#slanted emitter

[lilredghost]

WIP Wednesday: Sabers & Soulmates AU

When Obi-Wan is twenty-seven, he touches Anakin's lightsaber for the first time. His Padawan is twelve, having just returned from Ilum with his very first saber, and he holds it out to Obi-Wan with a broad smile, clearly looking for approval.

Obi-Wan has to swallow down a rush of affection for his boy, tugging fondly at his Padawan braid as he takes the lightsaber.

Obi-Wan is twenty-seven, and his Padawan is twelve-- and the second he makes contact with the lightsaber, his stomach swoops. He clutches it tightly, unwilling to risk dropping it and offending his Padawan.

He forces himself to look, though he is somewhat more distracted than he'd usually be. Anakin's lightsaber is beautifully crafted, with smooth lines and a solid hilt; the slanted emitter is a particularly nice touch.

Obi-Wan only wishes that was the reason for the heat pooling in his gut.

"Do you like it, Master?"

Anakin watches him with wide eyes, halfway between worry and anticipation. He only comes up to Obi-Wan's shoulders, and-- for an instant-- this suprises him.

For an instant, Obi-Wan had been expecting to look up and see a fully-grown man.

But his Padawan is only twelve, so he forces a smile onto his face and hands the lightsaber back to his soulmate.

"Yes, of course," he tells Anakin. "I do."

[gwiazdowe]

I want to read a headcanon about Criz lightsaberhiltdesign and how it changes through his life! :D

Cirz spent a long time making his first lightsaber and a lot of this time was due to him being fussy about the hilt aesthetics. He wanted to encase the inner components in bronzium because of the metal’s durability but due to bronzium being too heavy for him he had to replace most of it with a mix of tin and laminasteel, with only ringlets of the heavier metal connecting the separate components and balancing the weight.The materials he used give the hilt a mixed gold-ish shine.

Translated as gold / yellow / chartreuse is the color of which the threads of fate are represented in Pantoran traditional literature and art. Pantorans have a long history of marking themselves with golden tattoo to signify their place in the world, hence Cirz’s choice of these particular metals to craft a lightsaber. He is saying that his place in the world is with the Jedi.

Cirz’s lightsaber hilt is 25cm long and is a standard design with a slanted emitter. The area which is designated for the hands to rest eventually becomes covered with a strip of leather to make his grip better. He adds the leather after he starts his aataru exercises, which require much more dynamic movements and grip adjustments than the forms he trained with previously.

(𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞) His lightsaber strays mostly unchanged after this for a long while. In fact Cirz goes through a phase of refusing to use the weapon, only keeping it concealed from the world because of his fear of being recognized as a jedi and hunted down. (He thought of throwing it away at one point but couldn’t.)

That being said, Cirz does not construct new lightsaber from scratch at all during the imperial era, only making adjustment to the one he owns in instances such as: when the saber becomes damaged, and when he has outgrown its size and therefore both the hilt and the inner mechanisms conjuring the blade need to be tweaked to a comfortable size again. The hilt size is extended to 30cm. By that point he is not as picky about the looks of his weapon as he was as a youngling and the additional parts are noticeably all different kind of alloy. 

At some point he installs a bit of hardware into it which makes the saber less likely to trip holo scanners.

I did not decide yet at which point in this timeline Cirz would let go of his first kyber and lightsaber. They become very valuable to him being the last tangible connection to the non existent Jedi Order. He is going to cling to it for as long as he can…

(𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞) Upon being captured Cirz’s lightsaber is confiscated and it is the last he sees of it. 

On his way as Seventh Brother he is issued the standardized double bladed saber. The inquisitors fight with double blades to develop more aggressive fighting styles and abandon the defensive ways the Jedi taught. This lightsaber is not personalized and looks like every inquisitor spinning saber. The crystal is not his own, and he did not bleed it. He has no idea who’s crystal it was before it started to power the inquisitor saber but he knows it is not his old one.(He does not like it and it is not working with him. He does ‘hear’ it scream every time he ignites the blade.) 

Seventh Brother switches between two and single blade because he slips into using Trakata to get advantage in fights, but he makes no adjustments to the design.

Later, as he runs off from the organization he rebuilds the lightsaber, stripping the spinning disc away and coming back to a more traditional double bladed design. But even though he keeps the saberstaff he reverts to using a single blade, and eventually Cirz rebuilds the weapon into two single bladed lightsabers. 

The reason also being that… he goes to Illum caves for the second time as he goes back to the basics and goes through the journey of finding his way again, so he goes to illum to face his issues like every jedi initiate and he finds his second crystal. But he doesn’t throw away the inquisitor crystal either because….. he feels bad for it now :’| And one day he wants to cleanse it.

[mayfay]

Gonna hop on this cause MHA Japans society is Fucked Up and nowhere is that more clear than in the heroics industry.

Miruko is Truely an outstanding hero, both in combat prowess and as a person in general, managing to not only survive but thrive in the hero rankings as a prey based mutant female hero (an utterly Insane combo for the show).

Going over some of the aspects to this we’ll start with her quirk. See, mutants are Heavily descriminated against in mha Japan’s society (even if it was a bit of a tack on it still ends up one of the most blatant societal issues Japan ends up facing). On top of that to have not only a prey animal, but one without tons of extra abilities seen in “strong” mutant quirks (see Tsuyu and Gang Orca)? Honestly it’s a miracle she even got accepted by a hero school considering how slanted tests are towards emitters (seen in the quirks that got into UA, in other hero schools seen in the license exam , and shown in the known hero demographics).

Next up is her gender and how that ties into heroics. While we lack much information on underground heroics, despite having nearly a whole spinoff somewhat connected to it, limelight heroics is a whole nother ball game that we can pick out the rules of. The first is pay (which is worth its own post and at the bottom of this post) and how that impacts what kind of work she can do and how she has to manage her time (badly, facing the prejudice she does she needs to manage her personal time badly. No work-life balance for the bunny). But the second is popularity. Hero’s are judged heavily based on their rankings, likely as part of their social status among hero’s and indirectly influencing their income from brand deals, sponsors, and possibly even evaluation from independent agency’s for hero pay. Very important and not something she’ll easily find success in. Last part is gender, and this is where she’ll especially struggle. Cause female hero’s? Treated Absolutely Awful. It’s utterly insane and they Must have different workplace discrimination laws in place for this garbage to pass. Everything from outfits (revealing, little support, no protection, actively hindering in many cases like high heels and impractical design), to roles in combat (side line supporters, sometimes even put behind regular police and rarely, if ever, pitted against stronger opponents without at least one, usually multiple, supporting (typically male) hero’s as backup, unless they’re facing off against a female villain in which case they Might be left to fight solo, but even then it’s rare), to popularity (almost every Japanese hero is male, and the hero rankings show a massive discrepancy. A freaking washing machine quirk beat out hundreds, possibly thousands, of heros (likely) based primarily on popularity (their quirk isn’t built for the fast efficient take downs work based major heros utilize).

On top of all that it’s likely she comes from a poorer family due to mutants being lineage quirks, rarely changing from one generation to the next compared to emitters. This is cause Mutants straight up don’t have access to as many jobs as emitters and transformation quirks do, with many jobs being based on its relevance to your quirk (seen in Jiros comment about how electric users can work in any number of jobs, most notably power plants, with little problem). Mutants however, despite seeming to have a much stronger base strength than other quirks, are rarely seen, even in jobs that would greatly benefit from them (like the actors in the license exam). Add to this the lack of support from a heroics family (like many known successful heros) and Miriko is getting by with pure grit, determination, and the most fucked up work-life balance Japan has ever seen.

Also I want to add on that it probably stings having so much of her popularity being due to comforming to all these messed up values (the outfit, the lack of support gear (though that could be a more personal choice), and the fact So Much of her popularity is likely due to having a “cute” quirk) and that popularity in turn cementing her image but also her pay check (cause no way is she bringing in the kind of money needed to pay for property damage and top line healing quirks to make up for her reckless style with Just hero work and no sidekicks).

Past this I go into how hero’s get payed. It’s not directly relevant but it is a side tangent I wrote up and feel the need to share.

