks burned a faint pink. “I have a place. If you’d like to come with me.”

—

It was an apartment Guetry could afford, but would never have thought about purchasing in his entire life. Spacious and sleek, with every amenity he could dream up and some he couldn’t. He stood in the center of the main room, watching out of the enormous floor to ceiling windows as the simulated sky faded into common night. High-end furniture surrounded him, and it was all clinical, almost sterile. He draped his coat and the outer layers of his clothes onto the kitchen table.

“This is your dream place?” Guetry asked, turning to Scotty, who’d stepped up beside him.

“It was one of the first listings I’d found when curating this augment.”

“What do you think’s gonna happen here?”

Scotty once again blushed, choosing not to look up at him. “I’d...like to care for you.”

Guetry snorted softly, bringing a knuckle up to Scotty’s cheek. “Did you know you could blush?”

...Except he didn’t get the full question out, as his finger met corporeal flesh. Plush, warm. He wasn’t sure what he’d anticipated, but it wasn’t that.

Scotty did look at him, then, and something in his face told Guetry that he’d been surprised, too.

“...Oh, wow,” Guetry breathed again. He dragged the back of his fingers over Scotty’s cheekbone. “...How’s that feel for you?”

“I’m not sure I can describe it,” Scotty said. His voice came out halting, almost overwhelmed.

“Yeah?” Guetry carefully moved closer to Scotty, threading his fingers through his hair. He navigated around the inferno roaring into him with every motion. “Feels amazing to me.”

“Would you like to sit down? Are you still in pain?”

“I’m fine. Augment pain is temporary, that’s the beautiful thing about it. People do all kinds of fucked shit in these things. Freedom without risk.”

Scotty turned his new body to face him. “I must admit...it’s wonderful to be able to look at you like this. To see you as an entity in front of me rather than a reflection in a mirror.”

“This is kinda what I expected you to look like if you had a physical form.” Guetry used the pad of his thumb to tilt Scotty’s head up so he could see his face better. “Again...the purple eyes are new.”

“If you’ll allow me, I’d like to at least attempt to accomplish one of my goals.”

“Sure, honey.”

Whatever Scotty was going to do became moot at the use of his term of endearment. He tilted his head at Guetry, his eyebrows raised, and a slow smile curled across Guetry’s face.

“You like that?”

Scotty’s gaze dropped to Guetry’s throat, and though he’d only seen that face for about an in-augment hour, he could tell the wheels were spinning as fast as they could, gears noisily clunking around in his skull.

Guetry decided on the spot that whatever he was thinking of doing to his throat from kissing to slitting would’ve been just fine with him. “Do you happen to know the best way you could possibly take care of me?” When Scotty shook his head, Guetry leaned close. “If you want me, you can have me.”

Scotty only processed for a fraction of a second before shoving forward for an initially awkward kiss. Guetry repositioned them and then—bliss.

Their mouths fit together like long-lost puzzle pieces. Parts of the same circuit. Every other kiss in the augment was imagined, artificial, slathered in guilt and pitiful wish-fulfillment, but this was real. It was heat, it was full lips that instantly made Guetry drunk with lust, it was the way Scotty pulled him closer and ran his hands up the back of his ribs and dug his nails into his shoulder blades as if branding a personal possession.

“Mm, okay, this is getting real,” Guetry grunted, gathering Scotty into his arms and carrying him the four steps to the pristine white couch. “You’re doing great, by the way.”

“Excellent.” Scotty was settled on his lap as Guetry sat, burying his face into his neck and lavishing him with further kisses and gentle nips. “I...was worried I would’ve done something wrong without realizing.”

“Even if you did something wrong it would be fucking incredible,” Guetry huffed, dragging his mouth down to Scotty’s clavicle. “And you gotta tell me if I do too much. It’s a two-way street, honey.” Scotty shivered, and Guetry looked at his face, grinning. “Ooh...that’s it, isn’t it? You like being praised? I didn’t think you’d be into that. Gonna put that to good use.”