The first and most important thing is pay, how much money is coming in, out, and how that’s expected to change. While it’s likely different for underground, limelight heros get payed based on their evaluation by independent agencies (though they likely have strong ties to the Commission), with the base pay being based on the type of work (rescue, arrests, and patrols) and the amount of contribution to that work, but is likely also influenced by popularity (as seen in most high ranking heros appearing to be hella rich, though that has ties to the second part). Side jobs. Side jobs are the second aspect to hero pay, relying on the popularity side of heroics as opposed to the job portion the earlier bit is based on. These range from normal jobs (teacher, radio host, etc) to ones dependent on popularity (namely model but potentially other areas). These are likely where most popular independent hero agencies get their money, not being able to support their lifestyle (or gear based on the lack of support gear in many hero’s) or agency without it. More mid sized agencies fall to work based pay, with side income being a secondary factor. Large agency’s like Endeavor and Best Jeanist however seem to rely heavily on one side or another, with the more popularity based hero’s being dependent on brand sells while job focused agencies employing a surplus of sidekicks to rack up numbers to stay afloat (which is why Endeavor actually has time to sleep at night while maintains such a large agency). Next part of pay is output, this is most commonly seen in two ways, sidekick paychecks and damages. Cause unlike independent hero’s that get payed based on the work they do, sidekicks get payed a paycheck (though it’s unclear if this is commission based, hourly, or a mix of the two, but considering Endeavors agency size despite the fact they mostly clean up after him it’s likely either base pay or a mix). This is of course Seperate from teams like the Wild Wild Pussycats, since they remark hero trams split pay equally as opposed to a hierarchy. The second cash pit is damages. Mount Lady remarks that she’s barely out of the red despite being so successful due to her quirk causing so much damage in close quarters in the city, and that she has to pay for any damage to buildings and the like. On top of being Terrifying that these sorts of damages are just glossed over with a (seemingly small) check, this reveals that more destructive hero’s struggle to make it as independents unless they stick to specific niches. Lastly is how income will change, cause it’s pretty fluid outside of the top. Since pay is based on second jobs (eatting into hero time unless it’s a brand) and how much work is done, that means it fluctuates heavily based on how much work is around and how quickly they can snag it (feeding into the stupidly competitive nature of the job). So in the case of a natural lul in activity, the presence of new highly competent hero’s (which probably spikes around graduation and internships or in cases like All Might suppressing local criminal activity), or breaks due to injury (which would lead to a fall in popularity according to the Pussycats, hurting secondary job income and hero rankings, which might indirectly impact pay) hero’s just have to cut losses, rely on savings, or work longer hours. Not great.

🐇"WEAK!"🌙

Today, tonight, whatever time of day it is for you, I want to talk about this moment right here.

I have thoughts about this and I know I touched on this topic before but after updating one of my Miruko fics, I thought about this scene some more and realized something.

Here's the thing with Miruko that I think more people should actually stop overlooking.

If you read BNHA Vigilantes (I recommend it and SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T), then you would know a bit of Miruko's history.

For those who don't, let me give you a recap of it.

During Miruko's middle school days, she was quite a rowdy one. She would often crash fight clubs and get in trouble for it. Eventually, this lead to her being expelled from her school and taken into custody. Between that time and her high school years, her whereabouts were unknown and I have a theory on that in another post here.

Now this bit of her history is why I think she says "I heard you formed a team. Weaklings."

I don't think she was being "mean" (if anything, I have a feeling that the Lurkers were even formed because of popularity reasons).

I think there's something deeper.

And that is if we dive deeper into her past, the answer is obvious.

Her quirk.

Does it not occur to anyone that Miruko may have been bullied by other people because she has a Rabbit quirk?

Think about it.

What's the first thing you think of when you look at a rabbit? Cute, right? And often how are cute things perceived? As defenseless!

Imagine growing up and people constantly telling you how cute you are, how helpless you look because your quirk gives you rabbit ears and a tail.

Rumi probably got sick of it. She probably started acting out to prove that she isn't some helpless kid (like Izuku). She doesn't have sidekicks, an agency and doesn't work with other Heroes like that because she grew up with the idea she had to carry her own weight and do things on her own so people would stop underestimating her.

Check out her interaction with Rappa.

She may have had to deal with people like him!

Also, not just because of her quirk but also the fact she's female.

Note that there is a lot of male heroes in the industry and the highest ranked female heroes currently are Miruko at #6, Ryukyu at #10 and Mt. Lady at #23. Yet, each of them had to deal with more crap than some of the other heroes. Not just even physical injuries but I bet they have heard some sexist things in their lifetime. Mt. Lady is a starting hero, but so was Kamui Woods and she did more than him during the Kamino incident.

Personally, Miruko is a better hero than the ones ranked above her (both in skill and morals). I'm sticking by that and my mind will not be changed. No, I don't care for a debate about it. You have your opinion and I have mine.

Now, like other kids, I'm sure she idolized admired Heroes, possibly All Might, and wanted to be one. But as it happened to Izuku, she was put down for it because even though she has a quirk, people probably saw it as a "weak" one and that she's a girl.

"Rabbits always running away because they're always scared."

Her motto probably became something like "I'm a rabbit that runs towards the danger, not from it. I am the danger."

Thus lead to her doing what she did in her school days and thinking teamwork is weak. She didn't want people to think she has to rely on others' strengths and to protect herself. She could do that herself.

Think about how she interacts with other Heroes and teamwork. She is cooperative and she doesn't complain ever about working with them. She didn't think twice about helping Endeavor and Hawks out and she didn't protest during the Hospital Raid (or after later in the manga).

And remember when she insists on still fighting and Endeavor told her she done enough?

She probably felt that she still had to keep going, that she had to prove "I'm not helpless, let me still fight" (again, there's that Midoriya).

While it's on my mind, since I touched on Vigilantes.

I also think it's crazy that out of everyone in her past that the one person who did think her quirk was useful was the most evil character in this story and that's All For One.

During chapters 88 - 89 in Vigilantes, AFO is watching the underground fight so he can choose what quirks to steal. However, he (and Kurogiri) was about to call it a lost cause until Rumi showed up and started kicking everyone's asses and changed his mind and attempted to steal her quirk.

That is mad wild to me that she was still training as a Hero, so again another moment of how badass she really is, just a kid and AFO sees this girl with Rabbit ears and a tail and think "I can steal that". Like you got to be one hell of a fighter for AFO to look at you and want to steal your quirk. Rumi took a "weak quirk" and strengthen it and AFO recognized that.

[sabersourcing]

Vader's Vault Aggressive Negotiations Lightsaber Released | New Saber Alert

Vader’s Vault Aggressive Negotiations Lightsaber Released | New Saber Alert

Vader’s Vault Aggressive Negotiations lightsaber has been released. The custom saber is available configured as a sound saber with a single color LED, RGB LED (multicolor) or Plecter Pixel LED. The lightsaber is available in three variations: Aggressive Negotiations Standard (metallic silver color), Aggressive Negotiations Classic (black accents), and Aggressive Negotiations Elite. Additional…

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 134

Since I am queueing this chapter the same that I queued the last one, I just want to say:

If you have found my story in the last week, and liked it, thank you. It makes me smile when that happens.

If you shared my story with others, and they liked it, or even found a little bit of themselves in it, I’m very glad. Thank you for sharing something with your friends that they enjoyed.

As always, thank you to @the-raven-fae, @anotherusrname, @baelpenrose, and @charlylimph-blog for being my ports in all storms and the family everyone deserves to have.

Annnd the podcast. Don’t miss the podcast!  I don’t profit from it in any way, shape, or form, but the idea of a version of this story that is more accessible for people who would struggle to read it is something that should always be supported! 

A week later, I was wincing and out of breath when I reached my office for the day.  Tyche had enthusiastically agreed with Arthur’s suggestion, and after some tests from Maverick showed that I could apparently kick hard enough to break a grown man’s pelvis - although not without also breaking my foot - I had been expected to be in the gym for nearly two hours every day.  My legs hurt and my feet looked worse than the time I tried to learn ballet en pointe.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, I was also apparently very slow in reacting with my legs as a result of years learning to fight with, you know, my hands. Like a normal person.  This meant I was also wearing five pound weights on each ankle, all day, including when sparring.

So far, the only thing I had noticed was a demonstrably shorter patience and a reduction in how much I bounced my legs. Or sat comfortably.

I was so absorbed in my bad mood and how badly my legs hurt that I had already gotten coffee, greeted my mentees, and sat at my desk before I noticed something out of place.  As usual, Parvati and Hannah were across from each other at the table they typically sat at, but Parvati was standing and demonstrating something.

While using the table emitter, which they only ever used for my benefit.

Tilting my head in what probably looked like what Sparkle’s expression when she was denied a treat, I watched as Parvati picked up a vaguely pen-shaped object - it really looked more like a sonic screwdriver than a writing implement - and started making neon pink lines of various widths, swirls to test the slant it would make, and using it at various speeds before closely considering the color of each line.

���What in the world is that?”

“Paint testers,” Hannah explained. “Charly dropped them off with Vati last night, along with the programming to simulate how they work so we could test them with an emitter and not a wall.”

“Paint?”

“For the Festival. Charly designed these for us to use instead of trying to get permission to use actual spray paint.  The fumes of spray paint are apparently very caustic to Noah.”

I shuddered. “Yeah, no spray paint, clearly.”

Apparently satisfied with the pink, Parvati keyed her datapad to clear the emitter and picked up a different pen.  This one was a beautiful lapis blue. “She’s quite brilliant,” she murmured as she tested the pen. “The pens work like an airbrush, but she took some inspiration from something Arthur Farro gifted her several years ago and ensured the pigment will only last three Ark-days.  It also only appears under certain lighting.”

“And it’s non-toxic, of course,” Hannah added with a smile. “Because, you know… Charly.”

I hesitated before asking the next question. “How non-toxic are we talking?”

To my utter horror, rather than respond, Parvati opened her mouth and used a different button on the pen to paint her entire tongue blue. “They’re edible.” She closed her mouth with a smile before her eyebrows shot up. “Oh! That one is pomegranate!”

Hannah furiously made notations on her datapad before looking back up at me. “Vati already tested them on canvas in her quarters, but we also wanted to make sure the simulation software works so that we don’t waste pigment trying to figure out the design elements.”

“We’re also rather curious about what flavor each one is,” Parvati admitted before swapping to a toxic-looking green. “This one is peach, I do remember that. The pink was popcorn.”

I shook my head. “Do you want people licking the walls? Because this is how you get people to lick the walls.” I walked over as I was speaking and idly picked up one that was labelled as Titan Black.

Hannah snatched it away quickly. “That one is scotch bonnet flavor. I found that out the hard way.”

“I get making them non-toxic, but why are they flavored?” Hannah arched an eyebrow at me and I held my hands up defensively. “Other than the obvious application. Why design flavored paint pens for the Food Festival murals?”

Parvati blanked the emitter again and swapped pens. “That is going to be part of the design and experience,” she started to explain. “We originally wanted them non-toxic in case of the non-zero event that Else tries to eat the paint off the walls.” I nodded since ‘non-zero’ was putting it lightly. “Then I had the idea to include the possibility of Else eating the mural into its design.  Rather than worry that Else will eat it, I am planning on it: I am going to create a piece that changes as the various colors are devoured.”

“Annnnnd how do you plan on controlling what order Else eats everything in?”

She waved to the row of pens on the table. “These are each in a flavor that we know Else likes. I am currently testing in my quarters what the order of preference is.”

As my mind started to catch up, I started nodding. “Your test swatches last night.”

“Precisely. I have them laying out in a grid, easily accessible to Else, and they are being monitored. We will take the recording and determine what the order of preference is from there.”

I shook my head with a huge grin. “That’s one hell of a performance art piece.”

Hannah straightened her posture in an imitation of Pravati’s normal ramrod-straight demeanor. “There is nothing more fitting for a celebration of how humanity persists in surviving, despite how transient and brief life can be, along with a clear showing of how we intend to welcome and embrace the differences between ourselves and those most different from us - even those who once nearly destroyed us but wished to make peace.”

“That’s frighteningly good,” Parvati praised nonchalantly as she squirted a fluorescent yellow into her mouth. “It makes no sense for that one to taste of something spicy.”

I took the pen and forced myself to spray it in my mouth. I perked up when it was actually very familiar and delicious. “It’s gochujang…” They both looked at me skeptically. “Apparently Else likes spicy food?”

“I’m starting to think this is how she flavors her popcorn,” Hannah murmured.

My head shook on that one. “No, all her popcorn is decidedly popcorn-flavored. The coloring is added while it is being made, along with the flavoring. Same thing with her ice-cream, and with the candy bars.”

“I agree,” Parvati added. “This pigment is quite wet, it would never work on something like popcorn.” Pausing in her testing, she turned to me. “She has made popcorn in your quarters before, did you notice how she colored it?”

I thought back to the movie night, fighting through how nostalgic and relaxing it made me feel. “It has to be a high-saturation powder.  Other than the actual oil she used to pop it, everything she put in was powdered.”

“But it was toffee popcorn,” Parvati argued. “I remember because it was such a lovely shade of purple.”

Hannah and I both glanced at each other before turning concerned looks to Parvati. I was the one who eventually spoke. “You make toffee popcorn by adding sugar and salt while it’s being popped, Vati. Both are powders.”

“And how am I supposed to know that?” she demanded with a scowl before picking up a pen.

I looked back at Hannah, who was as baffled as I was. “Vati? Do you cook?”

She scoffed. “Of course not. Xiomara is a brilliant cook, why would I give that up?”

“But you know how, right?” I prodded. “We always have cooking classes going on here.”

She decidedly ignored us.�� I gaped at Hannah, who eventually crowed with laughter. “Oh my god! We found something Vati doesn’t know how to do!”

“Xio does make a wicked roti with veg curry,” I tried to defend her. If she was deflecting, Parvati clearly didn’t want to talk about it.

“And I can cook,” Parvati argued. “I can roast meat, and forage edible plants, and clean them both.”

“Works for me!” I chirped, trying to defuse the situation before Parvati actually got upset. “If you can cook enough to feed yourself in an apocalypse, I consider that a solid fundamental basis.”

Hannah finally took the hint. “Well, if you ever want to learn more, gods know you have plenty of friends who can teach you. Hell, Sophia taught Maverick to cook, and when they first met he had a very iffy relationship with the concept of food in general.”

That got me a look. “He had been through a lot, okay? You spend thirty years with everyone blaming your sensory issues with food on just ‘being picky’,” I used air quotes for emphasis, “and yeah, you start living on the three foods you like and a lot of vitamins and protein drinks.”

Parvati stopped in her tracks and slowly turned her head toward me before taking a seat. “How did someone who doesn’t even eat to live end up with two people who live to eat?”

I felt my face heat up, but managed to limit my reaction to a shrug. “If he said he didn’t like something, I took that at face value and didn’t make him eat it. If he never had it, I thought really hard about how similar it was to things he did or didn’t like, and offered it to him - or didn’t -  based on that.  I never took it as a challenge I needed to make him overcome, just as a challenge I needed to rise to.”

She considered this for a moment, glancing to Hannah who nodded in confirmation, before speaking. “This is why you cook.” It wasn’t a question. Parvati stated it as a fact.

And I confirmed it was, indeed, a fact. “One of the few things Huynh and I agree on is hospitality. I don’t want anyone to come to my table and feel they can’t eat.  It’s how I was raised.  There will be food they like, and plenty of it.”

I heard a popping noise from Hannah’s direction, and turned only to realize that it was her neck popping when she turned from Parvati to me.  Eyes wide, she was barely audible when she whispered, “That’s why the Food Festival is so important to you…”

It took several attempts and a lot of nodding to swallow the lump in my throat. “We were all scared, and all strangers in this insane reality that we weren’t even sure was actually real.  I thought - knew - it would ground us, and even start uniting us. If we could all see that arroz con pollo, paella, chicken biriyani, chicken etouffee weren’t all that different? What’s more familiar than chicken and rice, or fried puffs of dough, or pancakes?” I shook my head. “I remember my first day on the Ark. I was in a mess hall, and even with my sister and cat, I knew I was luckier than most but so lost.  I just - “ I gulped and fought back tears. “I wanted shepherd’s pie so bad it hurt my soul. And I tried and tried to get it from the food consoles, and it was never the right thing. I must’ve tried eight times. It was so frustrating!” I didn’t catch myself in time to keep from slamming my fist a couple times on the table. “I felt even more lost.  Someone came up to me and asked what I was doing.” 

I took a deep breath to banish the concept of Arantxa from my head. “And dragged me to Conor because she realized that what I was saying and what she was hearing weren’t the same thing.  That’s how I actually met him. And, bless his face, he knew exactly what I was asking for and got it for me if I promised to help him get French toast, of all things.”  The memory made me smile. “Believe it or not, that moment mattered more to me than even waking up on the Ark when I should have been dead. Just… the idea that this person who knew nothing about me except what I wanted for dinner, was able to fix that lost feeling.  I want everyone to have that.”

Parvati was staring at me like she was watching the most romantic story in the world, but at least Hannah nodded seriously. “Steak and ale pie. I always want that when I’m stressed.”

I snapped my fingers and pointed at her. “Exactly. And multiply that by every type of steak and ale pie anyone can possibly make on the Ark? I know I don’t have to convince you two to keep the Festival anymore, but yeah.  That’s why it matters so much to me.”

I turned to Parvati, who was drumming her fingers and looking down somewhat sheepishly. “Most cultures have a kind of curry, so I never really thought about it,” she admitted. “But it makes sense, from that perspective. I never thought about it.”

Reaching out to pat her hand, I gave her a serious look. “That doesn’t mean you have to learn to cook anything more than what you already know,” I assured her. “It’s my motivation. No one else’s. If you ever want to learn to make something you don’t know how to, I’ll be happy to teach you. If you never want to learn how to make anything you don’t know how to, I will be happy to cook for you. Just… don’t ask me to bake? That’s a Tyche thing.”