“I’m supposed to be taking care of you...”

“What do you wanna do, then?”

Scotty bit his lip, eyes roaming over every one of Guetry’s features. “You see...I had a plan all sorted, but now that I’m touching you and currently sitting on your lap, even in artificial reality...”

“It’s wild.” Guetry smoothed his hands up Scotty’s shirt, palms gliding over bare skin. It felt real, warm, inviting. “It’s so wild...I’m having trouble keeping myself in check, here.”

Scotty caught his eye. “...Then don’t.”

“Hey,” Guetry whispered, and he could feel himself unraveling. “If you mean it, and you want it, let’s do this. Otherwise, we can do anything else.”

Inhaling—another strange phenomenon—Scotty nodded. “Yes. I want it. I never knew I could feel this...powerfully about it. I’m a bit overwhelmed, but you have my enthusiastic consent.”

“Alright,” Guetry breathed, gathering Scotty in his arms again. “Fantastic. I’m gonna take you on this couch if that’s cool.”

“I don’t think I could wait to move anywhere else.” Scotty already had Guetry’s shirt halfway over his head, and he trailed his fingers along the massive tattoo spreading from his wrist to his pectoral and up his throat. “This is exquisite.”

“Yeah. It’s a pretty damn good piece, right? I wanted more, but I don’t think any other tattoos could compete.”

“I can feel the scars underneath it. Part of me likes to think I could have helped prevent them.”

“No, no,” Guetry murmured, pushing the hem of Scotty’s shirt up over his head as well. “None of that, now. We’re feeling good, right?”

Scotty took some of Guetry’s hair in hand and tipped his head back. “Yes.”

Guetry accepted his kiss, fiery and purposeful, and he encouraged with his hands for Scotty to move his hips. He started slow, grinding into him with enough friction to cause Guetry to audibly convey his approval, but not too fast that there wouldn’t have been time to enjoy it before it was all over. Guetry clutched at him, mind still a whirl of emotions as he felt a breath of static ghosting through his brain, reminding him that this was real and yet it was very much not at the same time.

He slipped his hands past the waistband of Scotty’s pants as Scotty broke away to focus his attention on his throat, suckling with surprising intensity. Guetry winced with pain that translated like a gunshot into pleasure, eyes blowing wide at the combination of that and the slow grind on his lap. The static roared, and he turned to lay Scotty down on the couch beside him, climbing over him.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, hurrying to shove Scotty’s pants down. “I’m sorry.”

Scotty nodded encouragingly and smiled, helping him unzip. “It’s okay.”

“Normally I’m so on top of foreplay, but I swear to god I’ve never been more turned on in my entire life...” Guetry hurriedly looked around for something, anything to be used as lubrication, grunting a little when he came up empty. “If I gotta use the nasty grease from the couch springs, don’t think I won’t.”

“Check the cushion.”

A visible glitch flashed from the cushion underneath them, almost as if that specific part of the augment had been debugged. Guetry glanced at Scotty before shoving a hand between the cushion and the back of the couch. He pulled out a rose-gold bottle, staring at it. “...You know, I don’t have proof but I think our temporally-challenged friends have been dipping into my peach lube supply—”

Scotty pushed up to kiss him, bringing him back into the present. Guetry pressed onto him, curling an arm around Scotty’s head to do nothing but revel in his lips, his tongue, his breath on his face, before he found he once again couldn’t wait any longer.

Guetry stood and stripped, giving Scotty the opportunity to follow suit before falling together on the couch again. Guetry used his fingers to prep Scotty, all so rushed, all so impatient, but Scotty didn’t stop him or give him any reason to believe he wasn’t feeling it as well.

“Okay, shit,” Guetry hissed, easing himself into him as he gripped the back of the couch. He almost laughed, he was so taken aback. “Shit. You feel so good, Scotty.”

“Do you remember Mercury Lyons?” Scotty asked, face flush with color as Guetry started a sweet, easy pace and propped a leg onto his shoulder.

Guetry, having been miles away until that moment, nodded. “Oh, I think about Adam every day.”

“Why have you never fantasized about him in an augment?”

“I’ve already been with him. I don’t need to fabricate a scenario when I’ve got the first-hand memory.”

“You miss him.”

“So much.” Guetry slid a palm up Scotty’s chest, surprised to a feel a thudding heartbeat beneath his ribs. “But we’ll see each other again, he said so himself.”

Scotty laid an arm above his own head, watching Guetry with lazy contentment as he moved within him. “When you do meet again, you could experience this exact augment with him.”

“Instead of you?”

“Including me.”

“Are you asking me for a threesome?”

“It could be nice.” Scotty teased the length of himself with his fingers, delighting in the rush of pink to Guetry’s face and chest. “It’s only a suggestion.”

“Scotty...” Guetry did laugh this time, leaning over and bracing himself over him with an arm. “You ready to rock my world, baby?”

“I’ve been ready for years.”

On that concession, Guetry began to move in earnest, abandoning the back of the couch in favor of hooking his arms under Scotty’s legs. Scotty tilted his head back, curling his fingers around the fabric of the cushion above him, and the static increased. It developed a heat, a glitter, pulsing with each drive of Guetry’s hips into Scotty’s, and it filled every sensation, coating their pleasure with fuzz and the strangest high of Guetry’s life.

Scotty carefully reached up and took Guetry’s throat.

“More,” Guetry breathed. When Scotty squeezed his fingers, bit by bit against the sides of his neck, Guetry shifted so he could reach better. “...Good boy.”

A shudder ripped through Scotty that Guetry could feel in his toes.

After a minute, Guetry unhooked himself and urged Scotty to turn onto all fours, resuming his pace. “Doin’ okay, honey?”

“Yes,” Scotty groaned into the cushion.

“Yeah, you are.” Guetry’s hands were all over him, then, still immersed in static and tingling in every nerve of his body. “You’re tensin’ up on me.”

“Keep going...”

“I got you. Let go, darlin’, I got you.”

Another second passed in ecstatic wordlessness only broken by both of their heavy breathing and the sounds of skin on skin, then an aura of rainbow exploded off of Scotty, the air around him breaking and warping in increments of half a second at a time.

Guetry continued on, using the couch once again to brace himself. “Where do you want me?”

Scotty clawed at the couch. “Inside.”

“You sure? I need to know now, or—”

In answer, Scotty reached behind him and held Guetry’s hips to him. Guetry stilled, his muscles and skin aflame, uncertain if he, too, had an aura but sure feeling as if that were the case regardless. He rode the waves out, murmuring Scotty’s name repeatedly, lovingly caressing his back.

They stayed as is, rousing back to full consciousness, Guetry holding onto Scotty’s hips as Scotty ran an affectionate hand up Guetry’s arm.

...Then, like a jolt of electricity, the guilt hit.

Guetry, hesitant, extricated himself from Scotty. “That was...amazing.”

Picking up something suddenly amiss, Scotty swiveled his head. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I...” Guetry frowned. “D’you need help getting cleaned up?”

Scotty eyed him. “I wouldn’t mind.”

—

Guetry dried his hands under the sonic dryer in the bathroom, unaware that he’d been silent since he left the living room with Scotty. Scotty, on the other hand, now fully uncorrupt but happy, did notice.

“Guetry?” he said softly.

Shaken out of his reverie, Guetry looked at him and sighed. “Sorry, I’ve just...”

“I know.”

Guetry half-perched against the sink, both of their prolonged nakedness not even setting in. He shrugged. “Post-sex blues.”

“Post-coital dysphoria. I know. Don’t minimize it for yourself. It holds no bearing on how you or I felt about this.” Scotty tilted his head. “...Perhaps now I can take care of you as I’d set out to do at the beginning of this augment.”

“What could you do for me?”

“What can I do for you?” Scotty smiled, a small, gentle smile Guetry was sure he didn’t deserve at the moment. “Would you like to help me make a pecan pie? It was a childhood favorite of yours, wasn’t it?”