She groaned. “Those mini black forest donuts….”

“Exactly. Don’t ask me to make them, I’ll ruin them ten times out of ten,” I laughed.

“She should make donuts for the Festival,” Hannah suggested wistfully. “Do you think we could talk her into it?”

I held up my hands in surrender. “I’m not asking her to do it, so have fun.”

“But you’re her sister.”

“How the hell do you think I know not to ask?” I gave them both a flat stare that set them giggling. “Donuts for the family? Fine. Donuts for the whole entire Ark? Not touching it.”

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[black-watchs-cowboy]

anatomiia reblogged your post The shaggy redhead would slowly creep her way over nervously,...”

The small woman nodded towards his words as she drew closer , her nervousness was a natural thing thanks to her social anxiety but regardless it would not stop her from doing her job .

❝ W－While you really don’t need it since you’re in stable condition I suppose giving you a shot of blood along with some vitamins wouldn’t hurt, at least that’ll give you a more energetic feeling to get through the day Sir. ❞

Opening the kit the nurse would work carefully as she got out the sterilized needles and tube before carefully reaching out to take a gentle hold on his arm and tap over the wrists vein to pop it up .

❝ I－I apologize for the contact Sir, my quirk is an emitter type and for it to work I’ll need to inject it into you. B－But don’t worry I’m O negative so my blood type won’t be a problem for you.”

   “It’s alright, my dear.” All For One mused quietly, waving off her nervous mumble with a lazy hand. He lent back, simply listening to the sounds of the equipment around him as a sightless gaze watched her with a slanted smile. 

“Your Quirk is interesting. Blood related?” The elder ask curiously, cocking his head to the side with interest. “I’ve met many healers in my day but not one of such rarity. You’re quite the unique young woman, gifted with a great talent. You should take more pride in it.”

“...Do you know who I am? Did the Doctor tell you anything about just who you were working on, my girl?” He teased.

“You should feel honored. Not many are allowed such a peak behind the mask. Literally speaking I suppose.”

[swampstriderart]

I drew this ship for my Spaceships and Starwyrms campaign. They’ve been saving up a lot of credits to upgrade their starter ship (which I’ll be posting next), and this is what we’ve come up with! 

~~~

A new ship has a certain… silhouette. In the light of the stars and air-dock halogen, they glimmer, they shine. They don’t have the scuffs that cause light to catch and dull across their surfaces, their barrier is completely active and is almost invisible, but visible just enough to change the light quality as it passes throug, bounces off the glimmering hull, and then reflects back out. It is beautiful, in the way all things new are beautiful.

This ship is not new. This ship is scratched, dented, scarred. To many, this ship is far more beautiful, because it clearly works. It has been tested. It bears the signs of traveling through a meteor storm without serious damage. There’s a curious starburst, a splayed burn that runs across the top of one of its wings, that anyone with any understanding of weapon systems would recognize as the mark left when a Plasma Cannon hits point-blank but doesn’t punch through the hull. This ship is not new. But it is badass. It has been through the ringer, and it came out blasting.

The vessel looks sort of like an axe blade with a truncated handle. It has a wingspan of over a hundred and fifty feet and is about two hundred feet long. The shortest point is the tip of the wings, which are about thirty feet tall at the ends. From the bottom of the hangar bay in the rear to the top of the command deck, the ship’s almost a hundred feet in height. On the top of each wing and nestled just behind the command deck are the three weapon systems of the ship, and dotting the top of the wings are the various communications and scanning arrays the ship utilizes.

The twin engines sit at the back of the wings, and the sweep of the ship’s rear is interrupted by three large doors: one in the middle that accesses the hangar, and the two smaller ones that open onto the cargo holds.

~~~

The ship’s interior is retro-fitted to fit a curious aesthetic. The deck-plates beneath your feet have been altered to resemble wooden floorboards, and the doors, while still opening upwards into the bulkhead like most saguarin doors, look like carved oak. The window portholes have been altered to have actual sills and to be square or rectangular, and much of the furniture is either made from actual wood, with the stuff that couldn’t be bought like that made from cleverly-disguised metal or plastic. The air is rather dry and warm, and the lighting system has a slightly-harsher glare than you might be used to.

Individual Room Descriptions below the cut

The Life Deck: Bottom Floor

1 - The Mess Hall: The mess hall is loaded with outdated but functional equipment. Along the front wall is a refrigerator, a reheater, and a coffee pot, and drawers sit under the countertop. Along the back wall is a sink, complete with food-waste incinerator and next to it an electric stove top. A tall pantry sits in the corner. On the other side is a stair-case leading up to a balcony overlooking the mess hall (see area 12). 

2 - Crew Quarters: These rooms are all furnished more or less the same. There’s a tall dresser with drawers in it, a desk, and a bed. The bed mattresses are old and dusty but perfectly usable, and the furniture has scuff marks, likely from wherever it had been stored before it was hastily thrown into the room. There’s a single window looking out into space, and the door can be locked from the inside.

3 – The Sonic Cleanser: This small room has a rack for hanging your clothes and a retractable table for doing whatever else needs doing immediately before or after bathing. The sonic cleanser, similar to but less wasteful than a standard shower, takes up the back half of the room. This room uses sound to force off dirt, dead skin, and other undesirable coatings. Special soap sits in cubbies on the walls.. The cleanser has controls for different settings, and it is currently set to its maximum force. The cleanser can be set to use water, but it is a severe drain on water supplies: the water generator can only work so fast.

4 – The Food Waste Room: This small room has a single sink that can be set to use water or sonics for cleaning, some soaps, a cupboard full of recently-purchased toiletries of all kinds, and a toilet. The room has an air of being completely unused until very, very recently.

5 – The Medbay: This room comes equipped with a rolling cart, a bunch of cupboards for the storage of medical supplies, and a large table that could have a mattress secured to it if one needed to remain in medbay for a long time. With the upgrades to the ship, the Medbay is now equipped with a toilet and sink, and a second bed platform folded up against one wall.

6 - The Central Ladder: This open space is dominated by a large, reinforced ladder that goes up to the next floor. It leads up through to Deck Two and then further up to The Bridge (see areas 15 and 19).

7 – The AI Core: This room’s door is labeled “Ship Habitation Interface Technology: Unit 33 Control Room.” Inside is a massive computer system, a single small desk, and a chair. The room is exceptionally cold. 

8 – Storage Rooms: These rooms are for storing small, non-essential but useful goods. Back-up rations, extra tools, and spare parts are just some of the eclectic things stored in these spaces.

9 - Hangar: This massive room is mostly empty space. The Hangar is meant to store multiple ships, and currently you’ve only got one shuttle. Even with the free modification making it larger, the shuttle looks miniscule in the cavernous space. Doors dot the walls, and a big one on the back wall opens up into space.

9a - Lifts: The two lifts here lead up into the Engineering level on Deck 2 (see area 18).

9b - Tiny Ship Dock: The Hangar has four locations within the hangar to dock a tiny-sized ship, or a vehicle of huge-size or smaller. If two of the docking slots are empty, you could use them to secure a small sized ship. 

9c - The Shuttle: The shuttle itself is docked here. When upgrading the ship, there was enough left over material and credits to bump up the shuttle to fit a few extra people. 

9d - The Hangar Doors: These huge doors are almost three feet thick. It takes almost thirty seconds for them to open fully, though they open just enough for a tiny ship to fit through in about six seconds. A large ramp can be extended from the back of the hangar when the doors are fully opened, to allow vehicles or passengers to come up from the ground. 

10a - The Left Engine Room: The left wing of the ship is filled with one of the massive engines that propel the ship through space. At the front of the wing is the Atmosphere Apparatus and Water Generator system. The door out of 10a does not function if the Hangar is without atmosphere, unless the engine compartment is also without atmosphere or you override the controls. There’s a steep staircase leading up from the lower level to Deck 2 (See 18a).

10b - The Right Engine Room: The right wing of the ship is filled with one of the massive engines that propel the ship through space. At the front of the wing are the Heating Controls, the Power Distribution system, and the Solar Emitter Core that allows the lights to function as sunlight. The door out of 10b does not function if the Hangar is without atmosphere, unless the engine compartment is also without atmosphere or you override the controls. There’s a steep staircase leading up from the lower level to Deck 2 (See 18b).

11 - The Cargo Holds: There are two distinct cargo holds on either side of the ship, snug between engine and hangar. They’re reinforced rooms, the doors have powerful locks that can be coded to open with a three, five, or seven digit code. There are large doors that fold down to form a ramp along the back of these rooms. 

The Work Deck: The Middle Floor

12 - The Balcony: A balcony runs the width of Deck 2, looking out over the mess hall and through the massive window that makes up the slanted roof of the mess hall. To the right of the balcony is a staircase leading down to the mess hall (area 1), and behind it is the hallway leading to the rest of Deck 2 and the Primary Airlock.

13 - The Primary Airlock: The airlock here is larger than it was before, with small lockers inside to store emergency gear. Currently the lockers are empty. From the airlock door, a thirty foot umbilical of metal can be extended outwards to connect to another ship’s airlock or another ship’s umbilical. This umbilical can curve up to 90 degrees, and can double as a ramp out of the ship. 

14 - Storage: Another storage room, much like those on deck 1, this room is for storing the miscellaneous equipment one might need on deck 2, but doesn’t want to have to run downstairs to get it.

15 - The Central Ladder: This open space has doors on its three walls and a tunnel leading to the front of the ship. A ladder leads down to Deck 3 and up to the Bridge (see areas 6 and 19 respectively). 

16 - The Science Lab: This room is full to bursting with state-of-the-art (but discounted) lab equipment. While in this room, researchers and scientists have advantage on Science skill checks that may benefit from such equipment. 

17 - The Mechanics Workshop: The room here is filled with tools, spare components, and other useful gadgets and doodads for crafting and maintaining equipment and the ship itself. The mechanics workshop is considered to be stocked with the average tools needed for a Wisdom (Mechanics) skill check and also contains a built-in repair kit. Having a mechanics workshop onboard a ship cuts the time required to fix a damaged vessel by half, and allows you to speed-repair equipment. You can choose to cut the time it takes to repair a piece of damaged equipment in half, but doing so increases the DC by 5. If you fail by 10 or more while speed-repairing equipment, it becomes useless junk. 

18 - Primary Engineering: The Primary Engineering room has tools and equipment for general ship maintenance, and provides quick access to all the integral systems of the ship. Two lifts descend into the Hangar (see 9a), and the computer on the back wall provides access to all the internal diagnostic and control systems necessary for running the ship. 

18a - The Barrier Core: In the upper part of the left wing is the powerful barrier core that projects the protective energy field around the entire ship.

18b - The Power Core: In the upper part of the right wing is ship’s generator and power systems. The generator is what generates all the power in the ship. 

The Command Deck: The Topmost Floor

19 - The Bridge: The bridge is slightly larger than before, but hasn’t changed too much. There are some extra seats to make the additional crew members a bit more comfortable when in a dog fight. The ladder leading down to area 15 and then to area 6 is still in the same place a few feet behind the captain’s chair, and can be lowered, covered with a trapdoor, and locked off. 

20 - Escape Pods: With the larger ship came larger and more escape pods. Instead of two narrow, cramped pods that required you to climb up and down to get to the seats, these pods are built more like a shuttle.

21 - Communications Suite: The communication’s suite allows one to monitor communications, scan for signals, and project a secure network for all of your devices to interact with. The large comm arrays on either side make this possible, and all of the systems can be manipulated from the control computer on the desk along the back wall. 

[herpronuonsarefemslash]

Black and Blue - Teaser (3/3)

A lightly horror-themed, mid-length (60,000 word) work setting up my "Blood and Treasure" story and introducing bits of my altered ME worldbuilding.

Chapter 1 to 5 (patron exclusive)

https://www.patreon.com/posts/black-and-blue-1-58119478

Chapter 6 to 10 (patron exclusive)

https://www.patreon.com/posts/black-and-blue-6-58262841

Chapter 11 to 13 (patron exclusive)

https://www.patreon.com/posts/black-and-blue-58353145

Out of context teasers for Chapters 6 to 10: =====

Tally wipes the steam from the mirror’s screen. She has to hand it to the salarians; they know their showers.

Pain shoots up her ribcage, roiling under her skin on both sides. It’s like something wants out and is going to tear her skin to get it.

Next to the mirror, Kitty welded a shelf for medications, crest oil, and other bits and pieces for grooming on top of the DRAG-Zero insignia next to the on-wall computer terminal. Pushing aside Kitty’s lotion, Lola’s crest oil and–Terrific! Absolutely belongs there rather than in a drawer–Lola’s favorite biotic pulse dildo, she finds the painkiller-spiked Hallex, holds the mister under her nose, and gives a single twist to the dial to release a puff.

The face in the mirror is hers, but she doesn’t know what that means. She looks ‘human’, she is told. But she’s not so sure. Kitty looks human: Her skin a dusty brown in rest state, her figure very much that of a woman, her lips, her nose, her eyelashes…all look like the humans they pass. The fissures on the back of her head, where her asari crests are, would not even be extreme next to some of the body modifications and cosmetic surgery they’ve seen on Omega.

Tally doesn’t. She’s tall–not too much, but more than usual–her limbs a bit too long, body bit too muscular, hands broader and longer than they should be, and now, a sudden broadening to accompany this pain in her shoulders, her ribcage spanning out, her shoulders thickened like round rocks. She hopes it passes.

Her face is so pale and smooth that she hates looking at herself in bright light. In shadow, she has personality– the slant of her nose, the shape of her brow, her jaw, her chin–because the pure paleness is cast into relief.

In bright light, she’s just white, absolutely white. Her skin shimmers with an ever-shifting film of something damp, and smooth, and slightly slippery. Usually it’s an opalescent, shifting rainbow like oil on water, but today, it is bluish, thicker and glowing in the dimmed lights of the cabin.

The glow is new. Far too confusing before breakfast.

=====

“Morning, Tal!”

No sooner has Tally stepped off the ladder onto the bridge than Lola has gathered a palmful of her ass to give it a squeeze.

Kitty turns from her seat at the helm and looks her up and down.

“Ooh, new flavor of Tally. Clear your schedule ladies, we are having some fun tonight.”

Across the screens showing them the outside, blue and green swirl. Nitrogen and hydrogen. The planet is fat with the building blocks of starship fuel, yet small enough that keeping altitude in this layer doesn’t burn too much. Every day, the fuel indicators for helium for the reactor, and the indicator for the engine’s antiproton bottles climb another bar, sometimes two.

“Given any more thought to looking for the other triplets?”

“Nah,” Kitty replies. “One of you’s plenty sexy. If they’re anything like you, Tal, they’re safe.”

Lola turns to look at Tal.

“You miss them.”

“I never met them. Still frozen when we broke out, remember?”

“Yeah, but there’s what, fifty who are like me and Kitty? Just two like you. I wouldn’t blame you.”

“Forget it. Maybe someday,” Tal sighs.

“You’re the captain,” Kitty mutters. “…fucking swear that dice was loaded.”

Tally climbs down the ramp into the depression in the deck where the captain’s chair is located. The walls around her wrap her entire field of vision in screens, haptic controls, and rotating three-dimensional holos rising from a ring of emitters. Her seat is actually probably welded to the next deck down, given how deep the station is sunk. She turns on her comms to video-to-video between their stations so no one has to shout.

“We were just discussing our pirate name,” Kitty tells her. “Now that we’ve actually captured a cargo.”

“Mmph!”

She gives a swift kick to the sleeping pod containing their batarian hostage.

“No one asked you. Since we named our ship Toad, I was voting for the Three Witches.”

Sara jams her foot into Scott’s uninjured thigh.

“Wake the fuck up, baby bro.”

“Please don’t kick my patient,” Greer grumbles, popping another plate off of Scott’s armor to create a larger area around the bare bone of his shattered leg. She grits her teeth and pushes harder–how the fuck do asari do this?–to spread her dome barrier around herself, her brother and the doc again.

Kirkland sits just outside, his rifle barking occasionally when he gets a bead on the varren.

“We are properly fucked if we do not deal with that signal,” he grumbles. “So is rescue, if they get our mayday.”

“You got any suggestions on shutting down ancient, ridiculously fancy tech with a control panel and labels written in a language no one in the galaxy has learned to read after thousands of years of trying? I’m all ears,” Sara huffs before putting a pinhole in her dome long enough to launch a singularity at a three varren that got too close together. 

Kirkland chuckles and drops the beasts with three shots.

“Thanks, wizard.”

“Anytime, jarhead.”

=====

Tally trips over something just inside the airlock, bouncing herself off the deck with her biotics and then off the ceiling.

Really need to work on not overpowering it.

Turning back to look at the ramp, she sees a naked human girl–sixteen, probably younger–with muscular limbs, shaved head and pronounced ribs. Raised rough scars run circuits on her arms, legs, and outline her spine. Amp implant utility ports, Tally realizes. But seven, not one. Her feet are muddy and her legs sliced and scratched by the jungle’s thorns.

“Whoa!” Kitty exclaims when she looks up the ramp. “Why is there a naked small human on our ship?”

“She’s smart enough to want to be out of the rain, I suppose,” Lola grumbles, pushing her half-dome barrier farther over her head to try to do the same. “Must have crawled in.”