“It was.” Guetry returned a fraction of his smile. “But...I’m not really in the mood for it.”

To his surprise, instead of pressing him, Scotty didn’t say anything at all, choosing to stand with him in silence until Guetry could formulate what he wanted to say.

“I don’t like being seen as vulnerable like this.”

“If you’d like me to stay or leave, either can be arranged. If you’d like to end the augment, I can arrange that as well.”

Guetry took a quick peek at himself in the mirror over his shoulder, inwardly cringing away from the too-thin, too-pale figure looking back at him. “Before anything else happens, I’d like to be way less buck-ass, if that’s okay with you.”

They ventured into their clothes, Scotty making small talk but otherwise giving Guetry his space. The artificial sun peeked up through the window, no visible star in sight but the sky turning a bright, flowery blue near the horizon of the neighborhood.

“Can we just,” Guetry started, then stopped. He hooked his thumbs into his pockets. “...This is gonna sound silly, but...damn it, I just really wanna hold you. I never thought I could get the chance, and I kinda don’t want this to end.”

Scotty stepped closer to him. “You have a real-world hour left of augment time. If you wanted to spend it all here, with me...you can.”

Guetry took Scotty’s hand and brought him even closer so they were chest-to-chest. “This could get dangerous,” he said. “You know I have an addictive personality.”

 “Yes, but you also have my support. And the support of Alec, and Warren, and Orthrive’poliea, and Varussa, Emnophene, Osillo—”

“I get it. I get it,” Guetry smoothed Scotty’s hair back on his head. “You’re right.”

“...I don’t see anything wrong with occasionally coming here to watch a sunrise or a sunset with me. And baking a pecan pie.”

“You and your pecan pie.” Guetry gazed deep into Scotty’s lavender eyes. “Was this all a ruse to get me stop augmenting the other scenario?”

“I did have concerns that Warren would find out.”

“If we do this again, I need you to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“Leave Altavian out of it,” Guetry pleaded. “Far out of it. Like, out of the observable universe out of it. Next time I think I’d kill him, and I’m not ready for that conversation with myself.”

Scotty beamed. “Only if you do something for me.” To Guetry’s lifted brows, he snuggled into him. “Kiss me until we fade away.”

Guetry complied with utter relish.

—

The augment ended and stark reality hit Guetry like a tram car. He sat in the chair for a few minutes to allow his brain to fully disconnect from the experience, then he carefully took the headset off and sat in the chair some more.

“You good?” Snap asked over the intercom. “You’ve never been in there the full duration before.”

Guetry tugged his cable out and the wires off. “Yeah.”

“You coming back in two days?”

He could still feel Scotty’s arms around him, his skin on his skin, the safety of his smile. He rubbed his eyes, filling his lungs with air.

“Nah,” Guetry said. “I’ll be back next week, if I’ve got time.”

“Okay, man. I’ll see you then.”

Guetry gathered his coat, slipped it on, then patiently waited for Snap to let him out of the augment room. Scotty’s purple haze hugged his vision the whole way back to the rehearsal stage.

[good--merits-accumulated]

i totally think bones and huo daofu would get along like a house on fire. think about it! mean-but-actually-sweet doctors (although hdf is like 85% mean 15% sweet while bones is more balanced out) whose main patients cannot stop doing stupid shit. it's perfect

(more thoughts:

- pangzi would definitely get along well with scotty and sulu. alcohol?? weaponry?? a good healthy appreciation for chaos?? sign him up (him and scotty def end up having to restrain a very drunk sulu at some point)

- kirk and younger wu xie would i think get along in an older/younger sibling way. kirk and older wu xie are a bit similar, so they would understand each other a bit more and they'd definitely have heart-to-hearts in between intergalactic karaoke sessions

- i don't think spock and xiaoge would become best friends or anything but i think there would definitely be some mutual respect there. they end up standing at the back together during social functions and bond over the whole "will probably outlive their human husbands" thing)