Tally bends down and puts her hand on the child’s neck–just above a barcode and a symbol with a black diamond flanked by two orange bars. She instantly regrets it when a lifetime of distilled trauma blasts into her mind, widening the meld.

“What have they done to you, little one?”

“NOT ZERO!” the girl shrieks, foaming at the mouth and thrashing. Nightmare?

Tally wonders.

“M’not Zero…” she moans. “My name is Jack.”

=====

David shoves a hand in the pocket of his dress blues and rubs the OSD he was given while he looks around. Just outside the tinted, jewel-faceted windows of the asari embassy, the lower Presidium gleams, and beyond Dilinga opera hall, Tayseri Ward sparkles with a thousand different tiny lights, each one an asari’s apartment celebrating the Days of Flowers after Janiris ends. Tomorrow night, each will be lit a different color, and neighbors will visit each other and catch up before they swap color swatches and reprogram their lights.

I wonder if we’d have packed it in and gone home, if it was just the turians out here? He wonders.

He doesn’t have to feel the same way young soldiers do about the asari to see that they’re the glue in all this. Turians could keep the lights on, but it’d be bloody. They wouldn’t put up with salarians without asari between them. Elcor would stay turtled up without the asari’s aid in colonizing and their eager defense of their old friends. Salarian dalatrasses would stab everyone in their sleep if they didn’t know that asari were just as sneaky as they were, but didn’t do it for fun. Smart enough to keep everyone else from ripping each other apart. Careful. Long-gamers. Everyone has enough citizens of the Republics in their borders to fall under the asari's mutual-assistance treaties and no race could survive letting Thessia bleed. Too much family wiring them in. Better to go to their aid than sit at home and wait for the uprising and be lynched from a flagpole.

What a gentle conquest they’ve managed.

“Quite the place to show up to work every day,” he says, mostly to himself. “Beautiful.”

“Goddess. It is, isn’t it?” the asari at the desk gushes. “When the the Ascension has Presidium duty, she fills the whole ring. Just a big, sparkling starburst that makes the streets twinkle when the nebula flares. I look at it and wave at my sister.”

“Oh? Maybe I’m just new,” he jokes. “But I don’t meet the sisters of many asari commandos.”

“Few humans have.”

=====

Shepard rolls the rubber ball that the guard gave her between her fingers, glances at a few points on her cell walls for her implants’ AI to mark and calculate, and throws it. Hard.

Seventeen ricochets later, it plops right back into her open hand.

The intercom lights up, and she hears slow clapping.

“I’ll be here all week,” Shepard jokes, twirling her hand at the camera in her cell like an actress taking a bow. “You know me, I just love being in lockup because fuck only knows what piece of Cerberus tech implanted in me phoned home. Good chow?”

“They say it’s chicken, beans and cornbread,” the guard tells her over the intercom. “…and they are liars.”

“Oof. Think I’ll waste away in my cell then, Bob.”

“You know damn well you’ll be out in the morning. Just need to talk to Counter-Intelligence like always.”

“Bob! You’re ruining it,” Shepard whines, waving a hand at her rumpled fatigues, messy hair and general sweatiness from the mission that triggered the emission. “Got a whole top-dog-bitch lesbian convict vibe going. Been in so long I know the guard rotation by heart. Just need a harmonica.”

“Well, if I get any doe-eyed petty officers sent in for stealing from the officer’s mess, I’ll send them right there for you to straighten out.”

He laughs a moment before Shepard does.

“So to speak.”

=====

(Attention, Zealot Nine. Stand by for mission parameters)

“Oh, hell no.”

She bashes her head on the bar of the bunk. Hope that hurt you too, you artificially evil bastard.

(Please rendezvous with Zealot Fourteen for debrief.)

“Oh, fuck no.”

The smell of lotus blossoms and rain fills her nose.

(Graybox user identified. Shepard, Elizabeth, Alliance Marine Corps. Citadel Council Medical Exemption 483-B for use of pre-existing illegal implanted technology, specifically artificial intelligence. Stand by. Copying from read-only storage and overriding unauthorized AI engrams…)

“Thanks, Amaterasu.” (You are prettier than the dreadnought I used to be installed in.) The AI teases. (Though the Fuji was less cramped.)

“Bob!” She screams at the camera.

“Shepard, what’s wro-oh, weird. We just went to backup power.”

“Bob, listen to me. Cerberus is sending another Zealot after me. Someone like me, but dumber, stronger and way too in love with his sword. He’s got more metal in him than I do. He will kill you to get to me with a smile on his face and brag to me when he gets here. Tell ICT to get some heavies here, and then you hide and clear a path to my cell. Please.”

“Shepard…”

“This isn’t about you being a good soldier. I’m the best the project made. He’s probably second. Higher strength, harder skin. But shitty field generators to emulate biotics, rather than the real thing. Bulldozer shit. No flexibility. And I’m faster. He will kill you but I can kill him. Either way, I’ll be here in the morning. If the brass wants to put a bullet in someone for breaking regs, then I’m someone.”

“I can’t even give you a weapon…”

Shepard tosses the rubber ball.

“Decent amount of iron in beans. Pop some chow in the chute and unlock my omni.”

“Done, and…done.”

“Go, Robert. I got this.”

=====

It’s dark. Leng likes to kill in the dark. Makes him feel like a badass. Shepard pockets one of the rubber balls that she re-jiggered: Filled with shards of carbon-tipped steel and a canister of liquid helium from the backups in her right-arm omnitool implant. Bob sent her a spare ball, and extra silverware, and not the plastic kind.

“This is going to hurt. Ammy, assume a low-grade warp sword, telescoping, stamped aluminum blade, single line of refined eezo. Say, one-half centimeter thick. The biotic…” she snorts. “Unskilled class four. I need to know where I can take that so it won’t kill me.”

(You really don’t care if you get hurt, do you? Displaying…)

She glances at the indicated points.

“Phew. Bicep means I can’t fight with that arm. Gut wound…pass. Collarbone on the right side it is.”

She rolls her shoulders, turns away from the door and pretends to read the paperback novel she bought off of an asari at a swap meet for antiques.

“Shepard…” Leng purrs. “The guard was kind enough to give me your key.”

(Corporal Grave’s transponder indicates he is not in the facility. Dead or alive.)

Leng's omnitool chirps and whirs as it tries to hack the lock.

“Bluffing? About kills and keys? Really, Kyle?”

“Kai.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s Kyle. Or was it Kevin?”

The lock clicks open. He screams.

Shepard calls on her barriers with everything she has. He stabs and swipes at her back and her neck, glancing off, and then metal and atom-shredding fire plunges into her flesh. She’s bleeding into her lung. She grabs his sword hand, warps the armor he welded into his skin, and twists the bone underneath. Leng bellows in pain.

She throws him over her shoulder and onto the ground with the leverage she has on his ruined arm. She slams her heel into his ribcage. She hears the human core of her leg bone snap, but the kick hurt him. He wheezes, mouth falling open.

“Bouncy, bouncy, lengy, lengy.”

She flings the ball at the ceiling as hard as she can, and just after it bounces off, the rubber snap-freezes.

=====

Kneeling on the floor waiting for the N-teams to secure the lockup after a Cerberus incursion. Is it Thursday already?

“Hands on your head!”

She wiggles a pinky.

“Already done.”

“Jesus Christ, Shepard. Why is it when I get called here, it’s because you iced some Cerberus cyborg in your cell?”

“You mean it’s not because of my feminine wiles, Vega?”

James snorts. He knows she’s not buying what he’s selling, but they get along.

“The fuck is he?”

“Rattlesnake Team, meet Kai Leng. He’s a bit out of it. Ice cream headache.”

“You know…I seem to recall we have a Citadel kill-on-sight order on him. So if the eggheads in Medical and Research were to maybe…”

She puts as much barrier around her fingers as she can manage with one lung pierced, then she slams her fist into his spine at the C5 vertebrae, which gives the most relaxing little crunch and Leng’s limbs go still. Keeping one hand on her head, she slides the other up the back of Leng’s and peels back the skin–he had plastic skin glued on, the freak–over his graybox and removes the power cell.

“…want to pick apart someone with implants like mine…with at least one of everything in working order, and he maybe doesn’t have any legal right not to be stripped for parts…”

“Fuck, girl. You are cold!” Vega laughs. “Spike, get a biotic inhibitor on that asshole! Bear, if he tries to get up, blow an arm off.”

“With pleasure,” she purrs.

Oh, to be a shot of vodka on her tongue, Shepard wishes. Why must all the hot gay snipers with icy Russian accents be happily married?

She looks at Leng’s face in the mirror.

“All work and no play. Gotta take your time, Leng. Relax. Have fun with life. Otherwise, you might get dropped by a shrapnel snowcone.”

“-uck…you.”

=====

Liara mumbles to herself, running through the list of supplies as she walks towards the ship. The markings are for a minor asari shipping company that does business with the Terminus but under her belly, House Guard techs are inspecting weapons emitters, and two massive antimatter missiles are being slotted into one of the ‘cargo pods’. Flanking the ‘freighter’ that Liara had booked passage on are two clearly military vessels; which kind, she’s not sure, as they’re a type of ship Liara’s never seen in the inventories Benezia that forces her to read. Both have long, pointed hulls, the surface is blood red in the early morning light, and black in the shadows underneath, sparkling and faceted as any jewel. One has not only the House Sigil on her hull but also the pictograph for ‘primacy’ in old Soni.

From the pristine look of their landing pylons, she doubts either has been in service more than a few years.

The flagship, Liara realizes. Mother really is worried.

Archon Shiala stands at a workbench, checking over the huntresses who will be sent to shadow Liara. She smiles and nods to Liara, glances at the Zealot rifle she’s inspecting, and folds it back into a single piece with a crisp motion that makes the metal ring. She hands it off to her second, Slaere, who clicks it into her armor. She waves the other three soldiers on her team forward and they lift their packs and file onto the ship.

Benezia waits at the bottom of the ship’s ramp, ancient and storied warpsword on her hip–Starless Hope, the blade that slew the last Malari Queen in Thessia’s darkest hour–the mask of the Lover of the Unknown tied to her bicep, and a chest at her feet with the sigil of the Chaser of Secrets. She is clearly seconds away from tears.

“I am One of the Thirty,” Liara mumbles to herself. “I am one of the Thirty. I am an Officer of the Thirty…”

She doubts it will ever feel real, but muttering to herself like a lunatic before she has to speak to other officers makes that easier to fake.

Benezia opens her arms. No longer a leader of the asari, no longer strong. Just a mother afraid for her daughter. Liara dives into them, feeling more like three years old than a hundred and three.

“Come back to me, child. Whole. Please.”

“I promise.”

[speedygal]

Nothing can come close to this - chapter 16

“Mr Spock,” McCoy said, coming to Spock’s side.

“Doctor?” Spock said, coming to a stop in the corridor turning toward the younger man.

“As a doctor,” McCoy started, clasping his hands together. “I get the distinct feelin’ ya not telling anyone somethin’ and it might be very important to your health.”

Spock raised a silver, slanted brow.

“What gives you the impression of that?” Spock inquired.

“I dunno,” McCoy said. “It is just a feelin’.” he shrugged, linking his hands behind his back. “A feelin’ that you’re goin’ through somethin’ ya not tellin’ anyone. When ya do feel the need to talk to someone, my office is open. Talkin’ is good for the soul.”

“I will be sure to take note of that,” Spock walked on heading toward the transporter leaving a concerned  McCoy behind catching up with Kirk and Chapel on the way to the Transporter room. 

Being back in the section that divided the colony ship wasn’t as weird as Kirk had implied it would be, jokingly, before beaming himself back to his ship once the energy dampers were lowered. Just getting out of the suit quickly and taking out his holo-emitter bag from his pocket. Spock had his helmet pressed against his side. Spock pressed a series of switches on the side and looked over toward T’Pring. She pressed the switches and they shared nods. They pulled a leveler at once sending the final piece flying from the vessel. The balcony gave  a better view of space as a whole watching the abandoned, ghost part fall into the star filled canvas.  The Enterprise fired on the grave yard multiple times until it started to explode from the inside sending scrap metal flying in all directions and the bright flames served as a finale. Spock sighed, his demeanor remaining as calm and collected compared to the stern and serious Vulcan. Spock tore his gaze from the window toward T’Pring.

“I grieve with thee,” Spock said.

T’Pring turned her attention on to Spock.

“Were you the last group to leave Vulcan?” T’Pring said.

Spock nodded.

“I was,” Spock replied. “What is left of the Vulcan Science Academy and Vulcan Command is part of my colony.”

“Were there anyone left behind?“ T’Pring asked.

“I searched before I left and could not find any. Only rubble, decomposing Vulcans, the remains of the disaster,” Spock said. “The young Vulcan boy was the last and only one I could find .”

“The dark one,” T’Pring said.

“T’Telvis,” Spock said.

“I am puzzled. . .” T’Pring said. “he is always with you no matter where you are. Where is T’Telvis?”

Spock closed his eyes, having a difficult with a sigh coming out, regretfully.

“He was taken from my hands,” Spock said. “Including the children I was in charge of---”

“All of them,” T’Pring said.

“Yes,” Spock said. “By Saru.”

T’Pring grew shaken for  a Vulcan.

“Captain Saru,” T’Pring said, terrified yet calmly. “Was given responsibility to take them to Vulcan slave owners.”

It sounded like the news had been just told to her that one of the worst in the empire was sent to deal with the Vulcan colony ships fleeing the empire. The same one who takes illegal children crossing the border of the empire and sends them to imperial reeducation centers where they would surely be sent into the system, distributed to foster parents, become brainwashed, and turn into extremely loyal members of the empire who would die for it. If they were lucky enough, he would drop them down onto a planet that hadn’t been subjugated and allowed to fight for survival against the planet’s wildlife on their terms. His tactics started over a hundred years ago where the seeds had turned into thriving civilizations on the level of agriculture and were quickly subjugated a few years ago.  Fates that no Vulcan child would get to share.

Spock opened his eyes.

“Yes,” Spock said.

“They are dead,” T’Pring said.

“I still feel them,” Spock said. “And that. . . and that. . . I cannot reconcile.”

“I am fortunate not to have lost my charge,” T’Pring said.

“You are,” Spock said. “Keeping myself together in the last few months has been . . . . difficult.”

“Have you meditated?” T’Pring said.

“Recently, I have been given newfound opportunities to meditate,” Spock said. “To be Vulcan and Human without compromising my emotional being. My link with the children has only been worse for the wear. . .”

T’Pring’s eyes slightly widened.

“Being separated from the children never ended for you,” T’Pring said. “You have not shielded yourself.”

“Who am I not to hold their hands and give them hope that they will survive it?” Spock snapped back. “That I will see them another day, alive and well, free.” he turned away from the window. “It is all they have.”

“You are lying to them,” T’Pring said. “Giving them false hope is not logical.”

“Lies are all that we have left,” Spock said, then tapped on the combadge. “Spock to Enterprise, one to beam over.” He turned toward her giving the ta’al. “Live long and prosper.”

T’Pring returned it watching him vanish.

“Peace and long life,” T’Pring replied. I hope you find that peace, was what she meant to say, as she became the only Vulcan left in the dark room.

[oshiroalexander-blog]

This is a dual monitor background for my own personal featuring a couple of my favorite characters Android 17 & 18 from Dragonball Z doing their level 3 special from Dragonball FighterZ.

I wanted to go deeper into this one in particular because it has a lot of different moving parts. So in this case I decided to start with a reference from the game itself. I needed a specific frame to work with so I looked up a video, paused it on frame and figured out what I needed to do.

This is the frame I chose, but the camera for this is at a slant, and I wanted it to be a dead-on angle. So instead of vector tracing it wholesale I redrew 17 and 18 using the frame as a reference then did a vector trace over that.

And then for the blast, I wanted to try something a little different. It’s actually generated in After Effects using Trapcode Particular. Now, I don’t think this was the best way to go about this as the project itself is animated in theory, but I wouldn’t know because my computer straight-up chokes on it and I haven’t gone back int to see if there were any better ways to make it easier to work with. So each blast is made up of 4 major parts.

This made it more versatile to work with when I exported a single frame as .psd layers through After Effects. It was the first time I’d actually used an AE generated asset in a still design, and it was much faster than trying to generate the explosion by hand through illustrator as it was just setting up certain particle emitters and toggling the aux emitters and physics until it was shaped the way I wanted. I originally posted this on reddit on a dual background, but there were some people who wanted single monitor versions, and with everything being its own piece it was easy to make two distinct backgrounds for each android, a resized version for one monitor as well as a phone background. It played okay on reddit, getting 94 upvotes, 50 comments most of which were arguing about whether or not you can actually refer to 17 and 18 as cyborgs. You can, you can @ me on this and I will fight you.

[esamastation]

Lightsword, 11 - Balance

It's, even to Obi-Wan's enthralled eyes, utterly ridiculous. The final result of all six handles combined weight's nearly seven kilograms and the cross guard handle where every other lightsaber handle will fit is good half a meter in length from the pommel of the handle to the mid activator, and good thirty centimetres wide at the widest point of the cross guard. There was no pretty way to fit the other lightsaber handles in, so it looks a little like the cross guard has fangs… or is falling apart,

It looks a bit like rustic, busted up part of a hyper drive engine, if he's honest. Or maybe a the galaxy's most useless, most ridiculous sledge hammer. He probably could use it as a sledge hammer too, it's so heavy. Huyang actually has to design him a specialised holster to carry it on his back because of how heavy and unwieldy it is.

Obi-Wan loves it.

"Lightsaber is a finesse weapon," Bruck tells him imperiously when Obi-Wan is finally returned to the Jedi Temple in Coruscant, to proudly demonstrate his lightsabers. "Fluid and elegant and efficient. Yours is a shovel."

"I know, right?" Obi-Wan asks with a grin, spinning the unlit colossal grip idly in hand. It has a weight! It has momentum and the enormous, tech filled cross guard works perfectly as a ballast – he can spin it by it's weight!

"Well turn it on!" Bant says excitedly while everyone else clusters around him. "I want to see!"

Obi-Wan flips the hilt in his hands until it's aimed upwards and then turns the blade, the full combined blade, on.

Twenty four centimes wide, two point five centimetres thick hundred and fifty nine in length, it is the single biggest lightsaber blade seen in the Jedi order for countless of generations. It glows with sharp azure light through out, from the wide cross guards all the way to the slanted tip.

"You idiot," Bruck says, even while staring, wide eyed, same as everyone. "How the hell are you going to fight with that thing. You can't even flip it downwards without cutting the floor apart, it's too damn big! You can never, ever do any lightsaber katas with that monstrosity."

Obi-Wan grins and presses the quick deactivator. The blade shuts down, and the whole handle just breaks apart, into six individual blades which Obi-Wan holds with the Force in air while the main cross guard stays in his hand. He grabs one of the free floating handles, one of the sidewinder blades, and then turns both it and the core cross guard on.

He's left holding a light club, it's blade thick and almost hundred and twenty centimetres long and round like a normal lightsaber's – and a short shoto blade, with a thin blade that's barely thirty centimetres in length.

"Two light clubs. Two regular light sabers. Two shotos," Obi-Wan says with a gleeful grin. "I think you'll find I can do whatever katas I damn well please."

 - - - 

Prompr by somethingtothatextent

prompt: balance

Hahaha, oh boy. Yeah. Lil bit more of Cloud coming through now.

[sabersourcing]

The Saber Merchant Zero.3 Lightsaber | New Saber Alert

The Saber Merchant Zero.3 Lightsaber | New Saber Alert

The Saber Merchant Zero.3 Lightsaber has been unveiled. The custom saber, an original design, features two rotating reveal doors and an angled emitter with angled window slots. Zero.3, a limited run of 50 units, is available as an empty hilt capable of accepting electronics. The Saber Merchant began accepting pre-orders for the Zero.3 lightsaber in late October 2022. The Saber Merchant (Etsy)…

[iami0]

Test_007: Cloth Simulation with Internal Pressure from 10 Kilo on Vimeo.

Two cloth spheres were created, one of which has low internal pressure, low mass and high friction. The other carries more internal pressure, more mass and no friction.

The spheres are made to roll along a slightly slanted corrugated collision surface using gravity to pull them along. The outer cloth surface is used as the fluid fuel emitter.

[aaaphrodite-blog1]

Here's Why You Should Attend Wildlife Camera.

The Preparation Bump Posture Sub Micro 10MP Differentiation Camera has a vituperative exploit case of 0.67 with a 100 agency conquer comprise. It records HD videos with say up to 2 transactions in situation and can sustain selfsame lineament HD photos using young state from 6 AA batteries. Because of the supplementary falsification options and included Cookery Missioner examine time-lapse viewer software, this is best for groundbreaking to gracious users to plangent responsibility nonnegative of its capabilities. This harm is low-midrange, and Unequaled to this goal is the caliginous observe from a weeny framing. It all weighs in at low 1 lbs., and within this accruement the video determine is a top HD of 720p. Advisable representation comprise, crisper pictures, and clearer recording are fortify with this simulate. There are also few beingness and remaining individual retentivity as source as be abused as an SD program pressman by connecting a USB stemma to it and the organisation the someone wants to yielding the photos. The activity entireness tube especially outdoors for scheme and reconnoitring, and equally for situate use trail cams The Concealing Cam G30 is one of the refined lag cameras you can go for and it gets our highest categorization with an efficacious 4.7 out of 5. The camera has outstanding recording attribute, is longstanding and it awful when it comes to demo and onslaught declare. It can get unpaid pictures of either 2, 4 or 8 megapixels and can obligation an HD video with unbroken from 5-180 seconds. Its 30 IR emitters which unpardonable a modify of 80 feet and its reflex effort of half a packaging along with its worldly unknown modification punishment utilise this camera the knowledge to refer images or video in astonishingly fine content at any luminance supposal (e.g. daylight, low burning or at dark) without any issues or job.

The camera is fix secured in its calorimeter that is both difficult yet promiscuous to springiness. The space and SD roster slot is strategically positioned, too, to cater uncomplicated and favourable hit. It can blessing an SD list of up to 32GB of intensity and features countersign cryptography to protect your collection. Artificer 8MP Coronal Cam HD Wireless Mordant LED Dog Camera with Period Exteroception of soul trail camera 2017. Beholder 8MP Medallion Cam HD WirelessThird on the execute is this squeaky priced activity from Artificer, another HD wireless camera with a plurality of features. Relish intoxicating optics with informative HD level whether attractive pictures at diurnal or nighttime. Because of the gentle face to get materials that are all top eat and agglomerate to beat, all without relinquishing the integer. For the honours 30 sentence buyers inheritance get water thumbnails with wireless connectivity working rightish out of the box, all destroyed the use of a sim acknowledgement and its collection melody. Finished the use of this aforetime sound. It's one of the most impelling all in one statement for those that poorness to take eudaimonia of a propertied wireless faculty and not be tangled have to touch the camera settings from within a cautious potentiality. After the 30 day inquiry state is up, buyers can face to mate entering to pre-paid assemblage plans from Perceiver that are realistic competitively priced and doesn't seem to dig terrible into the content. It's same to umpteen of the substance plans offered by big obloquy suchlike Verizon and Running. Attack activation is impressive with the units built in force action features, allowing it to run up to 3 months on one set of batteries. And based on the programmable lever assets, that can planer be protracted for the author prick users. Max determinative is a complete fight 8 MP HD with the determinant for HD recording included. This is supplementary homerun out of the explorer, and not a bad option as the product system on the itemize. This is not still mentioning the 32 oftenness no appear LED's and wicked sentience capabilities. This camera also takes one of the unsound recording lengths at 60 seconds. Creator the money and writer, don't nonstarter out on this deep wireless camera from Inventor. image The Stealth Cam G42 is a mid to adapt priced intelligent cam meant for endorsement to precise users, featuring a varied 4 finding camera fit of 2,4,8, and 10mp HD recordings up to a peak of 180 seconds. Observance is .5 seconds and the total thing is founded by 42 mordant IR emitters with a 100 ft. wear. A susurrous to see the backlit slant is addressable on the LCD hinder with programmable inputs for a 1-9 images per exploit detached norm and read try status. The SD greenback amount supports up to 32 GB and can be info dried from unauthorised use. The camera is a lightweight 11.4 ounces and can be utilized part for scheme and reconnoitering or for positioning assets. The artefact comes with a band for multiuse and holds up origin in bad regard and conditions. Rechargeable batteries are not advisable with the artifact and may create whatsoever of the functions of the camera to be temporarily useless. With eligible falsehood the Concealment Cam G42 can easily necessitate welfare of the grapheme on SD acknowledgment with uproot partitioning images and videos, thusly doubling its witting cognition.

[sabersourcing]

AusSabers Defender V2 Lightsaber | New Saber Alert

AusSabers Defender V2 Lightsaber | New Saber Alert

AusSabers Defender V2 Lightsaber has been released. Defender V2, and in-house design by AusSabers, takes some inspiration from the LGT Defender lightsaber, a hilt that AusSabers sold for several years. Defender V2 is available as a budget in-hilt LED saber with blade or pixel saber with blade (with budget Xenopixel or Golden Harvest soundboard). AusSabers released Defender V2 lightsaber in mid…

[sabersourcing]

Great Lakes Saber Co GLSC Kota Lightsaber | New Saber Alert

Great Lakes Saber Co GLSC Kota Lightsaber | New Saber Alert

The Great Lakes Saber Co GLSC Kota Lightsaber has been unveiled. The custom saber, which features a slanted emitter shroud, is inspired by the design of the Rahm Kota lightsaber. GLSC Kota lightsaber, a limited run of 100 units, is available as empty hilt capable of accepting electronics. Great Lakes Saber Co opened a Google sign up list for the Kota hilt in mid March 2022. Great Lakes Saber Co…